This week's lessons with Paul have seemed to be more for me. We've been going through the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet with him. We talked about gratitude and tied in being grateful for trials and seeing them as growth opportunities, and then we talked about family/friends and being an example. Hopefully he's been getting some good stuff out of them - I know I have. Paul continues to become integrated with the ward. He no longer sits with us in sacrament meeting as members reach out to him and invite him to sit with them. Because of us having our lessons with different members each time, Paul is finally comfortable enough to sit with them instead of us. Yay.
We went back to see a lady named Tonya that Sister Summers and Sister Latu tracted into on an exchange. She said she was busy, but then she continued to talk to us for about 15 minutes on the porch. She asked if we had anything for her to read, and we talked about the BOM and gave her one. She talked about the irony of things as religious topics have come up recently in their home. She seems pretty receptive. Hopefully sometime she'll have the time to sit down and let us teach her. Until then, hopefully she's reading in the BOM. She recognizes the importance of family, and they already do FHE, and have family prayer and scripture study. Talk about not having to change much when she joins the church. :)
We met with Norma and Clifford for the last time before Clifford goes to Germany for a year with the military. They hadn't started reading the BOM yet, so we took the time to read Alma 32 with them and talked about the importance of acting on their faith. It was a good lesson, and they said they would start reading. We gave Clifford his own copy of the BOM, and we gave him a website card so that he could look up the church in Germany and get in contact with the missionaries. I have high hopes that he actually will, though it might not be right away. We hope to be able to still meet with Norma and help her progress. They asked some question about the apostasy/restoration, and we were able to explain the apostasy and the need for a restoration in a way that they will remember. Clifford told us he was just fine in his Lutheran church, and we explained what greater happiness was available if he wanted it. We related the story of the kid who clutched on to his old dirty rag clothes, unaware that a nice robe was available to him if he would let go of his old dirty rags. We invited them to continue learning and see the greater happiness that can be theirs, and then choose whether they want it or not. I think in time they will come to see the blessings that await them, as long as they act on their faith.
We role played giving a BOM away with the Page family, and then had them practice. The kids were giving it to the mom, and the mom helped the situation out a lot by asking "golden" questions. It was probably the funniest thing I've witnessed. The kids were quite silly, but with the mom's help, they brought up all the important things, including their testimony. We committed them to give a BOM away, and the Alexa (12) said she was going to start a BOM route, like a paper route. :) What a character. That night we met with the Fiddlers and watched the REST DVD with them and talked about our feelings about it, and we committed them to give one away. They were really excited to accept the challenge. Yay for member missionary work!
Friday we volunteered at the Relay For Life. It was pretty hot, and we mostly sat around and didn't do much. We talked to one lady who was working at the welcome tent with us and she had some good friends that were Mormons and they had talked and she had even gone to church with them at least once. She and her husband have been to Nauvoo twice, the 2nd time with the specific intent of seeing the new temple. We had a nice conversation with her. I think she'd be receptive to missionaries, but we didn't get her last name or address, and she's not in our area. Maybe the elders who just got double transferred in there will have some inspiration and find her somehow.
Saturday while tracting we met Khyla (pronounced Kie-lah). She was very excited to see us. She had met with missionaries down in Bloomington a few years ago while she was attending school and she read the whole BOM and attended church for a year. Wow. But she said the Church just wasn't for her. :( She said the things made sense and filled in gaps in her understanding and knowledge, but she didn't really feel spiritual nourishment. How sad! We talked about feeling the Spirit and how often times, the Spirit speaks to me through things making sense. We then shared about the difference between Nephi and Laman/Lemuel in that Nephi truly wanted to know and he prayed, and he received his answers, as opposed to Laman and Lemuel who just complained that they didn't understand. They experienced the same teachings of Lehi, yet there were striking differences. She said she would pick up the BOM again since we stopped by. Hopefully this time around she can feel that spiritual witness.
That afternoon we were tracting and there was a stretch that there were no houses on our side of the street. As we were walking, a guy (Michael) was walking on the opposite side of the road heading towards us. He said hello to us from the other side of the street, and then he asked us what we were doing. We crossed the street and talked with him briefly about the Restoration. We asked if he'd be interested, and he said he might be moving to Bloomington. We gave him a REST pamphlet and pointed out our phone number in case he didn't move, and the website in case he did move. He was proactive in asking us what we were doing, so hopefully he'll be proactive in calling us or getting on the website to learn more.
Yesterday we tried to see some less actives. Pretty much no one was home. One family was home and the 12 year old son let us in. He went to get his mom, and she came down and I could tell she didn't really want us there. She didn't invite us in past the entry way, and she was very short in her answers. She then told us that they weren't going to church at the time, and they weren't interested in having visitors. How sad! I think that's one of the saddest things - seeing people who once had a testimony and for some reason, cut off all contact with the blessings from the Church.
We had dinner and a lesson with the Mahjoub family last night. It went well, despite the fact that it took almost 3 hours. During dinner, Ali talked about his 7 year mission trip and some experiences he had with receiving guidance of where to go. They were some neat experiences. They hadn't started reading in the BOM yet, so we read 1 Nephi 1-2 with them and talked about how Nephi received his answers because he prayed to know (see 1 Ne. 2:16; 10:17; 11:1 contrasted to 15:2-9ish). It was a really good lesson. They recognized the importance of prayer, and Ali committed himself to pray to know why God sent Joseph Smith. Ali is feeling the Spirit. He said he's feeling something, but he can't quite put it into words yet. As we talked about the wonderful visions Nephi received because he asked, Ali committed himself to read 1 Nephi 11-14. Cindy said she was going to read the whole BOM before we came back (next appt. is July 12). Wow. Things go so much easier when people commit themselves. :) After that, Ali wanted to give a brief presentation of their beliefs. We accepted, since he allowed us into his home and listened to us. He shared his beliefs about God's plan, and about the Fall. Some things were way off, but some things were in harmony with our beliefs. We sat and listened to him. This time he was not forceful, nor did he have the attitude of "this is how it is" like he did last time. It was simply "this is how I believe". It was very instructive, but lacking the Spirit. It was good to hear of his beliefs so that now when we teach them about the Plan of Salvation, we know where we need to take things slow and where we need to testify boldly and rely on the Spirit to open their hearts. We thanked him for sharing and told him that next time we came we'd like to share our beliefs on the Plan of Salvation. It should be interesting. Good thing we have 3 weeks to prepare! It's hard with them. Some of their beliefs are SO close to ours, yet others are SO FAR off. They have this guy - Rev. Moon - who they think is the Messiah (yet they still pray in the name of Christ. ????). He claims to have had a similar experience as Joseph Smith. So, they can accept that Joseph Smith's story happened, but they don't see the singularity of it, or the authority aspect. Satan has definitely created so many ways to confuse people these days, including things that are so close to the truth that keep people from knowing/accepting the truth.
Well, that's about it for this week. Take care.
sister humpherys
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