A random story I forgot to mention last week: we stopped by to visit a member family one evening and after spending some time getting to know them, I shared with them a scripture about prophets and talked about blessings we receive from following the prophet. Before we said a prayer, Brother Anders slipped out of the room, and came back with something in his hands. He told us that while I was sharing the scripture, he felt impressed to give us each a fossil - a crinoid (he hunts/collects fossils). He said he didn't know why, but it was a strong impression, and he said it was odd because he never gives those away. So, Sister Summers and I now each have a crinoid fossil. It's an animal that looks like a plant. He drew a picture of the whole thing because the fossil was only part of it. Pretty interesting. Maybe at some future point on my mission I'll be able to use it in an object lesson or something, but I have no clue how.
Five out of our 6 dinner appointments fell through last week. Bummer dude. :( Thank goodness we get to go shopping today because we're about out of food after having to eat at home all week.
We met with Paul again Wednesday. He works for a landscaping company. He was working one day and came across another of our chapels. So what did he do? He took his co-worker and mowed the lawn! Ha! He told us that and it was so funny! He's such a good guy. A big heart, and a big desire to learn and accept the truth. As we were talking, he started to say "your church", but then he asked if he could call it "our church". He's pretty much a dry Mormon now. When he said the closing prayer he thanked God for sending us to teach him the truth. Man, he sure is one of the elect. We taught him that night about how prophets and apostles were/are called and talked with him about the Atonement and faith. He just soaks everything right up, it's awesome!
Thursday morning we met with Kristina Alexander again. She told us she was having a hard time wrapping her mind around the BOM, so we told her we'd read part of it with her and help her gain a better understanding. Before we began, she had some questions about the Restoration pamphlet that we left her. My favorite part was when we were talking about why God talked with Joseph Smith and Kristina made the realization that it was just like when God talked with Moses. SWEET! We bore further testimony that Joseph Smith indeed was just like Moses as he was called to be a prophet. She asked about our beliefs regarding the Trinity and we talked about how Joseph Smith's vision clearly teaches that God and Jesus Christ are separate beings. She was appalled to find out that the notion of the Trinity was concocted at the council of Nicea in 325 A.D. by a majority vote. Then we got in to the BOM; we read the Introduction with her and then Alma 7. She really liked how plain and simple and easy to understand it was and expressed desire to read from the beginning and learn. She told us she's been to a number of different Christian churches, but something is still missing. DING DING DING - INSERT AUTHORITY AND FULLNESS OF THE GOSPEL HERE! :) She is so sweet. She told us she needs to stop questioning and just believe, and we talked about the importance of faith, but also pointed out that the Restoration of the gospel began with a young boy's question. We talked about our intent when asking questions, giving the example in Matt. 21:23-28 where the Pharisees didn't have real intent, so they weren't given an answer. She really liked that and wrote it down to look at often. We talked with her about some things that were mentioned in General Conference and she asked if she could watch that, so we gave her the link, and she was really excited. She said she'd definitely come to church this week (she had a prior commitment this Sunday) and that she'd bring her 12 year old daughter. Awesome! I really think she's been prepared, and that it might be her time to accept the gospel.
We met Dave Hanson tracting in the rain and we talked with him for probably about 15-20 minutes. He asked for a pamphlet, and then asked if we wanted to come back and talk more with him and his wife. Awesome. He said they've had some hard times, and it's nice to talk about religious things to give them a boost. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with them sometime this week.
Saturday we were driving and I hit a squirrel. :( Oops. Good thing we know from D&C 77 that animals have spirits and such too. I was thinking about that, and then we were tracting later and we met a girl who told us she just put her cat to sleep that day, and she was sad about it. I was able to share my squirrel story and part of D&C 77 with her and we talked a little about the Plan of Salvation. She said we could come back later (she was heading to work) and talk more. The Lord works in mysterious ways. :)
Tara Denkers is 19 and is home for the summer from BYUI. She loves going out with missionaries, so hopefully we can get some good appointments to take her with us. She saw that we didn't have a dinner appointment Sunday, so she told us we had to come to their house and eat. So we did, and we had a good time and shared a good lesson with the family. There was only an hour between the time we left her house and the time we got back to our apartment, and during that time, she had written us each a note and drawn a cute little picture and dropped it by our apartment. Fun fun.
Sunday we were tracting and we met Travis. His mother-in-law answered and wasn't interested, but then the dog got out and she had to go chase it. Travis came to the door and he started talking to us. We had a good conversation with him for probably about 15 minutes about prophets, preparing for the 2nd coming, and the BOM. We left him with a pamphlet containing most of Joseph Smith's testimony about his experience. Travis said he was scared that he might not be doing enough and was scared about the 2nd coming and God's punishment of the wicked. He said he was interested in talking more with us, but he works from 6pm - 3am, so he wouldn't set a specific day/time with us. But hopefully we'll be able to catch him home again. If it weren't for that dog running away, we wouldn't have gotten to talk with him. Once again, God works in mysterious ways. :)
We taught gospel principles Sunday on the Millennium. That was interesting, especially given the fact that we found out Saturday at 6pm. It went well though, and Paul Norton (WML father from Logan) complimented us on the lesson and said he would trust us with any of his non-member friends. What a great compliment! It sure made me feel good, especially after thinking that the lesson wasn't all that great.
Well, that's it for this week. Next week is transfers.... I think there's a possibility that Sister Summers and I will stay here, but who knows. I hate not knowing.
Take care all!
sister smurf
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