We met this guy named Roger a couple of weeks ago, and we sat down and taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. We met him again the other day, and we didn't have very much time to talk because we had an appointment to get to. Anyway, most of our time with him was listening to him talk about his theories about 9/11, and how the planes were really empty and they were remote controlled. He's a pretty crazy guy, but we just continued to encourage him to read the Book of Mormon. Also this week we met Elden again. Every meeting we have with him is just a hoot. I'm not exactly sure what religion he is, if any, but I may have told you that apparently he is or used to be a member of our church. I don't know how, because almost every time we bring up the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith he just tells us about how much weed Joseph Smith was smoking when he wrote the Book of Mormon. Anyway, he's a pretty swell guy even though his beliefs are really weird. During our visit he tried to convince us that true Christians should not celebrate any holidays (including Easter and Christmas) except the Passover feast/celebration and something about the feast of the trumpets. I don't know what that is but he says those are Jewish holidays and that those are the only ones that anyone should celebrate. We tried to explain that we celebrate Christmas and Easter in remembrance of Jesus, his birth and resurrection. I even asked him, "Elden, what's the first syllable of 'Christmas?'" I was trying to get him to see that we do it to remember Christ, but he is just convinced that any holiday is only celebrated for people to make money. So, his answer to my question was these exact words: "Money. Also greed, stupidity, and Walmart."
On Thursday we went to this trailer park that we had knocked a while ago to see some people that we had met. None of them answered, but we finished knocking all of the trailers that we hadn't yet, and we met a young married couple named Olivia and Jordan. Olivia immediately invited us in, and we were able to sit down and share the Restoration lesson with them. She said that her dad was actually a member of the church, but she really didn't know much about it. We gave them a Book of Mormon, and invited them to Church. Unfortunately they didn't come on Sunday, but we do have a return visit scheduled with them this week. Their friend was with them at their house, and he lives in Fort Payne (which is one of the areas in our district). He said that the missionaries were actually teaching his roommate, and he had seen them a couple of times but had never sat in on one of their discussions. He said, "There's a black guy and a tall white guy," and we just said, "Yep, that's them." So apparently the Fort Payne Elders are teaching his roommate. We gave him a Book of Mormon as well, and the number to the Fort Payne Elders, and we told them about him. Hopefully they will be able to meet up with him sometime soon.
A while back we were knocking doors and met a guy named Roger. He claimed to be Catholic, but I don't think that he has been to church in a while. He told us that we could come back and talk with him, so on Friday that's what we did. He invited us in and we got to teach part of the Restoration with him. We only got to the Apostasy, so we didn't get to introduce the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith to him. We asked him if we could come back the next day (Saturday) and he said sure, so we went back on Saturday night and finished the Restoration with him. We had just had a district meeting on Friday morning which included a training about testifying more during lessons. That's exactly what we did during that lesson. Elder Hastings and I both just bombarded Roger with testimony after testimony. We kept them short, simple, and sincere, but we taught a little bit, asked a lot of questions, and then testified probably more than I have during a single lesson so far on my mission. During the lesson, Roger did tell us that he believed it was possible that the true Church, Gospel, and Authority could have been restored through Joseph Smith. He really believes the Bible, and when we finally introduced it, he was a little unsure about the Book of Mormon being scripture just like the Bible, but he did tell us he would start reading it. I don't know what will come of Roger, or if any more progress will be made, but I know that he felt the Spirit during that lesson. I hope and pray that he will read the Book of Mormon, because I know that he will feel that same Spirit as he reads. That is the case for any and all who read the Book of Mormon. There is power in that Book, and as Joseph Smith said, "A man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book." I know that is true.
A few days ago we went to go see Dustin again. He is a little crazy, but he is really nice to us missionaries, and every time we go over there we have some good laughs. This time when we met him we actually went in his house instead of just talking on the porch. His uncle was over at his house on the couch, and was totally hammered. I'm not sure if he even knew what was going on because he was so drunk. He kind of just sat there and made these weird facial expressions while he stared at the wall. It was super weird. Anyway, Dustin was kind of just making fun of his uncle for a while, and it was a little inappropriate but we had a few good laughs. The uncle left after a few minutes to take a walk or something, and we got to talk to Dustin about the Book of Mormon, and recommit him to reading it. I really hope he does, just as I hope everyone who we invite to read does.
We were able to get our hands on a children's illustrated Book of Mormon for Skylar, because she and her dad have kind of been reading, but Skylar really doesn't understand it and her dad can't explain it that well. We are going to see them again tomorrow, and we will give them it then. Hopefully she will be able to read easier when she has that. I looked through it a couple of days ago and it is really simple and easy to understand. I'm sure it will help her. Unfortunately, neither she nor her family have been to church since we started meeting with them. We set a baptismal date with her a few weeks ago for September 16, but I'm sure we will have to push that back a little bit because of how slowly/simply we have to teach her, and because she has yet to come to church. She actually told us herself that one of the reasons she wants to get baptized is so her family will start coming back to church. That's awesome, but we want to make sure that she is committed to doing those things BEFORE baptism, because being baptized in and of itself probably isn't going to change your motives that much. The young men and young women in the branch want to go out to their house one day with us missionaries just to give her and her family some friends at church and an increased desire to attend. I think that's awesome, and I really hope that she and her family will start coming to church soon.
On Saturday night after we taught Roger, we were walking back to the car and we passed the fire station. One of the firemen was in the garage cleaning his car, so we went up and talked to him. His name is Damon and he looks exactly like Russell Crowe. We asked him if he knew of any service opportunities for us, since we are always looking for them. He said he didn't know of any, but he was super nice to us and offered us a tour of the fire station. We said sure, since we were done for the day and headed home anyways, and so we got a quick tour. Some of the other firemen on duty were upstairs watching the Alabama vs. Florida State game, so we got to see like 5 minutes of that. We heard the next day that Alabama won 24-7 (and we also heard that BYU got shut out) so basically it was a great day. We plan on going back to the fire station some time to meet Damon again, maybe find some service, and hopefully try to teach him.
We met a guy last night while we were knocking doors who waved at us to come inside before we even knocked. We came in, introduced ourselves, and started asking him a few questions. Elder Hastings introduced the Book of Mormon, and in the middle of explaining, the guy just stands up, walks over to his cabinet, and starts going through a bunch of stuff. I didn't know what he was looking for, and was a little nervous, but after like 30 seconds he pulls out a Book of Mormon. That was cool, but I was pretty sure he had never touched it since it was given to him. Anyway, we keep telling him a couple of things, and asking him questions. Whenever we asked him questions he just kind of shrugged or gave one-word answers, and his voice was really hoarse. He eventually told us that he couldn't talk, and when Elder Hastings asked him one more question he just yells, "Don't question me, just preach!" So Elder Hastings just shared a couple of verses from the Book of Mormon, explained them, and I just left him with my testimony. After that, he starts scrolling through his phone, and then starts playing a song. The song was really long, like 8 minutes, and I don't even know what it was about, it sounded just like some white guy freestyle rapping. Anyway, after like 2 minutes Elder Hastings says, "Well, we had better get going," and goes to shake his hand. He refuses to shake his hand and just points at his phone for us to keep listening. So we stayed there for like the whole 8 minute song, and then he shook our hands and we were on our way. It was really weird.
Anyway, it was a great week. I've had lots of fun, and we have had quite a bit of success as far as finding new investigators goes. We obviously meet a lot of people that don't care about what we have to say, but this week we met a lot of people who really did. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us, answering our prayers, and sending us to people that He has prepared. I thank all of you reading this for your prayers and for your support. I love y'all, and I appreciate all you have done and all you do for me. Know that you're in my prayers as well. Hope you have as good of a week as I did.
Much love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
My work station in my room.
Our bunk beds. I must be a little too fat because I hooked my hammock to the bunkbed and tipped it over trying to lay in my hammock!
My new socks! Roll Tide!
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