What a week it has been, some of the most memorable days was on Tuesday, we felt pretty good about the day and went out super excited to get to work, we had finished weekly planning and the first house we stopped by we noticed a man taking in his trash, we went up and greeted him and started a pleasant conversation which descended slowly until he was basically telling us we were dead wrong and us telling him that he was as well. So basically a bash, he told us that he had prayed about it and he knew that we were dead wrong. Which worried me a little until I asked if he had read anything in the Book of Mormon he told us he hadn't because he knew it was wrong. After going back and forth about the importance of reading he told us that it was only on faith that we were saved and that the Book of Mormon did not have any evidences to support it, his basic concept is that faith is only faith if there is known evidence to back it up, so unless you have a knowledge of physical things then its not faith... I got pretty fired up about it I have to admit, and straight up told him that he believed then that it is only by evidence that we were saved then (according to his view) it was all just going in circles with me getting more and more angry, until I just told him to read and we left with him laughing at us as we left. That put me in a bad mood, for most of the time till we started knocking on doors, after having little success we finally struck up a conversation about chickens with this lady, because she had a little coop in her front yard, and Elder Bergeron had a good knowledge about chickens. We eventually got to relate it to the gospel and it turns out that her daughter had died a year ago and her she had just barely left her super abusive husband and was wondering about why we faced all the challenges of life and where we went after we died, we were able to share a little bit of the plan of salvation and left her will a pamphlet because she didn't feel up to listening at that moment, we continued on and met a less active member who was super nice and gave us water and told us he thought we were awesome, which was great, the day was looking up and we had regained some of the enthusiasm that we had earlier in the day. We went and knocked on the less active members neighbor and he opened up and he seemed pretty nice, asked a lot of questions, and it ended up once again turning into a bash, he was trying to twist our words and catch us in a trap with all his question and eventually Elder Bergeron laughed a little in frustration and he took offense and promptly said goodbye and slammed the door, once again we were struggling to maintain a happy attitude, it was interesting to note that I remembered that guy from a year before when we accidentally knocked into Seco Canyon from Saugus and he hadn't changed at all, but I was a completely different person from before, because I had gotten out of my comfort zone and struggled a lot, but he was afraid to try something new, he had made the decision that the bible was enough and we would never need to stretch or grow, he was comfortable and wasn't about to let anyone change him. anyway we went away super frustrated and went to Shannon's house, we knocked and she came out, and we were able to share the first part of the plan of salvation when she prayed she said a super simple prayer, all she said was "Heavenly Father, I am trying..." and that really struck me as so relevant to us all, we are all trying. When she said those words the spirit came in and after when I asked what she felt she said the felt warm and comfortable.
We booked it from the appointment because we were late for our next appointment we were in such a hurry that we almost missed someone we had met earlier in the week walking on by, we had gotten her number down wrong and she really wanted to go to church, so we stopped and got the number down said hi to her little daughter and left for the next appointment, really stressing the importance of not rushing while there are those on the wayside perishing in unbelief.
Sorry that was long an drawn out.
It is interesting I have been here for nearly 3 months and we are still finding new things in the apartment, I found an April 2011 sunday afternoon session of general conference DVD in the book shelf and for fun watched it, each talk was super good and I would encourage all to go back and look at past conferences, one thing that stuck out to me the concept that was stated in the talk "what manner of men and woman aught ye to be" the speaker compared doing and being, and the concept of how everyone seems to have a 'to do' list but nobody seems to have a 'to be' list, why? To do's are events that take place, checklists that you can check off when done, but to be's are constant never ending, we can do good things but we should never stop being a good person. we can do fun things with each other, but we should never stop being loving parent's or siblings. An invitation to myself when I heard that talk was to make a to be list, of the man I wanted to become and to live up to my true potential. What is on your to be list?
I love you all so much, I have a good supply of hand me down socks from my previous companion that are still in excellent shape, the freezer is packed with hot pockets and quick make meals, my companion only gets on my nerves some of the time, mostly because he is strong willed and can often push me out of decision making, so I am learning to respond appropriately, the ward members are all super nice, the people here only bash half the time... the closer we get to the grace baptist church the more it seems to happen. We have only run into Jehovah's Witness missionaries (aka Pioneers, their missionary work is called pioneering, so next time you see them be polite and ask them how their pioneering is going) just once or twice. I have only lost my temper twice... both were described previously. We have a few solid investigators who have their struggles but we are moving past them. I am struggling to keep my desk clean so I have to step up my game on that. I found a missionary advice book that has some really cool suggestions which i have been taking in. I have only gotten lost twice as the driver and I have only gotten one aggressive driving on the tiwi machine in the car... and that is because I was distracted and nearly ran a red light... I will be more attentive in the future. I have nearly broke my phone. almost fainted through lack of water and too much heat yesterday.
I never want to stop being a missionary. I grow more and more in denial the closer I get to coming home, I am sure I will finally accept it when I am on the plane.
Stay safe, and keep pressing forward, Its all true, the gospel is the way of happiness, and it is so important to maintain an eternal perspective, we met someone who had lost his faith in God because his sister died, he used to be a member but got disenchanted because of those bad things that happened. He didn't have an eternal perspective and he has lost it all, he is in open rebellion against God, he loves us but will not discuss religion at all. He doesn't believe in God and is not interested in learning if he is there. Maintain an eternal perspective, this life is only a blip in the eternities, remember that no matter how hard it gets that it won't last.
Love
Josh
From Dad:
Hi Josh,
It's been a good week here on the acreage. We had lots of company and help this week. Grandma and Grandpa Smith came up Friday night and Auntie Wendy's son Greg came up with his friend Eric.
Ben and I were just finishing sheeting the garage roof on Friday when G&G pulled up and helped finish it. Saturday was beautiful and Grandpa and I worked on the roof all day with help from Auntie Wendy and her son Greg and his friend Eric later in the day to finish one side of the garage roof. It is a huge relief to get the roof done.
Sam and Ben left early for Red deer to run in a Spartan race. Sam originally signed up with promises from friends to do it with him, but everyone cancelled. So Ben volunteered to do it with him. It was a bonding day for them doing something hard and fun. They even helped on the garage after though Sam was almost falling off the ladder with exhaustion.
Ben and I have been doing P90x and it's amazing how having someone work together with you on a goal is so much more motivating. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much more energy I have when I exercise.
Today we went and got a kitten. We are becoming a true acreage family. I'm trying to be very stern about it being an outside cat. We shall see.
Mom and I are so pleased with each of our precious children. I think you all came to us with amazing potential and talents from the pre-existence.
Have a great week. I'm afraid I may be too late!
Dad.
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