Blood Drive

This whole last week has been centered around the blood drive that's coming up this Friday. Siera and I have been going door to door almost every evening soliciting (except at houses which say 'no soliciting', some of which are in very small font I might add) people to sign up for a time to donate blood. This outreach has proven to be very effective since it's very hard to offend anyone by offering a chance to give blood and it's open to everybody. Even so, it brings people to the church property who might not have even known we existed. It's not hard to be smothered by LDS culture here and start to think Mormonism is the only religion that has a presence.

It's has also afforded us some ministry opportunities just from getting to talk to people. One man we spoke to was very interested in Lakeside and wanted to know what we had going on, which got the both of us pretty pumped up. Last night was a sort of final push to fill up the time slots we had left, so we took the youth out and split 'em up into groups to go out into the neighborhoods. One group had six people sign up in only a 45 minute span, which is more than Siera and I ever got in our 2 1/2 hour long walks!

I went out with a guy who helps with the youth named Roger, and although we didn't get any sign ups God gave us a chance to be there for a woman in need. Before we knocked, we could see the woman through the window and she looked distressed, enough so that we considered passing it over. We did though, and the lady told us that donating blood had already been on their entire families mind even though none of them were eligible. As it turns out, her brother Marc had been in a bad car accident just days before, one that was bad enough that Roger and I had heard about it. He had lost over 3 1/2 pints of blood and one of his arms. Crazy to think that one of these tragic accidents could involve someone you meet, that they aren't just a scene on the side of the road that slows down your lane of traffic. We were just about to pray with the lady when her brother actually called her and she had to go, but we promised to pray for Marc on our own time.

I really want the blood drive to be a success and for it to afford us some ministry opportunities and chances to make new friends. I'm signed up to donate for the first time, and even though sitting here right now it doesn't make me all that worried, staring at that huge fat needle that's about to go into my arm may rattle me a bit in a couple days :) If I could trouble you with a prayer request for myself, I keep having little personal issues come up that are making me lose my focus. Things from the past that won't seem to go away are getting me now and again, and honestly I'd really just love it to stop. I want to be in the here and now where my full attention is needed and it sure seems to be taking a lot of effort.

Hope yall are having a summer worth remembering in YOUR mission fields, and I wish everyone the best.

Faith, hope, and mercy be with you in abundance.