Missionary Slim: Tries to find St. Raphael the Archangel (Week 22 in Pennsylvania, Week 4 in Pittsburgh, PA)

I'll start this post off with a couple of random occurrences.

"Hey, you wanna joint?"

*Oh great.* I thought. These kids we were walking towards thought that it would be funny to let the missionaries get high. Ha. Nice try.

"No, no." said Elder Lucio, the elder that was with me for our exchange for the day. We kept walking. They laughed.

"Why not?" they called after us. I turned around, ready to teachify to these kids.

"Do you really want to know why not?" I asked them. Most of them said no, but the one with the blunt in his hand said "Yeah, I wanna know."

"Well, we believe in a prophet who receives revelation from God..." From there, I taught him that we received the Word of Wisdom through the prophet, what it entails, and how it blesses us. They laughed again and started walking away. "Hey!" I yelled after them, "Now that I've taught you the Word of Wisdom, will you follow it?"

"Ha. No."

Oh well. At least I tried.

Later that day, Elder Lucio and I were walking by a baptist church which was having a block party. As we came up, the people at the front saw us and had that look on their faces: "Oh no, these guys are going to preach to us!" We smiled and waved and their whole attitude changed. "Come on in! Have a hotdog! Have a drink!" They ushered us around, showing us all the activities they had. "This is Pastor Franklin, the youth pastor, and this is Deacon Marshall. Oh, and this - this is Pastor Harris. He's the pastor of this church." He smiled as wide as he could and shook our hands. "Hello, Gentlemen, hello." He was very friendly, explained a little bit about the party and why they were putting it on, invited us to his church's services, and then started to contend. I tried my hardest not to get into an argument - bear testimony, and let it die. "Our beliefs are actually very similar - we believe that Christ is our savior and that he atoned for our sins." He went on about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon for what seemed like forever after that, saying some of the most insulting, rude, and ignorant things I've ever heard come out of the mouth of any man who claims to be a preacher of the Word. The whole time we were talking to him, all he wanted to do was get into a bible bash, and we were trying to stay out of contention. He even had the audacity to say "Maybe a year from now, instead of having your name tag say 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints', it'll say 'Intercity Ministries.' Ha Ha Ha." I didn't laugh. I explained to him that I could never take the name of Christ off of me, told him I knew by a personal witness the Book of Mormon was true. Eventually he simmered down and we were able to leave on good terms, but I can promise you one thing - there is no way I'll be attending his services.

The day before, Elder Walker and I were walking down the street when we came across a huge family having a barbeque. They were all laughing, joking, and as far as I could tell, didn't even have any alcohol. We walked by, and said hi. They said hi back, and then said "Hey, it's her birthday!" pointing to one of the people. We came over and said happy birthday, and even offered to sing her a happy birthday song. She accepted. I wanted to sing "You've had a birthday, shout hooray!" but Elder Walker didn't feel like it. We did sing just about the best performance of "Happy birthday to you" I've ever heard in my life. That got us right into talking to them about our purpose as missionaries, and even teaching them a little too.

Later this week, we were tracting past a church: "The Church of St. Raphael the Archangel." I wondered to myself, who is St. Raphael the Archangel, and where is he in the bible? I figured I'd ask the people whose doors we were knocking on. Nearly every single one of them was a member of that church, and none of them could tell me what it meant. Door after door, I'd ask, but nobody could tell me!

While it is good that I have a testimony for myself that the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Church is true, it just stands as additional witnesses to me when I come across these other churches and the people from them. Granted, these people are trying their hardest with the light and truth which they have to follow the Savior to the best of their abilities. But I know who my church belongs to. I know who it is named after, and who runs it. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that we are led and guided by a true prophet, and that the scriptures are true. There is no doubt in my mind of these things. I know that these things are true because I have put in the work - I have followed the commandments and have seen the blessings. I have fasted and prayed and received the witness from the spirit, like in Alma 5:45-47. I know it is true.

Take Care!
Love,
Elder Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim