Wow what an amazing week!! I
was seriously the busiest I have ever been in my entire mission. I was
traveling pretty much every day. I was getting to know new areas and was able
to have many experiences that touched my heart. This week’s email is one that
is going to be special for me. I want to tell everyone of a little story that
happened to me this week. So here in my sector we have really rich people and
then also really poor, poor people. So on Saturday, we scheduled to have
lunch in the poor sector. This lady is a very poor lady. When I heard that we
were going to eat there, being a really selfish man, I went in with a bad
attitude. I was just expecting the worst of the worst. Well that is exactly
what I found. I have never actually seen someone live in these type of conditions.
I felt so bad for the lady. Her house was literally a shack in the back of a
house. She, her daughter and her grandson lived in this house. The walls and
floor boards were beginning to break. The floor was being torn up and it was
just not a good looking place. This little shack could not protect them from
the wind, not even the rain. When I walked in there I had a terrible attitude.
When I saw this I started to think about what type of food we were going to
eat. I was not very excited. As this little old lady stumbled over to a rickety
old pot and pulled out a piece of old, rock hard meat, and a scoop of mashed
potatoes. I looked at the food and it did not look appetizing at all. I knew I
was going to have to force it down. As lunch went on I could see that her house
was worse than what I saw at first glance. Animals began to fill the house.
Cats were jumping window to window, hair was flying everywhere, and her floor
was covered in feces and old rotten food. I was just not in a very comfortable
situation. While we were eating we were trying to make a good relationship with
this little old lady and her grandson. This little old lady did not have very
good social skills either. It was so hard to get her to talk to us. As I sat
there, I was only thinking of myself. All I could think about was getting out
of the door. This is where I had one of the most spiritual experiences I have
had. We thanked the sister for her food and for her time. She then went on to
explain with tear filled eyes why she gave food to the missionaries. MY HEART
BROKE!!! She went on to explain that she has been a member for more than 40
years and that she had always wanted to give food to the missionaries but was
always embarrassed to have the missionaries over. In her own words she said
"I don’t have much to eat, so it would not be a benefit for the
missionaries." I then realized that what she gave us… was all that she
had. She had been saving up money and time so that she could give us this meal.
My mindset changed in that moment. My eyes began to fill with tears as I
realized this lady had more Christ like love than I have ever seen. How great
it is to give something to others, but how much greater is it to give something
that you don’t have to others? I saw that this lady had so much love for the
missionaries and what we were doing. My heart definitely broke and I became
very humble. I began to see things as they were and not with my prideful view I
had at first. I instantly was able to love that lady and see her as she was and
not how she lived. It was definitely one of the most humbling experiences I
have had in my time here.
This brings me to my spiritual thought this
week. I want to talk to everyone about Love.
Love is the first principle of
this Gospel.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.... AS I HAVE LOVED YOU… LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
This
week has been an amazing week. As I have been focusing on loving everyone... even
in moments where it was hard to love, or people who are hard to love, I have
seen the blessing from God. I see people as God sees them and not how they are
in that moment but more how they can become. I know that God sees us with eyes
of love and not mortal eyes. We as humans are so easily distracted by the
weaknesses or faults of others, and often times we can’t see the great things
about people. I know as we try and love each and every person we will see people
with the same eyes as God does, and we will become closer to our heavenly
father.
I want to end with this…”AS I HAVE LOVED YOU,
LOVE ONE ANOTHER” 1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
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| Elder Smith's Birthday celebration today... |
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