The Elder Poe Report
This week was a challenging and unique week as far as missionary work goes, and it was painful as far as biking goes. On Tuesday of this week Elder Hyde, one of my roommates, and me were on splits into Elder Hyde’s biking area. As I was cruising along the cracked sidewalks of Middleburg Heights Ohio out of nowhere a rather sizeable rock jumps out in front of me, determined to show the rock what was what I proceed to assault said rock with my bicycle, unfortunately the rock proved the victor as upon impact I pulled off an impressive half front flip with my bike. As I was in the air my bicycle went one direction and myself went another, covering about 5 feet of ground before I met an unmerciful ground, on the positive side no bones were broken and no serious injury has been sustained except for a rather large bruise on my left upper arm, that was the low point of the week, as of right now though I have almost fully recovered and should be fine.
This Friday, the 13, was the ward BBQ. As is befitting of such an unlucky day as the dawn broke we saw a rather large wall of solid gray clouds moving our direction and bringing with them a very cold breeze. As the day progressed the clouds marched unhindered across the sky dropping the temperature down into the low 60s. Undaunted however we showed up at 4:30 at the site of the BBQ and began to prepare what needed to be made ready for the guests. As the minutes went by we were anxiously awaiting for people to start showing up. As it got closer to the appointed starting time, I began to be nervous, as nobody was there that hadn’t been involved in the preparation. In my heart I said a little prayer to the Lord asking for assurance, and as I finished I got a very calming sensation enter into my heart and I knew that it was going to be alright. Finally people started coming in droves and the activity was a success, there were many less active members, and part member families that came to the BBQ the weather held off on a down pour until the conclusion of the BBQ and it was a wonderful time to be had by all. To me it was a powerful reminder that this is the Lord’s work and He is hastening it.
The other exciting event that happened this week was we had another wonderful appointment with David. David was a potential investigator found by the Elders in the area before us, we had stopped by once on a whim and he had been home, he was interested, we taught him the entire first lesson and he committed to being baptized. After that we weren’t able to meet with him for over 2 weeks and spent much of the time playing phone tag, however after much persistence we were able to get in contact with David and have another appointment with him on Saturday. We actually had the appointment in a rather crowded restaurant as David’s mother is not a huge fan of the church. As we met with David we got to know him a little better and realized how truly prepared he is for the Gospel, he had lived in Texas for a while and met many LDS people down there and he had always felt there was something different about them, he always expressed how he didn’t think divorce was the answer and that he thinks God put us in families for a reason, and so many other ideas that seem to be so in line with what the true Gospel of Christ is. It was amazing, even though we were in a busy restaurant with lots of noisy people and many distractions, the Spirit was still there to testify of the truth of our message and it was able to help us all come closer to Christ.
The experience with David also taught me another very important lesson, of never giving up on those that we have been called to help and work with. We spent weeks trying to get something lined up with David and each time it fell through, we began to get a little discouraged and wonder how sincere he was, however a thought came into my head at one point, how the Saviour never gives up on us, no matter how many times we stumble, fall, or move backwards, every time the Saviour is there trying to help us as best He can to turn back to Him, and every time we turn to Him he loving has His arms open to welcome us back and find healing and hope.
I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I know that He is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. I know this with a conviction that no force on earth will separate from this knowledge. I have an equally firm knowledge that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, He was called and commissioned by Jesus Christ to restore Christ’s church on the Earth again in the last days, and I know all other people can come to know this as well if they will read the Book of Mormon, ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if it is true. I testify of these things as one called to represent Jesus Christ and His Church, in His blessed name. Amen.
The Report of Elder Hunter Poe
No comments:
Post a Comment