3/14

When Elder Bednar was here, he told us about an experience he had with the then Elder Eyring before he was a member of the quorum of the 12. Elder Bednar was the president of Ricks College when it was undergoing the switch to BYU Idaho, and well into the plan that he and his associates had developed to make that change, Elder Eyring came to check on their progress and told them that what they were doing was completely wrong and wouldn't work. Elder Bednar humbly told Elder Eyring that they would do whatever they had to to make it work and meet the expectations of the Brethren, but warned him that, that far into the process, it would not be easy and would probably make people who had invested in helping the school angry. The next morning Elder Eyring came upstairs (he was staying in Elder Bednar's home) and told him that the Spirit had chastened him the night before, that he was wrong, and that Elder Bednar and his team were doing just fine and should keep going with their plans. He then said, "Bro. Bednar, if the Holy Ghost has not chastened you lately, you're doing something wrong." The reason Elder Bednar shared this story with us is now lost to me, but Elder Eyring's statement about the Holy Ghost has been on my mind since. This late into a mission, it is so easy to get into a routine--or a rut, as the East Brunswick Stake President would say--to assume that you know enough and are experienced enough to do the work without regard or reference to anyone else. NOT SO! And I was, thankfully, chastened by the Spirit this week. Let me tell you how.

Before I arrived here the Sisters had been teaching an investigator for some time. She is a single mother of four children trying desperately to keep her home. Her life has been rough--she doesn't have an example of a functional family/home to draw from, and she doesn't have a close relationship with Heavenly Father. She believes in God, but isn't sure what she believes or who He is or what she's supposed to do with her life. She's also a victim of the common belief that God is a mystery and any attempt to define Him is an insult to His divinity, transcendence, power, blah blah blah. And she's been this way for so long that she doesn't realize that life is supposed to be different. She's dying for relief and doesn't even know it. When she isn't writing columns as an online journalist she seeks distraction by spending a great deal of her time glued to facebook or twitter, often during our lessons, completely oblivious to what we're saying. Yesterday Sister Cope and I went to her house with the intent of teaching a Family Home Evening but instead sat and listened to her go off on a rant about things that have been bugging her. The Spirit wasn't there. Both of us were frustrated that she wouldn't stop talking or turn off the computer long enough to listen to our message. The thought kept running through my mind, "This is such a waste of our time. She's not going to go anywhere. There's no reason to be here." As soon as I thought that, I remembered the countless times I have looked through the former investigator section of the area book and seen written in the "dropped" section, "not worth our time". Not worth our time? She might be a difficult investigator, but I was chastened by the Spirit at that moment and reminded that EVERYONE is worth our time. I began to really listen to Laura's concerns and realized that the reason she hasn't progressed and kept commitments is because WE have not given her a reason to! We had not taught HER, we had taught LESSONS, and she could see no reason why she should do anything we asked. I thought about how the Book of Mormon could actually help her and immediately had specific verses come to mind that I could share, ones that actually applied to her. For a moment, she was quiet. She listened. I wasn't sure that it was sinking in and eventually we really did have to leave due to time constraints, but just before we walked out the door she looked at me and said, "There's a little part of me that thinks I should be a Mormon." When I asked her why, she answered, "Joseph Smith's story really does make a lot of sense. I've always wondered why God didn't talk to prophets today." We told her that what she was feeling was the Spirit. We said she should think about our message, read the chapters we had left, pray about it, and ASK GOD. Be an agent unto herself. I'm looking forward to going back. I have high hopes of meeting a changed woman. If not, I have changed as a result of that experience.

In other news, we found two of the coolest families on the planet this week. Both have been taught by missionaries before and have relatives who are members. The Yostpille (rhymes with gospel) family is your typical Jersey Italian family--the mom, Linda, immediately asked us upon our entrance into the house if we wanted some roast and gave each of us three hunks of beef after we responded that we'd have "a little"; they all congregated in the kitchen to watch us eat and ask about our families and tell stories of the previous Elders who have come and eaten there; they have three sons who kept cracking hilarious jokes, at which Linda would respond, "Boys! These are ladies, from a CHURCH, they do NOT want to hear about that!" We had a riot. We asked them about themselves and their uncle who's in a bishopric in Virginia and what they think about the Church. "We're Catholic and happy" is the typical and false response out here, and our typical answer goes something like, "Uh-huh. We're missionaries and we teach people how to come closer to Christ. Would you be interested in that?" They always go on and on about how they were raised Catholic and they're not the perfect Catholics but they intend to stay Catholic--but yes, they would love to hear more.

So that's the Yostpilles. On the way home from their house Sister Cope kept raving about how much they reminded her of another loud Italian family in that area with two daughters that is equally hilarious and she's only met them once but we simply HAVE to go see them again and we have to baptize both families and introduce them to each other because they would get along smashingly and it's just too perfect. So we went to see the Ferrulli family. And guess what?

THEY'RE RELATED. Linda Yostpille is Tony Ferrulli's sister. And we've concocted a plan with the Ferrullis to play a prank on the Yostpilles because they don't know that we're teaching the Ferrullis, too. My life is so funny right now.

I love you all so much. No offense, but I don't want to come home.

WUB,

Sister Black