weird story about enterprise, the reason that this place even
exists is because of the farming community. but way back when, this bug
known as the boll weevil came through and ate all of the cotton that
people were growing, so everyone was freaking out with nothing to sell,
and so this guy decided to start growing peanuts, and the community
basically thrived off of peanuts and now is like the best place in
america for growing peanuts. the reason i bring this up is because the
people here made a freaking monument to this bug!! hahahaha it is the
only monument in the world dedicated to an insect! hahahahaa its the
craziest thing! but we went to go and see this thing, and its in the
middle of mainstreet! there are so many pictures of this stupid bug,
because it "shows how to overcome hard times" gosh i love the south!!
since president smith was baptized while he was in his youth, he
has really been pushing working with, youth and young single adults, so
this week we went to Enterprise State Community College and filled out
some paperwork which allows us to proselyte on the campus (and yes their
mascot is the boll weevil #fearnoweevil). even though it is a tiny
campus, and we are only allowed on a certain part of it, we are pretty
pumped about it! we go every monday and thursday, and it has already
yielded some pretty promising potentials! its crazy how nice people are,
and just how open young people are, they really have so many questions
about life and religion, but they "are kept from the truth because they
know not where to find it". i am so glad I had the gospel in my life
during high school, life was hard enough, so i dont know what i would've
done without it.
Elder Carlson is such an incredible missionary! He
absolutely amazes me every single day! He has so much desire to improve
and become what his Heavenly Father wants him to be. He is constantly
reading his scriptures or watching faith building videos, and his
testimony has definitely increased a ton since being out, it has been a
joy to watch! I really do believe that he and I were meant to be companions; he
helps me to keep working and endure to the end (joyfully of course), and I have been able to help him to understand the scriptures and the
doctrine of the gospel, it's awesome!
Something really cool that he
did this past week was write off his girlfriend! He felt like he needed
to focus more on his call to serve and his personal growth and
testimony. Having a girlfriend was distracting him from his goal. Alma 13:13 talks about bringing forth fruit meet for repentance (or just
evidence of repentance), and I think that is brought for when people
sacrifice personal wants and desires for gods will by reading the
scriptures, or praying, or standing up for what is right, or going to
church each week, whatever it may be, if it brings you closer to God, it
is a form of repentance, so make sure to go to church, study, and
pray(;
The church has come out with this program called "my plan" for
missionaries to go through their last 6 weeks to help them reflect on
their mission , set goals for things they want to do when they get
home, and also who they want to become. I started my plan this
week, what a wonderful opportunity! It has been so amazing to look
back over these past 2 years and actually see what the Lord has been
able to do with me. Every day I realize more and more how weak I am (ye
are less than the dust of the earth), but how great I can be with the Lord on my side. One of my buddies said "I
bet I can do more with $9 than you can with $10 and accomplish more in 6
days than you can in 7 days because I am endorsed by the Lord", how
true that is! If you make the Lord central to your life, and go to Him
when making decisions and need help, He will always support you and give
you all that you need.
I love you all so much, thank you for all that you do and say, and all that you say you do!
Elder Schipaanboord
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