Well this week was a very full week. We had so many people to visit
and things to do, because of the lack of time that we had last week,
that looking back on the week it was just packed. Elder Hurley and I
got to go on exchanges this week and it was great to be with him. He
was a convert at the age of 15 and it's great to hear and feel of his
strong testimony. It's also very different being with someone that
hasn't grown up in the gospel and is new to the mission. I realized
how we basically have a different language as members of the church
and it helped me think of how investigators must feel if we use a lot
of new words. But we had a fun exchanged and it was fun to be part of
his first exchange of the mission.
We also had some great experiences and progress with some
investigators. One investigator wasn't following through with
commitments and so we had to have a do or drop type lesson with her
and by the end she came out of it with a new determination to read he
Book of Mormon and we even set a baptismal date with her so that was
awesome. The investigator that came to conference was able to make it to the priesthood hour at church and we were super excited. But then
the priesthood lesson turned to a why soda and energy drinks are
against the word of wisdom, which seemed to confuse our investigator.
So we will need to go over that more with him this week. We also found
a cool new family that is really active in a baptist church but was
really excited about the plan of salvation and asked us to come by
before we could even ask!
But the most impacting thing that happened this week was a two hour
trip to a hospital of one of our members in the ward. Her mom had been in the hospital for a few weeks because a tumor in her lung had become really dangerous. As we arrived at the hospital room the entire staff of doctors and nurses were with the family. The night before had been a rough one and she went from being able to see, hear, and move every once in a while to not being able to do any of that. The doctors had to tell the family that there was nothing more they could do. It was a heart wrenching feeling to see a family completely break down and not know what to do. It was one of the first times in my life that I felt
that I didn't have words of comfort that could give them the comfort
they needed. We gave them all blessings and it was a really
interesting feeling giving the mom a blessing when she was so close to
her death. The only thing we could do was testify of the plan of
salvation and especially the Atonement. It was a testimony builder to
me that the Atonement of Jesus Christ really does give us comfort,
peace, and happiness that can't come from anything else. It doesn't
mean we won't go trough hard times, mourn at the loss of loved ones,
or feel pain in the difficult times. But it means that we aren't going
through it alone. Christ has already suffered all of the pain, sorrow,
and sicknesses that we will ever go through and because of His
infinite Atonement for us we can have not only have the comfort and peace at the end of it all but also the strength to endure through the trial. I know that Christ lives. He loves us and because of His Atonement we can all feel strength, peace and comfort in the many trials we face in this life. I know that we all will live again and see our loved ones. And I'm grateful for the plan that God has given us so that we won't just see each other after this life but live together as families. I
love you all and testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Elder Hyde
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