I love to hear that I'm right (or at least I really think I am) about
the tea. I was soooo confused cause we asked the bishop and he gave
the okay and I was like, um....... I'll ask my mish prez. real quick
though for the final verdict.
I'm not getting enough mail, so go ahead and repost the mission office
address on my facebook page and fabricate a lengthy yet concise and
heartfelt appeal to those sinners that view my facebook page. I don't
have time to do it myself, but I have faith in you.
As far as driving this week, I was able to stop my comp. from running
a red light with my classic monotone "Um, that's the reddest light
I've ever seen..." as he was speeding towards it. Unfortunately, he
caught me off guard later in the week and we definitely ran through a
crimson stop light that had been so for at least 10 seconds. Needless
to say, I'm getting real good at remembering to buckle my seatbelt,
and pray with a sincere heart.
As far as a program from Grandma's funeral, just save me one or put it
in my box at home. No need to ship it to me.
The final verdict is in. No guitars! I know, bummer, but I didn't
find out until after a member GAVE me this cute little half size one
to play. So, I probably won't get rid of it, but I'm not going to
play it..................often. Just kidding, the good news is, we
can have KEYBOARDS!!! And I've been wanting to learn piano, so that's
on the gift list. Go ahead and keep an eye out for a good keyboard
that I can learn on. I'd appreciate it.
I'm sorry to hear that Doug had pneumonia. I hate it when I get
rashes there too...
In all seriousness though, I wouldn't mind doing without the rest hymn, ever.
So kudos to that.And let's be real, are you really in a rush to get to Sunday
School?Really? Be honest? In our meeting yesterday, the first speaker only
went for like five minutes so the last speaker had like half an hour.
I was getting my scriptures out to prepare something cause the bishop
was like "I'll be calling on a few members of the congregation if we
have any time at the end" and "a few members of the congregation" is
the abbreviated way of saying "the missionaries." Luckily, the
speaker was a real jabberjaw and rose to the occasion. Hooray!
So this week, we tracted into this baptist guy who was nice enough to
let us in. We talked about the bible and whatnot (my comp. said it
was a light bible bashing, but I thought it was very civil). Anyway,
we got around to the Book of Mormon and he was like "The Bible is the
whole word of God. Why do we need another book." Which kinda caught
me off guard cause I was like, well, we don't really need another
book, that's not really the issue about it. But anyway, I was said
"Why is the Bible the only word of God? Does it say that in the
Bible?" He said yes and I decided not to pressure it further because
it doesn't actually say that in the Bible. But he was like "If the
BofM was the word of God, it would say something about it in the
Bible," and I was like "It does! Isaiah 29 is a prophecy all about
the BofM!" But he wouldn't have it because the words "Book of Mormon"
weren't in the text. We left and I felt bad at first cause I though
maybe I hadn't done enough, but then I thought, you know, his heart
wasn't even open to it because he wouldn't even consider the evidence
we had given. Nothing I or the Spirit can do if a person won't
listen. So that was my first real encounter with a 'born again.'
We also tracted into this guy Mike who has been receptive so far and
really nice, but we're not totally convinced of his motives. I think
he's just trying to be educated about what we believe. The funny
thing is, the first time we knocked on his door, his wife and him
answered and said to come back wheneva. I wrote their names down
right after walking away and when we went back, I thought I'd impress
them with remembering they're names. You can imaging my surprise and
shock when I called him Richard and he was like, "It's Mike." I SWEAR
TO YOU that when we first met him, he said Richard. I SWEAR he gave
us a fake name or something... But he still let us in, so NBD.
Okay, so the first day I was here, I was like "we're going tracting"
and my comp was like "where?" I was like "I dunno" and my comp said
"college kids, middle-class, or boonies?" You know I picked
middle-class. We ran into this couple, Mike and Kim and they had been
searching for us. PERFECT!! Right? Well we had the first discussion
with them and then couldn't get a hold of them for like 10 days and
were about to give up when we got through on Sat. Mike was like "not
only are we meeting tonight and going to church tomorrow, but my
sister and her family are too!" and I was like "Rock on, you go
girl." So he doesn't answer his phone the rest of the day. typical.
but we go over to his sister's place because that's where we were
meeting. She was a super die hard Bible studier and super faithful
and whatnot. Me and my comp invited her to church... AND SHE CAME!
AT 9 O'CLOCK! Mike and Kim didn't... whatever. But it was such a
great experience. We taught her last night and it's really intense
but I'm about to run out of time so I can't get into all the details
that I want to right now. Maybe later... Just kidding, it added ten
more minutes to my time, here we go...
So this sister, Sherie, went to church and was like, I was looking for
a contradiction to what I know from the Bible and the revelation God
has already given me, but I didn't find one, I definitely have some
questions about the BofM, but yeah.... Also, she was like, you know,
I've been to every denomination out there, and everyone was like, you
need to where this cross necklace and put the cross in your car and
get this bumper sticker and blah blah blah, and she was like, no. I
don't need that, it's a symbol of death. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE
SPEAKER TALKED ABOUT IN CHURCH YESTERDAY!? Why we don't utilize the
symbol of the cross. and she was like, Oh yeah, that's right.
Coincidence you say? How often do we really talk about why we don't
use the cross in sacrament? Really? Yeah, so the other thing is she
was like, at other churches, there are mean people and blah blah blah,
and she just had bad experiences since she was a single mother and
whatnot, and hadn't been to church in three years cause she was like
"God is love, and if these are you're people God, then I will just
stay home and worship you myself". Anyway, she was like, everyone was
soooo sincere and friendly and I felt like they genuinely listened to
me and cared about me. At another church, she said, people were
always just like "will we see you next week?" She got a dinner invite
at our church.
Sidenote: Make a point to introduce yourself to investigators. It
works wonders. Seriously it's the best tool we have in making people
feel welcome and comfortable.
Okay this is the last thing I'll say. She told us that on Saturday,
she prayed and was like "God, I know I need to get back to church, so
If you send me someone, whether I like it or not, I will go to
church." We knocked on her door that night. That's what it's all
about though, God answers prayers ESPECIALLY when we pray with real
intent. That was a great example to me because she was like, God,
answer my prayer, and if you do, I will act on it. She committed to
going to go to church whether she wanted to or not if God would answer
her prayer. So He did.
Anyway, time's almost up, I wish I could share more. I need to start
writing a concrete letter so I can get everything down. But I love
you all. I like it here, but I can't wait to come home either. 23
months left! NBD! I'd love to hear from you though. send me a
letter.
Love
-Elder Grabinger
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