Sweet Disaster

It's been a pretty strange week to be quite honest. The song by DREAMERS, Sweet Disaster, describes what happened in a sense. We had what seemed to be some really busy days this last week, but nearly every day, lessons fell through and we were left with not much to do other than try and find more people to teach. It can be really frustrating when we set things up and go across town to meet with them, and they end up not being home.

However, my companion and I realized something this week: There's always a reason that people fail us. Just like everything else. Maybe there's someone out near us that we need to talk to, or maybe the Lord is simply testing our diligence to see if he can trust us with His work. More often than not, it was the former for us this week. With each lesson that failed us, we walked and talked to some people and found at least one person who seemed like they could be a solid investigator. The thing is, we would set up lessons with them, and then they would fail us too. It's turning into a cycle. A cycle that I certainly hope ends pretty soon. It'd definitely be nice to have some more lessons to teach. 

Last week, contacted a woman named Isabel on the street who then proceeded to tell us she was a member. She had fallen away over the last few years with her job not allowing her to attend church and had started smoking again after quitting to join the church. We met with her a few days later and we shared with her the story of Zeezrom in the Book of Mormon. For those that aren't familiar, Zeezrom was a lawyer who basically was going completely against Alma and Amulek, who were preaching the gospel in his city. When he realized that they were speaking the truth, he became very sick. When he was on the verge of death, Alma and Amulek returned and told him he could be healed if he had faith. He said that he believed and, in turn, was healed. The story teaches us that no one is beyond saving. It's never too late to change. It really helped Isabel to see that there was hope for her. She's been coming to church the last couple of weeks now, and told us she wants to meet with us weekly. 

Can't tell you all how great it feels to be out here trying to help people for two years. Yeah, there are difficulties as I described earlier with lessons failing and whatnot, but if we focus on what we're here doing, the difficulties diminish. The church is true. Until next week everyone.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Penner 💸