Week 51: Count Your Many Blessings

Denny's

A good week this week. Saw a lot of miracles and knocked a lot of doors. However, not one of the miracles we saw was waiting behind those doors. The Lord loves effort.

This week we tried our hardest to put forth every effort possible. Daily contacts, following up on invitations, grinding and sticking to plans and our word instead of taking the easy route, and very fervent prayer. My testimony grew a lot this week. 8 friends came to church this week and Yuk Shan is on date for baptism this week! Please please pray that she will be able to continue to resist the temptation to drink coffee so the baptism can happen!

Stuff:

---Got caught in a mega bug storm and it was horrible. They didn't bite but they crawled into every nook and corner possible.

---Had exchanges with Elder Alvarado who goes home this transfer and we laughed SO much. He will be very missed🫡

---Some mega thunderstorms passed through this week and it was lit to see our windows shake from thunder.

---Ate Denny's❤️‍🔥

---5 minutes before Sacrament Meeting, bishop asked me to speak and then President McClellan and his wife walked in so that was fun!

I had an experience this week that I want to share. Right as we were getting ready to leave the house to start working for the day we got a call from an unknown number. They asked us if we could go to the nearby hospital to give a blessing to a woman who was very sick. We unhesitatingly agreed to help, got down on our knees and prayed for guidance, requested an Über and we were off to the hospital. On the way, our driver took multiple wrong turns that caused us to arrive a few minutes later than expected. As we approached the door, the security guard stopped us and told us that visiting hours had stopped 2 minutes before we got there. We were not able to receive permission to enter and the family thanked us for being willing to help. Approximately 1 hour later, the woman passed away. When I heard the news, I sat reflecting on the situation. At first I put the blame on myself for paying the cheaper Uber that would take a couple minutes longer, then I thought to blame our Uber driver for not following the directions on the map, then I thought to blame the woman who called for not telling us how urgent the situation was, and then I thought how no one has the blame– how God has perfect timing and how there are so many things out of my control. I then thought about the love God has for us. He gives us covenants that bind us to him and give us reason to not fear. He gives us Priesthood power to receive help, counseling so we can honor our covenants, and literal healing power. Although sadly, for reasons out of our control, we were not able to help this woman, I learned a lifelong lesson from the faith of this woman. I learned that although there may not be much hope, the power of the Priesthood should never be discarded. I learned the importance of being worthy in all moments to act in the name of Jesus Christ. Which, in turn, is the importance of repenting in every personal prayer I say. My mom recently taught me that mortality is part of this life and God allows things such as this to happen because we are humans. We can't know everything but we can know what gives us hope and eternal life– covenants and faithful works to honor and wholeheartedly cherish them.

Another experience I want to remember happened this week. We are teaching a young man who is 22. He reached out to us through social media looking for peace and help from God to overcome his weaknesses. We had a video call lesson with him this week and I was a little worried if he still had the same interest in our message because we had not been able to meet with him for a long time before. However, the Lord quite literally told me “O ye of little faith” because our friend proved my thoughts completely wrong. He started reading the Book of Mormon and shared how he has seen a drastic change in his life, the lives of the people closest to him, and in his desires ever since he started talking with us and even more when he started reading the Book of Mormon. His testimony was one of the most sincere and humble testimonies I have ever heard.

I know this gospel is true and the Book of Mormon has power. I can't go one single day without reading it and I hope to become more like my Savior with every single page.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder