Whew this week was another blur. I read a lot out of the Book of Mormon, like 100 pages since Tuesday. And wow that book is incredible, and is honestly a lot of fun to read. As I read I can't help but think of the quote from (I think) Jeffrey R Holland, where he says something along the lines of "No wicked man could write this book, and no good man would, unless it was from God." The book is true folks. And if it is true, then everything else is. Just remember, the book is blue, the Church is true. Even when some days can be rough, and unsuccessful, the Church is still true. Even if we get doors slammed on us a lot.
So, this week was just dandy. We taught a pretty good number of lessons, and did quite a bit of tracting. We knocked a lot of doors on Grove Street, and picked up a couple investigators. We had an awesome conversation with a very nice man...(This is sarcasm) We knocked on his door and a dog started barking, so we waited. About a minute later we saw him stand up and he yelled "Take your f$%&#@* religion and leave dirtbags. Next time I'm sending the dog after you." I just started laughing and told him to have a nice evening as we walked away. Some people have a really hard time with getting rejected like that, I think it's kind of funny... It's sad, but funny. If only he knew how important our message was, and how nice Mormons really are. But I also think it would be great if someone would send me a thing of dog treats. Because that wasn't the first time people have used their dog as a threat, and it probably won't be the last. And I don't wanna ruin a shirt because I got into a fist fight with a pitbull/doberman/wolf mix while I was tracting.
Anyways, the next night we tracted the other side of Grove Street, and actually met a way cool guy. Like for real this time. He put his dog in a kennel before he opened the door. He listened to a brief Restoration lesson, took a Book of Mormon, and invited us back over
this Wednesday, when he had more time to talk. He said he'd heard about the Mormons and liked deep doctrine. He mentioned he's listened to some Hugh Nibley talks. I think (and pray) that our visit goes well.
On Friday we were over at Floyd's, reading D&C, and talking about life and the Church and all the good stuff. He said he was walking earlier that day and saw the Sisters teaching a lesson on a front porch and he yelled "Listen to those girls. They're very nice. Their church is the true one. I go there, I'm a Mormon." Floyd is such a good guy, he is so ready to be baptized. I wish he wasn't on stinkin parole... Also while we were reading, Floyd's brother David walked in and gave us a note with his address and contact info on it. Said he wanted us to come over and teach him. So we did. He knows Joseph Smith was a prophet, and actually said "No wicked man could write the Book of Mormon, and no good man would, unless is was true." I thought that was awesome, since that's been running through my mind all week. David asked us to pray that he can stop smoking, he knows it's a sin, and wants our help to quit. He stopped drinking years ago and hasn't since. He likes what we teach, and our standards. Sounds like David and Floyd will be getting baptized as soon as possible.
Thursday night we had dinner with the Hann's. Brother Hann is the Branch Mission Leader, and a way nice guy. They live kind of out on an island, and their yard goes straight into the St Lawrence. Upper Canada Village, a fully functioning Colonial village is 1 mile straight across the river. We ate a lot of vegetables, straight out of their massive garden, and we sat on their porch and watched the sun set on the river. As we sat a HUGE container ship went by (it's a major shipping lane) and it was awesome.
On Saturday we had Branch Coordination, where we give our weekly progress report. Brother Hann brough his dog and she was wandering around, like a dog would do. But Sister Palkki stood up and told us that she can follow a dog's scent with her nose, and also how she didn't want pregnant women to be affected by the dog... Nobody had a clue what on earth she was talking about, but Brother Hann put the dog outside to make her happy, so the rest of the meeting was about as exciting as you'd expect... The Palkki's are unique... But they are very nice, and had us over for dinner
on Saturday, which was awesome.
Sunday was another classic
Sunday in the Massena Branch...(take that how you'd like, could be good, could be bad. Who's to say.) We had about 5 investigators there, however, between us and the Sisters, we had invited and committed about 25 people to come to Church. So that was pretty disappointing... That's the discouraging part of missionary work, we can invite until we're blue in the face, but a good 70% of our invitations involve a follow up lesson where we hear the excuses as to why they couldn't follow through. But that's how it goes. I guess I can relate to my parents a little better now, because I was about as consistent as an iffy investigator... Sorry guys President Rogers shared the statistics of missionary work, and it was something like 30 investigators funnel down to about 1 baptism... You can tell Satan is trying to stop the work, but as long as we keep knockin doors, the work is gonna continue.
One of the best lessons this week, besides the many Restorations we taught, was our lesson after dinner with DD. We talked about Humility, and being the deeply profound person that I am, I said "some of us may be better
off, but that does not mean we are better
than." DD started to cry, and told some great stories and experiences that involved that. Wherever I pulled that thought from (the Spirit), it is very true, and very applicable. Especially here in Massena. It's a rough crowd, and there's a lot of insane family situations, but they all need the gospel as much as me, or any of you. I just wish they'd stinkin listen....
It's been a great week. We ended it with dinner and a lesson at the Marcey's. They are so awesome, and the food was darn good. And we played Monopoly as we ate. I hope that wasn't against the white handbook... But it was great, and we had a good talk about mission work and why we needed it, and how good it is for everyone.
T'was a solid week, and I'm excited to see what happens this week. Hopefully you guys enjoy my emails. If you don't, honestly idk what to tell ya. You get what you pay for.
Love you all, talk to you next week!
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