The Good and the Bad....

 Monday Jan 13, 2020

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic week. This week was pretty awesome and filled with good and bad. On Wednesday we had a pretty rough day with people not liking us but that is the point of the work right? We usually do our studies at Taco Bell in the Morning and some guy sat right by us. The Spirit left as soon as he sat down and we soon figured out why. We asked him how he was and he mentioned that he thought we were a Cult. A great start to a contention filled conversation. He told us that he didn't believe in anything we talked about because of the lack of Archeological Evidence for the Book of Mormon and that he has been down to South America before and hasn't found anything about the currency in the Book of Mormon. We talked about a lot of things but among those there was a point that he told us we were going down the wrong path. Out of the blue I asked if has ever searched the scriptures for himself and that if he did that he would find there are commandments that God wants us to follow. I then said that if he doesn't follow Gods Commandments that he would be going to Hell. The Conversation ended with him saying that he has a Brain and that God gave him that Brain to think. However he doesn't pray about anything so that is his problem. Something I learned on my mission is to not condemn people if they aren't on the same idea as you are. If that makes any sense.

Another interesting event happened on Wednesday Evening as well. We met a person named Zoe that seemed pretty promising and invited us to come back the next evening to meet with her and her Fiance. We went back and someone else answered the door. They said that she did not live there and they were not interested. As they closed the door we could hear them and others mocking us knowing that she did live there. When we went back to the car we felt prompted to go back and knock again. When we knocked on the door again someone else answered. They said that they were not interested and that she did not live there again. We asked if we can share a Message about Jesus Christ to them and he said he was already a Member of the Church of Christ. We asked if he can share some of his beliefs and he said that he didn't. Elder Riley then asked if he was telling the truth looking straight at him and he said that he was. I can't remember what I said but I asked if he can say the same thing in front of Jesus Christ at the Judgement Bar and he said that he could. We knew that they were lying but that will be on their part now. Kind of sad to see people openly lie in front of us but that will be held upon their own Judgement. We did at least get to meet with someone named Krista that evening who sounds promising.

Other than that we got to meet with Verna and her mom Karen this last week. They both are interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and Verna has been to church twice already. I am excited to hear about how they progress in the Gospel in the next coming months. The area of Gilmer is really awesome and I am glad to see so many miracles happen since I have been here. One of the last things I can think of that happened this week is Interviews. Unfortunately it was my final Interview but before then our Zone Celebrated breaking the High Watermark in December where President Dalton gave us Bubbas. It was awesome and everyone enjoyed being there. In my final Interview I got some really good advice from President Dalton and got to learn about what he wants best for me. There was some tears shed as well during the process of it. I also got to learn when President Daltons hair started to turn gray and it started when he was a Missionary. However he has a brother that is going bald so he prefers Gray hair over that. I am going to miss this family a lot but I have been told to stay in touch with them whenever I can. Anyways that is all that happened this week and I hope to push hard and Strong this next week. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon.