Family and friends,
This
week went by very quickly, especially since Thursday when I found out
I'm being transferred to Grand Island! That wasn't completely
unexpected, but there was still a small element of surprise. I will be
in the area Grand Island Spanish 1, though, so I'm excited to be back to
speaking Spanish! I will be a district leader and co-trainer (with Elder
King) of Elder Crowley. I know nothing more than that at this time, so
I'll fill y'all in later.
Yesterday
was an interesting last Sunday for me in the YSA ward. We arrived at
Church about ninety minutes early to attend Ward Council, but we had
forgotten that it was only the bishopric meeting that day; but Bishop
Terry had us give a report on our work, regardless, and then we were
excused. We were about to find something else useful to do when another
guy (who had also come, forgetting it wasn't a ward council day) asked
us if we could help a woman who had just walked in, explaining he wasn't
sure what to do. She was right there on the other side of the room, an African-American woman a bit shorter than I am, clutching tightly to a
small nacho tray full of chex mix. We went up to her and greeted her
amiably, but she didn't respond at all, staring off into space. A moment
later, she wandered slowly away still with a blank face. Elder Harwood
and I shrugged, not thinking overly much about it, so we sat down,
pulling out some scriptures to read. But as we began, she came back and
asked very timidly, voice trembling, "Do you guys do Deliverance?" I
immediately felt a chill. When we asked, she clarified that she wanted
"deliverance" from an evil spirit. We explained briefly the Priesthood
of God, and that we possibly could help; but we definitely felt out of
our depth. We got the Bishop from his meeting for a moment to see what
he thought, and after a bit of failed attempts to communicate with her
and some discussion with us, he managed to have her sit down and he
returned to his meeting, leaving her in our care and that of the other
man.
We sat with her for
about an hour. She kept a firm grip on her chex mix the whole time,
never showing any sign of unclenching her hand. At one point, I felt I
should read the scriptures to her, and I thought of Mosiah 3, which
testifies of Christ (which is strange, because I generally don't think
of Mosiah 3 before other chapters like Mosiah 14 and Alma 7); I asked if
I could read her some scriptures, and she nodded. I read a couple of
verses, but then suddenly she she looked pained and told me to stop,
seeming agitated, and said she needed to be able to hear "him". For a
while, every time we spoke she shook her head slightly and pointed to
her ear. There was only silence. Elder Harwood asked if she wanted to
hear some music, and she alternated between saying yes and no multiple
times until she said it was alright. She seemed soothed by some hymns,
but eventually we stopped the music and offered a blessing, which she
accepted after much patient coaxing. It seemed not to help at all,
however, and she continued to stare fixedly off into space, unwavering.
The meetings had to start at about that time, so we invited her to join
the services, and she did, though at times during it she randomly got up
and shuffled toward the door only to turn around and come back. She
even seemed to want to speak at one point - it was a testimony meeting,
so I suppose she saw others going up to the podium and naturally
followed suit; but the bishop actually led her gently back to her seat,
instead, which was good.
After
the meeting was over, she spontaneously spat up a bit of something, and
a couple of people helped clean it up, but even so she remained
stone-faced. She then got up and walked directly put of the room in her
slow shuffle and continued straight outside, then turned around as
though she were lost (we followed her to make sure she was safe). We ran
to get a member or two to help, and as she walked away we managed to
keep her in the parking lot area while someone called the police to come
pick her up. Other members took over so we could leave, but we were
informed later that she was actually from a homeless shelter here in
Lincoln, and had disappeared. How she somehow found the Institute
building is beyond me, and whether or not she knew its location
beforehand I can't say; but one thing I do know is that the shelter she
came from is over a mile away, and is not in a straight line from here.
Nobody knows how she made it all the way there, especially considering
her slow shuffle and her seeming loss of direction. But I'm glad it all
turned out well.
So, that
was easily the most interesting thing that happened to me this week. I
feel like her ailment was most likely a combination of mental illness
and something else, because I felt something was spiritually off about
her. But I hope she manages to find the help God wants her to have.
Anyway,
back to happy thoughts, I'm training! I make so many dad jokes already
that Elder Harwood keeps yelling at me to get a child already; now I'm
getting one. I hope my trainee doesn't assassinate me. But God is good,
and I am so happy He has considered me worthy to train another Elder in
this great service.
Love,
Elder Hill
Fotos:
intercambios con los Élderes de Beatrice, un "wrap" de jalapeño y
sardinas, una mantis religiosa que vimos durante un servicio, y unas
ardillas.
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