How Little Caesar's Saved Us...

This is Joanne "The Angel in Tulsa" that we refer to.
She takes great care of the Elders.  We love her!

After a long couple of days yielding no lasting joy, we dragged our tired bodies to dinner. It started as usual, with us teaching the kids English and they taught us Spanish as the parents decided on whether we should drink horchata or Coke, two Hispanic favorites. We all ate classic tacos with extremely hot salsa and talked about their jobs and common expressions in both of our native tongues. It was enjoyable and helped me leave the hard stuff for a minute and relax. As the conversation drifted to the progress of the branch, the father voiced some strong opinions about why he felt his family's efforts in missionaries work were futile and other things that cut us to the core. I am usually a mellow man, but this effected me to frustration. As we traveled through the night to our next appointments another less active family said something similar. It was sad and was followed by a mountain of other minor issues.

     As our previous Mission President's wife said, 'the mission is in your mind'. We make the decision if the things we go through will break us or make us stronger, more frail or more wise, more prideful or more humble, it is our choice.

     We set up a soccer night and reminded the branch members the day before. We arrived ready to play and hoped that a lot of members would come. But only three or so did. This was it for our dear Elder Thomas. All he had, he had reminded the members, the investigators and less actives. We played soccer and I just wasn't feeling it. It was rough but a prayer got us through.

     The following day began with a study of the Atonement which provided a substantial help to my testimony and conversion but like most hard headed people I forgot for a moment as the day went on. The English class was later on that night and we were running late. Our dinner was going to drop off dinner to our apartment but never showed up. And the next  Sunday was a fast Sunday.  I was still hurting as we taught the class and was sad. But I made a decision. I decided to capitalize on the opportunity that the Lord had given us and I chose to grow. Work through it and just make it to the end of the day but endure it well. Use the testimony I had of the Atonement and get through it. The Lord always comes through to those who have faith in Him.

     Our dinner showed up at the end of the English class and she carried in her arms the best food in the entire world. Little Caesar's pizza. Seeing the familiar shade of orange cardboard nearly brought me to tears and getting that blessing from the Lord helps me remember that He knows exactly what we need to help us keep going on.

     We have created plans to work with the branch to strengthen them and us, and they are in motion now with the help of the Branch Presidency. I love the people here. A lady got up yesterday to bear her testimony. She has been through a lot and as she testified of the Savior, I remembered what He had done for me. The people are strong here and their testimonies are stronger. She cried and I love the people.

Thanks for all the help and prayers and support!

Adios

Elder Thomas