June 16, 2014

Dear Family and friends,

     

This week has for sure been one of a kind....and I have loved it but also been it has been crazy.

On Monday we taught Dallas after FHE, the homeless guy, and it was a lot better than the other times.  He listened and we mainly just talked about the book of Mormon. He is still crazy though.

 

Then Tuesday the adventure started with Jon and his family. Wednesday him and his family were all in Cedar City, Utah.   Pretty sure they were running back to the Hell's Angels..Long story, short Randeen got arrested there...they wanted our help, we got freaked out and handed it over to the Bishop. Jon is now gone...no idea where and I am happy to not be in that situation anymore haha. Tuesday and Wednesday were crazy! Oh a great part about Tuesday is we taught Hong. He came to church 2 weeks ago with his LDS friend. Hong is a Chinese foreign exchange student from mainland China. We had to start with the very basics and explain who God was and that he is a Father to us and loves us. I feel like I got a glimpse of how a missionary feels trying to teach in another language, because even though his English is great, he does not understand any religious terms at all. Therefore trying to explain God was well...difficult. I just kept reminding myself that the words do not even matter, all that matters is that he feels the spirit. I was reading in Preach My Gospel earlier about teaching people with non Christian background and it said something like "Most converts who have no Christian background say that they did not understand what the missionaries were saying but that they felt good and they wanted to learn more. It was really powerful cause he really did not understand us but when we asked him how he felt and he would say "good, I feel good" at the end of the lesson Eliza in our ward sang a hymn for him and it was just perfect. We got him a Chinese Book of Mormon this week and he has started reading it. 

      

The same guy, Nathan, that brought Hong last week brought another friend this week. His name is Mark and he is very much atheist. He is staying at this guy's house that he knows while he does his internship this summer...we went over to that apartment...it was in downtown and in a super fancy building. It was this huge loft and well it was the wackiest apartment I have ever been to, it had like little knick nacks every where..and big kick nacks... like random bikes from the 20's, a bathtub in the middle of the loft with a 5 foot flamingo next to it that lights up. A big poster of Marilyn Monroe, a shrine of different religions. It was a interesting place..and kinda ...a lot creepy. Like an apartment in a movie that you would find out belonged to the serial killer haha. It was interesting. We finally sat down and had a great time talking, except he is not interest whatsoever.  The most we probably did was plant a seed. We did commit him to read the Book of Mormon though. He also said we could come back...so that is a good sign...he said he just likes discussing religion.

      

Yesterday along with Teaching Mike we were able to teach Don. Don is freaking amazing. Yesterday was one of the best Sundays of my mission! So during ward council in the morning this guy came in wanting to talk to the bishop. He just got out of jail and is now in a halfway house. He wanted to meet missionaries. During his time in jail in the last 8 months he has read the book of Mormon 3 times, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great price. So ward  council got out late so we had to wait till after sacrament meeting to talk to him. Which we did. His name is Don Jessop. I asked how he feels about the Book of Mormon and his eyes got all watery and he just said "It's amazing, it's true," We then went to Sunday school and he loved it, as soon as we all started the opening hymn he started into tears. He was just overwhelmed by the spirit that whole day! He had to leave halfway through priesthood, so instead of going there we took him aside and talked to him. He is 33 and married, so he wanted to find a home ward. I mentioned how knowledgeable he was in the gospel (cause he knew a lot) He then said "Well I grew up a fundamentalist. I asked where he was from and guess what! He is from the same town as Carla, and he even knows her, they are close family friends! He told us how the spirit just came over him when he entered into the church and could not contain it. We set up a time to go visit him that night at the half way house, during visiting hours.

        

So at 7:30 we went over to the halfway house and when we pulled up I was scared out of my mind! So many scary people standing outside, luckily we brought Randy with us and he helped us feel more safe haha. We got inside and then it was fine, it did not feel weird at all. We just talked to him and also went over the restoration. Wow! He is so amazing! HE was so worried that we would judge him when we found out he was a fundamentalist but we did not. We found out that when he was in jail was the first time he read the Book of Mormon, like he grew up with the stories but never read it, he rebelled when he was about 15 and got into lots of trouble. He is married, and told us, I just can't have more than one wife, I don't want that. Haha he is so sweet. Every time he even mentioned the Book of Mormon he just cried, when he prayed he cried. It was one of the most powerful visits I have ever had on my mission. He has had a change of heart, he is a son of God. He wants to be baptized and keep on this path. It will be very hard since he was a fundamentalist (even though he never practiced, he was just born into it) and he has some major law issues that will have to be worked out. But he has the right desire. He is so amazing, I wish I could express this to you but it just isn't coming out right haha. We left the appointment and Sister DeBry was really sad cause she wants to teach him haha, which I understand, it is hard to give up investigators, but the elders that will be teaching him are perfect for him! Not even kidding, and the family ward is what he needs. We called the elders, Elder Thomas and Page and talked to them for like half an hour haha about how amazing he was and they are so excited! It is so amazing to see people who are coming into the gospel and to see how they have changed! Don is awesome!

      

Well I think that is about it, haha. I love you so much :) and have a great week!  Love, Andrea ( Sister Draudt)