Puzzlemania

Monday, June 29, 2009

Hola todos!

It's been a long, hard week. I've felt the Refiner's Fire a lot, and can see much change even within just a few days; it'll doubtlessly be one of those weeks I look back on and say, "I really grew from that."

We had an awesome zone conference on Tuesday; I've never taken so many notes. President was funny as usual. His oldest son was on his way home from his mission that day, and he made sure we knew about it. Putting both hands on the pulpit, President said authoritatively, "Elders and sisters, I don't want to make you trunky, but my son's coming home today. I'll be picking him up at the same place I picked up all of you." I think I'll include another one or two of his quotes at the end of the email; there are a lot of them!

After conference we set to work on an idea we'd had the previous week: jigsaw puzzles for Omner, our thirteen-year-old investigator who loves puzzles. We delivered three to him this week, and he got more and more excited with each one. For the first puzzle, we drew the Plan of Salvation on the back of a "regular" puzzle, and gave him a picture of it to put it together that way.

The next day we just gave him a normal puzzle, but this time we kept the picture to illustrate what it's like to go through life without knowing the Big Picture.

The last puzzle we gave him was another normal one with the picture, but we took five pieces out without telling him. On the missing pieces we wrote "faith," "repentance," "baptism," "the Gift of the Holy Ghost," and "endure to the end," and handed them off to his member dad to give to him after he discovered that some pieces were missing.

It's an idea we've been very excited about, and one I might use again later in my mission. Omner's dad reports that the boy put together all the puzzles immediately after receiving them, and was understanding the teachings and soaking them all in. Sadly, however, we won't get to teach him much more than that, because he goes back to his mom in Arizona tomorrow. But hey, maybe he'll want to get baptized after this; he lives in the Tempe Mission, so he's all yours, Elder Navarro!

The San Pedro elders had a baptism in our building on Thursday, so we took the opportunity to show David. Afterward we took him on a tour of the church, which he really enjoyed. "It's really simple!" he said, almost sounding relieved. He's going strong; we've had a hard time getting him to pray, but he has been reading selected chapters in the Book of Mormon and wants to make sure he's sincere about wanting to receive a witness of the truth.

And while I'm on the subject, let me just add that my current church building is nearly an exact copy of the one back home; stepping into the young women's room, I half expect to see Gordon walking in with all the guys that carpooled with him. It makes tours interesting for me.

Anywho, this email can double as a shout-out to the Highams, because the next person I want to tell you about after David is Stephanie.

On Thursday night we got a phone call letting us know about Stephanie, who was moving down from Colorado and would need some help unloading. Several Church members had helped her in Colorado, and when we called her the next morning, she told us how appreciative she was of all the help. "I'm Baptist," she said, "but I've been so overwhelmed by your Church. Maybe I should convert, or something; I dunno!"

That wasn't the only golden thing she said, and to sweeten the deal, it turned out that her new neighbor in the apartment complex was a member--and she got to meet him at the very start. Brother Miller had no idea who Stephanie was, but he saw us outside in our service clothes and thought, "Oh, missionaries!" and ran out to help. He gladly accepted the challenge to invite his neighbor to church. Could the situation get any better?

Well, she didn't make it to church this Sunday, but we weren't left empty-handed yesterday. Another sincere seeker of truth came walking into church yesterday and made our whole weekend with his electness.

Luke is visiting from Huntington Beach, California, and will be in town till August. He has some LDS friends at home, but other than enjoying a few stake dances with them, he never really had any involvement with the Church. But as he was driving down the road yesterday, he saw our building and thought, "Hey, I'd kinda like to check it out." So there he was.

We found an empty room and taught him the first lesson then and there. The Spirit was really strong in this lesson, and Luke was willing to pray at the end to be open to the truth. Afterward he attended the Stone Oak sacrament meeting with us and loved it; and to be honest, it was my first time seeing someone who had just walked in be the first to reach for the hymn book and sing the hymns just as loud as the members! It was an awesome day of church for us. Luke left with a Book of Mormon and expressed much gratitude for us helping him. We hope to see him again soon.

And now it's P Day! Good things are happening all around. Thank you for all your prayers and support; y'all have a great week!

Elder Cunningham
D&C 135:3
"Liberty Jail.... That doesn't make sense, does it? It's like 'jumbo shrimp.'"
"I know some people who work harder at looking like they're working than it takes to actually work!"--President Cutler

Pic 1: My best rendition of the Plan yet.