October 4, 2021 Bellevue

 Guys, this has been a very very very weird week. Three stories I want to share with you:

First, transfers hit again. Sister Pace went up to Winter Quarters and Sister Parkin is now serving with me in Bellevue. Second, the title of the email (I don't want to share that story though).

Third of all, there was a returning recent member who we were working with. Her name was Sister Twizzler (her codename of course). We had had a slew of really great lessons with her as we helped her come back to church. We found out that she didn't have any food in her house a couple of weeks ago and had contacted our relief society president to help her get some food from the bishop's storehouse. 

Well, we went to meet with her and to share the plan of happiness that God has for his children, but when I sat down on her couch, I felt a prompting. 

"What do you know about temples?" I asked. Sister Twizzler told us that she knew just a little. I started telling her more about them, about the great blessings that were found inside the temple. Sister Parkin, glancing at me like she wasn't sure why I wasn't going with the lesson plan, piped in and we started to have a great discussion about the importance of temples.

"Sister Twizzler, the temple is one of the holiest places on earth. I want so much for you to be there. Would you like to prepare to go?"

And Sister Twizzler hesitated. 

"I'm not paying tithing." She admitted. I nodded. 

"Tithing can be a hard thing." I replied. "It's giving one tenth of our income back to the Lord, and I know at times that might seem impossible. But God has promised that He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there won't be room enough to receive it."

Sister Parkin jumped in. She shared some tender spiritual experiences and difficulties she had had paying tithing and choosing between eating for a week or paying tithing.

It was a very tender spiritual experience and we all cried a lot. Sister Twizzler talked about faith and how she had heard that a lot of members paid tithing no matter what and it always seemed to work out. She asked about her aging dog and how she would be able to pay for her veterinarian bills. She asked how she'd be able to eat because she was living pay check to paycheck. We talked about the blessings of tithing and how her dog could receive a priesthood blessing.

In the end, we left her with an invitation to pray about beginning to pay tithing and told her to talk to the bishop, because he was the priesthood leader and temporal steward over the ward. 

You know, it felt pretty awful driving away. I told Sister Parkin that. And she told me that:

"Following God's commands has never been easy. It requires faith. One of my companions really had a hard time with this too. They were on their way to teach a fifteen year old boy who had taken up a job so that his family could eat and she felt awful asking him to pay tithing. But the voice of the Lord came into her mind and said: 'Would you deny him the blessings of paying tithing?' Sister, you need to have faith that God will follow through on his promises."

Which helped. 

Later that day, Sister Twizzler texted us and said that she was leaving the church. She was going to a different church that didn't require tithing from her and that while she knew that temples were beautiful, she didn't believe that God would make our eternal families conditional on set requirements.

If I am going to be perfectly honest, this felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my heart. Sister Parkin had only been in the area for a couple of days. I pulled the car over and began crying. I should have mustered up the courage or conviction to call Sister Twizzler, to go bang on her door and tell her not to lose the testimony that she had, to plead with her to have faith. But the only thing I could do is weep.

Finally we figured out a text back but she told us that she wasn't changing her mind.

Sometimes, I wish I had the voice of an angel and could cry to the people and change their hearts on my voice alone. I wish I could let them borrow my faith. I wish that I could do something (anything) more.

Sometimes, I think God wants us to know our imperfections. We all have weaknesses. We all have strengths. And, one of the biggest gifts anyone has ever given someone else is the gift of Agency that our Heavenly Father has given us. We each get to choose for ourselves. And as heartbreaking as it is when they don't make the choices we'd like them too, that is their choice.

I love you all.

Sorry this week's email is a little sad.

Love,

Sister Brice