Faith, Hope & Charity

Our Little Disctrict here in Christiansburg and Blacksburg.

Me being soaked in the rain when my umbrella decided to turn inside out.

I don't know if it's something wrong with the email system, but both Sister Hill and I didn't get any email today.... So I guess I'll just write anyway because I love you :) I forgot to tell you last week how we had a Zone P-day and we played Frisbee with all the Elders in our zone and then Chris Cloyd made everyone enchiladas. I told him they better be good since he's from Arizona too and I know good Mexican food when I taste it - and surprisingly they really were good, so he passed the test. It's funny, he always tries to threaten me by saying he'll tell my dad on me and he loves to talk about people we both know whenever he sees me. And he also likes to make fun of my age since I'm the oldest missionary in the mission - last time he said it I threw my shoe at him.... He's only the third Elder I've assaulted with shoes or notebooks - I think I'm doing pretty good. It was really weird the other day because I felt kind of like an Elder because I was wearing a tie - it was the “Ugly Tie Father’s Day Social” at the nursing home we volunteer at. Those people crack me up. We got the ties from the Elders and they were pretty dang ugly - and dirty...

Anyway, on Saturday I got all excited because they were having an antique car "cruisin" on Main Street in Christiansburg, so I thought maybe Gay and Larry would be there - but alas, they weren't. But I think if it hadn't been pouring cats and dogs that day, they probably would have been. That would have been fun. But we've been having a good week.

We met a lady that was interested in knowing more about the church because her daughter is a direct descendent of Joseph Smith. And when we showed her the pictures of Joseph Smith on the pamphlets we hand out, she said it was crazy how much the pictures looked like her ex-husband. And apparently paranoid schizophrenia runs in that line of the Smith family. She was really neat and is really on the ball about a lot of things, it just makes me wonder if she will accept the gospel because it goes right along with what she already believes, or because she's already on the right track with things she'll feel she doesn't need the gospel. I hope it's the first.

Then I had an experience I've never encountered on my mission so far. We were tracting and we knocked on the door and this lady opens the door, sees us and exclaims "Oh my gosh! It's so good to see you! Come in, Come in!" That's definitely not a reaction we normally get. She then proceeds to tell us that she used to be a member of the Church, went through the temple and everything, but just kind of fell away when she moved out to Virginia (she joined in Vegas). So we're going to see if we can find her records because she says she doesn't think her name was ever removed, but it's obvious she must not have really understood much about the church, either that or it's been so long, just by the way she talked. So she wants us to come back and help her get some religion back in her life and be in prayer with us. And then just a couple trailers down we knock on the door of a lady that tells us that she used to listen to the missionaries several years ago in another town nearby and hadn't seen anyone from our church since she moved. Just goes to show that missionaries really are led to people that Heavenly Father is preparing to listen to us. Even if most of the time we don't see it.

I was pondering the other day about hope, and what it really means to have hope. And it occurred to me that hope could be likened to the initial desire that you have to have for anything else to work. I mean, to learn anything, to have anything be meaningful to you, to do anything, you have to actually WANT it to be a part of your life and believe that it will make a difference. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone else, but in my head it did. And then all those scriptures that talk about Faith, Hope and Charity together came to mean something a little different to me. How those three are really the most important, just like the scriptures say because you have to not only know who Jesus Christ is and what he did for us and believe that it's true, you have to actually want to believe that it's true and want the blessings He promises and that He really will give them to you. And then you have to act on those beliefs and follow Christ's example and help others do the same. I know I'm not explaining it very well - it all sounded better in my head. But when you think about it, it goes right along with the three things that we can take with us when we die - who we are (our will, our habits, our personality, etc.), the knowledge that we've gained (especially about the gospel and our testimony of Jesus Christ), and our relationships with other people (especially our family). Hope, Faith and Charity. Anyway, those are the really important things in life.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well. Hope to hear from you all soon! Love you!