The biggest success story from this week was with an investigator named Johnny. I don't know if I even told you about him, but about a month ago, we were seeking with faith, when we met him and he requested a Bible from us. He told us we had to come by in the mornings, and set up an appointment for a Thursday. Well we went back, he wasn't there, and we kind of forgot about him to be honest. Last week during our weekly planning session, Elder Goodrich brought him up, and we realized we hadn't given him enough of a chance. So we went by this past Thursday, and he was outside working on his car. He allowed us in and we taught him for 20 minutes about the Bible and God and he was so willing and accepting. He was raised Greek Orthodox but never attended church. Within the first 5 minutes of the lesson he was committed to baptism and to coming to church. Through the rest of the lesson we were able to teach about scripture study, extend a specific date for baptism, and testify of the restoration of the priesthood. In the end, it was an awesome lesson, and he said we could come back the next day to finish up. I was on exchanges that day but it went pretty well from what they said.
So Sunday morning we sent a text at 9:00 to remind him about church at 1:00. He didn't text back until noon to say that he was coming. He arrives, and he's smoking a cigarette and has a drink in his hand. He finished his cigarette before he comes in, and then asks if his drink is okay. We say it's better not to bring it inside, so he carefully sets it in the garbage can right there(an important detail). He comes in, and during sacrament, he is mostly just reading his Bible. As soon as the closing prayer is said, he gets up to leave, and we figure he probably needed a smoke break. Well next thing we know, we look over as he's walking out the door, drink in hand after having retrieved it from the garbage can, and getting in his car. So we were really afraid that we scared him somehow. So we sent another text to him right away and asked if everything was alright. He did not respond to our text until this morning (Monday) at 11:00. He simply says "I'm ADHD so I had to leave. I'll be there next Sunday". That was a huge relief and we're glad we'll get to keep meeting with him.
Another cool experience from this week was that I got to talk with President Norman. He was my ward mission leader back in Valley View Ward, but now he's the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency. He spoke in the ward before ours, so I caught him before our ward started. He said that the Dotson's are doing alright, though they don't like church at 11:30, it's hard on the kids. He also said that the ward clerk is doing a lot better. His cancer is in remission, and a lot of complications that arose during the treatment have been cleared up, so he just needs to recover a little more and he'll be back at 100%. He also gave me random updates on how the rest of the ward was doing and it sounds like everything is going well. I didn't realize how attached I was to them until I got the chance to hear how they were doing, so I will definitely visit that ward anytime I come back to visit the mission.
We had a crazy teaching experience this past week too. Remember how we said that lady yelled at us when we were leaving Walmart on Elder Riding's first full day? Well we called her one afternoon, and she said to come by right then! So we did, and she was interesting to say the least. She grew up around the church and has met with missionaries a lot, but she hasn't been able to get baptized because of Word of Wisdom issues. When we showed up, she lived in a little trailer on a dirt lot out in the middle of nowhere. She brought out some Arizona Tea drinks for us, which we awkwardly set to the side, and we tried to read the Book of Mormon with her. In the middle of the lesson she started smoking a blunt, and kept saying "Thank God it's legal!". She also had to run off some random guy walking around that yelled at her, but then she continued yelling into thin air. At that point we decided to graciously excuse ourselves, but not before she determined to give us all hugs. Later, we realized that she actually is about half a mile out of our area, and is in Elder Brown's area, so we reluctantly passed her over to him. They went over there on Friday and apparently it was a much tamer experience for them than it had been for us. So she'll be a long process but at least there might be hope.
My exchange with Elder Lewis this week was super fun. I went into their area, and they live in a home-share. We had a good dinner with a part member family that should be coming to church soon (they just moved here), and we did a lot of seeking with faith and had success, which was a good reminder for me that we need to make that a priority if we want to find people to teach!
I think that pretty much sums up this week. Things are going well and we are teaching more and getting more help from the ward. So I'm optimistic about the direction things are heading. Elder Goodrich has been doing a great job to go on team-ups and befriending the ward, which is good because he'll probably be here longer than I will (I am kind of anticipating a transfer next time, but you never know) So I will leave the area better than I found it.
From the West Side . . . .
Elder Cornaby
Another cool experience from this week was that I got to talk with President Norman. He was my ward mission leader back in Valley View Ward, but now he's the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency. He spoke in the ward before ours, so I caught him before our ward started. He said that the Dotson's are doing alright, though they don't like church at 11:30, it's hard on the kids. He also said that the ward clerk is doing a lot better. His cancer is in remission, and a lot of complications that arose during the treatment have been cleared up, so he just needs to recover a little more and he'll be back at 100%. He also gave me random updates on how the rest of the ward was doing and it sounds like everything is going well. I didn't realize how attached I was to them until I got the chance to hear how they were doing, so I will definitely visit that ward anytime I come back to visit the mission.
We had a crazy teaching experience this past week too. Remember how we said that lady yelled at us when we were leaving Walmart on Elder Riding's first full day? Well we called her one afternoon, and she said to come by right then! So we did, and she was interesting to say the least. She grew up around the church and has met with missionaries a lot, but she hasn't been able to get baptized because of Word of Wisdom issues. When we showed up, she lived in a little trailer on a dirt lot out in the middle of nowhere. She brought out some Arizona Tea drinks for us, which we awkwardly set to the side, and we tried to read the Book of Mormon with her. In the middle of the lesson she started smoking a blunt, and kept saying "Thank God it's legal!". She also had to run off some random guy walking around that yelled at her, but then she continued yelling into thin air. At that point we decided to graciously excuse ourselves, but not before she determined to give us all hugs. Later, we realized that she actually is about half a mile out of our area, and is in Elder Brown's area, so we reluctantly passed her over to him. They went over there on Friday and apparently it was a much tamer experience for them than it had been for us. So she'll be a long process but at least there might be hope.
My exchange with Elder Lewis this week was super fun. I went into their area, and they live in a home-share. We had a good dinner with a part member family that should be coming to church soon (they just moved here), and we did a lot of seeking with faith and had success, which was a good reminder for me that we need to make that a priority if we want to find people to teach!
I think that pretty much sums up this week. Things are going well and we are teaching more and getting more help from the ward. So I'm optimistic about the direction things are heading. Elder Goodrich has been doing a great job to go on team-ups and befriending the ward, which is good because he'll probably be here longer than I will (I am kind of anticipating a transfer next time, but you never know) So I will leave the area better than I found it.
From the West Side . . . .
Elder Cornaby