Elder Todd Cronin: November 28, 2011 Tis the Season

Family!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!! We surely did! And we are still eating the left overs. Big, high calorie meals! I have to eat as much as I can now because my companion and I have committed to going on a 10 day power diet starting the first of December. Mostly, it is to make up for how much we indulged over Thanksgiving and make room for Christmas. We'll see how things go.

Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious! Sister Patsy Wilson invited us and one of our investigators over that day. Sister Wilson is a well known cook here in the ward and even in the stake. All who know her know her tender heart and savory dishes! She has helped us with a few of our investigators so we have developed a relationship with her and her family. One time we were over there and her son was in from out of town. We had brought an investigator over for dinner that night. Sister Wilson's son is a member and when asked to say the prayer he started out by saying, "Dear Buddha....." I'm pretty sure my heart leaped out of my chest! Luckily, our investigator had been around other members before so he knew it was a joke. It did make me laugh I must admit because when I heard it, I thought of Octavia and her comment to Dad about the Buddha figurines we have.

Every time Thanksgiving rolls around I realize how ungrateful I have been throughout the year. I am grateful for so many things. When I feel shorted or uncomfortable it is usually because I have not taken the time to count my blessings. This is something I need to be more diligent about doing.

So, we have been riding the bus every now and again and it has resulted in some very interesting experiences. We are easily recognized of course. On one occasion, we were approached by a homeless man who bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. Said he wanted to learn more but had no home. Another man approached us and said he wanted to tell us what it is we believed in as he started out saying, "If I understand you all correctly you believe in some cosmic, zombie, Jew who is his own father, killed himself to save us from himself...." That's when we started ignoring him. He recognized that and walked off saying he had beat us at our own religion, mingled with some cuss words. It made for an exciting night.

Saturday we are baptizing Donna. She is a wonderful single lady who lives by herself with no family or friends. Her life was spiraling down and she got in touch with us. Since we have been going, we have seen a light in her grow each and every day. She loves reading and most of the principles stick. She is very active in coming to church activities and a very friendly lady. She has invited everyone she's talked to to her baptism. We are excited for her!

One of the goals our mission has is to bring the members into missionary work so that we are equally yoked in bringing souls to Christ. This ward we are in is a fairly old, demographically, ward yet they are dedicated to the gospel. We have a wonderful relationship with the members and they trust and respect us. It is a blessing for us.

The work here is not easy. It is a struggle each day to walk away with a smile from a conversation with someone who has just defaced our religion with slandering comments and rude remarks. Sometimes I don't smile. But I try. It has taken me the better part of 23 years to understand what it is that drives me and brings me true happiness. I cannot expect them to get the picture in just a 30 second street contact. But I know that if they would open their hearts and minds and plant a seed of faith that they could know. Often, I walk away from these conversations feeling I have wasted my time. But then we sit down with someone who has accepted an invitation for us to return and with the strength of the Spirit we testify of what we know to be true and invite them to ask God for their own answer of truth and they accept and they receive an answer. At that moment I realize that Basket Weaving Billy who hates Mormons was merely a means to an end. How could I appreciate the sweetness of the sincere prayer of an investigator if I had no nay-sayers to contrast and provide the black velvet for the diamond of a developing testimony? I could not. I know that there is opposition in all things. That opposition makes me smile. It is part of God's plan.

Love,

Elder Cronin