Week 10

Aloha Family and Friends,
 

     I find it hard to remember things that have happened in the past week. Time just blurs together, I forget what happened on which day, and everything feels like it was months ago or that it just happened the day before. Maybe it is a blessing because in my mind it just goes from one good moment to the next good lesson and skips all the ehh stuff in between. 

      Well the most exciting news... Big Easy is getting baptized on April 13!!! We taught him the other day and had a member with us that was perfect for him because the member has faced and overcome a lot of the same trials that Big Easy is working on overcoming. He hadn't been reading the scriptures we had asked him to read so in our lesson we read it with him. It was 2 Nephi 31 where it talks about baptism is the gate that we need to enter in by to make it back to our Heavenly Father. We stopped throughout the chapter and talked about what it was saying. Well at the end we asked him what he thought about the chapter and what he was feeling. He said, "It just feels right. It makes me want to give up chewing and not smoke my cigars anymore." Uh- I didn't know he smoked, I could have guessed about chewing tobacco. Game plan altered, we told him that if he wanted to be baptized that he would have to give up those things. He said he would and then jokingly said, "I have my can of chew right here, I can give it to you." Joke taken seriously and we took the can and removed the temptation. We told him that when we dropped him off at home that we would also take the cigars that he had planning to smoke that night. His nightly plan would be altered. When we asked him about baptism he said, "The more I think about baptism the more I think I should be baptized!" Perfect, so April 13 is what he is working for! ... He came to church this Sunday, and Sister Duke and I teach Gospel Principles and we talked about the Atonement this week and I think he was really understanding it. Then later they announced that there was going to be a musical fireside on April 14 and he turns to us and said, "Hey that is the day after my baptism." It is the best feeling when you know that these people that you love so much are excited to be baptized and promise to Heavenly Father that they are ready to commit their life to Him.
 

    We are also working with a less active who is roommates with Big Easy. He is 25, a cowboy, and a flirt. He works every Sunday so can never come to church and he likes to drink and chew as well. Well when we stopped by we were just going to leave a Word of Wisdom pamphlet for Big Easy but since he was home we talked to him and told him to read it too. He said that he was going to try and quit because he knew that it was bad. So we asked how we could help. He wants to start off by getting back into the habit of reading his scriptures every week. Well perfect, as missionaries we do everything that we can to help others so we make nightly phone calls to him and remind him. Hopefully, he will take the next step and dump out the alcohol and give up his chew.
 

     Side note: when Big Easy gave us his chew, we threw it away. But I was curious and smelt it. Oh my! Not many things make my stomach turn but that did. It smelt awful! I don't know why anyone would want to put it in their mouth! Blah!
 

     As for Alberta- we ate dinner with her on Friday after we had helped her on the farm and she has so many questions about the church and wanted a copy of the Ensign. She came to church last week and they talked about weekly Family Home Evening, this week she wasn't able to come because a film crew from New Zealand was coming to film her and her farm. Um- that's cool! She loves the way The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints makes her feel. We talked about the way the church was run and then asked if she had started reading the Book of Mormon. She hadn't and so I told her that we have a lesson that introduces the Book of Mormon and how it came to be and then she said that she wanted to hear that and asked if we could do Family Home Evening with her and teach her about that. So tonight will be great!. I am so excited for her because she is so amazing and Christ-like always helping others and is involved in everything; she does things that push herself and make her grow. Ah, I just love her!

      Also, we were able to meet a mother, Denise, who the missionaries before Sister Duke and I, had taught a little bit. Wow, she has gone through so much. She has 4 kids and no husband to support her. She is struggling to get back on her feet. We talked to her about how she can find strength by reading the Book of Mormon. Then at the end I felt like she needed to know that her past could become her past and that those events didn't have to keep affecting her future. Through Jesus Christ and baptism she could be free, she could be given a fresh and new start. She started to cry because that is exactly what she wants.

     People are amazing! It is so amazing to see people want to be better, who want to be clean of their past. They want Jesus Christ to be weaved into their lives, they don't want to just hear it anymore, they want to feel it. And when they do they want to change and they want to act to find Him. Big Easy giving up his addictions and staying clean because every time he is tempted he prays and reads the scriptures and receives strength and the craving leaves. Denise, who got herself and her kids out of an abusive situation only face struggles and loneliness. No steady job and little help. My sister Carly, is serving a mission on crutches and is exhausted but presses forward because she knows this is God's church and wants to share His gospel and His peace with everyone. People make it through incredibly hard trials. Watch the mormon message, "Mountains to Climb" and if you cry then you are feeling what I am feeling. I do not know how people make it through this life and face the trials they do without the gospel. I look at my life and have overcome some hard things but I always knew that I had my Savior and that because of what He did for me that I would never have to face anything alone. I think of Esther and the courage that she had to muster up to save her people and think how many people I know that have that same courage. Whether it is to just keep getting up every morning and face another day. I encourage all to remember this time of year, the time where Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, died on the cross, and rose three days later as a perfect being with flesh and bone. This gift is given to everyone whether they want it or not; all we have to do is accept it.
 

     I love you all, I pray for your well being and your happiness. Keep the faith and press on with faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and friend. Remember that His Atonement can apply to every aspect of our lives. I know that Jesus Christ is with us always. I know that He lives today. I know that He knows us personally and knows exactly and perfectly what we face and what we feel. I love Him as my Savior and know Him as my friend.

Love Always,
  Sister Cassidy Jean Lang