Sorry I dropped the ball on telling you that P-day was going to be on
Wednesday this and not on Monday due to a new schedule to work well with
transfers this week. I read through Kimi's Statement and its sounds great
however in the 4th paragraph there is a random "e" kinda just hanging out by
itself...I know my English is going down hill fast thanks to Russian but you
might want to look at the that...Anyways thanks for the updates on everything!
I can't believe that Danny is already home! I'm so happy that he's safe. I
definitely kept in him in some prayers. I just found out that I'm staying in my
area until the rest of my mission, It will be my second 6 month area in my
mission. My companion is leaving me so I will get a new one tomorrow. This is
my last full transfer b/c I will leave about 2 weeks into the next one. I can't
believe Elder Smith is going to be home today!! I was in the MTC with him!!!
Things are great here. There is too much to talk about in one whole day let
alone one small letter. So I will give you bits and pieces about what happened
and then later i can give you the full ish detail. On Sunday night, we went to
Theddy and the boys were we had a lesson in the equivalent a college dorm, with
6 Africans. It was SOOOO AWESOME! 4 of them are already investigators and out
of the other 2, 1 became a new investigator. Those guys are party animals but
when it comes time for the Gospel, they really know how to focus...well most of
the time haha. My comp and I are having a wonderful time teaching and seeing
such great progress in people. I just heard last night that a man that I started
teaching again in my last area is getting baptized on Saturday. That brings
peace to my soul that I am actually making a difference. With in the last 2
weeks or so I have heard from other missionaries currently serving in some of my
old areas say that while street contacting, they had random people they met tell
them to tell Elder Rooney that they said hi. I can't remember who they are all
the time b/c I meet a ton of people everyday but apparently they remembered me
which I thought was really nice. It makes me want to never forget anyone that
meet with. even If it just on the street. It actually been a goal that I have
given myself, is to invest in people. For example, If I am talking to some one
to if someone is talking to me...they get ALL of my attention. Its really
interesting to me, that after analyzing why some of the missionaries here
became some of my really good friends, I understood that they were the ones that
cared enough about me to give me their attention. They invested in me and it
made me want to be around them. And b/c they did give me their whole attention,
they were able to remember somethings that I considered important to me, and they
were able to relate that back to me at later time in my mission, which made me
feel that I was important to them. So, I made it a goal a while back to do the
same, and its been a great experience. Sooooo, relating to this goal I had set, I have an experience I want to share with you.
We went to a woman's place, her name is Sveta, I have talked about her
before. She is a member of the church and is in her 70's. She is the saddest
woman I think I have ever met.
At the beginning of our lesson, I asked how she was doing, she just went on and on about her problems and how she tries and tries to have a good relationship with her son but he won't talk to her b/c she's "Mormon". She told us that she is not living, she just exists. She gets up in the morning, bathes, eats breakfast, and goes to sleep again. She never leaves her apt and no one comes to visit her. We started talking about the Atonement b/c the Atonement fixes everything...literally. then the thought came to my mind that I need to ask her what she is good at. The whole time, and every time we visit her, she is always so negative and talks about things that she doesn't have (life, family...etc). The thought of the parables of the talents came to my mind. The reason why this woman feels as though she has nothing is b/c she is focusing on what she doesn't have and not focusing on what she does have. The parable teaches us that we must work well with the talents that we have been given and THEN we will receive more. It doesn't say focus and the things that you don't have and you will be added upon. So, I ask her. " What things to you do well?" (that is a hard question to answer by the way, Anyone can say anything that they need improvement on or something that they are struggling with but, its not as easy to say something like "I am great at.....". When we look at the things we are good at, then we start to understand what beautiful things with which God has entrusted us). She said "I'm old, and its all gone from me now", "I'm not good at anything". Then I felt prompted to ask her " When you were young, what things were you good at?" She began to answer the same way....."I'm not good at anything..." BLAH BLAH BLAH. Everyone has been given talents, I won't accept an answer of "I'm not good at anything". I gently stated that everyone has talents. Then she stopped and said "I liked to write poems". And when she said that, the world stopped. She began to think about the things she loved to do. The room went silent. She said that she also enjoyed reciting them for others. We told her to tell us one!!! and she was like " No, no I can't remember any of them....It's all left form me now..." Then we started talking a little and she stops randomly and she started to say this beautiful poem that she wrote years ago, that she STILL remembered. As she did so, she started to smile. I was so happy when I saw her smile. She forgot what it was like to use the talents given to her, and she also forgot what it was like to feel the joy from God when He sees us using them. So I asked her to write me a poem and then recite it to us next time we see her. She said that she wouldn't make any promises. So I said " I'll tell you what, You write a poem and I'll write a poem and we'll both share them to each other on our next visit." She said she wouldn't make any promises. But I think she will :) I of course reassured her that I'm terrible with writing poems in English and that if I tried to write one in Russian it would be a nightmare haha. however, when she prayed to close the meeting, she was a different person. She offered a beautiful prayer that was full of thanksgiving and hope. I felt as though I was I actually helping someone. It was a very tender experience that I will always cherish. Yesterday, I started my poem for her and I can't wait for the day when I can share it with her.
 |
| Sveta the Poet |
At the beginning of our lesson, I asked how she was doing, she just went on and on about her problems and how she tries and tries to have a good relationship with her son but he won't talk to her b/c she's "Mormon". She told us that she is not living, she just exists. She gets up in the morning, bathes, eats breakfast, and goes to sleep again. She never leaves her apt and no one comes to visit her. We started talking about the Atonement b/c the Atonement fixes everything...literally. then the thought came to my mind that I need to ask her what she is good at. The whole time, and every time we visit her, she is always so negative and talks about things that she doesn't have (life, family...etc). The thought of the parables of the talents came to my mind. The reason why this woman feels as though she has nothing is b/c she is focusing on what she doesn't have and not focusing on what she does have. The parable teaches us that we must work well with the talents that we have been given and THEN we will receive more. It doesn't say focus and the things that you don't have and you will be added upon. So, I ask her. " What things to you do well?" (that is a hard question to answer by the way, Anyone can say anything that they need improvement on or something that they are struggling with but, its not as easy to say something like "I am great at.....". When we look at the things we are good at, then we start to understand what beautiful things with which God has entrusted us). She said "I'm old, and its all gone from me now", "I'm not good at anything". Then I felt prompted to ask her " When you were young, what things were you good at?" She began to answer the same way....."I'm not good at anything..." BLAH BLAH BLAH. Everyone has been given talents, I won't accept an answer of "I'm not good at anything". I gently stated that everyone has talents. Then she stopped and said "I liked to write poems". And when she said that, the world stopped. She began to think about the things she loved to do. The room went silent. She said that she also enjoyed reciting them for others. We told her to tell us one!!! and she was like " No, no I can't remember any of them....It's all left form me now..." Then we started talking a little and she stops randomly and she started to say this beautiful poem that she wrote years ago, that she STILL remembered. As she did so, she started to smile. I was so happy when I saw her smile. She forgot what it was like to use the talents given to her, and she also forgot what it was like to feel the joy from God when He sees us using them. So I asked her to write me a poem and then recite it to us next time we see her. She said that she wouldn't make any promises. So I said " I'll tell you what, You write a poem and I'll write a poem and we'll both share them to each other on our next visit." She said she wouldn't make any promises. But I think she will :) I of course reassured her that I'm terrible with writing poems in English and that if I tried to write one in Russian it would be a nightmare haha. however, when she prayed to close the meeting, she was a different person. She offered a beautiful prayer that was full of thanksgiving and hope. I felt as though I was I actually helping someone. It was a very tender experience that I will always cherish. Yesterday, I started my poem for her and I can't wait for the day when I can share it with her.
I have a firm testimony through experience on both ends that when you
invest your time and attention in someone, you not only better the lives of
those around you, but you also begin to see the hand of God work in your own
life. How grateful I am to have had these wonderful experiences on my mission
that have given me such great knowledge and joy. have a great week!
- Sean
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