Ghost Pepper

 Before I begin I would like to take a look at last week. We all ate a habanero, except me. I chewed on it and then as a fire engulfed my esophagus I nearly vomited and spit the pepper out. But last night something nuts happened. We were all enjoying the usual dinner conversation when the conversation took a turn to hot peppers. The husband left and returned to the room with a ziploc baggy of something nefarious. It contained what is know as the Ghost Pepper. It is roughly 10 times worse than the habanero and has made people go blind. Elder Sokol, champion of spicy products, took the challenge. Now to brief you all, this Elder has eaten 10 habaneros at once before and has a stomach of a camel spider. The wife and husband of the little family urged him on and the wife even got some weird medicine mix ready to numb his mouth. But then from the corner of the table came a voice of reason. The little girl said, 'Please missionary, don't eat that'. But it was too late. He had made the decision. Before we could scare him away from the imminent pain he was already chewing it. 

     I learned I will never eat one of those. The vein in his neck bulged out, he began to sweat and then he drank a bunch of water. His reaction was surprisingly boring, but for a man of his strength and capabilities I knew if I consumed one my frail frame would shrivel up and I would get an ulcer in my brain. Twenty minutes later his red face went back to normal and it was all good. Next up the Carolina Reaper Pepper.   

     Early in the week we had a really good lesson with a less active member and her husband. He told us he wanted to know more about eternal families and we were very excited for them. We set up an appointment on Sunday morning at the crack o' dawn and when we arrived, we had a feeling they were asleep. We approached the house at around 9am and in this area of the woods that is early. These people work everyday for 14 hours and Sunday is the day of rest. No one wakes up until 1pm. 

     We approached the door and the only noise we could hear was the sound of a dead mouse trying to free itself from a glue trap. I was really trying to follow the Spirit because I didn't want to offend the family by waking them up, but I knew that we had set it up with them for that time. We called and no response. We texted and no response. My companion and I battled over what we should do, going back and forth. And after some time I knew that the Lord wasn't going to tell us and it was a time for us to learn. I prayed that they would be home and it would be alright that we were about to wake up the whole family, but then I realized they still had their choice. We decided to knock and wait. My thinking was that we at least needed to give them an opportunity to have the message and if they weren't home or they didn't come to the door it was their choice. After we knocked there was no change in scenery or noise. They didn't answer and all we could say was that we tried. 

     I learned that the only thing we can do is provide an invitation and the people we teach or the receiver of the invitation is the one that decides if they act on it. Our Heavenly Father gives us chances to grow, learn and be blessed, it is our choice to take an act of faith and receive it.

Thanks for your prayers and help, I love you all!

Elder Thomas