Hello friends, fiends, family, the like. How are you all
doing? The universe is still rotating around Potsdam, at least as far as I can
discern. (That's a big English word for me right now, I hope that you're proud
of me, mom.)
This week was kind of exhausting. To the degree that any
week can be called in the life of a missionary, this week was very, very, not
average.
Monday evening is where it began. Elder Saunders and Elder
Olson from Görlitz showed up for Russian Tausch the following day. We proceeded
to have that Tausch, ZoKo with half the mission the next day, another Russian
Tausch the following day (in addition to that, Thursday was the first night
this week where we slept alone :o), Friday we had weekly planning, and then two
more elders - Elder Clayson and Elder Kuttler from Erfurt - stayed the night
for a special meeting with Elder Rasband, to which the entire mission came. On
Sunday Elder Rasband took part in a special Stake conference for the Berlin
Stake, which was also very cool.
That's the week in a nutshell, but I'd like to quickly share
a story that touched my heart. Sister Rasband shared an experience from a
missionary who served in her mission while she and her husband served as
mission president in New York.
There was a missionary who had always wanted to have his
shoes shined on his mission. In the nicer parts of New York you could find men
who would sit you down for a few minutes in a lavish chair while they made your
shoes gleam.
However, this missionary was consistently called to serve in
rougher neighborhoods, where there were no shoe shiners in sight.
In the very last transfer of his mission, he was still very
much in the ghetto, but he heard, one day, an unmistakable cry of, "Shoe
Shine! Shoe Shine! Anybody want their shoes shined?" coming from around
the corner. It being his one and only chance, he decided to take up the offer
and walked in that direction, despite being in the ghetto. He knew it wouldn't
be lavish, but wanted to fulfill his wish. Being a missionary, his main concern
was how much it would cost.
As he rounded the corner he asked, "I would, how much
does it cost?" He then looked around, not noticing the small dirty man who
had already begun his work. There was no chair to sit down on, not even a small
stool. He had to stand. As the man opened a small baby food jar filled with a
strange black ooze, he said, "As much as you are willing to pay."
The malnourished stranger then dipped his two fingers into
the jar and began to slather the goop on his shoes with his hands. He then took
the only clean part of his shirt (which barely existed as all) and began to
polish. When his shirt no longer did the job he went to work with his arms,
blackening the entirety of the by the time he had finished.
The Elder watched on with a small vision playing through his
mind. The Savior was calling out, desperately, "Soul Shine! Soul Shine!
Anybody want their soul shined?" Many walked by, unable to fathom the
value of the gift the Savior was offering, and asked, "How much does it
cost?" The Savior would respond, unwavering, "As much as you are
willing to pay."
With tears streaming down his face, the Elder gave the man
the entire contents of his wallet, and his companion's wallet as well. He
learned a valuable lesson that he wouldn't soon forget.
The Savior desperately wants to help us, despite the
eternally infinite price that it costs him. His obedience allows him to cure
disobedience. All he asks in return is what we are willing, or in better words,
capable of, paying. He expects nothing more than we can give, because he wants
everyone to partake.
I would love to invite each of you to consider the value of
the gift that you have received. I promise you, from my personal experience,
that we are changed and blessed relative to the amount that we are willing to
give to the Savior. Only a complete sacrifice results in sanctification, but,
as we begin with what we can do now, we will be blessed with added ability to
do those things which we need to, and more gratitude and happiness as we do so.
I love you all, and wish you wonderful weeks.
Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding
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