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February 15, 2012

You Never Know What Will Happen With People

Where I spend my days this transfer--The Beehive House
The flowers are starting to bloom!! They look so beautiful and I just can't believe it because it is only February! This has been a very good winter and I am ready for summer time. Except it started snowing like crazy today. There is an apartment building right out our window and three of the apartments have cats! There are a total of four cats. And every morning when we study they are on the window looking out at the world, so cute! Today they were looking at the snow falling, so fun.
   
 Well, I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week but we have so much time on the computers. Because our time is split up between motors, Beehive House, and teeny-tiny-bits of Square time. Not many people come to the Beehive House during the cold weather, so when we are not on desk or giving a tour we are on the computer. We also have more chatting time...apparently it is a really cool thing to "troll" us on mormon.org chat? Hah! It is really sad how many people don't have anything better to do with their time!

I finally got a hold of the sweetest girl in Brazil. She is only 15 years old and she has been studying English for 6 years! She was sorry that she couldn't answer my calls before but she was so happy that she could finally talk to me. She has been waiting for me to call. Brother Shibuta had told her all about the Church already so she referred right there the first time I spoke with her, with parental permission of course. Such a miracle!

We were covering West Gate on Monday and we met two great guys who have just been reactivated in the Church! They are in the same ward up here in Utah and have been such a good support to each other. They had been out of the Church for about 15 years I think... The next night they were going to go to the temple to do baptisms! They were so excited, I am so happy for them. You never know what will happen with people. It is so important that if someone we know has lost interest in the gospel, that we still love them. We can never lose hope in those people that we love so much. God still loves them and cares about them, so why shouldn't we? There is room for the Atonement in everyone’s life! We have to be the first ones to make room for it to work on them and us. It made me think of how difficult addictions are. It affects family and friends. One of my investigators in Brazil told me that his older brother has had an addiction to drugs for about 20 years. He lost hope for a little while. It was hard because his family had to battle all day against the issues brought on by his brother’s addiction. He said that his loss of Hope didn't last for long. He knows that no matter what happens here, God will make a better life for him after. This trial has made his family grow even closer together. He knows that he will be able to be with his family forever and that his brother will be okay.

I read something yesterday that I love so much..."Nothing begins without an individual’s will to make it begin" and "...Freedom begins with a flicker of will". I learned back in high school that if someone doesn't want to do something, don't make them do it. President Holmes said, "We must provide people with the best opportunity to use their agency in a wise way". I started doing this at EFY last year. And it is even more relevant on my mission. If people I talk to aren't willing to learn, they won't learn. It is really that easy. Of course we help them and provide them those opportunities to come unto Christ. As long as I can report in prayer to God every night and honestly tell Him I tried my hardest with every person I talked to, I will have peace.

I saw Elder and Sister Clayton this week! We were walking back from the Beehive House and I looked over and ooooh there they were! It was so good to see them! We only talked for a few minutes because we are all busy people. But I told them how I saw Matt a couple weeks ago and they said they'd been hoping to run into me soon. So fun!
Peace and blessings
xoxox
Sister Jarvie

My
 lil' home away from home!

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