Hello.
Last monday night we went to a members home and had dinner. They served us the LARGEST pork chops I've ever seen in my life. Easily over a pound of pig, all in my belly. They were amazing. Then while we were teaching them a lesson, it started getting REALLY windy and raining way hard. I kept looking out the windows and they're like, "Oh it always storms like this". I just wanted to see a tornado. Haha I hope that isn't bad. We got a ride home, (because we didn't have a car this week) and the kid driving us was like, "You don't have to worry about it until the sky turns green, then you can worry." As soon as he finishes his sentence we come out of some trees and look to the left, and the sky is green. He simply says, "Ya like that. That's green." So I started to get excited. No tornado though. :(
Tuesday Elder Claridge and I walked over to this elderly woman. She is 92 and looking to live to 100. They had done some service for her before in the earlier months, and we just wanted to touch base and try to get a lesson out of it. (Because we still have 0 investigators) She said she needed some help for cleaning up her yard. The storm had blown some branches and all the bark off the trees. As soon as she said that I thought, "Heavenly Father is looking out for us." So we scheduled to come help her the next day. We then started walking to this other old ladies house that was way far away. on our way, we talked to everyone we saw. EVERYONE. This one guy was super nice, and loved talking to us. We found out he had read a lot of Anti-Mormon literature, and LOVED the Book of Mormon.... musical. He joked with us and talked to us a little more, but I think it was just for some entertainment. We got all the way to the old ladies house, and she wasn't home. So we went and visited a recent convert and talked to him about Patriachal blessings. After dinner, we still had a few hours of unscheduled time. We weren't about to sit around and waste the Lord's time, so we said a prayer. We both got the feeling we should just start walking around. So we said another prayer, asking for guidance, and to put people in our path that we could help.
We started walking, and got to a corner. Elder Claridge said, this way. We walked. I felt like freaking Nephi, "And [we] were led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [we] should do." We walked, and walked, and walked, looking for ANYONE we could talk to. Turning corners where we felt like we should, and somehow we ended up in this apartment complex with a park. We walked through the park and found a family from Congo playing basketball. We talked to them about the gospel. It went SO WELL. The spirit was strong and they took Book of Mormon's from us and committed to reading them. Elder Claridge and I both taught simple, quick things, and they really stuck. We gave them our number and left, knowing Heavenly Father had answered our prayer. IT WAS DOPE. BUTTTTTT we forgot to get their number.... so we're praying that they'll call. AHHH. hahaha
We kept walking, and met two more people, both potentials. One was a couple. The FUNNIEST man I have ever talked to in my entire life. He works at a cemetary, mortuary, and cremetorium. (I spelt that wrong I know. I don't really care.) He believed in God, but had trouble with church, saying it was a fashion show. We talked to him about prophets, the restoration, the Book of Mormon... a bunch. Then they agreed to meet with us again. They really liked Elder Claridge, he was making way funny comments. SO we have their info, and we will be contacting them tonight. We went home, and just died. We were drained. The Lord answers prayers when you pray in faith. We got home, and the Story City Elders needed to do an exchange because one needed to interview someone in our zone. So I got to go to Iowa Falls! ROAD TRIP.
I went with Elder Newhouse (NH), and we drove about an hour up to Iowa Falls. It's a way small town, and super picturesc. (Don't care) We had a full day of work up there, so we dropped our luggage off at their SICK LUXURY apartment and headed off. Elder NH is pretty quiet. He's a tall, blonde missionary who is from a way small town in northern Idaho. He may not say much, but when he does, he packs the spiritual punch. Such a homie. ANYWAYS. We took care of his business (meetings with members, scripture study with members) and it was time to GO GET PEOPLE. At this one house we knocked on the door, and waited. A huge black guy drove his gangster car up and parked out front, he was blasting Kanye, I was rapping it under my breath. He goes to the other door and we asked him, "Do you know if _______ still lives here?" He says, "Nah I'm not from around here." 'Well where are you from?' He responds in a way deep, "THE SOUTH" and closes the door behind him. HAHAHA I almost died laughing. We visited some former investigators, one had been reading the Book of Mormon and agreed to meet with missionaries. Another excitingly accepted a offer to teach the following week. Basically Elder NH and I were tearing it up. Then we went "Sister ********'s" house, (another former investigator)
We talked to her about why she stopped meeting with the missionaries. She said that everything was going fine, but then they called her "an abomination" and she was really offended. She was straight up and really blunt about everything, without being rude. She apologized for her bluntness and I just said, "No no it's fine! I'm the same way!" We talked super casually and she started to like us a little I think. She began to be more open, and she told us about her church, and how it was just alright. She didn't really "feel it" anymore. Then SOMEHOW we started teaching the Restoration. I was doing most of the talking... no surprise, and it was going really well. When it got to the part when you talk about Joseph Smith and his vision, I got super nervous. (Elder Claridge and I had role played it the day before, and I couldn't recite the first vision very well in a lesson. I didn't have it memorized well enough.) So in my head I said, "Heavenly Father, this is it. I need your help. I can't do this without a lot of help." haha. So I went for it! I started with the Prophet Joseph's words. "I saw a light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other 'This is my Beloved Son, Hear Him.'" SHE WAS FEELING IT. Her eyes were watering, and she just stood there. I will never forget the look in her eyes. We bore testimony, and as we were doing so, her son came and she kind of shrugged the Spirit off and acted normal again. We asked if she would like us to come back and teach her some more. She declined. So we smiled, thanked her for her time, and started walking back to the car. Once in the car, I realized how big of an idiot I was! I didn't give her a Book of Mormon! I pulled one out, wrote a little message in it, with the missionaries number, and we ran back there and gave it to her.
We finished our night in Iowa Falls teaching an inactive grandma. She was the nicest person ever. She was SUPER old and was a caretaker. The lesson went really well, and when we left it was dark. One of the sickest things about Iowa is the Fireflies. When we left, there were SO MANY FIREFLIES OUTSIDE. We grabbed some empty gatorade bottles and Elder NH and I caught as many as we could. It was super funny. hahaha.
OPPOSITION IN ALL THINGS.
Back in Ames, with no investigators, Elder Claridge and I once again said a prayer, and went out searching. We came across this guy taking the finish off a desk. He worked for the Baptist church for a long time, and wanted to talk to us about his beliefs. I'll keep this short, I don't want to get upset, and I'm almost out of time.
He talked to us about Grace. Asked us questions, and when we answered, would try to confuse the doctrine we used. He spit scriptures out at us and asked us what they meant. It's not like he knew anything we didn't his perspective on it was very misunderstood. You could tell he was very studied in the Bible, and that he was very proud of his "knowledge". He thought he was teaching us a lesson and making us second guess our religion. Here's the thing though. HE DIDN"T TEACH ME ANYTHING. I already knew everything he was saying. He did not make one valid or non-hypocritical point. He COULD NOT understand the doctrine of Grace, the atonement, our purpose, our potential, God's purpose... It was so frustrating. It was like talking to a person with a misunderstanding of 2+2=4. We weren't going anywhere, and we had somewhere to be, so we started wrapping it up. He said, "If you guys ever need some water or anything, come back if you're not scared! I'd love to teach you the truth about Jesus." HAHA scared. That was really funny to me. Elder Claridge and I started walking away. Both of us very frustrated.
We ended the night digging a window well for some members! 6 feet in a hole, working hard, I loved it. Perfect way for me to blow off steam. Ha, probably the best part of my day. All the daughters were gathered around watching us dig and talking to us, it was really funny. Then they gave us a pizza, and that made me happy.
The last few days have been relatively uneventful. Half the people in the ward are moving, so we have been moving A LOT of furniture. We moved like 3 families this week, and more this coming week. We fasted for new investigators, and pray for them all the time. The Lord's time frame is difficult to get acquainted with. But I know he hears us, and if we are faithful and work hard, he will bless us. That's what we have to do, WORK HARD, and FOCUS.
I love this work. I love the opportunity to be a tool in the Lord's hands. I know he answers prayers, he knows us personally, and he loves us. This is truly HIS WORK. So, farewell for now. I'm gonna go sweat in this Iowa heat.
-Elder Hollan
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