Hi people!
This week was super fun!
-Elder Nielson
Haha--now only the adventurous will read on:
Monday was fun, we had basically a Zone p-day and played a lot of Volleyball. In the evening we stopped by a really nice guy who invited us in and talked with us for a while. He wasn't at all interested, but we all just bemoaned the state of the world for about 40 minutes.
Also as we were biking along we ran into this guy and I skidded to a stop cause I felt like I should give him a pamphlet. Do I did and then we asked if he would ever be interested in talking with us. He said no he was already Christian--and that was the end of it...or was it?
On Tuesday I led my second district council and I think it went pretty well! After district council we went on exchanges with the ZLs, I went back to Plano 10 with Elder Van Tassel and Elder Stanley went to Plano 6/7 with Elder Fuentes! It was super fun, I like Elder Van Tassel a lot after getting to know him more. We spent comp study going deep into the Book of Mormon, and the symbolism and genius of Mormon himself. Then we had a phone lesson with a lady named Carol and she's super cool! We had one of our ward missionaries conference called into the lesson and he was a huge help, and did a great job relating with her :) Carol said she wants to come to church and to get a physical copy of the Book of Mormon!
After that Elder Van Tassel and I did some more calls, and then headed to dinner with the Morrings. When we got there turns out they are big board game collectors and they have a board game group that plays at their house every week! And also Elder Van Tassel is a board game designer! So we had so much fun talking about Board games and missionary work with them.
When we finished with dinner, the real fun began. Remember that guy I gave a pamphlet to a few paragraphs ago? Well in the morning we had gotten a text from an unknown number asking where can a Book of Mormon be purchased? Turns out it was the guy we gave the pamphlet to and he had read it from cover to cover and was intrigued! So we told him we could come by that night and give him one for free!
So we stopped by, his name is Paul. Paul invited us both in, and we started teaching him about the Restoration and Book of Mormon! Paul us the most elect person I've ever met, he's originally from Nigeria and is on vacation in the US for a bit. We talked with him for about 2 hours about our beliefs, and showed him where the churches in his town are! He said he's been praying for what he should do regarding religion in his life, his wife and kids still go to a church but he stopped going because of a traumatic experience. He says we could be the answer to his prayer, and that he wouldn't have even run into us if he hadn't had trouble with transferring some money, making him have to walk to a different store. When we read Moroni 10:4 with us he marked it in his new Book of Mormon and then basically recited it to us from memory afterwards. He even had someone give him some anti-Mormon content when he had told them he had run into us, and he has rejected it cause he wants to know for himself if what we teach is true! We told him he would run into a lot of stuff degrading Joseph Smith, but that he should be careful what he believes--and he said, "Of course! Even Jesus faced fierce opposition." Which is very true. He's a chief in his hometown, and he said if he ever joins our church, many will follow his lead haha--he asked for another pamphlet before we left so I gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Paul wants to meet every day until he leaves.
Elder Van Tassel and I had such a fun time teaching him, everything we taught Paul loved and made sure he understood. Elder Van Tassel said Paul is the biggest miracle of his mission, and that very well could be true!
In the evening Elder Van Tassel and I had a great time talking about various subjects. And it turns out he designs board games still even while on the mission! For example he designs Magic The Gathering decks with Book of Mormon prophets, and then produces them and gives them to missionaries! Overall it was a super fun exchange.
On Wednesday we got a text from Paul asking for a Doctrine and Covenants and a Pearl of Great Price haha
Elder Stanley and I rode all around our area (probably biked about 20-25 miles) in 102⁰F weather! It was hot, but fun. We ate at Chick-fil-A for dinner cause a kind member had given us gift cards. In the evening Brother Morring came with us to another lesson with Paul! We taught the Plan of Salvation, and again it went super well! Afterwards Brother Morring took us to the famous Whataburger and it was pretty good! He also suggested we try this fancy corndog place, which we WILL be trying if I have anything to say about things. And I do
Thursday we street contacted at the State Farm park area, and it was fun! Unfortunately we misjudged how long it would take us to get there, so by the time we got there it was almost time to head back haha
We then went to teach Paul again, This time with Brother Talley. We talked about Prophets and Priesthood Authority. We said our goodbyes to Paul also, he left on Friday. It was a great lesson though, he said he wants his 17-year-old son to hobnob with people like us.
Friday nothing super interesting happened, we did have a meeting with our Zone reps who are also the Sisters in my district. So that was fun, it's nice to not have to be the one running those meetings. It was fun to talk about our Facebook Goals, and share ideas on how to achieve them.
On Saturday it was cloudy all day and we did some street contacting in a nice neighborhood near our apartments. It was super fun, even though nobody was interested it was a beautiful night and it felt like we were on a nice walk. It gave us a lot of opportunity to talk and point out funny things. We ran into a lady who "warned" us that Jesus Christ is the only way, and didn't believe us when we kept agreeing with her haha
We also had someone yell out to us "you're in a cult" angrily as he drove by. :) We also ran into a Muslim who tried to bash with us but failed miserably. It was a fun day!
On Sunday 3 people we are teaching came to church! It was awesome. We were also late to church cause our Ward Mission Leader was late to pick us up haha
In the afternoon we biked to downtown Plano, outside of our area. We did comp study in a cool park there and it was great! After that we biked the deserted roads by warehouses and water towers to a lesson with Bebe. As we biked I kept stopping to take pictures of the clouds, and imminent storms. Hopefully Elder Stanley doesn't mind, cause there's nothing he can do about it. :) It felt like an adventure cause it was stormy, we were on backroads, and there were little to no cars anywhere! We got to the Spark's house to teach Bebe and the second we got inside it started POURING!! I was glad we had made it just in time, but also a bit sad. Our lesson went super well, one of the Sparks is a board game collectors like me!
After that we biked to the Bushop's house and the rain had slowed a bit, but we were still wet by the time we arrived. We ate Tacos and nachos and had a great time. I love the Bush's, they are having us over again on Thursday haha
Overall this was a great week, but now I have to go cause I need to check up on my district cause there are reports of flooding around the area, and it's pouring outside so I can see why!
-Elder Nielson
No comments:
Post a Comment