This Is Like Deja Vu All Over Again

YALL! I'm gonna be a dad again!

Transfer calls came this week and I got called to Train again! I'm so stoked! This is my 3rd time, I guess Heavenly Father needs me to learn something that I haven't haha!

Elder Oringdulph is going to Iona with an Elder that is only 3 months out.

Elder Oringdulph was sick this week so it was kinda slow, UNTIL one of our ZL's got sick. We quarantined our sick companions at our house and then we went and worked together! It was clutch. I was getting cabin fever and I wasn't even home 48 hours. 

We had a cool mini miracle that happened once Elder O got better. We were out tracting and we hear a loud BOOM! we look behind us and it's a guy with a gun! Just kidding, some spanish lady's tire exploded and she was now inching towards us. mustering all the gringo I had in me I asked, "Podemos Ayudarle?" (I think that means "Can we help you?") and then she just goes on in crazy fast spanish.. I need to stop making people think that I can speak fluently. Anyhoo, we talk to her and get enough information to help. We run to a members house that lives near by and grab a car jack and start going to work on this car. white shirts and all. In the snow, slush and all. She was out freezing cold so I gave her my coat, It swallowed her up it was hilarious. We called the Elders so they could talk with her some more. They come after 10 mins and turns out they had been trying to find this lady and then she tells them, "My son was baptized, I want to learn more. Please come over and teach me." 

God answers prayers through other people. That is a truth I have a huge testimony on, so many times I have been reminded Heavenly Father loves me by the actions of others. 

This may be a shocker to yall but I was READING the other day! 

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 

Paul writes about how there "was given to [him] a thorn in the flesh" 

This thorn was a pain and a trial

Paul asked the "Lord thrice, that it might depart from [him]"

But the Lord didn't take away the trial, He did give Paul some words of advice though,

"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness"

Basically told Paul, "I'm not going to take it away, depend on me and I will provide I way you can overcome. (My strength is shown when people ask for help with their weaknesses)"

In the end Paul says, "I pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses [...] for when I am weak, then am I strong."

That's bold^ basically saying "yeah I like trials, give me more" 

I don't know if I have that kind of courage. 

I wanted to know what kind of trials Paul had so I did some more research. 

In Galatians 4:13-15 Paul is talking and says, 

"Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you [...]"

"[...] my temptations which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God [...]"

and

"if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me"

(Basically saying they'd trade their eyes for his) 

INFIRMITY #1 is he had pretty darn bad eye sight

Paul talks some more about his infirmities in 1 Corinthians 2:3 that 

his flesh was "[weak] and did tremble much" 

(Some scholars presume he had some form of epilepsy)

INFIRMITY #2 is he was epileptic 

Then 2 Corinthians 10:10 Roasts Paul a little bit saying,

"his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible"

Contemptible means "deserving of scorn" ~pathetic

INFIRMITY #3 is he wasn't a very good speaker

PLEASE NOTE! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE AFFLICTIONS ARE "GOD GIVEN"

Paul didn't put these trails on himself, nor were they trials that came from the agency of others. these were things that he could not control. But accepted. 

Satan WILL do all he can to make us fear our afflictions and try and discourage us. He will make us feel like we have to blame others, get down on ourselves, and quit. 

The Lord has said, "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble" that "if they humble themselves before me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27)

Go back and look at what the people thought of Paul in Galatians, "They received him as an angel of God"! 

The reason Paul was able to overcome and make those weaknesses strengths is because he humbled himself and depended on the Lord. 

I hope we all can make the necessary changes in our life and "Trust in the Lord with all [our] hearts, and lean not unto our own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5)

And now for what yall want :)

1. Just a pic with our squad

2. cooking experiments (hopefully you can read it)

3. I went to studies early and so I finished early and zoinked. (this is what Elder O did to me)

4. We had an AUNT MINDY sighting! love her so much!

5. Elder Freeze and I sharing a blooming cactus at Texas Roadhouse. #glorious