My Side Quest: I Would Walk 500 Miles And I Would Walk 900 More

One fateful day, we had our car parked in a lot in Spokane for a couple hours. When we returned, it had a couple mystery scratches upon it. We brought it in this week and so we've been dealing with our chevroLEGS like no man's business. It's been pretty tiring, but we did it. We walked all over this town, visiting places I'd never been and talking to some neat people. You wouldn't believe the amount of coins I found this week. We also passed likely hundreds of alcohol bottles as well as numberless cigarette bunz. Not sure why I'm typing about this. We just walked a lot. And biked. A lot.

So, sometimes I joke about being "too swoll" because I don't appear to be super ripped. This week, my saying actually came to be. I was just so exhausted and tired, when a member inquired as to my weakened state, they diagnosed me. I was hitting the gym with too much dedication and I wasn't eating enough calories that my muscles were attacking themselves to get bigger. Or something? So I did what seemed right, and we moseyed down to McDonald's where I got a large meal and ate every bite. It was odd to me to get the most calorie packed meal I could, but it sure made me feel better! Oddly enough, a bunch of chocolate helped, too.

Remember that old man from last week whose dog wouldn't let him go home? I guess he really had the experience of us helping him bouncing around his mind all week. He's normally a mean old man, but he's been especially nice lately. He caught us out and about a few days ago and asked if we could talk. I ended up sitting on the curb while he sat in his wheelchair, telling us 40 minutes of stories which didn't seem to have anything in common with each other. At the end of the surprise story time, he asked for our number because he said that he feels like we have what he's missing. Just listening to him softened his heart immensely. Neat! I really like this side of him. Who knew underneath his grumpy face and unkind words was actually a really sweet old guy who'll bring a smile to anyone's face?

We met one of my new best friends this week. She's a super neat girl who has had many difficult experiences similar to me. However, instead of turning to God, she went to other sources. I won't talk too much about what she believes because many people would ridicule her. However, I already have so much respect for her and the things she has to say. The whole time we were with her, I knew we had to teach her about the plan of salvation. Ok, I guess I'll say a little about her, its important to the story. She had a crystal on her neck, and I asked about it, knowing they can hold energy. She told me to hold it, and great feelings of peace and warmth overcame me. Ok, no more talk about crystals because of non believers. I told her about how these feelings were good, and they were things that she could always have, without the aid of something else. I told her she was a daughter of God, and as she drew nearer to Him, He'd draw nearer to her. She was like, "well, I don't know." So I told her, "I had enough faith to not call you crazy, so now you need enough faith to not call me crazy." We are going back this Tuesday to teach her the plan of salvation and help her develop a relationship with her Heavenly Father.

Man, Jesus is just so special. There were two occasions where I only had one dollar in my pocket. As missionaries, we have been counseled to not give people money, so I guess I broke a rule, but I gave both of these people the only dollar that I had. One of them seemed extremely grateful, one of them didn't think much of it. I know it's common to think, "oh, they are just going to go buy drugs." But that isn't up for us to decide. In Mosiah 4:19 and 20, it says "For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have... and behold, even at this time ye have been calling on his name and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay." The chapter goes on to talk about how if we are just condemning people, saying they brought this upon themself, "how much more will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God." I know it's not always easy to give to these people, but I know God will be even more proud of you, and if it was possible, he'd love you even more because of it. After all, in Matthew chapter 25:35-36, it says "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." I know that serving anybody also serves Jesus Christ.

One last special thing I wanted to talk about comes from a song that I love called Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd. This song talks about how all of the sheep are important to God, and He wants all of them to return to Him. We've come across a couple people this week who have been less active for years. I know people are more impressed when you say "I baptized 200 people on my mission" than if you were to say, "I helped 200 people come back to church", but I know every single soul is important to God. One of the people we randomly tracted into last week told me this week on our third visit, "missionaries found me about a year ago, but they only came once. You are much more persistent than them." I just know that in this part of the field, I've been given stewardship over the flock, and I won't knowingly let any of my sheep suffer before I can do something about it. I'm aware of what I could be doing better and things that are holding me back, but I know that when I see my stake president in 5 months upon returning home, I can tell him I tried my best to help others come to the fold of God.

So there you have it for this week. Found various wonderful people, walked over 9,000 miles, biked over 40,000, helped three families move back to back, and did what we could in this part of the vineyard.