Day 120-Sea Turtles- July 26, 2006
Today has been a pretty relaxing P-day so far. Elder Oram, Elder Phelps and our zone leaders, Elder Spencer and Elder Hall, came over today to hang out. They raided our ice box, but I didn’t care. We’ve got tons of food here, thanks to Sister D. There is no way we could eat it all.
I can’t remember how many times I’ve mentioned Sister D in my journal. Whatever it is, it’s not enough. She’s a less active member who is trying to come back to church. She loves the missionaries and has been getting their groceries for them since before I was here. Every missionary wants to be in Herndon now because of the generous members like Sister D. I’m so thankful for all she’s done for me on my mission.
A little bit of trivia. The member that we helped move on {Day 32} of my journal was Sister D and her son. Elder Buttars was worried at the time because he thought Sister D might leave Herndon; but she didn’t. We helped load up their stuff and then helped them unload it. It was a fair amount of work, but it was the least I could do after all she’s done for us missionaries.
Later today…
This is the worst day of my mission so far. I called S this evening to set up a time to meet with us tomorrow. She said that she can’t meet with us anymore. I’d like to say it’s because her husband told her not to see us. But, that’s not the reason. Her pastor had talked with her husband and made him concerned. The youth pastor had talked with her son and made him concerned. Both the husband and the son talked with S and told her not to meet with us anymore. But, that’s not why she has stopped. I’ll tell you why she stopped. “Anti-” (grrrr…) S was wanting answers to a lot of questions. “Why do you believe we can become like Gods?” All those scriptures from Isaiah? {Day 109} about there being no Gods before and no Gods after? Now, I love to answer S’s questions as stated many times before, but answering questions prompted by anti- makes me hesitant for 2 reasons:
First: Satan will tell you 10 truths if he can make you believe one lie. I felt that whatever I answered, her blue piece of paper would have half-truths and out-and-out lies on it condemning me for my words. I felt like Amulek contending with Zeezrom. (Alma 11:26-40) Not to put S in the place of Zeezrom, but the questions she asked always seemed to make my answers come out as an admission of guilt; wanting to stress that this wasn’t S’s doing. This anti- was forced upon her. Now granted, she continued to read it after her pastor left. If she would have tried to read the Book of Mormon instead, things would have been different. I know it.
Second: I told S that the full gospel of Jesus Christ is like a house. (You know how much we missionaries love a good metaphor.) We start with the foundation of the gospel and work our way up. You wouldn’t try to set the roof on the bottom and build the house on top of it, would you? It’s the same way with the gospel. Basics first and then deep doctrine is last. But that’s what happened to S. The anti- that she got was all about the deep doctrine of the church. They might as well have dropped a roof on her…
(Here Logan draws a picture of roof labeled “ANTI” being dropped on someone. It is similar to the scene from “The Wizard of Oz”. It also shows two missionaries with a hoe and a wheelbarrow with two bags of “Basics”. The caption says, “Okay, S. We’re here to start you off on a firm foundation!” Caption at the bottom of the picture says, “Oh, what a world…”
Oh, how I love a good editorial cartoon. It almost takes away the pain of not teaching S tomorrow or going to the Visitor’s Center on Saturday. Although, after I got off the phone with S, I called D to see what he was doing. I forgot to mention; yesterday we didn’t see A. He is still in jail. If he wants out, he’s got to pay the bail; which at this point, he can’t. So I don’t know what will happen with him. But anyway, I called D and asked him if he would like to go to the Visitor’s Center on Saturday. He said, “Yeah!” As it turns out, D is leaving for Minnesota on Sunday, so we told him that he needed to leave D.C. with a bang by visiting the D.C. Temple with us. We’ll keep an eye on him.
So today was definitely a low point in my mission. Just looking at the Herndon area; A is in jail, N stopped investigating, W lost interest and now S; … all very depressing. I remember back on {Day 86}, Day of the Mulberry, Part II; I was waiting to find out what happened to my companion. It was about 11:00 pm, Elders Spencer and Goodrich were sitting with me in the waiting room. The T.V. was on. It was showing a program on Animal Planet about sea-turtles. Now, as missionaries, we really aren’t suppose to watch T.V., but we really didn’t have any way to turn it off; plus, it was educational. So I watched some of it. It showed how the baby sea-turtles, after they hatch from their shells, scurry across the beach to try to make it to the ocean. A whole bunch of sea-turtles started out all heading for the water. Predators lurking on the beach then came up and began to eat them. A seagull would pluck one up and that’d be it for him. Large crabs would also grab a baby sea-turtle and drag him off; before he could make it to the safety of the ocean. Some of the sea-turtles would get lost. They’d get turned around and lose sight of the ocean. Then they’d wander around on the beach until the hot sun would be too much and then they would die from the heat. Many sea-turtles started out for the ocean, but only a few of them made it. If you put this in the context of people who investigate the church; you can see how many people start out with good intentions, but over time, opposition stops many of them from progressing and reaching the waters of baptism. The seagulls of anit-, the crabs of unsupportive family members and the wandering around in the sun is like those investigators who won’t commit to things; who don’t see the importance of religion. Very few make it to the water. Salvation is not easy.
I’ll continue to pray for S that some day she might want to investigate the church further, that se may one day know that there’s more to God than what can be found in the Bible. I’ll try to not let it get me down. I’m really going to miss teaching S. She always asked such good questions. Oh well, as the saying goes, “There are a lot of fish in the sea.” That may be true, but I know for a fact that there are a lot fewer sea-turtles. So long, S.
Maybe someday…
I can’t remember how many times I’ve mentioned Sister D in my journal. Whatever it is, it’s not enough. She’s a less active member who is trying to come back to church. She loves the missionaries and has been getting their groceries for them since before I was here. Every missionary wants to be in Herndon now because of the generous members like Sister D. I’m so thankful for all she’s done for me on my mission.
A little bit of trivia. The member that we helped move on {Day 32} of my journal was Sister D and her son. Elder Buttars was worried at the time because he thought Sister D might leave Herndon; but she didn’t. We helped load up their stuff and then helped them unload it. It was a fair amount of work, but it was the least I could do after all she’s done for us missionaries.
Later today…
This is the worst day of my mission so far. I called S this evening to set up a time to meet with us tomorrow. She said that she can’t meet with us anymore. I’d like to say it’s because her husband told her not to see us. But, that’s not the reason. Her pastor had talked with her husband and made him concerned. The youth pastor had talked with her son and made him concerned. Both the husband and the son talked with S and told her not to meet with us anymore. But, that’s not why she has stopped. I’ll tell you why she stopped. “Anti-” (grrrr…) S was wanting answers to a lot of questions. “Why do you believe we can become like Gods?” All those scriptures from Isaiah? {Day 109} about there being no Gods before and no Gods after? Now, I love to answer S’s questions as stated many times before, but answering questions prompted by anti- makes me hesitant for 2 reasons:
First: Satan will tell you 10 truths if he can make you believe one lie. I felt that whatever I answered, her blue piece of paper would have half-truths and out-and-out lies on it condemning me for my words. I felt like Amulek contending with Zeezrom. (Alma 11:26-40) Not to put S in the place of Zeezrom, but the questions she asked always seemed to make my answers come out as an admission of guilt; wanting to stress that this wasn’t S’s doing. This anti- was forced upon her. Now granted, she continued to read it after her pastor left. If she would have tried to read the Book of Mormon instead, things would have been different. I know it.
Second: I told S that the full gospel of Jesus Christ is like a house. (You know how much we missionaries love a good metaphor.) We start with the foundation of the gospel and work our way up. You wouldn’t try to set the roof on the bottom and build the house on top of it, would you? It’s the same way with the gospel. Basics first and then deep doctrine is last. But that’s what happened to S. The anti- that she got was all about the deep doctrine of the church. They might as well have dropped a roof on her…
(Here Logan draws a picture of roof labeled “ANTI” being dropped on someone. It is similar to the scene from “The Wizard of Oz”. It also shows two missionaries with a hoe and a wheelbarrow with two bags of “Basics”. The caption says, “Okay, S. We’re here to start you off on a firm foundation!” Caption at the bottom of the picture says, “Oh, what a world…”
Oh, how I love a good editorial cartoon. It almost takes away the pain of not teaching S tomorrow or going to the Visitor’s Center on Saturday. Although, after I got off the phone with S, I called D to see what he was doing. I forgot to mention; yesterday we didn’t see A. He is still in jail. If he wants out, he’s got to pay the bail; which at this point, he can’t. So I don’t know what will happen with him. But anyway, I called D and asked him if he would like to go to the Visitor’s Center on Saturday. He said, “Yeah!” As it turns out, D is leaving for Minnesota on Sunday, so we told him that he needed to leave D.C. with a bang by visiting the D.C. Temple with us. We’ll keep an eye on him.
So today was definitely a low point in my mission. Just looking at the Herndon area; A is in jail, N stopped investigating, W lost interest and now S; … all very depressing. I remember back on {Day 86}, Day of the Mulberry, Part II; I was waiting to find out what happened to my companion. It was about 11:00 pm, Elders Spencer and Goodrich were sitting with me in the waiting room. The T.V. was on. It was showing a program on Animal Planet about sea-turtles. Now, as missionaries, we really aren’t suppose to watch T.V., but we really didn’t have any way to turn it off; plus, it was educational. So I watched some of it. It showed how the baby sea-turtles, after they hatch from their shells, scurry across the beach to try to make it to the ocean. A whole bunch of sea-turtles started out all heading for the water. Predators lurking on the beach then came up and began to eat them. A seagull would pluck one up and that’d be it for him. Large crabs would also grab a baby sea-turtle and drag him off; before he could make it to the safety of the ocean. Some of the sea-turtles would get lost. They’d get turned around and lose sight of the ocean. Then they’d wander around on the beach until the hot sun would be too much and then they would die from the heat. Many sea-turtles started out for the ocean, but only a few of them made it. If you put this in the context of people who investigate the church; you can see how many people start out with good intentions, but over time, opposition stops many of them from progressing and reaching the waters of baptism. The seagulls of anit-, the crabs of unsupportive family members and the wandering around in the sun is like those investigators who won’t commit to things; who don’t see the importance of religion. Very few make it to the water. Salvation is not easy.
I’ll continue to pray for S that some day she might want to investigate the church further, that se may one day know that there’s more to God than what can be found in the Bible. I’ll try to not let it get me down. I’m really going to miss teaching S. She always asked such good questions. Oh well, as the saying goes, “There are a lot of fish in the sea.” That may be true, but I know for a fact that there are a lot fewer sea-turtles. So long, S.
Maybe someday…
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 8:45 AM
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