Week 25: Building a Bow

May 01, 2023

Week 25: Building a Bow

Happy Monday y'all! Yes it's that time again. It's been quite the week! Prepare to hear me say we did stop-bys a lot this time. The bishop of the ward asked us if we would be able to focus some of our efforts on the ward (basically getting in contact with inactive members and finding out if people actually still live in the ward etc.), so we tried to do some of that as often as possible. So yeah! It was a pretty good week overall.

Last Monday we played some board games as a district and WOW that got intense. Board games can either be a great bonding experience or utterly destroy friendships! It's always a great time though.

Tuesday was pretty fun. We went to the post office so Elder Fisher could ship a package because we ran out of time the day before :/

Ooh and you'll never guess what we did that evening! We stopped by a whole bunch of members and people we're teaching! Amazing. It was actually really good though because we were able to have an impromptu lesson with a lady about the Book of Mormon because we happened to catch her at JUST the right moment during her break at work. Funny how that always seems happen hm. We must just be SO lucky! (can you taste the sarcasm?) But really, it's amazing to see the Lord's hand in the work. It happens so frequently that we walk up to someone's house right as they pull up, or catch them at the perfect moment. Right place, right time, but absolutely by no coincidence. So cool.

Oh and we had dinner at our bishop's house and had some tasty "healthy" spaghetti. Not really healthy, but healthier! More like high protein spaghetti. I also found a snail. (pictured below :)

The next day we were able to have lunch at Subway with a newer member of the ward who is an absolute stud. He's only been a member for 7 months but he's a rockstar about sharing the gospel. At lunch we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to watch a lady come in and use some "choice words" to ~express her displeasure~ to one of the employees! It was quite the sight to behold. Oh and the rest of the day was tracting and stop-bys. Yeah...super fun. (Ok it isn't fun, but it's gotta be done. I'll get to that later.)

Thursday was the day we had our weekly district counsel meeting (which I always enjoy. I always learn something and it's a bit of a mid-week recharge) and well...the rest of the day was pretty boring. Mostly tracting and stop-bys and a cancelled lesson last minute. We even resorted to doing some Facebook finding that night. Not our favorite. (but an act of faith!)

Service! Ah finally something interesting! Oh and believe me it was interesting. We helped "The Collector" (as we'll call him) move some more stuff around. Somehow we managed to move a whole baby grand across the apartment through a forest of chairs and art...i think. There was definitely a Ouija board in there. Kept a wide berth from that one. Apparently it belonged to some famous person. (that thing could have belonged to George Washington and I wouldn't have touched that thing. No thanks!) But it was a miracle we were able to get that piano moved...and not contract a disease in the process.

SURPRISE BAPTISM

The other Elders in our district scheduled a baptism for this Saturday and forgot to tell the rest of us. Not sure how that happens. Almost immediately after we had finished planning our day, they sent a group text basically "be there or be square" so...we couldn't be squares! Out went our plans for the day and we got to see their friend Robert get baptized! That was great. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as the rest of the week. Imagine that!

We had a great Sunday this week. The talks in sacrament meeting were stellar, we had several less active/inactive members make it to church, and we had a linger-longer after church that was really well attended! Food is great at bringing people together. AND! We found out that two of my favorite members, the Summers, that were about to move are staying for several more weeks! Just thought I'd add that in there because it was one of the many tender mercies God sent me that day. It was a rough morning, and it just brightened my day and my mood.

Oh and we did stop-bys in the evening. (yaaay)

My spiritual thought for the week is actually about my week. As you probably noticed, (I don't know how you couldn't have) we had a pretty bland/repetitive week. One super quick lesson and a TON of stop-bys and tracting can be pretty discouraging. It's part of missionary work that is important, but it's very mundane and tiring and I frankly don't like doing it. BUT! It's an act of faith. My second trainer, Elder Marshall, would often call tracting "building a bow". Y'all are probably familiar with the story of Nephi where they are in the wilderness and he breaks his bow and his brothers bows lose their spring. Well, no bows = no food when you're in the wilderness. That's pretty bad. So everyone INCLUDING LEHI THE PROPHET gets discouraged and start to murmur. However, in 1 Nephi 16:23 it says, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?"

In this verse, Nephi shows great faith by 1) BUILDING A BOW and 2) SEEKING GUIDANCE from GOD (via the prophet) as to where he should hunt. Nephi showed God that he was willing to put in the work and trusted that he would be directed. As missionaries, we do these "boring" tasks and show God we too are building a bow. We show God that we are willing to, and have the Faith to Find. Then we seek guidance from God as to where we should "hunt" through prayer and the promptings of the Spirit. And, as Nephi says, "...it came to pass that I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our families." (and in our case we find people to teach and bring into the fold of God) Now, while we may not be hunting or slaying wild beasts to feed our families, the same principles apply for each of us. Not just us missionaries, but to ALL of His children. When we show God that we have the faith not only to seek after His guidance but to also ACT upon it, I know that he will direct us. The blessings may not come immediately or easily, but they will ALWAYS be worth it.

(lots of capital letters in this one, but I felt the emphasis was necessary hah)

Well, that about wraps it up for this week! A bit of a longer spiritual thought, but I like the analogy. I think I needed to hear it too. Missionary work isn't always sunshine and blue skies. Speaking of which, we also got an epic thunderstorm this week! That's always good. Anyways, thank yall for reading, I hope to hear from you, and I hope that you have a great week!

God bless.

Med kærlighed,

Elder DeWitt