“NEED A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS”

May 19, 2011 Thursday

This afternoon we went looking for some of the people on the ward list that nobody seems to know. First we found Christine. She was coming outside just as we drove up and was a little embarrassed because she was wearing shorts. The poor lady’s legs are so swollen that they look like logs with a 12-15 inch diameter. But they didn’t seem to bother her. She stood and talked to us for quite a while. She didn’t have any teeth either. She’s lived in her house for 8 years and hasn’t seen a home or visiting teacher. She’s in her mid-fifties and is very wrapped up in caring for her parents. They are still in their own home, but her dad has dementia and her mom gets around in a wheel chair. It just breaks your heart to hear the problems some people have to deal with. She works a couple of days a week at the Good Sammy’s (a thrift store run by Good Samaritans) nearby. She says she’s planning to come back to church some day.
Then we went to John’s. He’s 62 and moved over from the east coast 4 years ago to work at the mines. He lived with a member family down in Rockingham for a couple of years; that’s when he joined the church. Then he moved into our ward and became one of the huge “pool of unknowns.” When we met him, he welcomed us in but told us we’d come on a day that was sort of a disaster. He then told us about breaking his leg a while back so he lost his mine job. He worked another job (he drives buses) for a while but was laid off. He’s been trying to find work but just hasn’t had anything pan out for him. He was really upset. We sat at the kitchen table and there was one Granny Smith apple visible. That was the only sign of food. Orson asked him if he had food and he said he had enough for tonight. He was very upset about the economic situation and how it seemed like the big corporations were running everything without any attention paid to the “little guys.” We prayed with him and left. We returned about an hour later with some groceries. He was so appreciative. He also said that after we left he called someone he’d known at one of his jobs. He has an appointment to visit with him tomorrow in hopes of getting a job. The poor guy is alone over here. All his family is on the east coast. You just feel so badly for people like that. He said he would show up at church Sunday. The ward list says he doesn’t have any priesthood; he must have moved right after his baptism.
Tonight we taught Mowana and her girls. We got hugs from all the girls when we arrived tonight. That was very special. The best news is that they are reading the Book of Mormon, taking it just one verse at a time and understanding it. Mowana was very happy about that. We found out her parents are members of the ward too. We plan to visit them. She said she will keep working on her husband to see if he will come around to marrying her and listening to the lessons. The girls, Ebony, Sarsha (pronounced Sasha) and Jade seems to have good recall of what we’ve been teaching them. We finished the Plan of Salvation tonight.