"But His Hand is Stretched out Still" (Week 21)

This week was a little bit slower than usual. On Tuesday we did an exchange with the Zone Leaders and I was able to go to their area, so that was sweet, haha. It was nice to see how they do different parts of missionary work. Our Thanksgiving was awesome! We had dinner with an awesome family and were able to talk to our families, which is always nice, haha. On Friday, the Zone Leaders had MLC and so they dropped off their trainee with us for the day. His name is Elder Ruth and he is an awesome missionary. We were able to split up and get a lot of things done. We met with some really interesting people, but that's just kind of how it's been going in this neck of the woods. 

On Saturday and Sunday we had lessons with our friend Peter. He may or may have not been slightly intoxicated both times we came over, haha, and we had some interesting discussions. We tried so hard to teach the Restoration but with everything we say, Peter starts talking about it and goes off on some tangent and then it takes awhile for him to bring it back to his original point. But anyway, he challenged us to only use the Bible when we teach people and only use the Book of Mormon as a back up🤣 haha, so towards the end we just had him watch Prophet of the Restoration as we left. After that we had dinner with these awesome members but the Mom had an interesting thing, for lack of a better word, where she needs like 25× the amount of Sodium than the average person in a day. So we went to a restaurant and I think she put 2-3 salt packets in every glass of Diet Coke she drank. She downed like 8 or 9 glasses. I was amused, haha, and it was absolutely amazing. Not something you see everyday.

The other Elders had an awesome lesson with Bianca while I was gone on exchanges. Patty is still inching along, haha. She's even talking about baptism for this upcoming April! Haha, it's progress. We have gotten a couple of legit referrals that we will be checking out soon and one of them is super promising! 

There is so much to be grateful for and I am very grateful for all of you! Remember to focus on the real reason why we have Christmas, and do your best to do those things that Christ would. :) In 2 Nephi 19 verses 12, 17, and 21 (Isaiah 9:12,17,21) it says "...but His hand is stretched out still." I love this so much. Jesus Christ is always there for us. He is always reaching out to us. As many times as we mess up, He is there, helping us to repent. As many times as we feel inadequate, He is there to support us and be our strength. He always has our backs; we just need to turn towards Him. And because He is so merciful, we should freely give our mercy to others. The power of forgiveness is real. I invite all of you to join me as I go throughout life and to learn how to turn to Jesus Christ, time and time again, in our help with repentance and forgiveness. 

I love you all! 

Elder Shockley 

P.S. I'm trash at taking pictures.