Wednesday was a pretty normal day, at least as far as being able to drive. We did have an interesting, almost soap opera-like lesson. We were expecting to only be teaching one person, but her brother was there as well. The things he said made everything super tense and awkward. Although I did learn something new about the Holy Ghost. It helps me keep calm in situations like that, when the easiest thing to do would be to walk out the front door in the middle of the lesson and forget it ever happened. But that isn't what we do. We smooth over the situation, tie it back to a spiritual thought, pray, then set up another day to come back to visit.
Luckily, we had a few other great lessons that day that redeemed it. We met some new people, followed the Spirit during the lessons, and it all just turned out great.
Thursday, I think we were told not to go out for a while, but it didn't really matter because we were planning for most of the day. We were sick of our apartment, so we went to the room with the pool table in the other building and sat at a table there to plan out our week. The problem was that music was being played over the speakers, good music. We started getting too distracted by that. When we started singing along, we decided it was time to leave. Temptations of the world, haha.
Friday morning, we went to service at the Salvation Army as usual even though it was snowing a bit when we left our house. After we were finished with our shift of serving food, we got a text saying that driving was suspended for the day. We were a bit worried that we were going to have to spend the rest of the day there, playing Uno with the elders (although we were happy for the company for a bit after our week of solitude). After we ate lunch there, we finally asked for permission to go home. So we drove an hour (usually a 20 minute drive) in traffic to get home. We sulked for a few minutes, then walked to a lesson. It was definitely worth the walk in the snow, especially since all of our other plans for the day were too far away to walk to. We ended up making cookies and delivering them to a member family who lives close by. And that was about as successful as the evening got.
With the bad weather, everyone else's plans change as well. They cancel appointments and change their work schedule to work more after all the snow is gone. It was a bit difficult to find things to do Saturday and Sunday. And the turnout at church was pretty low. But we pushed through it all, with breaks for snacks. The biggest trial was when my companion's wallet disappeared. We are still hoping it will turn up somewhere, but it is getting to be unlikely now. So getting cards and everything replaced will be our next adventure.
In one of our lessons at church, we talked about how fundamental and powerful faith is. There was a quote from a leader in the church that says, "When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast a devil out as they had just witnessed the Savior do, Jesus answered, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove” (Matthew 17:20). I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed."
And that is the way it is. The most amazing miracle is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how through faith in Him we can change.
Have a great week. I love you!
Hermana Pace