This week has been slow because of the holiday and people are either out of town or they have family or something.
Last Tuesday we went to visit Bill and Aggie Adams (the old Catholic couple). One of the first things they said to us was that they weren't going to convert us and we weren't going to convert them, but they were nice people so they invited us in. They told us they respect what we're doing. The best part is that they were still open to listen to what we had to say. We got to know them a bit. It sounds like Bill was some sort of scientist before retiring (I'll find out more about that). Aggie is very involved in her church and she was a Bible school teacher for a while. I think my favorite thing that she told us was about her giving a BOM away. Yes, you heard right. She was in a meeting with people of different faiths and someone asked if anyone knew about the Mormons (none were present). Aggie said she had a Mormon book but couldn't remember what was in it (she had read part of it before). Another lady said something to her about it and Aggie told her she should read it herself to find out about the Mormons and she gave the lady her own copy. Ha! I was grinning from ear to ear. After getting to know them a bit we talked to them more about the BOM and we read the first part of the introduction that talks about what is contained in it. Aggie really liked the part where it mentions that the Nephites and Lamanites are among the principal ancestors of the American Indians. They told us about their church and they gave us a book that had their daily readings outlined in it. We traded them for a BOM. Aggie started flipping through it and asked us who Nephi was. She was in 3 Nephi. Sister Haefele told her about Christ's ministry to the people in 3 Nephi, and Aggie decided she would read it. They are such nice people. We invited them to come to church to hear us speak on Sunday and they wrote it down and said they would try to make it if nothing came up with family for the holidays. Unfortunately they didn't come. But they did set up another appointment with us. I hope they allow us to begin teaching them. I think that even if they aren't interested at first, that they are kind and humble enough that the Spirit can speak to them and they will feel that and listen as we teach. I can see them accepting the gospel if they give it a chance.
We met with Erin and Johnny Crouch again Tuesday. We decided that we need to start over with the lessons and focus on Johnny. He is a slow learner, and he wasn't there for the lesson on the Restoration. I feel that he is interested, but he doesn't have the knowledge because he missed out on the first lesson and hasn't been our focus in the other lessons. So we decided to start over with the Restoration and focus on him and helping him to gain a testimony, and at the same time, strengthening Erin's testimony. He's not a good reader, but we gave him his own copy of the BOM and hopefully that will help him. I told him that reading the BOM was how I learned how to read and promised him that it would help him improve his reading skills if he read it. He's a nice guy. He gets picked on a lot because he's a bit slower, but he's very sweet and thoughtful. Erin had been praying about a baptism date, and she told us she decided on January 9th. We're not entirely sure on her motivations for desiring baptism, but we decided that starting over with the lessons will help her to gain a true testimony and even if she may have ulterior motives right now, gaining a testimony will correct her motives. They used to be living with Emily, but she kicked them out, so now they are living with a friend in Bedford. They are still homeless, but staying in Bedford helps them out with gas a lot. If they stay there, that means they will be in the Bedford area/ward, but the church there is true too. : )
Wednesday we had dinner with Jeannett and Jannelle Ward (mother and daughter). They are less active. And they are quite the talkers. We couldn't hardly get a word in the whole time we were there. It did become evident to us that their understanding of the gospel is very limited and they have some misconceptions. They joined the church 11 years ago when Jannelle was 9 but went inactive a shortly after, then came back and then went inactive again. As much as we don't want to go over there again and have our ears talked off, Thursday night we all agreed that we need to go back and teach them the lessons so they understand the gospel. We went over yesterday and asked if we could teach them and we will start that the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
Speaking of yesterday, it was kind of miserable. Sunday night our cars got grounded so we were stuck at our apartment. Sisters can't be out after dark except in our cars. Monday our cars were grounded in the morning, so we walked to the Ward's house and to a referral's house. It was about a 45-50 minute walk one way. It was cold and the snow was blowing. Thank goodness for beanies, scarfs, gloves, coats, tights, and leggings. Soup was a great choice for lunch that day.
Christmas Eve was a weird day. We had district meeting in the morning and then a white elephant gift exchange, and then we had our weekly planning. And then all our solid member appointments cancelled except for our dinner appointment. So we played games and talked and ate with the Feiks (a young married couple & our ward missionaries) for most of the day. It didn't seem much like Christmas Eve, but then again, neither did Thanksgiving.
Christmas was good. We got up and opened presents. It was nice having 3 of us so our tree didn't look as barren. It was nice to get useful stuff (cds, sweaters, scarfs, etc) because then I don't feel like I have to carry around stuff I'll never use. Sister Haefele got a lot of that stuff. The Williams invited us over for breakfast, phone calls, games, and lunch. It was nice to call home and talk to everyone. Landon made me cry when he told me about his letter to dad. That was probably dad's favorite Christmas present of all time.
Sharon is still awesome. We planned to talk to her Saturday about the Priesthood and missionary work. Before we even began teaching she told us she had talked to her granddaughter on Christmas about her baptism and Sharon said she'd probably send the missionaries to her in the spring. What a great lead in to our lesson! As we talked about Priesthood, we talked about blessings. She has received a healing blessing, as well as the confirmation blessing. I wrote as much as I could during her confirmation, so we wrote it out nice and neat for her to have (Sister Jenson had to write it because she said Sharon wouldn't be able to read my small writing). As we gave it to her, I felt impressed to talk to her about patriarchal blessings. Sharon had never heard of them and she is excited to get hers. In the car after the lesson, Sister Haefele said that she'd been thinking the last few days about telling Sharon about patriarchal blessings, and then Sister Jenson said as soon as I started talking about it she knew that's what we were supposed to be teaching her. I love it when the Spirit sends awesome brainwaves like that.
Yesterday after our cars were ungrounded we drove out to Gosport and Spencer. We usually go every Monday, but we hadn't made it there in a few weeks. We saw Tina (one of our return appointments from our first time there) but she still had family so we set a return appointment for next week after her kids are back in school. We talked with Wes again (one of the other return appointments) and set a time to come back and visit him since he was just headed in to work. In Spencer we talked to Brad. We stood outside for probably a good 30 minutes at least and froze as we talked with him. He's very skeptical about organized religion and says the Catholic religion has turned him away from it. He says he's spiritual but not religious, and then he said he was an agnostic. He's missing something in his life, he just doesn't know it. He said God created millions of worlds and He probably doesn't care what he does or what he says. I had the opportunity to testify to him that his Father in Heaven loves him and cares about him very much. We testified of prophets and that we have a living prophet who receives revelation from God. We talked about agency and praying to know for ourselves and following the prophet because we knew he was called of God. We testified of the Book of Mormon being from God, written by prophets, and a way that he can gain peace and comfort in his life. He brought up science and it's "contradictions" with the Bible and I took the opportunity to explain that science and religion both seek for truth and though they seem to butt heads now, in time they will mesh. He appreciated knowing that we don't believe science is of the devil. We gave him a BOM when we met him first a few weeks ago. He still hadn't read it yet, and he said he really wasn't interested in religion right now. I committed him to reading at least the first few pages, and he said he would read the first chapter. We talked on the way home about him and we all feel that if he would give the gospel a chance, he could accept it. But we all feel that it's not time for him yet. We've planted a seed, and it needs to be nourished by life's experiences before it's ready to sprout and grow. I wish I could be around to see that, but I realize I most likely won't.
Well, I believe that's all. We're off to go shopping and then get Sister Haefele packed. I was going to send some pictures this time, but I'm out of time, so I'll have to send them next week. Take care. Love you all.
-sister smurf
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