3 Now
they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for
they could not bear that any human soul should perish;
yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should
endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.
There were times throughout the week in which I felt very
exhausted and tired... but as I thought about this scripture, it gave me a
reminder of why I am a missionary. I want everyone I meet to have the
Gospel. I can't force it on anyone... but I know the blessing that will
come if they choose to listen. I have seen many lives changed and filled
with hope after they felt the influence of the Holy Ghost. We had an
amazing experience this week that I would like to share.
As we prepared for MLC this week we decided that as a
mission... the disconnect between our High number of new investigators being
found and the low number of baptisms is because of our teaching
skills. As we counseled with President Wilson it became very clear that
the power in which the Restoration was being taught in the first contact needed
some improvement. We prepared a training on teaching for understanding in
the very first contact. I was a little unsure if this was the exact route
we needed to go... Heavenly Father will always give us a confirmation if
something is true... so I decided if that was the case then he would reassure
me.
A couple weeks ago while on exchange I saw a lady climbing
some stairs to her apartment... she was too far away to chase down... so
instead I yelled to her. She looked over at us and recognized us
immediately. She said that she had met with missionaries with her family
5 or 6 years ago when she was living in Myrtle Creek Oregon. My immediate
thought was... how cool would that be if Tanner was the one who taught
them. She told us to stop by in a week. This week we went by their
house and knocked on their apartment door. She opened the door and the
first words out of her mouth were "ohhh... well... I don 't know how to
put this nicely... but we are not interested at all in your church"
When someone says that right off the bat... it is pretty easy to give up
on them... but the first words out of my mouth were... "Have you read the
Book of Mormon?" That immediately brought out her concern... she answered
No and told us her real problem was that she couldn't believe in Joseph Smith
and that she had never felt "filled" when she heard about our
church. We asked her if she would allow us to share a 10 minute message
and we promised her that she would feel that our message was true. She
let us in and to our surprise, her husband and son sat on the couch to listen
as well. We began to share the message of the Restoration and immediately
we could tell they had many many questions.. We answered a couple of them and
then told them that all of their questions would be answered with our
message. We taught one of the most powerful lesson on my mission.
The spirit was so strong that S** was in tears, her husband M**
expressed feelings of the spirit, and chance told us he wanted to go on a
mission. They asked if we could please make time for them and come back:)
"Well... I guess we can squeeze you in;)" haha
In our MLC I was able to testify with Confidence that when
we teach for understanding with the spirit... People will understand the
Restoration... If the Restoration is truly understood then people will read the
book of mormon, come to church, and will plead to be baptized. It was an
awesome meeting:)
The second meeting with the D** family was just as
good. We took Brother K** with us (He is my favorite... he is an
amazing teacher) Right from the start M** opened up to us and expressed
some of his problems. We testified that the Atonement is there to help us
where we are at... not to help us once we are perfect. In his own words
he said "Before you guys came I felt like I had a 4 ton Elephant on my
shoulders... within 15 minutes I felt that burden lifted just from talking with
you guys." He definitely has some huge obstacles to climb... but I
wish you could have seen his face when we talked about baptism and being given
a clean slate:)
I love being a missionary and can't believe how time slips
away. This coming week is transfers so we will be on the go non stop for
the first few days:)
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love Elder Crandall
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