To start things of we did some exchanges. So I got to go with my district leader Elder Walker. We had an appointment where we were going to invite this gal to be baptized, but she canceled on us. So we went tracking and the third house we came to we ran into Joan. We gave her a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. We taught her most of the restoration, and she was crying at the end.
We then we ran into a pastor who told us that Joseph Smith took everything from the Masons, and that at the root of Masonic teachings is satanic. He also said that we couldn't believe in the atonement because we don't believe in the Trinity. For future references, Masonic teachings come from people who are trying to follow the teachings of Christ. For those of you who study it, you'll find that a lot of their ceremonies are close to the temple ceremonies. There is nothing satanic about them. Joseph Smith was a mason, as well as George Washington. This pastor then proceeded to tell us that we can't believe in the atonement because we don't believe in the trinity. This pastor does not know his bible. You can't win over bible bashers. Their hearts are so set in stone that you can't move them.
Wednesday I was back in my area. We had gotten five new investigators while I was gone. And they set someone with a baptism date! With this we went out hoping that all is well.... but it all fell apart, except for one appointment! Our first appointment never showed up. He called and said he was coming but his ten minuets is a mix of a "lady's ten minuets," and a "Mormon's ten minuets."
With dinner the father called us and told us that he was not going to make it... well, we Elders can not be in someone's house without another adult male being there, PLUS, the sister missionaries were already there, and the president doesn't want two sets of missionaries having dinner together with a member. The White Handbook says that dinner should be done by six p.m. So, we just about turned around when they called us and told us that we could come by and pick up dinner, and take it home. We get there and found out that dinner won't be ready for another 20 to 30 minutes! So we went out proselyting. It wasn't our area but we figured we might as well try. We found nothing! So we came back and grabbed our dinner, and somehow didn't spill it getting to our next appointment!
This family is usually on the wild side but the Lord blessed us and they were calm tonight. We came back and went out finding again. We talked to a lady who asked us why we were out so late. She then asked us questions like if we were going to get another wife. We told her no and then taught her some of the reasons why the LDS church adopted the standard of polygamy. We had some good laughs with her, and all is well.
I have come to find out that everyone for the most part loves the Mormon missionaries, but for the most part they think that we are the Jehovah Witnesses, and no one likes the JW missionaries because they try to slam the gospel down your throat.
Thursday was another eventful day. I woke up to my companion telling me that we needed to bless our apartment. He told me of this creepy dream that he had, and then about a creepy experience he had. Let's just say that for the past few nights I've been feeling a spirit here that I don't want here. It's such a blessing to hold the priesthood. To be able to bring light I to the dark places, and to completely cast out darkness.
He had a good lesson with Caitlyn where she opened up to us about her past, and that she could really feel a difference with the church and that it made her happy. Then we had dinner with the Bishop. He is a great guy. He and his wife go around to the prisons and they get to change the lives of some of the inmates as well as some of those that are in solitary confinement. They were telling us about how these people want to change, and how they can really see that they are truly sorry for what they have done. They even adopted one of the the inmates that got freed because he had no family.
Later we went to teach a Anna, who is a recent convert, about the ten commandments. She is like nine or ten and she is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. She was singing us songs, and she was coming to us with questions on scriptures from the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon!!
Me and my companion started our journey home and we turned down a dirt road that seamed to take us into the deep of the woods. We found a spot and quickly turned around and booked it out of there. We came back and we blessed the apartment. It feels better here. Not like the temple, but it is better.
Friday was another long day of weekly planning. In my opinion this should not take four hours, but President wants us to take three to four hours... all I can say is that he knows better than I do. Afterwards, we then got to go to Caitlyn and Matt's wedding. That had to be the funniest ceremony that I've ever seen/heard. He said things like till "Zombie do you part," just to give you an idea of what it was like. They were both supper happy.
Later, we went to go teach a Kid named Julian. He talked mostly about the priesthood. It's so weird around here. The local school and little league's have games on Sundays and so it's supper hard to get people to church because they have got ballgames. Even some of the local non members think that it's weird to have all of these games on a Sunday. It's not like it's major leagues or anything.
We explained the difference between the Aaronic and Melchezidec Priesthood. It took a while but with some TLC he got it.
Saturday was a day of rain. Not like Texas right now, but a light drizzle. Just all day. We played basketball. Brother Decker has too much football in him. It's a good thing I'm a big guy! Afterwards we went to see the James family. We taught them the law of chastity...teaching young kids about the law of chastity...they fed us lunch, which was great. We then came back and talked to Joshua. He has been baptized for almost a year and they are trying to get him to the temple. He talked about how he has been able to recognize the blessings in his life that have come from him being baptized. We then came back and had dinner and we went off to see Ruthy. She falls victim to the PA ramble. She was talking on and on about how she feels that the Bible is incomplete. "Well, if you let us talk, we have a book of Mormon for you!" She's great though. We downloaded the Gospel Library App onto her phone.
Anyways... all is good in the east. Love you guys!
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