Tell me what you want what you really really want.

Do we have any Spice Girls fans out there?  Because their most classic song played this week while our investigator was praying.  Our lesson with Angel, a 60 plus year old man, was an interesting one from the start.  We taught about how the Holy Ghost testifies to us of the truth.  As missionaries, we do not expect people to just believe in us because what we say is good.  We want people to know what we teach is true, to ask God for a confirmation, and to feel that confirmation through the Holy Spirit.  We invited this investigator to do just this and as he offered our closing prayer, his daughter's cell phone went off with the all too inappropriate yet appropriate Spice Girls lyric, "Tell me what you want what you really really want."  Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, but this way seemed all too obvious, at least to us sister missionaries.  God hears our prayers and wants to answer them.

Sister Shrack, my companion, is always making fun of me and my umbrella.  So this week I would like to take the opportunity to not only explain the importance of the Holy Spirit, but also the importance of my umbrella.  My umbrella is what most Filipinos consider to be an "old lady" umbrella.  It is big and isn't very compact, but it does keep me safe.  It doubles as my weapon against ravenous dogs and creepy old drunk men. Everyone needs an old lady umbrella.

 

I am glad the work of the Lord is not about the numbers.  It is not about how many souls we baptize or how many lessons we really teach.  Do we track those things?  Of course.  Only so that we can become more effective representatives of the Lord, but this work is based on love.  When you are a missionary and you look only at the numbers, all odds are against you.  When you are a missionary concerned about love, you see the tender mercies of the Lord and the many ways in which he touches the lives of those around you.  I am a missionary and I serve out of love.