Sister Bassett
This weekend was amazing. We had a marriage/baptism in our branch of Juan Carlos Ocampo. Also the same day I had the chance to go down to Mesa and baptize someone, Juan Rameriz, who I was teaching. Both have amazing stories.
1st. Juan Carlos Ocampo. He got married and baptized. His wife didn't really listen; she wasn't too interested. But something happened. She has seen big changes in her husband, and really felt the spirit at the baptism. Now she wants to meet with us. She already said that she wants to go to church every Sunday. With the support that she will get from her husband, there will be nothing stopping her from being baptized shortly, just her own will.
2nd. Juan Rameriz just got baptized. He is one who I have seen the biggest change in. When Elder Matsunaga and I were togeather, we TTIed him, and started to teach him. That was in July. He was progressing well, with a baptism date and all, but then shortly after moved to New York to work in the apple orchards. He said that he would return in December, and I just thought, "Well, whoever the missionaries are when that comes around, sure will be lucky." For me, that seemed like forever away. But when december rolled around, I was still there, in the same area We found him again, started to teach him, and he now has an amazing testimony of how the gospel has blessed his life. I have never seen someone so happy, or so giddy. It's truly amazing.
These are just two from this past week. And both people should be talking at the next charla foganera.
Elder Gleaves
"Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you." George R. Zalucki
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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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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