We've been trying super hard to re-set appointments with our investigators who we haven't seen in a long time. We took Brother Hector Morales out to go knock on our investigators doors, but, alas, none answered. Hector was still feeling very generous, and invited us over for dinner. We nervously asked him what we would be having (Elder Nelson has been fed some dubious things at the Morales' house - fine authentic Puerto Rican cuisine). "Plaintain with meat," which didn't sound so bad to me. Regardless, we had no choice but to accept.

 

So, a few hours later, we were sitting down to eat the wonderful meal Hector's mom prepared. There was plantain alright, but the meat was a little bit of a surprise: Chicken Gizzard. Oh yeah. Hector's served a mission before, so he knows that missionaries have to eat whatever is given them. He was laughing his head off as I started popping gizzards into my mouth and slowly chewed them. "You don't have to eat it all if you don't want to," he mercifully said. I actually was probably being a big baby about the whole thing - they weren't that bad. Just super chewy and a weird texture. It's probably one of those acquired tastes where if I eat enough, I'll like it.

 

Later that night, we stopped by Michael's house to set up an appointment. Michael is a recovering addict, a stay-at-home father, and a super spiritual guy. He's seeking pretty much any kind of light and knowledge he can find. That is to say, he's golden. We've taught him a few lessons before, and he was super interested and asked the perfect questions (such as "Who's the prophet today?") During our lessons with him, only  him and his 2 year old son were there, but we have met his wife, Kashmire, before. The first time she was pretty uneasy around us, but each time since she's warmed up. Well, when we knocked on their door later, both of them answered, and were super happy to see us. They were really sorry about missing their other appointments, and set up a time for us:

 

"Why don't you guys come by when everyone is here so you can meet the whole family!"

 

 That made us super happy.

 

"We should all be home on Thursday at 5:00."

 

Nice. That worked well for us.

 

"Wait, that's right during dinner time."

 

Ouch. That means we'd have to set another time.

 

"Oh, well you guys could just come over for dinner!"

 

Wait... what?

 

We told them we didn't want to impose. They insisted. So, we set it up - a dinner appointment at the investigators home. That doesn't happen very often.

 

The appointment went super well. We were super nervous before hand and when we first got there, but as soon as we realized that Michael and Kashmire were just as nervous, things went very smoothly. We told them about us, they told us about them. We had a wonderfully humble dinner of canned beans, canned ravioli, and over-cooked chicken. It was one of those times when I felt bad eating what they had because it was obvious they needed it more that I did. But their generosity was overwhelming. We taught Kashmire and Michael about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, and she was really interested, just not in the same way as her husband. Whereas her husband was very knowledgeable about religion, she didn't know a whole lot. She was Methodist by name, but told us "I don't even know what it means to be Methodist." Both of them are on spiritual journeys and are so prepared to receive the restored Gospel!

 

Other than that, though, there weren't a whole lot of super cool things that happened. Later in the week, we were hurting for appointments. A lot of our investigators just don't want to meet up with us at all, which means we aren't teaching a lot of lessons. You know what that means? Tracting. We tracted a bunch on Friday, and ran into a few people who may or may not be interested. Fortunately, we didn't have anyone yell at us, but we did get sick of knocking on doors after a while. So, we decided to try a different approach.

 

Here's your random fact for the week: When it comes to missionary work, there are a lot of statistics. For example, it takes around 2000 doors tracted to yield 1 baptism. For every 1000 people you talk to on the street, 1 of them will be baptized. For every 20 part-member families you teach, 1 of them will become a full-member family. And for every 2 member referrals you get, 1 of them will be baptized. Naturally, as President Hinckley said, those investigators who were referred to us by members are the most valuable and most precious to us.

 

We try our hardest to get the members excited about missionary work, but if they don't give us referrals, we still don't have anyone to teach. But! Part-member families are very valuable too - far more valuable than knocking doors for hours upon end. So, we finished up our week checking out some of these part-member and less-active families. We actually were met with a lot of success!  A lot of them were home and interested in us coming by.

 

One of them, Lorraine, lives right on a street that we've tracted in the past. Every time we knocked on her door, she wasn't there. Well, we were passing by her house to go visit another person, when we decided to give it a try. As we walked up, Elder Nelson audibly said "Well, lets see if Lorraine is here." He raised his fist to knock, but before he even got the chance, she walked around the corner. She, like all other less-active members, knew exactly who we were and was delighted to see us. We chatted with her, found out a little bit about herself and her family, and scheduled ourselves to see her the next week. Now, was that a miracle, or a coincidence?

 

I think I'd better mention Johnathan, considering he's getting baptized in 2 weeks. Yes, you read that right. Johnathan is the grandson of Madeline, and the cousin of those three girls we baptized last month. He was so touched by their baptism that he decided he wanted to be baptized too. We've been working with him since then to teach him and help him understand what everything means. He's been learning slowly and surely, and we have to quiz him every now and then to make sure he really does get it. For example:

 

"Okay, Johnathan. Who is Joseph Smith?"

 

"The Son of God... No wait, the priesthood! No, the Celestial Kingdom."

 

"No, he's actually the prophet who brought us the Book of Mormon and restored the church."

 

"Oh. Right. I knew that!"

 

He's remembering things better though. He'll be baptized on the 28th, right before transfers. When we aren't teaching him, he loves to ride his bike and scooters. He loves to show off his sweet tricks to us, and plans to become a professional skater.

 

Well, that's about it for this week. Hopefully everyones week has been great. Don't forget - the Lord is mindful of us and will always answer our prayers - if we ask. As missionaries, we quote D&C Section 4 often. It ends with "Ask and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen." I've found that the Lord often waits for us to ask, and I've been trying to do that more - ask the Lord for all of the things I need. I know that the more specific we are with prayers, the more powerful they are. I also know that if we tell the Lord what we are going to do with the blessings he gives us, or why we are asking for them, or what we will give the Lord in exchange for our blessings, the more readily he will bless us. Prayer has certainly been a wonderful blessing in my life, especially as a missionary. Lets not forget to pray.

 

Take care!

Love,

Elder Anderson