2nd Chances

Kevin Anthony and his son William

Before starting off the week, I just want to say how thankful I am for everyone that has emailed me about their mission calls. It is such a wonderful thing to hear all y'all have the desire to go out and serve the Lord!! Thank you!!

A lot has happened so hopefully this doesn't drag on too long!!

I had forgotten to say this, but a few Sundays ago our ward mission leader was teaching Gospel Principles. The lesson was incredible. We were initially talking about Agency, but towards the end he said that he knew there was a special reason for me to be out here in the Georgia Atlanta Mission. That statement didn't apply to the lesson whatsoever, but I knew it was from the spirit because at that time our missionary work was really struggling. It was hard to see my purpose as a missionary, but because of that one statement I felt re-energized!! God is Powerful!!

PDAY was pretty coolio!! We went down to Conyers and did same old same old Chair soccer, sports, etc. Later that day, me and Elder Braun were trying to figure out where to go finding. We both had the desire to tract down a street near our complex. When we did so we found 3 people. 1 of the 3 we have followed up with and have had some great lessons. I have gained a testimony of the power of prayer and how it should be used properly. Many times before going out to perform a labor we would pray for guidance and set to out to go do something. But this time, after we prayed we both sat there thinking about where we should go. I know the spirit leads and guides us as we seek His inspiration.

Tuesday we taught the Restoration to Jeremy with our team-up Isaac Sheets!! The first time we taught the Resto was on His doorstep when we first met him, so we felt the need to go over it again. The spirit was present and the lesson went great!! Please pray for him!!

Wednesday was an interesting day to say the least. It was raining really hard so we decided biking probably wouldn't be the best option. We started walking to our appointment and about 30 minutes in we came across a drunk guy on the side of the road. He was carrying a 12 pack of Corona Light in his jacket just weeping, and completely soaked by the rain. We decided to walk the guy home and just cancel the appointment. While walking we flagged down a good Samaritan that was able to give us a ride to his house. The guy was actually on his way to college as well, what a man!! 

After the drunk man thing, we still had time to get to our appointment that we had with Hilaria. When we got over there she was so happy to see us. We had found her last December but she went out of the country shortly after and didn't get back until just barely. We retaught the Resto and she loved it, she even said she had believed all of her life that Jesus Christ and God the Father were separate. WHOOHOO!! We also noticed that she had a bit of trouble understanding us (being more affluent in Spanish) so after the meeting we referred her to the Spanish Elders. It sounds like it is going really well and she should be baptized very soon!!

Interviews with Pres. and Sister Foote were on Thursday. That was a good time, I love them to death!!

We had exchanges with the TT's on Friday and I went with Elder Derioux. He is from France and is one of my favorite people. He was good friends with Elder Bay before he left, so we were able to talk about him as well. There was one point in our exchange that just cracked me up. While we were outside the Library we came across a guy named Ashton that was pretty sad because his mom called him dumb or something like that. He was willing to listen to our message so we shared the Plan of Salvation right then and there. It was all going really well until he asked me "do you believe in space?" We won't get too into details but basically where he was going with that was he wanted to convince us that the World was flat. He got really into it and kinda started to attack us, that was a weird experience. HAHA while we were biking away Elder Derioux said, "Wow, I can understand why his mom called him dumb." HAHA that was kinda mean, but I laughed. I laughed hard!!

On Saturday the Snellville Sisters had a Baptism for their two investigators Kristen and Carter. The whole story about how they were found is quite remarkable but I will try to make it as short as I can because I know this letter is dragging....

Kristen felt sad. She wanted a church. An LDS friend sent her a message on facebook. She met up with the friend. They ended up dating. She moved into the Snellville ward. She attended relief society and talked to the Sisters. She was baptized along with her son. The end!!

After the baptism we went to do service for Kevin Anthony splitting wood and building a wood holder thingy. It was a good time!! 

Sunday we got a referral from a member about her soon to be daughter in law. She wanted to be taught and baptized. Right now I am kinda feeling that she is wanting for the wrong reasons, but I guess we will just have to see in the coming weeks. 

Now, to the title of the email. Last night we were trying to figure out where to go finding. For some reason I felt we should really go to Walmart. This is quite unusual because little to no success is found in store contacting with Elders in Georgia. But we went nonetheless. When we got to the front of the store we saw a white dude just chilling on a bench. When we went up to talk to him he was excited to see us, "For the First time in Forever!!"His name is Jody. We really hit it off with him and had a great conversation. He then began to explain everything that he was going through. His wife died last January on his birthday, he has cancer in 3 parts of his body, he is losing his home at the end of the month and he has no job because they fired him from not being able to show up (cancer treatments), also he hasn't eaten in 3 days along with his passed wife's dogs and cats. At the moment he said he was ready to give up, that there was no point for him anymore. He only had one family member still alive, that being his brother who was in and out of jail. He said he was there because he was able to find 1 more dollar and some coinage in his couch to pay for some old bread and cat food. In a nutshell, this guy was going through more than anyone else that I had ever met before (besides Christ). He then mentioned that he had seen us behind the library on the benches by the lake a few weeks prior. Now, a little rewind. That day me and Elder Braun were trying to decide where to go for our studying. We ended up going to the lake behind the library and while we were there I saw a guy strolling past the lake. I felt the impression to go talk to him multiple times, but I kept pushing it away saying to myself that I was supposed to study. We left that day not thinking to much about the guy walking around the lake. It wasn't until last night that I found out that the same man was Jody, and that impression that I had, that didn't heed was the Holy Spirit. Now, back to last night. We continued to talk to him until he decided he needed to walk back to his house. As he left all I could hear was the spirit tell me to pull out my wallet and give the cash to him. But every time that impression came, I pushed it away saying to myself we weren't allowed to give money. This happened many times until it got to the point where the Spirit basically said, "you prayed for my power, now exercise your faith." We ran full sprint to catch up to Jody, and I gave him everything that I had. The expression on his face when he received the money will be engraved within my memory for the rest of my life. It changed me. He immediately started to weep and gave me the warmest hug. I can only feel love for that man. This was a big learning lesson for myself. But in the end I am grateful that the Lord gave me a 2nd chance to Act. 

I encourage all of you to heed to the promptings of the spirit, especially the first time. 

Love yall

Elder Northrup

 

Funny Sign