September 30, 2013

Missionary Slim encounters a new opportunity and an old one. Coincidence? I think not. (Week 86 in Pennsylvania, Week 10 in Dover, PA)

We were walking down the street. It was a pleasant day; the sun was shining, and clouds glided by, creating shadows here and there occasionally. A gentleman we had passed earlier when he was tinkering with a lawn mower was now out walking his puppy. We decided to say hi. Here's the gist of the conversation:
 
"Hey there!"
 
"Oh, hi guys. How are you doing? I was wondering when you were going to talk to me."
 
"Oh, have you talked to missionaries before?"
 
"No, but I've seen you guys and I know what you do. But I've never talked to Mormons before. Hey, I'm not busy. If you guys want, you can come by the house in about 15 minutes and we can sit down and chat."
 
"....Sure!"
 
We went over and had a great discussion. His name was Tom, and he made it clear that he just wanted to get some information and was mostly interested in what made our church unique. But he also said that he was going to seriously investigate it. We introduced him to the Book of Mormon and he told us "Well, good thing I like to read!" When we asked if he wanted to meet with us again, he said "Give me a couple of weeks to get through this, and then we can talk." That sounds fair to me!
 
Later that day, we stopped by the home of a former investigator. Actually, it was a family. The had missionaries visit them YEARS ago, like 5 or so, and it looked like they hadn't been touched in about that long too. Oh, and they had two pages of notes attached - these guys were investigating pretty heavily.
 
When we went over, we met Cody the adult son. He was pretty awesome and open. "Oh, sure, guys. You can come back. I remember when Sister Basian and Sister Frey used to come over." My jaw probably dropped just a little bit when he said that. My thought was "You remember the missionaries that taught you that long ago?"
 
We met his mom, Kim, when we came by the next day. She explained that she was raised in her parents church, but had a lot of questions and such. She said there were a lot of things that she liked about her parents church, but a lot of things she didn't. I decided to focus on the positive and asked "What do you like about your parent's church?"
 
"Oh, well.... I guess just the familiarity. I mean, it's what I always grew up with. I like how comfortable the worship service is. I don't know." Hmm...
 
Come to find out, she hasn't been attending any church for a while, and Cody has actually been doubting the existence of God for some time. They haven't been praying or reading the scriptures. "When the other missionaries came by, they really helped me through a really hard time," she said, also explaining that they were close to joining the church, but her mom had a fit when she found out. They've been going through a rough time presently, though. Then, after a pause, "Maybe that's why you guys came over now."
 
They both listened intently as we talked about faith and prayer and about how much their Heavenly Father loves them. That small home was full of the warmth of the Spirit - it was awesome. Following our visit, they were more than happy to have us come back and keep teaching them. Also, they told us the names of several ward members who they knew. We'll see where this goes.
 
So, the work continues. Alas, it will continue without Elder Bowcut come the 8th. He got his visa to Australia and will be leaving then. All I have to say about that is Godspeed!
 
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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