Elder Tanner
We mostly spent a lot of this week going by old investigators and in active members. We have found that all of the inactive members don't even believe in God anymore so they just want to write themselves out of the church. Its a wee bit frustrating. But in the end, there is nothing we can do but invite them to come back. We went out to Laholm one day and tracked down a few members. None of them where home so we thought we would just tract the apartment building. Every single door said no. Of course. Its Europe! Finally we knock on one of our last doors and this older guy answers. He moved here a few years ago and didn't really speak the language. He said "My wife is sleeping let me go get her (because she knew swedish better)" and we were like "no its okay!" but he did anyway. We stood on the doorstep for quite some time talking and finally they were like "Come in, lets talk" I was like ".....what....?...." That was the first time I have been invited in while tracting. Turns out, they are Muslim. We talked just a little bit about the restored gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon along with a Family History card. She gave us fika (for those of you who don't know, this is a swedish word for "coffee break" but usually just means "mid-day snack" nowadays.). So we spent about 30-40 minutes talking a bit and then we left. As we were leaving the apartment complex thing we could her yelling on the phone: (this was in swedish, of course) I JUST HAD MORMONS IN MY HOUSE AND THEY GAVE ME A BOOK...." I don't remember exactly. I thought it was funny. Even if nothing comes of it, I see it as success. We got invited into someones home and gave a lesson.
We almost lost our crazy asain friend Tony this week (not in death, just as
an investigator). I was on splits with one of the ZL's, Elder Ouemette, and we
decided to go to Tony. Well, one thing led to another and, well, Tony started
freaking out. Tony wants to know everything that happens in our church BEFORE he
is baptised. That includes everthing in the Temple. So he finally said, "I am
not letting you in my house anymore. If you want to come into my house, you have
to go through my secret cerimoney!" Haha... oh boy. So we left after a while and
I was a little bit upset. Tony finally calls us later that night and said "I am
sorry I got so mad. Tanner, you and Bilodeau can come back but your friend cant
come back. I miss you guys though, do you want to come over tomorrow?" I was
like "whoaa..." Whew! That was a close one. So we are back on good terms. We
meet with him 3 times a week and just read the Book of Mormon and answer
questions. Thats it.
This wednesday we also have a lesson with Samuel. I mentioned him briefly
last week. He's 17 years old and is investigating churches at the moment. I am
super exctied about this lesson. I think if we pitch it just right he'll be
baptised before November transfer. (which by the way is coming up in 3 weeks
again. can you believe the transfer is half over??) I feel really good about his
guy, too. I hope there is something there.
So far, we haven't done any service while I have been with Bilodeau. So we
decided last Saturday that we would go to the church and rake up all the leaves.
There was ALOT of leaves. So, we did. We were trying to decide if we were going
to invite the sisters to come also. Finally we did. And I am so happy we did too
because with 4 of us it took 5 hours. It took FOREVER! But it was really good. I
just figure, hey, all Christ did on the earth was serve. We have been spending
everyday trying to find the Lords prepared, but they just don't seem to come
that easily. So, service is always a good thing. I know Bishop was particually
happy we did that. Plus some guy that lives by the church let us use his wheel
barrow and we just dumped all the leaves in his garden . So it was good. I
always feel really happy when we do service.
And the final thing I am going to write this lovely day is my email
subject. "Word hard, Have faith, Let the Blessings Come!!" On Wednesday last
week I was just flipping through my scriptres. I dont even know why. I came
across this scripture in D&C 24:12 "And at all times, and in all places, he
shall open his mouth and delcare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both
day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among
men." That was almost exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. All I have
to do is go out and preach the gospel and I will receive strength! So I sent it
over to the sisters and they responded with something like "that was exactly
what we needed today." Kinda cool, right? So ever since then we started doing a
Halmstad District Scripture of the Day (Originally called "The Christian and
Kaleb Cozy Corner Scripture of the Day"... but that is a different story. haha)
Then a few days later it was a scripture that went a litte bit like this "And
now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; "I would show unto
the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore,
dispute not because ye see not, for ye recieve no witness until the trail of
your faith." and that is Ether 12: 6. Another one that hit it right on the head.
So, we have our WORK HARD scripture and our HAVE FAITH scripture... Now
Blessings? I am still waiting for a lot of blessings, or they are here and I
just cant see all of the them yet. I do know that having 4 missionaries in
Halmstad is a great blessing, so that has been my motto over the past week or
so. "Work hard, have faith, let the blessings come!" I know that we will recieve
blessings. I know we need to have faith and I know with hard work we will be
successful no matter the outcome. I know I say this alot, but I LOVE this work
and I LOVE this gospel!
Äldste Tanner
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