Monday, January 18, 2016

Awesome week!!

From Kelly's last email she mentioned that her and her companion were speaking in church about missionary work so I sent Kelly an email of a story that relates really well with missionary work that many of you are very familiar with. It is The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley. There are many different versions to the story, but here is a basic one.

"Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up. 

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water he said, "It made a difference for that one."

I love this story! There may be all the people in the world criticizing you for the things that you do, you may be tempted to quit, but that doesn't mean you have to. My goal in life is to make a difference in the world someway somehow. How do you want people to remember you by? Would you be skeptical about everyone around or the one making a difference in the lives of others?

Anyways back to her email. 

We had a lot of crazy things happen this week. We went to the donut store and my companion and I were going to split a donut (because it's cheaper and healthier) and the guy who was working asked us if we were missionaries and we said we were and he gave us our donut for free! Amazing!

We also went to Newberg for iPad training for Sister Clark to get her iPad. I got to see Sister Dibble. Being in Newberg was like being home! The member who took us also bought us dinner. That was so nice of them!

President Samuelian told us that obedience is the "price for safety."

I dreamed about In N' Out one night. Nothing beats In N' Out in California (except Icebergs in Utah).

We spoke in sacrament meeting and our investigator and her dad came! We helped the youth find names to take to the temple! We found probably over 100 names with the youth!

Love ya!
Sister Kelly Martin

No comments:

Post a Comment