Taichung Time
It's a great day to be alive mi amigos! I'm absolutely
bursting with joy today because the sun is out and shining finally! It's
been FREEZING and rainy all week, so we're especially excited to be
outside today! I never thought it would be so cold here in Taiwan! I
came so close to breaking and buying myself a new jacket (seeing as I
don't really have one!) but the coldest part of the year is over and I
think I'll make it now!
I'm going strong on the vegetarian diet, just to let
you all know! I've only had meat once this week, and it was only
because it was a member who wanted to feed us last night. He's moving
down to my old ward in Gaoxiong and he wanted to have one last dinner
with us, so we couldn't refuse! I'm feeling pretty fresh though! It's
kinda nice to just cleanse all the bad stuff out of my body right now!
We spent a lot of time in meetings this week!
Meetings and companion exchanges! On Thursday, we spent literally ALL
day in Yuanlin at the Stake Center doing President Interviews and
Planner and Area Book checks. We do that once every 3 months, so I'm
pretty used to the process by now... but this time, I was the one who
had to check everyone's planner and area book!! I was hit with a pretty
big wave of dejavu as I thought back to my first time doing interviews
and planner checks! It was a blast to work so close with President
Blickenstaff and see how "bro" he really is! He called me "dude" a few
times and loves the word "sweet." He's definitely from California! We
also hung out with the assistants all day, and they ended up driving us
home at night because the buses didn't run that late! We got to the
Stake Center at 8 in the morning and didn't leave until 8 at night!!
Talk about an exhausting day, but it was so much fun! Just before we
packed up and called it a night, Elder R and I, the two assistants
and President all sat together and talked about each and every missionary in the zone, one by one. It was an interesting experience to
watch the love and care that President Blickenstaff had for each and
every one of those missionaries. I was also impressed by how much he
KNEW each of them as well!
The rest of our week was spent maneuvering through
the obstacle course of the Light Festival. I'll send some pictures next
week... it's AWESOME and an enormous pain in the butt to get through.
It's right in the middle of our house / our area and the church, so we
have to find different ways to get through it multiple times during the
day... it definitely keeps things interesting!
Oh! Forgot to tell you about P-day last week! We
went to Sun Moon Lake again, because last time that we went for the
Christmas activity, we couldn't see it because of the rainy weather and
all the fog. We wanted to see it at least once before Elder R left, so we scheduled a friend to drive us up there and hang out with us
for the day... the weather was worse than the first time, and we could
see even less... but it's okay!! It made for some really cool lookin'
pictures!
For my spiritual share, I'd like to share the
experience of Elder W (Aunt Sherri, he says he knows you
guys!) an elder in the zone that I absolutely love! I exchanged with him
this week and we were up really late talking, and he shared with me a
small parable that he'd thought of a few years back called: "The
Cowboy." I can't remember everything that he said, so I'll just sum it
up.
There was an old cowboy who once had a horse that he
was training. This was a hard enough task in the first place, but this
specific horse just made it all the more painful. Everyday he'd get up,
do the chores, and when the time came, he'd go to the field and try to
ride this horse. He'd get in the saddle and immediately the horse would
buck violently. He would give it absolutely everything he had until the
horse bucked him right off and the old cowboy would hit the ground hard.
The cowboy would get up slowly, muscles and bones groaning, and see the
horse looking at him, as if it were saying: "stay down. You're tired
and hurt, and I can do this all day." The cowboy thought to himself, he
could go inside, nurse his injuries and have a nice dinner prepared by
his wife, or he could keep going and most likely get bucked off again.
He chooses to get back on. Throughout the coming weeks and months, the
horse would buck less and less, and eventually the cowboy was able to
lead him around the ring.
What do we do when we come across challenges so
fierce that we get bucked off and land on our backs? What do we do when
we throw everything we've got at life, but life still hits us back
harder? Why should we even try to face trials that look bleak and
hopeless? Is it even worth the time?
Get up. When did God EVER tell us that life was
easy? Did I miss that scripture in all my studies? Life is not meant to
be easy. There will be a day when we, like the cowboy in the story, will
look at our opponent and he will sneer at us as if saying: "stay down.
You're tired and hurt, and I can do this all day." We WILL fall down. I
tell you now that although we will fall, we are not meant to remain
there. God doesn't expect us to go through life without mistakes and
without failure. But He does expect us to get up and continue forward.
Don't let laziness be an excuse. If you're already the smartest person
in your school, learn more. If you're already the strongest on the ball
team, or the fastest, or the most talented, WORK HARDER.
Only with the help and standards of God can we
become the Kings and Queens that we are to be, but I'm here to warn you
that the road is not an easy one. Never give up.
Elder Noll
No comments:
Post a Comment