We Are HIS Children

This week went by sooooooo fast! We got a lot of good service in this week. We went to Sister Enyart's house to reorganize her towels and sheets. Sabrina, who is less active, has been coming on splits with us and she is awesome! She suggested leaving our number at someone's house so they could call us back. Both of us already knew we're actually supposed to do that, and we were like: "Are you sure you're not a missionary?" We visited Lilliana and her two children. We baked cookies and spent some wonderful friend-shipping time with her and another member. Their kids played while we baked cookies. Lilliana loved it. We helped Lilliana clean her apartment. We taught her that cleanliness is close to Godliness. It became easier to teach too!

We got to visit Eddie and Bernice. Eddie told us that one in the family was no longer with them. I was a little worried at first. But then Eddie pointed to the snake tank. Only Brave, the bigger snake, was in there. They had another, smaller snake named Bea, but she was missing. I made the assumption that she must have passed away, but she was young and energetic. I learned that Brave ate her! Snakes eat other snakes?!?!? I learned that when a snake gets stressed out by another snake, they eat that snake! Bea would crawl over and bother Brave. He would try to pin her down to calm her. I guess he just snapped one day and ate her. It's sad but funny. Eddie and Bernice are getting married! In six months! He wants to get baptized. That is so exciting.

We went to visit Lorena this week, but she was either busy or not home. So we waited awhile by her door. That became interesting...we could hear the neighbors yelling at each other. The man was saying really mean things to someone, and she sounded like a teenager. She sounded miserable as she was yelling at him. It made me feel uneasy and I tried to imagine why someone would become so angry and upset. What if you asked your teenager to do the dishes and they didn't? Maybe, it's not that they don't do what is asked out of spite. Maybe they just forget in most cases. Like me, I would forget, but my mom would always remind me. Teenagers tend to have a lot on their minds with school, friends, possibly a part-time job. We shouldn't yell at each other. There's no need. We should just talk TO each other and not AT each other. Like my mom, I'm sure she was frustrated whenever I forgot to unload the dishwasher and she would have to remind me...YET AGAIN! But she never yelled at me about it...she would just quietly remind me and I would think, "Oh yeah, I forgot." And then I'd get right to it. What if Christ walked into your home while your family was yelling, fighting, swearing at each other? Saying awful things? (That'd be kind of awkward.) Contention drives the Spirit away, and with that also drives all the happiness and peace out of the home and family. Sister Hosea and I could feel it and we felt bad for this family. We just wanted to go and tell them to stop arguing and to listen to each other, and to learn how to love and respect each other again. But we knew we couldn't intrude and so we went and continued our work. We will keep them in our prayers. 

We were able to decorate cookies with Sabrina. She made gluten free chocolate cupcakes! They were so good! We gave some to Benedicta. We also gave her cookies. Last night, Sister Hosea made peanut butter cookies. We tried to give them to her last night, but she turned them down. I think she's tired of sweets! Haha!

Saturday was kind of rough at first. We had made plans to get Joe to a baptism at the Cherry Glen Ward. (It's good to invite investigators to a baptism so they can see what it's like, and they can feel the Spirit.) He's very sick and frail. So we got a ride for him, and some Elders were going to take some time to help him get in and out of the vehicle. But we found out that he wasn't feeling good. He was writhing in pain. He has West Nile virus or something like that. Joe was in the other room, crying out in pain. The elders offered a priesthood blessing. But he said no because he already had one. I wanted to tell him you can have more than one. But I was afraid it would shake his faith or something. He was sure one was enough. I was really sad for him because we were told there is a chance that he can't get in the water because of his medical condition. Learning that he can't get baptized because of health made me really sad. I walked out of his home crying. I was so crushed and disappointed. But I could see how much pain he was in, for different reasons. We decided to head over to the baptism. Sister Hosea reminded me that a very special couple was going to be there! Suddenly, my spirits were lifted. This couple has been investigating the church and they want to get baptized. The baptism was great and they felt the Spirit so strong when this man got baptized! They are so awesome! Later that night, we met with another sister and taught her the restoration with a Return Missionary named Domingo. He asked how it would make her feel is she read the Book of Mormon and learned it was true through prayer. She replied that it wouldn't change what she believed because she believed in the Bible. This made me nervous at first. I thought she was going to say she didn't want to read the Book of Mormon because she already had a bible. But instead, she said that it would only add to her faith. I got so excited because that's exactly what the Book of Mormon does for us! It adds to our faith and strengthens us!

After working and searching so much this week, I realize that each one of us are going through our own personal trials, and on different levels. As long as we remain faithful and trust in the Lord, He will definitely bless us. He knows all of our needs...each and every one of us...and He will always be there for us no matter what, because we are His children and He loves us so much. The only requirement for His love is to love Him and accept Him as our Father!

- Always, Sister Brown