Serve, Stand and Soar

 Hello everyone!

This week has been pretty busy and a lot has happened. I will do my best to give a run down. We played our usual games of basketball and chair soccer on Monday with the Elders in Sparta. That's always a fun time.

Elder Cohn and I went out west to Mooneyham to see Charles. He seems really interested and promising, but he was busy at the time. It also doesn't help that his phone is broken, so we can't reach him before we use all the miles to get out there. We also went to the far east in Rock Island to see the Popes. They gave us a delicious meal. Fresh, fried okra is the best thing in the world!

We taught Angela on Wednesday and Friday, she is doing very well. She is moving right along for baptism and we are super excited for her. She has a lot of challenges she has to work through, but we are here to help her in any way we can. 

We did service for the Knipps in our ward helping to replace their water heater. I accidentally left my keys there, so we went back later get them. We found out we also left some pass along cards. She told us she wanted to pass them out to everyone she could! The members are so great here. 

One of the highlights of this week was attending the temple. It was so great to be there. I went to dinner with my family to a local place in Franklin. It was good to see them. The entire mission presidency wanted to see the trailer we were living in. I will say the best way to evaluate your living situation is to have the President visit. Nothing that a little cleaner and trash bags wouldn't fix. We got to see our oldest chapel in the Southeast area on the way back. It's pretty cool!

I will share one experience this week that was very special to me. I felt like I wasn't contributing anything to this area and mission earlier this week. I felt like I wasn't needed there. I then felt the reassurance that I did have a purpose here. I was promised that I would receive more peace and power than I have ever before, but it would take time.

I had the greatest lesson I have ever had right after that with one of the members. I knew it wasn't coincidence and I certainly knew it wasn't just me. I do know our Heavenly Father cares about each of us. He blesses our lives in the most meaningful ways that no one else would understand. I am extremely grateful for that.

Let The Depths of Humility Raise You Up

Elder Oram