Halloween Town

 

 

Hello! This week was pretty crazy. We literally ran from appointment to appointment, and it feels like last week was a month ago. Doesn't make sense, but we did a lot this week.

Monday night we went tracting (like always) and knocked into this SICK guy from Japan. He's been in America for like 2 weeks, and he has VERY broken english. It was so hard to understand him, and he would stop and try and say things in japenese expecting us to understand. But he was the nicest guy ever! he kept saying how he was so glad he met us, and that we were his friends. He gave us this little toy that is a word (like monkey) in japenese, then transforms into the animal that is the word. I know that's an awful description, but it's sweet.

Tuesday we went back to the spidery cellar, and finished FOR NOW. whew. Then we went and hung out with our RC. He was just getting in bed but we talked to his neighbor (who's also in a chair) for a long time. He's one of the nicest guys i've ever met! sooo sweet. We had a ton of appointments, and most of them fell through, so we ended up knocking a ton. We found this Muslim guy and we started teaching him. (we teach a lot of muslims) and it was going ok. I was trying SO HARD to listen to him and the spirit, and it was working! He started... well... expressing his beliefs about the Savior, and I was seriously about to freak out. In my mind I was just like, I'm gonna lay down the law and bear testimony and tell him what's up, but i KNEW if i did that, the spirit would leave me, and it would get worse. So instead, i just let it go. And SOMEHOW (through the Holy Ghost obvi) we ended up talking about the Book of Mormon and gave him one and left. I was surprised in myself to be honest, but i'm glad I listened to the spirit and swallowed my pride.

Wednesday, we taught the elderly lady we gave a blessing to about the Plan of Salvation. She really understood it all, and it went smoothly until Spirit world. Then all of her concerns and questions came about the nature of God and stuff. A member who has helped her A TON was there, and he was being awesome! he was testifying of what we said, and teaching and we'd testify, and applied the lesson to her like we couldn't (because he knows her way better). He completely turned the lesson around, and explained HOW to find out if what we say is true. She said the closing prayer, and she was crying. IT WAS AWESOME. haha. He took us out to lunch after, and it was raining incredibly hard. But when it stopped raining we went and raked up some leaves for the 92 year old. That night was trunk or treat for our ward, so I wore the tie that Mom sent me, and it was nasty cause it was so long. i let Elder Keller borrow one of my gross ties, and we put on fake mustaches that his mom had sent us. We took the mustaches off for the trunk or treat, but had a nice photoshoot first. We had pumpkin flashlights, (flashlights with plastic pumpkins at the end) and directed the traffic into the parking lot. and we were getting WAY too into it. Dancing, flicking the light, doing all types of weird stuff. It was a good time. We got to walk around and talk to a ton of people, and it was a ton of fun. Because it was "beggars night" (kids halloween for Iowa) we had to be with a member after 6pm. We had an appointment at 8, so we had a member drop us off at their house, and scheduled a ride to pick us up right after. Unfortunately, the appointment fell through, so we hid inside their yard until an emergency ride could come get us. Hahaha

Thursday we had district meeting, and was Halloween. Our appointment fell through right before dinner with a member, so we didn't know what to do. We weren't going to go tracting on Halloween... but we just HAPPENED to be walking and find a member and he told us to come draw the Plan of Salvation on his driveway with chalk (for trick or treaters to see).

Friday, we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Dyre (Elder Bargers new companion).  We taught the woman with 7 kids, and she had a lot of questions, which were answered. The lesson was good, not great. But that's ok. We went and knocked doors in their area, and it was pretty successful! Then we drove around contacting less actives and potentials for the rest of the night. It was pretty busy.

Saturday was another Long, long, long day. We had a lesson with a man from Nigeria, and he goes to the Evangelical Free church. We were going to teach the Restoration but we taught Plan of Salvation instead. He was pulling out Bible references left and right, and SO WERE WE. WHATTUP. Just as the scriptures say, with the Book of Mormon AND the Bible, we have the power to confound false doctrines. WHADDDUP. He invited us to his early morning Bible study at his church too. We literally ran from that appointment to another with 2 of our other investigators. I will call them a fake name, Allie and John from now on. We knocked into them, and they have two small kids. One is 3 and one is 1. They are super sweet, and we get a long with them really well. They are both studying at ISU, and have already accepted the invitation to be baptized. John had a TON of questions about the priesthood, and told us he went and asked his Pastor about it too. So we tackled that. And then we were able to refer it back to the Book of Mormon and prayer. By the end, we invited them to be baptized on DECEMBER 14, and they accepted (if they knew it was true)!! They move to South-western Iowa on the 21 of December, so it's kind of pushing it. Haha. IT WAS SO AWESOME. And they said, "looks like we better start reading." HECK YA!! Then we ran to another lesson and her husband wasn't home so we rescheduled. While walking by a tree with a cool leaf, some Less active members called out their window and told us to come in. We showed them Mountains to Climb, and It was awesome, as usual. We ran from that lesson to a Dinner with a African American woman who is from the Bronx. She is old, and SUPER nice. Love her to death. She made A TON OF FOOD, and IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. After that lesson, we went and gave a blessing to someone who was sick.

Sunday, John and Allie came to church! IT WAS SOOO SICK. I WAS SO PUMPED. They had to leave right after sacrament, but the ward welcomed them well and we have a meeting with them Tuesday. :) I'm very excited/grateful/happy about all of that.

This week was awesome, and it's getting pretty cold! The wind sucks real bad. The sisters in our ward have a baptism next Saturday, so that's exciting as well.

Thank you for all your love and support, I love you all and I'm thankful for all of you.

-Elder Hollan