This transfer has been hard. Not going to lie. Right now we are talking to a zillion people per day, but no one seems to particularly care about their salvation. We have been talking to people from all walks of life from all over the world. Many of them are Muslims from Africa. I am finding that there are many similarities between our Church and the Islamic faith except for the most important fact: that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, not a just a prophet. The Muslims who speak English are some of the nicest people that we talk to. They are really good at being missionaries too. They are always giving us websites and wanting to give us the Qur'an. One guy told us that we would be even more beautiful if we had some Muslim in us...wow.
It so crazy how hard this work is and how very little fruit comes from it. With how many missionaries and members there are in the world now, I thought that we would be baptizing the millions! But today I was reading in 1 Nefi 13 and he prophesied that the church of God will be few in number, but it will be in every land, nation and tongue. So, prophecy fulfilled! By the way, how is the Book of Mormon reading going for all of you? I am on page 29 already. Also, have you been praying at 6:00?
Back to my story about a fortune cookie. We have had a rough week, but on Friday we had a youth, who is a member, out with us so we treated ourselves to Panda Express. Alba, the member, is super cool. She was baptized a year ago actually in the Seatac ward, but she is preparing for a mission so she comes out with us every so often. From then on out, we had a night full of miracles. We found an inactive member who is a returned missionary named Ada. She served in Washington D.C., but she moved to Washington about a year ago and hasn't come back to church since. She explained about how she can't feel peace because she knows she isn't doing the things that she needs to be doing in her life right now. She has a lot of guilt from that. I know that once she comes back to church she will be a strong member. One of our members made an interesting observation the other day. He said that if they have the gift of the Holy Ghost, they will eventually find their way back one day.That was such a comfort for me because many people that I love are members, but haven't continued on the path of conversion. I have faith that one day they will be able to see with their spiritual eyes how much they are missing out on. You can never understand the gospel until you live it.
Later that night we were tracting (typical missionary phrase) with not much luck. Then a rather scary looking lady opened her door. She had dark circles of make-up around her eyes and a number of piercings up her ears. We started in with our usual greetings and summary of who we are and what we do and who we represent. All of the sudden Hna. Wrubell was like, "So do you have some time right now that we can share more of these things with you?" The lady proceeded to show us her "ankle bracelet" and told us she couldn't leave her apartment, but we could come in. So we went in. Seriously, I was ready for this lady to pull a knife on us or start chewing us out, but surprisingly I felt at peace. We started teaching her, but she didn't say much. About 30 mins into the lesson she started opening up. She told us she was from Florida, but came here for college. She was studying theology. She ended up an alcoholic, homeless and in prison. She is currently on house arrest. But wow. Cecilia is a very intelligent human being. She asked very deep questions and she was very pensive when we gave her answers. She seemed surprised that we did have answers to her questions. She accepted a Book of Mormon and she wanted us to stay for hot chocolate. Man, I could be best friends with this lady! She probably isn't much older than me...We felt bad that we had to decline having a "tea party" with her because we had already been at her place for almost 2 hours. Sometimes I just like teaching in English because I feel like I can pour out my heart and soul. It was such a good lesson! As we were leaving, she told us that she has lots of Mormon friends, her mom is taking the missionary discussions right now and that it wasn't a coincidence that we knocked on her door that night. It's moments like that when I feel like I am doing my job right. A few doors down, as soon as the guy found out we were Mormon yelled, "Joseph Smith was a murderer!" and slammed the door. Talk about mixed reactions! As a missionary, I feel like I have seen and heard it all, but everyday there is something new. People are so strange and interesting. Being rejected doesn't offend me personally at all. It's just sad to think that people are rejecting Christ. Actually I kind of find it hilarious when all these adults act like children just to get out of talking to us. But there are some really nice people out here as well that I love talking to.
I assume the Seahawks won again. Going for the super bowl again? Yesterday there were muchisimas fiestas! Much honking, many fireworks mid-day and let me tell you about all those drunk people! I have never seen so many car crashes in my life in one day! Fortunately, the Lord was protecting us and we stayed out of a lot of that. The worst that we got was getting hit on by drunk men every so often.
Well, that raps up another week in the great Seattle zone. Transfers are soon so we will see what this next week brings.
Week 29 Challenge:
Week 29 Challenge:
Loves, hugs and kisses from Seattle!
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
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