Elder D!
Subject: Here's to a full week in Cottage Grove!
Hello all!
Well this is my first full week in Cottage Grove. It is cool to be here! I saw a family in my first area the R-------'s! It was super exciting to see them! So I am glad you got to see what a transfer day is like mom, it is intense! There is a lot that goes on on transfer day or the beginning of transfers that I can see how you thought is was a little stressful! Dad your thoughts about how we make an impact on others was just what I needed to hear. Thank you. I have spent a lot of this week studying the wars in the Book of Alma and how we need to have spiritual barriers and how it the needs to bebuilt stronger and stronger. To me, that is really what I am working on and being sincere is an important part.
So this week we have been seeing members and tracting and OYMing so my week was not super eventful or I guess I don't feel that it is. Oh my companion and I are trying to be as creative as possible when it comes to lessons with the members and with non-members so we can spark interest in missionary work or in the lessons. So if you have any ideas....PLEASE send them our way!
I love ya and miss you!
Love!
Elder Christian James Delis
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Hermana Kate Delis
Subject: The mission rocks, per usual
Hey, fam! Happy today!
Well, this week was so hard. Ha. We had this experience that seemed like almost surreal. We had an appointment with M----- this Saturday at 11 and an hour before we went she called us. And we started to talk and she told us "No quiero bautizarme" (I don't want to be baptized). Life got so silent. She talked about how she felt so sad and depressed this whole week--she felt like she was leaving behind her family, her mom, her life, and she just couldn't do it. We asked if we could still come by and she said sure. Oh fam. You hear about moments like that all the time--you just don't believe they happen until you're sitting there on the phone and it happens to you. So I just prayed that we would have the words she needed. Funny enough, the lesson planned we felt funny about, as so we decided in comp study that we'd change it to talk about the gospel of Christ. Good plan change, ha. So anyway, we came by with one of our members and the lesson that followed was incredible. Hno J--- testified of his conversion and how he came to know of the truth of the gospel. We were surprised by some fo the things he said--he made it so clear that there were falsehoods in all other iglesias. It was incredible the things he said--I don't know if I would ever choose to say them like he did, haha, but they were said in the right spirit. After the lesson he apologized to us, actually--he was like "I am sorry I talked to much but I had to say the things that I did--I knew that I was being prompted to say all of them." It was true--it was very Spirit directed, and I was so grateful that we were in an environment where he could say what he needed to, and that the Spirit could testify to him what he felt he needed to say to her and what she needed to hear. Anywho, after Hno J--- talked about his things, the Spirit just POURED into the room. I felt eery sadness that she has felt this week. Not in that moment necessarily, but I have been in her shoes. I know what it feels like to have to make a decision. I knew what it felt like to be confused, really sad, kind of lonely, her pains I just know. I totally understand M---- P---, and I lover her. I just feel exactly where she is right now, and it just breaks my heart. All of our investigators are kind of at a point that I just totally understand. I feel it and their pains just burn in my heart. But here's where life gets really great: I know what it feels like after the pain. Life get exponentially better. I know that there are blessings just waiting for these people. I know that Christ knows them so personally. I know that He lives and He loves them. He is watching over them. He is listening to every prayer they say. In that lesson we testified of that simple reality. It was really simple, but it was so powerful.
The gospel kind of stretches us. It hurts on the inside a lot sometimes. But in those moments we become what Heavenly Father knows that we can become. We see who we really are. We are great. The only thing that holds us back from that understanding is us. M---- hurts a lot right now I think, and if I could take it away from her, I would in an instant. But she is too precious to not have this experience in her life. I don't want to pressure her into anything--nothing. I never what to do that ever. I want this to be all about HER. She is so special. Oh...I am running out of time again, I am sorry. Dang it. More to come next week. :) Pray for M-----, please!
I love you very much!
Hna Delis
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