Well the good news is that I still have my husband in the
ward!!! JJJ
And I’m really excited about the new stake presidency – Ryan Holmes, Paul
Kruger and Noel Nyoni. Andrew went for an interview yesterday with Elder Carl
B. Cook and Elder van Rheenen. He says Elder Cook is an incredibly nice man,
which I also saw when he spoke at conference today. From what Andrew says it’s
a really nice process to be part of. He was the last interview of the day, and
they asked him all sorts of questions about Pres Holmes and one other brother
they were seriously considering. But our stake is in good hands, and I fully
expect that we’ll be on track for splitting the stake this year. Elder Cook
challenged us today to each individually, or as families, to try and get back
one person who is less active. His promise was that if we do that we won’t have
to worry about splitting the stake – it will happen automatically. And I’m busy
reading in the February Ensign, and there’s a Q&A on how to come back from
being less active. I’m going to give a copy of that to Sis Marie that I
visit teach. She’s wanting to come back, and has even accepted a visiting
teaching round. Hopefully there will be something in there to help her come
back fully.
A great quote in another section of the Feb Ensign is:
“We can choose whether or not our obedience will change us.”
Pretty powerful, I think!
I’ve been lecturing the first year students who did
accounting at school this week for the first time. And I’ve really been
enjoying it! And the best part was today I had a young girl come up to me that
I didn’t recognise. It turns out she’s one of the students, and she and her
friend have been commenting on how happy I always am, and how weird it is. And
she’s so excited to now see that I’m a member, and it all makes sense now J Her friend is actually
meeting with the missionaries, and she said she couldn’t wait to phone her and
tell her why I’m so happy! So I’m also doing some missionary work, but just by
how I’m living J I
think this is actually the first time that I’ve ever known that someone saw
something different in me, and it’s so cool to know that there is something to
see! I feel like I’ve been making some positive improvements in the last 6
months or so, though. I had been cruising for a while, but I’ve been doing
things like writing in my journal again, doing better with my morning prayers,
and since stake conference I’ve been alternating reading a secular book with reading
something spiritual, like the Ensign, or I want to also borrow some Church
books from members in the ward. And I think all of those things are definitely
helping to lift me overall J
We had more sick kids this week L Josh had to stay home from
school on Wednesday, and I kept Caleb home from a missionary fireside this
evening, and the whole week there’s been at least an edge of a cold if not a
full blown cold for everyone… At some stage we’ll all get healthy!
I don’t know if you’re aware of news at all, but there was a
bombing incident at the Boston marathon this week, with I think 13 people
killed, and nearly 180 injured. The US also had an explosion at a fertiliser
plant in Texas, so a bad week for them L
Margaret Thatcher was buried this week. And here in Cape Town we had a HUGE
storm this week! For the first time in ages we had the Black River and
Liesbeeck Rivers bursting their banks. It was intense!!!
On Friday morning I had Josh in tears again because he didn’t
want to go to school. I managed to get out of him that he was scared to play
outside because a couple kids are bullying him, and also he doesn’t want to
talk in front of the class. I spoke to the school manager, and she said she
would talk to him and try and get details and also just understand how he’s feeling.
And I was so impressed with how it was all handled! She phoned me afterwards to
give me feedback, and then when I went to fetch Josh the preschool teacher
spoke to me and said she’d been speaking to Josh’s teacher, and they’ve got a
plan to prevent the bullying, and also they’re going to let him do his orals
and other talking one-on-one with his teacher and gradually build up his
confidence to a small group and eventually the whole class. I’m so grateful
that they are taking such a personal interest in him, and they really care!
Josh then went home with Dane on Friday afternoon and they
went to watch The Croods (Dane is the one who went with to watch the movie with
all of us before you left), and on Saturday Josh also went to a birthday party,
and Dane was there as well. So I think Josh has ended up having a really
positive weekend. Now we’re just hoping and praying that he will be able to
handle going to school tomorrow!
My last thing to share also happened at conference today.
Before conference started I heard a sister sitting behind us, who is visiting
from Joburg, bad-mouthing Elder van Rheenen, based on things she knows about
his from his younger years, and basically saying he shouldn’t be an Area
Authority (She didn't say what he's supposed to have done - probably nothing major, just her opinion...). I wished I hadn’t heard what she said, but I did. And here’s an
example of why gossiping is so bad (although this does have a happy ending for
me). When he got up to speak I couldn’t get what she said out of my head, so it
was a battle for me to be thinking of him as an Area Authority. So I did some
serious praying, asking for me to have it confirmed to me that he really has
been called of God, and he’s right to be fulfilling this calling. At first I
didn’t really feel any comfort, but then towards the end of his talk I did
start feeling the spirit quite strongly, and then he spoke about how we are
each given specific challenges to overcome to help us grow. And as he said that
the Spirit witnessed so strongly to me that this right here was a challenge for
me to overcome, and that he definitely has been called by God to fulfil this
calling, and we can sustain him. The reality is that all of us have made
mistakes, that, if we didn’t use the atonement and repent, would preclude us
from really serving anywhere. But if we have repented, then we can have an
opportunity to start over, and the people around us also have to accept that we’ve
repented, been forgiven, and can now serve wherever Heavenly Father sees fit to
call us. So I can happily accept Elder van Rheenen in his calling as an Area
Authority, and I am glad that I could have this whole experience! My testimony
is actually stronger for it
So in general life is good, and yes, I am a happy person,
and in large part because of the gospel! I wouldn’t want my life any other way!
Love you lots, hope to get lots of photos this week :P
Shelly
No comments:
Post a Comment