Hello,
This week happened.
Monday: Shopped at Wal-Mart (a missionary favorite) and
waited outside for our ride to come pick us up. As we waited, two people walked
up to the store that looked very familiar. We realized it was a guy who had
slammed a door in our face just two or three days before. His wife, who had
accepted a Book of Mormon and a return visit from us, was with him, but would
not make eye contact with us. My companion said, "Long time no see"
and the man grumbled "Yeah". I don't believe in coincidences. I
thought it was hilariously ironic that this happened, but also hoped it showed
the man that we are normal people and not robots who knock on doors all day.
Tuesday: Elder Hatefi's birthday! I also started falling
asleep in a family's home where the husband is a member and the wife is not
(known as a part-member family), but was still able to answer questions that
came my way and manage to contribute to the conversation. I felt bad about
being sleepy.
Wednesday: Rode up to a house intending to ask the people
who lived there if they knew someone we were looking for. 10 dogs ran out to
greet and deafen us. Through the din, the man sitting out in front of his house
noted our arrival. We started to ask him our question to which he answered
"Not interested". Our presence prompts people to be on the defense in
a nonsensical way. We repeated our question and he finally answered it
appropriately. However, that day we were also able to help clean up a house for
a family who was moving and help out another lady who is suffering from a lot
of pain.
Thursday: Taught a lesson on the restoration of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ to a family who has been experiencing a lot of changes both bad
and good. They desire to be on the path to God and went away from the lesson
with renewed hope. I felt very strongly that I had been guided to say what I
said by the Holy Ghost. We ate dinner at the home of a family who aren't
members of the Church, but are our next-door neighbors. We talked a lot about
family. We read a couple chapters from the Book of Mormon with a kid who is
learning about the Church and who loves Halloween. In fact, he is already
starting to prepare for it and build his haunted house in the garage and
backyard! I've seen the jumping spiders.
Friday: Had a meeting with all the missionaries in the
Caldwell Zone. That evening, we visited with a man who is a member, but doesn't
come to Church very often (less-active member) and he had us watch a little bit
of a program on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It was interesting, but we got him to turn it off after a few minutes. Just one
note about the FLDS: they are not members of our Church, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Saturday: Met with a lady who has been experiencing a lot of
frustration with her church recently as it has been going through a schism. We
had a nice discussion on religion and I shared the story of Joseph Smith's searching
for the church Jesus Christ established. As we were about to leave, it was
somehow brought up that she and her husband had gone to college at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and were therefore Badger fans. Good thing I
was wearing my maroon and gold tie in defense of the Golden Gophers. I try to
love everyone I meet. Sometimes it's hard. No, she was a really awesome person
and it didn't matter what school she went to.
That afternoon we knocked on a door, again trying to find a
family who had recently moved in. A lady came out and we asked her if she knew
where they lived. She didn't. We then asked her if she had spoken with
missionaries before. She informed us that she knew what we believed in. The way
too long conversation that proceeded from that statement proved to me that
contention is of the devil. Whenever someone tells us they know what
we believe in, they usually immediately begin telling us things that we believe
in that we don't actually believe in. Elder Hatefi spoke with her mostly because
in about one minute I had decided I was done with the conversation. We offered
our help with any projects she had around the yard. She told us she wouldn't
have us help because we believed that works got us into heaven and not grace.
We told her that's not what we believed. Then she offered us water.
This lady was nice and she was operating off of the
understanding she had. But contention is still of the devil.
Sunday: I got to go to Church and have some reprieve from
all the craziness I experienced this past week.
Next week will happen and I'm looking forward to it. We all
have crazy days and weeks and months and years and lives. Through all the smoke
and confusion, we can find peace. I have found great peace through placing my
trust in Jesus Christ. I have faith in Him. It's made a difference. A big
difference. A priceless difference. I love Him.
I hope you all have a good week and are blessed with moments
of peace and joy.
Love,
Elder Adamek
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