Knocking a lot of doors....and Learning to be an optimist:) (Week 14 Los Lagos)
9:23 AMFamilia y Amigos!
Talking to family yesterday was so crazy! I didnt not expect to cry as much as I did. I was like I am good I am good. Then I saw Dad and I couldnt hold back the tears! The same happened when talking to Mom and the girls. It was so fun!
Well, the Lord does work in mysterious ways.
This week was another week of contacting, walking, knocking doors and knocking more doors. But that is okay! It was getting a little rough because we were not seeing a lot of success or at least that is what we thought. We were thinking about our numbers that we had to show for the week and we had a few more goose eggs (zeros) than we wanted to admit. The question we kept asking was How!? We were outside every day and talking to everyone that would listen.
As a companionship we have learned a lot these past two week together. I think one of the big ones is just to keep smiling even when it feels like there isnt a ton to be smiling about. 2 weeks isnt that long of a time but it is still 8-9 hours every day of walking, contacting etc. Its like we took turns. When one of started to feel down, discouraged etc the other would help the other see the good in the situation. Its funny because very few times have we both felt discouraged at the same time. This has been a huge blessing because when Hermana Powell started to get discouraged its like I had a boost of spirit where I could put a smile on my face and help see the good in the situation. She did the same for me. A lot of the time in my head I have to think "okay this is the door." or "this is the person!" and if its a rejection I just have to say "okay its the next one" :)
Trials can do 2 things. They can weaken our faith and make us bitter or they can strengthen our faith and make us happier. Trials can make us happy? I think I am learning the answer to that is a big YES! I havent quite figured out the answer of how but I know that they can make us happier because they draw us closer to Heavenly Father and help us have more faith in His plan. It is a daily decision to choose to be an optimist. Its hard. President Gordon B. Hinkley is an incredible example of an optimist. Its been interesting to learn that optimistic people do not have easy lives free of trials. They are people who put their trust in God knowing "all things will work out for their good". Its hard. But its easier in the long run.
We have not had many lessons this week but other things have been happening. Nicol the 13 year old sister of Gladys has been reading the Book of Mormon. She came to church! Also! Gladys just got her first calling in the church! I had the opportunity to raise my hand and sustain her in her new calling. 1 month ago she wasnt even a member of the church. Every week we talked about her progress in branch cousel...and yesterday she was part of branch counsel! How amazing.
Well I love you all!
Have a good week!
Love Hermana Ashlyn Egbert
LIZZY TIME!!
Here is a cool story about "severe mercy" that I read about this week. It is awesome. So often we talk about the tender mercy's of the Lord. But this talks about how sometimes He gives us hard things, because He knows they are exactly what we need...I think it is relevant to what Ashlyn is going through and talking about how trials can be blessings.
“A determined pioneer girl named Agnes Caldwell, in October of 1856, was nine years old when she and the rest of the Willie Handcart Company were wading through the wind-driven snow on the high plains of Wyoming. As they camped for the night at the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater, the snow was getting deeper, their rations were desperately meager, and Rocky Ridge was till ahead. Near sundown the next day, the relief party from the Salt Lake Valley would appear on the western horizon coming toward them.
“Before the storm hit, Agnes had been taking each mile of the autumn trail in stride, even the one that had been strewn with rattlesnakes. For that mile, she and her friend Mary had held hands an jumped again and again over the snakes until they were out of danger, mercifully unharmed.
“But after days of dragging her nearly frozen feet through the deepening snow, Agnes wasn’t skipping anymore. And she was literally starving. The death toll in her company was rising with every passing night. Yet, of the arrival of the relief party, all Agnes records in her understated history is, “It certainly was a relief.” And then she describes her own rescue:
The infirm and the aged were allowed to ride, all able bodied continued to walk. When the wagons started out, a number of us children decided to see how long we could keep up with the wagons, in hopes of being asked to ride. . . . One by one they all fell out, until I was the last one remaining, so determined was I that I should get a ride.
After what seemed the longest run I ever made before or since, the drive, [Brother] Kimball, called to me, ‘Say, sissy, would you like a ride?’ I answered in my very best manner, ‘Yes, sir.’ At this he reached over, [took] my hand, [then clucked] to his horses [which made] me run, with legs that seemed to me could run no farther. On we went [for what] seemed miles. . . . [I thought] he was the meanest man that ever lived or that I had ever heard of, and other things that would not be a credit . . . coming form one so young. Just at what seemed the breaking point, he stopped. Taking a blanket, he wrapped me up and lay me in the bottom of the wagon, warm and comfortable. here I had time to change my mind, as I surely did, knowing full well [that] by doing this he saved me from freezing [to death].
“At first Agnes though Brother Kimball was ‘the meanest man that ever lived’ because, instead of swinging her up into his wagon as an act of tender mercy, he signaled his team to go faster, forcing her into a run. This run-- this severe mercy-- increased her circulation, which saved her life.
“This story has much to teach us about the redeeming and strengthening powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can see they symbolism: the wilderness strewn with rattlesnakes, the brutal and unexpected blizzard that turned the trail to Zion into a refiner’s fire, the young girl with her passion and determination to give the journey everything she had, the wagon master who was loving enough to lend his strength yet wise enough to stretch her to her limits and courageous enough to volunteer for the rescue in the first place. This man didn’t have to leave the comfort of his home, and this young girl didn’t have to hang onto his hand when he pressed her to give more. Yes, he saved her life, but so did she. To be successful, the rescue effort had to be reciprocal. They both had to give it their all.
“Is this a story about mercy? Yes. But we wouldn’t usually think of mercy as sometimes being ‘sever’ until we have considered it in the light of what Christ requires of those who desire to be His disciples.”
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