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.
