A little girl who's dad/grandpa we teach was trying to give us some pennies so we were trying to explain that we can't accept money or presents. Her dad said you can only give the God squad presents on their birthday or Christmas. She pointed to our tags and said “this means you don't get monies?". Yep basically haha. Or ladies for that matter. She was a drug baby so she has special needs(visually impaired and anxiety that leads to seizures) and that's why her grandpa takes care of her. Elder smith gave her one of his tags and she ran around and was yelling "now I'm in the God squad". So cute.
We did service for this older gentleman this week. We moved boxes and stuff around in his garage trying to help him organize. He was a borderline hoarder. We were with the elders from the other ward. Elder Itufia and Casey. The guy was nice, but had so much random stuff. He had 3 boxes full of old mail. He had soooo many "collectible” books and some pictures of Elvis that he said were worth $20,000, but they were in the bottom of a random box so I'm not so convinced. Elder Itufia and I were going through one of his boxes and there were playboy books in there. So we quickly put them in a bag and Elder Itufia told me to go ask him where he wants them. I said, “Heck no!" haha and so we just threw them in a random box. Then we were laughing about it and we were wondering if those were collectible too haha.
We did a blitz in the sisters area so we traded companions and all tracted in their area for 2 hours. I was with elder Casey. We went to where the sisters wanted us to go and knocked doors for 2 hours. We got straight up rejected at every door we went to. A couple people just opened the door and slammed it so we would walk away and say "okay telestial kingdom" haha. Then someone would open the door and say "in revelations it says you can't add to the bible" well sir did you know that revelations wasn't the last book written chronologically, so technically they added to the bible. It also says that in the Old Testament, but then the New Testament came along. All we are asking you to do is read and pray about the Book of Mormon. "No! I know it is a lie". Oh really. Have you ever read it? "No”. Interesting. Have a nice day. Is there anything we can do for you? "No!" Door slams deadbolt locks. "Maybe terrestrial kingdom" haha. Then we saw this car pull up to the mailboxes and this young attractive girl gets out of the passenger seat to get the mail. So we decided that she for sure needs the gospel. We went and talked to her about the Book of Mormon and stuff and she was trying to get her mail as fast as possible. And her mom rolled down the window of the car to see what we were telling her daughter. It was way awkward haha.
I heard that my letter was too short last week so sorry about that. I always forget what happened during the week right as I start my letter. I haven't really talked much about the people we teach so here ya go. We have 6 progressing investigators. Progressing meaning they are keeping commitments like "will you read the intro to the Book of Mormon this week". Two of them have baptismal dates. They hopefully quit smoking, but we will find out tonight. If they did quit we will baptize them this Saturday. We have two other investigators meaning that they are not keeping commitments. So we are doing pretty well. We are still trying to find new investigators, but it's always a challenge.
Let me know how you are all doing and if you have any questions.
Spiritual thought for the week:
"Some time ago while visiting Australia, I traveled to a beautiful horseshoe bay renowned for its surfing. As I walked along the beach, I was enthralled by the magnificence of the large crashing waves breaking just outside the bay and the smaller waves rolling in closer to shore.
As I continued my stroll, I encountered a group of American surfers. They were obviously upset about something, talking loudly and gesturing toward the sea. When I asked them what was wrong, they pointed to just outside the bay where the big waves were breaking.
“Look out there,” one of them angrily told me. “Can you see the barrier?” Looking more closely now, I could indeed see a barrier stretching across the entire mouth of the bay, right where the large, enticing waves were breaking. The barrier appeared to be made of a heavy mesh and was supported by floats on top of the water. According to the surfers, it dropped all the way down to the ocean floor.
The American surfer continued, “We are here on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to surf these big waves. We can surf the smaller ones breaking within the bay itself, but the barrier makes it impossible for us to surf the big ones. We have no idea why the barrier is there. All we know is that it has totally spoiled our trip.”
As the American surfers became more animated, my attention was drawn to another nearby surfer--an older man and obviously a local. He seemed to be growing impatient as he listened to the ever-increasing complaints about the barrier.
Finally he rose and walked over to the group. Without saying anything, he pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack and handed them to one of the surfers, pointing out toward the barrier. Each of the surfers looked through the binoculars. When my turn came, with the help of magnification, I could see something that I had not been able to see before: dorsal fins—large sharks feeding near the reef on the other side of the barrier.
The group quickly became subdued. The old surfer retrieved his binoculars and turned to walk away. As he did, he said words I will never forget: “Don’t be too critical of the barrier,” he said. “It’s the only thing that’s keeping you from being devoured.”
Remember the commandments keep us safe even when they seem to be keeping us from having a good time.
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