To Do Good in This Generation: Winter week and Elder Baxter of the Seventy

November 17, 2014

Winter is here. Like 6" of it, and record cold temperatures. On Wednesday it didn't get above 10 degrees Fahrenheit, so that was quite the change from the 65 degree weather we were enjoying just 2 days earlier. It also freaks me out just wondering how cold it's going to get in Cheyenne or Scottsbluff since I'm in the warmest area right now.

Sometimes, my desire to go tracting or do missionary work in general follows the weather all too well: hitting zero or even dipping into the negatives. This was also coupled with, strangely enough, growing pains....at least, I think they were growing pains. I really don't know what else they could have been. One day it was my right leg and the other my left that was on fire for no reason, so I'm not sure. Buuuuuut....we went out and did our best anyway.

This week we also did 7 hours of service one day, which was awesome. The food bank needed new shelves in, so we moved all of the food off, rearranged the heights of the shelves, made some new shelves entirely, and then loaded all of the food back on. It was interesting to note that I was in less pain after doing hard physical labor for 7 hours than I was during the days that I had growing pains for no reason and didn't want to do missionary work. Lesson: God sustains those who are doing his work.

The other highlight, but not really, of this week was that I accidentally chastised someone...We were talking about the Book of Mormon, and I said that if someone hadn't received an answer about the Book of Mormon, it's because they don't have the sincere heart it talks about, meaning that they'll act on that answer. Then I found out that that applied all too well to him, actually being a nonmember married to a member...but!!! The Spirit was definitely present in the lesson, even when I said that, so maybe it was what he needed to hear....I'm just trying not to worry about it.

It's things like that that really make me doubt my ability to be a good missionary, but then at mission tour, we were told by a member of the seventy that when he and 9 others were called, they referred to themselves and the WS 10: The Weak and Simple 10, like from the scripture in D&C 1. It is the weak things of the world that will come down and thrash the mighty, and God can make weak things become strong through the race of Jesus Christ (D&C 1:19, Ether 12:27). Rely on the grace of Jesus Christ to sustain you, for all things are possible to them that believe.

Hope everyone had a good week! Pray for warmer weather/the work to be hastened in Loveland Colorado!