To Cheryl Boone
HOLY SMOKES....
Well, THAT was quite the adventure. The day that we get the biggest influx of new Missionaries in recent history, a Nor'easter hits. And the boundaries of the storm strangely resemble those of the Massachusetts Boston Mission... Coincidence? I think NOT. So we got "Red-Dotted" for two days, which means we couldn't go outside of our apartment for those two days. It was especially tricky, because we had myself and Elder Kilgore-a couple of 6' 4" dudes-and Elder Brimhall (need I say more?) and his companion (the only normal-sized one) Elder Spears. And our old roommates decided to come over because they'd go crazy with only two Elders in an apartment. So for two days, we had six Elders in a four-Elder apartment, with five of the six being at or above 6 feet tall. Many, many hours of scripture study and board games were logged in those two days. No power outages or food shortages, so we were fortunate. Then when we finally got the OK to go and shovel walks, we did. For hours. All of us have sore arms, backs, abs, chests, hips... Anything that can be sore, is. But it's great to see the fruits of our service-Elders Brinegar and Quackenbush got fed two meals and gained an Investigator because of their shoveling efforts around their new apartment yesterday. Luckily for us, the roads are relatively clear now, so we can walk to Market Basket (the local cheap grocery store) in about 5 minutes. All is well as far as taking care of ourselves-the Members have been more than gracious in helping us get to our few appointments while public transportation has been down. We had hurricane-force winds for about 24 hours and got about 30" of snow. Church was cancelled except for one ward-the Single's Ward for ages 18-24. Luckily for us, the Elders over that ward are none other than our roommates, Elders Spears and Brimhall. So we walked the 40 minutes to the LP chapel just off of Harvard Campus and had a wonderful testimony meeting there with the 50 or so people (not all part of this particular ward). Things are very quickly returning to normal... Just with a TON of snow, too.
Elder Kilgore and I have remained VERY busy. With the new emphasis on member missionary work in our mission, we have taught a lot of lessons to members. In the three functional days we had this week, we still taught 5 member lessons. Our goal is to teach 10 member lessons this week, and to also teach 4 lessons to investigators; and to do 3 of those with members present. We're sure to be keeping VERY busy this week.
Needless to say, this has been a pretty slow week. But with lots of time for meditation and thought, this week was good for spiritual thoughts! So here's the new realization for the week, along with the accompanying story. During our sacrament meeting with the Single's Ward, we sang "How Firm a Foundation" (Hymn No. 85). The first 3 verses are the ones that we always sing. Sadly, we forget the following verses. The initial verses are sung about what Christ has done for us and the role that He plays in our lives; but everybody knows what Christ has done for us. However, next verses talk about the trials of life, and the necessity of them. OK-we all know that too. But the last verse REALLY struck me-"That soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I CAN not desert to his foes...." (Feel free to read the rest and find your own patterns/conclusions in the hymn yourself). Did Christ give up on ANYONE? No-not even the scribes and Pharisees who ultimately put Him to death. What were some of the last words uttered from his bruised and broken body? "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Having such an example of perfect love and support, how can we even suppose that we are to sit back idly and take His efforts for granted? Our job and obligation is to do what He would do-to love, support, and help wherever we can. Isn't that the entirety of what He did in this life? Even little children sing, "I'm trying to be like Jesus." Let's not forget our obligation and duty to share the love with which we have been so abundantly and undeservedly blessed.
Elder Boone
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