Drops in a Pot

I forgot my camera today- so pictures will have to come next week. Sorry about that.

Tomorrow is my two month mark! But having 16 more to go means that those two seem like drops in a bucket. That's fine, I like it that way. It's been an interesting two months.

I find that every week feels really crazy. We work with so many different people that juggling their ups and downs can make me emotionally sea-sick. This week was another mixed-bag. Though I must say that it seems a little heavy on the negative side and a little sparse on the positive end of things.

Yesterday was the Superbowl. We decided not to go out and annoy the people watching it. We did other productive activities at home. I am pretty sure the Seattle Seahawks won- for those of you who are still wondering.

I didn't tell you this, but about a month ago I dropped a name tag on our way home. We found the magnetic back next to the sidewalk about a week later, and I had just about given up looking for it when my companion found its remains on the ground about a mile away on a different street. I'll share a picture in the future. I feel that the chances of finding it are pretty slim- until I remember that we walk up and down and across our little area for the better part of every day- so that was exciting.

I learned what Pot smells like. We knocked on a couple of doors that opened to reveal the overwhelmingly cloying and sour smell of skunk/ body odor. The people behind both of those doors told us we could come back! Which is great. I am glad that I can correctly identify the smell now. I figure that knowledge will help me out later when I teach High School.

We were dropped by several people this week as well. The most promising family that we had when I got here dropped us. We were crushed. We are still really upset about it. They were so excited to be baptized! Then things fell apart. They got sick, we couldn't get in and teach them. They couldn't go to church. She was having a hard time quitting smoking. They dropped us- and not gently. The worst part is I had SEEN them change. I had witnessed what the gospel of Jesus Christ had done for their lives. They were like them people of King Benjamin in Mosiah 5:2 who said

"Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually"

I have been thinking, in my study, about how to get from that feeling to the end of that chapter which reads "ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ the Lord God Omnipotent may seal you His."

I think it takes continued repentance. Mosiah 5 talks a lot about depending on Christ so that we can be cleansed by Him, because only under His name (in His gospel covenant through baptism and repentance- taking upon ourselves His name) can we make it back to our Father in Heaven.

We got dropped by a few people this week- and it has been hard to recover. But we are teaching others who are moving forward. We will recover, and we will go on to help others. Even though it hurts sometimes.

Thanks for your support.

Be steadfast and immovable.

Love,

Sister Caroline Faulkner