Tender Mercies

Another great week in the Farsi program! I love the mission!

This week was sprinkled with little tender mercies from the Lord, and honestly, some of them I'm pretty sure are to remind me, or force me to focus more on Him and remember that ultimately, I have very little influence in the grand scheme of things and He is in charge. 

For example, yes, we are Farsi missionaries, but we contact (which means anywhere from a non-existent convo on the street to 20-30 minutes of Gospel teaching) in English, Spanish, Farsi, etc. I've learned a couple of things to say in Chinese and Korean..BUT! I'm keeping up my Spanish! We were walking, kind of in a rush to get to dinner, and a little Hispanic man passed by and I simply said 'Hola!' which caught him off-guard because when ever two tall white young guys speak Spanish (or especially Farsi, we get quite the reactions), we usually get people's attention. Anyway, we started talking to him and after a few questions, he got really quiet, and then really opened up and told us he wanted to change, he was an alcoholic, etc. Honestly, a tender mercy, no one opens up like that out there, and we were able to share with Him a little about the Atonement and help him out, get his info to send to the missionaries out where he lives and such. 

We also ran into a Chinese girl that Elder Sugden recognized. Turns out, She got baptized! It was cool to see "the fruit of our labors", really what a simple contact and referral can turn into. It was super cool and we found her at a time when we were tired and didn't have maybe the greatest attitude for walking up Westwood yet again. :)

Although the Farsi program right now is a little slow, we have noticed that the Lord is blessing us with the opportunity to find and speak with more Persians! Which is awesome! We are excited to see what is in store for the program. 

Ponderize: 3N14:13-14

I've been thinking about the analogy of trees, roots, growth, that sort of thing lately. Roots are what kinda keeps the tree alive. They get all the water and nutrients the tree needs to survive, the foundation. Roots need to spread out wide and deep to be able to do certain things. One, to keep the tree secure when heavy winds blow, opposition in the work. There needs to be an effort to hold on, to resist and overcome. Also, there needs to be periods of "dry-ness" to force the tree roots to dig deeper to find water and rely on the nutrients that are available. I think we are very similar in the sense that a lot of the time, we need to dig down deep and find those tender mercies that are there and rely upon the Lord in all we do. Put our trust and confidence in the only one who matters. He knows us best and is there for us. 

Thank you for everything! It's getting cold here in Santa Monica, too close to the coast! Sweater Weather for sure! Love you all!