Analog Photography, For the Win!
"Do you do 'the baptism?'"
"Um... yeah? We do that," I replied to the man on the phone who heard about us on Facebook.
"I've been here for so many years, and I need my son to be baptized."
After clarifying a little more about baptism and their situation, I explained to him the process that which we prepare those for baptism and that we are a little different than other christian churches. We are the restored church of Jesus Christ back on the Earth.
Fast forward a day later, we get to chance to visit with this man and his family. Oh, and what a special meeting that was!
For me, it was a testimony that the spirit can testify truth even as you laugh together. It was such a fun meeting. It's been a lot of little moments like this that have made this whole week worth while.
I don't know what it is about this week, but it feels as if real life hit me in the face.
You feel different, you see others with a new perspective, and begin to try to grasp your priorities. I said it in a prior email, but I've really begun embrace the, "You can't do everything, but you can do everything you can."
Better coined my Edward Everett Hale, "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
The day I find myself thinking I've done everything means I need to keep moving; we take steps in the dark and finding ourselves in God's will.
We visted a couple members this week and it was honestly the highlight of it. It's honestly one of my favorite parts of our calling as missionary, and responsiblities as a Branch President.
The Wangs live here in Cyprus; Judy, the mother, is a devout member and you can feel her love for the gospel everytime you speak to her. And her children are a joy as well. We went to her home to do, essentially, family home evening with her and her family. With a lot of joy in the lesson, having fun, reading the story of Christ coming to the Nephites, it will remain a memerable moment for me for sure.
As we near concluded our meeting with them, John, the youngest, whispers into his mothers ear.
She laughs, "he says, 'This was actually fun!'" and we all joined in. Let's say, even if we didn't have sufficient time to prepare for the meeting, it fulfilled the goal.
Some days, we have so many meetings, it feel's nearly impossible to prepare beforehand for them. And yet, if we have tried, things begin to work. The meeting goes smoothly and is often filled with the spirit. It's a simple miracle I will be working harder to reconize and offer thanks for this up coming week. Through Grace, all things are possible, but it doesn't set aside the responsibly for us to do all that we can do.
When dealing with spiritual matters, you often find yourself setting your personal persective to the side and having to say, "Okay. I guess I don't have the full persective on this. Let's do it your way," and humbiling yourself enough to know your vision is not always God's. Let it be.
Honestly, I am honored to have the experience each time where I have to let "Jesus take the Wheel," to use a pop phrase. There are a lot more executive positions I am now required to make, so the dependence on the spirit is ever more necessary. There is literally no mental or physical capability that I could know everything.
I am a firm believer the spirit is here in our lives because of this; this an many other reasons, the spirit is so previlant.
Well, this is kinda where the ink goes dry. It seems this week has been so particular, it's dried my metiphorical quil. Something has felt a bit peculiar this week, and I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it. However, if I am able to grasp it, you'll here about it next week haha!
Two more thoughts I'll conclude with:
A man, from a year ago, that used to cut my hair came back into my life in the last few days since we pasts by. Since I am lazy and figure I shouldn't re-invent the wheel if it's sitting right in front of me, I'll quote what I wrote in our missionary chat.
"I'm [not] very good at posting in these kind of things, but this made my week enough it's beyond the ability to contain.
We met a friend of mine from a year ago that used to cut my hair. He recognized me, and recognized me as the "kid that liked his film negatives". So this time, as if he prepared for our interaction, gave me 6 contact sheets of old family photos from Greek Orthodox Weddings and Baptisms. Its around 252 photos. I've received negatives dating back to the 1960s.
My hope is when I return from my mission, I can get these high-res scanned at my lab(as the prints must have deteriorated), then sent to their respective families rather than them getting thrown out, as to what was going to happen.
For a film geek this is a huge deal, but an even bigger family history score."
I was very excited to save these from their destined demise of the dumpster! It was such a pleasure to get these. I'm very excited to see where these lead, and the mission president suggested how this could lead to some good things.
The second thought I had was of a song that has been, quite frankly, keeping me going in a lot of hard situations. Our Mission President shared it to us last Zone Conference, and I would recommend listening to it. If you can find the concert it's from, the conference, it's really good.
"That song, 'Slow Down', describes an experience many of us have. To be able to hear the still voice in our hearts, 'we have to slow down.' But then, what we hear, what we feel inside, often inspires us to get up and get going."
"Slow Down", with Sissel
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EFe84U__kt8&pp=ygUQU2xvdyBkb3duIHNpc3NlbA%3D%3D
I love you all, and have a pleasant week! It's pretty crazy here-- the weather that is. It was nearly 30 degrees Celsius here! That's like 86 degrees Fahrenheit!
Elder Dylan John Hansen