The mission is absolutely insane. I am having a complete blast down here and I'm learning several new things every day. Time on the mission is like a car - you could be flying down the highway one minute and the next be stopped at a stoplight. It has been flying by for the most part though.
Things have been pretty amazing down here. I haven't sent out a mass email, so only a few people know what is going on. I'm really hoping to focus on the people here and eventually I'll take a little bit more time to respond to everyone. There are lots of people who need help down here.
One of the people is Brother P. He is an investigator that's been going through some tough stuff. He has lost 3 family members all within 6 months of each other this year. He's the youngest of 8, and all of his brothers and sisters despise him because of how he's doing. he has a house of his own, married, has kids, and overall a good head on his shoulders. His siblings are struggling and are pretty envious of Orson, so he feels the weight of it pretty heavily. When his dad died, Orson had to pay all expenses and pick up the debt his siblings had racked up. Because of this, he wasn't able to provide a Christmas for his kids. Was barely able to provide a tree.
As Brother P was telling us all of this you could tell he didn't normally talk to others like this. He was the kind of guy to push people away and not let anyone in. He let us in and we shared our testimonies with him that he needed to pray. It had been a while since he prayed, so it was going to be difficult.
We left him with a commitment to pray and as we were leaving, he asked if we had any coloring books or something that we could give the kids for Christmas. We told him we would look around. Keep in mind though, this man was not the type to ask for stuff, and the first few interactions he had lots of questions and doubts.
My companion and I left there and decided to go to the store that night. We picked up some toys for his little boy and girl, wrapped them at our house, grabbed a lot of the candy that was sent to us for Christmas, and headed back to his house. We pulled up and I jumped out with the stuff. My companion was waiting a ways down the road for me to run to. I went up to the door and set up the teddy bears so they were holding the gifts and candy. I knocked pretty hard and booked it as fast as I could. Jumped in the truck, drove around the block, and checked to make sure they got it.
Elder Martin and I had scheduled an appointment exactly one week later to meet with Orson. When we saw him again, his family was there and they were all getting ready to leave. I soon could sense that Brother P was giving off a very different vibe this time around. He truly had been humbled.
After I knocked on the door, Brother P explained to us he looked out the window and could see me running (Dang). With me banging pretty loud, his wife was worried and he immediately looked out and saw me. He then saw what was on the front porch and told the kids to answer the door. Both of them were excited and were looking up at the sky exclaiming with joy "thank you, Santa!"
Brother P was hit pretty hard by this simple gesture and immediately fell on his knees to offer up a long awaited prayer. In his prayer he asked that his family could more fully come together. and after six days, they were all together eating, the night we arrived.
When we were at his house the first time, there was a bookshelf full of alcohol, there was a sense of heaviness, and questions that were in abundance. The second time we were there - the alcohol was gone; the spirit of peace was present, and a heart that had been truly humbled was ready to receive the word of God without any question.
The Lord works in mysterious ways and is truly guiding this work. I'm so grateful to be out here and to be an instrument in His hands.
Love, Elder Sandberg
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