June 24, 2013
Missionary Slim tries to speak in 3rd person and is on the move to West York. (Week 72 in Pennsylvania, Week 1 in West York, PA)
And again! Missionary Slim packs all of his worldly possessions (including his trusty toothbrush!) into two suitcases, says his goodbyes, and is off to Pittsburgh for the meeting which will determine the next six to a lot of weeks. And as he predicted, he ended up going to exactly where he expected:
West York, Pennsylvania.
In a few words: It's different out here. It's a whole new world. For some reason, the culture takes a dramatic shift as you approach the Susquehanna river. The attitudes of people is very different, the culture is unique. The people are fantastic though.
I'm serving with a full-blown Latino guy named Elder Ramos, a native of Honduras, and a convert of just 3 years. It certainly is a blessing that he's here too, because of the very high Latino concentration here in York. It seems that the main city is just filled with Spanish speakers, and considering I've forgotten all of the Spanish that I've learned on my mission, it's a challenge communicating with people. Fortunately, Elder Ramos is very fluent in both languages, so until he goes, I'll be in good shape.
Maybe it was a fluke, but this week, it's felt like so many people are ready for baptism. We can't walk down the street without meeting someone who is interested in learning about the Gospel. One family was sitting on their porch when we walked by. We had a spare banana peel that we needed to get rid of, so we asked if we could use their garbage can. "Sure." We kept walking, but that nagging feeling got the best of Elder Ramos and he said "Hey, can we give you our card?" They accepted, we introduced ourselves, and then they told us they've only been in York for just a few weeks. They're looking to get into church. When they found out that we teach lessons, they were thrilled. They set an appointment for the next day. We got there and they were all ready for us. We sat down, started talking, and told them, like we usually tell people "We're here for you, not for us. If something doesn't make sense, or if you have a question, ask us. We'd be more than happy to answer." Well, that opened the floodgates on question after question. Some questions were fantastic: "What is up with all these other churches?" Others were good questions, but gave us a laugh: "Where do dinosaurs fit in with Adam and Eve and everything ?" or "Is it a sin to kill a bug?" One was outrageous though: "Mermaids: are they real?" In the end, they were really excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to church, and one of them actually did come! We were excited!
We had another cool experience. We were going through the drive through at McDonald's. I had the distinct impression that I was going to give a pass-along card to the lady at the window. I chickened out, though. I know, awful of me. But after gave me back my card, she opened the window again. "Where are you guys from?" That was enough. We introduced ourselves, and gave her our card and number. She told us she just recently got out of the church she was going to and was looking for another. Score!
Another one. We were walking down the street, and gave a card to a lady. She turned to us and said "I actually am a member. I was baptized in Porto Rico. I haven't been since I came to the United States, though. Where is the church?" Awesome.
Yet another. We gave a card to another lady. "Oh, my grandmother was a Mormon. I've really been wanting to learn more." Wow.
Seriously. I'm just overwhelmed. It's been an incredible week.
It finished off in probably the best way possible. Yesterday, there was a missionary work broadcast called "The Work of Salvation". It was amazing. I would invite everyone to check it out. The link for it is:
That's about all, though. The work is true!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
June 17, 2013
Missionary Slim thinks, " I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord. "(Week 71 in Pennsylvania, Week 12 in Somerset, PA)
We've had a pretty interesting week. As usual, lots of amazing, almost miraculous, things have happened.
Monday, we were still on our spiritual high from seeing an apostle, so naturally it bled through to our missionary work and efforts with the members. I was giving a little spiel about the conference to a member family we were having dinner with when the mom of the member family stopped me and said "He's right. We have to go and do."
She said she's been thinking about someone for us missionaries to visit, and then and there she thought of a gentleman she knows who is going through a really rough time. It's one of those families who has been invited to hear from the missionaries time and time again, but has always declined. Well, we came over and found them at home. We sat down, and just started talking.
We talked about his work, we talked about their religious background, we talked about his terminal condition, and ultimately, we talked about the purpose of life. It was a really spiritually uplifting meeting. Granted, he and his wife didn't become new investigators, but they did agree to read the Book of Mormon. I think, though, the visit was more for the members that we brought with us. It was obvious that they were deeply touched.
Wednesday, we had an appointment with another very wonderful family. They own a bed-and-breakfast here in town, and as it happens, a former senior couple who used to serve here always come to their bed-and-breakfast whenever they are in town. Well, when this couple came for the dedication of the chapel, they gave these bed-and-breakfast owners a Book of Mormon and a promise "We'll be sending a few gentleman from our church over."
The first things we noticed is they have a fascination with hedgehogs. Little statuettes are all over their home, and a book on their coffee table all about the spiny creatures. (Did you know that hedgehog blood is incredibly similar to human blood?) We sat down with the two of them and just started talking.
It was one of those lessons where you knew that both the learner and the teacher would be edified. (See D&C 50:22) They were asking us questions, we were asking them questions, and all together, we were able to learn a ton about each other.
This family comes from a very interesting church. Not that the doctrine itself is interesting, nor the denomination. This particular branch of the church is having what I call "denominational identity crisis." Put simply, they've just recently (and very wisely) changed from a more worldly moving denomination to a much more conservative, 'follow the word of God exactly, and don't give into the worldly ways' kid of approach, for which I applaud the pastor and members for doing a very difficult thing. At the same time, though, it's left a lot of the members (many of whom we've met) in a very interesting state of mind. Put simply, all of the members we've met (excluding the pastor, of course. He and his wife were super nice, though.) were all seeking, seeking for something. One of the church's members has been investigating the church for a couple of years; one of them we met a few weeks ago and really was interested by our message and the Book of Mormon (he turned us down, though), and now this family.
He told us that he doesn't take anything at face value - he doesn't believe anything unless the Spirit tells him it's true. Which is awesome - it's exactly what we're looking for. As we explained and unfolded the Restoration of the gospel as best we could, they were listening intently, questioning some details, not in an attacking kind of way, but in a "Oh, I've never even heard of that before!" kind of way. For example: "Wait, are you telling me that this angel Moroni was once a mortal man?" "Why, yes!" "Wow. I was taught that angels were separate beings from mortals." "Well, actually, we teach all about that in our second lesson!" They were very interested in meeting with us again.
Sadly, I won't be able to do so. We got a call Friday, and a confirmation Saturday that I would be transferred. Yep, after a mere three months of being here in Somerset, I'm packing my bags and making my way somewhere else. Even though we aren't suppose to know where we are being transferred, my mission president told me the name of my new companion, and from that it's pretty easy to figure out the rest of the details.
My new companion is Elder Ramos, a Spanish speaker who has been out for just a little longer than myself. He's currently serving in West York, a town just east of where I am now and south of Harrisburg. It should be exciting.
So, needless to say, this will be a new, exciting page in my adventure. Here to the best!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
Read More
Monday, we were still on our spiritual high from seeing an apostle, so naturally it bled through to our missionary work and efforts with the members. I was giving a little spiel about the conference to a member family we were having dinner with when the mom of the member family stopped me and said "He's right. We have to go and do."
She said she's been thinking about someone for us missionaries to visit, and then and there she thought of a gentleman she knows who is going through a really rough time. It's one of those families who has been invited to hear from the missionaries time and time again, but has always declined. Well, we came over and found them at home. We sat down, and just started talking.
We talked about his work, we talked about their religious background, we talked about his terminal condition, and ultimately, we talked about the purpose of life. It was a really spiritually uplifting meeting. Granted, he and his wife didn't become new investigators, but they did agree to read the Book of Mormon. I think, though, the visit was more for the members that we brought with us. It was obvious that they were deeply touched.
Wednesday, we had an appointment with another very wonderful family. They own a bed-and-breakfast here in town, and as it happens, a former senior couple who used to serve here always come to their bed-and-breakfast whenever they are in town. Well, when this couple came for the dedication of the chapel, they gave these bed-and-breakfast owners a Book of Mormon and a promise "We'll be sending a few gentleman from our church over."
The first things we noticed is they have a fascination with hedgehogs. Little statuettes are all over their home, and a book on their coffee table all about the spiny creatures. (Did you know that hedgehog blood is incredibly similar to human blood?) We sat down with the two of them and just started talking.
It was one of those lessons where you knew that both the learner and the teacher would be edified. (See D&C 50:22) They were asking us questions, we were asking them questions, and all together, we were able to learn a ton about each other.
This family comes from a very interesting church. Not that the doctrine itself is interesting, nor the denomination. This particular branch of the church is having what I call "denominational identity crisis." Put simply, they've just recently (and very wisely) changed from a more worldly moving denomination to a much more conservative, 'follow the word of God exactly, and don't give into the worldly ways' kid of approach, for which I applaud the pastor and members for doing a very difficult thing. At the same time, though, it's left a lot of the members (many of whom we've met) in a very interesting state of mind. Put simply, all of the members we've met (excluding the pastor, of course. He and his wife were super nice, though.) were all seeking, seeking for something. One of the church's members has been investigating the church for a couple of years; one of them we met a few weeks ago and really was interested by our message and the Book of Mormon (he turned us down, though), and now this family.
He told us that he doesn't take anything at face value - he doesn't believe anything unless the Spirit tells him it's true. Which is awesome - it's exactly what we're looking for. As we explained and unfolded the Restoration of the gospel as best we could, they were listening intently, questioning some details, not in an attacking kind of way, but in a "Oh, I've never even heard of that before!" kind of way. For example: "Wait, are you telling me that this angel Moroni was once a mortal man?" "Why, yes!" "Wow. I was taught that angels were separate beings from mortals." "Well, actually, we teach all about that in our second lesson!" They were very interested in meeting with us again.
Sadly, I won't be able to do so. We got a call Friday, and a confirmation Saturday that I would be transferred. Yep, after a mere three months of being here in Somerset, I'm packing my bags and making my way somewhere else. Even though we aren't suppose to know where we are being transferred, my mission president told me the name of my new companion, and from that it's pretty easy to figure out the rest of the details.
My new companion is Elder Ramos, a Spanish speaker who has been out for just a little longer than myself. He's currently serving in West York, a town just east of where I am now and south of Harrisburg. It should be exciting.
So, needless to say, this will be a new, exciting page in my adventure. Here to the best!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
June 10, 2013
Missionary Slim is at a loss for words this week? "Wow" That's really all that I can say is, "Wow" and then 2458 words later... (Week 70 in Pennsylvania, Week 11 in Somerset, PA)
Wow. That's really all that I can say, is Wow. It was an intense week this week, one which certainly will never be forgotten by myself. I had better just jump into things.
I'd better start with a disclaimer. I fear that I might be using this blog as a way of saying "Look at me! I'm so awesome and spiritual." In other words, gratifying my pride. I really hope that is not the case. I am writing this for a purpose like Nephi of old: "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." So, actually, in other words, this blog isn't for you or for me; it's for my kids.
That being said, this week was full of miracles and tender mercies. Monday, we went off to find the last of the lost sheep. We actually got word that we missed an address and needed to check it before we went any further. The member we were looking for was the daughter of another member who we actually made contact with over phone. She told us that she didn't want us to have her address because she didn't want visits. We obliged, but were mildly annoyed because we really wanted to make sure the branch directory was up-to-date.
Anyway, we went to the address of the daughter. A woman, older than we expected, came to the door. "Hi. Is so-and-so there?" "No, she's at work." My mind started going... *Chick*chick*chick...YAHTZEE! This was her mom! We apologized for finding her against her will, but I was thrilled.
We got the chance to be stone masons. There is a less-active family who is very sick. They aren't able to get a whole lot done because they both have osteoporosis and would break if they worked themselves too hard. We had a very open morning, so we decided to go and give them a hand. We helped them put together a rock wall for one of their gardens, and got a return appointment to go and teach them later in the week.
Wednesday, we decided to stop in on a potential investigator who lives just a block from the church. Usually, we never can catch them home, but this time we caught the husband and wife together, and they didn't have anything going on. We went right in and they asked us the question they ask every minister: What do you believe about divorce? The wife was previously married to an abusive man and when she divorced him, her church wouldn't honor it and disfellowshipped her. It's sad, really, because it's kept both of them from getting into church. We talked to them about it, and they were really interested, especially when I accidentally let slip about three degrees of glory with regard to eternal marriage and families. That sort of piqued their interest. We didn't have time to get into the whole discussion, but we certainly laid the ground work for a good relationship.
Saturday was incredible. We got up really early to drive with some missionaries who were staying the night to Harrisburg for a mission conference. But this just wasn't any mission conference. Elder David Bednar was coming to teach and train us. Needless to say, we were stoked.
As a side note, we had a really funny trip there. We picked up some breakfast at a local fast-food chain and as we were leaving the parking lot, I started to say the blessing on the food for everyone. I kept my eyes open for a bit, though, and I'm glad I did because the missionary who was driving was going in the very opposite direction we needed to be going. Mid-prayer, I started saying "Far right lane, Elder. Far right lane." He corrected, and I continued. "Sorry, Father. Elder Griffith needed some direction there..." I must say, I hope that our Father in Heaven has a sense of humor.
Can I say, It was surreal being back in Harrisburg? Today marks one year since I lived east of the Susquehanna, and coming back brought with it a burst of memories. Same goes for seeing every single missionary in the mission all at the same time. Here were people I've served around, people I've gotten really close to, former companions and good friends. That brought back another flood of memories as well. Some of these were people who are going home in a week, some in two full years. I got a lot of updates about the people that I've taught in areas past.
Rebecca, who was baptized in Lebanon 4 weeks after I was transferred, is preparing to go to the temple. It's been almost a year for her, and she apparently has been strong ever since her baptism. Her son, Sam, got baptized too!
Aja in Washington started taking the Church seriously after sisters came in to replace us. (Makes sense... It's just awkward having three twenty year old's and a random member with this single lady) They really hit it off and she's been coming to church regularly and is getting baptized next week!
That was some good news.
I would give detailed notes on the conference, but that would actually go against the whole point of the conference. I'll give a sum up though.
It began weeks ago with three talks which were given to us to read so we would be prepared. (Converted unto the Lord, Ask in Faith, and Seek Learning by Faith). At the conference, we had a song and a prayer and then the three Seventies which were traveling with Elder Bednar were invited to bear testimony. Then Elder Bednar got up and said "Good Morning. Are you ready to work? Good." And he was on a roll. He made the greatest emphasis about how the Spirit would be the only teacher, and that he was only there to facilitate that. He explained how objects are acted upon, but agents act and we are all agents. Therefore, to learn in any way, we must act and not be acted upon. And to teach, we must allow our students to act and not act upon them.
He then said "I promise that not once during this meeting will any of us act upon you in any way." And he was true to his word. He opened it up to us with the question "What did you learn from the talks?" Missionaries stood up and gave their responses, and then he would say "May I ask you a question?" or "May I make an observation?" And of course, the answer was always yes, but he would allow no to be an answer.
We went through the whole gamut of every one of those talks, talking about details and how to apply it to missionary work and our lives.
I give this next part as an example, and not as an exhortation to anyone. This is an Apostle speaking to a very specific audience. This is not meant to be a rebuke of any kind to anyone in any way. I have no intention of sounding holier-than-thou, because I certainly felt convicted as he said these things.
He said things like "We never really pray in faith. Faith is acting in accordance to correct principles. It is a principle of action So, in our meetings, we say 'Bless that those who are not here may be with us next week.' We all say it, but there is no faith in that! You know what would be great to hear? If someone were to pray 'Father, we are truly grateful for the Spirit which has been here. Now, Father, there are some among us who are not here with us today. We love them, Father, so we are going to go and get them NOW. As soon as this meeting is over, myself and all who will will all leave and go to the homes of those who are not here.
"'Now, I'm sure the bishop is getting pretty nervous right now, Lord, and he can pull me from this podium if he wants to, but Father, if he doesn't and if these brothers and sisters here today say Amen then we are all going to go and get them. We won't stick around to plan or prepare, we won't have a committee or a meeting to talk about how we are going to accomplish this. We won't talk about it, we'll do it.
"'Father, we just have one request. As we all go out, please bless us that we will be inspired to not all go to the same house.'"
Wow. That blew my mind.
I was most impressed with how real he was. When you see those 15 men on TV and the internet, they look larger than life. When they are in an intimate setting like that, they are much more expressive. We heard what he really feels about certain things. For example (Again, as example, not exhortation): "In the church, we have a culture which often does not connect with the gospel itself (That was a refreshing bit of candidness). One part of this culture is we come to meetings like this, take out our scriptures and notebooks and pens and pencils and from the first verse to the final 'Amen' take copious notes of ever word which comes from the podium. Then what do we do? We forget what we wrote, and we lose our notebooks. What good did it do us? Nothing! It's stupid!"
Me being a very copious note-taker, I again was convicted in my spirit. But, he followed up with what we should do: "Instead of writing what you hear, write what you feel. Write the promptings the Holy Ghost tells you." Confession: I don't know if it was me or the Holy Ghost, but I did write a substantial amount of what came over that pulpit.
After an hour or so of asking what we learned from the talks, he asked us "I've been following a pattern of gospel learning as we've been discussing. What have you learned from the pattern?" That's right. He was turning our attention to the very meeting itself and inviting us to learn from what we observed.
Following that, we were able to ask questions. Of course, he gave the disclaimer (As all Apostles, do, I'm sure) "Don't go asking frivolous questions like 'Where is the sword of Laban'!" He again followed with what we should do: "If you had pertinent questions you were preparing to ask, forget them. Ask inspired questions given to you by the Spirit remembering who you are asking, what you are asking, and that you may never have the chance to ask again." Those questions were truly inspired. For example: "What can you tell us about your calling and service to the Lord?" "You have three sons. What do you want them to know most of all?" "How do I overcome my pride?" "I feel so inadequate in the service of the Lord." A common answer to all of them was "Find a cheap, paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and look for this phrase:..." He told them to look for things like Heart, Strength of the Lord, Grace, Power, Remember. He didn't answer our questions; he gave us tools to answer them ourselves.
Of course, he did give his own observations, but ultimately, he made us the stars of the show. More importantly, he made the Spirit the star. When we were all done, he had us all come and shake his hand, we went to the back to take a picture, and then that was that.
Some really important things I took away from this:
I am nothing. My job is to invite the Spirit, tell the investigator how to pick up that Spirit, and get out of the way. If I am making myself the center of attention through teaching methods, etc. then I am practicing priestcraft, and must repent.
The key to enduring to the end is remembering. We remember our covenants, our spiritual experiences, the miracles in our lives. Most important, we remember Him.
There is a disconnect between the culture of the Church and the true gospel. We can find the discrepancies as we pray, humble ourselves, feast upon the word, and act in faith.
I am an agent. No person is an object.
I must do everything I do with the intention to act upon it. I must pray in faith, feast upon the word in faith, worship in the church or temple in faith, etc.
If you've been reading this whole time, kudos to you. It's not over yet.
Sunday, we showed up for church. Since the branch is so small, and Elder Swanson and I are both pretty decent singers, we were enlisted into the branch choir the first Sunday we were here. Elder Swanson and I were singing this past Sunday when a sister came in. "Some of your people are out here." We had no clue who it could be. We went over to the foyer and there were Ray and Jamie, a less-active brother and sister, coming to church for the first time in years. We met them the past week at the food pantry (that place is a goldmine for finding less-active members) and they promised us to come to church. Against all expectation, they actually came! I was thrilled. We had an excellent sacrament meeting, and then set up and appointment to come over after church.
When we went over, we met Amber, Ray's fiancee. She was incredibly nice. She had no idea who the Mormons are, so she was ridiculously open and interested. It was obvious that for all three of them, their knowledge of the gospel was pretty low, but their desire to learn was very high. All three of them just soaked in what we were saying. Jamie talked about her baptism ten years ago, and how she felt so clean afterwards. At the end of our visit, Amber told us how she really enjoyed it and was looking forward to the coming week. I was thrilled. Seriously, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day!
It's been an awesome week, as I said. And it still has been an incredible ride. The culture here in PA is something apart from everything else, but is so welcoming. Like a member aptly said "Pennsylvania: We're a porch-sitting kind of people."
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
I'd better start with a disclaimer. I fear that I might be using this blog as a way of saying "Look at me! I'm so awesome and spiritual." In other words, gratifying my pride. I really hope that is not the case. I am writing this for a purpose like Nephi of old: "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." So, actually, in other words, this blog isn't for you or for me; it's for my kids.
That being said, this week was full of miracles and tender mercies. Monday, we went off to find the last of the lost sheep. We actually got word that we missed an address and needed to check it before we went any further. The member we were looking for was the daughter of another member who we actually made contact with over phone. She told us that she didn't want us to have her address because she didn't want visits. We obliged, but were mildly annoyed because we really wanted to make sure the branch directory was up-to-date.
Anyway, we went to the address of the daughter. A woman, older than we expected, came to the door. "Hi. Is so-and-so there?" "No, she's at work." My mind started going... *Chick*chick*chick...YAHTZEE! This was her mom! We apologized for finding her against her will, but I was thrilled.
We got the chance to be stone masons. There is a less-active family who is very sick. They aren't able to get a whole lot done because they both have osteoporosis and would break if they worked themselves too hard. We had a very open morning, so we decided to go and give them a hand. We helped them put together a rock wall for one of their gardens, and got a return appointment to go and teach them later in the week.
Wednesday, we decided to stop in on a potential investigator who lives just a block from the church. Usually, we never can catch them home, but this time we caught the husband and wife together, and they didn't have anything going on. We went right in and they asked us the question they ask every minister: What do you believe about divorce? The wife was previously married to an abusive man and when she divorced him, her church wouldn't honor it and disfellowshipped her. It's sad, really, because it's kept both of them from getting into church. We talked to them about it, and they were really interested, especially when I accidentally let slip about three degrees of glory with regard to eternal marriage and families. That sort of piqued their interest. We didn't have time to get into the whole discussion, but we certainly laid the ground work for a good relationship.
Saturday was incredible. We got up really early to drive with some missionaries who were staying the night to Harrisburg for a mission conference. But this just wasn't any mission conference. Elder David Bednar was coming to teach and train us. Needless to say, we were stoked.
As a side note, we had a really funny trip there. We picked up some breakfast at a local fast-food chain and as we were leaving the parking lot, I started to say the blessing on the food for everyone. I kept my eyes open for a bit, though, and I'm glad I did because the missionary who was driving was going in the very opposite direction we needed to be going. Mid-prayer, I started saying "Far right lane, Elder. Far right lane." He corrected, and I continued. "Sorry, Father. Elder Griffith needed some direction there..." I must say, I hope that our Father in Heaven has a sense of humor.
Can I say, It was surreal being back in Harrisburg? Today marks one year since I lived east of the Susquehanna, and coming back brought with it a burst of memories. Same goes for seeing every single missionary in the mission all at the same time. Here were people I've served around, people I've gotten really close to, former companions and good friends. That brought back another flood of memories as well. Some of these were people who are going home in a week, some in two full years. I got a lot of updates about the people that I've taught in areas past.
Rebecca, who was baptized in Lebanon 4 weeks after I was transferred, is preparing to go to the temple. It's been almost a year for her, and she apparently has been strong ever since her baptism. Her son, Sam, got baptized too!
Aja in Washington started taking the Church seriously after sisters came in to replace us. (Makes sense... It's just awkward having three twenty year old's and a random member with this single lady) They really hit it off and she's been coming to church regularly and is getting baptized next week!
That was some good news.
I would give detailed notes on the conference, but that would actually go against the whole point of the conference. I'll give a sum up though.
It began weeks ago with three talks which were given to us to read so we would be prepared. (Converted unto the Lord, Ask in Faith, and Seek Learning by Faith). At the conference, we had a song and a prayer and then the three Seventies which were traveling with Elder Bednar were invited to bear testimony. Then Elder Bednar got up and said "Good Morning. Are you ready to work? Good." And he was on a roll. He made the greatest emphasis about how the Spirit would be the only teacher, and that he was only there to facilitate that. He explained how objects are acted upon, but agents act and we are all agents. Therefore, to learn in any way, we must act and not be acted upon. And to teach, we must allow our students to act and not act upon them.
He then said "I promise that not once during this meeting will any of us act upon you in any way." And he was true to his word. He opened it up to us with the question "What did you learn from the talks?" Missionaries stood up and gave their responses, and then he would say "May I ask you a question?" or "May I make an observation?" And of course, the answer was always yes, but he would allow no to be an answer.
We went through the whole gamut of every one of those talks, talking about details and how to apply it to missionary work and our lives.
I give this next part as an example, and not as an exhortation to anyone. This is an Apostle speaking to a very specific audience. This is not meant to be a rebuke of any kind to anyone in any way. I have no intention of sounding holier-than-thou, because I certainly felt convicted as he said these things.
He said things like "We never really pray in faith. Faith is acting in accordance to correct principles. It is a principle of action So, in our meetings, we say 'Bless that those who are not here may be with us next week.' We all say it, but there is no faith in that! You know what would be great to hear? If someone were to pray 'Father, we are truly grateful for the Spirit which has been here. Now, Father, there are some among us who are not here with us today. We love them, Father, so we are going to go and get them NOW. As soon as this meeting is over, myself and all who will will all leave and go to the homes of those who are not here.
"'Now, I'm sure the bishop is getting pretty nervous right now, Lord, and he can pull me from this podium if he wants to, but Father, if he doesn't and if these brothers and sisters here today say Amen then we are all going to go and get them. We won't stick around to plan or prepare, we won't have a committee or a meeting to talk about how we are going to accomplish this. We won't talk about it, we'll do it.
"'Father, we just have one request. As we all go out, please bless us that we will be inspired to not all go to the same house.'"
Wow. That blew my mind.
I was most impressed with how real he was. When you see those 15 men on TV and the internet, they look larger than life. When they are in an intimate setting like that, they are much more expressive. We heard what he really feels about certain things. For example (Again, as example, not exhortation): "In the church, we have a culture which often does not connect with the gospel itself (That was a refreshing bit of candidness). One part of this culture is we come to meetings like this, take out our scriptures and notebooks and pens and pencils and from the first verse to the final 'Amen' take copious notes of ever word which comes from the podium. Then what do we do? We forget what we wrote, and we lose our notebooks. What good did it do us? Nothing! It's stupid!"
Me being a very copious note-taker, I again was convicted in my spirit. But, he followed up with what we should do: "Instead of writing what you hear, write what you feel. Write the promptings the Holy Ghost tells you." Confession: I don't know if it was me or the Holy Ghost, but I did write a substantial amount of what came over that pulpit.
After an hour or so of asking what we learned from the talks, he asked us "I've been following a pattern of gospel learning as we've been discussing. What have you learned from the pattern?" That's right. He was turning our attention to the very meeting itself and inviting us to learn from what we observed.
Following that, we were able to ask questions. Of course, he gave the disclaimer (As all Apostles, do, I'm sure) "Don't go asking frivolous questions like 'Where is the sword of Laban'!" He again followed with what we should do: "If you had pertinent questions you were preparing to ask, forget them. Ask inspired questions given to you by the Spirit remembering who you are asking, what you are asking, and that you may never have the chance to ask again." Those questions were truly inspired. For example: "What can you tell us about your calling and service to the Lord?" "You have three sons. What do you want them to know most of all?" "How do I overcome my pride?" "I feel so inadequate in the service of the Lord." A common answer to all of them was "Find a cheap, paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and look for this phrase:..." He told them to look for things like Heart, Strength of the Lord, Grace, Power, Remember. He didn't answer our questions; he gave us tools to answer them ourselves.
Of course, he did give his own observations, but ultimately, he made us the stars of the show. More importantly, he made the Spirit the star. When we were all done, he had us all come and shake his hand, we went to the back to take a picture, and then that was that.
Some really important things I took away from this:
I am nothing. My job is to invite the Spirit, tell the investigator how to pick up that Spirit, and get out of the way. If I am making myself the center of attention through teaching methods, etc. then I am practicing priestcraft, and must repent.
The key to enduring to the end is remembering. We remember our covenants, our spiritual experiences, the miracles in our lives. Most important, we remember Him.
There is a disconnect between the culture of the Church and the true gospel. We can find the discrepancies as we pray, humble ourselves, feast upon the word, and act in faith.
I am an agent. No person is an object.
I must do everything I do with the intention to act upon it. I must pray in faith, feast upon the word in faith, worship in the church or temple in faith, etc.
If you've been reading this whole time, kudos to you. It's not over yet.
Sunday, we showed up for church. Since the branch is so small, and Elder Swanson and I are both pretty decent singers, we were enlisted into the branch choir the first Sunday we were here. Elder Swanson and I were singing this past Sunday when a sister came in. "Some of your people are out here." We had no clue who it could be. We went over to the foyer and there were Ray and Jamie, a less-active brother and sister, coming to church for the first time in years. We met them the past week at the food pantry (that place is a goldmine for finding less-active members) and they promised us to come to church. Against all expectation, they actually came! I was thrilled. We had an excellent sacrament meeting, and then set up and appointment to come over after church.
When we went over, we met Amber, Ray's fiancee. She was incredibly nice. She had no idea who the Mormons are, so she was ridiculously open and interested. It was obvious that for all three of them, their knowledge of the gospel was pretty low, but their desire to learn was very high. All three of them just soaked in what we were saying. Jamie talked about her baptism ten years ago, and how she felt so clean afterwards. At the end of our visit, Amber told us how she really enjoyed it and was looking forward to the coming week. I was thrilled. Seriously, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day!
It's been an awesome week, as I said. And it still has been an incredible ride. The culture here in PA is something apart from everything else, but is so welcoming. Like a member aptly said "Pennsylvania: We're a porch-sitting kind of people."
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
June 3, 2013
Missionary Slim has been looking for lost sheep. (Week 69 in Pennsylvania, Week 10 in Somerset, PA)
As I've mentioned in the past, a lot of our work in Somerset has been
focused on finding the lost sheep, those members of the church who have
simply slipped through the cracks. First and foremost, this work we've
done (with the abundant help of Elder and Sister Neuder, two wonderful
senior missionaries) has really been a boost to my testimony of the
Lords hand in all the work that we do for Him. He knows where His sheep
are hiding, and He knows when is best for us to find them.
Read More
We spent a day with the Neuders trying to locate these
folks. They had a list of addresses which they had gleaned from every
resource imaginable - social networks, background check websites, family
members, voting records - you name it, they probably tried it. We got
to one name of someone Elder Swanson and I have been trying to locate
for weeks. The address we had listed in the branch roster simply didn't
exist. The Neuders brought us to a different address, and we met the
owner. Trying to be friendly, I said "How is everything going?"
"Rough." Was the response. I asked what was going
on? "Well, my dad passed away recently, and I'm really upset about
that." Whew. I (thankfully) haven't had the opportunity of enduring the
death of a loved one, so I am almost cruelly not empathetic (I neglected
to get the date of death when we first talked to him, so Elder Neuder
had me get out again and ask. How do you sympathetically say "Hey, what
day did your dad die?" and respond to the answer "Two days ago.") I said
I'm sorry for his loss, and tried my best, but didn't have a lot of
depth of feeling. I asked what was his dad's name, and sure enough, it
was the very member we were looking for all these weeks. The person we
were talking to happened to be his son, also a missing member, albeit
with a different last name. We asked if we could stop by again in the
near future, and he agreed. Certainly, the Lord knew this family would
need support at this trying time and put us right in the place where we
could offer it.
Later during the week we decided to do some work in
an area we usually don't frequent. We were on our way to a member's
house for dinner and had some spare time, so we stopped in one of the
quaint hamlets along the way. These usually consist of a post office, a
church, and a couple dozen houses. We started our way down one of the
two streets knocking doors. Door one: no answer. Door two: A father came
to the door. We asked if he's ever met missionaries before, and he said
no. I was just a little surprised, but that didn't stop me from jumping
into a brief explanation of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He
told us that he wasn't very interested, but that his wife might be. I
asked him why he lacked interest and he told us that he was
disillusioned by his own faith - he didn't understand the God he was
taught about and never got the answers to his questions, so he just gave
up on organized religion entirely. This actually is a very common thing
here in PA, maybe in other places as well.
As we testified of the truthfulness of the Book of
Mormon, and of it's power to teach us of Christ, I could see a faint
glimmer light up in him. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon when
we first started talking to him to which he said he wouldn't read it,
but after our brief testimony meeting, he said, "I'll look into this."
Suhweet!
Door three: An older woman who was too busy watching
TV to talk to us. Door four: A middle-aged woman who was very nervous
when we first came to the door. As we explained who we were, the door
opened a little bit more, until it was finally fully open and she was
listening intently. As we explained our message, she asked a very good
question: "Do you believe that yours is the only true church?" Good
question, yes, but tough to answer - for some, it can be a touchy
subject. Fortunately, I remembered something one of the apostles said in
answer to that question, and paraphrased it to her (among my many
faults, I am a master quote plagiarizer). I said, "While other churches
have much good and much truth in them, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is the only true church which contains the fullness of
the gospel." She nodded her head with acceptance of my answer. She also
took a Book of Mormon, with a promise to read it with an open mind.
I was expecting to pound on every door on that
street, but as it turned out, those two encounters lasted us all of our
spare time, and all of the Book of Mormons we had on hand. There are
people being prepared every day, for certain. All we have to do is find
them.
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
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