Change is afoot. Within the next week, my entire life could be turned upside down. 'How' you ask?

 

Transfers.

 

This transfer will be a little different from the last transfer. Since I am now at the end of my 12 week training program, I am now officially a 'real' missionary, able to do all the things that other missionaries can do. That means that I could be kicked out of Lebanon, I could stay here with a new companion... anything! Fortunately, I was able to get at least a little glimpse into the future when I met with the Mission President for an interview this past week.

 

We sat down. He smiled at me, with his signature, heartfelt smile. I sat a little awkwardly in the chair opposite, nervously wondering what would happen and hoping I didn't say something stupid, like I am prone to do. He fired his first question: "So, Elder, do you think you've learned enough to be able to lead this area on your own?"

 

"Uh..." I said, as I decided wether to employ humility or confidence. I tried to go with both. "Yeah, I think so."

 

"Good, good. Because transfers are coming up, and we don't know who's going where yet, but we want to know what you're feeling." Of course he leaves enough uncertainty to leave plenty of room for speculation.

 

President Topham is a really great guy, though. He's not a very loud person, but he isn't quiet or timid. He's very mindful, and will always think through how he is going to answer any question you ask him. Like I said before, he is known for his broad smile, and almost always is wearing it. And he's super loving, and never hesitates to tell missionaries that they are doing great and that he appreciates their efforts. But, he has a habit of letting things slip during interviews, and mine was no exception. I'm not going to share what he told me. Suffice it to say he has some plans for me, and within the next few months, my mission could change even more drastically.

 

The rest of our week started out pretty strangely. We had an appointment with a less-active member, and had one of the Stake Presidency, Pres. Boltz, who happens to live in our ward, out with us. We knocked on her door... nothing. So, we decided to try another less-active member. Knocked on his door... nothing. Then, Pres. Boltz turned around and mentioned that the house across the street was home to a lady who used to be a very active member, and then left the church entirely. He used to be her home teacher, so he wanted to stop by and say hi. We didn't have any other plans, so we went over and knocked on her door. She opened it up. We scarcely said 'hi' before he said "Hang on! You are just the people I want to see! I have something for you." I'm sure you can guess what we were imagining it could be.

 

She came back to the door with a heavy bag, full of books. I took the bag, looked inside. It was full of all of her LDS literature - her quad, a 1970s Book of Mormon, a Gospel Principles manual, and a hymn book. "There you go!" she said. "I don't need those anymore!" That was heartbreaking for me, seeing her give us all of those wonderful books full of so much truth, without a moments hesitation. Fortunately, she was very friendly, and we had a wonderful talk about how she felt about the Church and why she left. The long and the short of it was she just didn't have a strong enough testimony, and missed her old Catholic traditions. She gave us the books with the intention of us giving them to our other investigators. Pres. Boltz took the books with him. I'm sure he's going to hang onto them, hoping they will return to their original owner.

 

On the bright side, here's a random miracle that happened around the same area. We were tracting near her home a few days later, and knocked on a very large, wooden door. A woman came, opened up, and we started out explaining who we were. She cut us off: "Oh, I know all about you guys." We were a little surprised. "Oh really?" "Yeah, my husband used to go to your church all the time!" We were a little bit more than surprised now! She told us about how he went all the time before they were married, and the missionaries came to visit all the time a few months ago. She was still very happy to have us over, so we set up a time to go visit them. Later, I took a look at our ward directory and found her husband, but the address that was listed wasn't the address we had, and they didn't have a phone number listed. Needless to say, if we didn't knock on that door, that family could have been lost. Miracle, or coincidence?

 

Here's another super sweet happening. This week we had exchange - I was working in Hershey with Elder Rowzee and Elder Vallejo came to Lebanon to work with my companion, Elder Nelson. While they were here, they tried to visit Angelica for old times sake. Angelica, as you remember, was a week away from her baptism before she canceled everything. We hadn't met with her until they knocked on her door. She answered, and was more than happy to have us come over later that week! We did, she was there, and we had a great lesson with her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was really sorry that she hadn't been in contact with us. She had a super jealous boyfriend who was suspicious of all other men, including two 19 year old guys in white shirts and ties. She kicked him out, and is now really excited to have us coming over again.

 

Those of you that have been on missions or read Preach My Gospel know that as missionaries, we report several statistics to our mission president every week. One of those numbers is how many new investigators we have during the week, and I think that Elder Nelson and I may have set a mission record... in one day!

 

Friday. We had an appointment with a Cambodian lady who Elder Vallejo intercepted on Tuesday (Elder Vallejo loves talking to every person he sees, even running into oncoming traffic to catch up to them!). Because her son wasn't there, we couldn't come into her house. It was a nice day, though, and she was just as willing to have a lesson outside. She has great faith, and her favorite thing to do is learn, so she was very happy to meet with us. She even told us that she saw the Spirit of God in us, which is always a nice compliment.

 

As the lesson went on, people started showing up from everywhere. Her son and daughter showed up. The neighbors from next door came over and started listening. By the time we got to teaching about the First Vision, we had five earnest listeners. All of them were super interested, and thought that the First Vision was one of the coolest things they've ever heard. The loved the story about the Book of Mormon too, and all of them committed to reading it. They even said "Hey, lets have Gospel study at the same time next week!" We finished up the lesson by all holding hands to pray. Needless to say, that was an interesting experience, especially considering how I was the one saying the prayer. It was a sweet experience.

 

Right after that, we went over to a Puerto Rican family which we met a few days before. They had heard the missionary lessons while they were in Puerto Rico (from an elder from Utah and an elder from Colorado - the parallelism is uncanny), and were super excited to take the lessons again. As we were teaching about Joseph Smith, the father said "Oh yeah! Isn't this the part where he sees God and Jesus? That's my favorite part!" They, too, loved talking to us. At the end of the day, we could say that we had 7 new investigators.

 

Things aren't entirely peachy though. We have had a hard time meeting with the Galloway's, and when we finally met up with them, we found out that Maria has been struggling with her testimony. The stress of life is really getting to her, and her faith is strengthening. When you read this, if you could do me a favor and say a quick prayer for Maria Galloway, I would really appreciate it, and I'm sure she would too.

 

The Lord has certainly been good to me. Like most weeks, we were forced to drop some of our investigators - the exotic dancer decided that she had better things to do than repent. But we've seen many people who are prepared for the Gospel come into our lives and cross our paths. The work is always progressing and moving forward. We might get caught in the rain or have doors slammed in our face or have people heckle us (all of which happened this week), but looking back at the past three months (yes, I've been a missionary for a full three months now!), I cannot think of anything that I could have done which would be more useful for me and more worth my time. If I knew before my mission what I know now, there would have been nothing which ever could have stopped me from setting aside these two years to do what I am doing now.

 

I said it over and over again before my mission, and I continue to say it now - any kind of service in the Church is an act of faith. You don't know how it's going to turn out. You don't know if you will bless someones life. You don't know if you will find the growth and development which is promised to you. You just have to trust in the promises which the Lord gives, trust in his care, and serve to the best of your ability. The promises are always fulfilled. As Christ told his apostles, if we sacrifice all that we have, our homes, our families, our friends, our worldly possessions, we shall be given "blessings one hundred fold, and eternal life in the world to come." Even during the short duration of my service, I have seen the blessings in my own life and in the lives of my family.

 

Take care! Study the scriptures and pray. They're called the primary answers because they need to come first. Believe it or not, they make a bigger difference than you can imagine.

 

Love,

Elder Alex Anderson, aka Missionary Slim