"You guys look like you're lookin' for someone to evangelize..."

Quote of the week explanation

We went to Chinatown this week to do some street contacting. We weren't having the most productive trip; nobody really wanted to talk to us and there weren't a whole lot of people walking around Chinatown anyway. We were trying to think of what to do next, when this guy walks up to us and says that we look like we're "looking for someone to evangelize." When those words came out of his mouth, I was expecting him to start ranting on how we were terrible people for trying to force others into the cultish way of life that comes with being a Mormon, but the next thing he said was “You can evangelize me.” We talk for a minute standing there, before retreating to a nearby park bench to continue our conversation. From the moment that our conversation began, though, I could tell that this would not end well... You see, this man (Omar, if you must know) was... Intent on proving us wrong. He did the classic thing that anti's do when they try to bash and started asking very random questions about the plan of salvation; in an attempt to get us to trip up and contradict ourselves. We succeeded, somewhat, in foiling his plot by mostly turning to the Book of Mormon to answer his questions, which he didn't seem to like too much. A few minutes in I asked him why he decided to talk to us and he simply said that he believes that we are "in error" and he took it upon himself to save our souls from Hell. What a nice guy. We eventually just left; the conversation wasn't going anywhere productive and Omar wasn't becoming any less antagonistic. We gave him our number, in case he wants to bash again though... Then we'll destroy his feeble understanding of the scriptures bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... Just kidding. I doubt he'll ever call us.

Mornin'

I think all that I need to say about this week is this: It existed.

*Crowd shouts incessant pleas to continue*

OK, OK, you win. I'll go a little more “in depth” as the kids are calling it these days.

As I alluded to las week, we are now living trio life. It is me, Elder Kendrick, and another brand new boy named Elder Watts (who will be staying here for an undetermined amount of time until they can actually get him to Hong Kong). It's been pretty crazy having three again, a real throwback to the early days of my mission. It is also interesting having two companions that are fresh out of the MTC, but it's still pretty good. We've done some stuff, this week, to be sure.

We taught Joan the Law of Chastity. No surprises there, she committed to obeying it, and when we were teaching the lesson she basically taught herself the commandment. That part was pretty easy. Next up we have... Tithing. Oh, man. It's a big boy. The last major obstacle (besides the fact that her work schedule is literally insane and she won't be able to come to church regularly until December...) is this lesson. We have high hopes that she'll accept it, but still... There's always that 'maybe' factor. We will see tonight.

We met with Anthony as well, and he did make some progress. As usual, he was very open and receptive to the message, he told us he believes that the Book of Mormon is true scripture and he told us that he believes Joseph Smith to have been a prophet... But he still won't come to church. In the past, the invitation has been met with an outright "no" and he hasn't really wanted to discuss any further. However, this time, upon our invitation, he told us he would "think about it." We invited him to pray about it, and he said he would. It is now all hinging on his sensitivity to the Holy Ghost. I think we'll get him to come around, though. Our ward mission leader is coming along with us on Saturday, so we can trick Anthony into coming to church with us...

In terms of others... Luo Qing Fu (Looking for) is still staunch in his refusal to read the Book of Mormon, based on his claim that "if it's not the Bible, it can't be true." If he doesn't change his mind soon we'll have to drop him. He even refuses to pray, saying that he only will recite the Lord's prayer. Pretty... Weird. 

One random thing that happened this week was this: we had district council in the living room of the mission home. As some of you may have heard, blackouts have plagued this part of the country over the last week in an effort to keep fire danger low (one of our members went on a political rant the other day about how the power company has ulterior motives, it was pretty funny). The power on temple hill was shut off, and nobody could get into the church because all of our keys are electric. So, our district leader told us that we would be having district council in... The mission home garage. I don't know exactly... why. The mission home didn't have power either. But, that was the plan. Until, of course, President Durham caught wind of it. He told us that we could just have it in the living room. So, we did. It was a very... how you say... unique district council experience.

And that's a wrap, folks. 

Bye

-B

P.S. I heard the word "Euphrates" uttered aloud this week. Not gonna lie, I was pretty surprised.

P.P.S. We met a guy who wasn't interested in the gospel, but he told us that we could come back to teach his kid how to play basketball. Kind of an interesting interaction, that was.

P.P.P.S. The poppy seed incident