So....Sunday was wild. I was running a little bit late to get ready for the day and when I looked in my drawer I noticed that I had ran out of socks. All I had was crazy socks. (Unfortunately... we are not allowed to wear crazy socks when we are proselyting..) That was all I had and I wasn't about to put on some old dirty socks, because ain't nobody got time for the stinky Elder in the ward. So I threw on my teal striped socks (matching the tie of course) and ran out the door. We started our journey to take people to church, but it all seemed to collapse before us. We spent an hour looking for people but didn't get anyone to come with us. We were running out of time and we started hiking to church. When we got there I was dying as I looked up on the stand..... you will not believe who was sitting there... Elder Ulisses Soares!!! My mind was completely blown!!! I didn't know what to do, what to say, or how to act. I just acted like it was no big deal and took a seat with my comp. As I took my seat I looked down where I had placed my bag and realized that I was wearing those dang crazy socks haha. I thought to myself... "Wow... if I was scared of running into Sister Acosta (Mission President's wife) with these bad boys on... I don't even know what will happen as I run into an Apostle." Stressing out and thinking of what I could do to hide them... I just decided YOLO and would make a joke out of it if he were to notice. He gave an amazing talk, and then we were off to our classes. He didn't attend my first class but we were in the same quorum the second class. As I had already greeted him he made a joke about our name. (Okay... it is only funny when an Apostle does it, because you just don't see it coming haha) I realized how chill of a guy he is. Then when we split as a quorum... I thought to myself... "I've really got to hide because of these socks that I am wearing." It is literally the first day in my whole mission wearing these bad boys and now I have a chance to get burned by an Apostle haha. So what ended up happening is.... I sat in the corner of the room and Elder Soares was sitting in the other corner. It was a relief until the teacher had a satanic idea of... "Let's all group up in a circle." As we moved the chairs and everyone shifted to make a circle... I took my seat and looked up... and there sat Elder Soares... directly across from me... in the perfect position to take the torch to my face about my socks. As I started to inspect him and look for comebacks to say to an Apostle who was ready to burn me, I realized a few things...... First things first....HIS SOCKS!!! He was wearing socks with polka dots! haha! He was also chewing gum (which is a big no no as a missionary) and he was struggling to stay awake in the class (like any other member who has heard the same thing over and over again haha!). It was classic! It made me realize just how normal these guys are. I will always remember a quote that an apostle said... "I am just an ordinary guy... with an extra ordinary calling."
Of course these apostles are called of God and have keys and authority that blesses each and every one of our lives individually... but that does not take their normalness away. His testimony was incredible and it made me realize that I don't need to worry about the small things like some silly socks or being worried of the little things that life has. I just need to obey and do the things that are right. I learned a lot this past Sunday as I was able to chat with an Apostle of God. Elder Soares inspired me to do better and to be better, and was another witness to me that we truly do have TRUE Apostles and Prophets on the earth today. You can just feel of the Spirit that they carry and you can feel the love that they have for us.. as if it was the Savior himself among us. He taught a lot of things that really touched me during the time that I was able to spend with him... but something that really hit me hard was his testimony in Sacrament meeting. Before he spoke... the stake President stood up and told us... "Listen to Elder Soares as if it was the Savior speaking to you today. He is a true representative of Christ and the things he says are the things that the Savior would say to you today." That hit me and I listened really attentive to his message afterwards. Then as Elder Soares bore his testimony he legit looked me straight in the eyes and he said... "I don't have to believe that Christ lives... I KNOW that He lives. He loves us. He is our Savior and our Redeemer and this is His Church." It was so powerful and it seemed like he was directing it at me and it was just what I needed. I am so grateful for these experiences that I have here that give me assurance of the life of our Savior. I know that He lives. He lives and He directs His church on the Earth today through ordinary men with extraordinary callings. We live in an imperfect world full of flaws, trials, and challenges. But no matter how imperfect it may seem... we have a perfect being who watches over us, protects us, helps us, and blesses us. He cares about us and He wants us to be happy. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for a caring Savior in my life. I know that this is His church and that He guides and directs us through a living Prophet of God. I may not have seen Christ, nor do I know if Elder Soares, another apostle, or the prophet has seen Him (I would not doubt it)... but I KNOW that He exists. Everything is proof of His existence and His love for us. I am grateful to be a representative of Him here in Brazil... no matter how hard it is or no matter how crazy the mission gets... I know that this is His church and this is his mission... and that I am just an instrument being tuned daily to help these lost people find the path to an Eternal Happiness. How grateful I am for this calling and how grateful I am for these blessings... including my greatest blessing that life has to offer... YOU ALL!!! Thank you for your examples and the love that you all have for me and the support you offer. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you. I love you all so much and I miss you like crazy... in fact... I miss you more than I miss wearing my crazy socks, chewing my gum, or having the more relaxed life that I used to... and that is a lot of miss. But I guess I will just have to enjoy it now... because one day it will flip and I will miss the mission life! Life is just crazy like that. Have a wonderful week! I love you!! Ü
Love, Your happy, crazy and completely wild Sky... Elder Abel! Ü
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