March 30, 2009 - Week Three

Allo.

So...plenty to talk about but I think I'll just try to recount one cool experience. We ran out of miles the other day because some other elders had to borrow our car for an emergency…So we’re riding bikes when we can now. I kept trying to think, hey, now we'll be in different situations and places than we would if we were in a car, so some good will surely come of it.

First, we went to tract in these apartments we saw, and rode our bikes there. We rode around the back to park our bikes somewhere slightly safe. In doing so we ended up talking to this old scottish lady Moyra who was out back smoking. Really nice lady. And really cool and lots of faith. We talked to her for a while. She's had two very near death experiences. One where she actually died and came back. She told us all about going to heaven and what it looked and sounded like and how glorious it was and when she got to where she would try to go through the gate, it started to close and she was suddenly back on earth, watching the aftermath of what caused her to die in the first place. Then she went back into her body. Crazy!!! It sounded very interesting and I liked the story. We’re going to try and catch her out back again soon, we told her a bit about prophets and such, with conference coming up, and had a little dispute about the godhead. Twas fun though. Awesome lady. We wouldn't have every seen her if we weren't on bikes. Boom.

Then the member who was going to give us a ride to our appointment that night had to cancel, so we had no ride, and no member for the appt. And it was 6:30 and our appt was at 7:30. Geeze. So we were scrambling for somebody. We found out that we would get reimbursed for some of our miles from the emergency thing, so we had a few miles now, but didn't want to use them up. So we really needed someone to come with us!! Elder Tharp was on the phone with someone and I said a little prayer. Short, sweet, and specific. I need to know if we need a member tonight or if we should just go alone. Please make this known to me right now. Something like that. My heart was open to the spirit, searching for an answer. Our phone is really loud like Laura's and right after I finished I heard the guy on the other line say "...so you can't get anyone else?" For some reason when I heard him say that, I knew - we need a member with us tonight. I didn't know who, but we needed one. So this guy, Brother Mitchell ended up coming with us, totally last minute, bless his soul. What a guy.

The appointment was great. This fellow Rick Mitchell and his wife Bonnie (same last name as the member we brought). Rick is so sweet! He's had a crazy life, but it keeps his faith and knows he's got something to do down here. And Brother Mitchell had some personal experiences that paralleled perfectly with Rick. It was kinda crazy! They could relate in certain things very well, so it was really good for Brother Mitchell to have come with us. Besides that, I don't know that there was any other great reason we absolutely needed a member there with us, but my prayer really was answered right then and there when I needed it. I knew I was going to make a decision right then and had to trust that Heavenly Father would help me make a good one. Probably wouldn't have been the end of the world if we went to that appt alone, but it was a cool experience.

We basically taught the first lesson - the Restoration - and it was sweet. Joseph Smith is tough to swallow for a lot of people, and Rick had some concerns about him initially. He'd never heard of him before, and his name is Smith. The name you give the guy at the hotel desk when you’re gonna do something bad. Ha, anyway, we made our way through the lesson and all was well. He took to it much better at the end. I went through the Joseph Smith story and told him about all he went through till he saw God and Jesus. Reciting the first vision is so awesome. JSH 1:16-17, give or take. It brings the spirit every time. If you do it right. You gotta slow it down and be real sincere. It’s amazing! Like, why would just reciting a paragraph bring me such an incredible feeling inside if it wasn't so powerful and true? I've never tried reciting the first amendment or something, but I think it’s a testament of the truth of this gospel and the Restoration. Love it!

So yea, first vision, amazing feeling of the Holy Ghost, every time.

And that’s pretty much the story. It all went down the way it did for a reason I think. Even if it wasn't the most significant thing you ever heard, it was a cool experience for me, having been here only 3 weeks. The Lord is really helping me.

Satan fights hard against this work. People have every excuse to not come to church, or not read the Book of Mormon or whatever it is. So many obstacles for us everyday. We'll figure it out.

There's a lot of people I really wish I could email and write but there isn't a lot of time. I am thinking of all of you though!

Elder David