Sharing the Gospel: From Eliza's Perspective

I've mentioned in the past that we feed the elders every week. It's been part of our life for so long that it's just a given. I can no longer remember what order the elders come in or when they left. We just keep feeding them.

This week we did more. For the first time in living memory, we had the opportunity to host a missionary discussion at our house. It's an amusing story, how it happened, so I want to share. you see, one cannot have the missionaries in one's home every week without feeling like doing ...more. We've been halfheartedly casting about. looking for someone to invite into our home to share the gospel with. Honestly, though, we haven't really put much in to it (cue guilt now).

But there is a couple that has been coming to Church, and they usually sit in front of us. So on Tuesday - which is Yvy's favorite day of the week because of dinner with the missionaries...she asks me all week long if it's Tuesday yet - I offered to have this couple come to our house for their next discussion. The elders said that was great, they'd check with Brian and Joanne, and get back with us.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon. I've been up in the girls' room with my daughters for hours, slowly excavating through weeks and weeks of pure housekeeping neglect. We are making sincere progress, but you should know it's the only clean room in the entire house. Everything else is, uhm, decidedly not clean. But I'm OK with that, because the room I've invested the afternoon was truly the worst; and besides, I have all of next week to focus on the rest of it. And we might actually be ready to vacuum by dinner time. Progress indeed!

The phone rings. It's Elder Fullmer.

Elder: Hi, Sister Galbraith
Me: Hello, Elders!
Elder: Remember when you said you'd like to have the Erwins over for a discussion?
Me: Oh, yes!
Elder: That's great. How about in ten minutes?
Me: {stunned silence}
Me: Holy crap, Elder Fullmer. Are you serious?
Elder: No. I just wanted to see what your reaction was.
Me: {giddy with relief} Oh, my goodness! That's not nice. You have NO idea! Oh my goodness!
Elder: No, Sister Galbraith, you're awesome. How about Sunday evening?
Me: Uhm, yes. Sunday evening I can do. That is not a problem.
Elder: Seriously, what would you have done if I had been serious about the ten minutes thing?
Me: {hesitates} I would have probably said yes, and then spent the next ten minutes of my life panicking and forcing everyone in the house to clean like maniacs.
Elder: Awe, you would have been blessed, Sister Galbraith
Me: No, I wouldn't be blessed, because I would be harboring deep and unChristlike resentment towards the Elders!

So, in the end, after I recovered from that nice little Elder-induced anxiety attack, we finished off the girls' room while Mark made dinner. Then I cleaned the living room. And then I lost my oomph completely.

But it was enough.

Sunday morning was Branch Conference. We sat with Brian and Joanne. During the opening announcements, the Branch President announced that the Erwins had decided to be baptized. I was very excited. That evening, before the Elders or the Erwins got there, Gabba and I started making oatmeal cookies (thanks, Mom, for e-mailing the recipe, because it really is the BEST oatmeal cookie version every). This was part hospitality, and part diversion: I figured if everyone was munching on yummy homemade cookies, no one would notice the abject chaos in the kitchen and dining room.

As it turned out, no one cared. Not even me (which is a minor miracle, right there). We had an awesome discussion that ranged from the Plan of Salvation to the Law of Tithing and on to how the Atonement enables forgiveness in hard circumstances. It was wonderful to just talk and laugh and eat cookies and share experiences and bear testimony. It went for over an hour and a half, but no one noticed the time. My kids were great, and participated well, both in the discussion and by providing comic relief.

When it was time for everyone to go, Yvy and Eliza presented some pictures they had drawn as gifts, which is sweet and typical for them. Here is one that was for me: Eliza's rendition of Elder Fullmer.