Elder Colin White letter—January 25, 2016: Franklin, Virginia

 

 Dear Y'all (I think that's proper  grammar),

     Well, this week I have a new companion, Elder Rice, and believe me, in the last 5 days, at least a handful of people each day make a “white rice” joke, but it's okay. It is a little bit funny. Elder Rice is from Queen Creek, Arizona which is just outside Gilbert, Arizona which is practically mini-Utah. 70% of his high school were members of the church. Elder Rice is technically the senior companion, but only because he's been on his mission for a year, however, he doesn't have a driver’s license, so I am the designated driver, and I know the area--so basically I am in charge of everything. I am not very good at planning efficiently though, so right now it takes me about 50 min to plan each night for the next day... that's only 20 minutes longer than it should be. 

     This week was frustrating because I had scheduled and lined-up about 10 lessons with a ward member to come with us and they all fell through. Every one of them. On Wednesday we had four member-present lessons planned and we had a youth, named Bryce, drive us around to go to them. Although all of those lessons --and their backups all fell through, Bryce actually had a really great time and asked us if he could come out with us every single Wednesday. Previous to going out with us he was not interested at all in missionary work and was pretty solid in the fact that he does not want to serve a mission, but I think we can change that!

      On Thursday we were teaching an inactive member of the ward and his brother, who is an investigator. We had planned to teach him about church, but instead, right after we had started, I felt like we should teach him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and specifically repentance, so we taught him that. Mind you, before he turned his life around (now he's in college doing really well) he had been a drug addict for well over a decade and tons of other crazy stuff on the streets. He had been in prison for several years--so one can imagine that repentance would be an important topic. When we got to the part about baptism in The Gospel of Jesus Christ, he kind of stopped us with something he had to tell us. Last week he was praying and while he prayed, he had a vision, and in this vision a voice came to him, and said that he has to be baptized. He told us this and then said, "So I know I need to be baptized," but he doesn't think he's worthy or ready to be baptized yet. He doesn't want to be baptized and then immediately go inactive. I think that is a very valid concern, that means he actually does care about and understand the importance of the decision to be baptized. So we are trying, and praying fervently, to know what to teach him to help him progress and overcome the fears he has.   

      This weekend it snowed and we joked about how people were saying it was going to be a “blizzard,” when in reality there wasn't that much snow--only a few inches. The roads weren't even that treacherous at the time being, but as we were saying all this, we were in the backseat of the sister missionaries’ car coming back from district meeting. . . Just then, the people in front of us decided instead of turning like they signaled, they would just randomly stop altogether! It was too late, Sister Lowry tried to stop, but her car just slid and she rear-ended the car that stopped. There was no real damage because we were not driving very fast, but we stood out in the snow and cold for about 30 minutes figuring out the situation.

     This Sunday, because of weather, church was canceled altogether, which makes me sad because going to church is the best. The highlight of each week really is having Sacrament meeting and being able to partake of the Sacrament. Our week is not complete without the Sacrament, so I don't know how I'm going to make it through this week. I know, and can feel already, that it will be noticeably harder this week.

     All in all, another very good week: very stressful being in charge of our area and all, but the more I have prayed, the easier it has gotten. I know that prayer works and that God listens when you pray. He cares about your struggles and problems and He knows you better than you know yourself. If you don't believe me, then pray every morning when you wake up and every evening before you go to sleep, and I promise you that you will feel a great improvement on your week!  

 Have a blessed day all y'all!

-- -Elder White