Arrival Day

Wohoooo!  I (Mary) have safely arrived here, in Ogden Utah, after a 10.5 hour-long car ride.  The fact that I am so hyper right now could be from the 10.5 hours of inactivity, or possibly because I just witnessed a man stealing a car outside of my window...I am wide awake!  Nevertheless, I can definitely use this time to update the blog and study.

I'll just put it out there: not really a "blogger".  My thoughts usually get lost while speaking, and writing is no different.  If it wasn't for Russ East, Utah Partnerships for Christ (UPFC), I wouldn't be typing right now.  He encouraged Courtney and I to document our stories; the good, bad and ugly.  Not sure if anyone will find it interesting, but it's one of those 'things' we can tell our kids about one day, or better yet, another X off our bucket list.

So what's the purpose of this blog?  To be honest, I don't know yet.  But I do know that we (Court and I) have a hope for it: that Christians and Mormons can begin to see the inherent differences between their gospels.  This is not a blog intended just for Mormons.  This is not a blog about attacking them either.  In fact, I love Mormons.  Some of the nicest, generous, giving people I have had the privilege of knowing, have been LDS.  This why I am so passionate about it!  And the more I think about it, I have never walked away from a conversation with a Mormon and not cried afterwards.  They used to be tears of frustration, but the more Utah missions trips I have been on, and the relationship I have developed with my God through them, has turned frustrated tears into utterly dependent tears.  Caleb, my pastor, told me that being frustrated simply means that I am relying purely on myself.  This is why I was frustrated.  I cannot possibly know everything about Mormonism, yet I expected myself to.  So something I am praying more and more for is dependence: to lay aside my own pride for the sake of the Kingdom. Plus, there is something so attractive about a women who depends on the Lord (my mom).

Well, it is 11pm Utah time, which is way past my California bedtime.  Tomorrow is Temple Square day!  It's supposed to be in the low 30s, so hopefully there will be devoted Mormons walking around! So, to conclude my first blog post (atta girl) Court and I would love your prayers and support.  We have received many conflicting reactions about this missions trip, which we knew about going into it....but please feel free to send prayers our way!

Prayer for:
~dependence
~safety
~rest
~conversations
~travel
~Mormons
~Christians

Here are some cool resources for all you friends!

http://upfc.org/ (Utah Partnerships for Christ)
http://mrm.org/ (Mormon Research Ministry)
http://www.str.org/site/PageServer (Stand to Reason)
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/ (Jim Wallace)

Love you all dearly,
Mary