A ton happened this week! But, when I say
this week, I really just mean that the weekend was crazy, cause the
rest of the week is captured in the heading.
So,
me and my comp got a 3rd companion late last week named Elder Baird
(and guess where he is from?! Preston, Idaho. That'll be my 3rd
companion from Napoleon Dynamite country), and when we got him his knee
was all swollen. Well, after a while it got so swollen he couldn't walk
without it hurting, and then he started getting fevers. So, we decided
it was requisite that we take him to the ER. Low and behold, he has
staff infection in his knee, and for the next 3 days (Tue - Fri) we were
rotating missionaries in and out of his hospital room so the work could
carry on in the Bismarck area. The only exciting thing that happened
during my shifts at the hospital was that President Hess bought E. Baird
a few movies, one of them being "The Peanuts Movie". It was so darn
fun! If you like the old TV show, you will love this movie. If you
didn't like it, don't waste your time. It is so classic, and I loved
it!
Anywho, Aside from that, I am getting
Transferred to Rapid City, SD to train a new missionary for my last 3
months! I'm so stoked! It's gonna be great! Now, goodbyes are never
fun, but they have their perks. For 1, I finally got to see S again! After 4 weeks of no contact but a very short "hello" in the car,
I finally got to talk with her! It was wonderful! We had a good ole
chat, then I had the opportunity to share my testimony with her.
Now,
before I go on, I need to make a side note. I can finally empathize,
in the smallest sense, what the prophets of old felt when they wrote
about all the prayers and fasting that they put into the people they
served. In the last 2 months, I have been praying and fasting (not for
the full 2 months of course) for that girl to receive this message,
because I knew the joy and peace it would bring to her, and it seemed
like I had seen no answer. I have prayed harder in the last 2 months
for that blessing to come upon her, then I have ever prayed before in my
life. And at the moment it seemed as if the answers wouldn't come.
But in those 2 months, I noticed a different change. I felt a small
amount of what Paul and Moroni describe as Charity, "the Pure Love of
Christ". That love for your fellow man that can come from no other
source than God Himself. I truly desired her salvation, because my
Heavenly Father had blessed me so much and I wanted her to feel that as
well. I felt like God had blessed me with a small vision of who she
was, and who she could become. I felt like I had finally come to know
that she was truly my sister, and I wanted to see her in that glorious
state that is waiting for those who are faithful to the end. As I grew
in that sense, I felt something else I had never felt before. I felt
torn apart that she wasn't striving to learn about the thing that had
brought me so much joy, and that I knew could change her life for the
better. And it seemed like I wouldn't be there to see what happened.
But!
God truly does answer prayers, and they are answered in His own way,
and in His own time. I may not have seen the result I was hoping for,
but it was definitely an answered prayer. As I bore my testimony, I
felt the Spirit working through me. As I shared what I knew to be true,
the Spirit filled the room, and everyone in there felt it too. Now, I
don't know yet what effect it will have on her, but I truly believe that
it will have a grand effect on her in the near future.
As
for the rest of my goodbyes, it was hard to say goodbye to the A family. I'm gonna miss them so much. I love them so dearly. It has
been so great to serve with them!
Other
exciting things that happened, we got to pick corn for the food bank at a
local farm, and I got to attend N endowment (N is someone I
served around in Valley City), which was a special experience for sure!
He was so happy that day!
I'm truly gonna miss
it here in Bismarck. It may not be the "promised land", but it's the
closest thing I've found yet (there's my North Dakot'n accent coming
out).
I love you all dearly! Hope all is well!
Elder Carter V
1) E. Baird in the Hospital.
2-3) Here's my District goodbye pictures
4-14) More goodbyes
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