November 4, 2013

Missionary Slim is in the right place at the right time to help people feel the power of the Spirit (Week 91 in Pennsylvania, Week 2 in Wintersville, Ohio)

We've had a couple of really great, cool experiences this week. Tuesday, we had an appointment with a less active brother, Jason. He's a hip, hair-stylin' Mormon who either joined the church later in life, or fell out of the church pretty hard. But don't let his appearance fool you - his tattoos and earrings only adorn the outside warmhearted family man.

He's working on quitting smoking - he has been for a while. This past week, we decided to take his former bishop, who was released about a year ago, over to visit him. Jason has been trying for a long time to come back and to fix his life, but he just needs a few pushes every now and then to get him going in the right direction. Well, the bishop gave him that push. It was incredible to see this brother testify, a testimony and conviction so filled with love that all in the room could feel it. As the bishop encouraged and invited this brother to work towards priesthood advancement, my companion and I were silent. Then, my companion gave a strong invitation to follow a stop-smoking program. Jason accepted, and sure enough, the next day we got a text saying "Only one cigarette today!" By the time he came to church this Sunday, the first time in a while, I believe, he was holding on strong.

Did we do a lot? No, not really. It was all the Spirit. We just got Jason in the right place at the right time with the right people so the Spirit could be felt.

Another story: The next day, we had a dinner appointment with an active family who is notorious for having less-active members over at the same time. After dinner, we sat down and just started talking - about the Plan of Happiness, the temple, etc. We didn't have any specific plans, we didn't really even teach anything earth-shatteringly awesome. It was just talking. We brought up the death of the less-active sister's grandmother, and then bore simple testimony that her death was temporary - it wouldn't last forever. After the lesson, we got a text from the active brother who invited us over saying "Thanks for coming over - we really felt the spirit."

Finally, we've been teaching the Gospel Principles class during Sunday School, and our class has been packed both weeks! We've been having two less-active brothers, two recent converts, three investigators, a toddler, the Ward Mission Leader, and, of course, the missionaries. Well, this past week, we had a young woman randomly invite her boyfriend to come to church. After Fast and Testimony (which was great - it was centered on cat stories, and how people have learned the gospel from their cats), I asked the boyfriend if he liked it and if he was staying. He said yes to both, so we brought him in.

Come to find out, this young woman was a little nervous about him being by himself, so she came to the class. And, come to find out, she was a little nervous about being there 'by herself', so to speak, so she brought THE ENTIRE LAUREL GROUP! That class was seriously filled to capacity. It was incredible. We had a pretty good lesson, and tried to include everyone, but it did seem a little hectic with all the people, the toddler taking away everyone's attention, and the room temperature quickly rising.

After church, we went to the home of one of these young women who was in the class. Completely without prompting on our part, she said "Class was really good today. I really felt the spirit strongly." Wow. That felt really good to hear.

So, moral of the story -
Be in the right place...
At the right time...
With the right people...
Doing the right things...

And everything will generally work out.

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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