Just a bump on the road of eternal life

2-22-21

 Hello everyone,

 

Well, it's been a week. Transfers happened on Friday - they got bumped back from Wednesday because of the weather. Kansas just hit record subzero temperatures since 1983. The temperatures dropped to -30° with wind, snow, and humidity.  But now it's a warm 41°, so the short sleeves and flip flops are coming out lol. But yeah transfers kinda stink. Well, more like they’re bittersweet.

 

My pal Elder Forbush left, and he was an amazing district leader and friend. I wasn't companions with him, but we lived in the same house. Also, we had a wonderful sister leave the district. Like I've said before, goodbyes make my throat hurt. I’m still with my companion though,  and he's amazing!  But the sweet part is that Sister Montoya, a good old friend from Manhattan, came to Kaw Valley and joined the district so it is fun getting to see her again. 

 

Eli, Alex, and Julee are all off date for baptism. Sad day, but it's ok; they are still all amazing. But we got 4 referrals from other missionaries that we honestly should have gotten a long time ago. All the people these missionaries were working with lived in our area, but they didn't want to pass them to us because they were in their teaching pool.  Some of them had been taught for 5 months. Kinda messed up lol. But hey we have them now, and we're so excited to work with them! 

 

But Kaw Valley is good. Like is said - a lot of throat hurting goodbyes and happy reunions. 

 

Here is my spiritual thought: 

 

At church the bishop referred to the book series "Ramona and Beezus", and it hit with a flash of the past. It made me remember the funny times reading those stories with my Mom. It made me think of all the annoying stuff Katie would do and all the arguments we had - that I now laugh at because it was over the stupidest stuff! 

 

The story of Ramona and Beezus is they are two sisters who have a love / hate relationship. Basically, Beezus is learning how to deal with a little, annoying sibling. 

One story that came to mind was the girls’ mother buys a ton of apples. And Beezus, the older sister, at one point was in charge of watching her little sister Ramona. Long story short, Ramona gets hold of all the apples and takes a bite out of each one. Ramona's reasoning was that the first bite of the apple tasted the best. Beezus, the older sister, is so mad she has steam coming out of her ears. She tells her mom, and to her surprise her mom wasn't mad. 

 

The girls’ mother made apple sauce with all the apples and had the girls help her. And that was that. This little story reminded me that we all make mistakes that seem huge at the moment and aren't fixable. But at the end of the day, they’re so small. Christ’s Atonement is there for us when we get mad at people that take bites of all the apples. His Atonement is there when we take bites out of all the apples. In the end, we all make small mistakes that seem bigger in the moment, but in reality they are just a bump on the road of eternal life. 

 

In 1 Corinthians 13:11, it says "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Talking about this story brought so many childhood / childish memories - times I was mad at Katie or Alex for x, y or z. But when you get older, you really have to pick your battles wisely and follow the example of Jesus Christ. I also love this story because it reminds me of the innocence and goofiness of kids. No wonder why Christ loves little children so deeply. 

 

Love you all, 

 

Elder Hedrick