What day of the week do missionaries families love the most? The day they hear from their missionary. This week i received an email, "mum you there?" I'm always here i keep my phone by my pillow....but today, i wasn't feeling good, feeling a bit 'down in the mouth', feeling a bit 'lowly' and had taken a nap. To wake up and see, "mum are you there?"
AWAKE....who's awake now? So i jumped up, ran upstairs and threw open my laptop and read the best letter. It reminded me of a scripture of the psalmist......."O Lord do I lift up my soul" (Psalms 25:1)
Before I read the letters, I always flip to the bottom first to see if he sent photos. Everything is blurry so i couldn't read the caption above the picture. I could however see the 'helu pelu' (machete) in his hand. Had to laugh, my Tongan boy has been doing iate (yardwork) with a helu pelu since he was four. (I remember once when moved back to America and neighbor came over flustered and aghast that we would allow our son to hold a machete.....Elder Cocker's dad was standing over him as he was teaching him how to cut weeds). I guess from this photo, Australians are more adept to the sight of machetes.
below: Elder Cocker and Elder Larsen service project, cutting down tree limbs.
The letter. Our unconventional author. The story began:
"What up planet earth! So, last week was good for sure; last week of transfers is always exciting. Guess where I am?!.........Woden, i'm still here, nothing changed but still exciting!
Yesterday elder Larsen and I had a swag experience. We left the flat late and started walking down the road and its Aussie,so over here, its hotter than hell, so naturally we cross the road to walk in the shade. Right as cross the street, we were walking past this trailer park and this dude just walks up to the fence and almost yells at us and says " do you's have a bible?" i looked at my comp and said "ya" (a bit worried though i thought this guy was going to try to have a go at us witch sucks, always, but its worst when people do it to you in public). Anyways ,he tells us to come around the gate and now i'm confused but , 'sweet as', we walk around, we get to his tent that his partner is setting up, he breaks down and tells us that he is from canberra and him and his girlfriend back in the day left and moved up north to Harvey bay in Queensland because he was caught up in bad stuff down here; and is trying to get full custody of there baby girl she is only 2 and a half but in order for him to even have a chance he has to be able to appear in court. So he and his partner left Queensland 2 weeks ago and came down here they've been living in a tent now for 2 weeks. they literally just tried to move into a property that was up for rent and when they got there the lady upped the rent so they couldn't afford it . All he has is dole money and his partner doesn't have her blue card to work her in NSW (when we met them he had just pulled back up he just set up the tent and his partner was making trips back and forth from the car to put there stuff back inside the tent) he said he didn't believe in God but he could use something anything.
He literally said "tell me something".
He literally said "tell me something".
At first i just about crapped my self ,I'm thinking, I'm only 20 man, my comp is 18 what do i have.......what can i say........what are you meant to say to that? its not like we get trained on what to do and what to say we just share what we believe. Anyways, I took a deep breath, gathered my thoughts and remembered I have what we know, so we shared about faith and how our God, his God, is a god of miracles, that he loves us and is ready to helps, if we allow him to. We gave him a book of mormon and promised him if he read it he would be happier and he would find answers to problems. He accepted our little message and said thank you. But right before we left we asked them if they needed dinner tonight and he said he'd call us. So, we got his number and he took ours and then we left.
When we left we called EVERY MEMBER IN OUR PHONE no picked up so we walked to their houses literally no one was home and we kinda start to worry this took all day from 10 am to 4:30 just phone call, after phone call and a hell of a lot of walking, then the sister missionaries called us and said they wanted to know if we needed dinner tonight? my mind is just straight up blown right now like seriously, the timing was nothing short of perfection! We said yes, obviously. I never say no to food. That's just silly...anyways, we get dinner sussed we go over to the library print out directions to the house, its bishop Abel's by the way and then try to call them and guess what happened?! they didn't answer. So, we went by, they weren't home. Talk about buzz kill. So we go to dinner at bishops and eat, teach his nephew that lives with him, then go home with left overs.
...Now up until this point we didn't know if they needed food, we just knew he was down for a feed. So, we just made that priority #1. We drop the food off. He's all smiles and happy. His partner is happy, they say thanks and we leave. About 20 minutes later get a text saying "thank you we havent eaten in 2 days"........................
NOW THIS IS THE BIT, that had tears streaming down my already teary face:
"People can say what they want, "we're stupid for leaving education, jobs, girlfriends, families, sports"...whatever. But you know what? That day, yesterday and that text, proved to me, it confirmed something i already knew. God is our father and he loves us ALL of us. In total, there were 8 people involved Elder Cocker (NZ) Elder Larsen (US) Chris (Aus.) Shelly(Aus.) Bishop Able (NZ) Sister Abel (NZ) Sister Bushnell (US) Sister Parr (NZ).
What are the odds of us leaving the house late crossing the road just in time for him to get back from getting rejected from renting a room he thought he already had and then to see us and having the courage and humility to stop us? ..... What are the odds that the Abel's had too much food about to go bad and needed to cook for more people? What are the odds of us meeting him, or more specifically, me meeting him, If i was at home in auckland? Was all of that just coincidence? No freaking way. Thats the right place at the right time. I thought i knew or had an idea about how much our father in heaven loves us, but seriously the more i think about my mission and about yesterday the more i dont even know. The happier i get, like I feel like I still have a lot stuff to learn. it was soooooooo cool to be able to help out."
As I read this letter from Elder Cocker and absorbed the experience they were having it reminded me of D and C 46:30. "He that asketh in the spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh." Those times, (when they happen) that God answers our prayers seemingly instantaneously.
I think of that young couple, who saw the Elders and asked for help. One could hear the words of the Psalmist, "Unto thee O Lord, I do lift up my soul". (Psalms 25:1)
Elder Cocker always leaves us with a commitment challenge. We are all sinners and strivers in a world of imperfection. I have grown to really enjoy these challenges. They bring with them rays of hope and encouragement. Food for the soul and the mind. So I leave you with these thoughts, our challenge:
"Commitment: People need what you have, so give it. If it's time, if it's just to listen or if it's an apple, whatever it is, look for opportunities to help out cause it is sooooooo worth it. There is an old lady in my last area Dapto, Mrs. ------, she said, "If you have time to do anything, it's to do the right thing" and she's right; at the end of the day thats all we are here to do."
#YOLOBIF"
(to all of us who are older and maybe not so hip to the going lingo.....i never knew YOLO meant 'You Only Live Once'. )
