Monday, March 4, 2019
Hello!
Well it turns out my suit pants must have been slowly shrinking over the last little while. I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the delicious fatty food and lots of biking that we do here. I came to the conclusion that they were shrinking about 9 am on Thursday morning. We were just arriving in North little rock, which is about 1 and a half hours away, and were getting ready for a meeting to be held there at 9:30. This meeting would include various other missionaries, our mission President, his wife, and their family that were visiting.
We had arrived a little early (thank goodness) and were seeing if there was anything we could do to help the senior couples in the mission office. They said they had some heavy boxes that needed to be moved to another room. I volunteered and took a few loads. On about the third trip I bent extra low to set down the boxes and heard something pop. Luckily it wasn't any of my body parts, but I immediately new it was the back seat of my pants. I stood up and looked behind me to find about a 2 foot hole from my lower back almost down to my right knee! After some laughing and joking with the senior missionaries, and failed attempts to staple my pants back together, we called various missionaries that lived near by until we found one about my same height that would let me borrow his suit for the rest of the day. We really were glad we arrived early and had time to change clothes before the meeting started.
We also started teaching 3 more families this week! All 3 of them are Hispanic and are very pleasant and wonderful people. I have loved to see that as we teach these people, I am able to see that God has a plan for each and every one of His children. Because of their various needs and backgrounds, no two lessons ever look the same. There are many ways to convey the glorious message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In one of the visits we were talking with 2 parents who were very concerned for their wayward sons. Both were about our age and they wanted to know why we ended up where we are. We turned to mosiah 27 and read the first half of the chapter with them. We taught them about prayer and faith, and that the prayers of a righteous parent can have such a powerful impact in the lives of their children.
The message is so beautifully described in verse 14 as an angel preaches repentance to a wayward child.
14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
We both bore testimony of the power of prayer, and expressed gratitude for parents who have in the past, and continually pray for us today. I would invite each of you to read Mosiah chapter 27, and to ponder on the message it contains. As you do I promise your prayers will be strengthened and you will be able to better recognise the prayers of other in your behalf!
I hope you all have an amazing week.
Elder C.R. Anderson
The name of this place is a great example of "spanglish"
