Day 156 –I Call That Bold Talk for a One-Eyed Fat Man-08-31-06
Wow! Today was pretty busy. Guess I’d better start from the beginning. We went on an exchange today. Elder Pierce, my companion, went to Reston with Elder Phelps and Elder Williams. Elder Thomson came to Herndon with me. Elder Phelps told me something neat today. When Elder Phelps went to transfer meetings a week ago, he saw Elder Thatcher. We were together at the MTC. “Elder Pierce,” said Elder Phelps, “Elder Thatcher wanted me to tell you that he loves you.” Good ol’ Elder Thatcher.
Elder Phelps also saw Elder Francom( he was also in my district at the MTC) at the transfer meeting. Guess who his new companion is? Elder Spencer! That’s great. I know those two will get along just fine. Boy, Elder Francom is companions with Elder Spencer and has Elder Oram as his zone leader. I’m sure they will fill him in on my progress as a missionary.
Elder Thomson and I went tracting this morning. My current TTH(total tracting hours) at this point is 47. We experienced some memorable tracting moments. I’m writing them down so that when I get older I’ll remember them.
We went up to this one door. No one was answering. We were about to leave when a Domino’s pizza delivery truck arrived. He walked past us carrying a pizza. “ ‘Scuse me fellas,” he said. He rang the bell and a woman answered the door. She saw the pizza and then she saw us. She paid the delivery man and he departed. There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Elder Thomson said, “I’m sorry, did you order your pizza without missionaries?” The woman said that she was not interested. (sigh) On to the next house.
The next house wasn’t much better. We talked briefly with a Jewish woman. She told us that she didn’t have time right now. “Well, we’d love to come back another time to share our message with you about how God has called a prophet on the earth today!” “Look,” said the woman, “don’t disrespect my faith. I know you guys think what you are doing is important, but some people just aren’t interested and you need to know when it is best to just move on.” She was about to close the door when Elder Thomson asked, “You’re Jewish, right?” She paused. Elder Thomson continued, “I guess I don’t really know much about the Jewish faith…” “Look it up on the internet,” she said curtly. She was about to close the door on us again when I said to her, “I guess what we were wondering is if we could come back sometime when you husband is home and talk about your faith. You could bear your testimony of the things you believe and then we could bear our testimony of what we believe. We could share our different faiths with each other.” “No,” she said and closed the door.
It never ceases to surprise me how many people don’t want to share their religion with others. I can’t speak for them, but I’ll just say that… “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” Romans 1: 16-17
We taught S today. President P came along with us. We watched the Bruce R. McConkie talk about the Atonement. This lesson has been in the works for a long time. We talked about the Spirit World. I asked S, “Where do you believe that you will go after you die?” “Well,” she said, “if I’ve accepted Jesus as my Savior, I’ll go to heaven.” “Do you believe in a final judgment?” I asked her. “Well, of course. It says so in the Bible.” “Right,” I said, “and we know that the final judgment won’t happen until after the resurrection and the resurrection won’t happen until Jesus Christ’s second coming. So, my question is, S, “where does your spirit go to wait for the Second Coming?”
S agreed that the concept of a spirit paradise and a spirit prison made sense to her. She admitted that spirit paradise could not be heaven because, “why would God put you in heaven, only to take you out, judge you and put you back in again?”
One of the last things S asked us, before we left was, “Isn’t it a little bold of you to claim that you are the only true church? I mean that’s pretty bold. I go to my church every Sunday. I wouldn’t tell someone that if they weren’t going to my church and listening to my pastor that they weren’t getting the full gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, how can you say that?” I told S that our claim comes from the Holy Priesthood of God being restored through Joseph Smith as well as his calling to be a prophet. We (being the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are the only true church on the earth. It is a bold claim, but it is true. (“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”-Some movie. I can’t remember the title, but my parents always quote this line from the movie) {From Elder Pierce’s mom: The movie in question is “True Grit.”}
Later that evening, Elder Thomson and I went to A’s house. At least what used to be his house. A’s wife told us that he was not living there anymore. Poor A.
Happy Thing for Day 156: We talked with G. We plan to go by and teach him tomorrow. G is looking forward to the temple trip on Saturday. I hope that we can get in touch with A (G’s friend) tomorrow. He has been surprisingly hard to contact.
One last thing before I end my writings for today. There was a notice taped to our door. It was from our apartment manager. The notice said that tropical storm Ernesto will hit our town either late tonight or tomorrow. It advised us to take the necessary precautions. Tomorrow we’ll find out just how bad Ernesto is.
Elder Phelps also saw Elder Francom( he was also in my district at the MTC) at the transfer meeting. Guess who his new companion is? Elder Spencer! That’s great. I know those two will get along just fine. Boy, Elder Francom is companions with Elder Spencer and has Elder Oram as his zone leader. I’m sure they will fill him in on my progress as a missionary.
Elder Thomson and I went tracting this morning. My current TTH(total tracting hours) at this point is 47. We experienced some memorable tracting moments. I’m writing them down so that when I get older I’ll remember them.
We went up to this one door. No one was answering. We were about to leave when a Domino’s pizza delivery truck arrived. He walked past us carrying a pizza. “ ‘Scuse me fellas,” he said. He rang the bell and a woman answered the door. She saw the pizza and then she saw us. She paid the delivery man and he departed. There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Elder Thomson said, “I’m sorry, did you order your pizza without missionaries?” The woman said that she was not interested. (sigh) On to the next house.
The next house wasn’t much better. We talked briefly with a Jewish woman. She told us that she didn’t have time right now. “Well, we’d love to come back another time to share our message with you about how God has called a prophet on the earth today!” “Look,” said the woman, “don’t disrespect my faith. I know you guys think what you are doing is important, but some people just aren’t interested and you need to know when it is best to just move on.” She was about to close the door when Elder Thomson asked, “You’re Jewish, right?” She paused. Elder Thomson continued, “I guess I don’t really know much about the Jewish faith…” “Look it up on the internet,” she said curtly. She was about to close the door on us again when I said to her, “I guess what we were wondering is if we could come back sometime when you husband is home and talk about your faith. You could bear your testimony of the things you believe and then we could bear our testimony of what we believe. We could share our different faiths with each other.” “No,” she said and closed the door.
It never ceases to surprise me how many people don’t want to share their religion with others. I can’t speak for them, but I’ll just say that… “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” Romans 1: 16-17
We taught S today. President P came along with us. We watched the Bruce R. McConkie talk about the Atonement. This lesson has been in the works for a long time. We talked about the Spirit World. I asked S, “Where do you believe that you will go after you die?” “Well,” she said, “if I’ve accepted Jesus as my Savior, I’ll go to heaven.” “Do you believe in a final judgment?” I asked her. “Well, of course. It says so in the Bible.” “Right,” I said, “and we know that the final judgment won’t happen until after the resurrection and the resurrection won’t happen until Jesus Christ’s second coming. So, my question is, S, “where does your spirit go to wait for the Second Coming?”
S agreed that the concept of a spirit paradise and a spirit prison made sense to her. She admitted that spirit paradise could not be heaven because, “why would God put you in heaven, only to take you out, judge you and put you back in again?”
One of the last things S asked us, before we left was, “Isn’t it a little bold of you to claim that you are the only true church? I mean that’s pretty bold. I go to my church every Sunday. I wouldn’t tell someone that if they weren’t going to my church and listening to my pastor that they weren’t getting the full gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, how can you say that?” I told S that our claim comes from the Holy Priesthood of God being restored through Joseph Smith as well as his calling to be a prophet. We (being the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are the only true church on the earth. It is a bold claim, but it is true. (“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”-Some movie. I can’t remember the title, but my parents always quote this line from the movie) {From Elder Pierce’s mom: The movie in question is “True Grit.”}
Later that evening, Elder Thomson and I went to A’s house. At least what used to be his house. A’s wife told us that he was not living there anymore. Poor A.
Happy Thing for Day 156: We talked with G. We plan to go by and teach him tomorrow. G is looking forward to the temple trip on Saturday. I hope that we can get in touch with A (G’s friend) tomorrow. He has been surprisingly hard to contact.
One last thing before I end my writings for today. There was a notice taped to our door. It was from our apartment manager. The notice said that tropical storm Ernesto will hit our town either late tonight or tomorrow. It advised us to take the necessary precautions. Tomorrow we’ll find out just how bad Ernesto is.
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 10:41 AM
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