This morning was fun. I played "mission barber" again; I got to cut E. Saunders hair. He just had me do the sides, he cut the top, and I touched it up a little. Nice and quick. Took less than twenty minutes. Nothing else interesting for most of the day. Most interesting thing was when I did a video call home. Dad pointed out how interesting the date April 6th was. I still find that one fascinating. I am looking forward to the 24th though, pioneer day. I get to call home.
7/23
Bounce Day is back!
Started the morning off with two bounces in a row. We had both of them scheduled at the same time in case one of them bounced. We spend a while waiting, then the next appointment came an hour late, so we spent a lot of time at the church - waiting. I chugged through a lot of 1 Samuel.
When we taught the game who came an hour late (this is our first lesson with him) we just start talking a lot about repentance outta nowhere. Completely the Spirit talking. I felt really..uhhh..loving and concerned when he started confessing his sins to us. Awkward is the third emotion I was feeling (is that an emotion?). It was a good lesson, we'll be seeing him tomorrow.
After that, we met up with a member named Eugene. He served his mission in South Africa, and he is the Acting Ward Mission Leader - he's actually the clerk.
The actual Ward Mission leader is too busy because he's getting married - in December. E. Cole and I had the same: "why would that interfere? That's months away." reaction. "Different culture" is the only explanation we've been given; we still don't know why he isn't fulfilling his calling.
Anyway, he helped us teach a Doctor who we contacted on Friday, then we visited a few recent converts. It was alright. It was still bounce day, but at least the afternoon wasn't so bad.
7/24
6 Months + Pioneer Day. Of course, I called home. My comp called me on it too: "You like calling home too much." Heck yeah. It's fun, it's good for my mental health, and it's good for my Mother's mental health. What are the downsides? Literally, the only one is Missionary teasing. So, no downsides to me who doesn't care what the "guys" think.
Anyway, today was DDM. It was alright, I tried to give some good advice, I had the Spiritual thought so I talked about how we need to be a "Samuel" and not a "Samson".
Samson came before Samuel, but their circumstances were remarkably similar.
In the cases of both these men, their mothers were barren. They both pleaded with the Lord for a child. Both of their children were Nazarite: a special servant of the Lord. They were given special callings or positions, and (based off the trend I'm seeing) were foreordained to be Nazarite.
Here's where the difference comes into play: Samuel kept his vows as a Nazarite all his life, and became a powerful man of God. Samson drowned in his own self-satisfaction and baser urges.
He often acted based off his passions: Revenge, Anger, and Lust. The scriptures didn't really go in-depth about it, but it even notes that he broke the Law of Chastity. Samson was one foreordained to free Israel from their captivity, but he married one of the people who kept them in bondage. He chose wrong at every step, yet because one aspect of his Nazarite vows were kept -that he would never cut his hair- he was able to retain a gift of the spirit throughout the vast majority of his life: his monumental physical strength. However, even this vow was broken when he informed his treacherous wife of the source of his strength, and she sold him for money. He ended up begging the Lord for strength one last time to kill those who mocked him when his strength was gone. He last act was one of revenge. He was a sad and pathetic man who had no self-control throughout his life, and he was that way to the end. This perfectly highlights our personal Agency. Samson defied the Lord's plans for him, and met a pathetic end;
he could have easily been great if he had surrendered his will to the Lord, but he didn't. Contrast that with Samuel.
Samuel, like Samson, was a Nazarite. His mother had promised the Lord that if he would give her a child, she would give him to the Lord. She upheld her end of the bargain and brought Samuel to the temple at the age of (approximately) 3.
Throughout his life, Samuel was always ready when the Lord called. When the Lord commanded, he obeyed. For this, he had joy and happiness throughout his life. He was a mighty man in the ways of the Lord, and he was respected for it. Samuel was an excellent prophet. No one can fault him for his life. He surrendered his will to the Lord, and for it, he has received joy in this world, and in the world to come. True, he wasn't perfectly happy, but his sorrow resulted from the wickedness of the Children of Israel.
In the end, we need to be a Samuel, and not a Samson. If we are a Samson, then we know that we can be forgiven from Doctrine and Covenants Section 3. Joseph was given a great task like Samson and Samuel and, like Samson, he had failed to uphold his task, but he could still be forgiven (and was). He was even still called to the same task, the same work. From this, we receive a "what if." "What if" Samson had repented at any point, would he have been as great as Samuel? We also receive an assurance, that even if we are a "Samson" we can become a "Samuel."
Anyway, that was more or less my spiritual thought from DDM. E. Cole told me that he thought it was good, so plus 1 for me.
E. Kanda and I rushed back from DDM for an appointment, only to have had no reason to do so since we were bounced. Fun -_-.
We went to visit a guy named Joshua after that. He started describing himself, and I kinda thought: "I've found an African Levi."
I have a friend named Levi who loves theatre, music, and that sort of stuff. This guy, Joshua, was describing pretty much everything that comes to mind when I think of Levi when he talked about himself and his interests. It was kinda cool since I could connect over some of those same things. His brother just kinda sat by and listened as we taught. +1 Investigator.
I will say, it was an interesting lesson. I've never taught the Restoration like that before. In the back of the pamphlet we give out, is a list of questions for the person. These questions also include scriptural references, so we just went through these questions and helped explain the answers for brother Joshua instead of our usual teaching style. It was a nice difference, broke up the monotony.
We headed to a Brother named Zackary after that. He met with the missionaries a year ago, and near as we can tell there was a whitewash and he was forgotten. Regardless of the "how" the fact remains that he lost contact with the missionaries. Turns out, he lives in the other Elders' area, so they're getting a referral. Fun! It's late, night.
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