the barbie room at the Children's Museum (2)
Funny signs (2)
me & S. charsley
me & S. mat
Man, I'm back down to only 60 minutes for email total. Hopefully I get everything down!
Before I write about the new area, I need to finish up Kokomo.
Last Friday we met with Jay and we'd planned to cover the Sabbath day, but he had some questions about the BOM. He took the "logical" path and started reading in Mormon. We explained the broad overview and helped him see the big picture. That seemed to help him out a bit. Sunday after conference we went and we read from A Marvelous Work and a Wonder about the Sabbath day. It laid everything out pretty darn clear about the Sabbath now being on Sunday and such. He didn't want to believe, so he picked at every little detail and didn't agree with our interpretation of scripture. He said he has an open mind to God showing him the truth, but he's already made up his mind about the Sabbath being on Saturday. So sad.
We met with Judy also on Friday and we brought up something about prophets again, and she said she had a real concern about our "allegiance" to the prophet. We explained how we each seek for a confirmation of what he teaches, and that it's not just blind obedience. That seemed to settle her a bit. She also brought up a concern about women not being equal with men. We explained that that isn't the case, but she was kind of stuck on women not being able to hold the Priesthood. We weren't able to completely resolve her concern. During conference though, I loved Elder Cook's talk and thought it was perfect for Judy. Hopefully she watched it!
Monday we met with Joe and Kristie. We were going to talk about the plan of salvation. S. Mat started out by asking where we were before we came here, and Joe didn't completely understand the question apparently, and he went off on a 15 minute-ish monologue about the big bang and evolution and all the scientific stuff that was not what we were looking for. Towards the end of the lesson, he realizes he answered the wrong question. The whole time though, the Spirit wasn't there. There wasn't a spirit of contention, just a lack of the Spirit. S. Mat and I were concerned and we decided to talk about it during comp. study on Tuesday morning. However, during our prayer that morning, Joe called and left a message. He called to apologize about the lesson, realizing he misunderstood. He said he'd thought a lot about it and received a confirmation that everything we're teaching him is true and he had just been kind of guarded because he was afraid of this being like any other church that he became disillusioned with. But he said he knows it's the truth, and he just needs to embrace it all. Later that day he gave us an awesome referral for his parents (different area though). He talked with them and they were so impressed with how pleased Joe and Kristie were in such a short time, and Joe showed them the pamphlets and they really liked them and said it made sense, and they told him they'd be super interested in having missionaries come by and talk with them and give them a BOM. Sweet! I talked to S. Mat last night though, and not so good news. :( They taught them the WoW and she said the lesson seemed to go well, but then later they said it wasn't expedient to pursue a baptism date or meet any more at this time. Super bummer! I have no idea what happened, and neither does S. Mat. She said it came totally out of the blue. I sure hope that they take this time to ponder and that they'll come back to it.
We met with John again. He asked about the do's and don'ts of our religion, and we mentioned some of those briefly. Then we tried to teach the next part of the Restoration lesson, but he brought up again about how Mormons are too solemn and unhappy and we praise Joseph Smith too much. I finally got sick of it and luckily I had the Spirit, because otherwise I would've just gone off on him. But I was sweetly bold (Sister Collins' phrase) with him and told him he needed to stop bringing up the same things that we've already answered and he needs to let us share what we have because we know what needs to be taught to provide a foundation for him. That seemed something new to him, and he agreed to stop going off on other things. During the last part of the lesson the Spirit was there. I don't know if he recognized it, but we sure did. He was really confused about what the BOM was because of some misinformation on the internet. So we told him to visit www.mormon.org and read the overviews. He called later and he was in a tizzy because he read about how Christ visited the Nephites. He said that if that were true, it contradicts the whole Bible. Talk about not understanding and blowing things out of proportion! I ended up talking to him for about 30 minutes trying to help him see how it doesn't contradict the Bible. He recognized somewhat of a doubting Thomas in himself and said that he needed to get rid of that and quit being defensive. At least he recognizes it. I suggested he read 3 Nephi 8-27 to understand what Christ did while here in America. Hopefully he did so.
We went for a last lesson with Angie Tuesday night before I headed off. We brought up that tea is not allowed, whether hot or cold. She wasn't aware of that, and she was so willing to give it up when she found out. I love Angie! We talked with her about conference. She hasn't gotten to watch it all yet, but she loved what she saw. She really liked Elder Perry's talk about the Sabbath day, which was perfect, because that's what our lesson was. We had a really good discussion about that. She said she had no idea that we weren't supposed to shop or work on Sunday, but she was excited to keep the Sabbath holy. She then told us about how she had been given the strength and wisdom of how to talk to Michael about behaviors that she doesn't like in the house, especially the girls. It was so neat. She wants so much for this to be a family endeavor. I have no doubt that Michael will eventually come around. I don't know when, but God won't leave Angie hanging.
Alright, now to the new stuff.
Well, I'm back in Bloomington! What a surprise! It's a different ward though. I was in the north and west part of town last year, and now I'm on the east and south part. So I kind of know my way around generally. Thank goodness for my GPS though. :) It's weird being back after having been gone for a year. I was able to see some old faces at church from the Highland ward. I'm follow up training S. Charsley (from S. Africa) who just came from Fishers with S. Latu. Opening the area isn't as hard as I thought it would be, though there are times I feel like my head will explode. I'm sure that's why S. Charsley is my companion - she doesn't get stressed. I'm sad that I'm so far away from missionary civilization, but it's a good area here. Last transfer was the first time since December that they had missionaries solely for this ward. They got things started a little for us, though they didn't leave us much information. They were kind enough to leave us 4 investigators, 2 of which have baptism dates for April 30th. That was nice of them. We met Bishop Francis our first night here, and he's so missionary minded. He gave us a list of good members to go see as less actives, part members, or active members who would be great for referrals. There's a lot of people here ready to do missionary work and ready to help us out. Yay!
We met Charles (elders' gator) briefly at the church Wednesday. We met with him Thursday and Sunday. He's been coming with his wife (member) for 8 years. He said that after their 1 year stay in Utah, he was ready to start doing what needed to be done, so he picked up the lessons again. He is so awesome! He's got such a strong testimony, and he's already a permanent fixture in the ward. We're teaching him the commandments that need to be taught before his baptism, and it's kind of hard because we know he knows it all. Last night, he really put our minds at ease. We had just finished teaching about tithing and fast offerings (which he was so proud because he just paid that day for the first time!) and he told us that he enjoyed us coming. He said he didn't want to knock the elders, but they didn't know how to teach him, since he already knew everything. But he told us that we've been able to fill in the little details that he wasn't 100% sure on. Oh, that made me feel so good! I was worried that he might feel like he's just appeasing us by listening and that he's just jumping through hoops. But he enjoys our visits. Yay! Charles talked about how he's become a totally different person, and people recognize it. Sister Jenness who came with us last night was so shocked to hear some things come out of his mouth because he has changed so much. Oh, Charles is awesome.
We tracted into Kortnie, a senior in high school who lives on her own now due to a rough home life. When we first talked to us, she seemed to be just kind of humoring us by listening, but she agreed to a return appointment. We went back Saturday and began to teach her about God. She doesn't really believe in Him anymore, though she used to go to church all the time. She feels she didn't get His help when she needed it, so she says she doesn't really believe anymore. We talked to her about the purpose of trials and how they shape us and how God won't remove the very things that will help us become what He knows we can become. She seemed pretty receptive. Hopefully we get to meet with her more often and make some more progress with her.
We also met with Peter (elders' gator). He just had a stroke 3 months ago. He wants us to just read the BOM with him right now until he can read on his own. We picked up where the elders had left off and read 1 Nephi 6-9 with him and explained. He didn't comprehend much at all from the reading, but he got a lot from when we explained it, and he said he understood a whole lot more than in the past. The elders had considered just reading with him as a service. I think it's exactly that, but more as well. He is learning and able to progress, but he will just progress differently and a lot slower than others. He's doing really well for having a stroke 3 months ago. So we'll continue to read with him, as long as he continues to learn. I feel this time will really mean a lot to him as we perform this service when others may pass him by because he will progress a lot slower.
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