Hello all!
This last week was pretty good!
Monday we had an awesome P-Day as a district going around to pawn shops and flea markets and thrift stores trying to find some cool ties or some missionary treasures or whatnot. I kind of struck out, but after grubbing at Buffalo Wild Wings, it all felt better. Now, I will say this, any uneasiness I had when walking into B-dubs surrounded by countless TVs was dispelled when I saw that all they were playing was Golf TV and the WNBA draft, talk about the weakest temptations ever.
Tuesday was awesome! We had exchanged with the bike elders, so I grabbed all of my stuff and jumped on our District Leader's bike and we were off. Their area is the same as our area, we just have dibs on Spanish. So I was pretty familiar with everything. What I was not familiar with was biking, it has been several months since I have done any sort of biking, so my legs definitely felt it. I am not trying to be a wuss, they were just pretty tight. Elder Potter (my exchange comp) and I had an awesome day though. We talked to tons of people and followed up on a few referrals and then went and helped a member move. We had an awesome experience as we were walking around with the member as she was waiting for her husband to walk home. We were talking with her and we passed a lady who we hadn't thought to talk to. She turned to us and said, " thank you guys for all you do, I really respect you." We said, "Thanks!" and kept walking. HOW STUPID, right? She then said, "Yeah, I used to meet with ya'll, but I lost you". Obviously we turned around and stepped toward her, without really even thinking I semi-yelled, "Well, you found us!". She stopped, looked at us, and started weeping. Really weeping. She explained how she did not feel the Lord in her heart anymore and how she was trying to compensate for that by doing tons of service. She had a huge back and leg brace on and she said how she knew she would be perfect in heaven and how her life had been declining. We assured her of the love her Heavenly Father has for her and before we could say anything she asked us for a card. That doesn't usually happen. We left her with the bike elders' phone number and she said she would call.
In Preach My Gospel we read how the Lord is preparing people for us to teach. It says that sometimes we will find them, but they will also find us. And that is what happened that day. There were so many variables that were in play, 10 seconds later and she would have been in her car driving away. This is definitely the Lord's work.
About ten seconds after that we ran into a big dude who said, "I know somebody is gettin saved today, the Jesus Gangsters are out!" Apparently he meant us. There was a few expletives in there as well, but I don't think I should include those. He asked us to call him if we ever needed Spanish translation. That piqued my interest so I stopped and told him I spoke Spanish and we started talking. He was a cool guy. Very interesting. Now he does Spanish translation for people, but he used to be a pimp in Chicago. Real interesting. Nothing really happened with him, but our street cred is rising in downtown, that's always good.
The next day we had a good district meeting. I heard that an old investigator had a little caesar pizza eating contest with the missionaries once and that he had eaten a whole on in 6 minutes 13 seconds, so I felt the need to try and beat it. Big mistake. I got 9 minutes 56 seconds and a terrible belly ache, but everyday since then I have been training with little caesars, so we shall see. That was the highlight of Wednesday until English Class. Our English Class in Charlestown is SO packed now. We have about ten people and more on the way, it is definitely a handful. It will be very interesting to see how we handle it. We went from one lady consistently to ten people and all their children in a week, a bit of a jump.
Thursday through Friday was pretty chill, nothing really happened.
Saturday we met with a few people and helped a member with his remodel.
Sunday we were met with no investigators to church, again. But things will be changing soon, I can smell success in the air.
Today is Elder Banks' last day on the mission. He leaves on Wednesday and has a full day at the mission home tomorrow. We have transfer meeting tomorrow, so I will get a new companion and we are out the door, hitting the pavement, getting to work. I will be the experienced one in terms of the work here in Clarksville, so I am effectively "in charge", which is scary. Luckily I have a GPS now so we won't get too lost, but for the next few weeks it will be definitely interesting until my comp gets up to speed so we can be equally yolked in this mess. I am so stoked! There are some amazing things brewing. We have multiple families in the works, which is ideal.
Pray for me and my new companion, we will definitely be having an interesting week this week.
I love you all, I hope everyone has an awesome week!
Love,
Elder St. Martin
This last week was pretty good!
Monday we had an awesome P-Day as a district going around to pawn shops and flea markets and thrift stores trying to find some cool ties or some missionary treasures or whatnot. I kind of struck out, but after grubbing at Buffalo Wild Wings, it all felt better. Now, I will say this, any uneasiness I had when walking into B-dubs surrounded by countless TVs was dispelled when I saw that all they were playing was Golf TV and the WNBA draft, talk about the weakest temptations ever.
Tuesday was awesome! We had exchanged with the bike elders, so I grabbed all of my stuff and jumped on our District Leader's bike and we were off. Their area is the same as our area, we just have dibs on Spanish. So I was pretty familiar with everything. What I was not familiar with was biking, it has been several months since I have done any sort of biking, so my legs definitely felt it. I am not trying to be a wuss, they were just pretty tight. Elder Potter (my exchange comp) and I had an awesome day though. We talked to tons of people and followed up on a few referrals and then went and helped a member move. We had an awesome experience as we were walking around with the member as she was waiting for her husband to walk home. We were talking with her and we passed a lady who we hadn't thought to talk to. She turned to us and said, " thank you guys for all you do, I really respect you." We said, "Thanks!" and kept walking. HOW STUPID, right? She then said, "Yeah, I used to meet with ya'll, but I lost you". Obviously we turned around and stepped toward her, without really even thinking I semi-yelled, "Well, you found us!". She stopped, looked at us, and started weeping. Really weeping. She explained how she did not feel the Lord in her heart anymore and how she was trying to compensate for that by doing tons of service. She had a huge back and leg brace on and she said how she knew she would be perfect in heaven and how her life had been declining. We assured her of the love her Heavenly Father has for her and before we could say anything she asked us for a card. That doesn't usually happen. We left her with the bike elders' phone number and she said she would call.
In Preach My Gospel we read how the Lord is preparing people for us to teach. It says that sometimes we will find them, but they will also find us. And that is what happened that day. There were so many variables that were in play, 10 seconds later and she would have been in her car driving away. This is definitely the Lord's work.
About ten seconds after that we ran into a big dude who said, "I know somebody is gettin saved today, the Jesus Gangsters are out!" Apparently he meant us. There was a few expletives in there as well, but I don't think I should include those. He asked us to call him if we ever needed Spanish translation. That piqued my interest so I stopped and told him I spoke Spanish and we started talking. He was a cool guy. Very interesting. Now he does Spanish translation for people, but he used to be a pimp in Chicago. Real interesting. Nothing really happened with him, but our street cred is rising in downtown, that's always good.
The next day we had a good district meeting. I heard that an old investigator had a little caesar pizza eating contest with the missionaries once and that he had eaten a whole on in 6 minutes 13 seconds, so I felt the need to try and beat it. Big mistake. I got 9 minutes 56 seconds and a terrible belly ache, but everyday since then I have been training with little caesars, so we shall see. That was the highlight of Wednesday until English Class. Our English Class in Charlestown is SO packed now. We have about ten people and more on the way, it is definitely a handful. It will be very interesting to see how we handle it. We went from one lady consistently to ten people and all their children in a week, a bit of a jump.
Thursday through Friday was pretty chill, nothing really happened.
Saturday we met with a few people and helped a member with his remodel.
Sunday we were met with no investigators to church, again. But things will be changing soon, I can smell success in the air.
Today is Elder Banks' last day on the mission. He leaves on Wednesday and has a full day at the mission home tomorrow. We have transfer meeting tomorrow, so I will get a new companion and we are out the door, hitting the pavement, getting to work. I will be the experienced one in terms of the work here in Clarksville, so I am effectively "in charge", which is scary. Luckily I have a GPS now so we won't get too lost, but for the next few weeks it will be definitely interesting until my comp gets up to speed so we can be equally yolked in this mess. I am so stoked! There are some amazing things brewing. We have multiple families in the works, which is ideal.
Pray for me and my new companion, we will definitely be having an interesting week this week.
I love you all, I hope everyone has an awesome week!
Love,
Elder St. Martin
No comments:
Post a Comment