Week 76: In which we "Fall back", prepare for snow, and bless a house

Another Good Week
(written 6 Nov 2017)

Hello!

Today, I mainly want to talk about Chris and Cassie, two amazing new investigators. They are now preparing to be baptized on December 16th, but they're not sure they can make it. Still, they're willing to try.

Here is an excerpt from my letter to President Lewis, with unnecessary parts edited out:

We found Cris when we walked by him outside his apartment. We went up to him and felt like saying, in essence, "We know you are going through a trial in your life right now, and we want to let you know that God wants to help." We then went on to have a brief discussion about the Plan of Salvation. During the course of the conversation, he told us that his best friend had just barely died. We then shared with him a scripture from Alma about the Spirit World and set up a return appointment.

We called him back to confirm, and learned that his girlfriend, Cassie, was also super interested in learning more. Apparently, our very first contact with him really impacted him. He was shocked, and thought that it was very strange how we first met him and began answering all of the questions he had before he had even told us what was going on in his life. He thought it was very strange, and took it as a sign that he is supposed to take us seriously and get closer to God. Cassie also thought it was strange, and was very interested in meeting us. We ended up rescheduling the appointment so we could talk with them both.

We then went back for our appointment, and had a lesson on parts of the Plan of Salvation as well as the Joseph Smith story, mainly focusing on how he was searching for answers to the same kinds of questions. At the end of the lesson, we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited them to read a few specific chapters. They agreed. After the lesson, they asked if we had felt anything weird about their house. We weren't quite sure how to answer, as we hadn't really been paying attention. After pausing and listening for a moment, we answered that the spirit there wasn't exactly the best, but it wasn't really terrible either. Both Elder Rigby and I later agreed that the Spirit, while there, felt (according to both of our descriptions) as "muffled".

They then told us about how their two-year old had been acting really strange, and had apparently been seeing spirits in the past few days. We both felt at that moment a very strong impression that we needed to bless the home. We offered to do so, and they both seemed very relieved that we could. I felt Elder Rigby should perform the blessing. He did so.

We then had another appointment last night, and it was incredible! We brought Brother Thorpe with us. He recently moved back to Toppenish because his house burned down. We had a fantastic lesson, and we talked about the Holy Ghost and the Plan of Salvation. They love it, and want to come closer to God.

Vanessa and her family have been out of town for a little bit, but we look forward to teaching them again soon. Sadly, Germaine is ignoring us for some reason. We think she's going through a very hard time with some court cases with one of her friends. Even her husband isn't entirely sure what's going on with her. We're going to give her some time to get through it, since she definitely doesn't want to talk with us right now. Jose Larious is leaving to Mexico for 3 weeks. Jose Campos is picking apples from 5 AM to 10 PM until mid-November. However, even with all of that, some things are definitely picking up here.

It's going to be a great week.

Love, 

Elder Adams

Questions from Editor Mom

Does WA change their clocks this weekend? If so, did you remember to do it? - Yes, they changed, and yes, we did do it.

Are you OK after having been shoved off the porch? Ouch! Do you need to visit a chiropractor? - Yeah, I'm fine. I stayed standing upright, so it wasn't really a problem. It just surprised and angered me and made Elder Rigby afraid. It was interesting.

Sounds like you sometimes work in pretty rough areas. Do you take any precautions to stay safe? Has it been eye-opening, or not so much, since you've seen Soweto and other tough neighborhoods? - It's not anything particularly new to me, considering my experiences seeing rough neighborhoods before. Toppenish is probably comparable to Lowell as far as general toughness level. We don't usually have anything to worry about, but we try to follow the Spirit as best we can with regards to that. Also, if we get a bad feeling about a place or a person, we immediately and quickly work our way back to the car, but in a very roundabout way to make sure no one is following us. We try to vary our routes if we feel it is necessary. Usually, that's pretty hard to do, because there are only a few main roads that get you pretty much anywhere. Still, we try to stay in the light and on more public roads while varying our routes, especially if we feel we are in a bad neighborhood. For me, thanks to you, it's practically instinct.

Has Perla been able to move? - We're not sure. She told us she was living with her sister in Sunnyside, but then, a few days later, when we asked where she was, she told us she was homeless in the streets of Toppenish. She has a car, so it's not like she has no shelter at all, but still. We haven't seen her here, though. We told her to talk to us at church, but she didn't come. We don't know where she is now.

How's the weather? Has it snowed yet? - It's getting really cold. It technically snowed for the first time yesterday, but by the time it hit the ground it melted. We've been told it's going to be unusually wet this week, and temperatures are dropping fast. 

Pictures