Plackless Missionary‏

 

 

I officially have no nametag now. I lost one in Coyhuieque, and have been asking the office for a new one since then but it still has never came. And then yesterday the one pocket plack i was using snapped in half when it accidentally gets bumped. And so yesterday my name was Elder Marsden. What i am doing today i am using the broken part of my plack, and i have it taped onto my chest. I am going to give the office a really hard time if they dont get me a real nametag soon haha

I had a really awesome experience this week.

My companion and i were walking over to an appointment that we had, when he stops suddenly and says he want to knock a door. So we stop and we knock the door that we are standing outside of, and a young woman answers the door, and after talking to her for a while she told us that her and he whole family were members, but they havent gone to church in years. But she was all alone, so we set up an appointment with her to come back and teach her whole family.

We come back a few days later. And the parents are there, and they very happily invite us in. And as we are talking they tell us why they went inactive.

He told us, 3 years ago, he came home from work and felt the need to go upstairs to see if his daughter, and say hello to her.

He walks into her room, and sees that she hung herself, and that she was dead long before he got there. And his wife calls the relief society president, really just to have a friend to help them. And that sunday in church they tell the RS Prez tells the members what happened, and asked them to help out the family because they were having a really hard time.

But then no one helped. The member told me that not even the bishop stopped by their house to help them. And so they felt really alone, because not a single member of the church came by to help (after that first visit by the RS Prez) And so they stopped coming to church because of how coldly the members were treating them.

In this hard time in his life the husband, who had a smoking problem before getting baptized, fell back into smoking. And one day he feels the need to come back to church. So he comes back, and talks to the bishop, and tells him about his smoking problem. According to his words the bishop then denied him the right to partake of the sacrament, and gave no explanation why. So as he was there in sacrament meeting, he just felt super bad, that all of the members where super cold to him, and he couldnt even take the sacrament that just made him feel worse.

He then went totally inactive until, we knocked his door.

After he tells me his experience i say this

``Brother Nelson, as you told me about your experience, it reminded me alot about the final days of Christ life. Jesus Christ took upon him all our pains and sufferings. And paid the painful price for our sins to made it possible for us to be clean, and return to live with our God again after this life. And he had to do it alone. He even said ``Father, why have you abandoned me

But immediately after this immense suffering, he was betrayed by one of his own disciples. And was denied the people closest to him. And then was murdered by the same people he went through incredible pain to save.

But he went through all of that, so you wouldn´t have to.

Thanks to Jesus Christ, you will never be alone. He understands exactly what you went through. He loves you. And he is waiting for you to come back to him.´´

The conversation kept going, and we helped him understand the steps of repentance and why the bishop took away his privileged of taking of the sacrament. And after we taught him alot he said ``I wish someone would have explained all of these things to me they way you two have, i would have never left the church if they did. 

He then said ``I´ve been lost for too long, and its about time that i come back´´

The next day i was very happy to see him arrive to church. And he sat down with me for sacrament meeting. And even though he didnt feel worthy of taking the sacrament i could see the joy on his face for just being back.

After the meeting i was thinking to myself. Alright we got him this far, im going to make sure that he doesnt leave again. So i told my companion to talk with him, and then as my companion was distracting him. I sneak up to where the bishop was and told him that the man i was sitting with was a member who hasnt come in years, and i asked him to give him a welcome to the church. 

The bishop then came up, and they talked for like ten mins. That made me happy. And while they were talking that gave me time to get around,and get another member to talk to him after,and invite him to the classes. And that member did it, and then he stayed for the class.

After church he comes up to me and says, elder Crockett hey for the next appointment we have with you could you please invite investigators ,we would love to help the,

So i totally took advantage of that. hahaha

But this week was pretty great, i had some super awesome experiences, some super hard ones too, some that made me wonder why i was even here, but in the end the end the good ones won, and i am super excited to get to work this week. 

 

Welp Love you all. Keep me posted!