[Received 17 November 2014]
Howdy everyone!
Howdy everyone!
This week, we've had a bit of snow, and we're slowly
getting busier.
Temperatures are slowly dropping, and appointment numbers
are rising.
Lots of our appointments have come out of visiting member
families, and talking to them and sharing a short message (generally about
Joseph Smith being a true prophet, or the Book of Mormon) followed by an
invitation to act. It's been really nice to get to know a lot more people
within the 32 wards that we cover and to help the people in this area
understand that we are here in Alpine. :)
We've had tons of miracles this week, especially
regarding some of the people we're teaching. One in particular, after we
visited them the first time a number of weeks ago, had texted us asking for us
to never come back, and canceling the follow-up appointment we had set with
them. Then, not this just past Saturday, but the Saturday previous (Nov. 8th),
I had the distinct impression that we needed to go visit this person again. I
put it off for a while, thinking that we had better things to do and that this
person had told us not to come back, so why should we? Well, finally, after the
thought came multiple times, we stopped by. They came to open the door, then
just stopped for a second when they realized it was us. :) (I'm starting to get
that reaction from a lot of people.. People just can't stand my charming good
looks. :D Just kidding..) We went inside, and we talked with the individual for
a little bit, and then the parents of said individual came in and we talked
with them as well. We set up a return appointment, said our good-byes, and
left. Later that evening, we got a text from the person we'd visited, saying,
"Just wanted to say thank you again for stopping by! I was so shocked it
was difficult to express how much I really appreciate it. :) have a good
evening!" This made my night. I knew that I'd helped someone feel just a
little bit better.
Another miracle earlier this week... We've been working
with someone named John (name has been changed) for a long while. It's been
kinda frustrating, especially when we can see the big picture, and he doesn't,
so he doesn't understand the importance of reading scriptures, or praying, or
anything else. Well, I've grown particularly fond of John, simply because he's
like a little brother I never had, and I honestly want to help him as much as I
can. This last Wednesday, I felt another prompting to go to his house and be
particularly bold about going to church and reading his scriptures. Twas strange, because normally, we're not very bold with
him, simply because I guess we don't really feel like we need to be. So, we
went to his house, and his parents were there, so we talked to them for about 5
minutes, then his mom called John downstairs. He was surprised to see us as
well, (see? I get that reaction from people a lot..) but talked to us for a
little bit. His mom and dad took my companion to the next room to show him
something that they'd been working on for their farm (we were still in sight
and sound range, just in case anyone was wondering..), and John took the
opportunity to be a little quieter, and he unloaded on me a lot of what he's
been going through.
After he did so, I felt the biggest prompting I've ever
felt in my LIFE to testify that John is a son of Heavenly Father, and that He
loves John so much, He sent Jesus Christ to perform the Atonement so that John
could live with Him again. As I was telling this to John, it was like
everything else, all the noise, all distractions, just faded away. I knew that
John needed to hear that, right then, on a Wednesday night, when he had been
feeling like no one knew who he was. I then proceeded to tell him that if John
would go to church, and if he would read his scriptures and pray to Heavenly
Father every day, that he would feel that same feeling he felt when I told him
about Heavenly Father's love. It's such a privilege to be able to promise
people blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. I think a lot of missionaries
don't quite understand the importance and significance of this blessing we
have. Seeing John's face light up with the prospect of feeling that feeling
over and over again really blessed me, and I knew that he had glimpsed a little
bit of the bigger picture.
I love my mission, and I realized while writing this that
I'm coming up on my year mark this Thursday. I KNOW, CRAZY, RIGHT??? No way
I've been out on the mission that long!! <sigh> It goes too fast, and it
keeps getting faster.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week! Enjoy the
pictures of snow!
This was from Saturday morning, and you can't see the
snow at all because the wind was blowing the snow so fast the iPad's camera
couldn't pick it up. Oh, I'm not in my boot anymore and my foot is doing well.
Love,
Elder Conrad Hamilton
Keep Smiling!
Video of the snow...
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