It has been a much better week for me. I have settled into more of a routine now and have adjusted to the situation. I just have to more faith and not get too stressed out about it. We all get stressed in our lives. Even Elder Hatch said he felt stressed. I have been drinking more water lately and that seems to have helped. I kind of feel bad for Elder Dupin though because he's a zone leader and he's in a new area but he still comes to our area once a week, He's going home in two and a half weeks. He has a lot on his plate.
When I was in Sackville this week, it got really cold on Tuesday. I wore my thermals that day. When we knocking that day, some people saw how cold we were and let us in to warm up for a bit even though they bluntly said they were not interested. One said that he agrees with our beliefs but doesn't like how we believe that those who aren't members are godless. He said he read it in a one of our pamphlets. I think it was a misinterpretation though because we don't believe people to be godless if they aren't a member. I met a return missionary from the Sackville Ward who just got home from his mission while I was there. He served in the Toronto mission and he said he knew Nathan Sparks and Bradee. So I thought that was pretty cool. His name was Dallin Hicks. I went to their District Meeting this week as well. It was really good. Elder Nielsen made us take off our name tags and just look at them for a couple minutes and then imagine if it had our first names on it. I was just kind of like "wooo." It just wouldn't be the same. The two biggest things that stand out on our name tag is our name ELDER O'BRIEN and JESUS CHRIST. It was a spiritual moment for me. It reminded me who I am representing and that He has called me to this mission to represent him to these people. It was definitely one of the most spiritual district meetings I've been to.
I liked being in Sackville for a couple days. I am going to have to get used to it since I'll be there once a week. It's a good area. I'ts a lot bigger than Kentville. We do quite a bit more knocking. Anyway, even though quite a few people let us in to warm up, people were not receptive this week. We had quite a few people slam the door on us and tell us never to come back, or to remove them off our list. We told them that was no list but they wouldn't have any of it. But I just shrugged it off and continued on. Everyone has their agency.
We didn't have Church cancelled on us this week. We had all three meetings. So there was quite a bit more people this week. Our former ward mission leader got released yesterday and now Brother Collet, who just moved in from BC in November, is the new ward mission leader. I think Brother Collet will do well as the new ward mission leader. He served a mission. He is a really nice guy - really humble and he knows a lot about who we work with and he wants to help.
I don't know if you got the chance to watch the CES devotional or not but it was really good. If you haven't seen it I recommend reading it. It was by Brother Randall L. Ridd, Second Counselor in the General Young Men's. You might remember him from when he came to Lethbridge. He shared a story of when he was in the military for a year and then went to a year of college. One day his professor asked why he wasn't serving a mission. He said that he felt like it was too late. Then the professor told him no it's not too late. After that he thought to himself there's lots of reason why I shouldn't serve a mission - I'm shy, I don't know the Book of Mormon, I have a girlfriend. He then prayed hoping that the answer he would get is that he shouldn't serve a mission. But that's not the answer he got. He felt like the Lord wanted him to serve a mission. So he decided to serve. He said that before he wasn't seeking to do the will of the Lord; he was seeking to do his will. Often times we say to the Lord I'll go where you want me to go, I'll do what you want me to do only if it's where I want to go, only if it's what I want to do, only if it's what I want to say. He then gave three simple disciplines that if we do them with real intent seeking the will of the Lord, we will draw closer to the Lord. They were Remember him, reading our scriptures, and praying. Anyway, I really enjoyed it.
Love,
Elder O"Brien
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