Teaching to the understanding of men

September 30, 2013

 

Miracles, miracles, where do I start!?

There's so many to choose from!

I'll tell you this little tid bit though.Every pday we have to wash our car. So today we washed our car by hand... in the rain. We used a hose. How sad is that!?

So I went on an exchange with Elder Harker last week and when we went to library to do some research in our hour on lds websites I talked to a man that I had felt impressed to give a restoration pamphlet to a week ago. You have to understand that I've seen this guy consistently at the library every week for the last 8 months I've been here. He's a rather gruff/mean looking dude. He wears old ratty sweat shirts, his face is always got a mustache and stubble on it and big thick glasses to match his thick personage. I thought it was a weird prompting to give a pamphlet to someone because I never give pamphlets to people before I teach them. When I started talking to him I learned that his name is Robert. I had to go, so my approach went something like this.

"Hey Robert, I'm Elder Lloyd! I've actually seen you lot here over the last 6 months or so. You here to research stuff?"

"Yeah" (his voice was totally soft and you could tell that his demeanor did not match his personality. He's the hugest softy EVER!)

"Cool, well do you know many mormons?"

"A few, but I'm lutheran"

"Awesome, well I've got to go, but would you mind if I left this pamphlet with you?"

"Sure go ahead."

"Awesome. The message that it has has changed my life for the better and I am so happy because of it. See you around!"  Really awkward right? I was just doing what I had been prompted to do.  Later that week he told me that he liked it and if I had anything else for him to read he'd read it. So this time I brought a book of mormon and a plan of salvation pamphlet and when Elder Harker and I talked to him on that exchanged he just gushed out his entire life story! We're meeting with him tomorrow at the Visitor's center. I really hope we can share something that will uplift him. His life is about to fall apart and he can see it.

We also picked up a muslim investigator from Syria this week. He's our next door neighbor. We met him one night when we had to wait in the parking lot of our apartment for an ambulance. month and half later we got him to come in to the visitor's center and had one of the best lessons ever!

I've been learning a lot about teaching from the absolute ground zero. When teaching Ayman we had to teach the whole concept of the Atonement very simply and completely. There comes a lot of power when you are more concerned about the investigator's understanding of what you're teaching rather than getting through the lesson material. At the end he said he totally believed us because he could see the Book of Mormon in front of him in Arabic. The use of scripture for Ayman was crucial, much less teaching at the visitor's center where we had almost any resource we needed at our fingertips. I feel like he truly understands and because of that his desire to read the Book of Mormon in Arabic was very engrained in his demeanor. It was incredible to be able to teach by the Spirit to his understanding rather than just hoping that he would feel the Spirit and know what it means. A lot of miscommunication happens when you assume someone already knows about a concept.

We also picked up another new investigator that's living with an excommunicated member. Yesterday we reviewed the restoration, committed both of them to baptism and then taught the law of chastity from several bible passages about the severity of the sin. When I asked Bill straight up if he would live the law of chastity from that day forward he looked down, and then at his girlfriend. I've never seen such a hardened criminal,who claims that he has no room for compassion, look at a woman with so much tenderness. She was embarrassed because he was getting so gushy on her. He never said a word to her. After about 5 minutes of pure silence he said yes he would, but he wanted to talk things through with Ilene. I asked him when we could come back and immediately he responded "the day after we get married." Elder Christensen and I were so stoked to see someone's faith move them to action! Bill working at the stake president's counselors house has really effected him. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be teaching him right now. Miracles happen when you merely open your mouth. God always promises that it shall be filled Doctrine and Covenants 33:8

I really have to thank Travis Scott for all the technical skills that he has taught me with construction and remodeling! I have used those skills soooooo much on my mission! If anyone is planning on serving a mission, you need handyman skills! trust me! you can get in a LOT of doors that way and you can build a LOT of trust with the members! Will someone get me his email please? I haven't heard from him or about him since I've been out.

Other than that I've seen a ton more miracles this week, but I've got to go. I love all of you and remember that organization and thinking ahead weeks and days in advance will ALWAYS relieve stress when you simply communicate your needs to yourself and those that you need help from. It's only been by organization that we've been able to see so many miracles in the last couple of weeks!