Dear family and everyone else,
It's the final countdown--the last month. Only 30 days to go before I fly home. I haven't thought of home much this week, which is good. I'm still staying busy trying to find people to teach without any luck. I feel joyous for some reason. It was probably the sunshine we received after the great deluge of rain we had on Friday. It was so thick Friday afternoon that you could almost swim in the rain. It rained 4 inches. It was a ton. The mountains got even more--15 ft. of snow within 10 days. The ski resorts are now up and running once again after a long 6 years of drought. Last year was so bad that there was no snow pack. Well, 6 years of water withheld just came down all at once. The people rejoice and thank the Lord continually. As it rained, my companion and I took shelter in Denair until the storm let up. We were so soaked that even our shoes had a pool in them, so we drained our shoes and wrung out some of our stuff as we waited. It was really cold. Then, we hurried over to dinner and had some hot soup. The member felt sorry for us and offered a ride back to our apartment. After 2 hours, we were able to dry all of our clothes, though our shoe soles were still really wet, so we leaned them against our box heater to dry overnight.
In the morning, they were really warm and very crisp dry. Now we are back to business, and it's overcast again. We finally have been receiving a little bit of fog in the morning within the last 2 days, but nothing too thick like in the past in California.
We were really close to getting an investigator to church yesterday, but her little boy was late returning from his dad's house, so they weren't able to come. It's been hard getting in contact with her. I still haven't met her. The relative who lives in Idaho assures us that she is still interested. She just forgets a lot of our appointments. We will keep trying this week.
On Saturday, we felt that we needed to go see a few members in Hilmar and a couple other people. On the way there, I felt happy and excited for whatever reason. Maybe because I was experiencing something new. There seems to be a ton of ready people in the smaller towns than in the major cities that we do work in. I felt energized going down there for a few hours. I was also able to think more clearly without any distractions to ponder the words of life. I was thinking about grace a lot and how divine help can change us. One talk I heard from somewhere said, "Grace has saved you, but has grace changed you?" I felt a new light of intelligence come upon me on that sunny day. I feel that God's grace, love, and teachings have helped me, and benefited me greatly. We then had a good discussion about the subject with an active couple for dinner later that night. They had so many wonderful stories about grace, including fixing a back porch that often flooded whenever it rained. That's about it for this week. Love you all.
Sincerely,
Elder White
It's the final countdown--the last month. Only 30 days to go before I fly home. I haven't thought of home much this week, which is good. I'm still staying busy trying to find people to teach without any luck. I feel joyous for some reason. It was probably the sunshine we received after the great deluge of rain we had on Friday. It was so thick Friday afternoon that you could almost swim in the rain. It rained 4 inches. It was a ton. The mountains got even more--15 ft. of snow within 10 days. The ski resorts are now up and running once again after a long 6 years of drought. Last year was so bad that there was no snow pack. Well, 6 years of water withheld just came down all at once. The people rejoice and thank the Lord continually. As it rained, my companion and I took shelter in Denair until the storm let up. We were so soaked that even our shoes had a pool in them, so we drained our shoes and wrung out some of our stuff as we waited. It was really cold. Then, we hurried over to dinner and had some hot soup. The member felt sorry for us and offered a ride back to our apartment. After 2 hours, we were able to dry all of our clothes, though our shoe soles were still really wet, so we leaned them against our box heater to dry overnight.
In the morning, they were really warm and very crisp dry. Now we are back to business, and it's overcast again. We finally have been receiving a little bit of fog in the morning within the last 2 days, but nothing too thick like in the past in California.
We were really close to getting an investigator to church yesterday, but her little boy was late returning from his dad's house, so they weren't able to come. It's been hard getting in contact with her. I still haven't met her. The relative who lives in Idaho assures us that she is still interested. She just forgets a lot of our appointments. We will keep trying this week.
On Saturday, we felt that we needed to go see a few members in Hilmar and a couple other people. On the way there, I felt happy and excited for whatever reason. Maybe because I was experiencing something new. There seems to be a ton of ready people in the smaller towns than in the major cities that we do work in. I felt energized going down there for a few hours. I was also able to think more clearly without any distractions to ponder the words of life. I was thinking about grace a lot and how divine help can change us. One talk I heard from somewhere said, "Grace has saved you, but has grace changed you?" I felt a new light of intelligence come upon me on that sunny day. I feel that God's grace, love, and teachings have helped me, and benefited me greatly. We then had a good discussion about the subject with an active couple for dinner later that night. They had so many wonderful stories about grace, including fixing a back porch that often flooded whenever it rained. That's about it for this week. Love you all.
Sincerely,
Elder White