Yesterday I felt like I should start reading Our Search for Happiness. I haven't finished it yet, but its a good book and I would encourage others to read it. Anyways, while reading it I came across Hel. 5:12 quoted in it. Here it is "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they can not fall."
Wow, its a long verse. But, its a
powerful one too. I believe I found that verse for a reason, because we ended up
using it in both of the lessons we had yesterday. One being with the man whose
wife committed suicide, and one with the less active member we found who I also
told you about last week.
I think all that I could say about that
verse is clearly stated in it. Who doesn't feel like at times in our lives we
have mighty winds, shafts in the whirlwind, hail, and a mighty storm beating
against us? Physically and spiritually. I know we all experience times like
that. But the question isn't if hard things will come our way, but how we endure
it.
And the truth is, a lot of these things
we cant endure by ourselves. We need something, someone to carry us through it.
And that rock is Christ. If we rely and build ourselves on the foundation of
Christ, we can endure the crosses of the world and find true joy not only in
this life but also in the life to come. I am so greatful that I have had the
opportunity to carry this message of hope to others.
Jumping to a new subject, Dori! I
mentioned Dori awhile ago and that we had hope she would decide to be baptized,
well, good news, this last week Dori decided to prepare to be baptized on Dec.
28! Its super exciting, and Lilis baptism is coming up on Nov. 16. There is so
much for people new to the gospel and church to learn, but Lili has a powerful
testimony and has been doing awesome. Recently her son has started to come to
church too. We hope he will be baptized too, but it probably wont be when Lili
is. Members present in these lessons have made a huge difference too. Its really
incredible how much the members help these people who are new to the gospel,
they play a very vital role. After Dori commited to baptism our member who was
present for the lesson (Kata, who is the relief society president and an
incredibly amazing person) said a powerful prayer which was very powerful and
touching to Dori.
More exciting news, 4 branches were moved into the Hungary stake. They
weren't created but moved from being independent branches to being in the
stake. It's a confusing concept I think, and maybe someone at home can explain it
to others who might not. But anyways, apparently what it means is that Hungary
is getting close (possibly very close) to creating a second stake!
I'm not just saying it because I'm a missionary and because I like this work.
The work really is being hastened. The other day a few of us missionaries were
discussing about how progress was going around the mission. We realized piece by
piece that its not just Eger, but all of Hungary that is experiencing a surge of
success and growing interest in the Church and in following Christ. It started
out with all of us just casually talking about stuff but it turned into a
powerful moment when we realized what it was.
I also performed surgery this last week! I don't think I could be a doctor
one day, the surgery wasn't a success, pictures and explanation coming
later.
On an unrelated note, we also visited the mental hospital again. We got to
visit with a member there, it was my second time. Its always a neat experience.
She is so kind and loves to read hymns so we sing some for her.
Sacrament was great, my companionship had 4 investigators which was
awesome. After sacrament a member pulled me aside and asked me to translate a
story for her to our senior sister missionaries, Sis. Herd. I was worried at first
and almost got one of the more experience missionaries like I have done so many
times before. But I decided to try and was super excited because I was actually
able to translate for her! Progress! And also, what she said was very special
and neat, to respect her experience I'm not going to write it, but I felt the
spirit strongly as I translated the experience for her.
This next week we are having a huge branch halloween party on the 30th,
from 4 until like 7 or 8. Its gonna be awesome a really cool sister in the
branch (Sis. Piroska, or in English Sis. Red) was in charge of organizing it. I
think we are going to be carving pumpkins with candy and music and costumes,
it'll be way good. There is also a big missionary meeting in Budapest this week
on Thursday.
I'm gonna send some pictures, sorry no time today to email anyone individually, but I appreciate all the messages.
Much love
Elder Shoop
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