Another six weeks has gone by and so did the transfer. I was fortunate
enough to stay in my area and keep my amazing companion Elder Tucker
Thompson. I don't know if there is something more for me to learn or
if Heavenly Father heard my prayers haha. The time so far that I have
spent with a Elder Thompson has been a blast. He has a great outlook
on the work and a quirkiness about him that I'm never going to find in
some one else. I love it. He makes everyday an adventure. We have been
told that we fight like an old married couple haha. I want to thank
Mr. And Mrs. Thompson for raising such a great son. He truly carries your
family's name well. He has helped me keep going even when the future
didn't seem so bright. He is a great friend and an amazing representative
of Jesus Christ.
I'm just going to come right out and say it. The sunburst ward is
amazing. Our teaching pool has been dwindling and we have had a hard
time finding people but the ward has been so helpful in letting us
into their homes to teach them. We have been working hard with the
auxiliary leaders to bless the lives of those that have been on their
minds throughout the weeks. They know their members a lot better then
we ever will. Bishop Heid is very missionary minded so that helps a
ton. He has never given up on us and it makes us want to keep pushing
and working our hardest. I really love it when the wards want to help
us reach our goals.
We have been doing a lot of service lately which isn't too bad
considering that the heat of the Arizona summer has not hit us. Ask me
about that in about two months. It will be a different story all
together. It still amazes me that when we ask people to help them they
are so shocked that we are serious. They just think that we are making
a joke or something. I don't know. But then when they actually say ok
to having us help and we get right to it, everything goes great. You
would be so shocked to see how many people say no just because we are
LDS. Ugh that has to be the most frustrating thing. It's like "this
job will be ten times easier if you just let us help!" But no. Haha
too bad for them I guess. At least we tried right?
One of the things that I have been studying this week is the process
of conversion. In the church we say that we have been converted.
Past tense. But what I have found is that conversion is not a one time
deal. We do not have a single event that completely changes our form,
character or functions. In the Book of Mormon we can find that many
people who saw angels multiple times were not converted to the gospel.
I think the best story of conversion is Alma the younger. Even though
he saw the angel he didn't just stop what he was doing and walk the
straight and narrow. He had to be struck dumb and go through much
repentance to be born again of God. Even after this event he had so
much fixing that he needed to do because of his past choices. He had
taken a major step in his conversion process but throughout his whole
life he had to keep working at it. I think that many of us are on our
way in this conversion process but we forget to keep taking the steps
forward. We become comfortable where we are. We think this is enough.
I promise you that we will never reach where we need to be in this life
alone. We must always seek God's help in seeing the next thing for us
to do. We have to choose to see God's hand in our lives. We can ask
and ask but if we are not looking with the right intent we will be
blind. Keep moving forward in faith. Never give up. I promise there is
light and something of worth at the end of the struggle.
Thank you to everyone that has been a great example to me. I have so
many wonderful friends and family members that have shown me what it
means to be a giving person. My mother has been working so hard to be
a missionary and she is seeing the success and the struggles of that.
I am so proud of her. My dad's father recently passed away so if
any of you see my dad or any member of my family please give them a
big hug from me. I would really appreciate it. Love you guys!
Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford
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| We love the Sunburst Ward! |
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| Elder Tucker Thompson |
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