Elder Pead called us tonight to report a miracle he saw today. At our last zone conference, President Bassett made the missionaries a promise that if they would be obedient and apply the principles they were learning that day, they would see a miracle. He told them they would find 4 people prepared and willing to be baptized in the next month. While that has happened all over the mission, it is more challenging in some areas than others.
For example, we have three elders assigned to the American Sign Language (ASL) branch. They serve the deaf community in an extremely large area that actually incorporates all of our mission and the two other adjoining missions. It's difficult to find deaf people at all, let alone travel from one end of the valley to the other to serve them all. Fortunately for us, and the deaf branch, tremendously faithful missionaries serve there. Elder Pead calls more than any other missionary to tell me about the miracles he sees. When he called to report today's miracle, I knew it would be great.
They've been working hard over the last 3 weeks to live and apply the principles they were taught. As a result, they have been blessed to find a little family to teach with 2 teenagers and 2 preteen children. As they strived to teach as Christ taught, they've focused on serving this family. Knowing they won't have much of a Christmas, and not wanting to bother his family for money, Elder Pead saved some of his money (missionaries don't have much) and spent it on some treats for the kids. He's been eating light as a result (a big deal for elder Pead-he's one of the largest, strongest, missionaries we have with hardly an ounce of fat on him. He eats an incredible amount of food....) But still, he wished more could be done for this family. He has such a soft spot for children. He's been praying to find a way to help them have a fun 'kid' Christmas. Tonight, while they were with the deaf branch visiting the Christmas lights at the temple, a family came to him. They said they were laying awake thinking of this family and decided to make sure they had a great Christmas with some toys and a visit from Santa. They wanted to know if Elder Pead could come with them and help. He felt it an answer to his prayers. He was thrilled with that part of the miracle, and I know he's looking forward to it since he's still (and will always be) a big kid at heart. But the big miracle of the day came when one of the children asked Elder Pead if they could be baptized.
Their baptism is scheduled for December 27th. There's nothing better than a white Christmas!
"Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you." George R. Zalucki
Sunday, December 21, 2008
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When I was 14 or 15, I had a teacher that prided himself on being a thinker. We had some enlightening discussions in his classroom. He helped me ask some great questions that led to tremendous answers that still guide me today. We agreed on many things, but were at odds on a few. One of them was religion. I had a lot of respect for this man, but it amazed me that someone who claimed to be open minded was blind to just how closed minded he was when it came to God. He was always challenging my faith. He considered my beliefs to be a sign of my weakness. His claim was that unless it could be acknowledged by the 5 senses, there was no proof that God existed. I struggled as a young person to help him understand that he was limiting his understanding to what he had personally experienced, cutting himself off from other possibilities. The best that I could do was to try and help him understand how I knew; that things of the spirit could only be understood and perceived by the spirit. Years later, I still don't have a better answer to this one fundamental question, but I face the same dilemma. This blog is dedicated to preserving stories and experiences of missionaries in the Arizona Mesa Mission both during and after their formal missions. Some stories are fun and light hearted, but others are of a spiritual nature. The blog forum is so convenient, yet the format is limiting. There is more to these words than letters on a page. To truly understand the messages requires not only an open mind, but a soft heart.
After all, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?- Robert Browning"
After all, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?- Robert Browning"
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