We met with Paul before Sister Summers left. We planned to teach about feeling and recognizing the Spirit. We didn't have to do much teaching because he told us he feels the Spirit guiding him every day, and he told us that it feels like chills sometimes, and other times it's a peaceful feeling. There's nothing like having your investigator teach you. :) We met with Paul again after Sister Esplin got here and met in Bishop Kinard's home. Since we've gone through all the missionary lessons and we still have 2 months until baptism, we've decided to go through the old Priesthood/R.S. manual (Joseph Smith) with him. So we went over the first chapter on the 1st Vision and had a really good discussion. I asked Paul if he could relate to Joseph Smith since Paul had been studying other religions before we found him. He told us he was afraid to say it before because he thought it might be like blasphemous, but he said he felt exactly like Joseph Smith with the confusion of all the religions. To top it off, probably my proudest moment on my mission came on Sunday when Paul bore his testimony! He wrote it out because he was nervous, but it was such an awesome testimony. I felt the Spirit really strong during it. Oh goodness, I just love Paul! We set up another appointment with his dad for this week to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. Yay!
We had another meeting with Ronnie and Michael Johns. Boy, it was stressful. We started out talking about the importance of the BOM and how everything we teach hinges on its truthfulness. Michael was just dying to get through with that bit so we could get on to discussing salvation. So, I'm pretty sure he missed the mark and doesn't quite see the importance of the BOM and how that's really the only question he needs to ask. We tried to teach about the spirit world and the 3 degrees of glory and what we saw "being saved" to mean. They didn't get it. They are so entrenched in their interpretations of the Bible, that they see direct contradictions between the Bible (really their interp. of the Bible) and the things we teach. I explained to them the puzzle analogy I came up with (about our additional pieces not fitting while their pieces are forced to fit to make a whole). We left them with a PoS pamphlet and Alma 32 to read, ponder, and pray about. Our next lesson will be focused on faith - how it's more than just a belief, but also how faith is what leads us to conversion, not proof from the written word. It was quite the frustrating lesson for me. I left frazzled and wishing I could just help them see what I see.
That lesson with Ronnie and Michael taught me something though. A very important lesson that God's been trying to teach me from the get-go. As I thought about how I could help Ronnie and Michael come to understand the Plan of Salvation, I was focusing on which scriptures I could share with them. I came to realize, that even the BOM isn't enough to explain our complete doctrine regarding the PoS. Much of our understanding comes from the words of modern prophets, especially as they explain what the scriptures mean to us. I came to gain such a greater appreciation for modern prophets and see how crucial they truly are! With that realization, I came to understand that I can't teach anyone about the restored gospel from a logical perspective - even though the gospel is logical. If someone is to truly become converted, it will come as they read from the BOM and ask if it is true. I've gained such a greater testimony of that domino effect. If the BOM is true, then JS was a prophet, and we have living prophets, and we believe their words to be scripture. I've seen the light finally. I'm sure God's next plan was to strike me with lightning or something if I didn't learn it from this experience. So now, I am trying to learn how to teach less by logic and more by God's way, and especially relying on the BOM. I thought I was doing this before, but my eyes have been opened to see that I'm really not doing it as I should. Oh, I'm excited for the miracles that will begin to happen as I learn to focus more on testifying and helping people feel the Spirit rather than focusing on proving.
We called Elijah to confirm an appointment with him. We left a message with his dad. Elijah then called us back and left us a message. Very uncharacteristically of him, he told us that our meetings weren't going anywhere and we were trying to convert him to Mormonism and that wasn't going to happen. I almost cried. He is such a good kid who thirsted for learning and understanding, and was open to learning about our perspectives. I feel like someone talked to him - whether it be his dad who took his BOM or his pastor or someone else. I just didn't feel like it was in his nature to feel that way and respond to us like that. Sad sad day. I hope at some point he'll feel the Spirit again prompting him back to learn about the church. Sister Summers and I both saw such great potential in him to be an awesome missionary. Guess that'll have to wait.
We met with Brother Norton's friend - Renu Weiss - on Thursday. He had given her a BOM and they'd talked about some things. Brother Norton told us that she was interested in the Plan of Salvation, so that's where we went with it. She is from India, and her mom is Hindu and her dad is Christian. She said she didn't have a religious background. She's been influenced by both cultures though, so it's an interesting mix. The concept of the pre-earth life was new and different to her, but we could tell that she was agreeing with it and it made sense to her. We taught her about Adam and Eve and our perspective on it because of the BOM and talked about the importance of Jesus Christ in allowing us to progress and grow. We didn't get to what happens after death, so we set up another meeting with her. She's curious to hear our beliefs, but she told us there's the caveat that she's not converting to our religion. We asked her to read Alma 32 and learn about how God speaks to her and she said she would do that. It was neat to teach a member referral in their home. The Norton's are awesome. As she feels the Spirit while reading the BOM, and then as she meets with us, hopefully she'll have the faith/courage to act on that and want to feel it more.
We met with David Mees with Sister Kirkeiner Friday night. David is a lay leader in his Lutheran church, and had studied some anti-Mormon literature in preparation for our meeting. Great. He was very respectful though and pointed out that the things he'd read and heard were critical, so he only brought up one question (about us becoming gods. - it's so sad that people can't see the beauty of that reality - the possibility of truly becoming like God). We taught him the Restoration lesson. He disagreed on our view of God having a body and the need for modern prophets, but again, he was very polite. We explained to him our understanding of God's nature, and how it comes from modern prophets, and our need for modern prophets. I think he can see our view, but doesn't agree with it. He was open to receiving the BOM though, and we asked him to read a passage in it. He said he would, but he said he wasn't interested in meeting with us again. :( I bore my testimony to him of how I came to know that JS was a prophet and the BOM was true, and I told him that no matter how many people say how many things about how they can't be true, nothing can convince me that the Spirit of God was wrong when he told me it was true because the Spirit is never wrong. Maybe he will read and his heart will be opened. Or maybe the seed we planted needs to sit in the ground for a long time.
David brought up about how BOM passages directly contradict Bible passages, and I explained to him that the BOM might contradict one person's interpretation of the Bible, but be in complete harmony with another person's interpretation. Again, I saw the need for modern prophets to help us understand the true intent. Man, I love this gospel. We are so blessed!
Saturday we tried some potentials and tracted, and no one was home. Lame - people are supposed to be home on Saturdays! But then, a miracle happened. We found Melvin. We sat in his garage (no woman home) and talked with him for about an hour. He has relatives and a good friend who are LDS. He told us he was really having a hard time with his divorce, and he told us he was thinking about us (the Mormons). He told us he wanted to try the Mormon church and needed to find the Mormons. Then we knocked on his door. Sweet! We refreshed his memory about JS and the BOM. He told us he was moving in with a friend this week, so we asked him where it was (to see if it was in our boundaries still or the elders' area). He called his friend to ask for the address and he asked his friend if it was okay if he had people from his church come by and talk with him. He claimed us already as his church, and better yet, we hadn't even asked for a return appointment yet! He liked that Joseph Smith was a "wonderer" and said he was also a wonderer. He said he didn't agree with everything in the Catholic church, and he definitely didn't agree with the JWs. We gave him a BOM and had him read Moroni 10:3-5 and he liked that. We marked a few more passages for him to read and invited him to church. He said he'd come! (He ended up getting an unexpected call from his country of Saipan, so he wasn't able to make it though.) We asked if we could say a prayer before we left and asked if he'd like to say it. He said he didn't know how to start it, but he would say it. We briefly taught him the template, and then he offered a great prayer, thanking God for sending us to teach him truths. Wahoo! So neat! We set up an appointment for Tuesday, but he called this morning and said things are busy with the divorce (possibility of them working things out), so he'd call us Friday. That would be good if they worked things out because then he'd stay in our area instead of the elders'. :) Oh, what a miracle.
We met with the Booles again Saturday. It's so hard with the language barrier. We had planned to talk to them about the importance of authority and the apostasy. In the midst of the conversation, Abir (the mom) explained to us the basic process of the telephone/gossip game and the need for the beginning person to stick around and help people keep on track. Then she told us about how Christ set up his apostles, and then the 70. Sister Esplin whipped out the conference ensign and showed them the prophet, apostles, and the 70. They thought that was neat, but yet didn't quite grasp the significance of it. At least they get some of the idea though.
Farduce invited us to a friendship feast at their church. We went and enjoyed some great food, and we got to talk with a lady named Wafa. She went to Salt Lake and she said she was upset she couldn't go in the temple and asked us why. We talked with her and answered some questions for about 20 minutes. She was so nice and she came to an understanding of our beliefs more. She was from Kentucky, so she was much easier to understand than Farduce. :) We left her with a website card that had a picture of the Salt Lake temple on it.
Wow, so much happened this week. Sister Esplin and I get to go to the 3 day leadership training meeting this week, so next week's email probably won't be as long about people, but I'm excited to learn about the new changes and how that's going to affect the work.
Only one person let me know about whether the audio clip was there. Did anyone find it? Maybe it's on the blog but not the email? I don't know. Maybe it's lost in cyber space.
Well, take care all. I love this work! The gospel is true! I am so grateful for modern prophets. Understanding heaven and hell would be so difficult without them! That's what I've been studying since our lesson with Ronnie and Michael, and I've learned so much from modern prophets on that subject alone. Love ya!
sister humpherys
PICTURES:
me, Summers, Tara Denkers
me, Paul, Summers
sisters!
Esplin, me
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