Day 181-9/25/06-Busy, Busy Day
Today we talked with J. Not to teach, but to set up a time to teach him. N said that she would be there as well. Excellent!
Editor’s Note: I’m sure it gets confusing reading initials instead of names. Is this J or J? To clarify as much as possible without compromising investigators privacy, Elder Pierce and his companion Elder Pierce (Elders Pierce of Elder Pierce squared as they are sometimes known) are teaching J and N and J O’N and Brother N. Clear as mud? Right?
Back to Elder Pierce:
N is such a good member missionary. I also found out the answer to a question that has been puzzling me. Just where is J’s wife? I mean, I assumed that he was married. I asked him where his wife was. Mrs. A apparently works at a hospital and spends most of her time away from home. In all my time that I’ve been here in Herndon, I’ve never met J’s wife. It’s starting to feel like the t.v. show Frasier with Niles Crane and his wife, Maris.
My companion and I got into a bit of a dispute this afternoon. Right after lunch we went tracting. My comp had a street that he saw on a map last night that he wanted to tract, so we went there first. When we got there, my companion noticed that there was a Pentecostal church building right across the street from the place he’d wanted to tract.
“I’m pretty sure it says something about this in the new white handbook,” he said. (The white handbook is the Missionary Rules Handbook) He got out his handbook and began to thumb through it. “Where is it?” he said after a while of searching. I pulled out my new white handbook and began to search with him. We were looking for a ruling on proselyting near other churches. Finally, after searching for a while, I said, “A-ha! Found it! It’s right here under Local Laws and Customs. It says to “respect the culture, customs traditions, religious beliefs and practices, and sacred sites in the area where you serve. Do not proselyte at or near the houses of worship of other faiths.”
“Let’s go somewhere else to tract,” said my companion. “What’s wrong with those houses across the street? That’s where you planned for us to tract.” “Yeah, but that’s before I knew that they were across the street from a church.” (Anyone who knows Elder Pierce knows that he is always up for a lively discussion about…anything, basically. He and Elder Pierce discussed the merits of following the letter of the law and spirit of the law and tracting the houses across the street from the church. In the end, right won and they moved on down to another neighborhood)
The first house we came to, a woman came to the front door with a baby. “Hey guys,” she said with some exasperation in her voice. “I am really busy right now. I’m trying to put my son to bed. “Could you come back in an hour?” “Sure thing,” I said naively. We tracted the rest of the houses on the street for an hour. No one was interested. When the hour was up, we went back to the first house and knocked again. No one answered. Ohhh, very sneaky.
Tonight we had dinner with Brother and Sister H and their children. We had Papa John’s pizza for dinner. In Northern Virginia in the fall, Monday is Redskins Day at Papa John’s. If the Redskins win, you get your choice of extra toppings free! Well, apparently the Redskins won yesterday because the H’s pizza had lots of toppings which is fine with me. The more toppings, the better. During dinner, we talked about my blog. Sister H has been following along with my mission. She had some questions for me about the mission car that our area got after Elder D broke his arm. “Why did you name your car?” she asked.
“I got the idea from Elder S,” I said. In Elder S’s area they have a van as their mode of transportation. When I went on exchanges with Elder S, he told me that their van had a name. “This is Vanessa,” he said. Vanessa the Van. So I named my Mazda 3, Maddie. It was named after Maddie Hayes from the t.v. series “Moonlighting”. I thought a car this beautiful should have a beautiful name to go with it. So now you know the rest…of the story.
“Wait a minute,” my companion said. “You drove the red Mazda 3?!” “Yeah, for three weeks,” I said. “Why?” “That was the car I had in my first area,” he said. “During Halloween last year we went to the Trunk-or –Treat in my area at the time. My companion got some of those rubber monster hands, climbed into the trunk and covered up with a blanket. When the kids came by for candy, his big monster hand would reach out and give them some candy. It was a lot of fun. I can’t believe that you drove the same car I had a year ago. What a coincidence. One car. Two Pierces.” Sister H asked my comp. if he had named the car, too. No, he said. We didn’t give it a name. Good missionary memories.
When we got home from dinner there was a message on our machine. It was from Sister H. (Another Sister H, not the one from dinner) I called her back. She said that S would not be able to meet with us tomorrow. She said that S had to pick up her kids from school at the same time as our appointment. Sister H wondered if we could come a little earlier. That was fine with us. I called S to see if an earlier time would work for her. She said yes and that she could not wait.
“I have a favor to ask of you,” said S. “What is it, S?” I asked. “Will you pray for me? I’m still sore after my surgery. Will you do that for me, please? Keep me in your prayers? “Of course, S,” I said. “Thank you,” she said, with a bit of emotion in her voice. “That means so much to me. I asked you, Elder Pierce, because you’ve shown me that you know the power of prayer. You’re one of the few people I know that I can ask to pray for me.” (sigh) Always good to talk to S.
Tonight M McC picked us up and went on exchanges with us. We went and checked up on K F. He invited us in. We were able to teach him a bit about the Book of Mormon as well as how the Book of Mormon can help us to strengthen our family.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. The Book of Mormon speaks of the family. It begins with family (Lehi and his children. It ends with family (Mormon and his son, Moroni) Our Father in Heaven brought forth the Book of Mormon at this time when Satan is trying harder than ever to tear families apart. The Book of Mormon was given to us from God to strengthen the family. It testifies of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is continuous revelation. (pause) Satan hasn’t stopped trying to tempt people. He hasn’t stopped trying to find new ways to tear apart the family. I mean, look at Internet pornography!!!... Well…don’t look at it…what I mean is that Internet pornography is a perfect example of what Satan is able to do now in this day and age. Why would we think that God would cease to give us continuous direction and guidance when the adversary’s influence in this world is becoming more refined and omnipresent?
K’s still a little skittish, but very inviting. We’ll continue to work with him.
Happy Thing for Day 181-When we got home tonight, there was a message on our machine. It was from W. W is our downstairs neighbor in our apt. complex. We see him from time to time, coming and going. We always exchange a “hi, how are you?” One time, we were able to give him a pass along card with our number on it. Well, tonight, he called us. He said that he wanted to talk with us. I love self-referrals. W said that he had some stuff going on in his life and wanted a spiritual perspective on it. W is a young heavy-set black man. He wears glasses and seems to be of mild temperament. I guess he’s in his late 20’s. Real nice guy. We have plans to meet with him tomorrow.
Wow! Tomorrow should be real good! We’ll go teach S at 1:30. The SP with go with us to teach A at 4:00. At 7:00, we’ll go with Brother S to visit our neighbor W. Busy, busy day tomorrow. We also plan on trying to get in touch with A. Remind him about general conference coming up. Now that this whole ugly jail mess is behind him, he can start focusing on getting his life back on the right track. And what better way than joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Editor’s Note: I’m sure it gets confusing reading initials instead of names. Is this J or J? To clarify as much as possible without compromising investigators privacy, Elder Pierce and his companion Elder Pierce (Elders Pierce of Elder Pierce squared as they are sometimes known) are teaching J and N and J O’N and Brother N. Clear as mud? Right?
Back to Elder Pierce:
N is such a good member missionary. I also found out the answer to a question that has been puzzling me. Just where is J’s wife? I mean, I assumed that he was married. I asked him where his wife was. Mrs. A apparently works at a hospital and spends most of her time away from home. In all my time that I’ve been here in Herndon, I’ve never met J’s wife. It’s starting to feel like the t.v. show Frasier with Niles Crane and his wife, Maris.
My companion and I got into a bit of a dispute this afternoon. Right after lunch we went tracting. My comp had a street that he saw on a map last night that he wanted to tract, so we went there first. When we got there, my companion noticed that there was a Pentecostal church building right across the street from the place he’d wanted to tract.
“I’m pretty sure it says something about this in the new white handbook,” he said. (The white handbook is the Missionary Rules Handbook) He got out his handbook and began to thumb through it. “Where is it?” he said after a while of searching. I pulled out my new white handbook and began to search with him. We were looking for a ruling on proselyting near other churches. Finally, after searching for a while, I said, “A-ha! Found it! It’s right here under Local Laws and Customs. It says to “respect the culture, customs traditions, religious beliefs and practices, and sacred sites in the area where you serve. Do not proselyte at or near the houses of worship of other faiths.”
“Let’s go somewhere else to tract,” said my companion. “What’s wrong with those houses across the street? That’s where you planned for us to tract.” “Yeah, but that’s before I knew that they were across the street from a church.” (Anyone who knows Elder Pierce knows that he is always up for a lively discussion about…anything, basically. He and Elder Pierce discussed the merits of following the letter of the law and spirit of the law and tracting the houses across the street from the church. In the end, right won and they moved on down to another neighborhood)
The first house we came to, a woman came to the front door with a baby. “Hey guys,” she said with some exasperation in her voice. “I am really busy right now. I’m trying to put my son to bed. “Could you come back in an hour?” “Sure thing,” I said naively. We tracted the rest of the houses on the street for an hour. No one was interested. When the hour was up, we went back to the first house and knocked again. No one answered. Ohhh, very sneaky.
Tonight we had dinner with Brother and Sister H and their children. We had Papa John’s pizza for dinner. In Northern Virginia in the fall, Monday is Redskins Day at Papa John’s. If the Redskins win, you get your choice of extra toppings free! Well, apparently the Redskins won yesterday because the H’s pizza had lots of toppings which is fine with me. The more toppings, the better. During dinner, we talked about my blog. Sister H has been following along with my mission. She had some questions for me about the mission car that our area got after Elder D broke his arm. “Why did you name your car?” she asked.
“I got the idea from Elder S,” I said. In Elder S’s area they have a van as their mode of transportation. When I went on exchanges with Elder S, he told me that their van had a name. “This is Vanessa,” he said. Vanessa the Van. So I named my Mazda 3, Maddie. It was named after Maddie Hayes from the t.v. series “Moonlighting”. I thought a car this beautiful should have a beautiful name to go with it. So now you know the rest…of the story.
“Wait a minute,” my companion said. “You drove the red Mazda 3?!” “Yeah, for three weeks,” I said. “Why?” “That was the car I had in my first area,” he said. “During Halloween last year we went to the Trunk-or –Treat in my area at the time. My companion got some of those rubber monster hands, climbed into the trunk and covered up with a blanket. When the kids came by for candy, his big monster hand would reach out and give them some candy. It was a lot of fun. I can’t believe that you drove the same car I had a year ago. What a coincidence. One car. Two Pierces.” Sister H asked my comp. if he had named the car, too. No, he said. We didn’t give it a name. Good missionary memories.
When we got home from dinner there was a message on our machine. It was from Sister H. (Another Sister H, not the one from dinner) I called her back. She said that S would not be able to meet with us tomorrow. She said that S had to pick up her kids from school at the same time as our appointment. Sister H wondered if we could come a little earlier. That was fine with us. I called S to see if an earlier time would work for her. She said yes and that she could not wait.
“I have a favor to ask of you,” said S. “What is it, S?” I asked. “Will you pray for me? I’m still sore after my surgery. Will you do that for me, please? Keep me in your prayers? “Of course, S,” I said. “Thank you,” she said, with a bit of emotion in her voice. “That means so much to me. I asked you, Elder Pierce, because you’ve shown me that you know the power of prayer. You’re one of the few people I know that I can ask to pray for me.” (sigh) Always good to talk to S.
Tonight M McC picked us up and went on exchanges with us. We went and checked up on K F. He invited us in. We were able to teach him a bit about the Book of Mormon as well as how the Book of Mormon can help us to strengthen our family.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. The Book of Mormon speaks of the family. It begins with family (Lehi and his children. It ends with family (Mormon and his son, Moroni) Our Father in Heaven brought forth the Book of Mormon at this time when Satan is trying harder than ever to tear families apart. The Book of Mormon was given to us from God to strengthen the family. It testifies of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is continuous revelation. (pause) Satan hasn’t stopped trying to tempt people. He hasn’t stopped trying to find new ways to tear apart the family. I mean, look at Internet pornography!!!... Well…don’t look at it…what I mean is that Internet pornography is a perfect example of what Satan is able to do now in this day and age. Why would we think that God would cease to give us continuous direction and guidance when the adversary’s influence in this world is becoming more refined and omnipresent?
K’s still a little skittish, but very inviting. We’ll continue to work with him.
Happy Thing for Day 181-When we got home tonight, there was a message on our machine. It was from W. W is our downstairs neighbor in our apt. complex. We see him from time to time, coming and going. We always exchange a “hi, how are you?” One time, we were able to give him a pass along card with our number on it. Well, tonight, he called us. He said that he wanted to talk with us. I love self-referrals. W said that he had some stuff going on in his life and wanted a spiritual perspective on it. W is a young heavy-set black man. He wears glasses and seems to be of mild temperament. I guess he’s in his late 20’s. Real nice guy. We have plans to meet with him tomorrow.
Wow! Tomorrow should be real good! We’ll go teach S at 1:30. The SP with go with us to teach A at 4:00. At 7:00, we’ll go with Brother S to visit our neighbor W. Busy, busy day tomorrow. We also plan on trying to get in touch with A. Remind him about general conference coming up. Now that this whole ugly jail mess is behind him, he can start focusing on getting his life back on the right track. And what better way than joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for tomorrow!
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 6:46 AM
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