Snow Storms and Stuff written Jan 27, 2014
Snow is decidedly not my friend these days. There were only six of us who didn't go to the transfer meeting last Tuesday. Me and Elder Mason and the four sister missionaries. That was also the day of a huge snowstorm. When there is that much snow falling from the sky, there really isn't that much we can do. We had lunch with a member, we followed him through the snow to this Chinese buffet. That was pretty baller. There was just so much snow.
We were supposed to have English classes that night, but nobody came, assumably because of the storm. Elder Mason wanted to go visit Hermán that night, so we headed over there to chat with him. We sat down, just the three of us and had a frank discussion with him, which was really good. We more or less just asked him if he actually wanted to learn or if he just met with us out of courtesy. He kind of told us it was more out of courtesy. We took the hint and stopped pushing things. I thought he looked really uncomfortable, so I decided we should talk about video games to lighten the mood. He loved it. We chatted for some ten minutes about various things and by the end of it, he seemed to see us more as friends than as those weird white dudes who come talk about Jesus. Which I consider progress. He may not be interested now, but maybe once he's more settled, he'll be willing to come to some activities or maybe even come to church one day.
Wednesday was the snowy aftermath of the storm. We didn't get out in time to help shovel any snow because we had a number of meetings. By the time we were free, most of the shoveling was already done. So we decided to just knock doors instead. I went with Elder Richardson and we all split up and went our various ways. We didn't have too much success, but one door answered and before we even said anything, he told us to come in because it was too cold outside. So we go inside and it turns out the guy is from El Salvador. His wife was there, cooking dinner with their daughter in law. They have five children, all boys. They also had their first grandchild there with them. It was a sweet family. They were happy to sit down and listen to us for a moment. The guys name was Alfonzo. His wife wasn't super keen on it, but was polite enough to listen. She told us that they are very Catholic and have no plans of changing anytime soon. But they appreciate young people trying to preach the word of god, so that's why they let us in. Even so, Alfonzo still said we could come back on Sunday afternoon. We left him with a pamphlet about the Restoration.
When we came back on Sunday, his wife wasn't there, but Alfonzo sat down with us. He had read the whole pamphlet and said he liked it. So we reviewed it and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We asked him to pray to know if it's true and to come to church. He said he would definitely pray about it and would come to church if he didn't have work. It was a really cool lesson. I hope Alfonzo figures this out and actually prays like he said he would. He seems to have a very sincere heart about it all.
In other news, we had a hot chocolate giveaway event again. We kind of made way too much hot chocolate, but we managed to give away a good amount of it. I think it might have gone over better, but it started snowing again about halfway through our event, so that didn't help much. It was still fun though. After that, we managed to get dinner with a member. Always a plus. He is from Peru and he brought us some Peruvian chicken and salad from a restaurant. It was a solid dinner. Nice way to warm up after standing in the cold for so long, too.
Sunday was a missionary day at church, apparently. Three missionaries gave talks, the sisters sang a song, accompanied by me, and we gave the opening and closing prayers. I gave a fun talk about how to gain a
testimony, people seemed to enjoy it. I also played the piano in primary and Elder Mason and I taught primary. We were told to teach about the creation and Adam and Eve and were given no prep time. That was an adventure. The tale of Adam and Eve is a complex topic for adults, let alone kids ranging from age 4 to 10. So we drew fun pictures and we talked about our favorite animals and our favorite fruits. It worked out in the end. Though it was an adventure, every moment.
This week should be fun, we've got a couple of things lined up and we're going to have a big family home evening activity on Friday, so hopefully that brings some new faces in. Love you guys, hope you all have a great week!
Elder Erickson
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