There is more than one path

Let’s see…the people this week who asked me how you are doing…

Laura Denney, Sarah Hamblin, Jana Anson, Janina, Carlyn Thompson, Tyler, Tiffany Wellman, and Jeanie Vance.

We tell them you are doing GREAT! And that you love the Mexico MTC! We ask them to pray that you may get everything cleared with your vaccination verifications so that you can go as scheduled to Chile. 🙏🏼

Luke left on Thursday for HXP. Brad told me about an HXP instagram which is fun because they take his phone (hallelujah) and we get to see pictures. It doesn’t look too much like service yet, it looks like a ton of fun. It is so good for him to be out of his normal environment, away from the pressures of football, baseball, trying to be cool, and his friends and just be Luke. He’s a great kid and a good person, but he needs to find himself and there are so many distractions keeping him from knowing his true identity. This is a process I have watched with all of my kids and it is both satisfying and stressful to watch. I trust that he is in God’s hands, as are you and Bailey.

Last week I discovered that he was using TikTok and SnapChat on his Apple ID. Now I know you don’t see any harm in these things, but they have not been good for Luke. We confronted him about it, asking him if he had a second device somewhere. He said he didn’t and that we needed to trust him. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted so much to believe him. I said a prayer and asked to know what was true. I went up to speak with Luke, he was upset. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I felt the Holy Ghost give me the words to say as I went to say them. I told him that I have spent a lifetime learning to trust the Spirit and that I am sorry if he felt like I didn’t trust him, but when the spirit is telling me something, I have learned to listen to that spirit because He has never failed me. I told him the spirit was telling me that his story wasn't adding up and that I was sorry if he was telling the truth and I wasn’t believing him, but I need to put my trust in the Spirit above all else. I got up and left him with his face in his pillow, not saying a word to me, very angry. 15 minutes later he came down and said that Luke NeVille gave him a phone two months ago that he had been using to communicate on these apps. He told us he just chucked the phone in the creek by Moyle Park and it is gone. He was so upset and kept saying how he is a horrible person, etc. Alma 36 comes to mind. It was so sad and hard to witness.

I don’t want to break any loyalties with Luke by sharing this with you, but I want to share it for two reasons. 

1- I want you to pray for Luke. He needs love and support. I do not want him to feel horrible. I want him to turn to the Savior and feel His redeeming love and power.

2- I want you to catch a glimpse of how hard it is to have stewardship over people you love so much, yet you know this is their journey. They need to use their own agency to choose Light.

No doubt you will come across people as you serve and you will see so clearly the path they should take, but they won’t take it, for whatever reason. It is one of the most challenging parts of gathering Israel. I have learned though, that the most direct path isn’t the only path. Sometimes people have to travel 100x longer to get to the same place they could have quickly done, but they needed that longer journey to teach them. So don’t get discouraged when they don’t take the path you see waiting for them in big bright neon letters. They may take a lesser traveled one, but God knows that path too and He will never stop leading them to where they need to be. I trust and believe this to be true with each of my children and with myself. We all make life harder on ourselves in one way or another, but we figure it out eventually. As parents, it is tempting to think the easiest way is the only way, and get discouraged and lose hope. The quickest way sure does save a lot of heartache though haha

Dad and I are getting packed and ready to leave for London tonight. My back has been out since Monday, so I am a little nervous about an 11 hour flight, but excited to explore the UK.

Its been weird with everyone gone this week. I’ve had a super clean house haha

Love you lots,

Mom