Okay so this week was good.
I had my first church tour this
week. It was so cool. We gave it to Grace and Naomiyah. They go to
a bible school so it was nice to get them off that campus and into our
territory :-P it just really went so well. We tried to put them on date,
but they said no..gosh dang it, but we committed them to pray about a date. So
next time...next time. But it is just so cool, while we were doing the
church tour, there was just a certain element of silence. It was just so still.
And we were walking through and just showing them the different rooms and
paintings and talking about how the church was organized. We don't have a
baptismal font in our building, so we showed them a clip of a baptism. Then
we talked about what baptism is and what promises we make. Then we went to the
chapel. It was even more quiet. When we walked in and got everyone in the
room it is like the spirit flooded behind us. And we just stood there for a
while and didn't say anything. They just looked around and just smiled and it
was so great. AH! it was so awesome! Then we taught about the sacrament and why
that is important and they asked all these questions and then we taught them
about real intent. THEN we tried to put them on date and they were like oh I
don't know I have so many questions and I don't know the truth. Which is fine.
And then they asked us about our backgrounds. They asked us about how we
came to know it for us since we were raised in the church. And I just
started talking and telling them about how I wasn't ever really that active in
the church and where the turning point was for me and YES I cried...lets' get
over it. But then they were just like wow that is so cool, that is so great and
then we just shared our testimony. and it was weird. I felt like there was
always a bit of awkward tension. And after that I just felt like we had broke a
lot of ice. OH! and it was so cool, before we put them on date I was
really not feeling sure about it and I was like praying about it and I was like
we planned to put them on date should we ??AHH what do we do?!?!?!? but sister
LeBaron did it and I was like oh no!! But it seemed to go over not that bad
even though they said no. But then I was
like now what. It is hard to stay on the same page with your comp because
obviously I don't read minds...but I was like heavenly father just whatever
happens just please give us the same prompting so we know what to do and we are
on the same page. Then I committed them to pray about a date. Then after they
left. Sister LeBaron was like I'm so glad you committed them to that because I
had the exact same feeling and I was like OH MY HECK!! prayer answered!! haha
way cool.
We found 4 new investigators this
week, Larry, Tiffany, Tonie (former investigator,) and Herb.
Larry, his wife just passed away, he
seems to be catholic but was never active and hasn't read the bible (which I am
grateful for because now he can't bible bash hehehe) he seemed to be way
excited when we taught him about the book of Mormon and he was like oh that is
so cool so it is just like the bible but here in America! haha I wanted to say
yeah but it is the fullness of the gospel, and it was translated perfectly and
nothing has been taken out so...better than the bible hehe..but didn't. Anyway
we got to know him a bit and the first lesson went pretty good. OH AND HE HAS
KITTENS!!! AHHHHH he has like 7 cats and they come and curl up on your lap and
I was like AH! this is heaven!! haha tender mercy!! aww the kittens!
Tiffany is a former investigator;
she will be an interesting case. She didn't seem too interested but we got a
return appt. with her. We’ll see where that goes!
Tonie, she is also a former
investigator, but she always tells us how she wants to be baptized, when I
first got here we dropped her, and then out of the blue she calls us and was
like hey I got fired from my job so I can come to church on Sunday’s oh and I
want to be baptized and pick another date for that. So we were like WHAT THE!??
But she seems to have a problem with committing but we are excited nonetheless
to see where this goes.
Herb. Well, he is soo cool. He looks
like Elvis, sings like Elvis...but not as good...but something cool happened
with him. We went over for our first appointment. When we first met him
he seemed to agree with like everything we say and so we were like okay... and
he was just soo super nice but he likes to TALK. hahah so we went over and he
was like have you been here before? And we were like just on Tuesday! And he
was like no way before that? And we were like no. and he was like but I know
you. I recognized you from somewhere. I knew you would come. I have been
waiting for you this whole time! And we were like...WHOAAA PRE EARTH LIFE YO! haha
we didn't tell him that but we told him the whole god doesn't do random
thing. We just didn't want to confuse him. But we taught some principles from
the restoration, he has a ton of cool spiritual stories, and he is just
incredible...but he likes to talk so we didn't get through the whole lesson. But
he was like I really enjoy you, come back and share more with me. So that is
waaaaay cool!
We had another investigator - Maria,
she just shows up at church yesterday and was talking to one of the members and
he comes over and was like hey that lady is looking into the church. So we went
and talked to her. Apparently she went to church in Cali, and she always loved
the feeling of our church. She was like "so how do I move forward in
this?" and we snagged her up and we are gonna teach her...and DUNK HER!!
whoooooooT!!!!!
Our Islamic investigator, well he is
a tricky one. He doesn't really seem to understand god or Jesus Christ at ALL. Plus his English isn't the best and so it is
really hard to know what he actually understands. We are trying to help him know about Christ
and gain a testimony of that. We have taught him the restoration but he doesn't
get that either but why would he if he doesn't understand god and Jesus Christ?
Anyway we had a TERRIBLE lesson with him on Friday because of the members
we chose to take with us. They were SOOOOOO overwhelming and pushy. And they
were taking over the lesson and teaching it WAY out of order. It was SO bad. Oh
my heck. When we started talking to him he seemed to calm down and relax a bit
but then we were always interrupted. That is the first and LAST time we
will take those members with us. Oh man.
There is a family in our ward that I
LOVE TO DEATH. They are trying to encourage their sons to go on missions, and I
guess they are having some other struggles and things so the bishop offered to
them to meet with us and have the discussions. So now we get to teach them!! I
just loooooove them and am excited to get to teach them! So cool.
We are trying to up ourselves. We
always get 20 lessons a week, so we are like okay let’s get 23 this week, and
then get more and more. Sister LeBaron is all bugged because in Rainier (her
first area) they got like 40 lessons a week and all these baptisms and stuff
and so she wants to be like that again. So we are pushing for that. Anyway. That
is a neat goal to have.
That's what's up. Hope all is well
in Utah. Or where ever you all are :-)
love ya!
