Halloj
This week was quite fun. We had a lot of good experiences.
We do volunteer work at the Red Cross's thrift store twice a
week and this week one of the women we work with invited us over sometime when
we're knocking doors in her area! Not bad for not being allowed to proselyte or
even wear our nametags while we're there.
Also we met the newest member of the Boden Red Cross Gang: a
23 year-old Swedish kid who loves memes and video games. He wasn't very
talkative at first but on day two, we--being the persistently chatty
missionaries we are--got him to open up a good bit and now we're good friends.
We asked him how he ended up at the Red Cross and he said "Community
service." To which Elder Mathias responded "That's funny cause in the
US, you get assigned to do community service when you, you know--" then a
grin spread across the young man's face "Yeah it's the same here."
Haha it was so funny. He's so cool.
On Saturday, one of the sisters' friends was baptized and
was then confirmed yesterday. It was so beautiful to see. He was going to get
baptized last year but had a stroke and was more or less paralyzed but he has
fought valiantly to train his body to be able to function properly again until
he could again begin to investigate and come to church and prepare for baptism
again. This weekend he was the happiest I've ever seen him. It's incredible
what joy Christ brings into life.
The other day, we were walking across a field on a very
narrow trail of packed snow that had been made by people walking single-file
through the snow. After a little bit I look up to see two young men coming
toward us on the same trail a good ways off. My Alpha Male instinct kicked in
and I immediately started sizing them up and determining whether or not we
could successfully assert our dominance by walking intimidatingly toward them
until they step into the untouched snow off to the side. After about half a
minute of debate, I thought to myself "What would Jesus do? What should I,
as His representative, do?"
So, I swallowed my pride and drank the bitter cup as I
stepped off the path into the snow that reached well above my knee--Elder
Mathias followed suit--and allowed them to walk by on the beaten path. In my
head, I was still grudgingly thinking "They probably think they're so cool
now because they won our heated power struggle" but then I was sternly
reprimanded as one of the young men smiled kindly and said as he walked by:
"Thank you, that was manly."
Boom.
Oh how the turntables. The young man managed to both build
and destroy my pride in the same moment. Ironically, in his sincere humility,
he still managed to come out the intense mental melee as the bigger man.
It caught me by surprise, and I've been thinking a lot about
it ever since. As you all know, men are so naturally prone to display their
masculinity in prideful arrogance and competition. Who can punch harder? Who
can pick up heavier things? Who can jump off of taller stuff? Who can spit the
fattest loogie? Who can pee farther? Who can eat the most pancakes in 45
minutes in the middle of Gothenburg (you know who you are 👀)? And yet Christ, the perfect man and our exemplar,
always acted with humility and meekness toward all. Thinking about this made me
realize the truth of the statement in Preach My Gospel that reads:
"Humility is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of spiritual
strength." It is a far greater man who can show humility in restraint
rather than insecurity in juvenile contest.
May we all, including me, find ways this week to learn from
our Lord and Savior and develop His divine attributes.
Love,
Äldste Cummings
1. We calculated that it was more than three times faster
for us to supplement the font with buckets with water from another faucet than
it was to just let the font fill itself up. Still took three and a half hours
though.
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