The Baptist Bash‏ (week10)

So yesterday I went to my very first baptist church. So on wednesdays we have a Book of Mormon class where we read with investigators and help recent converts and less actives get more out of their reading. The elders have been teaching a 19 yr old and he has been coming to church and the book of mormon class very regularly. This wednesday he brought his little sister who is 13 yrs old. She has even come to church once. We talked to her after the class and asked her if she was going to church on Sunday. She said that she would come to our church if we went to church with her. 

So we did.

When we walked in everyone was looking at us, reading our name tags. They had a billion greeters and they held onto our hands for a long time very sincerely thanked us for being there and followed up with handing us pamphlets about their church. WEIRD, who gives pamphlets out about their church and beliefs... oh wait... ours does :) ha ha

So we go in to this great and spacious building and sit down next to our friend. They then had us stand up and sing, the music was really loud and they had an entire band stand up front. The music was not bad, but not super inviting to the spirit. We then sat down and they prayed, then we sang a ton more. They also passed out the offering tray and the pastor asked us to think about all the things Jesus gave to us this week and then give back to the Lord. We just sat there thinking... "hmm how does this go to the Lord when it goes in YOUR pocket?" After all Jesus wasn't paid, why should we be for the work we do for him? plus isn't that breaking the sabbath day? Any way then they had a guy give his testimony but it was really just a big long story about how he doesn't work on wall street any more. 

Overall it wasn't TOO bad, and it was actually pleasant because me and my companion realized how many people are searching for Jesus and Heavenly Father, and use to know more in their lives.  

After we went to bible study. We went with our friend so we ended up in a class of high school aged girls, similar to young women's. They read from 1st Timothy chapter one, and it was pretty good except the teacher kept talking about how we should really teach from the bible so that we are not teaching false doctrine, this was accompanied by looks in our direction.

We didn't say anything the whole time. We just read from our bibles(which were different then theirs) and listened to what they had to say.

After the class a lady (who happened to be the preachers wife) came up to me and began asking me tons of different questions. She was asking questions but apparently she really didn't want the answers because she wouldn't let me answer. It was so hard to keep my composure. She thinks its absurd that we don't believe in the trinity, yet couldn't answer my question about how Heavenly Father says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased at Jesus's baptism if they were the same person. ????E?Eldskfjal;dksjf;lskdenlkn!L!LKJ:LK?

I don't understand! MAKES NO SENSE!

Also she never answered my question about why wouldn't we want more revelation from God? 

The words from 2nd Nephi chapter 29 (I believe, not quite a scriptorian yet) where it says something along the lines of A Bible! A Bible! We already have a bible and have no need for a bible. 

Any who me and my companion bore our testimonies and then they asked if they could pray ... basically pray for us.

So they asked for our first names. I said, "I go by Sister Chambers" She said no what is your first name, apparently she didn't hear me the first time, or I must have stuttered, so I said again, "I go by Sister Chambers" She paused then asked me why that was. I replied... "I am a representative of Jesus Christ, I'm not doing this for myself, this is not for my glory so I don't go by my first name."

The lady was shocked. So then she continued to pray for us, that we would be lead to the right, funny thing is that is a prayer that has already been answered! :)

Oh also in the prayer she addressed my companion by her first name and referred to me as "this lady" she wouldn't even recognize me as a disciple of Jesus Christ. That was probably the rudest thing that has happened to me so far. BUTTTTT... me and my companion wished them a lovely day and began to walk out of the building. They immediately rushed to the girl we were with and hugged her and  were talking to her, but then she left them and began walking with us. She  apologized to me for the preachers wife, which was sad that she felt like she had to do that because of her preachers wives behavior. Then she came to church with us :)

Any way!

We met a lovely lady this week who we will be having a lesson with on tomorrow. She opened up to us pretty quickly and began telling us all these stories about how so many of her family members have passed away recently, and how it's really hard and difficult for her to deal with. My companion gave her a picture of the Salt Lake temple and told her it is a place where we can feel closer to our family that has moved on, and how we can feel closer to God.

She seemed to have many questions about it but we had already talked to her for an hour so we told her we would talk about it at our meeting. I can't wait to go see her :)

Early on last week we went out to a small town that we can rarely go to because it takes SSSOOOO many miles to get there. We are now running kind of low on miles so we decided to walk around the town instead of driving, also this helps us have more visibility, and our mission president has asked us to spend more time out of our cars. 

So we walked, and walked and walked, and WALKED... 7 miles.

Then the next day we could NOT walk.

We ended up meeting a lady who we had a good hour long lesson with. She said she would love for us to come back so that she could convert us. THESE PEOPLE JUST DON'T GET IT!  I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!

OH! 

LAST WEEK I SAW ALLIGATORS!!!

TONS!

I EVEN SAW ONE EAT A BIRD!!! 

IT WAS REAL LIFE!

CRAZY!

I can't show you pictures, however, because I left my camera and cord back at home :(

So I guess I should share some of the lessons that I have learned this week. 

I can't teach those who are not ready and will not harken unto the word. 

Also, investigators MUST understand the NEED for a RESTORATION vs a reformation. If they don't understand this one thing Nothing else will matter.

I don't know if I mentioned this recently but we learned about miracles and how miracles only come After you have done everything in your power! 

Sometimes other peoples agency is frustrating but it's really crucial to being on this Earth and stuff.

Well I guess in closing all good things come from God and this was a pretty good week so it must have come from God!

I have had a wonderful 2 months out on my mission so far and am excited to see what the next 16 of them bring! :)

I would love to hear more from all ya'll! most of ya'll are slacking on the e-mail and letter writing!

I hope all is well and ya'll can have some missionary experiences of your own! :)

Love ya'll!

Love,

Sister Chambers