On Tuesday, while riding home, it was completely dark. Since I was in front, I literally could not see anything in front of me. I was pedaling along, when all of a sudden my foot got stabbed! I had ridden directly into a cactus! Once we got to a streetlight, I looked down to see three needle-like tines sticking out in a neat row. I had two thoughts: 'Oh, good, there's only three!' and 'AAAAAAAAAAOOOUUGH HA HOI!' It felt like a hundred bug bites or four bee stings or something. Luckily, they came cleanly out - along with the 40-50 tiny little ones I didn't discover until we got home.
But other than that, it has been a good week! We found two new investigators that are very prepared to receive the gospel. The very first lesson we had with them, the Relief Society President came with us and shared her testimony about how she knows that God is her Loving Heavenly Father. The Spirit was so strong! She also offered to give them a ride to church next Sunday.
Whenever we take a member to a lesson, it is always an awesome lesson. We honestly can't do this without them - members are like spiritual nukes - you just have to point them towards the target goal, and they'll blow it out of the water!
We were visiting a sister that had had a problem with another sister last Sunday. We didn't want to directly call her out on it, but we didn't know how to tactfully handle the situation. We prepared a lesson based on the talk about becoming a disciple of Christ and decided to let the Spirit take it. We got in there, and the first thing out of her mouth was gossip about the other sister.
Internally banging my head on a brick wall, we smiled and asked if we could share a message. She said, "Of course!" We talked a bit about faith and read some excerpts from the talk. The sister told us, "Oh, yes - I have a TON of faith! I don't know how it got so strong, but it's incredible!" We continued talking (the whole time, I was thinking, 'how in the world are we going to teach her if she won't listen?'), and in the talk there was a scripture. It was 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, which says:
- Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
- And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
BOOM. Way to go, Paul! Telling it how it is. I walked out of that lesson with a stronger faith in teaching from the scriptures, relying on the Spirit, and not being afraid to tell it straight.
Hermana Bosch, a missionary in our mission, shared over the mission-wide conference call that she'd been getting up an hour earlier to be more consecrated. It motivated me to purify and consecrate my service even more. I fasted and prayed, and wrote a list of 25 things I could do or not do to be more consecrated. Using this list, I plan to become the best missionary I can possibly be.
We contacted an investigator named Eulalia that had been in Denver for about a transfer. She was very happy to see us! She told us she wanted to be baptized, and she even came to Stake Conference! Her baptismal date is the 16th of September - she has a hard time remembering things, but she's very willing to read, pray, and come to church! Golden.
Love, Love, Love, Hermana Smurthwaite
P.S. We found a cool rock on the way to a less-active member's house - we thought it would be perfect to give to her little son as a prayer rock!
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