This week I stopped by that lady's house who got angry at us for not moving her fridge. Turns out she’s just kind of like that because she was nice to us at the door and semi-apologized. At the end of the conversation, she said, "you look like you've been out awhile, how long have you been out?" That made me laugh. Maybe I do look like that. I went and got my hair cut at this guy's place. While sitting there after a long morning, I almost wanted to just zone out and watch the wrestling match they had playing. It was this cool, underground Mexican barber. He had old Muhammad Ali/Frazer posters up and I thought we'd talk old boxing. Immediately, we started talking gospel. We talked for thirty minutes about Jesus and about happiness. He invited us on his daily walk on Monday. He asked what I did, and I told him that we served the community and share messages about Christ. A meth dealer, fully tattooed, and out of prison, he had flipped his life around and is looking for a church to attend. Well, we got you. Later, we had a lesson with a guy we were referred to two months ago. When we first met him he didn't seem too interested; however, we set a day to come back. We finally got in contact with him yesterday after having forgotten about him for awhile. I didn’t think the lesson would go anywhere. We arrived and he was shirtless working on a car. After he grabbed a shirt, we started talking. I felt I should ask, "do you have any questions?" He had genuine questions, was coming out of a really hard time in his life, and wanted to draw closer to Christ. He was willing to listen. It made me incredibly happy to talk to someone who cared. He openly talked with us about his pornography addiction and how he feels constantly guilty. The conversation was so peaceful. After fifty straight minutes of discussing doctrine, we left. Our hearts were filled. As I have gone further in my mission, I have seen the quiet voice of the spirit speak to me in ways I previously thought unimaginable. This week we really wanted to see our friend Israel come to church. He'd told us he would make it when we were at his house talking about it. On Sunday, we came twenty minutes early and guess who was there to greet us? He was there even before we were. We asked him to help prepare the Sacrament and, while talking with him, he told us he really wanted to bless it. I lined that up and he blessed the Sacrament after having been absent from church for some time now. The opening hymn was too fitting: Israel, Israel, God is Calling. After a meeting this week, we all drove up to Scottsbluff to film a video we were asked to make for our Facebook page. It felt so good to know what I was doing. It was my third walk, talk, and transition short video. As I ironed out the kinks in the choreography as it pertained to where and when they'd walk, I found it so natural. I loved working with each person to know what they were going to do. I told them briefly what I wanted them to talk about, which I just came up with off the top of my head, and gave a location. I felt I was able to give them just enough to get them started but not enough to impede their creativity. We walked through it and it all came together. In my head, I knew exactly what I wanted. As the execution was refined, the "how" became clearer. In the process, I completely forgot the final product and just tackled each problem on its own. Like Matt Damon said in The Martian, if you solve enough problems, you get to go home. It came together really nicely; I was very happy with it. The social media specialists were shocked I had finished so quickly and were impressed with the quality. Apparently, in their social media meeting, they began with our slide: "there's more than just corn in Nebraska (it's mostly corn tho)." They were using our page as an example. I spent a long time talking with my mom this week. After she showed me Seahawks plays from a crazy game against Cam Newton and the Patriots, she read me an article from the New York Times. It was a series of different six-word essays about life during Corona. One of my favorites was: "COVID, Floyd, Fires; I can't breathe." I thought about how I would describe my mission. This is what I said: I gave up all, gained everything.
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Ok, seriously, so many incredible things happened today. The emotions of today were almost as drastic in their constant changing as the midwest weather. We got a call from this lady asking if we were doing anything. We said we had a pretty open schedule and she offered some service opportunities and to buy us pizza for dinner. We said that'd be great, but then she mentioned we'd have to come into their home to do the service. We told her we couldn't go in homes yet. She asked us if we could because it was in a basement. I said that we really couldn't. She said, "no one in the home is sick and you guys still can't come in? Can you just break the rule a little bit?" "Unfortunately, it's still a mission rule—." "That's stupid, whatever, fine, I don't need you guys." She then hung up angrily. I felt bad, but at the same time I didn't feel in the wrong. We then went and visited this old man (outside) whose wife recently passed away. In a previous meeting, he had mentioned how he just stubbornly made it through 51 years of marriage. He also explained that caring for his wife was more out of duty than out of love. He just seemed so sad and hopeless at the end of his life. In a long conversation, he told us he feared the unknown. As this poor man with one working artery, enduring 51 years of a marriage fueled out of responsibility, sat there giving us life advice, a quote from Malcom Gladwell came to mind: "Knowing my ending makes the beginning super easy, right? It's totally clear what I have to do; and totally clear what I shouldn’t do!" I know my ending -- to reside with God one day. That makes it totally clear what I shouldn't do: I shouldn't fall away, lose my focus, and set my heart on things that don't last. It's totally clear what I should do: wake up every morning, give what I have and rely on God. Elder DeRemer and I had an amazing exchange. Specifically, the exchange review. We sat and talked for awhile. I noted how much more positive he seemed since Casper. He agreed. I asked him what differences he saw in me. He told me I was a lot more patient and reverent. That stuck out to me. Both of those attributes are not the first thing to pop in one's head when one thinks of me. I felt like I should bring up Elder Keenan. I talked about how difficult it was for me to get along with him. Elder Keenan is great, but sometimes I have trouble communicating with him. He is quiet anyway, but he bottles up and takes it out with slight, sarcastic comments or by going around trying to fix everything he thinks I do wrong. My response to that is to roast him for saying something I didn't like or to keep doing things I know bother him till he breaks. Not great communicating skills. I talked with Elder DeRemer about this and he, in an inspired way, told me about respect. If Elder Keenan doesn’t respect you, he won't listen. He also advised, "hold your tongue. Just do it." I agreed; I know it’s immature. It’s not a horrible problem with us or anything, it's just something that could be better. Elder DeRemer told me he was going to have both of us sit there when they arrived to pick me up and he would mediate a discussion. The other companions went into another room and we discussed. I told him how I felt concerning his sarcasm, not as a humorous tool, but to decompress his frustration without confronting me directly. He talked about how he does do that, and that he wants to change. I said the same thing about me leading him along. Afterward, there was this incredible lightness. It's as if we were both choosing to be miserable. Now it felt as though a collapsed bridge was finally lifted from the bottom of a river. It felt amazing and I'm glad I'm among good people to lift me like Elder DeRemer, and willing people like Elder Keenan. Later, Elder DeRemer suggested that I should pray about something specific. At first I didn't understand why, but I tried it, and as I struggled through some hectic thoughts, a voice clear as day said, "I see you Henry; I know you." I felt so comforted. Even now, in recording this experience, I feel a sense of relief from the ever hectic world. I hope to maintain such peace. I was happy to leave a training meeting this week with this line from one of President Palmer's counselors: "When your story becomes their story, it becomes our story, which becomes God's story." That touched me. That entire day, I felt, as soon as I sat down with someone, that their story was my story. When I meet someone on the street, I want their story to be my story! If I understand their story, I can retell it in an inspired way; a new perspective to shed light into cracks previously shadowed by bias. The multilayered and rocky surface of life can only be fully illuminated by the the light of Christ, which encapsulates all social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual aspects of life. We are not complete yet, thus we must rely on others' gifts to help illuminate our lives to the fullest extent. I felt that my story became the angry lady's story, it became the old man's story, and it even became my companion's story. When we are one, we can be God’s.
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