From a 21 year old boy: "I prayed like you asked me to. I decided... I'll stop partying when I'm 25."
22 year old boy after the Word of Wisdom lesson: "But getting high is fun. Whoa, my hand looks so weird right now...."
Girl we took on splits: "That was SO awkward. I met that investigator at FHE Monday and flirted with him because I thought he was visiting from out of state and I'd never see him again..."
I don't know why we are only teaching Hispanic males and stoners.... but we are. So that's fun.
One of our investigators, Spencer, was supposed to get baptized Saturday ... but he really wants his high school math teacher to baptize him and couldn't get in contact with him (he didn't even try until Friday) and me and Sis Tranchina were so worried because Satan works hard on people before they get baptized! Pushing it back wouldn't be a good idea ... we were thinking of fasting but we just fasted 2 weeks ago and one of our wards was having fast Sunday this past week ... then it would be too late. So ... don't laugh here. We decided to show our dedication to the Lord by giving up our natural organic chunky peanut butter for a couple of days. It felt like lent or whatever that's called.... so yeah- his baptism didn't end up happening ... but this Saturday for sure!
Monday night- we got a call from one of our EQP's who said, "so a non-member showed up at FHE and wants to be baptized." Oh... okay! Hahah, turns out Jonathon was taking the lessons from the elders a year ago and was all ready to get baptized, then at the last minute his mom said no and he backed out, and has had absolutely nothing to do with the church since. He randomly prayed for guidance and just knew he needed to get baptized! He's black and from France. He's cool. Is that a miracle or what? We put him on date for Nov 1. He knows the church is true ... but doesn't remember much of the doctrine, so we are reteaching him. He lives in Rose Park and all the girls in that ward are all goo-goo over him.... whatever.
Our new thing we've been trying to gauge how ready people are for baptism is asking "why do you want to get baptized? What makes this baptism different from other baptisms? Why is this church different?" It's really easy to find their understanding level and personal conversion from there. It works really well! One time when we tried it this week, I got asked the dreadful question... "So does that mean my Catholic baptism doesn't count?" That's a rough one. My comp looked at me to answer. I explained, “that's awesome that you were baptized before and the Lord definitely recognizes that commitment as coming closer to him and following Christ! But that essential priesthood that Christ had is needed as well- and that was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith." He understood after that. Then we used the anology, being baptized in another church is like going to college without being enrolled. You still learn and grow, but to graduate you have to be enrolled (the priesthood). It was pretty good- not gonna lie. He doesn't want to be baptized though, hahah.
Another miracle.... the picture last week of us at conference with the boy who looks like Taylor Lautner? His name is Irvin and he's 21. He has had the lessons since he was 15 on and off. That's a long time! He's legendary in this mission. He just couldn't understand Joseph Smith. We taught him a couple of days ago... and we literally only had 10 minutes, so we went right to the punch and shared a scripture about baptism. We asked if he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He said yes. We asked if he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said yes. We asked how he knew; he said if the Book of Mormon makes him feel good, it's true, so Joseph Smith must be a prophet. (We were shocked about right now.) And then he accepted baptism and we put him on date for Nov 1. Then he said, "I was actually thinking about that date..." WHAT?! It was crazy. We told the past missionaries who have taught him and they were SHOCKED. It was crazy. I think all of these good things are happening because we are trying to be exactly obedient ... like picking apart the handbook and implementing every line- even down to "breakfast at 7:30." We eat breakfast at 7:30 EXACTLY in our apartment, hahaha!
So those quotes listed above.... yeah, boys are ridiculous. After they used those lines, I was so fed up I literally said, "don't be stupid- don't procrastinate repentance!" One time I said that when we were on exchanges ... this brand new missionary was like: "Holy cow! Did you really say that?!" Sorry, I have had enough stupid stoner boys in my life ... this is enough. Hahah, but it worked! The guy who said he'll stop partying when he's 25 moved it down to "when I start spring semester." *Eye roll*
The only set back to YSA is the druggies. I am so sick of alcohol and drugs, no joke. But besides that- it's good! Life's good.
Have a good week folks,
Heidi
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| Breaking our PB fast with PB-covered bananas! |
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| The Capitol building - in our area |
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| This is Christian's window - isn't that precious? He's a shy shy boy we're teaching. He's Hispanic and looks like the least likely boy to accept the gospel.... he's kinda gangster looking! But he is so so sweet and shy and cute.. and doesn't have WofW problems *thank goodness* |
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| Note from Christian |
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| Letter from Holly, a convert from my last area - so awesome! |
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