Scottsdale and Ward Updates

Whoa! The team God sent here is awesome. I really, really love them and it’s a great honor working with them and pleasure through and through. Yesterday we went to Temple Square and they hit the ground running. Very cool. Today we went to a Christian church then to wards. I took a few of them to my own ward. It was really hard for them to go to ward meetings.

 

Today my ward got split. It was getting too big so they divided it up into two separate wards that are split by address. I was so angry. I wanted to yell and throw something. I can’t believe how unloving this church is. I don’t like going to wards but that ward is the most welcoming and loving I have experienced yet. The people are warm and friendly and so is the bishop. But now friendships are split and that bishop got released to go back to his home ward. I was talking with a friend after and he came up and was talking to us and he is genuinely heart-broken over it. He is an unregenerate man but he loves his students and he is warm and kind. And now he will probably never see them again. Because the LDS Church is a well-oiled machine. It is very well organized and amazingly efficient. But God’s church is a body oiled with grace and propelled by love. It gets messy but there’s joy there. I hate that these people in this ward are hurting very badly but cannot do anything about it. The worst part is that they can’t complain or be frustrated, even for a little while, because they have to believe that the Church is infallible. They can’t even hurt and come before God to seek comfort because they are so far removed from it. That really bothers me.

 

I can’t help thinking that this is an attack. I do think that God will use it, but the 16th Ward in Ogden is the only one that has a Christian missionary going there regularly, at least of all that I know in the area. They are a loving environment that is great for showing love and directing them towards truth. I started going there because the time was convenient and I didn’t want to end up at the Institute building because of the run-in with the Brother there and because that building knows more of the Blue House and warns people against it more often. It turns out (I only realized it today) that this is the Ward that I am assigned to based on my address and the people that I have been getting close with are my neighbors. These are awesome things! But now they are split and will have a possibly less welcoming bishopric. Most of the people I’ve been getting close with will still be in the 16th Ward which is still my ward. However, they are now meeting at the Institute building which makes me uncomfortable. There are also a few girls who know who I am and approach me on Sundays that will be in the new 10th Ward which will still meet at the old building. This seems like not that big of a deal and to an extent it’s not. I will just go to a different building, but Satan made it work out pretty perfectly that in order to continue to build the relationships God is developing, I have to go somewhere I am a little bit afraid and risk being removed.

 

I do think God will do something good with this. I don’t doubt his abilities. But I am frustrated for the people I have grown to care about and that things just got more difficult with the whole trespassing deal and such. So please pray that God will thwart Satan and use this for good.

 

Because I had kids with me today and because there was the whole mess with the ward split, I told people where I live today. They know and are told to distrust the Blue House, so that worried me. But I think Kasie, the girl God is telling me most loudly to love, is going to come over this week for dinner. I am SOOO excited about that! I think we are going to worship with her. I do think that the literature at the Blue House can be very intimidating and even feel evil (“spirit of contention”) to a Mormon, but seeing the organic love between group of believers (Christ’s apologetic, John 13) and watching us worship the God we are so in love with is attractive. Please, please, please pray that this will happen. It’s risky to invite her over, especially when there is a group of excited, zealous high school kids who want to argue with Mormons. I don’t doubt them, at all. In fact I trust them and love them a great deal. However, I need to keep this relationship beyond this week. I am not trying to plant seeds of doubt in Kasie. I want to show hints of Christ. Our goal is NEVER to make ex-Mormons. Our goal is to glorify God and proclaim liberty to the captives. A lost Mormon is no worse off than a lost Jack Mormon (inactive Mormon). So please pray for a miracle there.

Oh yeah, if you didn't know, UPFC is trespassing when they go on LDS Church property. I'm not officially affiliated with them, but that could get me into trouble. We're going to places we are very unwelcome this week and Russ isn't here. Please pray that it'll be okay.

 

There is probably a lot more to talk about since I last blogged but I’m exhausted and getting a headache. I love you all and I love God the mostest!