Sick Week

This week I spent most of the week in our apartment. I was sick one day and Elder Chipman was sick for the rest of the week. It was not very fun because Elder Chipman was very indecisive about whether or not he was too sick to go out. It never really allowed me to rest. He would also complain about how our numbers were bad for the week. That really annoyed me, mostly because he was complaining about something obvious that we have no control over. I've gotten better, but I still feel kinda drained energy-wise.

It's gotten really hot here over the past week. I'm not sure how hot it's gotten exactly, but I'm pretty sure we had a string of days in the 90s. Of course, 90s in Phoenix feels like about 80s in Portland, so it's not too terrible. It's just amazing that it's this hot already. I'm not looking forward to summer.

As far as investigators go, Maria, the woman Elder Chipman found crying that one day, is going to be baptized this Saturday. She's completely different now. She's so much happier and looks completely changed from when we first met her. She's really awesome. Other than that, we've recently been running into some problems with people being afraid to leave the Catholic Church. It's a big step for a lot of Mexicans, especially since the Catholic Church is very intertwined with Mexican culture. It kind of feels to them like they're leaving their culture if they leave the church. So we have some investigators right now who aren't really moving anywhere because they're scared of leaving behind their traditions. It's understandable, but it's a little frustrating when they tell you they know your church is true but don't want to join it just because they're Catholic and have always been Catholic.

Other than that, I've recently been thinking a lot about revelation. Our church is as far as I know the only large Christian church that really focuses on the doctrine of revelation. Essentially what we do as missionaries is we invite people to receive revelation directly from God as to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Something I've been learning on my mission is that really when we read the Scriptures or go to Church, we're seeking revelation, or at least that's what we should be doing. It's hard to constantly be seeking that kind of purpose out of those things, but if you do it you find it really does make those acts more meaningful. I really liked Doctrine and Covenants Section 6 this week, it's got a lot of good insights. We really are a Church of revelations, and it is one of the single most important and most dinstiguishing aspects of the Church.

Love you all,

Elder Grasley