From Dad 9/9

Good morning everyone,

Another new week is on the horizon. We love Sundays. The day is generally structured pretty much and mom usually fixes a nice warm dinner. Today we are having stew. Yum! Sorry we couldn’t invite you, but the time is coming when we will again. Mom still bests me in 3 to 13 on a regular basis, but it is still fun.

Yesterday we met with a young couple who have been progressing in their activity in the Church. They have come from inactivity and she is doing an awesome job working in the young women’s program. Today he is prepared for his interview to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He is worthy. He is also very shy and speaks very softly. He has a lot of ability. His wife has been frustrated with so little communication between them. Yesterday we were talking about communication from the discussions on “Building an Eternal Marriage” and she wanted him to ask her a question about anything. She is from the Philippines. She has an older sister who lives here as well. He asked her why she and her sister, Mary, spend hours daily talking on the phone. It created a lively, warm discussion. It was evident he too wanted such closeness with someone only not yet knowing how to generate something like that. We feel real hope for their future and that they will have a good marriage to carry them through thick and thin.

Sister Kempe this past week started our discussion together by saying, “I don’t feel well in my Church right now.” Where do you go from there? Such are the interesting challenges in missionary work. After a long time talking things began to open up and we could see the light. She had always felt the people in the Church were perfect. Recently she has had to admit to herself this is not true. She said it was like bursting a very large bubble that had brought her so much joy. She readily accepts neither is she perfect. It is just realizing the Church is not full of perfect people even though the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and we have the blessing of using it and applying it to our lives. Once she could put into words her feelings she was able once again to sense her direction in life and to feel comfortable again. We are glad she has survived the “honeymoon” and is still happily married to her covenants to keep the Lord’s commandments and the blessings this will bring.

Family at home and people here have been really good to mom this past week. She is so warm and caring and people are always drawn to her. Her influence is seen and felt as coming from the heart. Alina mom told you about who crumbled in tears into her arms this week seems to draw strength from just being together with mom. You can feel the trust Alina has for what mom says and does. You all know how true and faithful mom is. This is not hard to understand. One of the things people in and out of the family have always loved about mom is her quick wit and sense of humor. It just puts a pleasant edge on most everything that happens in a day.

The saying, “Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels” is hard at work here. A man who is so gifted yet unable to include other people in his life is finding himself once again running into a very hard, brick wall. It is not possible to indefinitely protect someone from seeing and experiencing the results of their actions and choices. What he says with his lips and what he does with his heart have been so far apart, there is only one alternative and that is for it to catch up to him. We hope he will find in his heart to want to become more teachable. Otherwise he is about to embark on one of those very painful alone moments in life. He has spent the past 25 years roaming the earth. He named recently a few places in the world he has not yet been with almost a fore knowledge he was about to move on and find himself once again in another part of the earth telling the same story, doing the same things until it will catch up to him once again. We hope the day will come he can get a hold of life firmly enough to comprehend he was given so many talents for a purpose and until he is willing to hold still long enough for the refiner’s fire to work its work on him these talents will never be given the opportunity to blossom and produce the beauty and strength in his life for which they have been given to him. So many gifts, so much fear, we do hope he will not run again. He is very lovable. All he needs to do is trust others enough to let go of the fear and join the human race as an equal. He has so much to offer. It will be so very welcome, when the day comes that he is ready to be taught sufficient self control to allow these talents, these blessings to reach out and include him permanently in the lives of others who can and would care about him.

It has been such a cold month the past 3 or 4 weeks people are wondering whether there will be heavy snows this winter. Last winter was mostly rain. Whatever happens we will be happy to be here. We also look forward to spring.

Have a great week. Remember you are loved.

Love always,

Dad

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