Well, I'm still alive, I guess. This ends week 4 of the transfer, only two weeks left. Not that I'm counting down or anything, I'm just really tired and ready for change. It has been a good week though, here are the highlights:
Last Thursday was district council (it was a Thursday instead of a Friday because we also had our interviews with President Larkin). It was a great district council, we had great discussions. We were talking about the Covenant Path and how we help new members stay on it. I really emphasized making sure that they actually know what it is first. I almost had an argument this week with a lady about works. She, obviously, was on the side that as long as we accept that Jesus Christ died for us, we get to go to heaven. I tried explaining that it is not that simple, and I won't explain here what I said because if you just read the scriptures and study the words of the prophets you should understand just fine. The reason I bring that up is because the Convenant Path (obviously) includes ordinances and covenants that we make throughout our life. A lot of converts down here unfortunately misunderstand and think that once they are baptized, they're done and can now live however they want. WRONG. So we talked about making sure that misconception does not prevail. It was great.
That night the Assistants came over and we did a little blitz exchange from 6 to 9 and it was awesome. Elder Rydalch and I found a whole family that wants us to come by again sometime to share our message. Elders Heiner, Woodhouse, and Heronema found a couple people who are interested as well. It was very productive and I was happy to spend time with Elder Rydalch, he's a stud.
From Friday to Saturday we did an exchange with the Lake Charles Elders and I was with Elder Burton in his area. It was fun, he taught me how to play the flute a little . It's a lot harder than I expected and unfortunately I now have a lot of respect for flute players... We visited an inactive member who was in a care center because he's old and he broke his foot. We talked with him for a while and it was very fun. He shared some funny and spiritual stories and I could tell he is trying to come back to church. He said it's hard to come back after not going for so long. I don't know how true that is (obviously) but I guess I can't force him anyway. He offered us pudding like 5 times. I kinda wish I took his offer... pudding is good.
Those are the interesting highlights, I'll share a cool experience I had yesterday though.
We went to what was supposed to be a lesson with a really nice woman and her daughters, but it didn't happen. When we got there she tried handing back the Book of Mormon we gave her saving that we believed different things and felt that she was of the correct faith. I wasn't in the greatest mood (because of things that don't matter) so I just kept quiet as the other guys awkwardly said okay, bye. The only thing I said was that we wanted her to keep the Book of Mormon, so she did. As we were driving away I kinda got chastised by the Spirit and felt that we needed to go back.
I told them why I was turning around and they got kind of nervous I think . I knocked on the door and she came outside again. She was just as polite as the first time so I explained why we came back. The first time she told us that she had done some research and that's how she learned about what we believe. When we came back I asked her what that research was. She said (to my little surprise) that she had spoken with her pastor about us. She listed off a couple things that he said we believe (90% of which was incorrect). I then explained what we actually believe and shared my testimony about the restoration and that we have modern prophets and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. She still wasn't interested, but we had a cool conversation about her life and her core beliefs (many of which align with my own). She thanked us for clarifying some things and told us that even though she doesn't believe the same stuff, she respects us for what we do. We got talking about other things and found out that her father just recently got into an accident. We told her we'll be praying for her family. She thanked us and said "I'll pray that no one slams their door on your faces!" I would greatly appreciate such a prayer .
So in the end we didn't change her mind, but I feel infinitely better knowing that I did everything that I could and that I declared the things I know to be true. I've learned to never pass up an opportunity to share my testimony, because at the very least I get uplifted. Plus, we left on a much much better note after that second visit.
The book of Isaiah is awesome! Go study it!! Frozen pizza hit the spot today. My eyes hurt from typing this. Have a good week!
-Elder Peterson
That's Elder Heronema.
