December 3, 2012

Missionary Slim believes the statement, "Ask the Missionaries, they can help" (Week 43 in Pennsylvania, Week 7 in Washington, PA)


My week has been like driving down a Pennsylvania road - up and down, lots of twists and turns, and bumpy the whole way. (Yeah, that's pretty much just like the roller coaster analogy - I just didn't want to be cliche.)
Monday night we had a visit with a gentleman who referred himself through Mormon.org. His name is Dan. He came to us mainly because he lacks purpose in life, he's been having marital problems, and he wants some good quality friends. He said that he talked to a friend out in Utah. I'm almost certain that her response was "Ask the missionaries! They can help!" He's a really quiet guy, a self-claimed introvert, but man, when you get him talking, everything he says is profound. We sat down with him and asked him about his beliefs. He basically quoted for us most of the points of the first two lessons we teach in Preach My Gospel. We were a little stunned, blown away even. We invited him to a meeting of a few church members the following day, which he came to. As we had our study, he participated fully, and said that he got a lot out of it. He's super sincere and asks amazing questions. And after our last visit, he told us "You know, these visits have really been helping me a lot. Really, thank you guys so much for all that you've done for me." That really blew me away too, considering we've only had three visits with him. For the sincere in heart, though, the Gospel has an incredible effect.
We had a visit with Dave, Peggy, and their daughter Hope this past week. We really wanted to focus on baptism because, while Dave and Peggy have wholeheartedly accepted the invitation, Hope hasn't been around long enough for us to invite her. She usually goes to her room when we come over. Well, this time, she stayed. We talked to her directly and invited the whole family to enter the waters of baptism. And you know what? Hope accepted! I was kinda surprised, and also kinda nervous. I don't want Hope to make a decision too hastily or because her parents want her to - I want her to choose for herself. The best way to help her would be to have them meet up with members of the ward. So we had them over for dinner at a members house and then the family went with them to the youth activities. As far as I could tell, everything was going great.
We got a call on Friday. It was Dave. He told us that his wife and daughter were the victims of a crime and that until the situation was resolved, he didn't want us to be stopping by or visiting them. I was crushed. It was a hard decision to make whether to say "No, Dave. You need the gospel now more than ever." or "Okay, Dave. Call us if you need anything." I chose the latter, expressed my love to them and that was that. So, with that being said, if you could keep that family in your prayers, I'm sure they all would be very appreciative.
Saturday was tough. Elder Colvin and I planned an amazing day. We were going to head up to a town a ways away from Washington, work there all day, and have a blast. We had tons of appointments set up, tons of backup plans and everything was in place for us to do tons of work. Alas, even the best laid plans fall through. Our first appointment canceled right as we pulled into the parking lot. Appointment after appointment fell through, backup plans were being exhausted left and right. By the time we got to our last appointment, we were exhausted. And we still had half an hour before we were supposed to be at that appointment! So, with nothing else to do, we decided to knock doors. Door 1: Nothing. Door 2: A lady putting up Christmas decorations. She took a card, but really wasn't interested. Door 3: Nothing. Door 4: A man stepped outside his house to put some mini pumpkins on his porch. We go over to talk with him and without a moments hesitation he says "Hey guys, do you want to come in and sit down?" Thinking back, that has happened to me twice so far, and both of those people were crazy. But we were desperate, so we said "Sure." and walked on in.
I was sold to the genuineness of this guy when he told us "Don't mind the mess, the wife is coming home from work soon and I want to make sure that the house is picked up. It seems as soon as I clean up the kids come and mess it all up again." A family. Nice. We sat down, and he started asking questions - What is your Church's organization like? Are you really an international organization? So wait, you believe in a prophet who speaks to God? So, you think that Jesus came to the American continent, right? Then the kicker: "Well, this all pretty much lines up with what the Bible says." YES! FINALLY SOMEBODY THAT GETS IT! We gave him a Book of Mormon right then and there, told him what he needed to do to know if it is true, said a prayer with him, swapped contact info, invited him to the Ward Christmas party, invited him to church... the only thing we didn't do is invite him to be baptized, but we'll be seeing him again for sure so I'm sure we'll get around to it.
Oh, and to top it all off, as we were about to leave he said "Oh, I'm sorry guys. I didn't ask if you wanted water or coffee or something." I love it when people do that.
So, that's the week. When I was in the middle of it, it felt pretty horrible. It was a rough week. But looking back, I can see how much the Lord has blessed us. It seems like every time we turn around, there's another blessing coming our way. It's kinda hard to see the glass half empty when you stop to count your blessings, and remember that it was the Lord who gave you the glass and the water in the first place!
I'll close with an exerpt from this past conference.
 
"They never did fall away and surrendered 'the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more.' To set aside cherished 'weapons of rebellion' such as selfishness, pride, and disobedience requires more than merely believing and knowing. Conviction, humility, repentance, and submissiveness precede the abandonment of our weapons of rebellion. Do you and I still possess weapons of rebellion that keep us from becoming converted unto the Lord? If so, then we need to repent now.Note that the Lamanites were not converted to the missionaries who taught them or to the excellent programs of the Church. They were not converted to the personalities of their leaders or to preserving a cultural heritage or the traditions of their fathers. They were converted unto the Lord—to Him as the Savior and to His divinity and doctrine—and they never did fall away.
A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost. Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel."  ~David A. Bednar, "Converted unto the Lord"
Have a fantastic week, everyone.
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

 P.S.

I want to add one thing, now that I'm thinking about it. Our bishop is a funny individual. He got up and gave his testimony about the Pope. He said the Pope wrote a book about Christ, how he probably wasn't white like we depict him in our paintings, that Christmas wasn't when Christ was born, but that it was more likely around Easter time, and other stuff like that which we as Latter-day Saints already know and believe. Well, as it turns out, people flipped. As he told this story, the only thing that came to mind was "So much for the infallibility of the Pope."
The point the bishop, and the Pope were trying to make is that we shouldn't focus on pictures of Jesus, we shouldn't focus on Christmas. These things are good, but they are only to point us to the true thing to worship - Christ himself. That kinda goes along with what President Monson said in his Christmas Devotional talk yesterday - Don't worry so much about the business and busyness of the season - focus it more on Christ.

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