So this week some really intense things happened that
have made me think a lot. I have been reading a ton and praying a ton,
learning how to trust in God and His plan. There are 3 people I want to
tell you about -
1. Nancy. She is a super sweet lady that we have
been visiting for about 2 months. I think I mentioned her before... When
she was 24-ish, she got baptized and was SUPER active in the church.
She met a guy, fell in love, and she says that she got married to her
husband, who was also a member, and the very next day he turned into a
psycho. He has schizophrenia and never told her the gravity of his
sickness. Basically, he took over her life and she didn´t set foot
outside of her house for YEARS. When people came to their house, he sent
his mom to the door to tell people that she didn´t know where Nancy and
her husband were, that they had moved and she didn´t know the new
address. I don´t know how it´s possible that nobody ever
realized...literally, it blows my mind. But her husband abused her and
treated her horribly. The weird thing is that her kids lived "normal
lives", they went to school and everything, but they didn´t really
understand either the intensity of their dad´s sickness. She says that
one day,her son saw her husband hit her in the back of the head (trying
to make her pass out or something), and that was the first time one of
her kids had ever seen that happen after years and years of abuse. But
that same day, her son helped her escape from the house, by locking the
dad in the bathroom, they left (Nancy and all 6 of her kids), and
finally escaped from him. That happened about 2 years ago. And now Nancy
is living here with three of her sons. We are teaching 2 of them, and
they are going to get baptized in August.
2 and 3. Saira y Hector. Saira and Hector are
married members of the church, and they come from the jungle part of
Peru. To make their long story a little bit shorter, they came to Lima
because of an emergency...Hector has a really serious cancer that has
spread to his spine and a lot of parts of his body. Basically every
person that we talk to says that he has a very small chance of
surviving. We visit them, sing hymns with them and teach them, and
Hector always talks to us with so much love and patience. They have a 2
year old son that can´t live with them right now...he´s living with
Saira´s mom. They both miss their son so much and cry when they talk
about him. It´s so hard to keep it together with them, not break down
in front of their faces. But they both have so much faith; it´s truly
amazing.
Even as a missionary, it´s sometimes hard to
understand why these things happen. Why people have to face to many
challenges in their lives. We are taught that in the scriptures we find
all of the answers to the "questions of the soul." I put that to the
test today, because I was really struggling to feel it after talking to
these people about all of the hard things that they have lived. And the
cool thing, is that I really came to feel it, and I found the answers to
the questions I had. There´s so much more that I want to explain about
this, but I feel like I never have enough time. But there is a scripture
in the Book of Mormon that talks about a group of people that were
living in slavery, and were being persecuted by "a wicked and corrupt
people", look at what they did -
10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.
11 And
Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and
he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found
calling upon God should be put to death.
12 And
Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God,
but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of
their hearts.
13 And
it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their
afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I
know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant
with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And
I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that
even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in
bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me
hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do
visit my people in their afflictions.
I know that every person is different, that we
all live different trials, but God loves all of His children equally.
Even though we don´t understand it perfectly, just because one person
lives a harder trial than someone else doesn´t mean that God loves them
less. So much of it depends on how we handle the trials that He gives
us. If in the end we "submit cheerfully and with PATIENCE" to the will
of the Lord. If we can understand that He really does actually have a
plan for us.
It´s normal to have questions, to get angry and to
be sad. That´s just part of life. But there has to be a moment when in
our misery we turn to the Lord and accept Him, and learn to accept His
son as our Savior.
Does this make sense?This is my testimony. That God is in charge. And He will make our burdens light if we trust in Him.
I LOVE YOU! Have a great week, and look for the blessings this week. Remember that I love you! Talk to you soon!
All my love,
Hermana Michelle Scott
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