Week 72 (3/9/2020) Doorknobs and Broomsticks ... Actually Just the Broom

Well, aloha y'all,

We have really had some phenomenal weather this week. It is just the right time of year where the temperature is perfect. Course, it'll skyrocket soon enough, but I am grateful for it while it lasts. 

We did exchanges on Monday to Tuesday, I went to the Jennings-Crowley area with Elder Pinson. Monday night we taught an awesome restoration lesson, and on Tuesday we had another couple of lessons. The first was just reading the book of Mormon with a guy. The second was with a 70 yr. old preacher, and they planned the lesson for when I would be there on exchanges so that I could present the restoration from the Bible. Surprise, surprise, despite my logical and very extensive Biblical references, he still "had to disagree" on several points of revealed doctrine. Luckily, I learned a long time ago that you give them all you can out of the Bible, and then you just have to tell them that truthfully the way to know isn't by debating over minutiae from a millennia old text which has been changed and translated repeatedly, but to receive a witness by the power of the Holy Ghost. I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Because I know those things, I don't have to question doctrine or be confused: reading the scriptures serves as a confirmation of faith, instead of a source of doubt or argument. 

That is a big change from when I first came out, and I would argue the Bible all day long. After all, I see our doctrine spelled out very clearly, especially the need for a prophet. But over time I realized that my testimony didn't come from the Bible, so why should I expect anyone else to get a witness from those verses I love to bandy about? My witness came from prayer and an answer from God, and so will theirs. 

In any case, our preacher friend said that he would keep reading the Book of Mormon, but I don't think he has come to the point in his searching that he will pray with real intent. I hope that that day comes. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with a man named S__, who we have been trying to sit down with since my first week here. It finally happened, and I am glad it did. He shared with us how much he loved the book of Mormon, and how he really wants to attend church with us when he gets work off. It was super cool.

Thursday we had scheduled to help a member move from 9:30 to about 2-2:30. We also had five lessons scheduled, which, if you have ever been a missionary, is a lot! Unfortunately, 2:30 became 3, which became 5, which became 7, which became 7:30. We had to cancel all of our lessons, but I am thankful we could get the sister into her new home. It was a very long day, however. 

Friday we tried to catch up a couple of our lessons, but we were not able to see the people we were trying to. 

However, we were doing some tracting Friday night, and it was just not going very well. We hadn't talked to much of anyone, it was pitch black outside, and we were about ready to throw in the towel. But we knocked on this one door, a man answered, we introduced ourselves, he said he was Baptist, we ignored that and started teaching about the Book of Mormon. A half hour later, we wished him a good night and left him with a copy and a chapter to read before we return next week to teach him and his roommate. It is really cool to watch people's countenances change when the spirit is there. He went from that initial standoffish approach to asking us how much we charged for a book, and talking jovially about his interests (hunting) and the state of the world. 

We did also get to see a part-member family that we have been trying to work with, and we sat down and read the Book of Mormon with them, and talked about how we need to follow the word of God to get through all of the things that Satan will try and throw at us. They have made so many changes in their lives to be closer to God, and they really want it right now, it is awesome. 

Saturday the ZLs blitzed our area with us for a couple of hours. It wasn't the most effective time, we weren't able to see a lot of people and our lesson cancelled on us, but it was still to be out and doing with them. 

Allow me to close on this amusing incident. Our downstairs neighbors really don't like us. Really!  Really! don't like us. You see, this building used to be a movie theatre. And when it was converted into apartments and storefronts, they gave it thin walls and thin floors. So no matter how quiet we are, it sounds a little louder than usual downstairs. In any case, they don't seem to understand that there is nothing we can do about it, and get really upset with us. We might just be walking down the hallway, and they will start smacking their ceiling with their broom and yelling up at us. Oh, well, I just ignore it, generally. Doesn't matter that much to me. 

I think it was Wednesday or Thursday night, though, we had retired to bed, when we were awakened by loud banging. They had apparently decided to take their revenge, for from 4-4:30 am they did not stop: every couple of minutes the banging resumes. It was one of those times when I really had to think about the Sermon on the Mount: so I said a prayer for their eternal souls, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Well, have a great week, and don't let the grumpy neighbors bite!

Elder DeFord 

Week 71 (3/2/2020) A Handy-Dandy Miracle

This has seemed like a really, really long week. An incredible week, with lots of great miracles, but looking back at the start of the week, it feels like it was a month ago (and, technically, it was last month)

Tuesday was Mardi-gras, but all of the cities around here had already had most of their parades and activities and stuff. I am sure that there was some partying going on, but we left at 6 to drive to Vidor for our zone conference on Wednesday. There were 8 missionaries staying in the Ross' family room, and another 12 elsewhere on the property. Of course, there is usually 6 on his property, so that is only 14 extras. Only!

Wednesday morning, as we were preparing for zone conference, I realized that my tie was missing. I distinctly remembered having it on my hanger, so I knew it had to be around somewhere...sure enough, it was, laying on the ground, where it had been all night. Sigh. It wasn't too dirtied up, though. 

Zone conference went super well. We talked all about the First Vision, how to use it in our teaching, and what it means to us. One of the pieces of advice that President Hewlett gave us was that when we are contacting, we should teach up until the point when the person we are talking to tells us to stop.  More on that later! I accompanied one of the Elders in my district singing Joseph Smiths first prayer, and it was a rough one on my part. At one point I just had to stop playing, wait a second, and then jump back in. He was a champ, though, and kept chugging right along. 

Thursday we got to start applying what we learned! We first had a lesson with a sweet couple, the wife is a member and the husband is not. We were just doing Come Follow Me with them, but in the middle we both just started teaching and testifying of the restoration and the First Vision. It was a very powerful experience, feeling the spirit of those words. 

As we were out tracting later, we were not finding a lot of success at all, but eventually one man came out and didn't immediately cut us off. In fact, he didn't cut us off for about a half hour, during which time we taught the restoration, read from the Book of Mormon, and gave him his own copy. President's advice to us really works!

We then had a supper and lesson scheduled with a very sweet couple we met and taught last week. And there was a crazy experience. I was admiring an embroidered picture of the Last Supper that they had hanging on their wall, and asked them where they got it. They said that W__’s mom had made it, and that she had made another one too that was pretty cool. Then they went to grab it. I was expecting a picture of the cross, or of Mary, maybe of Peter in the water...no, she came out with an embroidered version of...facsimile #3 from the pearl of Great Price? I quickly pulled out my phone to compare it, and while it only showed the first three persons, it was almost identical. And this couple were raised Catholic, have been Catholic their whole lives. They have no idea why his mom made it, or what it means. I have some questions myself! We didn't mention the similarities, not ready to explain at that point what the Pearl of Great Price is, but it was definitely a surprise. 

We continued to apply the principle of teaching until they kick us out on Friday, and it is just a phenomenal experience. We got to teach two very good lessons on Friday because of it. It is a little scary, feeling like you are imposing, but so far we have had good reactions and really good lessons. 

Saturday is the source of our subject line this week. In the morning, we prayed for our planning and made a plan to visit a man, Mr. H__. When we arrived at his house, however, it was clearly vacant. Not a soul had lived there in some time. Well, as we continued walking and looking for people to talk to, we saw a man out getting his mail and struck up a conversation with him. A little bit into the conversation, we asked him his name, and it was none other than Mr. H__ himself, at his new house! The Lord knew where to send us and when, and we testified to him that we were there on the Lord's errand. Truly a miracle. 

Sunday continued to be a day of the spirit and of miracles. I loved what one of the members shared in his testimony. He said, speaking of his life before his conversion to the church "I lived in darkness, but I didn't know it because I didn't care about much of anything". And that really hit me. How many people around me just need that light, but will have a hard time recognizing it because they are "beyond feeling". Am I ever like that? It was a great moment of introspection.

Every Fast Sunday all of the missionaries and unit leaders in the Orange stake gather together for a missionary meeting. President Hewlett and President Harris of the Orange Stake both presented some messages and training for us to learn from. President Harris shared several stories from historical missionaries as a way to show us that the Lord will be in the work. 

After we got back, we only had a little bit of time before we had to be in for the night, so we sought the Lords guidance and went to see a family who we have been trying to get in with since I got here, with no luck. Well, when we got there, the lights were on, and they were both at home! After some small talk, he started talking about the struggles with the very darkness that the brother had talked about during Sacrament Meeting! It was extremely spiritual as we shared the feeling that we have had, and the way God has shown us His love. 

I love being a missionary and testifying of Christ! I never want to stop having that focus on Him and His gospel. And later in life, I plan to put the nametag back on, although that time with a permanent companion. The Jordan's, a senior couple who have been serving in the Jennings branch for the last 18 months, are going home tomorrow, and everyone is very sad to see them go. 

Speaking of going, I am going to end this here, but I love all y'all! Happy birthday to the best mom on the planet! 

Love,

Elder DeFord

P.s. no, I didn't take any pictures, so sue me.

Week 70 (2/24/2020) Keep Count

Dear y'all,

In the mission field, every week is a great week. That actually reminds me of one of my favorite things that Sister Dinsdale in Pasadena would say "God only makes good days". That comes to my mind a lot. No matter what is going on, God only does make good days, and weeks, and weather, and circumstances...we are the ones who keep calling his glorious creations bad! 

It occurs to me that you may be thinking, since I am philosophizing about how even seemingly bad weeks can be good, that I may have had a bad week. Not so-my week was fantastic. I am just pointing out that really, all of my weeks ought to be fantastic. 

But let us talk about this one, shall we? We had our first branch correlation meeting with our branch mission leader over dinner on Tuesday. Brother Trichel is awesome, plus, it was nice to have a home cooked meal for the first time in a good while. He has a little girl, Emma, who is 7, and she and I are good friends now. We spent a good bit of time looking for cats in one of those I-spy books. 

Wednesday is the source of the title of this email, as we were counting miracles and took stock of quite a few. The first is a little bit trite: because we needed to go into the car dealership for a repair on our car, we would be driving past Cane's tomorrow. And hey, getting Cane's is a miracle in my book. Second, during our daily planning we made a plan to contact by phone a certain person who had formerly been taught. However, we felt that we should just go by. When we did we discovered that she was still interested, but that her phone was shut off, so it was a good thing we went in person!

On our way back home, we felt like we needed to stop at another person’s house, who we had not planned for. Well, we caught her just before she left, and she snatched the Book of Mormon out of our hands and said she would read it. Sounds good to me! 

After lunch, we went out to Jennings, where we had filled our day with planned contacts. The first was a man named L__. When we knocked on the door, a woman answered. In the ensuing conversation, we found out that that very morning L__ had left, for good, and that this sweet woman was having a very tough time. I am so grateful that the Lord placed us in her path to be able to be instruments in his hands to bless and comfort her. She declined learning more about the restored gospel, but nonetheless we all felt the Spirit of the Lord, and Elder Hancock and I know that we were His messengers. It was a really neat experience. I love it when we are so clearly sent. 

The last person we planned for, when we clicked on their record, did not actually have an address, but just a street. But, feeling that if we had planned for it, then it must still be important, we decided to go anyways (funny story about a similar situation, actually, which I think I forgot to tell last week. Unless it was this week, I don't remember) we knocked on the door closest to where the dot was on the map, and then decided that it was probably pretty futile. We were about to leave when the neighbor comes out of their house, calls out to us "are y'all the Mormons?" and beckons us over. It turns out this woman had lived in Utah, was impressed with our church, and wanted to know when our services started here! It was such a clear example of the Lord's hand, guiding us where we needed to be. 

Let’s see, don't want to make this email too long...got Cane's on Thursday, hallelujah. Also got the cops called on us on Thursday. The cop was very nice, poor guy getting called off of his important work because someone can't be bothered to see who is knocking on their door at 7:15. But, once it gets dark here people pretty much shut themselves away. Did a Come Follow Me lesson with a part-member family, helped a recent convert write a talk for a fireside on Sunday, attended the fireside on Sunday, talked to a wonderful lady, a member, who reads the same kind of high fantasy novels that I did back home, and loves sci-fi and dragons. I asked President for my ecclesiastical endorsement for BYU, and he did my interview over text 😼 , branch conference was this Sunday, we had some awesome speakers and a linger longer after. 

Now, funny story time. Another person we wanted to see had a street but no address, but we figured we were already there, so we knocked on every door in an apartment complex: "are you S__ M__? Do you know a S__ M__?". Well, we didn't find her, but we still have the rest of the road to knock on. 

Love y'all, have a great week, may Cane's continue to spread throughout the world bringing joy and happiness and weight gain to all, and may the gospel spread faster, bringing exaltation and eternal life. 

Elder DeFord