Hey hey everyone! I hope that life is treating you all well! This week has been super long but super good! We had dinner with the Ryans, and he went to go talk to a nonmember woman with an overrun yard by vegetation. She was very grateful, and he brought up the gospel with her. She's had lots of simple but precious contact with the church. She would absolutely love the branch to serve her. She's lat 50's, working 60 hours a week to support her son at college, her daughter was brutally murdered, and she's been recently widowed, she is someone that would benefit so much from the gospel. We'll be serving her here in a couple weeks, but we're really hoping to be able to teach her as well. Awesome Brother Ryan did it again! The Lord prepares people to receive His message.
On Tuesday we had exchanges. All of our appointments fell through, but we were able to find some super cool people to teach. We worked with Elder Davidson, who goes home with Elder Welch, he's quiet but he has a strong testimony and is super humble. Wednesday morning we were on the Mike Amos show. Its a super small show that has some pretty boring commentary on sports and stuff haha, but the guy, Mika Amos, is super nice. He gave us a pretty good image on his show, that is until he asked about why he brought up temples, and our different beliefs in the Godhead. Haha, not exactly sure he was intending to be controversial, but he was a nice guy. After the show he fed us lunch, and some preacher guy for a non-denominational church joined us. He is pretty familiar with Latter Day Saints, and was asking some deep questions...but not exactly with the intent to learn. Haha, at least he believes in, and loves God! We met with the Flinns that afternoon.. We talked to him for a while while his wife was talking to a friend. He isn't a member but is a super nice guy. They're an older couple. We learned about their background, he was Catholic, and she was Mormon, but they decided they didn't want to be dis unified so they decided to be Methodist together. He's had a previous baptismal invitation though. He seems like he's a person that is willing to learn, and he has a good relationship with Christ. They were super happy during our meeting, we taught them a lesson on the sacrament, but unfortunately they wouldn't commit to coming. But they have really good potential! Never give up hope! We met with John Dillard, he committed to come to church, but sadly didn't show up. He's progressing little by little though. We were able to meet with Nancy and William that day. We taught them some more words, then she had some pretty funny questions, such as, "Why do Americans put ice in their drinks?" "Why do Americans go out to get the mail with no shoes on?" "Why do Americans run when it's hot outside?" After answering the best we could we talked about the nature of God and Jesus Christ. William is familiar with our faith a little bit, and brought up the temple, and asked if we have more than one wife. Haha, we had to get over those road bumps, but they're still super open to learning, we'll be teaching them with Brother Terry to get over the language breach this week. That night we went out on Elder Quorum visits, and were able to talk to some people and set up some appointments with them. It was pretty beneficial.
Thursday we met with Linda Meyer as usual. Bill Allen was there again, her little old friend. He said that he had read Alma 32, and felt sorrow to repent. To the point that he was crying. He is a super sweet guy, but the thing is, the people there have mental incapablities. We stopped by Patrick afterwards. We talked to him, he was pretty mellow again, but he opened up a little more. He hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet, so we pulled it out and read with him. He's going through a lot right now, so the gospel can really pull him out of his struggles. We went to see the Richards. He was still at work, but we were able to meet with her. She has lost a lot of her functioning because of strokes and heart attacks, but she is such a sweet woman. She listened to some of the Book of Mormon with us. She mentioned how her husband has been regaining his testimony and his motivation towards Godly things. She said that he'll come home from work now and read the Book of Mormon, or ask her to play it on CD. She is excited that he is building his testimony again.
Friday we did service at McClelland's zoo. He has ligers, tigers, bears, lions, parrots, monkeys, pythons, alligators, so many things haha. We were taking apart some of the old cages that he had for his animals. It was some pretty tiring labor, but he sure appreciated it! He introduced us to his tiger Tabitha, it growled at it us, he rescued it from a man that had beaten it all the time. The tiger loves him. All of his animals do. We saw the big giant ligers, they're named Tom and Jerry. Mr. McCllelland talks in an Australlian accent. Haha, he's quite the character, a super nice guy. Brother Ryan did service us with us there. During the week I was biking up a bit of a hill and lagging behind. A black guy rolled down his window, and asked me what it was that we do. I told him briefly, and he was interested, so I snagged his number before I continued. We were actually able to teach him Thursday night. He kind of lives in the ghetto, but he's a nice guy. He's been looking for the truth for quite a while, trying to decide if religion is real. We shared the message of the Restoration with him, his cousin sat in, and was very involved in the discussion. His cousin has felt like all of the churches are going against each other, and that there should be one established truth. The lesson went well, another person came in and sat in on the lesson for a bit. We'll be returning to teach them again.
Saturday we did our service for Brother Ryan. We went to a house he's renovating to sell, and cleaned it up, and prepped the floors to lay panelling. I left a nice footprint in the glue they spread on the floor haha, they scraped it off though. We helped with that for a while. After, we went to go visit a headquarter referral that asked for a Bible. She lives in the projects, (government housing), but she accepted it and said she would meet with us sometime. We went to go see her next door neighbor, Nakita Fenn, who is a less active member. She let us in, and we talked and shared the sacrament message. She expressed how she's really been wanting to come to church, but doesn't have a car, and her elderly mother hasn't been coming lately. We're getting it set up for her to be able to have a ride to church each week now. We mentioned her neighbor and Nakita said she would be willing to let us teach the woman in her(Nakita's) home. We've found some super amazing people this past week.
Sunday we had a good church meeting. President Salmon's son returned from his mission and gave his homecoming talk. It seems as if he's changed a whole lot. None of the people we invited to church came but Ed Stevens. I'm impressed with that guy. The highlight of the week was with Kathy Hannah. We went to visit her, and she invited us in. Her 24 year old daughter was there as well. She asked what we would be talking about with family history. We went right into it getting information needed to do it. While she was giving it to us, she talked to us and we got to know her. She was super nice, and was pretty curious how a missionary runs. She asked how we could already be Elders at such a young age. We really got into a gospel conversation. Her daughter really wants to find out her heritage on her Father's side. They'll be moving somewhere else in Troy this week, and would love help, so we'll be helping with that. Kathy want to involve the rest of her family in our discussions, and would love for us to start sharing gospel messages with her. It was such a tender mercy to come across her. She told us how she is having a hard time believing in the Baptist religion, because they are falling so far away from the truth, and crumbling in their faith. She said she doesn't agree with the Trinity, and knows that Heavenly Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 separate beings. She is really wanting to find a way to strengthen and unite her family, which is why we'll be teaching them together. Such a blessing! Biking back from finding some awesome people tracting, I fell off my bike and scraped up my hands, haha, but hey, I'm still doing well! The thing I learned this week is attitude! No matter your circumstances, attitude will determine the success and happiness that you find. Hard things happened this week with me getting hurt and such, but as I pushed through with that positive attitude, that my wonderful companions helped me to have, I was able to receive learning, and able to recognize numerous tender mercies. Take care everyone! Make sure those attitudes are what God wants them to be! We have the ability to grow and learn in ANY trial and experience we go through. I love ya'll God speed and God bless!
Elder Teancum Pusey
