Patience is a Virtue

Well, it's all in God's time, I guess.

That's all we can hope for here. Patience truly is a virtue, and we're practicing it pretty hard here in Pocahontas.

For starters, let's begin with nature's wonders. Elder Whetten and I were tracting, and there was a tree standing about 20 yards from us. There was a small squirrel standing under it, tail flicking and doing its thing. Suddenly a HAWK swooped down and NAILED the squirrel, clasped it in its talons and FLEW AWAY with a bushy mass trailing its tail feathers. Elder Whetten and I froze in awe.

Hawk: 1 Squirrel: Dead.

We took over a member couple, the Rings, to visit the Kerns. The Rings' daughter-in-law works with Ashley Kern, so they hit it off perfectly. The lesson was great, and we talked about the Family: A Proclamation to the World. The Kerns read the Book of Mormon and asked fantastic questions. They went to a concert on Sunday, so they couldn't come to church, but they really want to come to Sunday school when they can. They're really progressing, and we're so excited to see their changes. Again, we have to be patient, but if we endure, they'll be an eternal family.

The woman from Corning doesn't want to see us anymore. She's too ingrained with her beliefs in the other church. After our last discussion with her on Saturday, we came away thinking that she doesn't want to join another church, but just wants to be accepted into her church again. She doesn't believe what we believe and won't change her mind because she's so strong in her beliefs, so we're going to let God work on her a bit. Until then, she's been put on hold.

We're teaching a family that just had a baby about 2 weeks ago. Amy, the wife, has cerebral palsy, and Allen, the husband, is striving to keep his family happy. He's a very good father. Amy and Allen have had 2 babies that passed away soon after childbirth, so their new baby is certainly a blessing.

Allen is very excited to learn and we can't help but smile the entire time we teach. He's trying so hard, and we can't help but love him. He wants to read the whole book of 1 Nephi before we see him on Tuesday. He's very good about reading what we give him, even if he can't understand bits of it. We can't wait to see where our discussions go with him. He finds the message of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon's message "very powerful".

Well, that's about it for now. Elder Whetten is finishing up, so I'm trying to keep him busy. The Rasdon kids are progressing as well, so no complaints there. The work is moving, albeit slowly, but as I said, it's all in God's time. We're here as guides, not dictators.

-Elder Staib