August 20, 2012

Missionary Slim is channeling Julia Child with his culinary skills (Week 28 in Pennsylvania, Week 10 in Pittsburgh, PA)

Primanti Bros. Sounds like a Japanese-based video game, right? Well, it's actually a Pittsburgh-based sandwich shop. They have about 15 different kinds of sandwiches you can buy, but they all have one thing in common: Bread  -  Meat  -  Cheese  -  Coleslaw  -  Fries  -  Bread. And that's all they give you. Nothing on the side, it's just all crammed into the sandwich. I will admit, it is one of the most interesting sandwiches I've ever eaten, and it's worth having tried once. I'd eat another one too, but only if I were bringing somebody to try it out for the first time. All I really tasted was potato and cabbage, which is okay, but - confession... I like regular sandwiches. Sorry, Primanti.

We keep running into this Indian (from India!) student who lives in our apartment complex named Suraj. He's a really sweet kid - he's studying robotics at Pitt. He seems to get the idea that we are regular University students like him too, so he keeps inviting us over to hang out. "Hey, do you guys like pizza? Want to watch the Steelers game? I'll buy the beer." No thanks Suraj, but we would love to talk to you about the Restored Gospel! We haven't had a good chance to do that yet, but we'll see. 

So, two weeks ago, I asked yinz* to pray that we would find an investigator as awesome as Michael. Well, prayers are answered, and we found not one, but two! The first I might have mentioned briefly last week. His name is Ty, and he called out to us as we were walking away from another appointment. "Are you Mormons?" he said. We answered boldly "Yes!" and he started to tell us about how he felt like something was missing, and he needed to come closer to Christ. We gave him a Book of Mormon, told him to read a little out of it, and set up an appointment.

I was freaked before that appointment. I thought it was too good to be true, and that he would pull a gun on us or something (he does live in the area where a gun was actually pulled out in front of us). But we knocked on his door, he opened it, warmly welcomed us in, introduced us to his kids (his wife wasn't home at the time, so he was on babysitting-duty). We kicked everything off great. Everything we talked about he enjoyed, he gave us some great answers to our questions. It was like he read Preach My Gospel before we got there. His sincerity is what really got me - he just wants to be a better husband and father for his wife and kids. It's awesome! He's a cook too (and, as you all know, I love to cook. Quick side note: I've been cooking some awesome dinners for Elder Walker lately. This past week, I made some delicious penne pasta casserole with zucchini, onions, sausage, mushrooms, etc. It was excellent. Anyway, back to the story...) and a techno-geek (Another side track. He set up his entire home entertainment system to be voice activated through a laptop which interfaces through an Ethernet to serial modem which connects to the stereo, TV, etc. As you all know, I would probably do the same thing just for fun), and really loves his family. In other words, he's AWESOME!

But, there's another! Her name is April, and we were referred to her. Actually, we called her member friend, who then called her and told her to call us. So, you could say, she called us asking for a lesson. She's the mother of three teenage children, and she wants all of them to be baptized at the same time. Yep. That's right. SHE WANT'S TO BE BAPTIZED WITH HER KIDS! It's so refreshing to find people who are actually wants to learn and progress, and then use what they learn to help their families. I know this is definitely an answer to my prayers and your prayers. So thank you all so much. You don't know how much it means to me.

I gotta talk about Todd now. Todd is an 18 year old kid we met and tried to teach, but he just won't listen. He is the most intense person I've ever met in my entire life. One example: We asked for water. He went into his home and came back with two cups. "I will never deny the gift of life to a comrade." ... Yeah. He's cool, though. 

Missionary Work is still super cool. We had a great Zone Training where we were taught the importance of the Apostasy. Yes, the apostasy. the focus was, if you don't know about the apostasy, why would the restoration even matter? I know that the world fell into darkness following the apostles. I know that the world was lost for a time. But I also know that God always will call another prophet, and he did. And he still does. Isn't that great?

I love the Gospel!

Love,
Elder Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

*Yinz is a Pittsburgh term meaning "You all, y'all, or yous guys." I'll probably say it to an extent for the rest of my life.

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