We had a sweet lesson with Paul (not Paul Hodge) last Monday night. He asked us questions and we let him guide the conversation based on his interests and concerns. After we left, I realized that it was a "magic lesson". In the MTC, Mort taught us a "magic 1st lesson" one day. It was so personalized to us, that none of us realized we were being taught The Restoration until at the end he said "that was the first lesson". It was so unlike the formal, rigid structure we got in the rut of using. So with Paul, I was kind of thinking that we didn't really teach him a specific lesson, but then we thought about it, and we realized that all the principles of the Restoration lesson were covered. Wow, it was so amazing! We've been in such a rote rut, but now with the simplified curriculum, we're actually teaching people rather than teaching lessons, and it works so much better! Paul is truly an honest seeker of truth. As he's studied the Bible, the Holy Ghost has taught him so much. His beliefs are very similar to ours on a lot of things, because he's been taught by the Spirit. As he brought up a question as to whether Christ was created or if He is co-eternal with God, we were discussing John 1:1-something, and I brought up how "in the beginning" refers to the beginning of our sphere of understanding. He then came to the conclusion that time is only measured to man and eternity is a timeless existence. Wow! The Spirit taught him that! He asked about why the Bible doesn't mention Lehi's family; we shared Ezekiel 37:15-20 with him and he asked what the two sticks were, and we led him to 2 Ne. 3:12; and there was just so much more. In response to all his questions, a BOM passage came to my mind. They were great questions, and I had the Spirit with me to bring those things to remembrance. We invited him to read from the beginning and pray about it. What an awesome lesson. Then, he said that he believed it was Divine intervention that brought us together. I shared with him the experience of being led to make a u-turn and come to his street. I pointed out that if we had been there later, his dad would've been there and Paul wouldn't have talked with us. He then told us there was more to the story. He said that his dad had been there before, but had to run home for a few minutes. There was only a 15 minute window of opportunity for us to show up when his dad was not there. Had we immediately thrown out our plans and gone there first without having to make a u-turn, his dad would've still been there. Wow. What an experience. I'm so excited to teach him more.
Tuesday we had another lesson with Renu at the Norton's house. We finished up the Plan of Salvation lesson and talked more about mercy and justice and the need for a Savior. I wasn't really "feeling it" in the lesson. I felt that we were teaching lessons instead of people. She doesn't have a belief system, no belief in a God or Savior, and here we are teaching about the 3 degrees of glory. Shame on us. We talked more about the nature of God, but she still doesn't have a belief. I also sense that Renu isn't ready. She is curious, but she's not seeking at this point. And she told us that she's not going to convert. Because of that mindset, I feel that she is closing herself off to the Spirit. I feel that she doesn't really want to know for herself, she's just interested to know what we believe. That makes it quite difficult to teach. We have a lesson with her tonight. Hopefully we can address her and teach her rather than teach a lesson, and hopefully she'll feel the Spirit. It's always hard to teach people who have interests in the "meat" of things, but don't have a foundation of the "milk" part yet.
We stopped by to see good ol' Earl Thomas again. We talked about people having a change of heart as they become converted to Christ. I had read a verse in Alma 12 about that during personal study, so I shared it with him and we talked about how there's more than just a confession of faith and change of actions - it requires a change of heart. He then (after a long time of sharing stories) asked us about hell and those who don't accept Christ or reject Him. We again taught him about the spirit world and the kingdoms of glory. I think that's the 3rd time we've taught him that. He agrees with part of the spirit world part, but doesn't see a need for the 3 kingdoms. He said he'd started reading the BOM and he would finish it, but he said he just can't accept Joseph Smith as a prophet, and he doesn't see a need for the BOM. We testified to him that the BOM was the way to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the importance of prayer to know the truth. Oh he's a man set in his ways. He's more open now than he was before, but he's still pretty set. 82 years of life will do that to you. His wife Irene has never said much to us. One time she talked with us briefly until Earl got back from his walk around the block. But Wednesday when we stopped by, she talked to us a bit longer, showed us her garden, and then sent us home with some fresh muffins! Maybe we're just priming the pump so that when they reach the spirit world they'll be more likely to receive it.
We went to see Charlotte, but she wasn't home. Her kids - Devon and Erica - were though. The first time we knocked on their door, Charlotte called for them to come pray with us, and they were nervous and didn't want to come. They thought we were JWs. We sat and had a good lesson with Devon and Erica and gave them each a BOM. They each have a good personal relationship with God and read the Bible for guidance and direction. They're a lot further along than most people their age (18-19). They were each excited to receive a BOM. We read with them from the Intro and they said they'd read it because it sounded like the Bible, and if it's God's word, might as well read it. I really see some potential with them. We stopped by two days later and Erica was home with her cousins and we had a nice, laid back conversation with them. Erica said she was really glad that they let us in because we're pretty neat people and she really likes us.
We met with Paul Hodge and answered some of his questions about the Law of Moses and the Priesthood. Then after about 10 minutes, we figured out how to work the tv and VCR and we watched Pres. Monson's testimony on the Special Witnesses of Christ video. That's all we had time for, and Paul asked if he could keep the video. When we went back to teach him again, he told us he'd watched it 3 times already and wanted to watch it one more time. Oh, I just love Paul. Pres. and Sister Collins came with us to Paul's 2nd lesson this week. We only talked a little about what we had planned to teach. His questions were good, and then we talked more about the Spirit and recognizing it. Pres. and Sis. Collins were impressed that he felt and recognized the Spirit so readily. The Spirit was really strong.
Thursday we met with Ronnie and Michael again. Oh boy. They had read Alma 32 that we left them, and we started there. We wanted to keep the focus on faith and the BOM. However, Michael quickly let it digress back to bringing up Bible verses that "contradict" what we teach. He's not bashing per se, and not trying to prove us wrong, he says he's trying to make sense of it and see how the 2 fit together like we've said. We got across the point that the BOM doesn't contradict the Bible itself, but it can contradict man's interpretation of it. I think that stung them a little, and I was afraid Ronnie wouldn't invite us back. Luckily she did. I do think that they want to understand, but their means of getting there are faulty, and they're not willing to give up their beliefs yet. Before the lesson, Michael brought up a line from Mary Poppins about Michael being "extremely stubborn and suspicious", and then to start the lesson, he started off with Alma 32:16 which talks about being stubborn. That was the verse I wanted to emphasize with them because it talks about having faith and acting on that without having a perfect knowledge. However, the conversation went elsewhere as Michael went off on other Bible verses. It's so hard because we're supposed to let the investigators and the Spirit talk, but we still have to have control of the situation. That's very difficult with Michael because he's got so many thoughts and ideas in his head because of his knowledge of the Bible. I wish we could wipe their slate clean and start from them knowing nothing. That'd sure be nice. We invited them to read from the beginning and pray to know the truth. I don't know how to help them because they want evidence, and they don't want to give up what they've been taught. The lesson went better than the last one, but still not great. At least they're still open to meeting with us. It's difficult also because Michael is still stuck on faith vs. works vs. grace. In his mind, we believe in being saved by works. If he would allow his mind to be open and his mouth to be shut for long enough, he would come to realize, that our views about faith, works, and grace are more similar to his than they are different.
Friday we met with Melvin. We talked about his experience at church and he said he was going to keep coming. As we talked, he offered up that he feels there is one true church and he's looking for it. He grew up Catholic, and he knows it's not there. He also knows it's not the JWs. He said he would continue coming and learning about our church until he found something wrong with it that didn't agree with the teachings in the Bible. We talked a little more about the organization of the church and that it's the same church that Christ established. We began reading 2 Nephi 31 with him. He told us that he'd read some of the parts we'd marked for him, but he had a hard time understanding it. He also said that "Lamanites" reminds him of "lemonade". Ha, I got a kick out of that one. :) We read and discussed only a few short verses in 2 Nephi 31. We asked why Christ was baptized by John the Baptist - he said he didn't know why. We talked about the proper Priesthood authority that we talked about in church on Sunday and helped him to see the need for authority, and then we got him to recognize HIS need for being baptized by proper authority. We testified that our church is the only church with the true Priesthood of God and then we invited him to be baptized on Sept. 20th... Though he told us he'd have to continue to learn more and come to know for himself that we did have the correct authority, HE ACCEPTED!!! Oh I love this work! We haven't really taught him much, but the Spirit has taught him enough. Thank goodness for the simplified curriculum for teaching me how to rely more on what the Spirit teaches than what I teach. SWEET!
We met with Lisa and her boyfriend Marlin on Saturday. We were afraid that Marlin was going to want to bash with us. He asked about our concept of who Jesus Christ is, about polygamy, about how we (personally) came to know God, about why we need the BOM, and we answered their questions and taught about having a prophet today and the organization being the same as in Christ's day. Marlin said he'd read the BOM, but he didn't seem to accept it. Then we read the first paragraph of the Intro and he realized it was "God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas", and it was like a light went on in his head. He now understood that it was not replacing or competing with the Bible, but that it was a record of a different people. We read from the last two paragraphs, and Lisa said she was fine with the Moroni's promise part, but she wasn't sure about the part about knowing Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church is true. She admitted it was because she didn't know anything about Joseph Smith. In time, as we continue teaching her, she'll come around. She's opened up to different views the last few years, and she stressed to us the importance of knowing for herself. She also said the feeling she gets inside a church is important to her, so she made plans to visit our church. Marlin might be a little bit harder, though I do think he will read and ponder about the BOM. I see a potential of them both coming around, but I could also see Marlin hindering Lisa some. Good thing he lives in Ohio and only comes to town once a month.
We finally got back in touch with Carl again. We had a really good lesson. We got him to admit where he's at in his life and why he hasn't moved forward. He said he's kind of hesitant to make religion a part of his life again. But he also admitted he's searching for something, though he doesn't know what it is. He still hasn't prayed yet, and we went to his house with the intent to change that. We asked him why he hadn't prayed and he opened up a lot. He told us he wants to know, but it's just hard getting the process started. He says he's let other things get in the way and hasn't put forth the needed effort. He recognized that he has to do things to get to where he wants to go. It was so neat to see him come to that understanding. So much more effective than if we were to tell him that. We once again stressed the importance of prayer, and utilizing skills from the simplified curriculum, we invited him to take one big step forward in his life and get the hard part over with by saying the closing prayer. And he did! It was a great prayer, and he recognized that it wasn't that hard. He also said he'd come to church in 3 weeks (he's got other obligations with work and family the other 2 weeks). The Spirit's working on him. I have no doubt that if he will just do his part to read, pray, and come to church, the Spirit will show him what he's been looking for and he'll be baptized.
I love this work. I wish I were better at it, but I can see the Lord qualifying me. I can also see the Lord doing His work despite me. :) I am just the instrument. The Spirit is strong as we are obedient and as we seek it. "The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!!"
sister humpherys
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