Last week Elder Branham had a frustrating week along with other Missionaries in his area. His Awesome Uncle Josh who served a Mission in Ogden Utah shared some thoughts and experience with us of his service....It really helped Ryan and also helped us to look at the mission in a new perspective with the Savior. Here is some of what he shared:
As I matured more as a missionary, the experiences eventually became so humbling as I thought about the Lord all lonely being taunted, laughed at, ridiculed, tortured, spit on and killed. He never raised a finger and only asked that they be forgiven. We need to get that message across to Ryan. Love those who persecute you as the Lord did. Don’t let Satan’s influence enter your heart or hatred will consume you causing the spirit to leave. He needs to let the spirit do the work.
While on my mission, I received a confirmation from the spirit, that if I always have the spirit, then those who persecute me will feel it regardless of how close minded or hateful they are. I remember seeing their eyes turn from such hatred to such a soft look from the beginning to the end of our short conversation on their doorstep. About 5 months out, I was serving in Logan Utah when I had this tracting experience:
It was -20 F along with a wind chill that froze us to our core. We had walked a long distance from our apartment for an appointment after dinner at 6:30 pm. We finally got there and they were a no show. Since we had some time, we decided to tract some on the way back. It was storming bad with snow blowing sideways and stinging our face as it hit. Each home we knocked was rude for some reason. Many of them called us “stupid kids out in the weather...Look, Satan is working you boys hard having you out in this trying to deceive the righteous.” I would apologize for interrupting their evening and smile telling them it was nice to meet them anyway. The last door we knocked was an elderly lady who smirked upon seeing us. We were shivering as I barely got out our message we wanted to share. This lady cut me off saying, “It’s nice and warm in my house…Too bad you aren’t going to feel any of the warmth because, as far as I’m concerned, you both can just freeze out there you devils.” I remember the frustration I felt inside and then remembered the teachings of not allowing it to get the better of me. I said with the spirit, “It is freezing out here, but my heart is full of warmth from the spirit of the Lord who has sent us here to you to share. He loves you and has inspired us to be here.” She had professed to being Christian and told us she knew we were not of the Lord again yelling at us, while LAUGHING, and said, “Don’t you guys get the hint that nobody believes your stupid religion and to quit wasting your time doing this? I just could not believe her behavior. Finally I said, “I’m sorry…and I wish you the best, but I want you to know that I KNOW the Lord has sent me, without a doubt, and it doesn’t bother us when you turn us away and scold us because that is what happened so many times to the Lord and now I feel even closer to him.” The lady stood silent, appearing as if she had felt the spirit, for a moment. Then, she shook her head, as if she was fighting to deny what she had felt, and slammed the door in our faces.
ELDER BRANHAM RESONDED TODAY TO THIS EMAIL:
i took uncle josh email and ran with it. my companion and i tracked for 3 hours yest and had 30 approaches and 22 invites.
Thanks to Uncle Josh for his sweet spirit and inspiration in sending this email at the right time.
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