September 3, 2013

Missionary Slim finds out that giants really do exist and they are friendly! (Week 82 in Pennsylvania, Week 6 in Dover, PA)

This blog post is probably going to sound like a Shakespeare comedy or a daytime soap opera. Just sayin'.
 
Earlier this week, we called Bolvina, the Mexican lady that we started teaching last week. I'll give a rough paraphrase of what she said: "Oh, I talked to my husband, and we're Catholic. We believe in the Bible. He doesn't want to meet you guys... Bye!" Yeah, that's never fun.
 
Another investigator left a note on the door, which very simply said "DO NOT KNOCK ON MY DOOR AGAIN. DO NOT COME NEAR MY HOME AGAIN." Ooooookay. Great.
 
We had a member tell us to knock on his neighbor's door, which we did. What ended up happening was an hour and a half discussion (debate?) about various points of doctrine. That is to say, a bible bash. Bruce R. McConkie is quoted as saying "We NEVER Bible bash... but when we do, we win." Well, we ended up talking about some of the very basic teachings of the Bible, such as the resurrection, spirit world, etc. and he simply verbally refuted our claims. Hmm... Either way, even though the Spirit was present when we testified of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he didn't catch it. We did leave on good terms, though, but I certainly wasn't proud of myself that we got in the bash to begin with.
 
And that was our week!
 
That is, until the weekend. We felt strongly impressed to fast for Bolvina, in the hopes that something would change and we could get in just one more time to meet her husband. It felt really good, so we went over there after church on Sunday and knocked on her door. A man opened it and we asked if he was Bolvina's husband. "No, I'm her brother." He invited us in and we sat down and got to know him. We got into a lesson and had an opening prayer. As soon as we said 'Amen', the door opened and in walked Bolvina and a giant of a man. I wasn't worried per se, but I really hoped that this all went well as he gripped my hand in a handshake. They both sat down, and her husband, Benjamin, started firing away. "Who are you guys?"
 
Now, before I go on, I do need to say that this entire exchange was in Spanish. I picked up a little bit of it, and certainly got the spirit behind it all, but my companion was the one doing the talking.
 
My companion explained that we are missionaries, and immediately fired back, asking him about his family, his background, his history. Boom. From that moment, it was over. He realized that we weren't fierce fanatics trying to get converts - we just wanted to be their friends. He opened up, and listened intensely as we explained the Plan of Salvation for them. When we got done, we talked a bit about church and our Spanish Book of Mormon class, and he was thrilled. He told us about his addiction to alcohol, and how he wants to be a better father for his kids. Perfect. That's exactly what we are looking for. Prayers are answered, for sure.
 
Later that day, we had another appointment with another family. Seriously, two, nuclear families all in one day. When does that happen? I'll probably talk about them a little bit more in the future.
 
Yesterday, for Labor day, we had a barbeque with a part-member family, the same member who had us knock on his neighbor's door. They got married just a few months ago, and the non-member wife has been coming to church, and as far as we can tell, loves it. For some reason, though, nobody has gotten a solid answer whether she wants to be baptized or not. Well, as we were chatting, there was an almost perfect blend of Spirit and tender mercies of the Lord which allowed the topic to come up perfectly. We asked; she answered. Someone is going to be baptized in the near future!
 
Oh, and they served us a peach pie. It was baked by their neighbors. :D
 
So, as usual, it seems everything seems to turn out alright in the end.
 
Have a grand week!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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