I'm cold!
So,
Elder Innis and I have been having a really good week. It was pretty
slow at first, it seemed like everything we did, or decided to do either
didn't pan out, or just didn't go as planned. However, during the
middle of the week onward's it went pretty great. We found 3 new
investigators, and got one of them to accept a baptismal date, that
doesn't say anything about actual missionary work, because numbers don't
really matter that much, but it's still a good foundation to base our
week off of.
One of the members here in Keighely's Mum died last night.
That was really difficult. She would be completely fine and joking one
minute, and the next she'd be crying her eye's out on the couch. I
didn't know what to do, or what to say, and I felt like anything I did
say would be insulting to even insinuate that I could comprehend her
pain. So we just sat quietly with her till she felt better. Man, I
wanted to hug her so bad. Sometimes though, we just can't take the pain
away. It's one of the suckiest part of God's plan for us, that we have
to feel pain so hard that it literally feels like our chest is caving
in, but it's sign as well of the best of God's plan for us, that we can
feel love so strong that it causes grief so sharp.
I'm really
trying to feel the spirit more as I go throughout my day. I've been
having these really vivid dreams all week about the spirit and
missionary work, and there's always someone in the dream that tells me I
need to seek the spirit more, so I'm trying really hard to find the
spirit and let it into the work more. It's been a struggle, because too
often I just am not listening as much as I should, but hopefully I can
learn to get there.
I love you guys so much.
Elder Amundsen sent a pic of
him on the beach in Florida this morning, so he's not helping that much
in the "feeling cold" department! ;) Lol. Hope everyone's week is going well!
Love you lot's!
Meow
-Elder Hays
[then we received this email in the middle of the week]
Hi there, so I know that this isn't on our usual day for email, but it's
for a reason. We had Zone conference the other day, so all of the North
of the mission met in Billingham for 6 hours to receive instruction.
The North part of the mission is around 140 of the 270 missionaries in
the mission. And wow was it amazing.
To start off, it was the 11th
of November the other day, which meant it was remembrance day. On
remembrance day, during the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
the country stands quiet for 2 minutes out of respect for the fallen
soldiers of the UK. So, after receiving a bit of instruction, we, as a
mission, stood for those two minutes. It was a very sobering experience,
especially when coupled with Sister Pilkington's talk on how the wars
we were remembering (Most specifically WWI and WWII) was not only a
fight for individual countries, but was a fight for agency as well. She
wonderfully contrasted the story of the World Wars, with the scriptures
in Moses regarding Lucifer's rebellion. It was so amazing because the
spirit was IN that room. As she discussed the horrors of both wars, she
quoted a World War marching song that says,
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag And smile, smile, smile. Don't let your joy and laughter hear the snag Smile boys, that's the style What's the use of worrying It never was worth while So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag And smile, smile, smile.
It was a chilling and humbling experience to see the horrors of the war shown and discussed, and then to hear her quote a line of the song, and continue forward in that fashion. After her talk, she had all of us stand up and sing the song with one another. The spirit of brother and sisterhood in that room was palpable. Elders were swaying back and forth in huge lines and everyone was giving it their all. I'm so grateful that I am serving this mission. It has changed me, and it has changed me for the better. I do not want to be the same person that I have been before, I do not want to wander around lost, trying to find peace and happiness elsewhere. This is it. There is no other way to find lasting peace and happiness in this life, or in the life after. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can truly be happy. This may sound like I've changed into some religious Zealot, but I haven't, I've just finally realized that this is going to be hard. Life is going to be hard, God has given all of us trials that are unique to us, but he trusts us. We are the most selfish and terrible creatures sometimes, but GOD TRUSTS US. I love you guys, and I just wanted to share that with you. I love you so much.
-Elder Hays.
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