We actually were back at the ranch!
You see, on Saturday we continued the project that we started a week
previous, of helping someone put up barbed wire fence around their
ranch. This took place in Concho, the land of dirt roads and pig riding,
and the people we were with were mostly all a bunch of wise and
experienced ranchers. And I learned so much. I never knew how much went
into barbed wire fencing. You have to have corner posts, and you have to
have smaller posts everywhere in between, and you have to string the
barbed wire all the way down one side, and you have to tie the wire to
each post, and you have to do that one strand at a time, for each strand
in the fence, and you have to do all of that for each side of the fence
too. Also, I learned that lunch is a very important part of a day at
the ranch. One of the guys foolishly suggested that we eat in shifts, to
which another guy said "No, when it's time for grub, we all eat
together." And that's what we did.
Meanwhile, back at St. Johns, the missionary work is going
really well. In addition to fence putting up, we did a lot of other
service this week, everywhere from volunteering at the food bank, to
hauling wood, to moving furniture, to helping build a house.
Teaching has been going well also. I've talked about Ladonna before, she's doing really well and will be being baptized at the end of November.
Tyler is also doing great still and he wants to be baptized so bad but he's still just waiting on that one thing. But he's awesome. He just has such a good positive attitude about it all. Fun fact, Tyler went to a high school rivaling the high school that LeBron James went to, at the same time as each other, and they actually played against each other in high school basketball. And I played against Tyler this week. Which means that I played basketball against someone who played basketball against LeBron James.
Something else exciting from the week is that there is a
lady named Malena who has also been waiting on one thing before she
could get baptized, and now that one thing is happening and she's
getting baptized in November! She's been learning the Gospel and coming
to church for like 5 years now, and she knows it all so well. So it's
really exciting for her because she's been wanting to be baptized for a
while now.
It's always just amazing to see the Lord's work happening
around us. I see it all the time, but whenever miracles and things come
out of nowhere like in Malena's example, and in the case of anyone who
finds themselves ready to come closer to Jesus Christ and follow Him and
be baptized, it's just another reminder of how it all is the Lord's
work. And all the blessings and miracles and everything comes from Him.
And it's just a joy to be a part of it all and to be made an instrument
in the Lord's hands.
I know that my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown and my knowledge and understanding of His Gospel has grown as well, as a direct result of the experiences He has blessed me with and the people I've been able to meet. I know that Jesus Christ does live and His Gospel is true. And this truth blesses our lives so much more than we can imagine, and it allows us to find all the purpose and meaning and happiness in life that we could ever search for.
Well, that's what I've got for you today. I wish you all the best.
Til next email,
~Elder Oswald
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| An Arizona Elder |
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