This has been a decent week. It's been kinda slow numbers-wise, but that's
okay. I'm here to make a differnce in people's lives, not write numbers down on
the call-in report. We taught a lesson to an investigator from a young
part-member family (his wife's a member, and he's got two kids, the oldest of
which is two or so), and followed-up on the temple square visit we had with him
a week or two ago. He didn't seem super interested when we were at T2, so we
were prepared to go into the lesson to try and find a concern and smash it. We
got into the lesson and everything went super smoothly. Turns out he felt the
spirit in the visitors center, wants to prepare to be sealed to his family, and
accepted a baptismal invite as part of that preparation. So...we were pretty
stoked. We're meeting with them again tonight for a family home evening-style
lesson. We were planning on taking an 18-year-old kid who's not sure if he
really wants to serve a mission yet with us to that, but he's busy
tonight.
The other cool thing that happened this week was Tuesday evening. We've got
an investigator named {}, and the only big thing holding him back
right now is his addiction to chewing tobacco. For the past three weeks or so,
we've scheduled an appointment with him and also scheduled Elder Delgado to come
out with us to that. Our game plan is to teach the 7-day 15-step stop smoking
(or dipping) program that missionaries use. Side note, that program's been
around for a while, and I've heard it's pretty church-wide. Dad, did you use it
on your mission? Anyways, things were looking good for Tuesday night, and about
a half hour before the appointment, the lesson cancelled. So...we were driving
around with Delgado trying to figure out something to do when {}'s (remember
her?) boyfriend called, asking us how soon we could get there. We had to drive
from Centerville to Farmington, but that's like driving from Winchester to
Kernstown, so we were there in less than five minutes. Her son had just gotten a
pretty good (or bad) concussion from playing soccer, and she was stressing hard
about it. We were able to give her a blessing, and then later that night call
into Bountiful and get their names on the prayer roll. God knows what he's
doing. {} needed to cancel that lesson so we could be there for {}.I know that this church is true. I know that if we're worthy, we can be led by the Spirit. That happens becuase God truly knows and loves every one of us and wants the best for us. The atonement's real. It's powerful. Someone at dinner the other night asked me if I had always wanted to come on a mission and if not, why I decided to come out. I told a brief, watered down version of the story, and it totally reminded me why I was here, and every part of it, every reason of why I'm able to be out, why I am out, why I'm still here in flippin' Utah, and why I will continue to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength is becuase of the Atonement. That's the sole reason. Nothing else compares. When I think about that, there's absolutely no girl that's pretty enough, no puppy that's cute enough, no buddy that's bro enough, no pop punk that's tight enough, and no running trail that's inviting enough to get me to come home. I stand with the Prophet Mormon when I say: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life."
Just in case any of y'all were wondering.
Love you!
Elder Jake Lusk
