February 11, 2013

Missionary Slim has a pregnant pause or maybe he has just adopted a new missionary (Week 53 in Pennsylvania, Week 17 in Washington, PA)


I had some news to announce at the baptism last week. Elder Colvin and I went up to our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Anderson, and told him "Brother Anderson... We're pregnant!" He about fell over laughing. We explained that the mission president called us earlier during the week to tell us that a missionary who had to go home for knee surgery is coming back, and since we had three beds, he is going to stay with us. So it's more of an adoption than anything. 

We picked up Elder Fairbourn, native of Logan Utah, Friday evening. Actually, he was more dropped off than anything. We were over at Brian and Katrina's house when the Assistants to the President showed up with the brand new elder. We got introduced and everything, and then got right into the lesson.

We've been working with Brian's mom, Donna, for a few weeks now. Ever since her son was baptized, she has been interested in learning more about the Gospel and church. We've been curious, though, for the past couple of weeks at how sincere she really was. After talking to Katrina earlier in the week, we decided we were going to really get down to brass tacks, be straight-up and blunt as possible without detracting from the spirit, and find out her real intentions. Sometimes you have to do that with investigators when they appear to not be going anywhere.

What we found was a big relief. Her answer was simple, but had a world of answers: "You know, it takes an old dog a long time to learn new tricks." When she said that, I knew she intended to stick with it. She just needed time to adjust and understand all the ins and outs of this Gospel. But, with time, she'll come around.

I did a lot of exchanges this week. First, I was with my Zone Leader, and then another missionary in my district came to my area. Exchanges are always interesting, because you get to see the personality and teaching style of missionaries you may never have worked with before. It's always good to get new insights into missionary work.

Oh, and you have crazy experiences with members of other wards. I was driven around all over Wheeling, West Virginia by a guy with only one arm and a lot of attitude. Let me tell you, it was harrowing and gave me yet another testimony of the power of prayer.

With the other missionary, Elder Henriksen, we had a lesson with Dan. Dan has been learning with us for nearly 12 weeks now, but hasn't come to church once - he works way too much. He's been trying to get work off, but has had no luck. Our lesson, which we planned to be on Tithing, ended up being about keeping away from the territory of the Devil and coming over to the Lord's side of the line. During the lesson, Dan kept making comments like "I really should delete my bookmarks to those websites I shouldn't be going to." or "I should get rid of my pirated stuff." We pointed out right away that the Spirit was telling him to do those things. I was impressed at how sensitive he was to that stuff.

Two days later, we got a call from him. He said "I was reading the Book of Mormon, and I have a question." He got to Nephi's dream about the promised land, and all the things that would happen here in the last days, and was confirming his theories. For example, the mother gentiles is Great Britain, the war was the Revolutionary war, stuff like that. He pinned down all of it, without error. I even asked him if he looked at a Book of Mormon commentary or something to get all those answers, which he didn't. Then he told us that he actually did delete those bad things on his computer and has even quit drinking beer. Wow. Talk about making changes. He's a stud.

Isaiah had a good week of missionary work. After a lot of pressure, he finally convinced his sister to come to church. She seemed pretty wary as she stepped into the chapel right before the sacrament, but as time went on, she seemed to soften up a bit. During Sunday School, she even commented "This is exactly what I needed to hear for this next week!" We stopped by later, and Isaiah said she wanted to keep on coming, except she wanted to go to the ward in Pittsburgh where she lives. We got her the info. Hopefully, she follows through. Isaiah is a super-star. He's got it rough, because he can't get baptized for at least a couple of months because of probation, and he's having a rough time quitting cigarettes because of the constant peer-pressure around him. He's trying his hardest, though, and to me, that makes all the difference in the world.

That's about it!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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