August 19, 2013

Missionary Slim "two lions among a flock of lambs, or is that 2 lambs among a flock of lions? We may never know." (Week 80 in Pennsylvania, Week 4 in Dover, PA)

We're trying our hardest out here in Dover, PA. It's challenging, though. Still, it's plain to see that there are greater forces than our own working alongside us.

The biggest challenge we're facing is simply this: we have nobody to teach right now. We've been working with members, less-active members, part member families, etc. to find as many people as we can in the shortest time possible, but all of these resources have yielded no results as of yet. We've been trying our hardest to avoid just going out and pounding doors, since it is probably the least effective of the ways to find investigators, but we've gotten to the point where we have no choice.

Tuesday, we decided to take a different approach to finding - we would go to contact some former investigators, and near each person, we would knock the doors of about 4 neighbors, just to see what we can find. We prayed super fervently before, hoping that we could find somebody.

We went to the first one, who lived in some townhouses. The person we were looking for wasn't home, so we started knocking. Door after door brought nothing but silence. And seriously, the most frustrating thing when tracting is to not have anybody to talk to!

Finally, though, we had a door open. Elder Ramos decided to play a little game - I would give him a word and he had to use that word when talking to the people for the first time. The word was "Opportunity." When the door opened, there was a middle-aged woman standing there. Elder Ramos started talking to her and explained who we were, etc. etc. Then he said "Would you give us the opportunity to share this message with you?" Her response: "Sure!" and she stepped out onto her porch.

We were both really surprised - it's not too often that people just start talking to you like that. We chatted for a good forty minutes about all kinds of things - God, Christ, religion, family, trials, adversity, temptation, and a ton of others. It was amazing - it was almost like we knew exactly what she needed to hear. That happens occasionally, but whenever it does, it's awesome.

The same thing happened again and again - we found some person who let us talk to them for a little bit and accepted us to come back. For the first time in three weeks, we've found some people to teach! Best of all, one of them was a lady from Mexico, which definitely brightened up my companions day (he's really been wanting to teach some Spanish speakers.)

On another day, we just stopped by a very delightful less-active sister's house. Her name is Cherie. She lives with her daughter and grand-daughter and comes to church whenever she can get a ride. The daughter, on the other hand, does not like the church. Usually, when we visit the Cherie, the daughter goes to her room and hides.

Well, this past week, we stopped by just to say hi and the daughter answered the door. And she stayed to chat with us for a little bit. We talked about all kinds of random things, and then my companion said "You really should come to church." The daughter said "The last time I stepped foot in a Mormon church was for my brother's wedding - no."

"Oh, come on. You know it will be good for you."

"No."

"Please!" My companion was really hounding her. "If you come to church, we'll come with you to Relief Society!"

What does the Book of Mormon say about rash oaths? (Alma 51:10)

".....I'll think about it," she said.

Well, as I'm sure you could guess, my companion and I were the most surprised out of everyone in the entire congregation when suddenly Cherie's daughter walks into the chapel (she didn't burst into flames, as I'm sure she expected she would), sat down, and stayed for all three hours. After Sacrament meeting, she came up to us and said "See you in Relief Society." My companion was about to go against the deal, but we did it - we walked in while they were singing the opening hymn. All eyes turned to look on us. The sister missionaries had the some great expressions on their faces - complete shock mixed with confusion. The teacher seemed really nervous that there were two Elders in the midst of the sisters, like two lions among a flock of lambs. Best of all was the expressions on the daughter's face - surprise mixed with laughter. She ended up having a great time at church, and I'm pretty sure she'll be coming back. And I'm also pretty sure I'm never going to Relief Society again - once was certainly enough to last a man a lifetime.

Life is always full of surprises!

Love,

Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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