Chapter 38: The Cops, a Baptism & The Bar

July 24, 2023

Chapter 38: The Cops, a Baptism & The Bar

What. A. Week. It's been quite long, and quite hard. We struggled this week with having lessons, so most of our days were filled with visits. And let me tell ya, keeping a high spirit when daily planning and it's all just visits, is difficult. Especially when we've recently already tried visiting all the people we can, multiple times. It's hard to make them inspired and not just time filling.

I think I mentioned this before, but Hilton Head is COVERED in gated communities. Nightmare for missionaries. Sometimes we're lucky though and we get in. Actually, I wouldn't call it luck. It is straight up the hand of God. Well, we managed to get into one of the said neighborhoods, and we were pumped! There were lots of members in there we wanted to visit. (Mind you, all of these members are inactive). So we get to the first house, excited to meet the family, (kinda hoping they invite us over for dinner some day), and we're immediately met with a very upset woman. She starts going off at us and legit called security. So we left. The whole neighborhood. That was our first visit of the day. Epic.

We didn't have security called on us more than once this week, but the week still was really rough. It seemed to drag on, and I felt like I was physically fighting this heavy block inside of me. Like trying to run through water while wearing weights.

But God is an 11th hour God. And we did have some tender mercies carry us.

One of them was we got invited to a baptism for a cute little girl in the ward! There is such a special Spirit present during a baptism. I can't help but be grinning at each one I go to.

Another tender mercy is we did our studies in the chapel of the church Sunday afternoon. That was the most peace I've felt all week. It was definitely the ending I needed for these past few days.

Finally, here's a fun story. Last week we stopped by an inactive's home. Spent some time talking with him and getting to know him. Come to find out he's super into music. Like creates music tracks and performs with a small group. We said we'd love to go and watch him play sometime, and he was super excited for us to come watch! Saturday night comes around, and we use our dinner hour at the end of the night to go watch him. The restaurant he performed at was one of those bar/restaurant mixes, with a dance floor. And he literally RESERVED us a front booth! It was definitely strange being there as a missionary, but the vibe was so fun, and this guy did SUCH a good job.

vip's 😎

So, even though most this week was.... very trying and tiring, there were good moments.

The thing I really learned this week is about the need for opposition. The Adversary has been working hard on us and our people. But that's to be expected. This is the greatest work on the earth today, it'd be ridiculous and naive if I thought there wouldn't be any opposition.

Opposition is necessary for this life. Like Lehi tells his son in 2 Nephi 2, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all thing. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass" (verse 11). The struggle of opposition is hard. Sometimes it really sucks. But how grateful am I to know that "...all things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things" (verse 24). So it's okay to struggle. God's got it. He knows me, He knows you, perfectly. And without the push from opposition, we could not learn. We could not become who we are divinely destined to become. We could not feel joy. We could not feel love. So lean into the opposition. Push back against those headwinds. Be diligent is striving and enduring. And remember, that a foundation built on Christ will hold strong. (Helaman 5:12).

Stay strong. God loves you, Jesus loves you, I love you.

-Sister Ray

•we got to go to the Temple w/ Katus!