New Investigator - E. Adamek Mission Apr. 27, 2015

Good afternoon all,

It's interesting how people move from the condition of not being interested in talking with us missionaries to having a strong desire to do so. Out here in the field, missionaries understand that what guides this change is the Holy Spirit. This touches people's hearts and minds and presents a conflict to their soul that they must either act or not act upon. Ultimately, it's up to the individual whether or not they choose to let us in their house or talk to them on the street. I can promise that I really have no control over any of these situations and often after having spoken with a person feel that were it not for the Spirit, I would have totally been lost. Those "What just happened?" moments occur a lot. I am grateful for how the Holy Spirit guides me in all aspects of my days, especially in helping other learn more about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. 

Missionaries refer to people who are learning about the restored Gospel as "investigators" because the process of learning about it involves asking questions, personal pondering and praying. Essentially, they put the Church and the restored Gospel on the spot and find out for themselves about its truthfulness. We had an experience this past week where a woman decided to investigate the Church because she felt like it was an important thing to do. She works at a local restaurant that missionaries frequent. She told us that she would hide and refuse to come out from the back whenever we were there. Then, when we left, she would ask a fellow co-worker, who was a member of the Church, if we would be coming back another time because she felt like she should talk to us. Clearly, there was a conflict. This isn't the first time that this has happened in my mission. It's a miracle that she made the decision she did. 

We had another person show up at church this past week whom we had never met before and who wanted to start meeting with us to learn more. This was a first for me. He is from the Netherlands, so I asked him all the standard questions about their speed skating and soccer teams. I need to get an orange tie.

Took a trip up to Baker City this past week for a zone meeting. It was so refreshing to see the mountains and hills and trees and even a little bit of snow on the tops of the mountains. It has been pretty good weather out here, but everyone is really concerned about the lack of rain. Pray for rain. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Adamek