Monday, August 15, 2016

8 August 2016

I have gained two new nicknames: "Sister Swift" (apparently homely sister missionaries still have the ability to look like Taylor Swift) and "Lohuloa" (means "tall" or "long" in Tongan).  

I have stories:

The story of Mr. G:
Mr. G is an older man who lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Rexburg.  A few years ago, he was a 100% happy and active member of the church.  When 2 of his kids started going less active, he got really depressed.  He got even more depressed and lonely when his son went on a mission to California.  This son of his actually called us and told us to go visit his dad and get him to stop smoking and come back to church.  Both of those things have happened.  Mr. G is also going to be a temple-recommend holder when his son comes home next month!!!  
Mr. G is also one of my favorite people?  Why?  He has a strong testimony and isn't afraid to share it.  He's resilient.  He also teases me about things all the time.  My height, my "Texas ambiance", you name it.  Mr. G also has a state-of-the-art music producing/recording studio in his doublewide.  Not kidding.  It's equipped with about a dozen guitars, keyboards, and a bunch of other instrumentage.  He's shows us some stuff he's written (missionary handbook approved, don't worry everyone.)  But then he also offered to let me take one of his guitars to play on pday to keep back at our apartment until I get transferred.  CAN YOU SAY MIRACLE!?!?

The story of Anthony:
Anthony is a middle-aged man who lives in a different trailer park on the outskirts of Rexburg.  A few years ago, he got out of jail and came out to Rexburg for "a more peaceful life".  Obviously we taught him the gospel and he accepted all of it full-heartedly.  He loves coming to church and praying.  He's getting baptized at the end of this month!!!  He calls himself the "cat daddy" because he loves cats and all of the cats around the trailer park come and chill with him at his place (#handsanitizer).  He's the funniest person I've met since being on my mission.  Not kidding.  One time, we took him to the Family History Center.  Anthony has never met his real parents since they died when he was super young, but going there he was able to find a bunch of newspaper articles about his parents and see pictures of them that he's never seen before.  He was getting super emotional and it was really cool!  It helps people realize the eternal aspect of the gospel in a more tangible way, I think.  When people talked about family history in church or something pre-mission, I always just avoided eye contact and felt guilty for never desiring to get involved with it... But who knew that it'd inspire people to get baptized??

If any of you have any room for spiritual growth (aka you) PLEASE read Alma 34 and let me know what you get out of it:)  I'd love to hear from you.

Loves,
Sister Swift 


Me, Sister Kolo and Mr. G in a corner of his studio.  

No comments:

Post a Comment