So I've heard that the hardest days to go out and do stuff on the mission are on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Both of which I have not had yet, but I'll tell you what I personally think the hardest day to go out and track is, The night of the BYU, Utah game. Try as I might, I could not focus, and could not calm down, I was so pumped hahah. It didn't help that the member that I live with turned on the pregame show online, and Greg Wrubell's voice is pumping through the house. And of course they replay highlights from the history of the rivalry, and the one I hear is "Let's it fly.....................CAUGHT FOR THE TOUCHDOWN!!! CAUGHT FOR THE TOUCHDOWN!! JOHN BECK TO JONNY HARLINE!!".............did anyone else get chills? till the day I die that call will give me the chills. it's a sickness. so of course I thought of some others like..... .... "From forty feet........" hahah so I turned to my companion and I was like "Elder it's time to go, we have got to get out of here" I must have sounded pretty serious because he looks at me all concerned and says "how come?" and I'm like "cause I'm about to go crazy" and so we went and made visits for the rest of the night.
That night, I couldn't sleep, I had nightmares all
night that utah had Won. I had 4 or 5 different dreams about the out
come (the worse being 60-10) and I'd wake up and have to tell myself
"its just a dream, Just. A. Dream." ..............stop judging me for
just a sec, I'm going somewhere with this I promise haha :p
So of course the next morning I learned the terrible
news that once again, the lord saw fit to humble his people through his
football team...........Just Kidding hahaha. but it really did ruin
my morning, I just heard the score, and also that the game was terrible
and it looked like football from 40 years ago. .........losing to
Utah 4 years in a row? thats really not acceptable. I'm tired of having a
Quarter Back that can't throw the ball. Let me say that again, Quarter
Back. AND, low and behold, my companion is a Utah fan, funny how that
just came up.
But going to church yesterday was exactly what I needed,
it was a stacked Sunday, we had a record for us, 4 investigators at
church, and the elder that just got home that I live with gave his
homecoming talk on the plan of happiness, and he did an amazing job, it
was a perfect day to have a bunch of investigators there. And guess
what? I forgot all about the game, I went to church, and got my
spiritual battery recharged. This strengthened my testimony on 1. just
how important going to church is, but 2. more importantly, the role the
Atonement has in our lives. I will try to explain, This is where I
attempt to get something spiritual out of the story I just told you. I
hope I painted a pretty good picture of just how far off I was, how out
of focus I was, (especially as a missionary for Pete's sake) and how
upset I was about a stupid football game.
The thing is, we all have these little things that eat at
us through the week, and they build on each other, and get bigger, small
concerns turn into big concerns, and pretty soon that's all we can
think about, and we forget whats really important in life. This is where
we need to let the Atonement work in our lives. First and foremost by
partaking of the sacrament each week, and renewing those baptismal
covenants. While paying the price for our sins is the one of the most
vital parts of the Atonement, another big part of it is that Christ also
suffered Every pain and affliction. Not limited too broken femurs, and
sorrow over death, but ALL, there is no limit. If I had to create a
slogan for the Atonement, it'd go something like "If you've felt it, it
covers it!" There is nothing to great, or to small for the Atonement,
even a silly football game, we NEED to put our worries and troubles on
the lord, He's already suffered for them, there's no need for us to
suffer for them again, and then in a sense make him suffer for them
again because we won't give it up, and he's with us every step of the
way, suffering everything we suffer, feeling every disappointment we
feel. Don't make him suffer multiple times for the same thing! it is
such a quick and easy release if we let him take it from us!
Now maybe you weren't as uptight about the game as I
was, but we all have our silly football games that make us up tight,
makes us lose focus on what we should really focus on, but if we're
feeling it, its real, and not silly to us at the moment, and "if we feel
it, it covers it", nothing is too big or too small for the Atonement.
So let go of your silly football games and focus on whats really
important.
okay, I'll hope off my soap box now, sorry for all the
time this consumed out of your day, but thanks for listening, just one
of the many lessons the spirit is trying to teach me. I have a long way
to go, which is cool because I get taught new stuff on the daily.
I had a cool flash from the past, we were eating dinner
with a member when I looked down and noticed that the plates we were
eating with were the exact same ones I eat with at home. hahah It feels
so long ago, but it really hasn't been, I challenge sarah to see if she
can remember what they look like :) I know I wouldn't have been able to
if I hadn't have seen them.
Quick trivia question. Does anyone know if the Craig
Sudbury at Cyprus is the same Craig Sudbury talked about by President
Monson in the last Priesthood session?
okay, seriously I'm done now, I've dragged this on long
enough. Sorry it wasn't a little more exciting, I will work on the
excitement level next week.
OH! I do have one piece of exciting news! My boy K.C. Entered the
MTC this week!!! now all 3 amigos are out serving the lord at the same
time, I couldn't be more excited :)
I'm off to defend the Hepworth Name at Foosball, supposedly there are some rookies that want a shot at me :)
If you are looking for some good reading material, go look up
the talk "Looking Beyond the Mark" by Dean L. Larsen. I went clear
back in the archives to find this gem, all the way back to 1987 general
conference haha :) Thank you all so much for your prayers,
they help more then you can imagine!
Elder Hepworth
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