Return of the Phone (Week 87)

Throwback to literally a week ago.

We showed up at Joseph's home. He is a returning member we have been working with ever since I got to the area. He opened the door and honestly looked a little upset that we were there. After a few seconds of thinking about it, he let us in. He was kind of a wreck, haha. We started talking about how things are going for him and come to find out, things were pretty sucky. Just a lot of things had broken down and some people hadn't pulled through that he had wanted to. He was also struggling with some health challenges and was just not having a great day. 

We read from Alma 18 together and talked about how the Lord knows us very personally. He is aware of our innermost thoughts, desires, and feelings. He knows exactly where we are in life.

His phone had broken recently and was a big reason why he was upset. He was using a really, really cheap phone and couldn't communicate at all with other people. We took a shot in the dark and texted our ward group chat to see if anyone had a spare phone that Joseph could use. We talked to Joseph about coming to Church on Sunday (the very next day) but he said he was instead going to walk to a phone store to get his phone fixed. He expressed to us that he was having a hard time trusting in God because of the frustration he was experiencing in his life. He said he wasn't going to go to church because his phone was a lot more important to fix.

Wales

"More important than getting your phone fixed, is coming to church and taking the Sacrament. That will do you a whole lot more good." We said. Joseph had a slightly unimpressed look on his face. We then told him that if he came to church someone would bring a phone for him. Doubtfully he asked, "How do you know?" We told him Faith wasn't to have a perfect knowledge of things but it was to trust in God nonetheless. He had a change of heart and really thought about it. After some more talking and hyping him up, he was set on coming to church. 

The moment that his heart and his intents were set on coming to church and on trusting God, a member in the ward group chat said they had a phone that Joseph could use. It was actually amazing. Joseph was in awe! Haha, it all sounds really cheesy but it was just awesome. Joseph became so grateful and was very happy. It was just so cool to see such a little tender mercy from the Lord in a small way that ultimately had a big impact on Joseph. 

Sunday came around and no Joseph...................  Sad day. Second hour rolls around and in came Joseph from the rainstorm. He had accidentally slept in and missed his ride earlier in the day, but determined to get to church, he walked 40 minutes in the rain. Haha it was amazing to see it all come around.

Love, 

Elder Hayden Shockley

Pastor Danson (Week 85)

This week was wild!! We saw many cool things that could only have come from God, and as well it was just crazy busy. Good stuff!

Probably the coolest thing that happened this past week was on Sunday the 6th. But this really cool thing started even earlier in the week. Probably the Tuesday or Wednesday before the 6th we were driving somewhere. Elder Costello got a phone call from someone out of the blue. The person on the other end of the phone told us that his name was Pastor Danson. He said he lives in Kenya and that he saw our Facebook page and wanted us to share a message with his kids. We agreed to meet on Sunday over zoom.

Sunday rolled around and we got ready for a zoom meeting with Pastor Danson and his family. He gets on the zoom call and says hello to us and then here are my kids. He flips his camera around and there stood about 40-50 "kids". Turns out Pastor Danson takes care of all these kids who don't have a home in Kenya. He gathered them at the front of the room and they sang a couple of songs for us. Then he gave us the time to share a message. We read John 13:34-35 and talked about how we can love those around us. As we spoke, we would pause often and Pastor Danson would translate for the kids. It was such a cool experience and something I will not soon forget. I am very grateful to Heavenly Father for experiences like these, and many other experiences that are for our good.

-Elder Shockley :)

February (Week 84)

It is now February. Crazy!

Well I can't think of too much of what happened this week except that it was good. Very descriptive, I know. Anyway, here are some pictures from the week. I love you all and hope you are doing well :)

Elder Shockley