January 21, 2013

Missionary Slim Reaches his Hump Day ( What Hump? ). (Week 50 in Pennsylvania, Week 14 in Washington, PA)

Elder Colvin and I were driving down the street, rushing to the church for our appointment with Dan. And we were late. So, with a keen eye on the speedometer to make sure I wasn't speeding (too much), and an even keener eye on the twisty road ahead, we chatted about our plans for our lesson. "Why don't we show him a talk from General Conference, and chat about the importance of Prophets?"

"Yeah, that'll be good." I said. "We should show him Elder Bednar's talk. That one will really help him."

"Well, I think we should show him all the pictures of the apostles and prophet, and let him pick."

"Okay, but we'll download Elder Bednar's just in case."

"Okay."

We got to the church. Dan was waiting. We ushered him inside, sat down in the Family History center, and pulled up the pictures of all the apostles and the prophet on LDS.org. With a quick prayer, and a quick scripture to set the mood, we invited him to pick. Without a moments hesitation, he said "That one. The young one in the bottom left." Guess who he picked? Elder Bednar. Pretty cool coincidence, but even cooler was how the talk made him feel. We watched the full talk, and then chatted about what it said. The spirit filled the room and Elder Colvin and I both testified of the joys that come from conversion to the true gospel. As we were closing our lesson, Dan said "I really need to work harder towards baptism." Aww yeah! It was awesome.

We had an appointment with a lady who lives way out in the boonies, so we called up a member to come with us so we wouldn't have to waste all our car's miles. (The two enemies to missionary work: Satan, and miles.) Elder Colvin and I were just about ready to go out the door to meet this member when we get a call. It was from the lady we were going to go visit. Yep. She cancelled. 

Not wanting to disappoint the member we were taking with us, Elder Colvin and I did a little brain-storming to figure out who we could visit, or as I phrased the question: "Who needs a visit right now?" The name "Felicia" came to my mind. Felicia is a member who also lives way out in the boonies. The last time we visited, she was pregnant like a balloon. Seriously, she was so close to having a baby it was unbelievable. My thinking was she either was just about to have the baby, or already had her, and as far as I know, that's as good a time as any for a visit from the Church. 

So we start driving out, over the hills and curves of Pennsylvania back roads  We pull up to the house, knock on the door. The only greeting we receive is from their baby rottweiler who, by the look of things, has just torn up a brand new box of diapers. Disappointed, dejected, we began to walk off their porch. I was sure it was the spirit that told me to visit them... 

I saw a minivan driving up the road towards the house. Something told me that it was the family. Sure enough, they pulled into the driveway, and the first thing we heard was Felicia's 8 year old daughter saying "We have a new baby! We have a new baby!" Ralph, her husband (who is an awesome guy, but is absolutely crazy) hopped out and shook our hands, and then pulled out a brand-new, two day old baby (it even still had the 'new baby' smell). They invited us in and we had a nice chat.

We had a visit with a guy named Bro. Pawlish. He is a super interesting guy, but I don't have nearly enough time to give and adequate background. We were actually planning on visiting another family in the area, but they canceled, so we decided to stop by his place. We told him we'd be there in 10 minutes, but ended up getting there in 5. Not wanting to be there too early, we waited in the car. Two minutes passed by when I suddenly hear the back door open and Bro. Pawlish hopped in. It was kinda weird; certainly something which doesn't happen every day. We had our entire visit right there in the car.

With all of that being said, Elder Colvin and I have been sharing a message with members and investigators lately. Any time we just need to pull out an off-the-cuff spiritual thought, we share this well-polished message with them. I start by sharing the story of Christ coming to America in 3 Nephi 11:1-8. I especially make mention that it took the people three times before they "Opened their ears to hear" the voice from heaven. All too often, it's that way with us. We need to open our ears to hear the spirit. Elder Colvin then shares the following story:

"There was once a man who had a question: why do some people hear God's voice better than others? After weeks of studying the scriptures, praying, and pondering, he finally asked his Pastor. 'Meet me downtown tomorrow morning,' was the reply.

"So, the following morning, the man found himself taking a walk with his pastor down the busy streets of downtown NYC. They had to raise their voices to be able to have conversation amid the din of the bustling traffic, the pedestrians, horns, birds, etc. The man asked his question, to which the pastor responded, 'Watch all these people, going to and fro. Pay attention to them. Watch what they do.' With that, the pastor drew a handful of coins from his pocket and dropped them on the ground. Despite all the noise, many people turned to see where the coins landed. The man saw this reaction, which brought even more questions to his mind. Before he could ask, the pastor said, 'These people could hear because they trained themselves to do so.'"

Without exception, this story makes the people we teach ponder. How do we train ourselves to hear the voice of the Lord? Or, better question, what are we training ourselves to hear? Food for thought.

Have a wonderful week, all!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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