May 19, 2014

We got our final large display in! The Restoration board. FINALLY. We had a total of 5 events this weekend. Luckily we have AMAZING Zone Leaders who have been our newest comrades and so we let them babysit one of the displays to take it to 2 of the events. It was the first time we left the baby in someone else's hands. I literally felt like a mom calling to make sure everything was running ok. Our ZLs are the only ones we trust to babysit it - we now joke at calling them the "PVC Elders". They're having a little too much fun being our little helpers. We've now let them join our ranks in helping us with videos and techy tips.  

I haven't washed my hand all weekend as I got to shake hands with Elder Jeffery R. Holland.....

yeah. i know. ok, kidding about the no handwashing.

He is the FUNNIEST man alive. Only he could spend 45 minutes telling a story keeping people's interest and also teaching at the same time. He told a story about when he was 10 years old - The Bishop, Elders Quorum pres, and Sunday school Pres came to their home to find his inactive father smoking at the front door. After a bit of awkwardness, the Bishop said, 'Frank, we've come to call you to teach sunday school.' Frank blurted out, "But I smoke!" As quickly as Frank responded, the Bishop quickly retaliated "That's your problem, and not ours!" A bit more awkwardness passed as this was not the standard church response...

Frank looked away at 10 year old Jeff in the doorway. There was no reason Jeff should have been there considering the time period. normally, the mom would have called him out if he hadn't left himself. As Frank looked at Jeff, back at the Bishop, and back at Jeff again, the thought came into Frank's mind, "Frank, they are asking you to teach Jeff's class."

Elder Holland says, "My dad was a lousy latter-day saint, but he was a perfect father. He would do anything for his children."

Finally, Frank looked at the Bishop and said, "When do you want me to do this thing?"

They answered, "Well, Frank, if you're asking when do we need you, the answer is this Sunday. If you're asking when you can do it, that is up to you."
Frank took his pack of Camels out of his shirt pocket and tossed it into the open fireplace grate and said, "I will be there Sunday." And he was, as a non-smoking, non-drinking, tithe-paying member of the church.

Elder Holland said that those three men saved his life by doing their duty, by following the spirit, and looking for someone other than the same ten people. "Believe in the unlikely. Never stop having hope in the unlikely. How many other Jeff Hollands are out there?  How many others are out there that could serve if given the opportunity but don't because they aren't challenged to do so?"

And then with the fervor in Elder Holland's voice that we all love and recognize:
"If you think for one minute that god doesn't talk to the cigarette-smoking, coffee-drinking, sometimes beer-drinking nonmembers or inactive members of the church, you are wrong. WE may not speak to them, but God most assuredly does!"

"If we've got it, then we have got to give it". "We have an obligation to give what has been given to us."

I think sometimes 'believing in the unlikely' includes believing in ourselves. Sometimes we are the unlikely. We are the ones against all odds. But with that, sometimes that means we are the ones holding ourselves back the most. This week in the scriptures I studied the phrase, "waiting upon the Lord." After a crazy footnote mad session I learned that it is actually Hebrew for "hope for or anticipate; trust".

Through study of all these scriptures I learned that this kind of waiting is not passive. It is active. Waiting upon the Lord means giving up our will for his. It means being our best selves. It means being completely obedient. It means exercising more patience. I love what Elder Hales says: "Does this mean we will always understand our challenges? Won’t all of us, sometime, have reason to ask, “O God, where art thou?” Yes! Yes, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Then, in the dawn of our increased faith and understanding, we arise and choose to wait upon the Lord, saying, “Thy will be done.”^"

^{Choose to wait upon the Lord. Choose to be proactive. Choose to set aside bad habits. Choose to give a selfless prayer.
Choose to remain hopeful in the unlikely.}

^{I get to see Holland again this week. Man I live a rough life. More spiritual goodies to come next week!}

^{Love,
Sister Bell}