Wednesday, October 15, 2014

October 6-15, 2014

Hi Everybody,
   Our internet has been down again. We just got it serviced again and will see how long it lasts this time. 
   The past 10 days have been interesting; Rosina, Shaniqua, and Sister Horton have all dumped us.  They won’t pick up their phone when we call, and we go to Rosina’s house and all the men that are laying there watching TV say she is upstairs asleep.  I’m sure they will need us when they have to have a ride or some more food.  I don’t mean to sound like sour grapes but we are starting to find out how they play their games.  I doubt Pres. Burno is going to fall for it much longer.
   The man (Richard) we helped move into his apt. (up 3 flights of stairs with a large 
u-haul full of furniture etc.) has been calling Karl 5 or more times a day.  First he says he doesn’t have to go to church, he has heard all of it already.  He came to the building and asked Karl if he would take him to the store and he was busy with tithing and fast offerings right after church.  Anyway, this ticked him off and he texted back and said he hated the church and Karl and would never come again or didn’t want us to try to contact him.  A few hours later he texted back and said he was sorry and wanted us to be his friend.  This has been going on now for three days. First he won’t ever talk to us, then he love us.  When we got in touch with someone from his last place they said he was bipolar. We have so many here that are suffering.  Wish we knew how to help. This is when we need Kristine and her counseling degree to help us!
   Life stays interesting. Everyday there is someone in dire need. How do you help them when they don’t know how to help themselves?  Over 60% of the branch has so many mental challenges, all we can do is love them and try to help them out of many messes they get themselves into.
   We were out to the Mission Office two times last week and both times we got to watch the new movie that is out, “Meet the Mormons”.  It is done very well,  and if you get a chance to see it make sure you do.  It would be nice to take some in-actives or nonmembers to.  We are all so blessed to belong to a church that is right on top of all the technology. Every avenue they can take to bring the gospel to the world, how very grateful we all should be.  Sometimes I feel I’ve taken my wonderful heritage and privileges for granted.   With the sad things we have seen back here, we are very humbled and thankful for all the wonderful blessings we have been blessed with!
  We are getting more rain today but the humidity is right up there with the rain.  We still use our coolers and are very thankful for them. The vegetation back here is always so lush. When I think of Utah not having enough water it makes me wonder why it can’t be more equal. Heavenly Father knows and we have to trust in what he does.
   We send our LOVE to all of you, our eyes have been so opened back here, we all have so much.  Our material needs have been met all our lives.  Let’s all offer a prayer of gratitude today and tell Heavenly Father how thankful we are for our wonderful lives and the conditions we have always had.  May He continue to bless all of you.  We are most grateful for this experience and the way our eyes have been opened to our many, many blessings.  Each one of you are part of those blessings.  Keep doing well, stay healthy and be appreciative for all of our circumstances.
Got ahold of Rosina finally.  Her grandson has a free school pass to go roller-skating, but needed $4 for skate rental. Her friend didn’t have any money but she rounded up a couple of dollars from someone else and then got two from us. She then shouted “praise the Lord, and that the Lord provides”, and asked us if we would take him to the rink, several miles away, which, we did. I guess we will take her Friday to get birth certificates and ID for her brother so she can get some Gov. Housing before she gets thrown out again, and then, to get her dentures from the dentist before he says He is going to throw them away.
We go to New Jersey tomorrow to get food orders for three members, then (we made up with Richard, our bipolar),  we promised him we would take him to the store to get groceries. I hope he has some money or we will have to pay for it.
Sister Horton must still be hearing voices, since she won’t answer her phone. I left her a message to see if she wanted a blessing, but haven’t heard back. The voices tell her to jump off a building, or the like, and tells her not to come to church.
Elder Seeley asked us if we have been shot at yet, and we said no. He said that he had, and it hit his backpack, so he just kept running. The Elders have a potential baptism lined up, but since their contact is on probation, they need to get permission from the Mission President before they can baptize him. They also have a couple of others, so maybe we will get some more converts before too long!

Luzi, who has been baptized, needs to have it redone, since there is not record of it anywhere in the Church. We are finding a few of these. I guess no one bothered to have it recorded, so it has to be done over. One daughter of a member was baptized at age seven, and no one caught it, but since they are inactive, we are having a hard time getting it done again. Anyway the work goes on in the Frankford Branch. 

Love Ya All. 
Elder and Sister Armstrong.  

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