21 June 2010

What a great and crazy week. Suffice it to say that Monson is not the world’s greatest driver. (Big shock, I know.) But we have been miraculously protected and not gotten in a wreck. I’ve been feeling pretty scatterbrained with Sister Mortimer gone, and having lots of airheaded moments. Like the time we were driving home from district meeting in Canton…I somehow managed to go the wrong way until we were all the way in Bloomfield instead of Torrington. That’s at least a half hour in the wrong direction. Maybe more. I was on the right road…I just forgot to go west instead of east on the 44. J

Sister Thomas is majoring in sign language interpreting. This week she taught me to sign “Families Can Be Together Forever.” Yay! I am so excited to learn more signs.

On Saturday we did a youth fireside where the youth invited their friends. We got five nonmember visitors there. I was proud of the youth. They are such strong kids. They did a good job of inviting their friends.

Earlier in the week one of our investigating friends called and said he wanted to go back to his old church because he knows the people there and he’s afraid of not being accepted in the Church because of his past. We had a big heart-to-heart with him about the Atonement and he ended up taking his last pack of cigarettes and tearing them up in front of us. He is done smoking! And ready to think about a baptismal date! His friend, who is also taking the lessons with us, wasn’t planning on coming to church until he had a dream on Saturday night. In the dream he was in prison, tied up, and the guards were asking him, “Didn’t you used to go to the Goshen Ward?” He woke up and decided he needed to go to church.
These guys have such a crazy past, they have been through so much, but it has taught me so much about the Atonement. We love them so much and want the best for them, we don’t think about their past because they are different people today, and I know that those loving and compassionate feelings are just the tiniest portion of comprehending what God feels for each of his children. The Atonement is so real and so deep! God takes the Sauls and Alma the Youngers and molds them into missionaries and prophets. I think I sometimes take for granted the power of the Atonement. It is so important not to judge, or label people as having “baggage,” or whatever, because the Atonement works these kinds of miracles all the time. It is so important that we allow people to change, and that we let go of their past so they can put it behind them as well.
Did I mention we have six baptismal dates now? We are so ridiculously blessed. It has nothing to do with us, this area is just amazing.

I love life. I love the mission. It’s all great. The Church is true!

-Sister Monson