Tuesday we had zone conference with Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. He's amazing. He jumped up a few times out of turn and said the Spirit told him he needed to talk about something. He told us that he's learned to jump when the Spirit says jump and not ask questions. He reassured us that the field is white already to harvest - in each area that we're in, and as we thrust in our sickles, we will harvest that field. He also told us that to double the number of convert baptisms is easier than we think. He told us to set inspired goals, and then go out to work and follow the Spirit. It really is that simple. He talked about promptings of the Spirit and told us that if we're living righteously, most often, the 1st thought that comes to our mind is from the Spirit and we should trust it. He said the 2nd thought is from Satan and should be ignored. After he taught us this, he told us that we have promptings of the Spirit far more often than we recognize. That definitely taught me a lesson. I need to follow those promptings - silly as they may sound at first - more often. Pres. Hammer (mission pres. counselor) shared D&C 5:10 and said on his mission they used the Bible to "prove" the Restoration, but in our day, we have the BOM, and we should use it to testify and "prove" the reality of the Restoration. Elder Golden then talked about the sacredness of the sacrament and about going prepared. He told us that "at the sacrament table, the Lord can begin to take care of our problems". That really impressed upon my mind. In stake conference Elder Golden had mentioned that we don't reverence the sacrament enough. The meeting was great. Then afterwards, I got 2 minutes' notice that I would be interviewed by Elder Golden. Whoa. I wish I'd had more time to prepare, especially when he asked me if I had any questions or concerns he could help me with. Had I known I'd have one-on-one time with him, I definitely would've thought of something good! I did ask him a question about balancing our own needs and "forgetting ourselves". He shared with me D&C 49:26-27. I wish we had zone conferences more often. They're such a boost to me. Especially when GA's come.
Paul continues to be awesome. During one of our lessons this week we spent the whole time answering his questions. He's really digging deep and he pulled something out of a verse in 3 Nephi that I hadn't even seen before. The Spirit is strong with him and he's so thirsty for more. Saturday he made us and the Lamberts dinner before our lesson. He's a great cook. We talked about repentance from the Joseph Smith manual, but the conversation really got good when we closed the manual and opened our hearts to the Spirit (Pres. Monson said something about that. And I think Russell T. Osguthorpe quoted it in a recent GC.) He talked about how he was worried that God would be even more upset with him after baptism because he'd be breaking his covenant, and we talked about the Atonement and the sacrament. We walked on holy ground. We also talked with him about the Lord allowing the brother of Jared to learn and grow in Ether 2-3 as he came up with his own solution, and how the Lord allows us that same process of learning and growth.
We noticed that Melvin drinks coffee, so we planned a lesson on the Word of Wisdom for Wednesday. He had a cup of coffee with him as we taught. We laid the foundation by reteaching the role of a prophet in being God's mouthpiece and how God always wants to bless us. We read about the Word of Wisdom, and Melvin commented that he drinks alcohol occasionally and coffee. We asked him to think about why God gave the commandment, and we talked about the blessings, and as we were able to help him see the reason, he decided for himself that he would try it and see if it was from God. I love when people commit themselves! He said it'd be hard, but he wanted the Spirit with him more, so he was going to do it. Oh, the power of the simplified curriculum in allowing people to come to their own conclusion of what they need to do and why. He mentioned that he got an apartment which is in the Noblesville ward, so we're going to have to pass him to the elders. The elders were going to come to our lesson on Saturday, but something came up and they weren't able to come. He had some questions about the Bible (who wrote it, main storyline, etc). He said the importance of authority keeps coming back to his mind, and that's what he really likes about our church. We talked about how it's important to have both the truth and the authority, and we have the fulness of both. We began to teach him the Plan of Salvation, and we took it really slow to help him understand. He didn't know anything about the pre-mortal existence or what spirit bodies are. He's a visual learner, so we whipped out the cut outs we so often see. It really helped him. He's still only at a very rudimentary level of understanding of the gospel and the doctrine, but he felt the Spirit, and sees the importance of authority. He's scheduled to be baptized on Sept. 20th, but he's going out of town the 2nd-10th, and he's not coming to church consistently. He has his daughters (8 & 9) every other weekend, and they don't want to come to church, and he doesn't have much of a backbone with them. Both weekends he's had them he's planned on bringing them, but then they complain and he decides not to come. So we'll probably have to push the baptism back some so he can come to church more.
We had an experience of a dog feeling the Spirit Saturday while we were at the park with Melvin. We were sitting at a picnic table and a guy walked past us with his dog, but his dog decided to turn around and come back towards us. The man then asked if we were studying the Bible. He talked about how he's a Lutheran and is part of a Bible study, and we mentioned we were LDS. He asked us if that was the group with Mary Baker Ellis and we said no. We were going to invite him to learn more, but he walked off, dragging his dog along. The man came back to us 2 other times, and both times, he had a hard time getting the dog to leave with him. He never stayed long enough to let us give him a pass along card. But maybe some day, his dog will again lead him to us. ;)
Wednesday we tried to go see a potential and we ended up meeting her mom Vanessa. She's part Native American, part Jew, but is Catholic. Her son is dating a less active girl in the ward and she had some friends who were LDS in Oklahoma. We talked with her a bit and she was receptive to receiving a BOM and we set a return appointment with her for tomorrow to talk with her more. Hopefully she finds the BOM as interesting as I think I would if I were a Native American.
We had one last meeting with Renu that night before she goes back to India until May. We assigned her to read Alma 14 and we began to discuss that. She told us that the chapter spoke to her (meaning she felt the Spirit) and appreciated us having her read it. We came to realize last time that she does believe in God, she's just mad at Him for taking her brother "before his time" and so she chooses to not believe. We had her read this chapter and we talked about how God has a purpose and a plan for each of us. We also talked about how these people developed such great faith to either be burned or watch people be burned for their faith. We basically had a testimony meeting as Renu asked each of us present (me, Sister Esplin, Coley, and Sister Norton) how we came to know. We all shared our experiences and we talked about the importance of reading, praying, and fasting. She was really impressed with how fasting works in our church. When she asked how we came to know, she actually asked if we had ever questioned what we believe. So after sharing our experiences, we taught her that God wants us to ask Him questions, because it shows that we're interested and we want to know. We brought up that our church exists today because of the question of Joseph Smith, and we gave her a pamphlet with his testimony and experience of questioning and coming to know for himself. She is coming along. It may take awhile for her to put off her own obstinacy (her words) and accept a belief in God, but it will come. She's seen the elders in India many times before. Their paths will cross I'm sure of it. We encouraged her to continue reading the BOM and it (God) will continue to speak to her. It was such a neat opportunity to be able to teach her and be in the Norton's home. Renu is an amazing lady. She'll make a great member of the church someday.
We met with Roni and Michael on Thursday evening again. They'd been using the index of the BOM to look up some scriptures about hell and spiritual death, and they had some questions from 2 Nephi 9. They want to understand it (the PoS - and all the details of how it works for every situation/person) all right now. I told them that I don't even understand all of it, and how we have to rely on faith, the Spirit, and modern prophets/revelation. Michael really wants more information on the 3 degrees of glory, so we gave him D&C 76. It's so hard because we're supposed to teach to the needs and concerns of the investigators, but at the same time, the in depth understanding of the PoS is not necessary at this time, and knowledge isn't going to bring them a testimony. They must gain the testimony first and then the knowledge comes through study and the Spirit and things start to make sense. But they want it all right now before they will believe (contrary to Alma 32:16). I don't even understand it all, and I've been at it a lot longer than they have, and I have the proper foundation of the fulness of the gospel. We ended the conversation recognizing that they don't understand the full implications of the Atonement, so of course they can't grasp the Plan of Salvation in its fulness. So next time we're going to talk about the Atonement and how there's the unconditional part as well as the conditional part. Maybe talking about that will bring in the Spirit more and their hearts and minds will begin to be opened/softened. I sure hope so.
We saw Hector again on Friday. He had only read one chapter instead of 3, but it's better than nothing. We read another chapter with him and talked about the apostasy and Restoration. We asked him what it'd be like to have Moses on the earth today, and we explained to him that Pres. Monson is just like a Moses. We encouraged him to put the BOM by his bed so he would remember to read even just a few verses every night. He said he would do that. He also said he would come to church, but he didn't. Slacker. One of these days he'll see the light. He's a good kid.
We were in the neighborhood of Shannon Good Friday night. As we drove by, I noticed that both cars were there, so we decided to stop. (She's the Hatch's friend who asked how she could convert a while back. Sister Summers and I taught her once and then she fell off the face of the earth.) Shannon was home, and blessed be the Spirit. She said she was thinking about us earlier in the day and she was thinking she was going to come to church on Sunday. Her 6 year old daughter Lindsey said she wanted to go back to church. Shannon told us she'd kind of taken the summer off to think about things, since it is a big commitment and she doesn't want to take it lightly. She said she wanted to meet with us again and ask some questions. She didn't end up coming to church, dangit. The seed just needs some more watering time. It'll come.
We met with Paul Koeske again that night. I mentioned something about agency that was mentioned in stake conference, and that opened up a whole can of worms explaining about Satan's plan and the war in heaven that I DID NOT intend to get on. Oops. After that, we asked if he'd read in the BOM. He said he'd read the passages we discussed in our first meeting, but he said he felt the Spirit telling him it was not of God (he's read some "research" about Mormons saying the translation process was of the occult, etc). The last two times we've met with him he hasn't even brought the BOM out with him. Red flag. He said it should be more about his personal relationship with God rather than intellectual knowledge. He again asked what would happen if he rejected the BOM and asked if he'd be missing anything. Uh, yeah, you'll be missing A LOT! We talked about prophets and authority, and he didn't think there was a need for post-apostolic ministry because we have the gift of the Spirit. We talked about the authority to perform ordinances in addition to keeping the Church in the ways of God rather than in man's traditions. I asked him how he came to know the Bible is true. He went on for about 10 minutes about all the evidences that he sees - names of places, events, etc that can be proven. (However true this statement of his is, we know he has also felt the Spirit testify to him, which he failed to mention.) He also mentioned he believes it's true because it's the only "holy" book that contains a Plan of Salvation that is workable. I decided to be bold and tell him that I was going to dare to put words in his mouth and say that he knew the Bible was true because he read it. He said that was accurate, and I said that it's the same with the BOM - we have to read it. He said that was fair. He's leary because of Galatians 1:6-9(ish) that talk about "another gospel", so we asked him to read in 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11, and 3 Nephi 27 to find the same gospel being preached. He's still open to meeting with us and he said we'd given him some things to ponder. I hope he will read and recognize the Spirit testifying of the truth as he does so.
We finally met with Norma again after 2 months. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and asked what she thought. She brought up baptism because her and Clifford had been debating about child baptism. We shared some thoughts from Moroni 8 with her. We began to head towards a baptism commitment, but as we brought up authority, she doesn't grasp the full concept of that. She sees that anyone in any church has authority. We taught the apostasy and Restoration again and explained our definition of a prophet. It's hard to teach people new concepts, and it's even harder when English is not their primary language. (Same issue with Melvin.) We really have to rely on the Spirit to teach them.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading! Love you all.
Sister Humpherys
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