So I've got this old best friend who got saved last year. It's totally rad, except for the fact that he converted into the Mormon church. But compared to his old lifestyle, it's awesome seeing him live a moral and positive life.
Well, as all good mormons do, my buddy got sent off on his 2-year mission. He left in April for Canada - you'd think that they would send him to a third world country or somewhere like that, but it turns out Canada is lacking believers pretty bad.
When my friend left on his trip, he promised to email everyone weekly, if they wanted to receive them. Me, being stoked on his new-found faith, signed second or third on the email list. So the emails have been flowing in every saturday or sunday for the past four months, and I have not read ONE until this afternoon. I've meant to, but just never got the burning urge to sit and read fat paragraphs about a religion I didn't believe. So I just opened and closed each one as they came, that way my inbox wouldn't be filled with "unread" emails.
Now, on this happy Labor Day, I've had a series of frustrating occurrences that have led me to be sitting here in Peet's Coffee and Tea, with nothing better to do than read the 25 emails I've fallen behind on. Genuinely interested in how my old friend is holding up on his first stretch of a 2-year mission, I devoted myself to reading all 25, and even though it's all him talking about his amazing religion that I don't follow, I've found some of the things he said so cool and powerful. I wrote a few of the things down in my journal, and thought I'd share them here too. So here we go:
1. He signed off his first in-the-field email with "Stay strong, stay motivated, and know that our Heavenly Father knows you personally, feels everything you feel, and is with you every step of your life." I love that. It's super encouraging, especially after my unluckiest day.
2. In one of his emails, he was saying how he was having a rotten week of people slamming doors in his face and ignoring him, and was feeling super discouraged, but before the bitterness swept in he would ask himself "am I going to serve the God of righteousness today, or am I going to serve the enemy of righteousness?" That may be a little jurassic, but I like thinking in black and white, and this helps me put my attitude in perspective.
3. The mormon tribe he is with have this thing they use to "save lives," called CPR.
C is for church, go to is.
P is for praying through everything.
R is for reading the scriptures.
Super neat. I'm probably going to pull that out anytime I ever minister to someone. haha
4. The last thing I wrote down, was a sign off he used - "Stay true to what you know, and be sure that what you know is true."
So I did it, in one 2-hour sitting, I made it through all of his emails, and I actually enjoyed it. It's crazy reading his updates and knowing that it's the same guy that I knew in high school, because he was so different and unbelieving back then. Even though he is doing it for a religion I don't follow, I greatly admire his mission and evangelical work. I'm totally proud of him.
Personally, Claudia Rose
Well, as all good mormons do, my buddy got sent off on his 2-year mission. He left in April for Canada - you'd think that they would send him to a third world country or somewhere like that, but it turns out Canada is lacking believers pretty bad.
When my friend left on his trip, he promised to email everyone weekly, if they wanted to receive them. Me, being stoked on his new-found faith, signed second or third on the email list. So the emails have been flowing in every saturday or sunday for the past four months, and I have not read ONE until this afternoon. I've meant to, but just never got the burning urge to sit and read fat paragraphs about a religion I didn't believe. So I just opened and closed each one as they came, that way my inbox wouldn't be filled with "unread" emails.
Now, on this happy Labor Day, I've had a series of frustrating occurrences that have led me to be sitting here in Peet's Coffee and Tea, with nothing better to do than read the 25 emails I've fallen behind on. Genuinely interested in how my old friend is holding up on his first stretch of a 2-year mission, I devoted myself to reading all 25, and even though it's all him talking about his amazing religion that I don't follow, I've found some of the things he said so cool and powerful. I wrote a few of the things down in my journal, and thought I'd share them here too. So here we go:
1. He signed off his first in-the-field email with "Stay strong, stay motivated, and know that our Heavenly Father knows you personally, feels everything you feel, and is with you every step of your life." I love that. It's super encouraging, especially after my unluckiest day.
2. In one of his emails, he was saying how he was having a rotten week of people slamming doors in his face and ignoring him, and was feeling super discouraged, but before the bitterness swept in he would ask himself "am I going to serve the God of righteousness today, or am I going to serve the enemy of righteousness?" That may be a little jurassic, but I like thinking in black and white, and this helps me put my attitude in perspective.
3. The mormon tribe he is with have this thing they use to "save lives," called CPR.
C is for church, go to is.
P is for praying through everything.
R is for reading the scriptures.
Super neat. I'm probably going to pull that out anytime I ever minister to someone. haha
4. The last thing I wrote down, was a sign off he used - "Stay true to what you know, and be sure that what you know is true."
So I did it, in one 2-hour sitting, I made it through all of his emails, and I actually enjoyed it. It's crazy reading his updates and knowing that it's the same guy that I knew in high school, because he was so different and unbelieving back then. Even though he is doing it for a religion I don't follow, I greatly admire his mission and evangelical work. I'm totally proud of him.
Personally, Claudia Rose
