So this is my first real 'adventure' post, telling you a little bit about what goes on in our life. But as always, I must put a moral and lesson at the end of it. Typical.
Today was Trenton's 11th Birthday. The plan was to go to the Temple, and then go swimming. So at 8:30, we hopped on a bus and headed to the Coca Cola Bus Station. An hour later, we arrived. We hopped on another bus, headed to Heredia, where the Temple is located. TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER, we arrived. Throughout that entire three and a half hours (spelled out for emphasis), the thought "Time is of the Essence. Time is of the Essence" pounded through my head, almost obsessively. I was mad, hot, numb from sitting on such a hard surface for so long, and sorry for my brother, as he was spending his birthday inside a public bus. Not fun. I wondered WHY IN THE WORLD THIS WAS TAKING SO LONG. Why, as we are traversing to the House of the Lord, were we having such bad luck? Why was this happening?
When we finally arrived at the Temple, we were famished. Three hours in a bus will do that to you. So we walked around looking for a Soda, a traditional mom and pop restaurant. After a half hour of walking, we couldn't find ANYTHING. So we popped in at a supermarket, got some bread and soda. Nutritional 101. However, that didn't fill us up, so we stopped in a super expensive restaurant, as it was the only other thing around. After an over priced, not so good meal, Dad announced that the Temple closed at 1. And it was 12:45. It didn't open again til 5 in the evening. I wanted to cry. We decided to resort to plan #2. The swimming pool. Unbeknownst to us, there was no swimming pool in Heredia, even though Google Maps said so. So we stopped at the Family History Center to fill up our water bottles. Then we hopped on a bus back home.
We had this plan, to get off before Coca Cola and catch a bus to El Curio, about a mile from our house, so we could save about an hour. But our bus never came. So we caught one to San Antonio, three miles from our house. The entire trip home took about 2 hours. I had no idea why. We tried to go to the Temple and worship the Lord, it didn't work out. We tried to do a wholesome recreational activity. It didn't work out. We ate food to not die at a ridiculously expensive price. We tried to celebrate Trenton's birthday so that way his day didn't completely suck. It took a lot longer than it should have.
As I was sitting in my bed, exhausted, frustrated, and confused, a thought came to my mind. Sometimes, when we try to obey the Lord and follow his commandments, the World tries to defeat us. It beats us down and throws us around like we're nothing. It tries to convince us that it's not worth it. The Gospel isn't true. But it is. And God always wins. And sometimes it's okay to fail doing God's work. Because it tests us. It tests our faith, our love for God. So we have to have patience. Patience in Eternal Things. Because in a eternal perspective, a flop of a day is nothing. A mere blink of an eye. If that.
I thought my day was wasted. I thought I had been unproductive, and not learned a single thing. But I did. I learned that time is only wasted if you let it be wasted. Even if your time does not produce fruits of goodness, you always learn something. The other thing I learned is that you must, you MUST, have patience in Eternal things. When you say a prayer, God doesn't always answer immediately. Sometimes it's okay to fail doing the Lord's work. Because you never really fail. When you are with God, God is always with you. And God. Always. Conquers.
Savannah
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