Friday, June 20, 2014

Feb. 17, 2014 ~ God knows us individually, and he will work in the very details of our lives


Heyyoooo!!!  You mentioned Mom that it's a national holiday today... is it terrible that I have no idea what holiday it is today??  haha oh well, I've gotten use to being out of the loop!  It was great to hear from everyone!  Thanks for the advice Austin, it has a lot of real life application here in the mission, and out of the mission as well.  I had a good chuckle at the motion pictures you sent along with the email.  I'm not even sure if that's what they're called but they were pictures and they were moving so that's what I'm calling them!  Mom that's some great missionary work you have going on! Even though Sheri wasn't as open and receptive as we hoped she would've been, I'll bet my bottom dollar she'll still remember the experience of going to the temple. There's no other place like it on earth. Sorry for no pictures today, I'll be sending home a small package with my memory card in it, along with a few CD's. One has x-rays on it, the other some awesome videos, and the other some talks. It's called Take Control, by Douglas Callister. His wife speaks first and then he speaks. Its AWESOME.  Annnnnd if it's not in there there you'll have to let me know, I'll send it to you…

Anyways, we've had a busy busy week!  Oh real quick funny story, then on to the good stuff.  Have I told you that Elder Vance is a healthy guy?  Well he is.  So it's sweet because he's doesn't have any issues when we try to eat healthy!  A member family in our ward is super healthy minded too, and they had us try some kale chips, which when they made it was super good.  Well we had the bright idea to try to make some on our own.... haha let me tell you what, kale is disgusting!! Ladies and gentlemen, leave it up to the professionals! Ok, back to business.

So quick story to highlight how God works. He does work by small and simple means.  In turn great things come to pass. The other elders in our ward were out walking around and talked to some people who were putting things in a U-Haul.  They asked if they could help. The couple gladly accepted the help, and as they talked the couple mentioned how not 10 minutes earlier they had said a prayer that they would get some help. (Background info: The husband's grandpa died 2 months ago, his dad died 2 weeks ago.  4 days ago, when they get back from the funeral which was out of town, their utilities are shut off and they have a notice that their home is being sold in a week and have that much time to move.)  We pick the other elders up for dinner, and tell them we'll come back to help afterwards.  We come back and meet Jessica and Josh.  They're moving to a small town outside of Tulsa.  

These two are incredibly friendly, very open people. They were asking a lot of questions about us, and why we were all dressed up. That opened the door for us to begin to talk about what we do and then we began to talk about families.  We talked for the next 20 minutes with Jessica about her relationship with God and she mentioned how she's felt like for the longest time she's been able to get close to God, but lately she hasn't, and there's something missing in her life, something she needs to do to get closer to Him.  Josh then pokes his head in and mentions how he had been praying these last few weeks to be lead and guided to the church God wants him to be at, where his family can be blessed the most.  Haha I'm telling you what Elder Vance and I looked at each other and were like "is this really happening?" We testified of the simple points of the Plan of Salvation, left them with a Book of Mormon, and committed them to have the missionaries over when they move outside of Tulsa . It's not in our mission but that's ok, we're all on the same team!  Anyways, at the end Elder Vance said "We know that if you do what the missionaries in Tulsa invite you to do, you'll have that relationship with Christ that you're seeking." They then said "Thank you so much, we know that you've been an answer to all of our prayers."

I'll probably never see them again, but that's ok.  What I'll keep from that night is the knowledge that God knows us individually, and he will work in the very details of our lives.  Very seldom will angels come down and interject. Rather he'll allow our brothers and sisters the opportunities to serve and love one another into the gospel. Thank you for serving and loving me, I have been blessed greatly by it. I love you!!!


Elder Traasdahl

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