This week has been great! Our ward went on visits last Wednesday night and came across a wonderful family that we've begun teaching. The two older daughters are baptized but the younger boys are not. It is refreshing for us when members call us with people who want to hear the gospel message. Also, Alyssa was baptized last night! Her story is great! Her friend Jasmine was invited by an institute teacher some Wednesday night to pull out her phone and text a non-member asking them if they would come to a missionary lesson. Alyssa said yes and 5 weeks later she was baptized!!
This past week was a bit crazy. We had 4 exchanges in a row. This meant that since Tuesday I have spent just over one full day with Elder Jacobs, my companion. The rest of the time was spent with other missionaries and it was a blast!
The best exchange by far was with Elder Ermakov in the Gateway Ward. This is the ward I spent 6 months in last year. We biked the whole day and taught a few lessons. Being on a bike in that area again brought back so many memories. If the Lord asked me to I would gladly spend my last 8 days over there. It is a completely different world. And until I went back there I had almost forgotten what life is like there. The streets are peppered with homeless people young and old. Most of them show signs of serious drug usage. Apartments smell like wet ash trays and sun stricken skin. It's sad. I never knew this existed. It's had my mind going trying to understand how people end up like this. It's easy for someone to say that they did it to themselves or that they deserve it. I'm sure that is true for a small percentage but as a whole it seems they've been mislead into this lifestyle.
I think of Katie, 95 lbs, recovering Heroine addict, sunken eyes, 16 years old and a mother. Her mother is by no means a 'bad' mother. She's had her own struggles but truly cares for her kids well-being. I'm sure for Katie it may have started with an argument she had with her mother about how late she could stay out or what she could and couldn't wear, listen to, or watch. She might have sought refuge with her friends who listened to her woes and encouraged her to be 'herself.' "Here take this. It will put you in a different world. One without worries," they might have told her. Then she was hooked. Once heroin, why not other things. Luckily Katie was bright enough to realize that reality did not come from a hot needle, but what was in fact reality began slipping away from her. So she changed. Hopefully not too late did the change come, because shortly thereafter came Devin, her newborn. She has a bright future if she catches the vision but while she recovers from her C-section, Bobby, the father, slips into the bathroom by himself. Perhaps he's masking the burden of responsibility that comes with a baby boy or the stress that is between him and Katie. Twitterpatted no more and forced into adulthood Bobby sends a wicked dream through his veins, avoiding his own reality. I pray Devin survives all of this. Therein lies the cycle, perpetuated by the adversary's disdain for his lack of eternal progression, stoppable only through the power of God and choice. This poem, written by a recovering addict sums it up:
King Heroin is my shepherd
I shall always want
He maketh me to lie down in gutters
And leadeth me by dangerous waters...
The poem continues but I cannot remember how it finishes. The point is made. The adversary can shepherd us as can Christ. My heart hurts when I see those whose curiosity led them to tag along behind Satan's flock, thinking, " I'll run back in a moment." That moment never comes for them.
In 1833 God began his campaign against drugs by revealing to His prophet, Joseph Smith, the Word of Wisdom, God's law of health. This commandment allows for greater sensitivity to the Spirit, our Shepherd's staff, as we abstain from coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. The adversary seeks to desensitize us to the Spirit by enticing us with these things. If there were no other witness to me that God has a prophet on this earth, the Word of Wisdom and it's stark contrast against the darkness that substance abuse creates is evidence enough.
This church is true. Thanks, be to God!!!!
Love,
EC
On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:41 AM, Kristel Cronin <heycronin@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Elder (soon to be Todd again) Cronin!!!How has your week been? Have you found any new investigators? Any baptisms? How is your companion doing? We got a sweet letter from your President with a note from his wife giving you TONS of accolades, which I'm sure you deserve!!! They love you dearly and love the kind of missionary you are :) US TOO!!! I hope you have the opportunity to make the best of this last week. A lot can be done in one week!We are gearing up here for school. It starts one week from today. The summer has flown by. It was busy and full of fun activities, but now it's time to buckle down for school! I will be substituting again this year with a slight possibility of finding a full-time job. I keep going back and forth about it. Our week was fine. Dad and I spent 5 hours working on the front yard on Saturday. Next, we will tackle the back yard. Dad went to MS to visit Doc on his birthday! He's 83 this year :) Callie was at the beach all week with a friend and Olivia left yesterday for the beach with her friend. Dad Samuel You and I are out of luck for the beach this summer ---- oh well, less chance for cancer!! My week was mostly full of cleaning, catching up from the months of neglect since I was studying for the MCAT. I did manage to get to the temple once to do a few initiatory and sealings.We are working on lining up your release date for when you get back. I think the brother who schedules that will call us this week. I'm guessing we will do that as soon after you get off the plane as we can. We will be having an open house for you at our home on Aug 12, a Sunday evening and I think they want you to speak on that Sunday too.The big family is doing well........we are excited to see you!! I hope this week is FULL of memorable moments as a very seasoned missionary!!Love you tons!!!Mom
"...for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls."
Jacob 4:13
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