Date
October 16, 2017
Area
White Plains, MD
Companion
Elder Preston
Faith to Find
Friends and Family,
Some miracles:
Elder Preston and I have been trying hard to find new investigators! I've mentioned that when we opened the area we started out with what was pretty much a blank area book, meaning we started without a single progressing investigator. The few potential investigators listed quickly proved to be impossible to contact so missionary work in the White Plains West area really had to start from square one! Which means lots of knocking on doors and other finding efforts. And if I've learned anything as a missionary it's that finding people to teach takes a lot of Faith! Preach My Gospel says that nothing happens in missionary work until you find people to teach, and I'll add my witness that nothing happens in finding efforts until you find your faith first.
The difference between finding with faith and without is truly night and day. The short conversations at the door that take place every time missionaries go tracting are often the first impression people get of missionaries or the church and when the missionaries knocking on the door are discouraged and convinced that nothing could ever come of their efforts, then those conversations are sure to leave the people the missionaries contact uninterested and unmoved BUT---! When you have faith that there are people on the very street you are knocking whose hearts are being prepared by Heavenly Father to hear our message everything changes! When you begin every finding attempt with a bold and humble prayer that God will open not only the doors but the ears, eyes, and hearts of the people in that neighborhood, miracles happen. Those conversations become dynamic, exciting, and fruitful and the Spirit truly takes over.
A side story that happened two weeks ago,
Before the area boundaries were set Elder Preston and I found a golden neighborhood in La Plata (a city in our area). After one night of knocking doors in the area we got about 5 return appointments and a bunch of new potential investigators. The next night in the same neighborhood we found Brandon, a 19 year old just coming out of a rough period of life. We met him sitting on his porch at about 8:45pm, he had just moved in with his aunt that same day after living for a few months without a place to stay and he told us he knew we couldn't have found him by accident. That God must have sent us in answer to his prayers. We taught the Restoration on the porch and invited him to be baptized and he excitedly agreed!
This experience was truly a miracle! We were so excited to teach Brandon and help him prepare for baptism. A few days later the new area boundaries were finalized and Brandon, along with the rest of his neighborhood ended up in the other Elder's area!! We referred all of the people we had begun to teach to the other Elders. And the experience was not any less awesome because of it. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father let me be a part of sharing the gospel no matter who ends up teaching Brandon or the others in his neighborhood. But our area book remained empty!
Well in the weeks that followed we have continued in faith! And the Lord gave us Charles, the awesome father of 5 who was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and he continues to progress in his conversion. We were led to a young medical student named Matthew who loves meeting with us and is curious about which of all the different Christian churches might be true, and a woman named Yvonne who lost her parents early in life and wants badly to believe the Plan of Salvation and reads the Book of Mormon with so much intent. Franky Nelson, the sweetest 81 year old you ever met, continues to read the Book of Mormon and admits he feels good each time he reads. He told us the other day he wasn't going to make it easy but eventually he'd get baptised!
And on Friday after a morning of most people not being home and those who were, wanting nothing to do with us we decided to spend another hour knocking in a new neighborhood before breaking for lunch. As we walked toward the first homes we saw the "no soliciting" sign displayed prominently and in clear language letting us know that the HOA didn't want us there. Now legally no HOA has the authority to keep us from going door to door so long as we aren't selling anything but Elder Preston is easily swayed by signs like this and I could see the hesitance in his eyes. I told him if he wanted to go somewhere else we could but he squared his shoulders and on we pressed! The first door we knocked on a man opened with contempt in his eyes and began to warn us that people nowadays aren't as trustworthy as they once were, and that we were lucky he didn't bring his gun to the door with him. Just then Proverbs 3:5-6 popped into my mind and I testified that as long as we trust God we would be okay. His hard look broke into a huge grin and he laughed long and hard and then said "get in here!" And showed us to his living room. He told us we were the first of many missionaries ever to make it past his door. Somehow God prepared a way. During our lesson the Spirit was so strong and the man, William Travers, was intrigued and intent on everything we said. When we told him that he could know our message was true by reading the Book of Mormon he said, "what makes you think I don't already know it's true?" Right then Elder Preston invited him to be baptized and he responded with a powerful testimony and a wholehearted "Yes!"
We have regular appointments set each Friday and we plan to invite him to be baptized on a specific date next time we see him!
I want to bear my testimony now, that we cannot do anything, be it missionary work or anything else, without Jesus Christ. For whatever reason he put two brand new missionaries together in a brand new area, I don't think I'll ever understand that decision fully, but he's been with us ever since. He prepared a way for us not only survive, but to bless others along the way and I love being his missionary!
Love,
Elder Tenney