herding sheep in the middle of a main road
with our investigator Naresh at his birthday party, it was super fun.
This week was crazy for us, at least this weekend was haha. We had an experience this week that was pretty moving for us:
On Saturday
we met with a sister who has been struggling with a variety of
challenges over the past five or six months. She is a single mom with
two children, she tried to start a small business which recently went
under, her little house is about to be repossessed because she's
struggling to secure a loan, her debt is nearly crushing, she's barely
making enough to feed her family--anyway, she's going through a lot.
She is a woman of bright faith, but sometimes life hits us with things
that try our trust in God. She said that she'd been praying every day
and fasting for God to help her in some way and He hasn't. She decided
that she was done with God. She would listen to what we had to say but
she was done with God--and here's where it gets interesting: we had no
idea what to say. As teenage boys having but little life experience as
it stands, we had no idea what to say that would be of comfort to her.
But we knew that there was someone who did know and does know, someone
who knows her perfectly well what she'd been going through. In our
hearts, Elder Poleboina, Elder Barry, and I prayed with all the fervency
we could muster that the Lord might speak through us and help this
sister in whatever way He would. Elder Poleboina and Elder Barry shared
powerful personal experiences about when God helped them when they saw
no way out. Then it was my turn. I was still at a loss for words when
suddenly the words of my former young men's leader (Tim Nowatzke) came
into my mind: "If you don't know what to say, bear testimony of Christ."
So that's what I did. Never in my life have I felt the Spirit move
through me with such power as I bore my testimony that as surely as this
sister saw the sun shining, I know that Jesus is the Christ. I don't
know always know why He asks us to pass through seemingly insurmountable
trials, but I know He'll never leave us and He'll carry us through them
if we have faith in Him. I told her that He is pleading with her told
hold on just a little longer because help and hope are on the way. When
I looked in her eyes, I saw hope. It was incredible. At the beginning
of the lesson, she told us that she wasn't going to come to church
because God wasn't helping her, but after the lesson she committed to
come--and she did! She had an amazing experience at church and has a
renewed hope in the Savior. There are a few life changing experiences
in your life and this was one of those for me.
Also, yesterday was fast Sunday
and Sunil (yes, recent convert Sunil Kumar) got up and bore his
testimony, it was awesome! At one point he said, "The Book of
Mormon....is a good book." It was so funny, we gave him a big hug
after. He's a boss.
I hope everyone has a great week, keep the faith!
Elder Tuscano
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