We stopped by to see Ronnie on Saturday. She's hard to find at home, and she just told us to stop by if/when we're in the neighborhood. We gave her a BOM and a Joseph Smith pamphlet, as well as the 2 church websites as she expressed interest in learning more about Joseph Smith and Pres. Monson. One week, Ronnie was on our stewardships (meaning that all the missionaries in our district pray for her each morning) and we prayed that her husband (who we hadn't met) and friends wouldn't be a hindrance to her desire to learn. Saturday when we stopped by, her husband Michael answered the door and let us in. They were just about to sit down to dinner, so we asked when we could come back. We asked if mornings were best, and Ronnie said that Michael would like to listen too, so evenings would be better. Yay for an answer to prayers! Michael then asked for clarification on the suggested chapters we marked in the BOM. Pretty cool. We're meeting with them on Thursday this week.
Paul made dinner for us and Bro./Sis. Rock on Saturday. It was probably the best lasagna I've ever had. Paul is so awesome. I wish we could find more people like that! He continues to understand more and more and he's recognizing God's hand and Satan's temptations in his life. He's staying strong. I'm so excited for his baptism in October.
Sunday we met with Carl again. He finished 2 Nephi! He mentioned the Isaiah chapters were a bit dry, and we admitted that we struggle through them too. Last time we met we talked about the great things that were in the last few chapters of 2 Nephi, and that's probably the only motivation he had to muddle through Isaiah. He brought up that he'd been thinking about all the evil in the world and why God allows it and how some people disbelieve in God because of that. We were going to take him to 2 Nephi 2:11-13, but instead, HE TOOK US THERE! He said it was great that he had been thinking about that, and then he read it that week. Pretty awesome. He had some questions about the skin of blackness, the haughtiness of the daughters mentioned in ch. 13, and then he said he really liked how clear ch. 29 was and it made sense that there could be more scripture. We then talked with him more about what a prophet is and God's pattern of calling prophets. We asked if he would follow Moses if he lived in that time, and he said it would be hard because of the hardships of life. We agreed, and told him it was because the children of Israel KNEW that Moses was a prophet that they were able to follow him. We told him the same works with Joseph Smith and that we know he was a prophet, and that's why we do what we do. We asked him to pray about Joseph Smith, and he said he would "ponder it in his heart" and think about it. He's really a sincere guy and honest in his commitments. I can see his progress since we first met with him. At first he wasn't reading and he said he would only come to church "out of curiosity". He's now reading consistently, and he mentioned that he wanted and needed to come to church. He admitted that he is searching now, whereas before, he said he wasn't searching, and that he wouldn't become Mormon. He's now open to the idea of becoming a Mormon. It's so neat to see the Spirit work on him. It's a slower process than some, but it is distinguishable. One of my favorite things he said was that when he visits his parents, he attends church with them, and he said "it's agony". Hahaha. He likes the idea of members from the congregation speaking in our church. In time, I can see him being baptized. We've been trying to get some members to come with us to his lessons to help him feel more comfortable coming to church, but each time we have someone to go with us, the appointment falls through. Maybe we just haven't found the right member yet. Carl made the comment that he didn't feel like we were saying we were the only right church, and I felt prompted to boldly declare that we are the only right church. I think he was taken aback by it, but I think we've developed a good enough relationship with him that it didn't turn him off. We told him that he can come to know for himself, and we are here to help him understand that more. Hopefully he'll ponder on that this week and do some praying.
We met with Elijah again yesterday. It's been 3 weeks since we saw him, but he hadn't read in the BOM yet. :( He said he'd been busy helping out with his younger siblings and he'd been gone for a few days on vacation. We talked with him more about missions and the great experience it is to meet people and help them feel the love of God. He's a very mature 18 year old. He's even more mature than a lot of people my age! He's really got his head on straight. His family is really important to him, and he's taken it upon himself to help teach his siblings the importance of love, respect, responsibility, etc. He loves his family so much. What a great kid. We read Alma 34 with him, and he liked it. He said he could really feel the love of God in it and how it complements the Bible. We talked about how the Bible and BOM contain differerent stories and people but they teach the same gospel. I also related it to math in that with one point (the Bible), an infinite number of lines can be drawn through that line, but with 2 points (Bible and BOM), only one true line can be drawn. He said he would read and study the BOM and we shared with him D&C 9:7-9 as we told him he could know for himself that it is true. We also invited him to church. He was interested, but he said he volunteered to teach the children at his church from like 9:30-1:00. He said he might be able to come for the last hour. We told him he could attend the other ward that meets at 1:00 if he wanted, and we could go with him. I'm really impressed with him. Just a really great kid. Last time we met with him, he was hesitant to set up a meeting for sometime soon (hence the 3 week gap), but this time we set up an appointment for Monday. He shared with us that on a few different occasions when he was younger, random strangers approached his mother and told her that he would be a man of great wisdom and authority. Kind of random, but I can see him being a great missionary and general authority some day. It's so neat being able to see someone's potential. Hopefully he sees the restored gospel as the way to reach that potential.
Well, that's all for now I guess. This week's been kind of a slow work week. Hopefully it'll pick up this week. Love ya!
sister humpherys
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