Chapter 45: Missionary Work and the Atonement
Sometimes, I feel like all my
investigators are in a big crock pot. It´s just a slow process, that will have
a lot of results in the end. I have been teaching a few of these people for
months now, and they are so close to baptism, but then there is always
something that comes up. For example, last week I told you of our miracle
woman, Adrianna from Colombia. Well, Tuesday she called us and told us,
“Hermanas, I don´t want you to think I am uninterested, because I really am,
but I just got a job that will make it impossible to meet with you for the next
two months. I will continue to read the Book of Mormon, but we´ll have to post
pone for two months.” Great. Not to mention, this day was one of the hardest
days of proselyting I have had my whole mission. It was laughable. Truly
laughable. We knocked on doors at a couple of buildings, and before we could
even say anything, they slammed the door on our faces. Actually, there was a
really funny grandma. She opened the door all sweetly and looked up at us, we
introduced who we were, and then her eyes just caught on to my chapa (name tag)
and got all big, and then she yelled, “Get away you Mormons!!” and slammed the
door. Then you hear her husband yell in, “Who was that??” and she yells back,
“Those @!$% Mormons!!” hahaha Well, it´s true. We just looked at each other and
laughed and laughed. It was honestly such a hard day! My companion said to me
after we got in bed that night, “Hermana Hopkins, I think the reason God gives
us days like this in the mission is so that we keep in mind that our whole life
won´t be spent on the mission, and that it´s not our main purpose in life.”
Haha I couldnt´help but laugh on that one. The next day, we had District
Meeting, and there was something that I absolutely loved. It was from a talk
called The Atonement and Missionary Work by Elder Holland (obviously a good
sign) and I am going to paste it right here because it´s simply incredible:
“Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go
better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people
joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in
miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in
missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night
in the baptismal font? You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have
thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am
convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ,
this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it
would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that
missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane.
Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the
summit of Calvary. Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about
anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and
sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators,
to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price
that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price”
I just loved this quote! I think it goes
for everything in life, and not just missionary work, and it really made me
appreciate the Atonement more than I ever have in my life. I never realized
what it meant that Christ suffered for all of our sins until I was a missionary
and saw what that really entailed. I can´t even start to comprehend it.
The work was a little slow at the start
of the week, but then it started to pick back up again. I just can´t get over
how much I love Cathy and Tony. We were teaching them something, I don´t
remember what, and then Cathy brings up this dream that she had. She said, “I
had a dream last night of my brother who passed away. He was in a building
trying to get to the top floor and couldn´t because there were no stairs. He
was calling for me for help, but I didn´t know how. And then I had a dream
right after that of a big room with all white a bright. There was a big column
of light in the middle of the room, and my daughter was there in a white dress.
Everyone around were in white dresses as well. It was beautiful, and I could
feel the peace there.” My companion and I just looked at each other and thought
the same thought; it was time to teach about temple work. We took out a picture
we had of the celestial room, and Cathy took it, stared at it, and put her hand
to her mouth as her eyes welled up with tears and she whispered, “This is the
room. This is the room.” We explained to her how we can do ordinances for our
ancestors who have passed away and she wept and wept. She said, “Oh yeah. This
is it. This is the truth. I feel like I have already been taught this before,
and you´re just reminding me.” They now have a picture of the Madrid temple and
the sealing room side by side to remind them of their goal to be an eternal
family. They are so wonderful. I sat by Gemma during sacrament meeting, and she
drew me a picture of her family outside of the temple. I was just so excited.
They are a family that I will never forget.
Also, this week we have been working
with the family of five daughters where the mom is constantly working. What a
hard situation. They are so cute though! I love to teach them. They have such a
sweet spirit. I love teaching kids and young teens. They just are so intune
with the spirit. I now understand way more what it means to be like unto a
child. The oldest daughter was in the hospital this week. Her dad burst into
their piso and started yelling at her, and that day she had two epilepsy
attacks. It was super sad. Her sister was working double duty that week to make
sure the other little girls were ok. They are such a strong family. The ward
has fallen in love with them as well, so we are getting a lot of help from the
members. The mom is still as hard as a brick wall. She won´t even look at us,
but at least she is allowing us to meet with her daughters. We also are getting
Husane ready for baptism still. He got called into work this week on
Sunday, so that was a pain, but he is so great. It´s definitely a challenge
teaching him though with no Christian background. The Plan of Salvación was
especially hilarious, but he´s learning little by little. He has a lot of faith
in Christ and the Atonement. Plus, he is reading the Book of Mormon every day.
He has smoked his entire life, sometimes two packages a day, and he is down to
six cigarettes a day. I am so proud of him. I think those are the biggest
highlights of the week. I love the work here in Castellón! I am so grateful for
the costant prayers!
Les Quiero!
Hermana Hopkins
No comments:
Post a Comment