Hi to All! Another week has come and gone and things have been a little slow here in our little corner of the Lord’s vineyard. We are still waiting to connect with the Hanna Family, one of our less actives is still in jail, and the other less active family just hasn’t had time for us this week. It has been a difficult lesson for me to learn that our effort to find and teach does not happen according to my timetable, but Heavenly Father is in charge of these things. We just have to be ready to act whenever and wherever the Lord directs. We have been searching out the members on our Branch List that haven’t been to church for years, and we have met some very interesting people. Brother Murray lives quite a drive from the branch and was baptized many years ago. He lives with his two grown sons in a very run down house (putting it mildly!) that hasn’t seen a woman’s care in many, MANY, years. He has a long gray beard and spends most of his time sitting on his porch and cooking strange animals like “snappin turtle”, rattlesnake, etc. He has no interest in the church, but we had a good visit with him and one of his sons. I came away with a realization that my standards for cleanliness and even general happiness is not the standard for Brother Murray, yet he was happy and content with his life as it was. I have a lot to learn……and I am reminded of that every single day. We also visited a couple who were baptized 40 years ago, and have never come to church – they have been visited a few times over the years by missionaries. We were greeted at the door by Brother Rogers and he seemed like a kind man – he took us into the dark back room of the home to visit with his wife, Linda. She was bedridden with complications of diabetes and very depressed. We had a short visit and I held her hand a lot as we talked about her life and the challenges she was facing. They both spoke about their faith and the fact that their trust in the Savior was the only thing that kept them going – it was touching to me to see what tender care Brother Rogers took of his wife and how concerned he was for her welfare. She agreed that she needed some “sunlight” in her life and we promised to visit again next week. I felt the impression that sometimes all we can do is to minister to people, try to bring some cheer into their lives, and leave it at that.
We had a fun day yesterday and took a short daytrip to Boalsburg – never heard of Boalsburg? This is where Memorial Day originated!! Or so they say! It is a charming old town, not far from State College and of course they were having all sorts of activities this weekend. We watched a WWII reenactment, walked through a bivouac camp, and then we took a tour of the Boal family mansion. The family has connections clear back to Christopher Columbus – there is even a chapel that was sent to PA from Spain in the early 1800's that has some very old artifacts that belong to the Colon (Columbus) family. The most impressive to me was the ship’s writing desk that belonged to Christopher Columbus and used on his travels. The chapel was dark, but hopefully you can see it in the pictures we sent of our weekend. The wonders never cease around here!
The drama of the week was discovering we have a mouse in our house. I love my ducks and birds, but not so much a mouse! Haven’t seen him lately, so maybe he has left us. I can only hope. Today we are having a few people for dinner – one couple is bringing shoefly pie which is a common Amish dessert. Another first for us!
We miss all of you, but we continue to stay focused on missionary work. Dad is the eternal optimist and looks at everything with wisdom and logic – I am trying to be more like him, but I need a few hands to hold along the way. This week it was Sister Rogers, and I am happy with that.
We love you all, Abby and Papa
No comments:
Post a Comment