Among the Children of Men

10/22/2013

There is no such thing as reading the scriptures too much. But if there was such a thing, I think I almost would have hit it. My everyday vocabulary now includes "and it came to pass that we went to McDonalds", and I express emotion by saying "I am exceedingly sorrowful" or "this is the best thing to happen among the children of men". On our investigators progress records, I write things such as, "we taught him the restoration, and he was therefore desirous to be baptized". I'm going to be the most ill-adjusted returned sister missionary a year from now.

My "babies" (or greenies, missionaries from the MTC which I will train) are coming 2 weeks from today which is equal parts exciting and terrifying. We don't know where we'll be living or if there will be a 4th and if we'll be able to understand anything anyone is saying. There is no Cambodian speaking branch here, but we're hoping the call will be extended for a Cambodian speaking sunday-school teacher and we'll be able to hold at least that aspect in Cambodian. If we can get a big enough group to that, they'll talk about calling relief society and priesthood teachers cambodian speaking, and then eventually a whole branch. But that might not happen until after I've already gone home. It's all up to the stake leaders. We've organized a Cambodian branch reunion to take place on the 16th of November. Hopefully we'll be able to get as many of the original members there as possible, as well as any investigators, and there we'll announce a Cambodian Sunday school class and tell people pretty much the more people we bring, the more classes they'll get to hold in their own language. The original Cambodian branch had 700 members, and at its peak it was split into 2 separate branches. But now there are currently 2 of those original 700 that are still active. And since the Cambodian branch was dissolved almost 10 years ago, many more Cambodians have moved to the Tacoma area that aren't members. We have a lot of work to do. Isn't it fun to be anxiously engaged in God's work?

Don't forget the invitation extended to each of us at conference- invite a friend to an activity in or out of your home between now and Christmas. I know as you pray for direction of who to invite and what to say, God will direct you. This is His work, after all, and as long as we're doing the best we can, He won't let us fail.

I love a particular quote from my mission president. When asked about how to be bold with extending invitations to people without being overbearing, he said the following, "If you don't know where the line is, it's better to err on the side of too much. In the next life, I would much rather someone approached me and said, 'you were a little pushy with me' than say, 'why didn't you try harder? I didn't know what I was missing out on' ".

This gospel is one of happiness! Don't deprive anyone you love of its blessings just because of temporal fears. An invitation extended out of love, even if rejected, is always a success.

Remember:
"You is kind
You is smart
you is important"

and I love you!

-Sister McQuivey