This week has been interesting, to say the least. It all started with a voicemail from Sister Stringham, another sister in our zone, last Wednesday night that basically just said "Hello Companions!" We called her back and found out that she wasn't kidding... she is our new companion in the power trio. (We have also been dubbed "Tres Amigas" and "Charlie's Angel's" among other things.) There was a sister in another area that got sick and had to go home, so some rearranging was done and they combined our area with Sister Stringham's. With that we had a "corporate acquisition" (that's what our District Leader called it) of 5 new wards! This week has been exciting, stressful, hilarious, frustrating, and so much more as we try to figure out how to make things work.
Saturday night we had a baptism in the Spanish branch for Angel, probably the biggest, non-Mexican-looking-Mexican you have ever seen (not obese or anything - just football player big - see picture :). It was kind of an ordeal getting a baptismal suit for him, since the largest one we had in the building was too small! Panic Mode!
Fortunately, we have another companion (who was on exchanges with a member at the time). We called her and she picked up a much larger suit at one of her stake buildings. It worked, the baptism went well, and afterwards we took the extra suit home to wash it so we could return it to the other building. I threw it in the washing machine right as we walked in the door, and we started our nightly planning session. After we were done I took it out of the washing machine and we all kind of freaked out when we realized that it was now BLUE! We thought it might have been the detergent at first, but checked the washing machine and found the culprit: a blue sheet that has been left in there to spoil the load.
We did the only thing we could think of and re-started the washing machine, this time with some bleach in the water. We were relieved that our plan worked, because I don't think the person in charge of the baptisms would have been very pleased with us returning a 5X blue baptism jumpsuit.
It was a miracle of forgiveness! Just like when we made a mistake we were able to correct it with bleach, our spiritual mistakes can be corrected by something far more powerful than any chemical. Sometimes we are involved in things that leave stains in our lives, or even completely change our colors. As we apply the atonement in our life we can be made pure and clean no matter what... there is NO stain that Christ's atonement can not wash away. I paraphrase the words of Isaiah... "though your sins be as turquoise, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18).
True repentance is a complete change, and sometimes those set-in stains take a lot of work and will power, but it is possible as we rely on the Savior. As we focus on His life and Atonement (especially this holiday season) I know that our true colors will shine through as we rid ourselves of our stains and sins in our past. The future is bright... especially when we look into the eternities!
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. Our goal for tomorrow is to eat as LITTLE as possible with the 5 or so dinners we'll be making an appearance at. I'll be thinking of you!
Love,
Hermana Richelle Ouellette
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment