We met with Paul on Wednesday and Friday this week with the Rocks. He told us he really enjoyed church and that it felt like home. He had some questions about church and some other things. He's the first person that has taken me up on writing down questions. He has lots of good questions and it's so fun to answer them and teach him. He's so receptive and willing to learn and grow. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and Word of Wisdom over the course of both visits. The first visit ended with a brief intro to the Word of Wisdom and we left him with the Word of Wisdom pamphlet to read. The second visit started with him talking about how he believed the Word of Wisdom was a true principle (how being physically clean can increase our spiritual susceptibility) and he told us that since he read the pamphlet, he decided he didn't want to drink coffee or smoke his occasional cigarette anymore (and he hadn't in the 2 days that had elapsed). SWEET! It's always much easier when our investigators commit themselves to doing things. :) At the end of the second visit we committed him to baptism and he readily accepted! By some things that he said, it was apparent that baptism had been on his mind. However, he made some bad decisions in his past, and so he won't be eligible for baptism until September, but he's still excited for it! We will continue to meet with him probably twice a week until that time. He loves us coming and he loves learning. He will be such a good dry Mormon until September. Hopefully his conviction will stay strong until (and after) September. I have no doubt that it will, because he's awesome.
We taught Tonya the Plan of Salvation on Thursday. She was on board with all the major doctrines. I foolishly disregarded the Spirit and brought up the importance of authority again. It never goes well when you ignore the Spirit. She agreed with us about the importance of authority when we taught her last time, but she gets really upset when we take that to the conclusion that her baptism wasn't valid. So, we'll put authority on the backburner for now and try to help her have spiritual experiences so that her heart can become more receptive and understanding in that area. She told us she has questions about small things that she doesn't agree with or doesn't understand. We told her the best thing for her to do now is to 1) pray about Joseph Smith, 2) continue praying for answers to her questions, 3) come to church, and 4) continue meeting with us so we can help answer her questions and resolve her concerns. All of her concerns so far have come because of a lack of full understanding, so hopefully we can continue meeting with her and explain things to her. She was hesitant about church and we realized she was confusing church with temple worship and she had read something about the rituals and she didn't think she could come without there being a commitment involved. We explained our Sunday meetings to her, and she said it would be nice to just come and learn. Hopefully as we meet with her on Saturday she will feel comfortable enough to follow the Savior's command to "come and see".
Friday we met with Mohammed and he talked to us about his Muslim beliefs. I was very impressed with his conviction. He presented his beliefs with the attitude of "this is how it is", rather than just "this is what I believe" I learned a lot from him, not just about Muslim beliefs, but about being bold and declaring the truth as truth and not just our beliefs, because we DO have the truth!
Saturday we stopped by to see a guy that was really sick when we gave him a REST pamphlet a few weeks ago and said we could try back later. His wife answered and asked where our church was. She said she'd seen a handful of our commercials and really likes them and they might be interested in our church. SWEET! She said that just earlier that day her husband had mentioned the pamphlet but they couldn't find it. So we gave her a new one. We'll look for them at church Sunday and if not, we'll check back with them.
Sunday we stopped by to see John, another guy that was sick when we gave him a REST pamphlet. He told us up front that they had just started to attend the Salvation Army church and they really like it. I took the opportunity then to testify to him about modern prophets - not just tell him about prophets, but to truly share my testimony, and it was a neat experience. He changed from not really interested, to asking for another pamphlet, asking us questions about prophets and our work as missionaries, and telling us that he would most likely call us to come back and talk with him. Wow. The power of testimony! Sister Summers and I have been working on testifying more - rather than just talking - on doorsteps, and we've seen some results. We talked with a guy named Bruce Wagner (I think) who used to be Catholic but now is a JW. We talked with him and testified of modern prophets, and we had a really good conversation with him. He found what we were saying to be interesting. We gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and he said he would definitely read it and would probably share it with one of his friends. He also almost gave us a referral. He gave us the name of his boss, but he didn't know his address (and it's not in the phone book - bummer). He told us his boss has been looking for a church and hasn't been able to find one he is satisfied with. Maybe some miracle will happen and we will find him.
A psycho lady (Laura) showed up at church Sunday. She called the building and said she wanted to come and needed a ride (or something like that). A guy from the stake answered the phone and sent someone to find her. It took awhile, but halfway through sacrament meeting, in she walked in a martial arts uniform (hopkido - Korean). She slept through most of the meeting. Afterward she told us she was in need of some support and she knew some people in high school that were LDS. We introduced her to the Bishop and the first thing she said was "I need church support". He had an ordination to do, and then he could meet with her. I talked with her in the hallway as Sister Summers went with Paul to Gospel Principles. In talking with Laura, I could tell that something wasn't quite right with her, though I wasn't sure exactly what it was. She told me her stomach had been taken out by doctors at the request of her father, her parents were devil worshippers, and said she was dying and rolled up her sleeves to show me (her arms were perfectly normal). The Bishop then came and took her into his office. After church was out, the Bishop's wife and daughter searched for us frantically telling us the Bishop needed us right away. Laura was still there. As she went to the bathroom, Bishop told us she's a paranoid schitzophrenic. That sure explains things. She also said she wants to join the church. Interesting. Bishop told us he was going to try to get her some help to stabilize her and then once that happened maybe we could start teaching her. What an experience. Poor Bishop. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. He's got a lot to handle.
Last night we met with Norma and Clifford. We tracted into Norma and she said we could come back. She's Catholic and he's Lutheran and a Navy doctor. We taught them about prophets and about the BOM and they were interested in the idea that we have a prophet today. They had some good questions and we gave them a BOM and they said they would read from it and pray about it. Hopefully we'll meet with them again next week before he leaves for Michigan for a few days. Then in July he's going to Germany for a year and Norma and the kids might go with him. Better work quickly!
Well, I had a few funny thoughts floating around in my mind to share, but over the last few days I've forgotten them. Bummer. Maybe I'll remember them and I'll write them down for next week. Until then, take care!
sister humpherys
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