His Grace is Sufficient

Hey everyone.

This week has not been the best, but Elder Kowalk and I had some fun adventures:

• We caught a baby turtle and taught it the gospel; 
• We caught a lot of fireflies and had a dance party; 
• Matt told us his new plan to stay in town for a while, so he'll be baptized soon, hopefully; 
• And Elder Kowalk and I got caught in a horrible, terrible storm underneath a 4-foot-wide building awning, and were close enough to lightning to SMELL the actual bolt. We laughed the whole time.

Still, it can't fully beat out the pain of being prejudiced against by a member of the branch. He was driving us home Saturday evening, and the discussion we were having with him turned into him saying, "The people in the South that have been through so much won't take any advice or counsel from a perfect Utah boy who hasn't been through the things we have."

That hurt. It really hurt, and I'm still in the process of getting over it. I'm far from perfect, and thinking that I don't having anything worthwhile to say because I haven't had it as hard as some people is probably the largest wall I've come up against. I just...I don't wanna get too much into it. I'm a missionary, and I need to be Christ-like. The work is going to be a lot harder now, though. This member isn't cooperating with us anymore, and we're not sure what to do.

I guess I'm not in the best of moods, so just help me get through this with prayers. We'll still focus on the people that truly matter, no matter who or what tries to bring us down.

We heard a wonderful talk this past Thursday, called "His Grace is Sufficient". It's changed my mission, and Elder Kowalk's as well. Here is the link to it:

http://byutv.org/watch/49475abb-10d4-4f45-a757-7000b9945468

Please watch it. It gives me so much hope and comfort. Until next week, stay safe, everyone!

-Elder Staib