Greetings,
It has been a crazy week full of hard work, but also rewarding.
On
Tuesday it was a very hot, humid, and stormy day. We had a tornado
potential storm come through. The storms here are much different. The
weather is very hot and humid and then after the storm passes through,
it becomes 20 degrees cooler. This is what makes a tornado, the
cool/hot air. Anyways we were on a doorstep when we saw this storm
rushing towards us and within a minute it hit. There was a huge wall of
wind that hit followed by pouring rain. We ran back to the car and were
soaked by the time we got there. The crazy thing about the storm was I
could actually see the clouds swirling above. It is almost impossible to
tell which way these storms are traveling because the clouds are moving
in different directions, but yeah, there were quite a few trees that
blew over in the area but no tornadoes. The sirens didn't even go off.
There have been a lot of miracles this last week. A lot
of work has been done with Angela and her family (5 of them will be
baptized on Saturday). Angela constantly has concerns, but she knows to
call us so we can answer them. Satan also has been hitting her non-stop
since we began visiting her family. There are three different
family members she has who are diagnosed with cancer or liver failure in
the last couple of weeks. Satan really does not stop to prevent
investigators from progressing. It has honestly blown me away how many
bad things will happen to people when they begin meeting with the
missionaries.
Cool story: After church my companions and I were
eating lunch in the church kitchen because we did not want to have to
travel home for lunch. While there a member came up from another ward
and told us there was this guy in the parking lot sitting in his truck,
just sitting, doing nothing. The man told us that he felt like we needed
to go and talk to him. We went out and come to find out he is one of our
investigators whom we have not been able to contact over the last
couple of weeks. His brother is a member and he was just giving him a
ride to the church so he could talk to the bishop. We talked the
investigator (John) into coming into the church building where there was air
conditioning. He came in and we gave him a chapel tour and he enjoyed
it! God is good!
The mission can be difficult at times but the difficult
things are seeing the problems of other people. I am especially torn
apart when we teach a family like the Eastons where the Dad is the
only non-member and the family wants what is best for him but he is not
very open to the gospel. I honestly can't comprehend what it is like to
be in a part member family. Also with Angela one of her daughters has
been fed lots of Anti. by her previous church. Angela wants what is best
for her daughter so there is a lot of grief there. Being on a mission
helps me better comprehend the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He took upon
himself the sins of all the world and just hearing about the problems
others have weighs me down and makes me feel terrible. I can only
imagine the tremendous burden our Savior bore for us on that fateful
night in the Garden. When you love the people and they are doing things
contrary to what is right, it hurts, it hurts a lot. If only we could
comprehend the great sacrifice which has been accomplished for us, that
one man, alone, felt those pains for everyone who has ever lived or will
live. The magnitude of the mental and emotional pain must have been
beyond anyone's comprehension, but yet I know that such a sacrifice
happened, and that through this great thing called the Atonement, we all
can be cleansed from sin.
I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Beutler
