August 18, 2014
Cheyenne, WY
Well I want to start off with a couple of stories, not mine, but good ones
nonetheless. A few weeks ago, Brother R____ gave a talk in Sacrament
meeting. He said he had a dream once where he and his wife were standing
in front of a wall covered with chalkboards. They had chalk in their hands
and were instructed to list out all od their sins on the chalkboards. He
said that his wife only had a chalkboard or two and she was done, but for him
they kept adding more and bringing out bigger and bigger ladders for him to
reach the extra chalkboards. After many hours he finally climbed down the
ladder. She gave him a hug and said, "I'm so proud of you, you're finally
done." And he told her, "I'm not done yet, I just came down for more
chalk!"
Yesterday, Brother G_______ spoke in Sacrament meeting. Following
Brother R____'s talk, he also had a dream with chalk. He and Bishop L____
were standing in front of a building with all kinds of words written on it, and
a ladder going straight up. They too each had a bucket of chalk.
They were told that the words were all of the sins in the world, and to go up
the ladder and circle the ones they thought applied to them. Brother
G_______ said he struggled to reach all of the words from the ladder and made
very slow progress. Bishop moved a little more quickly and soon was a few
floors ahead on the building. Then Brother G_______ saw him coming
down. Thinking of Brother R____'s talk, he was going to tease the Bishop
about needing more chalk, but saw that his bucket was still full. Instead,
Bishop told him, "No I don't need more chalk, but the Savior is just a few
floors up and he has already taken care of each of these sins. You don't
need to worry about them anymore. He sent me back to get you and bring you
to him."
How much time do we spend trying to identify and circle and worry over each
of our sins, instead of quickly making our way to the Savior? That one
gave me a lot to ponder on.
There is just no hiding when you are a missionary! This week, we were
just walking through the parking lot of an apartment building after visiting
someone and a man called out to us, "Do you know Jesus?" "Yes!" we
said. "Are you a Christian?" he called again and we again said "yes, do
you know Jesus too?" "Yes, I'm a Christian" he said, and then told us
about how he knew we were Christian (he had been too far away to see our tags at
all) because we glowed. That's why he came over to talk with us, and we
were able to set an appointment with his family.
Then! At the animal shelter where we wear jeans and the same t-shirt
as all of the volunteers, everyone has to wear a nametag too so we really blend
in, a little girl came up to talk to us with her grandma and says, "Hey! I
go to that church!" I guess we don't blend like we thought :)
We had an amazing exchange this week with the Eastridge sisters which I
really appreciated and learned a lot from. Seriously, I'm not always sure
what the other sisters learn on exchanges, but I sure learn a lot! Though
exchanges have not made me get to know Cheyenne any better...I lose track of
where we are before we get back to their area and then am somewhat confused
directionally for a day. There aren't any convenient mountains here like
in Longmont! Plus, the streets here tend to be at weird angles to each
other.
Anyway, we did forget to take an exchange picture, that is a bummer :( but
I do have a picture of the personal cake we made for R_____ for his
birthday! Plus trimming down a not-birthday candle to light for the cake
since we forgot to get candles on Monday :) Maybe not used as anticipated, but
the sunshine candle was put to a good purpose ;)
We also had an incredible lesson with A______ this week! She is only
17 and the only member in her family. She has been going through some
tough things and hasn't been to church in a long time. We happened to have
the perfect timing to catch her at home--one of those where we pull up and the
car isn't there, but prayed anyway and when we were done there they were!--and
retaught about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end
of it, A______ shared some of her feelings and testimony, and her face
was glowing :) It was a beautiful moment.
You know how whenever there is a ward activity and we decide to do a food
contest, the missionaries are the go-to for judges? Well, it never
occurred to me that I was in that position, until we were asked to judge the
pies at the ward BBQ! (Celebrating the Corner Stone ward's third
birthday) So we sacrificed, and did it ;) Just kidding, we got to eat some
delicious pie! Which is one of my favorite things anyway, so life is good
:)
This week, since it was a year since I went into the MTC and started up my
missionary journal, I decided to look back at my journal to what I was thinking
a year ago. It was interesting, because I can remember those thoughts and
feelings like it was last week, yet I feel like a very different Sister
DeFord. There has been a lot of learning and growing and spiritual
maturing that has come since then. Hopefully you still recognize me at
home ;)
TMFWD should be...........blue! Because Samantha sent me some news
today which makes that fitting ;)
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