November 5, 2012
Missionary Slim rides out a hurricane, well ..... almost rides out a hurricane (Week 39 in Pennsylvania, Week 3 in Washington, PA)
Huge, mach-speed winds. Torrential rains. No power for days, flooding, trees toppling. That's what we were told to expect from Hurricane Sandy.
Yeah. We got maybe an inch of rain. And a slight breeze.
I don't want to discount from the storm at all, and especially not from the suffering of those who were more affected. My companion, Elder Medina, is from western New Jersey and has no idea how his family is faring. We're hopeful that things are okay. I'm just grateful that I'm so far inland. The weather this week has been calm, cold, and mild. Nothing compared to the devastation further east.
We've got a baptism this week. A gentleman who the missionaries have been teaching for nearly 4 months is finally getting baptized. He's so ready too; he's changed is life around, stopped smoking, been coming to church every week for those four months. He's got a few things things to work out. This Wednesday, he's going to a court hearing. He abducted his own child and possibly faces a jail sentence. Don't worry too much, though. There is a good chance that all of the charges will be dropped. So, we'll find out this coming Wednesday whether he will be baptized, or incarcerated. I've got a good feeling about it. I'm pretty sure that he'll be baptized.
Brian's been doing well too. He's been planning his own baptism ever since we invited him. He's got speakers picked out, songs, who's baptizing him, everything. When he comes to church, he announces to everyone his excitement and anticipation to be baptized. Every time we teach him, he already has a strong testimony of the things we teach. He's ready. I'm so excited for him.
The big even this week was our visit with Dave and Peggy. We invited them to come up to the church so we could give them a little tour. One of the families in the ward was there waiting for us and gave the tour. They clicked from the moment they met, and Dave and Peggy loved the whole thing. He got really excited when we showed him the Family History Center, he was super interested in Young Womens (his daughter is 13, and a little bit of a rebel), and when we got to the baptismal font, he said "I'll be in there next."
Wow. I've never had anybody ever say that to me. It was really cool. We got talking to him a little later and I asked "So, when do you want to be baptized?" Without a moments hesitation, he said "Now." His wife is just about as excited, just not as expressive about it. When the tour was over, however, they said that they've been talking about joining the church for a while, and decided that they would talk to Peggy's parents about it before coming to church, just to see what their reaction will be. I got a little nervous when they told us that, but I'm pretty certain that everything will go well. We'll be talking to them this evening, and will find out how their chat went. Hopefully, even if it went bad, they'll be able to see the truth well enough to make the right choice.
Other than that, my week wasn't too exciting. We stayed in for Halloween for our protection, but were out doing work when the actual trick-or-treating was happening on Saturday. That was frustrating. With the elections ramping up, people have been polarized, either hating us because Romney is a Mormon, or thinking that because they are voting for Romney makes them exempt from hearing our message. Regardless, people still are struggling to keep their doors open long enough for us to help them realize that our message is important and that the Gospel has been restored. We have seen a little bit of positive fallout from the election though. A member asked us to give her a Book of Mormon so she could give it to a co-worker at the Republican Party office in Washington. Her friend invited her to a cup of coffee (what a great starting point for sharing the gospel?), found out that she was a member and said "Romney is the only other Mormon I know, and he's a pretty good guy. I'd like to learn more." She actually was able to make the connection, which was great. Another brother gave a testimony at church about how many members of the church join because they saw the happiness in the lives of their friends, and wanted whatever they had.
There is so much glorious light and truth in the Gospel and in the Church. It is true. All of it. I'm so grateful to know this and to share it, in every aspect that I do. I've been told by a lot of people that this blog has been inspiring to them. Recently, I personally met one of my readers. His name is Elder Larson, and he recently came out to the mission. I was waiting to be transferred to Washington, when one of the Assistants to the President came up to me. "Hey, do you know Elder Larson?"
"...Maybe"
"Well he's been talking about you ever since we picked him up. He's been reading about you somewhere and knows everything about your mission."
Wow. I was blown away. It turns out that I didn't know this elder at all. Once he got his call to Pittsburgh, his mom went a-Googling and found my blog. He's read every single post. When we finally met in person, he started telling me about things that happened months ago, like the baptism of the Galloway girls, us teaching that exotic dancer, or having a gun pulled out in front of me. It was weird meeting one of my fans. It was also cool to see how much my experiences excited him about his own mission. I told him "All of those experiences I had? The same thing will happen to you." A few days later, another missionary said it even better. "Disciples of Jesus Christ have cool experiences." It's true. Everyone who follows Christ will have incredible experiences happen in their life. It's just one of those things that happens.
That's about all I have to share. Take care everyone. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim
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