Mar 1, 2015

01/12/15 Nothing of Special Report


 There’s always so much news every week. Especially coming from Maya and Kaleb! So how exactly did Kaleb crash his car and is he alright? That reminds me of that time I almost drove the van off the freeway entry ramp while driving to seminary in the snow!  Good thing the insurance is willing to pay for the repairs. Congrats to Kaleb as well on finishing school (and finishing early even).
The week out here was less stressful with my companion and overall just a good week of work. I don’t recall any amazing stories or incredible lessons. We just worked.
So I love teaching people, but if I had to choose I would rather not teach Adventists. I believe I’ve told you guys about this church before. It’s also known as the seventh day church. And basically the doctrine that makes them special is: the Sabbath day is on Saturday (the seventh day of the week) and not Sunday. The problem is no matter what you try and talk about the conversation is always drawn back to Sunday and Saturday. This week we started (and also stopped) teaching two Adventists. Our conversations usually went like this,
“Alright, like we said Joseph Smith was a Prophet.” – missionaries
“What was so special about him?” - investigator
“Like we said, he saw God and Jesus and received the power of God to baptize.” – missionaries
“What did he say about Sunday?” - investigator
“We’ll talk about that later, but right now you need to pray to learn if his story is true. Because once you know he is a prophet, you will know his teachings are from God as well.” – missionaries
“If he said the Sabbath is Sunday, then he Isn’t a prophet because God doesn’t change his words.” - investigator
“The way to know if really he was a prophet is to read the book of Mormon…”  – missionaries
“God said Saturday is the Sabbath day and Sunday comes from a pagan holiday.” - investigator
“Right we understand what you are saying but, just focus on Jospeh Smith right now…”“Why are we talking about Joseph Smith?” – missionaries
“Because if he was really a prophet, everything he said for us is true, even Sunday worship.” – missionaries
“Yes, I believe Joseph Smith is a prophet but Sunday…” - investigator
“No you don’t believe he is a prophet, if you truly believed he was a prophet, then you would accept everything he taught. So you need to pray and read the book of Mormon to learn.” – missionaries
“NO, Joseph Smith is a prophet from the devil!” - investigator
And so went all of our lessons. I think you can see why we dropped them as investigators. It was a fun “sparing match”. It helped us come up with new ways to explain the Gospel and fight ridiculous logic, but they weren’t progressing and we were wasting time. That’s one thing I wish I would’ve known at the beginning of my mission – when people aren’t reading the little 10 page brochures we give them, and especially when they aren’t praying between lessons; just drop them and move on, they aren’t serious. It’s one thing for amis to have a tough time believing or feeling the Holy Ghost, and another when people can’t even put in an effort. Well the work is fun and I enjoy it.
We finally have a bualding that is ready for our meetings. We went searching for it yesterday and it is really nice. I think that will be good for members to have a building so they can feel the spirit. Holding church in the “basement” has kinda thrown the little order that there was in the church, out the window. So it’ll be good to formally hold church at our church building.
9am church is the best! I’ll be happy to keep that schedule when at home. As well, I’m excited for the snow/cold.  On the issue with the lost credit card and western union card, I think the best way to do it now is just send it through western union directly. I can go to a western union here and pick it up. Missionaries in the past have done that and it seems to work pretty well.
Well, I’m glad everyone is okay and Kaleb isn’t dead. Keep working hard everyone : ) Thanks for all the support, I’m proud of all your accomplishments over these past 2 years.
ps - Because I’m serving in the best city to buy souvenirs, start sending me all your requests so I can make a full list. Whatever you want I'll try and find in my free time.