Sister and Elder Hintze: 2/20/23

 

Monday, February 20, 2023
We had a wonderful day off this past Tuesday celebrating our ninth anniversary. The “little white house”, as President Roosevelt called the humble home that he built at Warm Springs, was maintained exactly as he left it the day he died. He was sitting in a chair in his living room having his portrait painted when he slumped over in the chair from a brain hemorrhage. He was carried to his bed and he passed away just a few hours later. The chair, the bed, and the remainder of the house have been maintained just as they were. The unfinished portrait is displayed in the museum. We could have spent days in the museum! The story of first lady Eleanor was equally as inspiring. What a great woman she was!

On Wednesday, we finally got to meet Brother Nick. He has a very interesting take on the gospel. He has been a member of the church all of his life but became inactive in his young teens when, in his words, he began partying. So, at a young age, he became dependent on tobacco and alcohol. He believes that in his industry, he must drink with his associates to get the business. However, in 2016, shortly after he and his wife were married, he encouraged her to get baptized. We asked him why, and his answer was “because I knew the gospel was true”. So, his wife was baptized and now desires to be a dedicated, active member of the church. Although he told us that he knows living the gospel plan is the way to eternal happiness, he also told us that he’s not willing to give up his lifestyle. We know that his wife longs for him to change his life so that they can have the blessings of a united family. They have two darling little boys. We gave him a passage from the Book of Mormon to read, and he agreed to read it and pray about it. He even welcomed us to visit him again.

Thursday we had a wonderful experience taking the newest member of our ward, Jeremiah, to the temple for the first time. Jeremiah was baptized about four weeks ago. He is so enthusiastic about his membership in the church. He arrived at church early on Sunday, ready to experience passing the sacrament for the first time. Jeremiah is going to be a strong addition to the ward.

On Saturday we drove about 30 minutes from Thomaston along the beautiful country roads to an area called Concord. There are about nine homes that include members of the church in Concord. The ward is very spread about, covering twenty-five miles in each direction from Thomaston. It’s really gorgeous countryside, but involves a lot of driving! I’m actually multitasking by typing this email in the car while Elder Hintze drives us to our next appointment!!! The first person we went to visit in Concord was Brother Shannon. We knocked on the door and a woman asked who it was through the closed door. We told her we were the missionaries and that we were looking for Brother Shannon. She said he wasn’t home, so we turned around to leave. Just as we were about to get in the car, a truck drove up. A man got out and we asked if he was Brother Shannon. He said that he was, and got out of the truck and shook each of our hands. He was very cordial. We stood in his yard for about thirty minutes while he shared his wonderful conversion story with us. With such a burning testimony of the gospel, we asked him why he wasn’t attending church. He told us that there were some things in his life that he needed to fix. We emphasized to him that the church is not a place where perfected saints gather, but rather a place where repentant individuals go to become better through Christ. We also stressed to him the importance of partaking of the sacrament each week to strengthen our ability to improve ourselves. And guess what? Brother Shannon came to church yesterday!!! Apparently, he had been missed in the ward because many people welcomed him back. We hope that he will continue to come to church. After church yesterday we had what we call Linger Longer. People bring food to share and we sit around and visit and eat. It was so enjoyable. There was such a variety of delicious food to sample and it was so fun to get to know a few new people. In talking with a lovely woman who sat across from us, Elder Hintze found out that she and he were in the same ward in the 1980’s in Delta, Utah. How crazy is that?? They did not remember each other from that time. Yesterday was also Isaiah Colquitt’s 12 birthday. I made a cake and brought it to the church, but unfortunately, the family did not come to church yesterday. So last evening we took the cake to their home. We all sang happy birthday to him and he was very happy.

Our Come Follow Me lesson this week was Matthew 5 and Luke 6, which includes parts of the Sermon on the Mount. During our Sunday School discussion, we talked about the phrase in Matthew 5:48 that reads, “Be ye, therefore, perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. That scripture has always troubled me a bit because I know there is no way I can ever become perfect while still in my mortal body. The interpretation of David J. Ridges, who wrote the book “The New Testament Made Easier” totally eased my mind. He says that being perfect means actively pursuing the path leading to exaltation and continually working to become fully developed. Therefore, in this sense, this commandment to be perfect is fully attainable, until such time as we become perfected in Christ.
Much love,
Elder and Sister Hintze