Familia!
Que Honda? Can you believe its nearly June already??? I graduated two years ago....Man I'm old... Its awesome how time flies though, I'm definitely loving it. This week was a pretty humbling week. Made me really come to love the gift of agency that we have all been given haha. A couple weeks ago Elder Wheeler and I decided we were going to plan an activity to take a bunch of our investigators to the visitors center at the Mesa Temple. We wanted to make it a super powerful experience for each of them, and so we wanted to make sure that each of them had a fellowship to go along with them. At one point we had 17 investigators who wanted to go, and so of course each of them needed a member friend to go along with them, so it pretty much turned into a ward party haha. We had over 30 people lined up to head down with us and we were super excited. We got all the rides set up, called the visitors center to reserve a theater, and got a bunch of other things set up. It took a lot of time and effort to get everything lined up, but just as always, it is a whole lot easier for things to fall apart than to get them built up. An hour before we were supposed to head down to Mesa all but four investigators (all four were under 12) canceled. So instead of a trip of over 30, we ended up going to the visitors center with four kids haha. Still was an enjoyable night, but could've definitely been better if we had the turn out that we were hoping.
We weren't too downtrodden from the failed temple trip though because the next day, Saturday, we were looking forward to the baptism of the Padron family. Their baptism was scheduled for 3:00 and so around 2:00 we headed to the church to get everything set up. Well, at 2:50 the Padron family hadn't showed up. Elder Wheeler and I decided to run over to their place to see if we could help out with anything. When we got there, their van was gone, but two of their sons were standing outside all dressed up in their church clothes. We asked where their dad went and they both said, "We're not sure." Apparently a while before, their little sister had started throwing up and was getting worse and worse. The dad told the boys to get ready for the baptism and that he was going to take the sister to the hospital to see what they said was wrong. Well the hospital visit took a lot longer than they thought, and so they didn't make it back until late that night. It was definitely tough to see, I was really looking forward to this family entering into the covenant of baptism, but I know that God has a time and a place for everything.
With both of these trials this week I was able to take a step back and just look at the big picture of things. I'm sure that God has plenty of days just like this. He sets these huge plans to help his children out, and then just like that everything falls apart. I know that God is all powerful, and He could have easily made things happen the way He wanted, but He respects so much the gift that we have been given, the gift of agency. From the beginning of time, this gift has been such a huge part of the plan that God has for us. It truly is a plan of happiness because we are the ones that get to chose where we go. Just as 2 Nephi 2:27 talks about, each of us are free to choose all things. Through our choices we are free to choose liberty and eternal life, or captivity and the pains and sorrows that come from sins. Throughout my mission it has been difficult to see investigators make decisions that both they and I know will bring misery, but I have truly come to love and Cherish this great gift that we all have. Eternal life is a gift offered to all of us, it is just made possible upon our decisions. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to be out every single day helping people see how to best use their agency. I am thankful for weeks when our plans don't go according to our desires, because I am able to take a step back and look at the important things. I know that God has a time and place for everything. I know that the Padron family will soon enter into the waters of baptism and I cannot wait for that day to come. I hope each of you are doing great! I love you all.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
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