Ears that hear and eyes that see

What? Ya’ll have missionaries? That sounds crazy! Guess what? I spoke on Sunday too and I got to be the Elder at the end with half an hour haha (in Spanish) but I think I was able to make it work. I spoke till the end. I really love this branch here. They give us a lot of opportunities to help and they expect good things from us. I was able to speak on preparing to go to the temple and it helped me to think a lot about when I went to the temple and how it made me feel as well as helped me realize how much I want that for the members who live here.

 So this week we did have the chance to visit with that family a few times and they are so great. The kids are super funny. If they see a dog outside just wandering around they will run inside and grab a leash and run to try and catch it. Haha once the dog got away and the other time we showed up and they had this little Jack Russell Terrier on their leash and he was just having a blast playing with them. Way fun little kids. It was super sad though. We learned they will be moving in the next few weeks off the island. They will still be in the branch boundaries but in the other Elder’s area. That was super sad because I’m selfish and wanted to teach them but the Lord is helping me learn the real blessing of this work isn’t in how many people we find and teach and baptize but it’s how many people we help come to a knowledge of the truth. It’s going to be ok. I’ll be able to see them at church and to help them out with their progress there.

We have been able to see some fun stuff this week. We were able to go and to help our investigators move and so we were loading up and unloading a truck and that was fun. Today we got to go to the dump and help some people unload their truck and while we waited we unloaded the trucks of 3 other people (I think some of them thought we worked there). One of them, when we told him that we were from the church, started telling us some crazy stuff about how many words are in the Bible and how he looks them up one by one and how that’s all he does. Then he sang us a song about God (all while we unloaded wood out of the back of his truck, haha Texas). Also yesterday we met this guy who was super cool. He was just walking and I asked how his day was and we ended up talking with him for like an hour. Turns out he has given his life to Christ and he just goes around with his Bible and…well I don’t really know what his plan is but he just keeps moving and talking with people about the word. He was super cool. He knows a ton about the Bible and we just sat and were sharing different verses back and forth and it was sweet. I like talking to people who are smart and can explain their point of view. We were trying to help him understand about the Book of Mormon but he just couldn’t accept it. I feel it’s so sad that Satan can hide the truth just by telling people that there is no more to be found. How blessed are we to have open eyes that can see and to have faith enough to be able to ask God about these things and come to know them for ourselves.

I’m really grateful for the chance I have to be here and to meet the people that stay here. They help me understand how blessed I am and have a desire to be better. I really hope that ya’ll have a great week and that everything keeps going good out there in good old Utah.

Love ya’ll

Elder Birks