Hump Day! Can you believe it? Nine months went by so fast, and we know that
the next nine months will go even faster!
We found out that the storm
we were in when I last wrote was the same as a category 2 on the scale of
tropical storms, which is pretty big, and the one coming tonight is going to be
even bigger! There was a lot of damage
done by this last one, especially in Perth.
We’re on our way back to Albany now.
There are trees down all over the place, even giant ones!
We had a wonderful lesson
with Phil L. last night with President Ellefson in attendance. We waited until after the boys had gone to
bed so that we could have his undivided attention. I prayed very hard that I would be able to
keep my focus, and be able to speak confidently and clearly and bear testimony
boldly. The Lord really and truly
answered my prayers, because I didn’t get foggy at all, and my companion did
well, so that it was the best overall experience of our mission so far in
giving a lesson! The Lord’s spirit was
there, and Phil, though he hasn’t stopped smoking, committed to prayer and
reading, and even gave a kneeling prayer himself at the end!
You may be asking yourself,
“What happened? Isn’t he the guy who
failed the quit smoking program so badly?”
Yes! We sent him a text and a note in the mail
telling him not to give up on himself, but that we have faith that he can
conquer this. But we had pretty much
decided that someone else would have to help him.
Then one night last week he
had a very vivid dream of deamons and monsters after him. He was frightened almost to death, when a
voice said to him, “Go to God!” When he
turned himself toward God, the deamons were immediately gone, and he said he
felt a beautiful peace, which lasted through the night, even after he opened
his eyes. The next day he called Pres.
Ellefson (his father-in-law and very dear friend), and asked what he had to do
to be baptized!
Pres. E. called us and asked,
“How soon can you get here?” He wanted
to get him baptized right away because he is afraid he will lose the desire,
and he said he wants him to feel the help of the Holy Ghost. First thing we did when we arrived is to meet
with President and try to slow him down a little! We explained that to go ahead now, in a rush,
even if he did quit smoking this week, would be setting him up for failure
again. He needs to show that he is
keeping his commitments before we can recommend him for baptism! President loves him so much, he just wants it
so bad…
Phil is a very anxious man,
so he said that he can’t give up smoking while these storms are raging (he
works for the road crews that do clean-up), but he assures us that he will quit
on his own. So we went ahead and gave
him the first lesson on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We’ll see what happens.
Phil escaped death by what he
says was a miracle yesterday in the storm.
He was out on the highway cleaning away debris and limbs when his mate
yelled, “Truck!” In a matter of 3 or 4
seconds, he looked up just in time to see a big truck pulling a double trailer
coming head-on with the back trailer coming sideways right at him! He threw the chainsaw and took off running
behind his own truck, fully expecting his truck and himself to be knocked out
into the bush. His mate fell, having
pulled all the muscles in his leg, and as Phil saw him, he felt the trailer go
by on the other side of him, to his great surprise and relief! Somehow in that moment the driver had gunned
the engine and gained control. He pulled
off, shaken himself, and came back apologizing, but Phil’s partner had to go to
the hospital with torn or pulled ligaments, I imagine. Wow, that scared him! He said he and his wife are considering
whether he should turn in his resignation.
We have another appointment
with the Bansoys tonight. He hasn’t
missed a Sacrament Meeting since we first met them! We’re teaching the rest of the Plan of Salvation
lesson tonight I hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment