GAINESVILLE, FL
COMPANION/TRAINER: ELDER TUFT
Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth, or childhood, I must have done something good.
I must have! Because this week was a week of MIRACLES! Where to even start?????
Well, first of all, miracles are often preceded by adventures. This week we were on bikes, it was pretty chilly, and it POURED rain. POURED. So we're out knocking doors in the dark during exchanges (we had three this week. They last for 24 hours and I go to a different area or a different missionary than my companion comes and works my area with me) for several hours and no one quite lets us in and I am WET. Wet. But I had a BLAST and a couple of people set return appointments! One of the promising ones was James, and I could not wait to go back and teach him the next night.
Fast forward. My companion and I take a member of the stake presidency out with us and show up on Jame's doorstep. There is a woman with him. They excitedly let us in, sit us down, and the miracle begins. Chrissy (the woman) is a member! She was baptized decades ago and misses the church desperately. She helps us teach James the first lesson and they are excited to learn more. She has a peculiar last name, which is the same as another woman that we have a return appointment with (Carrie). Well it turns out Chrissy and Carrie are COUSINS, and because of this Carrie (who had just cancelled her appointment) agrees to meet with us altogether. And what is going to happen in this meeting, you ask? James and Chrissy will be teaching Carrie the first lesson, and it all goes down tonight. All because we knocked a door in the rain.
Fast forward. My companion and I take a member of the stake presidency out with us and show up on Jame's doorstep. There is a woman with him. They excitedly let us in, sit us down, and the miracle begins. Chrissy (the woman) is a member! She was baptized decades ago and misses the church desperately. She helps us teach James the first lesson and they are excited to learn more. She has a peculiar last name, which is the same as another woman that we have a return appointment with (Carrie). Well it turns out Chrissy and Carrie are COUSINS, and because of this Carrie (who had just cancelled her appointment) agrees to meet with us altogether. And what is going to happen in this meeting, you ask? James and Chrissy will be teaching Carrie the first lesson, and it all goes down tonight. All because we knocked a door in the rain.
But wait, there's more! My companion found another family with a similar situation and we are now teaching them as well! They are engaged, she is a less-active member, and he is anxious to progress. And how was this family found? Records or lists or referrals? Nope. Knocking doors. He was led there 100%.
But wait, there's more. Saturday was ROUGH. All our appointments fell through. So we just started knocking. No real interest. So we got our bikes, put on our helmets, and started pedaling off. We stopped as we were passing by a door. "Did we knock this one?" "Nope." "Think we should?" "Why not?" The door was thrown open by a happy young couple who invited us in, talked to us for 40 minutes, accepted a return appointment, and are excited to be taught in the home of their neighbors who are members.
Surely that is all. NOPE! On exchanges my companion for the day and I were standing at the bottom of a staircase pondering our next move. A woman came up behind us. She asked us who we were, why we were there, invited us in, offered us water, asked what our message was, asked for a pamphlet, asked for a Book of Mormon, asked when church was, asked whether she could come, asked if she could talk to the bishop about performing her upcoming wedding ceremony, invited us back, asked if she could cook us breakfast and hear more of the message. We couldn't keep up enough to even OFFER anything it was like she was starving and we were holding the only bread in town! Which is exactly what was happening. People are starving, for there is only one bread that satisfies.
So that's got to be it. SATURDAY NIGHT. We are exhausted. We are slumped over on a cold bench. And we only have a couple of moments before we need to return to the apartment and very few people are coming to church in the morning. So I whip out the phone and Elder Tuft whips out the iPad. I teach a lesson via texting to an investigator who texts us out of the blue for the first time in weeks, and Elder Tuft adds a contact as a friend. She asks about Church, so he teaches her a lesson on facebook chat and invites her to the meeting. Not only does she come with her son but she bring her three siblings as well! All sitting on the front row and staying for Sunday school to boot!
Sunday night. End of the week. It has been a PARTY. What a week. We have a less-active member to visit. No one has ever had success with this sister, including us in weeks past. We knock on the door. Her husband won't even look at us, he just walks into the back of the house. She lets us know she is NOT interested in being mormon anymore and is trying to have her records removed. We talk to her. After a while she invites us in. We keep talking, friendly, smiling, glossing over her occasional barbs and testifying of the beautify and light of her love of the bible. She offers us a seat. Then a drink. Then some food. Then invites her family to come join the conversation. Then insists they come in. First her daughter walks by. Then joins the conversation. Then gets her guitar and plays us a song. Then the husband walks by and makes a comment. Then tells a story. Then sits down. Then they go get their "dog". More than 50% wold, as big as I am just about, hates people but LOVES us. Loves. By the end of the visit we have been invited back for dinner, they have shared their entire life story including their hopes and dreams for the future and reason she left the church (terrible experience). We have the opportunity to testify to her several times, and she says she sees things differently than she ever has. She makes a list of things she loves about the church (family home evening, food storage, eternal marriage, the word of wisdom, youth activities, etc.), and, with a big smile on her face, says that her daughter seems to be as interested in the gospel as she once was. Even after a prayer her husband can't stop talking to us, and she has to tell him to let us go! This in the course of one evening, in one visit.
Miracles. These are miracles. These were not born of fantastic, brilliant missionaries or work. They did not come from new or exciting idea or earth-shaking testimonies. Love, diligence, faith, and then some more love were the only ingredients that the Lord saw fit to use to make a week. of. miracles.
And I am so grateful.
There were lots of fun adventures. On a whim I sang a long in the middle of a lesson to a professional musician and he embraced the idea of putting the Psalm of Nephi to music. I finished my reading of Jesus the Christ, and understand so much more deeply the text of that fantastic hymn that urges "O come, let us adore him". I adore Him so. And adoring Him and adoring His flock, I am empowered. After a difficult sunday of pretty intense pain, I was about ready to tip over. One of our investigators was ready to leave church. My mind, clouded and blinded, could think of nothing but to invite him to stay. I followed him out of the chapel, into the hall, into the foyer, and to the door, inviting and inviting and praising the blessings of sunday school and priesthood meetings. I must have invited him to stay 20 times, met by absolute silence, before finally he sighed and said, "Okay Elder. Okay." He stayed for all three hours and met with the bishop afterwards and we are meeting with him again this Wednesday. Sometimes when we can't make it through, the only way to outlast the day is invite others to do what we can't and then go through it with them!
There were lots of fun adventures. On a whim I sang a long in the middle of a lesson to a professional musician and he embraced the idea of putting the Psalm of Nephi to music. I finished my reading of Jesus the Christ, and understand so much more deeply the text of that fantastic hymn that urges "O come, let us adore him". I adore Him so. And adoring Him and adoring His flock, I am empowered. After a difficult sunday of pretty intense pain, I was about ready to tip over. One of our investigators was ready to leave church. My mind, clouded and blinded, could think of nothing but to invite him to stay. I followed him out of the chapel, into the hall, into the foyer, and to the door, inviting and inviting and praising the blessings of sunday school and priesthood meetings. I must have invited him to stay 20 times, met by absolute silence, before finally he sighed and said, "Okay Elder. Okay." He stayed for all three hours and met with the bishop afterwards and we are meeting with him again this Wednesday. Sometimes when we can't make it through, the only way to outlast the day is invite others to do what we can't and then go through it with them!
My fast was for discipline, not fanaticism. That I, my family, my friends (I rather like the Book of Mormon phrase "beloved brethren") and the people we meet will have the willpower to do what we believe! To act on the testimony that burns within us. I believe in Jesus Christ. That He is and that I love Him is enough to power my engine to do all KINDS of things, day by day, one at a time. Not fanatically all at once, just line upon line, as fast as I have strength. The members are amazing, the relationships I have are such a strength, and every email and note from home fills me with such peace. Thank you. I love you so much. I hope your week is one of MIRACLES! Mine was. Mine are.
~Elder Jorgensen