Ooooh wow what a week! This week went by super fast and packed with so many things each day.
Tuesday we helped a new couple move in from Utah. He is from Madrid Spain and she’s from Mexico. Get this: they met through the app ‘Mutual’ which is like the LDS dating app. I thought that was pretty funny.
Wednesday we had interviews w President and Sister Seitz. It was really good for me and they gave me some good insight on how I can improve. There have been a few arguments in our apartment about some things and President gave me the talk “Our Relationship with God” from last conference that was literally perfect for one of the arguments. He talks about how commandments and promised blessings aren’t like a cosmic vending machine. We don’t always know the blessings associated with the commandments we follow, but we will always be blessed.
Then Wednesday night we had a stake president devotional that was so good. The stake president works at a senior care facility and shared an experience he had with one of the CNA’s. They started talking about heaven and he explained to her that everybody goes to heaven, but there are 3 degrees to heaven. She didn’t quite understand or believe him at first but then he explained it super well with an analogy. He said, “For example, let’s take you a CNA, a Medic, and an RN (Registered Nurse). How long did it take you to be a CNA?” She responded with 4 weeks to get the certification. He then asked about a Medic, to which she responded with a 2 year degree. Then the RN she said needed 4 years of school for their degree. He asked her, “with your certification, would you be able to work side by side with a Medic, doing what they do and receive the same pay?” Of she said no. He then asked the same question about a nurse. She then stated no, she wouldn’t able to do that because she hadn’t worked for and gone through the training required to earn the same pay. He said, “That’s the same with Heaven. God loves us all and has given every single one of us a portion of glory. But it’s up to us how much of that glory we want to receive.” He also talked about people that have committed murder and other serious sins would be in the bottom degree of heaven. He then asked her if she wanted to receive the same amount of glory and be on the same level as murderers and others along those lines. She obviously said no. But this analogy helped her have a new perspective of heaven that she never understood before. This stake president in a normal and natural way was able to teach her a fundamental part of the plan of salvation. It’s important as members of the church to take charge and find ways to share the gospel in normal and natural ways as well.
We had a very interesting lesson on Friday night… so basically we had a lesson with Miley and Xander again. For some context, their dad cheated on their mom so they got a divorce but the dad still lives with the woman he cheated with. We had a lesson and I had no idea the dad was gonna show up but he did and joined us for the lesson. I wasn’t worried though and I thought it would be good. We had planned to teach them the 10 commandments. Easy peasy right? Wrong. Dead wrong. We read along in Exodus 20 where it states the 10 commandments and explained each one when we read it. We get reading through and I look down and see the next verse. “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. I just froze. I had no idea what to do. I stalled a little bit trying to figure out what I wanted to say. There was no way I could explain this commandment. How am I supposed to explain adultery when their dad literally committed adultery and was joining us for the lesson?? I freaked out. But I then concluded that it’s God’s law not mine. And their Dad knowingly made that decision. Also, it’s not like I can just skip over the commandment. I can’t just explain 9 commandments and say “we’ll hit the last one next time!”. So we read it and as quickly and clearly as I could I explained what adultery was and moved on. It was probably the most awkward moment of my whole mission. The mom just stared at the Dad the whole time and the kids were kind of in disbelief and didn’t know what to do. It was unbearably awkward but it had to be done. Also Elder Reed got a bloody nose right as we were about to start so that definitely made the lesson even more eventful.
Saturday night we had our ward activity called “Culture Night” and basically there was a talent show and people brought food from their home countries. So we had Mexican food. Equidor food, Salvador food, Columbian, etc. The talent show was pretty crazy too. There were a ton of dances that were super over-the-top haha but they were cool. The primary did a dance with glowsticks and that was super fun. This one couple did a lip sync and it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. He played the guitar and it literally looked so real. It was so hilarious. But there is something so amazing about Hispanic culture. Like their parties are so freaking fun. Everybody is just family and it’s such a blast.
Sunday I had a pretty cool experience. It was fast and testimony meeting and I wanted to bear my testimony. I hate doing it in Spanish because I get so nervous but I know I need to do it more. I was flipping through my scriptures trying to figure out what I wanted to share. I thought about the week and I wanted to bear my testimony on contention. I hate contention. So much. And this week I struggled because there have been some debates in our apartment and I felt like I couldn’t feel the spirit. It’s been really frustrating, but helped me see how much contention can drive away the spirit. So I shared 3 Nephi 11:29. My testimony was short but I expressed my feelings and it was good. Then fast forward to sunday school and we talked about “a soft answer turneth away wrath” and talked about being peaceable and having less contention. So that was cool for me to see the connection with what I’ve been struggling with and then talking about it at church.
That night we had dinner with the Madrid family cause we have lessons with their 9 year old sun every sunday night. So we had to push dinner off until 7:00 which normally isn’t terrible, but fasting for 22 hours was not the most fun experience… but discipline is a good thing to have and I’m always trying to be more disciplined.
Hope y’all had a great labor day weekend! Love you all and let me know if there’s anyone I can pray for. Muchos besos! And remember, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!
Love
Elder Grubbs
