Hello,
Really good week in a really good new area!
First we went and visited this potential investigator at his
bamboo tea making shop...apparently the tea is very healthy. We thought it
would taste bad, but it was pretty good...anyway. Really quiet nice guy 42. Met
with missionaries nearly 20 years ago. Kind of awkward at first because I
didn't know what to expect, he didn't really either. Kind of sat there in
silence while he worked, I thought maybe we would be just going and teaching a
lesson but it wasn't like that necessarily. Anyway after talking just about him
for a little (he was still not very talkative) I just jumped right in and said
we wanted to watch a video together. We watched the Because of Him video. It
really invited the spirit and created the perfect environment for talking about
the gospel. We talked about how Christ and his gospel can help his life and
answer his questions (he said he had no questions...), his silence now was
different than before. It was more of a pondering silence and I am certain he
was feeling the spirit. I offered a Book of Mormon and invited to read and he
took it. Last time Elder Glover and his last companion met him (which was the
first time) he rejected a Book of Mormon but I think the spirit softened his
heart this time. We asked if we could come back the next week and he said that
it was fine so we will go back this week! I see a lot of potential in him!
Tuesday night I spent maybe 2 hours or so just calling all the
members and introducing myself. I think they liked it and I hope it builds
their trust in me. I won't meet them all until next week because this week was
stake conference. For stake conference because our house area is far from the
stake center, we slept over at another missionary’s house from Saturday to Sunday.
Actually it was Elder Luke from the MTC, it was nice being with a familiar
friend. Their house was gigantic.
We went to find a service activity one day and we went to this one
community center...they didn't have anything so they gave us directions to a
service center 40 minutes away (that is not a long distance) walk. We went there
and the one lady said that her 10 year old son (now 20) 10 years ago did the English
program with missionaries and this was the first time since then that she has
seen us! So she is now a potential investigator because she wants to learn English
and she likes our church. So when she calls us with a service activity for us
maybe we will be able to meet her.
Friday we had district meeting in the biggest area in our mission.
Took 3 hours by bus to get there...not a bus you can proselyte on either. They
give assigned seats and you aren't allowed to move. So I read "The power
of the everyday missionary". On the way there once we got into the area it
was snowing!!! It was awesome! Got there and there was like 3 inches of snow on
the ground (it is the northern most part of our mission). Anyhow we got to the
church had our meeting then sticker boarded as a district as we waited for our
bus...got to the bus terminal right at the time we wanted to take the bus but
there were no more seats and then the next bus an hour later had only 2 seats
which we let the other elders have since they live farther...then we waited for
1 more hour for the next bus and the bus ride took nearly 3 hours back...long
day of bus riding and just lots of bad luck. I was able to finish the whole "Power of the everyday missionary" with all the bus riding we had to do. We
probably won't go there for district meeting again...
One of the things I learned about this week is the importance of
questions. Questions to investigators, members, and to myself. Especially to me,
they unlock the doors to frequent revelation. It is harder than it seems but it
is worth it :D
Well, have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Frampton
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