Merry Christmas y'all!
Update on Barry:
On
Friday we brought a wonderful team up with us, Sister Sheridan, and
went over to Barry's. He answers the door and says, "Sorry guys, we
won't be able to have a lesson today. My sink is broken and I've been
working on it all morning." To which we reply, "Don't worry, there has
to be someone we know who can help fix it." With a few phone calls we
get a hold of the handy man of the ward who talks to Barry and they
arrange a time to fix the sink. Perfect. Then he's calmed down and feels
ready to have a lesson. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and discussed the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's so easy to teach him because he's already
learned all of the doctrine from the Holy Ghost. He understands the
importance of Faith, Repentence, Baptism, etc. We had a beautiful
discussion. He just gets it. Afterward when we were talking to Sister
Sheridan she was saying, "He's a really good investigator. He grasps
everything so well. And the gospel will change his life. When he sees
and comes to know that he is a son of God, then he will see how
much he deserves in this life." She says that because he lives in very
humble circumstances, life seems to have gone wrong at some point in his
life, and it has all prepared him for this time to find something that
will uplift and change him. Truly, he's an amazing person to teach.
We
thought it was funny that we were happy that his sink was more broken
than anticipated, so the handy man in the ward apparently is going back
today to continue helping him. I think that will be a great influence
and help, for members to feel the spirit of serving another in need, and
for Barry to feel the love that comes from the members.
Then,
on Friday we found out that Barry's daughter has taken an interest in
the violin. Which is crazy because Sister Wernli-- the wife of the
couple who has fellow shipped Barry-- plays and teaches violin.
Yesterday we set up an impromtu lesson with Sister Wernli to come over
to Barry's with us and bring her violin. Barry's daughter, Faith, does
not like us at all. She's 14 and has been through a lot in her life and
she is not interested. But, Sister Wernli played "Nearer my God to Thee"
and Barry invited Faith to come out. After some coaxing, she and Sister
Wernli connected. Sister Wernli showed her how to hold a violin and
told her what the proper size of violin would be for her. Afterward
Sister Wernli told us that she and her husband want to get them a violin
for Christmas and teach Faith. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that
Sister Wernli was literally just called as the Sunday school teacher for
Faith's age group. Brother Wernli calls those types of "coincidences"
"architectural moments."
Saturday we set up a
lesson with Gabe, the 16 year old, and Mallory, the girl that referred
him. There was a baptism going on for an 8 year old girl, so we planned
on having him come to the baptism and then have a lesson afterward. It
went really well. We went over the first part of the Plan of Salvation
and focused on the Atonement. We showed him the "He is the Gift" and
"Because of Him." We're teaching him in more segments because that's to
his level and it's been really cool. It was interesting teaching about
the Restoration to someone who really has never learned about how he can
truly rely on Christ's Atonement daily. Most of the time, down here in
the South, people get that, but Gabe wasn't raised with a religion. It's
been pretty neat.
That's about all that's
super exciting. Everything has been good, we had a good Thanksgiving and
our landlord and her husband made us potato pancakes the next day out
of the leftover mash potatoes. That was a first. Pretty good thought :)
Love y'all,
Sister Smith
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