At church yesterday, Sister Norman made a comment in Gospel Principles that I really liked. People say that life is like a roller coaster at times, mostly because of the ups and the downs. But the comment she made, is that if you are trying to be in control during the entire ride, you get really tense, and it is not very enjoyable. But if you relax and go with it just a little bit, it is a much better ride. She said that correlates to how we need to be submissive to the will of the Lord and what he has in store for us, and that if we are, we will learn a lot more from our experiences. Sometimes life is nice and slow and sometimes it's fast and sometimes we feel like we've been upside down for a while, but in the end it's all been so that we could have the kind of experience God wants us to have, and if we realize that we can learn something from it.
The Norman family fed us on Saturday and they are super cool! Brother Norman is the ward mission leader, and he used to be the Stake President a few years ago. They still have their youngest son at home. I think he's a senior in high school. Brother Norman served his mission in Argentina, and Sister Norman is from Argentina. They met while he was on his mission, but he actually didn't really talk to her much during or after his mission. Then after being home for 2 or 3 years, he just really felt like he should contact her. So he sent her a letter and they corresponded back and forth and he went down to visit once, and then he finally proposed in a letter. Sort of a cool story. They're really nice, always willing to help us out, and he is great as a team-up or Gospel Principles teacher.
So we really only had like 2 and a half days of proselyting this week since Elder Truman has been sick again. Tuesday was fine, Wednesday was fine, Thursday through Saturday we were in most of the time, and then Sunday night we went out again. So on Tuesday, we were doing our normal walking and talking to people, when these two college age kids flagged us down. We hadn't even said anything to them but they asked who we were. We explained that we were missionaries from the LDS church, and one of them asked if we could explain some of our beliefs. I jokingly asked how much time he had, and he said he had all the time in the world. So we sat down right there and talked for like 30 minutes about different things. He is an interesting guy, he said he was raised Catholic, but since then has become non-denominational because there aren't any denominations in the Bible. It was interesting because he believed very strongly in an Apostasy, but he wasn't quite able to make the connection to the need for a Restoration. He knows his scriptures very well, so we'll be using a lot of scriptures next time we meet with him. He is super passionate about the Gospel though, even if everything he says has a little bit of a Born-Again undertone. It made me realize though why the name "Mormon" can be so problematic. He kept saying, "Mormon is a denomination, Mormon isn't in the Bible." And so as we were thinking about it, that second statement is true. Nowhere does it mention Mormons in the Bible. But we are THE Church of Jesus Christ (of Latter-Day Saints), so we aren't a denomination. We aren't just a form of Christianity. We are the only original and true Christians as taught in the Bible. So if we can help him understand that, hopefully everything will sort of fall into place for him. I can't wait to go back and teach him.
Today we have a zone activity, we'll be playing softball and having another barbecue. After that Elder Truman and I will be going to the Bradley Building in Menifee for a training called "Overcoming the 0's". We will receive some instruction from President Mullen and the AP's.
Because we've been in so much, I haven't seen a whole lot of responses to the Easter video, but everybody who has seen it, likes it and so I look forward to using it, not just now but for the rest of the year. It is really cool, and I hope you guys are finding ways to use it too.
I might be performing in sacrament meeting on the 17th with Sister Tobler. She would be playing a violin solo and I would be accompanying her. I also might be part of the stake talent show if President Mullen approves it. Our ward hasn't really had anyone volunteer to be in the show, so that would give me an excuse to play the piano a bit more. I'd been thinking about asking Elder Truman if we could go to the church so I could play while he was sick, but I figured if he really was bad enough to stay in, I should probably let him rest at home rather than make him sit at the church.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." -Gordon B. Hinckley