Week 29 - We didn't come from a tree

We can all thank Sorella Nelson for the title of this week's email.

A brief biography of Sorella Nelson: from Provo, most charitable person I've ever met, likes to make sweets during pranzo time, and sometimes says strange things when her emotions become really intense during lessons. This week, we hssd a lesson with our sweet 16 year old investigator, who is truly like all of our little sister. She started the lesson by saying that she tried praying and reading, and while she liked the idea of God, she felt that she was just fooling herself into faith. She followed that by saying how she believed in the Big Bang Theory and that all living things were connected by an energy that she could find just as easily through meditation as through prayer. I was so shocked, it hurt hearing her giving up on faith. We tried to help her understand the importance and reality of faith and God, and in doing so, Sorella Nelson started saying that this life can't just be a coincidence. She started getting flustered in how to help this girl see that God gave her this beautiful life, and ended up saying something to the effect of "God's our father... How can this all be a coincidence.. I just.. I can't see how... I didn't just come from a tree, you know??" Definitely one of the funnier things I've heard said in a lesson.

We had an excellent lesson with our new investigator from the Anziani! We taught her the gospel of Christ, and spent our whole time in the scriptures answering her questions. She's so prepared. We could tell how ready she is by how much Satan tried to deter us from going over. There were so many things that day that could have kept us from getting there, but when we made it the spirit was so strong. She also promised us she would come to church, so we're excited to see her there!

As you all know, May the fourth was this week! So naturally, we gave ourselves Jedi braids, and then princess Leia buns that evening with red face masks and star gazing on the balcony. We tried to explain to our English course students why we celebrate May 4th, but the translation and play words went straight over their heads, so we basically just told them it's a national holiday in america... which. Basically it is.

My spiritual thought this week comes from an idea about sharing the gospel from Clayton Christensen. He talks about how the most effective way to help people feel the spirit of the gospel and strike their interest is through inviting them to serve the church. This sounds really paradoxical, but let me explain. He says that by inviting people to help us, they will feel the spirit of service and naturally ask questions. He gives the example of a man who was called as sacrament bread coordinator (apparently that's a real calling) and he decided that to exemplify his calling, he would ask the older women in the neighborhood to help him learn how to bake bread for the sacrament. By giving them an opportunity to serve him and the church, they felt the peace and joy in service and it lead naturally to conversations about the gospel.

So that's my invite this week!! Find someone to invite to help with some service, or give some one the opportunity to serve you or the church. I've seen what a blessing member missionary work can be. We all have the opportunity to grow this work!! There are So many people who need to hear this message!

I love and miss you guys!
Sorella Maxfield