FAM and FRIENDS and people that don't fit in either of those,
Hahaha I'm not gonna lie I was lookin' forward to emailing all you guys this week <3 It's been a toughhhhh week to say the least. I will hit my 1-month mark of being in the field this Kaabong (Thursday), and I still won't be to my island haha. Last week after I emailed I started feeling sick. A little bug has been going around. I had some headaches, chills, and a fever for a couple days but I've been feeling good again! It all kinda hits you at once... I moved areas and was in a house with Elder Buhler.... To give a little background, this is one of the nicer missionary houses... There was no working shower (we used buckets), and we had to pump to get clean water for drinking. The power would work during the night and then shut off for the whole day and it would become like 110 degrees and HUMID when we were trying to study. MORAL: NEVER like really NEVER take for granted anything in America. hahah I was so SOFT before my mission. Like SO soft. I was staying in a mansion for Kiribati standards and I was SO humbled. Those were probably some of the best conditions I'll have too so YAY. Excited to be able to be humbled <3
As far as the work goes, it was tough this week too. We were basically dropped in an area with only a couple investigators and were told to work. Sometimes it was hard to get the motivation to get out and work when you don't know the area, members, or people but it was good. We still hit 20+ lessons this week.
You find that the Lord really does place people in your path and guides you. This week we were walking to a far away lesson in which we would usually take a bus. The Catholic Church decided to do a car parade in which they get a line of cars and trucks FULL (full in Kiribati has a different definition) of people and go 5 mph on the only road in the country and chant prayers. They basically help up every car in the country. Boy did we get some funny looks haha. Needless to say, we decided it would be faster to walk. As we were walking, a lady stops us and we start talking. It turns out that she wanted us to teach her as well as her husband, so we set up an appointment. A place we would never have been if there wouldn't have been that march.
We had several of these type of experiences this week. It's these little experiences that help you realize that you MUST truly rely on the Lord. Never have I turned to Him more or needed Him with me more than I feel like I do serving my mission. The words of one of my favorite hymns "I Need Thee Every Hour" are constantly running through my head-- except I change the words to "every minute" and "every second".
All in all, it's going to be alright. This isn't easy-- it's HARD. It isn't always fun-- It's been A LOT of work. I'm nowhere near where I need to be but I'm trying to get motivated and I'm trying to be a good missionary. I'm so grateful to be here and to have one goal every day: To strengthen my own faith and testimony and to try to help others in the limited capacity that I can.
ALWAYS count your blessings and ALWAYS look for the Lord's hand in your life. I'm gaining a testimony of that quickly and seeing that a lot of this isn't happening by "coincidence".
Quick Story:
We got invited into the home of a STRONG Itibong (7th Day Adventist). She grabbed her notebook and pen and wrote down every scripture and thing we said. After we got into a huge argument about what day we should worship and all this stuff. Of course, we left and that was that but it's just crazy. I'm an 18-year old kid out here trying to preach the gospel to people "learned of men", and I don't speak their language at all. It's HARD and tests your faith but I'm trying to grow what I have.
I BETTER be hearin' from everyone next week. Send a PRAYER my way that I can get to Tab.
Luvssss 2 all,
Elder Parrish
P.S. What an amazing experience we have to listen to modern day prophets with conference this week. So blessed to have prophet's in this day and age.
No comments:
Post a Comment