Hey, Feb.1,2016
Wow! these last few weeks have been very exciting! So the baptism on the 24th went great. It was Elder bower's first time doing one. I could tell that Elder Bowers was kind of nervous. He had to do the baptism more than once. I smile because it reminds me of the good ole days in Paarl when I had my first baptism. I remember it vividly.
Weather here has fluctuated from being extremely hot to cool and rainy. I prefer it when its cooler. The work is really moving forward with investigators now that things have calmed down with holidays being over.
Lot's of the young men and young women are inviting their friends to church. We had a young couple show up to church out of the blue yesterday. They are very curious to learn what we are all about.
This week has been fruitful in the Lord's vineyard. We are going to have a baptism this Sunday. The person being baptized is named Jack. He is a 16 year old young man that was invited to church by a friend. He wants me to perform the ordinance It will be the first time that I have stepped into the font in a while.
We had a fun time today. There is this huge mountain in the Queenstown area that we decided to hike this morning. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get a reach the top by 10:00. It was a very strenuous experience! The top of the mountain is surrounded by sheer rock cliffs so we had to do some free rock climbing. It was scary but fun!
An interesting event took place last Tuesday. We have been teaching this less active lady and her daughter and when we visited last week, the mother was visibly shaken by something. When we asked what was wrong she revealed to us that she discovered on Sunday that one of her daughters has been repeatedly raped over the last few days.
We sat and listened as she cried and told us her situation. We then gave her and her daughter a blessing. I promised her in the blessing that if she started to make the gospel part of her life again and prayed with her children every night, this would never happen again. We spoke to the bishop about it and tried to give her aid in any way we could.
Something interesting that I have learned is being a missionary is far more about being being a light in peoples lives than I ever realized. From an outsiders point of view, it seems like all missionaries are for is finding, teaching and baptizing. But it is so much more than that. Whether it's listening to a weeping mother or helping a alcoholic father overcome his addiction.
It can be stressful at times to be burdened down with concern for others but it allows us to have a greater appreciation for the Savior and the infinite atonement that he wrought for all of us.
I am confident that the things I am experiencing now will bless me tremendously in the future.
Love,
Elder Sean Patrick Herrick
No comments:
Post a Comment