We went over to Patrick's place last Tuesday for our appointment and he wasn't home, so that didn't happen. However, we stopped by a few days later and he was out on his porch, so we stopped to talk to him. It wasn't a good use of time because he was completely hammered. Drunk as could be. Not sure if he remembers our visit at all. Anyway, he told us that he has read a few pages of the Book of Mormon, and that he was so excited to come to church again and come to the Cockrell's baptism on Saturday (he didn't come to either). Anyway, we couldn't really even talk to him because he would just interject the whole time and say stuff like, "Let's just talk about Jesus!" We were like, "Yeah, that's what we're doing bro, but you keep talking." Anyway, not a good use of the 10 minutes we were there. At the end he asked us to basically confess all of our sins to him and it was really weird. Haven't seen him since.
On Friday we met a dude tracting name Jerandum (or J'Random - I don't know) who didn't seem super interested, but he told us we could come back on Saturday. So Saturday night we stop by and he is home, so we start talking to him about some stuff and end up teaching him the first lesson. We also gave him a Book of Mormon, set up a return appointment, and he said that he was really excited to read, and that he would be at church next Sunday. I look forward to seeing where it all goes.
On Saturday we had Morgan's and Megan's baptisms. The service was actually really good. Their dad baptized them. He is really struggling with his health (he basically has terminal cancer) and so he isn't very strong right now. So Brother Lamb, their home teacher and longtime friend, went into the font with them and so he and Brother Lamb basically both baptized Morgan and Megan together. Bishop Lloyd, another one of the Cockrell's family's close friends, gave a really good talk at their baptism as well. It was very apparent that he has seen their family come a long way over the last few years, and everyone was just so happy. It was so cool to be a part of it. They are truly taking steps to becoming an eternal family, and that's awesome. President and Sister Sainsbury came to the service as well, and they told us that they were going to 6 baptisms that day. That's pretty good for our mission in one weekend, so that was awesome, too.
What wasn't awesome was our Gospel Principles lesson on Sunday haha. I've told y'all about Brother Chiu and his "Chiu-theories." Well, he is out of town this month, but the lesson was still by far the most "Chiu-theory"/deep/false doctrine filled lesson ever. I won't say a whole lot about it, but we were talking about the Creation. One of the headings in the manual is "Jesus Christ created the Earth." Immediately there were people who were like, "No, God created the Earth." So we explained all of that very simply, that Jesus created the earth under God's direction, so both are technically correct. Then we had a bunch of people go off about how they believe in the Trinity, and someone asked if God was a "biological life-form", and then somehow Mother in Heaven was brought up, and pretty much everything we said was received by someone in the room with a head shake and a, "No, I don't believe that." I just felt like saying, "Well, if you don't believe what we are teaching then you believe false doctrine. The conception of the "Trinity" was imagined up and created by a group of uninspired men. True doctrine, which we have just explained to you, was revealed by God Himself to His Prophets, both ancient and modern. If you are going to come to a church that teaches truth, and then just proceed to argue and tell us you don't believe it, either 1) Open your heart and mind enough to understand and recognize true doctrine when it is being taught, or 2) Please leave the class." Now, I apologize for the rant. None of that was actually said, but that's what I wanted to say by the end haha. There were some crazy people in there. We did our best to salvage it, and we had a couple of members in there who helped out a bit, but all in all it was just a blasted lesson. People were all over the place haha.
Well, the highlight of the week was talking to Mom and Dad and the fam yesterday. It was pretty fun to see y'all and talk for a bit. Just think, only 7.5ish more months until we get to do it again! haha
Oh, forgot about one thing. We got a referral for a guy named Yiliu on Saturday. He is from China, has been in the States for 4 years, and just moved to Montgomery from Virginia like 3 days ago. We called the guy who sent the referral, and he told us that Yiliu was baptized just last week up in Virginia. That was one of the more odd referrals I've received. Anyway, we met him Saturday evening and got him a ride to church Sunday, so that was awesome. Funny thing about Yiliu is that he rented a house that is in the hood. He didn't realize that when he looked at the place online, and only found out when he got here the other day. The place is like 1/2 a mile from the office that he is doing an internship at, but he says he has to call an Uber to come get him. He is genuinely scared to leave his house. I kinda feel bad for him, but it's kinda funny at the same time. Obviously I wouldn't be walking around after dark, but I just don't feel unsafe in most places. His house is definitely in the hood, but it's far from the worst I've seen. I'm sure he'll be fine. Yiliu is a cool guy and we are going to have the chance to give him the new member lessons while he is here, so that's cool.
Alright, love you guys. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It's so good to hear from so many people that we are being prayed for. That's one of my favorite things. Alright, love y'all. Talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
The Cockrell's baptism!
Getting ready for the baptism.
It's heating up in Alabama!
If you can't have a crawfish boil, then at least have a shrimp fest!
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