6 Hours of Digging

Well happy Father's Day! I hope all the fathers out there had a good Father's Day, especially my own dad and grandfathers.

This week was a little different. We weren't able to meet with as many people as we would have liked, so we ended up doing a lot more service. Thursday we helped this guy Matt put his trampoline down to ground level. There was already a hole dug, maybe 2 feet down at its deepest spots and about the right size for the trampoline to fit in. So we got to digging and using the pick axe to break up the ground, and it was going pretty good for a while, because he had let the ground soak for a while before we came over. However, once we got all the softer dirt out of there, things got a little more tough. And this is Arizona. So things got a little more hot. And the ground got a little harder, until we brought out the sprinkler and started digging with that spraying over the hole. That helped cool things down and soften things up pretty well, until we were practically diggin in mud. But that was better than digging through solid rock, so it was nice. Finally, after about 6 hours we got the hole dug big enough and deep enough and we threw the trampoline in the ground. So that felt good to get everything done. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened this week. The sunburn felt nice, haha.

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is our Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness for us. A lot of people seem to think either God isn't there, or doesn't care what we do with this life. But I think its the other way around. He cares a great deal. and he wants us to do the things that He knows will make us happy in the long run, even when things get bad for us. Its kind of like a test. We are sent here to be tested, to see if we are willing to follow Jesus Christ, and to prove we want to return to live with him. He has prepared us with everything we need, namely the Gospel of Christ, and as we live in accordance with that gospel we see the blessings of choosing correct answers on this "test", and even when we make mistakes, we are able to do "test corrections'' through repentance, made possible by the Savior. I know that the Gospel is true, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to repent and to live my life in closer harmony with His gospel.

Well, I hope everything is going well at home. Take care and God bless,

Elder Hiatt

Their Faith is Amazingly Strong

This has been an interesting week. Its getting hotter and hotter, so that always keeps things interesting, trying to find ways to stay cool. We have been trying to do a lot more finding people to teach but we are also trying to just help the people we already are teaching progress a little bit. 

 

We are working with Lora and Kaylee. Lora's husband isn't very interested but he is just fine with us coming over to teach them. They really want to be baptized, they love the church and Kaylee is excited to go to Girl's Camp this summer. But this weekend they went through some difficult trials. They wanted to invite Lora's family to their baptism, so they did, and apparently her family wasn't very fond of the idea. On Friday we learned that they were being "cruel" about their decision to join the Church, but Sunday we  found out that Lora had been disowned by her family. But their faith is amazingly strong. Even though they have gone through some difficulties, they still have a firm belief in God and still want to be baptized. They are strong enough that once they have made their decision they can stick to it, and they are set on proceeding. But they were shaken by what happened. It has made me think a little bit about just how faithful we are. Would we have the faith to forsake our family to follow Christ? I'm extremely grateful I haven't had to make that decision because I'm not sure which I would choose. So, Lora and Kaylee are an example to me and have helped build my faith by just seeing how strong their faith is.

Well, I hope things are going well at home. Take care, and God bless.

Elder Hiatt