Last Monday night we were able to find Antoine at home and his girlfriend was there too, so we could go inside. We tracted in to him and when we told him our names, he said we could just call him Brother Antoine then. :) He seemed really interested when we first met him, and we just finally got in to teach him. He was a back-up plan, so we didn't have a structured lesson plan. But the Lord was mindful of that. The Spirit led the lesson so well. We talked about God's love and prayer. Antoine was very open and offered his feelings and experiences. The 3 of us were able to play off each other. He asked us if prayer was very important, and after we finished talking about prayer, he said he was going to start praying. He's very receptive, and he really wants to learn and come closer to God. We got in for another lesson yesterday and found out that he's leaving to work on the river for 3 months today. So we tried to teach him about prophets and the BOM. It was kind of scattered, and a lot of time was spent talking about his idea of a family, so I don't think we presented it very well, but he's so interested to learn. He told us that we should call or text him specific passages to read and then we could discuss them over the phone. That's a good sign right there. We invited him to look on www.mormon.org as well for more information. He is just so open to spiritual things. I'm really sad that he's leaving. He's such a good guy and has so much potential. We're praying that he'll meet a member on his work crew. Here's hoping.
We met with Ruth twice again this week. She told us that she doesn't use the word "awesome" because she feels like it's a younger generation word. But she said she told her grandson about our visit and the things she's learning, and she used the word "awesome"! :) (She's probably in her 60's or 70's.) She is just so prepared. Brother Lamons has been talking with her for the last 3-4 years about the church. She has an easiness and readiness to believe. After talking about the Apostasy we invited her to be baptized, and she agreed to be baptized following her confirmation of the truth. We testified that she would receive a confirmation, and she fully believes she will. We went back Friday and she told us her daughter had a seizure that morning, so it was kind of a crazy morning. But she told us she just felt like she needed to read the Intro and Moroni 10:3-5 that we assigned her. So she did and she was so glad she did. We were too! We're really impressed that despite the craziness, she set aside time to read. What a great habit to start already! We shared with Ruth the account of the First Vision. We built it up and painted the scene. S. Mat shared Joseph Smith's words, and Ruth surprised us all (including herself) with her reaction. She said she felt cold chills, and then she was so overcome by the Spirit that she wept openly. She had to excuse herself to the other room to regain her composure. She came back after a few minutes and said that it just really touched her and it was almost overwhelming. Oh I love Ruth! We stressed the importance of reading the BOM and praying to know that it's true and committed her to do both things, and she readily agreed. The only thing holding her up right now is coming to church. Brother Lamons has a lot of health issues that has kept him from church for a while. He said though that hopefully come spring he'd be able to come.
We saw Judy again Tuesday night. Our last visit she wanted to know the main difference between us and other Christians. So we taught her about the pattern of prophets and how we have a prophet and 12 apostles today. She brought up the concern about false prophets, and we talked about the BOM and praying as a sure way to know the truth. She told us that she has a hard time accepting a living prophet. I love when people are honest in their hang ups so we know what to address! It makes things so much easier! If she hangs on long enough (lets us keep coming) and keeps commitments, she'll be a great member some day. After we left, S. Mat and I talked about what a great member she'd be, and how fun it'd be to go out on exchanges with her. She's just got such a fun personality and can make anyone feel comfortable. I really hope she maintains an open heart and mind so she can feel the converting power.
Tuesday we finally got in to see Carl & Tawny. They are so hard to catch! We taught them the end of the Plan of Salvation. Tawny seems more interested than Carl, even though Carl's parents are active members of the ward. She asked lots of great questions about the resurrection and the 3 kingdoms. There's so much potential there with her especially. The only problem is that our visits and church seem to be low on the priority list. She's happy to see us when we catch her, but they don't keep appointments, and they haven't come to church. They just need a fire lit under them, and they'd be good. :)
We taught Angie again Wednesday. She said she really liked church and the girls really loved primary! Yay! We were a little concerned about Angie's experience, so we were so grateful that she really enjoyed it. I'm sure it helped that she already had her answer that the Church is true before going. :) We began teaching her the Plan of Salvation. Again, she was blown away by the truths that are taught in the Bible but are skimmed over. As we talked about Adam & Eve, we assigned her to read 2 Nephi 2 to understand more from the words of the prophets themselves, and to experience learning doctrine straight from the BOM. As we followed up yesterday with her reading, she'd continued on in her chronological reading for 3 chapters, and then she read 2 Nephi 1-2. She said she read it about 3 times to fully grasp it, and she said she cried as she read it. Man, I just love her! Angie's been sick since Friday, so we missed teaching her a lesson and a lesson with the girls, and they weren't able to come to church. We stopped by last night and the girls were so sad they couldn't come to church. They talked about how great primary was. Emma (8) asked us how someone could know which church was right. We reminded her of what Joseph Smith did and said she could do the same things. We asked Emma and Mikela both what question they could ask Heavenly Father. Emma said "What church would make me the most happy?" and Mikela said "What church can I learn the most about you?" Wow! Very insightful for such young minds! Angie then shared with us that before we started visiting them, the girls said the same rote prayer for meals, but since we've been coming, they've actually prayed (vs. just saying a prayer). How neat! We didn't even have to teach them how to pray or anything. Man I love that family!
We met with Michael twice again. We taught him the commandments of praying often and studying the scriptures. He's already on board with praying often, and he's at about 2-3 times a week for scripture study. We invited him to read daily, especially from the BOM. He hasn't read much other than lately, he's read the 2 chapters we assigned him. So, in the last 5 months, he's been taught the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. It's just been recent that he's started to show signs of choosing to progress. I asked him if he had any questions about what he'd been taught. He said no, so then I asked if he believed what he'd been taught. He said he did, and then he said he believed 100% of it. Score! We began teaching him the gospel of Jesus Christ in the next visit. It went really well teaching him more about the Atonement and faith. He's on his way. It may take some time for him to quit smoking. He wants to, but there's some other issues, and the doctor told him not to try quitting yet. Hmm. We'll teach him the Word of Wisdom soon and see what happens.
We went to the middle of nowhere and taught Desiree again. She's been studying a lot from the BOM and she's found some church materials online that have been helping her. Luckily she's quick to spot anti and move on. She's going through a lot of stress right now with work and her living situation, and looking for some relief. As we talked with her, she said a senior missionary couple came to visit her about 6-7 years ago. Based on that, it sounds like she actually is a member. Her mom told her that she'd been blessed but not baptized, but maybe she was baptized. Either way, she's one of Heavenly Father's children that's making her way back.
We got to teach Stephanie again. We taught her about the Savior's life and ministry from the BOM to kill 2 birds with one stone - teach her about Christ, and get her in the BOM. Things are changing with her. She used to never call or text us back and she'd miss appointments, but now she always gets back to us. And this time she even called to tell us she was running a little late getting home and she didn't want to miss us. Progress! She then came to the relief society activity with us - free food! I think she had a good time. I was sitting with Melody though, so I didn't get a chance to talk with her.
Mike. Mike. Mike. Goodness. We asked if he had any questions about the pre-earth life, and we talked about that again. He flat out doesn't believe it. He sees the creation of spirits before creating us here as a pointless step. He still sees us as physical beings, rather than associating our identity with our spirits. He sees our spirits kind of serving the function of electricity - it makes us alive - but our spirit is not our identity. I shared with him an idea that LeGrand Richards shares in A Marvelous Work and a Wonder. He points out that our religion does not depend on the Bible for our teachings. Had all the Bibles been taken away, our teachings would be found to be in harmony with the Bible. Mike has such a hard time with things that we teach that are not in the Bible. I shared that thought with him. Then I asked if our view of the pre-earth life contradicted anything in the Bible. He admitted that it didn't. So I told him we had to use another test to prove something true or false because the Bible does not contain all truth. I showed him that that's the need for additional scripture - it increases our knowledge base. He agreed that that would happen (agreement!!) if our other scriptures were true. Right on. So we told him we're going to focus on helping him get in to the BOM so that he can judge for himself and come to know that it is true. It sure is slow going with him, but he is making progress. It sure makes it a challenge to teach him though. Hopefully future missionaries will be able to have the "stick-to-itiveness" (word from Mike) that he says we have.
We stopped by the Buttermores Friday night. It's been a few weeks since we invited them to read and pray about the BOM. Ron has read a little (the introductory things and the first chapter). Judi hasn't been able to read because she's had a lot of health problems come up. But she's good now, and we gave her her very own BOM and she was excited to read it. I sure hope they stick with it. I know conversion can and will come if they want it.
Sunday at church, there were a lot of people there that we have been working with to some degree: Brother Isaac, Sister Haworth, Sister Eshelman (YAY!!! She really enjoyed sacrament and said she'll be back!!), Sister Lamott & her boys (just briefly met her on the doorstep), Sister Gray, Sister Boonstra, and the Engles. They are all great people, and I hope they all keep coming. They can add a lot to the ward!
That's about it for this week's novel. Miracles keep happening here in Kokomo. I love it!
sister smurf
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