Yes, I did just say the most basic, overused Halloween pun in existence. Am I ashamed? Yes. But is it a fitting title? Sure.
For
those of you who don't know, Halloween fell on the 31st this year, and
so we had that this past week. It was a ton of fun. You see, almost
every day of the year, missionaries around the world enjoy stopping by
people's houses unannounced. However, there is one day of the year where
the roles are reversed. On this day, normal every day people enjoy
stopping by peoples houses unannounced, and the missionaries are asked
to stay inside for the night because of safety reasons.
It was
a fun day though. We had Zone Conference in the morning and afternoon,
which was really good. And then we got back into town in time to go to
Dollar General and drop $20 on snacks, before stopping by a Halloween party, before heading home for our fun evening indoors.
Now for a couple spooky stories for this Halloween season:
Spooky Story #1:
The
other night we decided to stop by someone's house. It was dark, and as
we approached the house we saw lights on in the car, and we could see
that they were in the car talking. So we did the sensible thing and
walked up to the window and looked inside. They were deep in
conversation and didn't notice the two dark figures standing out in the
dark. And we didn't think to knock on the door, so Elder Fonnesbeck
shined his flashlight in there, which got their attention. And to our
surprise they started screaming! Then they realized it was the
missionaries and they started laughing. But it was hilarious. Because we
had no intention at all to scare them. But yeah we spooked 'em good.
Spooky Story #2:
It
was a cold Halloween evening. The sun was just beginning to set on the
lonely town of St. Johns. And as I said earlier we had stopped by Dollar
General. Well when we were there someone stopped me and asked "Are you
an actual missionary or are you a kid dressed up as one for Halloween?"
It didn't have anything to do with anyone scaring anyone, but I will be
haunted by this for the rest of my life so I'd say that that's a pretty
spooky story.
Besides those terrifying events from the week, the rest of our week was really good too.
We
went out and found a whole bunch of houses we never knew existed. We
saw Tyler again. We taught a kid named D.J. who wants to be baptized. We
helped with wood. We helped move large rocks from someone's yard. And
we did a lot of other things too.
Another
really cool thing from the week was talking to an older couple named the
Summers, who have been learning about the Church for a little bit now.
What was cool was how the husband was talking about coming to Sacrament
meetings, which is the main meeting we have at church, and how every
time he goes, he has a powerful experience of some kind where something
is said or there's a line in a hymn, that's exactly what he needs to
hear. And what I really got out of that is how every time we go to
Church we have the opportunity to have amazing experiences that will
help build our faith in Jesus Christ, and the Summers are a great
example of being open to those experiences. Because as much as I wish
that I could say I've had amazing powerful experiences at church every
single time I've gone, that just wouldn't be true. And I think in those
cases it had a lot to do with just me, not having my mind open to the
experiences God had to give me. Because He always answers our prayers
and He always is reaching out to us. But sometimes we just don't see it.
And I know that attending Sacrament meeting is an amazing blessing in
our lives if we open our minds to the experiences God has for us. Part
of that is that we're able to gather together and learn from each other
and help each other as we all work to grow our faith in Christ. And
another part of that is that there is real power in being a part of the
Sacrament ordinance, which is entirely here to help us grow closer to
our Savior and strengthen our faith in Him, and to renew our commitment
to follow Him, and to feel God's Spirit more abundantly in our lives.
And that is something I know is real and is true and I am so grateful
for it.
Til next week everyone,
~Elder Oswald
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