3/31/2014

“I had a fun time preaching on a stump in the middle of a little plot of grass surrounded by a bunch of homes one evening last week.”

Dear Family,

I passed my driving theory test this week!  The UK test is so much harder than the one in Utah.  I was scared I wasn't going to pass.  But I did, so it's okay.  Now I just need to take the driving test.  Did you ever look into the insurance information?  That picture of the sisters sitting in the door is great.  The only negative aspect is the dirty room in the background ;)  But I guess when you're a champion story teller, you just don't have enough time to clean your room.  There are more important things.

I had a fun time preaching on a stump in the middle of a little plot of grass surrounded by a bunch of homes one evening last week.  The response wasn't too high, but it reminded me how grateful I am that we do the whole "preaching" thing a little bit different now days.  I don't think I'd have been a very good Hyde Park Corner missionary.  Elder Ballard tells a story of his first day in the mission when his mission President took him to a town centre and told him to preach about baptism to the people.  He says he ran out of things to say after about 5 minutes and it was a really embarrassing experience for him.  It made him realize how important it is to internalize the doctrine though.  We need to know the material so we can teach at whatever level we need to. Whether we're teaching someone from China who's never heard about God, or an African who goes to church 4 times a week, if we understand the doctrine we can teach them.

Facebook has been a really great tool for missionary work so far.  There are some people who are really hard to get a hold of or connect with over the phone, but Facebook gets the job done.  Also we get a more inside look on our investigators lives.  I love it.  It helps us understand their needs so much better.  I can't wait to see many miracles come from Facebook.  We've been teaching the members how they can use Facebook as a missionary tool also.  So far everyone is really excited about it.  It's going to be a great thing.  Facebook is going to be overrun with Mormons sharing their beliefs.  I can't wait.

I'll share a miracle today.  Sam has been struggling a bit to recognize an answer to his prayers, so we decided to do a fast with him.  On Monday night we started the fast by watching Elder Holland's "Safety for the Soul" and then we went back on Tuesday night to end the fast with him.  We watched another General Conference talk and talked about how the fast had gone.  Nothing really stood out at first as an answer to his prayers, but then we asked "is there anything else you want to share with us, or any other impressions you might have had today as you've been fasting?"  He said, "well there is one thing.  My leg (he just had surgery on his leg a couple of weeks ago) has been acting up a lot lately.  It's been worse than ever the last couple of days, but today I decided not to take the pain killers because we're fasting, and it hasn't bothered me a bit.  My leg feels better than it has in a long time."  Miracles happen.  I think we often try to look for the little miracles and the little impressions we receive from the Holy Ghost and then when something big comes we don't realize what it is because it's not what we were looking for.  Sam wasn't fasting for his leg to feel better, he just wanted to feel that he should be baptised.  His faith was sufficient to work a larger miracle.  I learned to never underestimate what a little bit of faith can do.  He trusted that because he was fasting his leg would be okay, and it was.  Trusting in the Lord is probably one of the hardest things to learn how to do, but when we just do it we realize why it's so important.  I'm so grateful that God answers prayers.  Sam should be baptised before the end of the month.

Well that's it for today, folks.  Things here are going great.  I'm happy to be where I am, doing what I'm doing.  I do miss you people every once in a while.  It's always nice to hear from you on Mondays.  Next transfer I'll be hitting my year mark.  Where does time go?  It's crazy.

Love,

Elder Hein

p.s. I don't know how to keep the facebook followers informed.  I guess just post it to your page or something.  Keep putting the letters on the Blog.  I'm sure most people who actually want to stay informed already know how to get to the Blog without using facebook to get there.  Sorry I'm not much help, haha.

p.p.s. Have you been sent the hospital bill yet?