Hey everybody.
First I just wanted to share a poem that has been on my mind this week.
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile:
“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,
“Who’ll start the bidding for me?”
“A dollar, a dollar”; then, “Two!” “Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three—” But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, “What am I bid for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice,
And going, and gone!” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
“We do not quite understand
What changed its worth.” Swift came the reply:
The touch of a master’s hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine,
A game—and he travels on.
He’s “going” once, and “going” twice,
He’s “going” and almost “gone.”
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.29
I have been thinking about this poem because I know that wherever we are or whatever circumstance we are in God can make beautiful music with what we got if we let him. I know that we can also be like the savior and help others see the music inside of them that they cant see.
Elder Urbina and I had a few experiences this week that were sweet music to us. The first experience that we had was meeting a man in the street named Oscar (22 looks like a gangster) that started off asking us how much we got paid. jaja. After explaining to him that we are not paid and that we serve off our own time and money we were able to teach him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After explaining how we can be made clean through baptism he accepted the invitation to be baptised. We are excited to keep working with him and helping him to reach his potential.
We also had a day where we were walking for what seemed like forever and were not finding anybody of our regular investigators. So we decided to contact a 8:55 and we knocked on the door of a house and man answered us coldly, but we managed to get a cita. After that it was then 9:00 the hour to head home, but Elder Urbina told me we needed to contact one more house. With exhuasted feet dragging there way up to a house with a light on we knocked on the door. A teenager opened the door and started talking to us until his father arrived with a cold look on his face. After talking with him for a minute he smiled and said, "I have never wanted to talk with guys until this moment. I cant explain it I just feel good right now" He went on to say things like this for 3 min and I know that the spirit was testifying to him hard core. Alfredo seems to have a family super prepared and we are super excited to talk to him this week.
I love you all and I hope we can all keep on practicing the violin to become more like our Master
Elder Thompson
