Elder Weight and Elder Basham

July 11, 2016

Chapter 50: City Slickin'‏

Check it out! I made it to chapter 50! Well, I am in the city. It is way different. It's kinda sad because everyone's got the business mindset. They don't have time for you. Also nobody has a southern accent so it feels like I'm not In Tennessee anymore. My new companion is Elder Basham. And guess where he is from? Gilbert Arizona! Pretty crazy. Also Clarksville is real cool. Regardless of it being giant, it used to be farm ground but they built the city over it. So if you go to the edges you will find some fields and pastures. Lots of military here. Everyone seems to have a job at Fort Campbell. Our ward is pretty small. Not a whole lot are active so we are running around trying to get them back. Also we have no real investigators so we spend much of our time knocking doors. ut here is the miracle. Every day when we go tracting we had a very rough beginning.

I think one day we knocked a street and every single person sad no to us before we could even say anything! We even felt like half way through we needed to ditch a street or go to a new one and start fresh. And in some cases the streets were even harder! But we kept pressing forward with the goal in mind to "git 'er dun!". as we kept going we finally found someone who would talk to us and would want us to come back. That happened every day we tracked. It was rough at first but through patience and perseverance and following the spirit we found what we was looking for. I thought a lot about this experience. Why doesn't God just send us to the elect in the area? Why does he make place hide and seek with them? But then after asking that I had a question asked to me. What good would that serve you? If God just sent us to the awesome people there would be no growth in us. He needs to know we can be trusted.

Anyone can say they love God but until they show it then that's how you truly know. The mission is about following the will of God regardless of the outcome or consequences. Doing what he asks because he asked. That's how we grow and gain faith in him. I have come to know this is too true. God wants to test us but the test isn't to degrade or to tear down our morale it's to build up and make us better. He loves us. Gotta remember that. This one situation were we were going in this street and just couldn't find anyone home at all and it was miserably hot outside. We were so ready to just talk to somebody. Finally some woman answered and we taught her about the book of Mormon and she was so confused about what it was for and who Joseph Smith was and all that. I was just so tired and hot and sweaty and desperate I just let out my testimony many and plead with this lady and promised her blessings that if she read it it would make sense and she would come to know that it is true and that I know it was oh so true and I wouldn't be trying to persuade people it is if I didn't know it myself. She felt it. She was really taken back. She accepted it and said she would read it.

If there is anything I learned this week, it's that God will back up your testimony with the spirit and that sometimes a pure heartfelt testimony can turn the situation around. I know for sure that this is true. I sure love y'all and hope yuns take care. My new address is 1670 Baltimore Dr. Here in Clarksville. Apartment 7.

Sure love ya,

Elder Weight

(p.s. After listening to myself talk I realized I have a southern accent now! It's sweet.)