Well the glory days in the promised land of Clarkston had to
come to an end some day. :(
I got the big call from ol' President Dymock last
night that I would be leaving. I hopped on the computer this morning and found
out that I am headed up to Beacon Hill in the Mt Spokane stake! This area is
renowned for being the most ghetto in the mission! I am actually super pumped.
Among other things I was told I am being put with a missionary who is
struggling and I'll be a zone leader. It will be a fun experience. I will now
have served in 2 of the most ghetto areas in the mission; in Cheney, we
covered downtown Spokane, otherwise known as Felony Flats. I'm in for a good time.
I'll be honest, I am devastated to be leaving Clarkston. I
feel like I have invested ever fiber of my being into this area. I know, however, that the Lord directs this work.
Let me give you the scoop on this week, which was
quite the emotional roller coaster.
As you know, Louise's baptism has been creeping up. We
have been meeting with her about 3 times a week to help her memory and get her
ready. We were able to get her to the family history center last week to get
started learning about her ancestors. We were also able to set a temple date with
her for next month. She is encountering resistance for joining the church. Her
"guy friend" of 6 years left her, and her friends at the senior center
antagonize her about getting baptized. It is amazing to see her undeterred testimony.
However, we called her Sunday morning to make sure she was on her way to
the special stake broadcast. We woke her up and she was not
making a whole lot of sense. She said she didn't want to keep putting us
through it and that it would be better to stop meeting and just cancel everything. Bam! Devastated is an understatement. I sat through a 2-hour
conference so mad that Heavenly Father would let that happen. I literally had a
wrench in my stomach. I felt SO sick. It was like a 2-hour long prayer about
what we could do to help. D. Todd
Christofferson addressed us during the broadcast; as he was talking, I was pondering my favorite
chapter from the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 2) and I thought about the role of
opposition. Then the Spirit smacked me again. I'm talking like Hulk Hogan type of smack. I sat there in awe that our Heavenly Father places so
much trust in us that he would allow those levels of opposition to endanger our
salvation. He trusts and loves us at a level that I simply cannot understand. Anyway, we got the fairy tail ending. We went over, gave her a priesthood
blessing, and she is getting baptized in less than a week... right after I
leave... The principle is that opposition allows true depths and
understandings of love that can come from no where else.
Everyone else is good, still cooking with 8 people on date
for baptism :)
Also, I did so good at budgeting this month. Mom, you better be so
proud - I have 40$ left over. That has never, never happened before.
Ok I love you all, I will send pictures from my phone later
today. Also, for the record, I hate having a phone.
LOVE Y'ALL :))
-E.Rapier
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