Date
June 15, 2015
Area
Durham
Companion
Elder Halliday
power of the Book of Mormon
Christine and Antonio both came again. We never had a chance to meet with them in between the week, so we weren't sure at all if they liked it. Now that they came a second time, we know they liked it, we're just not sure why. Or if they are reading the Book of Mormon, or praying.
This weekend, I was asked to perform the baptism and confirmation for one of the sister missionaries' investigators. It was odd and unfortunate that he asked me rather than a member of the ward, but I was glad for the opportunity. The font was very low, and he was a big guy, so I managed to pull him all the way under, but he had to struggle to bring himself up. I didn't know I was the one confirming him until 2 minutes before, so that was very nerve racking.
I will be transferred on the 23rd, I haven't caught any details yet. For all I know, I could just stay in the triangle my whole mission and never be more than 30 minutes away from the airport.
Last week after emailing, we were called and told that we were being switched to full time bicycles. It hasn't been as difficult as I thought, but there is people in the far half of our area who are certainly being neglected. If any of them were elect or really interested, we would have made it happen some how.
Our investigator Derek took us shopping again, because the other missionaries with a car couldn't.
This is probably the most exciting work we did. There is a family in our ward the ward council has been worried about ever since I'd been here. This week, we took a YM presidency leader to their home to invite their 12 yr old son to an activity. The YM leader charmed the parents, and we came in and talked for a while.
They have a biracial marriage. The husband Eric is from Utah, his wife Tima (tee - muh) did school at Utah, but is from somewhere else. She served a mission and he did not. Eric is a very, very straightforward guy, and extremely athletic, but he is honest and kind. Tima is very loud and funny and friendly, and smart and artistic.
Anyways, when Eric let us inside, we made a wrap around attempt--we started by talking about sports, guitar, music, and then church and the Book of Mormon. He told us that he hates church: he had a really hard time growing up and fitting in with 'squeaky clean, utah-mormon' culture. His wife told us about his 3-day MTC experience. He was told by several people that if he had faith and was persistent, his desire to share the gospel and represent the Lord would grow. He became too uncomfortable feeling like he was not being true to himself, so he snuck out in the middle of the night, and stayed on his own for two weeks, until he made it back to his parents house.
When we asked him about the Book of Mormon, he told us "Absolutely, I read it every day!" We were really surprised, and asked what his favorite verse was. He quoted Mormon 9:3-5, when Moroni is talking about being the only Nephite left, and started talking about what Moroni had to have gone through, and the Christ like humility and hope he retained through it all.
Twenty minutes later, his wife Tima came home. She goes to Duke Divinity school, which is mostly Christian and Islamic studies. There are only two Mormons at Divinity school and they are both in our ward. She told us a couple stories about her mission, and explained her situation. She was a graduate student as some sort of Journalist, and she, being a woman of color, finally came to the point in her progress as a member of the church, where she felt a stronger desire to have her questions about the church answered: Why aren't women ordained, why is church admin primarily white, why weren't blacks ordained until the 70's, etc. and a few other questions I didn't quite understand. So her attending Divinity school was a private endeavor to search for answers, and her career is completely separate. Part of her program is to preach in other churches and serve as clergy in hospitals, private schools, and other places.
So basically, she put herself right in the center of the 'tumult of opinions.' When we asked her about the Book of Mormon, she was just as enthusiastic about it as her husband. She told us that she's defended her faith and testimony in the Book of Mormon countless times, and she could never deny the fact that it was the word of the Lord. As she said, her deep studies of the Old and New Testament solidified the truth of many principles she'd learned in the Book of Mormon, even though as she studies, more questions seem to arise than are answered.
I believe that Eric and Tima have such strong testimonies of the Book of Mormon because they actually read it. I saw it as proof of the divinity of the Book of Mormon that Tima still holds true to it, even after being inactive for so long and facing the deepest doctrinal questions head on, and that Eric still reads the Book of Mormon and can quote from it, even as a runaway Utah boy who does everything he can to fight off the appearance of being a Mormon. Both still call themselves 'Mormons', and consider themselves Mormon because of the Book of Mormon, and it's probably the only reason neither of them have fallen away with very harsh feelings towards the church, religion in general, and God, even with their trials.
I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I've gained a testimony that it was written with inspiration and very tactfully abridged by Mormon.
Love
Kameron