I sent YOU.

Hey y'all! 

Here's this week's update.

So next week is my last week at this apartment. I will also definitely be getting a new companion. Whether I remain in the Spring TX area is undetermined.

This week was nuts. We had people falling out of the sky it seemed like. Everyone wants to meet with us and be taught. Now we just struggle to get the members involved. If you're reading this back home, volunteer to help your dang missionaries!

This week a talk really struck me called "To the Rescue, We Can Do it" by Elder Arnold of the 70. Here's my favorite passage:

[...] "while we must be organized in our councils, quorums, auxiliaries, and even as individuals, we must not delay going to the rescue. Sometimes many weeks pass as we talk about how to help families or individuals who are in special need. We deliberate about who will visit them and the approach to take. Meanwhile, our lost brothers and sisters continue needing and sometimes even calling and pleading for help. We must not delay."

It's so true. We spend hours deliberating on everything in this church. But do we act decisively? We often struggle to understand why our Heavenly Father waits so long to relieve us from our trials, then take ages to make an effort to relieve our Brothers and sister from their own trials. The Lord rarely works in dramatic Deus Ex Machinas.

It reminds me of a parable I heard in a talk recently. A man dies after a hard life and asks God "Why did you make life so difficult? Do you have any idea what's going on down there? There's war and famine, pestilence and disease... Why didn't you send any help!?" to which God responds "I did. I sent you. Did you help?"

Elder Derek Troy

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Elder Troy with President and Sister Mortensen, Texas Houston Mission