The week was a whirlwind of great experiences which has been such a tender mercy to us. As of late, our area and even our attitudes have been slowly declining and what a blessing and a relief this week was for us!
Tuesday was an interesting and powerful day for me. We started off our morning heading to the local hospital to hopefully find service opportunities there. While there, we were introduced to a Catholic Priest, Father Pierre, who politely declined our request for service but instead bought us lunch. He was actually a really cool guy and we even were able to talk a little bit about the scriptures and have a good conversation.
Later, as we were walking around that day, we bumped into a man who was digging through a big dumpster, collecting scrap metal. His name is Dominique and as we started talking to him, he kind of started to bash with us, specifically about prophets. Probably one of the coolest and most spiritual experiences of my life was when we were able to testify of the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and defend his divine calling. Dominique didn't really know what to say after that so we offered him a Book of Mormon and he accepted. Super cool!
The rest of the week was a stuggle for us both, fighting discouragment and trying to work hard. This area hasn't seen real progress in a long time and we've been losing investigators left and right. As we reported numbers last week to the Zone Leaders and told them that we found 0 new investigators that week, we decided to tell them, right then and there, that we were going to have two new investigators this week. It was a battle to find, but finally, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, we were able to meet with two new people and they both became new investigators and whats more than that, it wasn't about the numbers either. As we met with one woman (her name is Emma) and as she started to pour out her heart to us, we both instantly felt the pure love of Christ for this woman and it didn't matter if she became a new investigator or not: we just wanted to help her in whatever way we could.
I love what the scriptures say about faith, hope and charity and I have really felt that apply in my life as of late. As we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, Elder Roper pointed out something really interesting to me with regards to these three things: that the scriptures give us these attributes in the order that we obtain them; and as I looked over the last 6 months, that's exactly how it has happened. Granted, I'm not in any way perfect in any way shape or form in any of these aspects, but first came a trial of faith, then came the faith. A trial of hope followed, and soon after followed an increase of hope. Our charity was definitely tested this week and as a result of that, we were able to feel that powerful, Christ-like charity for Emma. Time and time again the Lord promises us blessings and time and time again he delivers.
I know, for an absolute certainty, that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and even more than that, I know that our Father in Heaven loves us. Trials are never punishments! Trials: those times when we feel helpless and hopeless, are the very times when we are closest to our Father in Heaven and to our Savior, Jesus Christ; and for that, we should thank Him and praise his name forever, for loving us enough to hurt us and to help us grow.
Best of luck this week, I love you all so much!
Elder Arkoudas
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