November 18, 2013

Missionary Slim teaches us that everyone has a great story (Week 93 in Pennsylvania, Week 4 in Wintersville, Ohio)

Monday evening, we went to go visit with Nancy. Nancy is a very outspoken, opinionated and quick-to-the-point kind of lady. She's a baptist by faith, and regularly attends her Sunday meetings, revivals all that jazz. Oh, and she's an avid coffee-aholic. Seriously, ever time we've been over there to visit her, she's had a pot brewing. (And it smells so good!)

We finally got the chance to go over there to chat with her for an extended period of time. She sat down and started telling us about how much she loved Jesus, about how her siblings and children have made some poor choices, and, of course, about coffee. We just listened, trying to glean as much as we could from it. Then, she asked, "So what can I do for you gentlemen?"

We started telling her about how we are here to draw people closer to Christ, to which she replied "Well, I'm already close to Christ!" and she went off again for a few minutes. When we got the chance, we asked her "Why did you invite us in?" and she said "Because you asked!"

Thinking that this lesson was going nowhere, I pulled out the Book of Mormon and said to myself, "Well, at very least we'll share this with her!" And I started talking about how it testifies of Christ and how important it is to gain a testimony of it. I said "I know for myself that this book is true, but that won't be enough for you. We don't want you to take our word for it; we want you to go to the Source." To my surprise, she told us "Why shouldn't I take your word for it? I believe everything you've told me. I wouldn't have you sitting here talking to me if I didn't trust you two. And yes, I'll read it and pray about it."

I was stunned, but overjoyed! I'm still not sure about where things will go with teaching her, but at very least, she's trying. We'll see where this goes.

Tuesday, I went back to Washington, the area I was in last year. I was on exchange with the Zone Leaders, and the one that I was took me to several of the people that I've taught in the past. We ended our exchange by visiting Bro. Anderson, a member that I grew very close to while I was there. We didn't tell him that we were coming, we just stopped by. As I came into the house, the whole family was very shocked and surprised to see me. Bro. Anderson came from upstairs and said to me "Brother Anderson! Come here!" and embraced me like a father. That moment was certainly one of the best of my mission. I don't think I can explain it, so I'm not even going to try. But it was wonderful.

Wednesday, we were back in Ohio, trying to track down some people. I was on exchange again, this time with a brand-spankin'-new missionary, Elder Gates. Remembering my tender days on the mission, I decided to try something which I learned early on. "Elder Gates," I said, "There is someone on this street who needs the gospel. Which three houses are we going to knock on?" After looking around for a minute or so, he said "How about those three there?" Awesome.

We knocked the first house. Nothing. So, we left a card. As we were coming down the steps, though, a car rolled up and a 17 or 18 year old girl came out, looking very confused. I called "Hey! Is this your house?" She, very sensibly replied "What are you doing at my house?"

When we told her who we were, she said "Oh, a friend from school (one of the ward members, actually) is a Mormon. He told us all about how he's going to go on a mission." As we talked with her, we found out that she really was very interested in learning about the Gospel, and especially why we would do something as crazy as a mission (I wonder that myself sometimes :P). We swapped her contact info for a Book of Mormon. We'll see what happens.

Sunday, I learned an incredible lesson, and this is what I'll close with. Everybody has a story - everyone came from somewhere, has had a slew of experiences. All too often, I forget that, and just think that wherever I'm coming from is the same place as everyone else. It's not. We often hear the cliche "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care." Well, part of that caring is knowing the details about people's lives - their birthdays, their pet's names, their hobbies, their fears, their hopes, their destinies. And then actually making all that stuff mean something to you. When that happens, it's like magic. I've seen it time and time again.

Elder Ballard gave a commitment to us all. "We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior."

Let's do it. Let's care about someone the way Christ cares about us, and then reach out to that 'one'. It'll make a world of difference.

Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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