April 19, 2021 "Anything Is A Truck If You Try Hard Enough"

 Hello my beloved brothers and sisters!

 

This week was transfers, which didn't affect Sister Spendlove and I very much, but did change our district quite a bit. GI1 and GI2 merged, and 3 elders left and 3 elders came in. And these three elders are HUGGGEEEE. One of them is 6'5 and the other two are very broad shouldered and at least 6 foot. So now, instead of three duos, we have two trios of elders in our ward! We also divided up the member lists a little bit differently, but that won't be interesting to any of you.

The things that will potentially be interesting? 

We went to a surrounding ward YW's on Wednesday and had a blast getting to know the girls!

I got my second covid shot! For the first ten hours or so, I was completely fine. And then this really bad headache hit and I was super nauseous and we spend the rest of the night after 5pm without any lights on. I still had a bit of a headache and was felt light-headed the following day. There was four or five times that I just stood up too fast and would half faint for a second before I could catch myself. 

But the best parts of the week!

Last minute, one of the elders texted us asking if we could help with a yard work service project. This is pretty common, so we said sure, rearranged our schedule, pulled on some service clothes and a sweatshirt and headed outside. I was wearing glasses because I still had a headache from the vaccine. As we drove, raindrops began smacking our windshield, first slowly and quietly, and then with more and more vigor as the skies began to open up. By the time we got to our destination, it was pelting down rain.

We knocked on a house that had been added on to with plywood nailed together and were told to take everything out of the back yard and into the dumpster in the front. Now, that wasn't too hard of a command, even though most of the things in the backyard were heavy scrap woods and metals and also a large winding fence of pallets nailed and chained together. This girl is a construction worker's daughter, and I'm not afraid of hard work!

So, we walk around to the back where everything is and one of the Elders (Elder Murdock, one of the new guys to GI) notices that Sister Spendlove doesn't have a hood. He immediately unzips his heavy coat.

"Hermana, hermana, here. Take this!" He told her, then walked away. And I nudged my comp and gave her one of those looks, and we continued. 

AND THEN, Elder Boone, another one of the new Elders to GI, takes off his coat and gives it to me. And I tried to tell him to take his coat, that I didn't need it, but he walked away, so I put it on. It almost reached my knees, and I felt a little bit like a child. 

We all walked around to the back of this yard and there was a whole bunch of pallets nailed and chained together. And it was pouring down rain so I had to take my glasses off and just kind of hoped that where I was stepping was solid ground. So, of course, the elders took a sledge hammer and spent the first bit of time expertly smashing these pallets apart by brute strength and sheer unleashed rage. And they weren't the small pallets either! It was kind of scary, not going to lie. Those elders are strong.

They carried over one of those metal fence posts that had been concreted in a hole to the dumpster but couldn't lift it high enough to tip it over the sides and I made a comment like:

"Wow, that must weigh at least four hundred pounds." 

And Elder Murdock offhandedly replied. 

"Oh no, I can bench over 400. I can't even lift this. It's a lot heavier." 

I'm sorry, you can bench how much?

What did their mothers feed these guys??? Sausages rolled in protein powder? Pancakes drizzled in miracle grow? I feel like that much shouldn't be possible. 

Sister Spendlove and I are not wimps either! Since they were closing one of the GI elders apartments, we went over and stole their couch. It fit, sortof (does halfway count?), in our car so I sat in the back and held it in while we drove over and then we carried it up a flight of stairs and now we have a couch in our apartment!

WE MET WITH ONE OF OUR FRIENDS INVESTIGATING THE GOSPEL!!!! Jasmine has been ghosting us for WEEKS now but she randomly replied on Saturday and asked if we could meet up for smoothies and if we could give her the lessons. We had an amazing spirit led discussion about what she wanted and what mattered most to her and everyone felt the spirit! She told us that she wanted to go to church! Which obviously made us SOOOO excited! Andddddd she didn't show up. 

Also, the sister stalker? Gave the elders packs of fancy sausage and $25 gift cards to give to us. So, score? 

The spiritual thought I want to leave with you this week is that while your testimony might have the same points as everyone else, it's your personal testimony because it is how you individually have received a witness of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. That doesn't downgrade your testimony, in fact, it makes it more powerful and amazing. God has the same message for every single one of us but isn't it interesting that we are all given a witness in a completely different way? God must love us all, individually. 

Moses 1:39 says: "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

Man. It says man, not men. It turns out, God doesn't love men. he doesn't often work in crowds. God loves man and woman the because he loves individuals. He loves you and he will give you, through the Holy Ghost, a personal and intimate testimony that may say the same things as everyone else at church. But no one else will have the same witness or reasons. 

Please, don't be afraid to share your testimony. It is unique in its journey, its depth, and its story. Though we testify of the same things, no one else can bear the same witness that you have. Your testimony is important. I invite you this week to take the time to share it and I promise you that as you do, you will feel the Savior's love. The Holy Ghost will testify to you that you are a beloved child of God and that you are wanted and important to Him. 

I love you and more importantly, so does Jesus Christ! There's nothing you can do that will make either of us love you any less.

Sister Brice