We encounter a great many odd ended referrals around here, ranging from, "go check on that abandoned house that was almost burnt down in the woods but someone might live there," to "I think that house was possessed at one point...go see if it still is." A member of the ward referred us to go visit an older lady who owns an expires produce store in Buck Valley. Yeah, people buy year old expired foods. Didn't know you could make a living doing it, but Linda Smith sure does. The member told us to teach Linda about canning food and how to keep an up to date food storage, which is perfect because Elder Flandro and I have no idea how to do that. Still, we took the challenge to find Linda.
Down an offshoot road in the hills we followed the directions to discover "Wertz's Discount food store" on the side of the road. Inside we found 65 year old Linda plucking sprouts off of potatoes like there was no tomorrow. She said, "I've been expecting you boys. What took you so long?" Over the next two hours she taught us how to can, keep a food storage, and harvest potatoes (I thought it was winter though), and, in return, we answered her questions about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and God's plan for us. She said she wanted to learn more, but her eyesight was too bad to read small print. It just so happened that in cleaning the apartment the day before we had found an ultra sized print Book of Mormon comparable to Moses's stone tablets and had brought it with us for no specific reason. We gave it to her, invited her to read the introduction, and came back the next day to teach her the full Restoration of the Gospel. Linda has a solid heart weary from a life of wicked hard work, but is soft and open to finding where God wants her to go.
This whole week we faced experiences that tested us, yet inevitably miracles sprang up. Our investigator Drea was baptized yesterday, even though there was a leak in the font and absolutely no hot water to fill it with. Elder Flandro and I spent three hours heating and boiling water to dump into the tank. In the end, despite all of the annoyances and trails, Drea was baptized and had a smile I don't think I'll ever forget coming out of the water.
Our recent convert Chester received his Temple Endowments this Saturday after a year in the Church. We had the incredible opportunity to be with him as he went through the different Covenants and lifted our spirits together. I truly am growing a difficult, yet sweet love for adversity.
xoxo
Elder Burgess
