11 October 2021
¡Hola a todos!
I'm going to be honest with you all right off the bat. This week has been TOUGH. So many things just came together like a big slap in the face. But it hasn't been all bad, I promise. One of my favorite parts this week dominating a bunch of kids at life-size hungry hungry hippos. We went to the youth activity, just expecting to hang out and see if any non-members would be there. The game looked fun, so I convinced a team to let Elder Smith and I to take a turn, and we collected 115 balls, completely obliterating the competition. I'm pretty proud of myself on that one haha.
On Monday we set our friend Alicia on date for baptism! Buuut, we probably won't be meeting with her for much longer, which I'll explain in a minute. Sadly, we found out our friend and recent convert Justina was sent back to South Dakota, to the Indian Reservation she used to live on. We didn't even get to say goodbye. We weren't even done teaching new member lessons yet. That was some not so great news. (Maybe I've mentioned this in the past, but Alicia and Justina are related somehow, but have a pretty rocky relationship.) That same day, our meeting with Alicia fell through, because she was the one who drove Justina to South Dakota, and just never came home. We actually still have no idea where she is. Isn't keeping commitments like she said she would, so we're going to have to take her off date. A pretty big bummer if you ask me.
Alicia's lesson wasn't the only one to fall through this week. Pretty much everyone we had something set up with canceled. We tried knocking doors, calling people, anything just to try to fill our time and try to find people to teach. We were rejected so many times, a lot more than normal. The days crawled by so slowly and we got pretty discouraged. I spent a lot more time on Favebook this last week than I'd like hahaha.
One night, as I was feeling pretty down, I remembered a story my friend Elder Berry shared in his farewell talk a while back. I'll drop a link to the inspirational video that tells the story. Please give it a watch if you have a minute:
The Will of God
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng
This story tells about a current bush that gets pruned, and asks the gardener, "Why would you cut me down, I was making such great growth!" And the gardener replies, "I'm the gardener here and I know what I want you to be. You need to he cut down to make even greater growth." As I reflected on this, I realized how applicable this is. God is the gardener, and he knows what he wants us to be, even if it takes cutting us down.
The struggles I've faced in the last week will be used to help me grow into an even better missionary in the future. I know that one day when I overcome challenges, I will look towards the heavens and say, "Thank you, God, for loving me enough to cut me down."
Everyone, I hope you have a great week. Remember to do good. Let your light shine. Love God. Love your neighbor. All that good stuff.
Until next week,
Elder Aldrich
Fotos:
1. We helped some members level their floor.
2. Nebraska fields
