Well this last week was pretty awesome. I cant believe I only have 3 months left. This time has been so great. I have had many awesome spiritual experiences. I should share more with you, but the best stories just happen to be the random people that frustrate me.
Funny
story of the week. Well not really funny a little more like
frustrating. We ran into a gentleman. I wont tell you which faith he was
from but he was carrying a cross down the street. Just like the guy in
Montrose. So I had to talk to him and tell him that he reminded me of
home. All I was going to tell him was thanks for doing that and that he
brought a little home to me. He didnt even let me say that much. He cut
me off and began talking about this and that. He was practically yelling
religious stuff at us. He talked about how the world is getting and
preaching at us (I purposely say 'at' instead of 'to') Most of it went
right over my head because he was yelling it. I told him that we
believed in everything he was saying and that we were out sharing the
same message. We told him that we were Christians and that we were
sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He looked at our nametags and
said, "Oh you guys are Mormons. You arent Christians. You are a cult." I
began saying, Yes, we are Christians, we believe in Jes-" He then cut
me off and said, "No you arent. You are not truly Christians, you do not
believe in Jesus Christ." The whole time he was still yelling at us.
Well aside from being extremely offended I also got extremely frustrated
with him and it was all I could do to keep myself from clocking this
guy in the face. The whole time we were calm and listened to him, but as
soon as we told him we were Christians as well he just jumped down our
throats. I continued to keep calm, but it was tough. I just dont
understand some people sometimes.
We are doing
really well with working with the members here in the Bedford Ward.
What we have been doing recently is going to members houses for dinner.
We take a picture with them and help them upload it to facebook with the
hashtags #ldsmissionary #socialmediasplit #lds. When they do that it
enables them to share the gospel online. I would like everyone back home
to do something like that. Maybe invite the missionaries over for
dinner and take a picture with them. Maybe put a picture of me on
facebook and do the same. On the weekend of November 6-9
we are doing a social media split. On those days we are going to have
members teaching with us all day. Each member uploads a status to social
media with a hashtag on it. So if you follow those hashtags, especially
#socialmediasplit you are sure to see a few pictures of me with
members. Already we have gotten 5 or 6 families to do it. Another thing
we are doing is really trying to build up the ward with members they
already have. Most of my mission I just have hit the pavement and found
new investigators. Here we are really working with the members to bring
back people that have already been baptized. That is a first for me. In
each of my areas I have done less active work, but it is usually just
going through the ward list and knocking the doors. Now we are asking
members who they know that they would like to see back at church. We
then go visit them with them. It has been huge with gaining member
trust. I think a lot of the members are realizing more that we are here
to help them. I would really suggest that you do that back home. Take
the missionaries to visit your home teaching families even if they are
active. Take them to see someone that we know that hasnt been for a
while.
CWJensen