Musing About Matt

 I have to tell you that when I walked down from the stand in church after saying the opening prayer, I noticed Matt in the back of the chapel with the missionaries. I was delighted to see him. He has been in France for a week with a flying assignment but is back now.

He hasn't really had a formal visit with the missionaries as yet, but each time he has attended church (this is the third time), he has talked with many people and asked questions and been warmly welcomed. I really don't know what is in his mind and heart. 

He texted later in the day, asking if we would like to go to dinner with him, and I had to tell him no. We had some one-on-one zoom meetings that we had committed to, plus, we don't go out on Sundays as a rule. I told him we would be happy to get together otherwise any other time this week.

I asked how he was feeling about God this week, and he sounded a little bitter. He said, "In answer to your question, honestly - no. I feel as though I upset God somehow and I'm constantly the butt of his cruel jokes. I feel as though I do everything I can to be a good person and yet I still struggle so much."

I hope we can be of help to him. He seems so pleasant. After church, as we were talking, he told us he had worked as a chef for awhile before becoming a pilot. He sounds like he loves to cook and told us that his family is coming over for the weekend and he will be cooking hamburgers for them.

I asked if he was grilling them. He said, "That's the American way isn't it?" I told him pretty much. So he is considering cooking his hamburgers that way. 

He is really likeable and so easy to talk to. I feel as though he was led to the church and so I am praying that he will find the peace he seeks in the community there and the sweet messages of the gospel.

This evening we spent nearly two hours visiting via Zoom with a couple from Oregon who have been called to the England London Mission as a Young Adult couple. They don't know where they will be assigned but we are hoping that it is Oxford. They will arrive in England in mid-September so the timing couldn't be better.

The cool breeze from outside that has circulated through our flat today has been absolute heaven.

In the meantime, we are fast approaching the one-month-and-counting-down mark.

This all will be so difficult to leave behind.