Simeon's Awesome ... and Sad Week

Alright, so this week was Thanksgiving.  It was an awesome, but also a sad week. First, the sad part.  We had to let many of the people we are teaching go because they choose not to follow Christ’s example and be baptized by someone who has the authority to do so. It is sad to see how the gospel blesses  lives but then they don't want to receive more, but hey, that is a missionary’s life. I don't know if I will ever get used to that part but I will keep trying.

Now for the awesome part! This week we were able to hear an investigator declare she is ready to be baptized! It was so awesome, though when we first met her she thought we were of another faith.  We get confused a lot but now she is moving forward.  It was wonderful to hear her say that!  We are trying our best with the rest of the family to get them on track, as well, but it may take a little while but I know they will all be baptized someday. I will look forward to that.

The weather got a lot less cold this week, probably because I was ordered to rest my ankle for three days because I was not doing it.  To be honest it has been a month since I was supposed to do it but I just could not take looking at our apartment and knowing there is someone out there who needs me.  For those two days I had to keep my attention somewhere else and, in fact, I spent those two days with the Fairbanks, a senior couple here in the ward.  When I called them to tell them I would be moving in or crashing at their apartment for three days, Elder Fairbanks replied, "Now what did I do in the pre-earth life to deserve this?" (he makes a ton of jokes off me). I replied, "hey, you promised you would, so stick to it, Buster."  He replied, "I was writing in my gratitude journal before you called … now how can I be grateful for this?"  They are a wonderful couple and they put up with me for two days so I am grateful. I still have to keep icing my ankle, which is a drag, but if I want to get better I have to be obedient for it is better anyway. 

That reminds me of a scripture I read this week in Mosiah chapter 2:41: “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold outfaithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.”

So as we keep the Lord's commandments we are blessed for it and I pray we all continue to do just that.