Chapter 34: Anabelle

2/16/2021

Today Elder Gomez and I gave a training on internalizing the message of the Restoration, and learning to teach it in every encounter that we have. The training went really well, and set a great tone for the rest of our District Council. I was actually very excited about our District Council today, it was our first meeting after all of the old members had left, now leaving me the oldest member of this District (I’m a grandpa now), and yet it was still a lot of fun to interact with everyone, despite the newness of it. I might have spoken a little too soon when I claimed last week that the Redlands District was dead. I also cut my hair this morning and it turned out very well. Gomez and I made steaks for lunch with our limited missionary budget which was a really nice treat and turned out very well, but the smell of the meat never really left the house; The permeating smell was cool for a couple of hours, but not so now that it's 10:20 and it's made me hungry again.

2/17/2021

Today was a really good day, except for the cut that I somehow got on the pad of my left ring finger. I super glued it shut, but it opened again, which is the first time that super glue has failed me. To this point, I’ve really liked the idea that if you are somehow cut in someway you can just glue the human body back together and it’s totally fine. Anyways, the lessons we had tonight were very powerful. One in particular stood out, the lesson that we had with the Gammons about missionary work. When we were done they were all so motivated to be missionaries, we were so proud of them and the desire that they all had to let their light shine. It was an amazing moment to get to be there with their family and see their desires to engage in this great work. At the end Sister Gammon said contently, “The Spirit’s here tonight, do you all feel that peace?”

2/18/2021

Today we went out to get food, the Elders we were with wanted to go to Wendy's. The funniest thing I heard all day came from Elder Douglass as we were driving up: "Holy freak, 50 chicken nuggets for $11?! 50… 50… chicken nuggets… guys, *deep breathing* holy… guys, I think I'm about to get 50 chicken nuggets." And then he did. Today also had some pretty sad moments, though. Sister Thompson’s dog, Anabelle, who had been her best friend for years and seen Sister Thompson through her most difficult moments, had to be euthanized today. We got to go over with Sister Thompson minutes before Anabelle was put down. We spent a half hour sitting with Anabelle in the sun while Sister Thompson rehearsed everything Anabelle had been through in the past few days and why she loved her so much. Then, at 2:30, I picked Anabelle up and we carried her to Sister Thompson’s car. It’s hard enough to deal with the death of anything you love, but the drive to the vet to have Anabelle euthanized must have been torturous. We called Sister Thompson multiple times later in the night and had a class with her and another member which she seemed very grateful for, and she was the biggest point of discussion in our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader tonight. We’re going to continue seeking to do all that we can to check up on her these next couple days.

2/19/2021

Today was pretty sad. We spent a good amount of time with Sister Thompson just listening to her. It was quite miraculous at the multitude of people who showed up. When we arrived Sister Benefield pulled up with her son as well. When we got back the Redlands Elders came to visit with Sister Thompson as well. We must have looked like quite the odd group all filing into her back yard. We shared a message with her about vision and having our eyes opened to see God’s will. We then testified to her of Heavenly Father’s mindfulness of her, as demonstrated visually by the group that was literally surrounding her, ready to buoy her up. It was a very powerful moment to hear the truth of those words and see this physical manifestation of God’s love for her and that she wasn’t alone in this time. Sister Thompson cried a lot, but there was an incredible amount of peace from The Spirit resting there in her backyard.

2/20/2021

I ended up not writing in my journal on this day because I was trying to use the time to make a painting for Sister Thompson. In an effort to comfort her I started a painting depicting the Savior and her dogs and hope to finish it early next week to help in the grieving process. We did have some great lessons on this day, though, and got to meet some new members which expanded our teaching pool a bit.

2/21/2021

Today was another miraculous day. We picked someone up again today which is like, the third time in four weeks this has happened. Compare that to the one time it happened over the six prior months we had been here for and it’s easy to see the exponential growth our ward members are making in missionary work. We’re so proud of them, they’re all doing such hard things and growing so much because of it. The pick-up lesson we had tonight was incredible, too. Elder Gomez and I taught the Restoration in fifteen minutes and the three member families that had joined into our lesson over Zoom did such an incredible job of answering questions and helping the investigator to feel comfortable.

Today for a spiritual thought I wanted to share a verse from Doctrine and Covenants.

D&C 11:20 Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength.

Our work in this life is to learn to love the commandments, this is our purpose, and only through doing this will we be able to receive all of the blessings God would have us receive.