Spin Moves

Sometimes the weeks fly and at other times they drag. This one flew!

This was a hard week, but even when things are tough, we can always see God's hand in our lives when we choose to look for it. We just have to choose to open our eyes and let the light come in! But not the bugs.  See the photo below of me cleaning the bugs off the ceiling because we let the bugs come in.

We had a neat experience while tracting this week. Well, before we actually began to knock doors. We were headed out to some blocks on the north end of our area and we walked past a house where I had contacted a woman some two or three months ago. I had actually contacted her there twice and both times she told me that she doesn't really know what she believes or even if she believes. As we walked past we thought, "Well...why not knock?" So we did! A man answered the door and proceeded to tell us that he doesn't believe in God. If God really existed, why do so many people suffer so so much? We hear this question so often and I think it's a universal question in people's minds. Oftentimes when people tell us that they don't believe in God, they don't let us stay and talk to them for very long. But we ended up talking with this man on his doorstep for fifteen minutes. We briefly explained about our purpose on life and why we're here on earth. We explained that it's Heavenly Father's goal for us all that we return to his presence after life on earth. And that because of Jesus Christ, we CAN return to him. How cool is that? I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ. By the end of the conversation, the man agreed to have us come back and share with him a little more about our Father in Heaven's great plan for our successful return to him. So that was a neat little miracle that we almost walked past, but then decided to knock! 

 

Sestra Crosby and I are becoming expert basketball players! Not that either of us have set foot on a basketball court a single time in the last few months, but we are perfecting our spin moves. And every good basketball player knows that you need a solid spin. Here's how it goes. We're walking down the street and someone is coming towards us. We give them a solid "Dober dan!" from about ten feet away. They look at us with a question in their eyes and mumble, "dan." We then go for the "Oprostite" ali "Kako ste danes?" move. By this time we're about even with them and we start to turn towards them as they come even with us. They spot our nametags and give a solid "Nasvidenje" and keep walking. So by this time we have turned a complete 180 from where we bega. So we just keep spinning until we're facing forward again and can carry on our merry way. Spin move!

Sometimes life is hard. Everyone has their own struggles and trials which they experience. And oftimes, we really don't understand why things are so hard. For ourselves and for others. Sometimes the most difficult trial of all is watching someone you love suffer and wishing you could help. I was reading in John 15 this week and I loved what our Savior taught. He taught that through our struggles, we are being "purged" that we might bring forth more good fruit. I think that hard things are a part of the fallen world that we live in. But the way we react to our hard things is the test of life.

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

 And Jesus teaches us that the best way to react is to "abide in (him)." I don't know what hard things each person faces each day, but I do know taht each person faces hard things each day. I don't know what fears and struggles lay behind each person's eyes, but I have no doubt that they're there. What I do know is that I've found in my life that the best way to keep moving forward is by turning to Jesus Christ and abiding in his love. Truly, he has the power to strengthen us, to lift us, to help us, and to comfort us, and I know that he will. 

Love you all!