This week in Pullman was pretty cool.
So there was a member who had a baby so her mom and sister, who aren't members, came up to see the baby and help out around the house for a couple weeks. They came to church the week before conference. On Friday, while I was on exchanges, we were invited over to their house for dinner. While we were there we learned that it was their first time coming to an LDS church and that they loved it. We ended up teaching them about the restoration of the gospel and they really liked it and asked a lot of questions. They also both accepted an invitation to work toward baptism. we gave them a reading assignment to read as a family that night from the Book of Mormon and the following morning we went over. (they live in our complex) We talked about what they read the night before and gave them each a Book of Mormon then taught them a little more about it. They came to church again yesterday and today we are going over to teach them about the Plan of Salvation, then before they go back to Florida on Friday we plan on teaching them a couple more lessons.
They told us that they already looked up where their ward building is back home so they know where to go to church. They sound pretty solid. haha
Also while we were on exchanges we were walking past a fraternity that a guy just came out of. We started talking to him and he said, "I'm actually going to get some food right now so if your not doing anything you can just walk with me" So we walked with him a couple blocks away to a sandwich place. While we were walking, he said that he grew up with a couple friends who were LDS. He told us a little bit about what he remembered about our church, we asked him if there was anything that he believed. He responded, "Honestly... I believe everything but Joseph Smith" We got to the sandwich place about that time and he agreed to to buy his sandwich then sit outside at one of the tables and have a lesson. He came out and we were about to sit down when he saw a friend of his, they started talking and we invited his friend to join us, he agreed ad sat down. We started with a prayer and then taught them about the restoration, focusing on the need of prophets. He seemed like he was enjoying the lesson but his friend was loving it. You could tell that he was soaking in everything we said. At one point he actually took off his headphones and turned down his music (it was really loud)
We got the part of the lesson where we talk about Joseph Smith and he just stood up and said, "Ok you just stop right there! I already told you I don't believe in him so don't the moment man!" We got him to sit back down to at least listen to what we had to say. We taught about the first vision and the restoration of Christ's church and he kept on protesting telling us that we didn't need to tell him any more. His friend kept on looking at him like he as an idiot.
We then explained to him that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to give us evidence that Joseph Smith was prophet, we read a couple scriptures and asked if he would read and pray to know if the book of Mormon was true. His friend accepted the challenge as well as a baptismal invite. but the first guy stood up again and said, "Fine, I'll pray about it, but I gotta go, thanks for your time"
The elder I was with jumped in and said something along the lines of, "So you're going to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true?"
"Yeah man, that's what I said!"
"But you don't have a copy, how about you give us our number so we can meet up and give you one"
"Nah man I'm good I can just pray abut it"
"No, that wasn't the invitation, the invitation was to read and THEN pray. How would you know something is true if you never even open the cover?"
His friend then chimed in and told him that he was being an idiot and that he should just give us his number and do what he said he would do.
It was funny to watch him try and come up with reasons not to, just to have his excuses shot down by the elder I was with.
He eventually came up with an idea.
"Ok dude, how 'bout this. I'll think of a number between one and ten. If you guess it right, I'll give you my number"
"No. I'm not playing that game, either you're true to your word and accept the book or not"
They argued back and forth for a couple minutes he kept on saying "Your killing me man! stop making sense!"
I eventually turned to his friend and asked if we could have his number and meet up some time. He quickly agreed and we exchanged numbers.
It was pretty funny but the lesson we had was actually really good. The guy's friend kept on nodding his head in agreement and at a couple points he got kind of emotional. He was definitely the most humble of the two of them.
Another cool thing! There is a guy in the singles ward that we are all pretty good friends with. He even spends p-day with all the missionaries. I've known him for as long as i've been in Pullman. He is Hawaiian and has been preparing a performance with a bunch of dances that represent 7 different countries. He came up with a all the choreography as well teaching it to the performers, he also designed the costumes and props. Pretty much, he has done all of it himself.
He called both our mission president and the stake president and gave them a list off all the missionaries in the area that he wants to have attend their performance. Every missionary on his list got special permission to attend! So he got us tickets and designated a table for the dinner that it also going to be provided. It's going to be a blast and is going to take up a lot our entire Friday afternoon.
Our mission president also requested a screening copy of Meet the Mormons, so we watched it at specialized training. It was super good
That's all for the week.
-Elder Rebalkin
So there was a member who had a baby so her mom and sister, who aren't members, came up to see the baby and help out around the house for a couple weeks. They came to church the week before conference. On Friday, while I was on exchanges, we were invited over to their house for dinner. While we were there we learned that it was their first time coming to an LDS church and that they loved it. We ended up teaching them about the restoration of the gospel and they really liked it and asked a lot of questions. They also both accepted an invitation to work toward baptism. we gave them a reading assignment to read as a family that night from the Book of Mormon and the following morning we went over. (they live in our complex) We talked about what they read the night before and gave them each a Book of Mormon then taught them a little more about it. They came to church again yesterday and today we are going over to teach them about the Plan of Salvation, then before they go back to Florida on Friday we plan on teaching them a couple more lessons.
They told us that they already looked up where their ward building is back home so they know where to go to church. They sound pretty solid. haha
Also while we were on exchanges we were walking past a fraternity that a guy just came out of. We started talking to him and he said, "I'm actually going to get some food right now so if your not doing anything you can just walk with me" So we walked with him a couple blocks away to a sandwich place. While we were walking, he said that he grew up with a couple friends who were LDS. He told us a little bit about what he remembered about our church, we asked him if there was anything that he believed. He responded, "Honestly... I believe everything but Joseph Smith" We got to the sandwich place about that time and he agreed to to buy his sandwich then sit outside at one of the tables and have a lesson. He came out and we were about to sit down when he saw a friend of his, they started talking and we invited his friend to join us, he agreed ad sat down. We started with a prayer and then taught them about the restoration, focusing on the need of prophets. He seemed like he was enjoying the lesson but his friend was loving it. You could tell that he was soaking in everything we said. At one point he actually took off his headphones and turned down his music (it was really loud)
We got the part of the lesson where we talk about Joseph Smith and he just stood up and said, "Ok you just stop right there! I already told you I don't believe in him so don't the moment man!" We got him to sit back down to at least listen to what we had to say. We taught about the first vision and the restoration of Christ's church and he kept on protesting telling us that we didn't need to tell him any more. His friend kept on looking at him like he as an idiot.
We then explained to him that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to give us evidence that Joseph Smith was prophet, we read a couple scriptures and asked if he would read and pray to know if the book of Mormon was true. His friend accepted the challenge as well as a baptismal invite. but the first guy stood up again and said, "Fine, I'll pray about it, but I gotta go, thanks for your time"
The elder I was with jumped in and said something along the lines of, "So you're going to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true?"
"Yeah man, that's what I said!"
"But you don't have a copy, how about you give us our number so we can meet up and give you one"
"Nah man I'm good I can just pray abut it"
"No, that wasn't the invitation, the invitation was to read and THEN pray. How would you know something is true if you never even open the cover?"
His friend then chimed in and told him that he was being an idiot and that he should just give us his number and do what he said he would do.
It was funny to watch him try and come up with reasons not to, just to have his excuses shot down by the elder I was with.
He eventually came up with an idea.
"Ok dude, how 'bout this. I'll think of a number between one and ten. If you guess it right, I'll give you my number"
"No. I'm not playing that game, either you're true to your word and accept the book or not"
They argued back and forth for a couple minutes he kept on saying "Your killing me man! stop making sense!"
I eventually turned to his friend and asked if we could have his number and meet up some time. He quickly agreed and we exchanged numbers.
It was pretty funny but the lesson we had was actually really good. The guy's friend kept on nodding his head in agreement and at a couple points he got kind of emotional. He was definitely the most humble of the two of them.
Another cool thing! There is a guy in the singles ward that we are all pretty good friends with. He even spends p-day with all the missionaries. I've known him for as long as i've been in Pullman. He is Hawaiian and has been preparing a performance with a bunch of dances that represent 7 different countries. He came up with a all the choreography as well teaching it to the performers, he also designed the costumes and props. Pretty much, he has done all of it himself.
He called both our mission president and the stake president and gave them a list off all the missionaries in the area that he wants to have attend their performance. Every missionary on his list got special permission to attend! So he got us tickets and designated a table for the dinner that it also going to be provided. It's going to be a blast and is going to take up a lot our entire Friday afternoon.
Our mission president also requested a screening copy of Meet the Mormons, so we watched it at specialized training. It was super good
That's all for the week.
-Elder Rebalkin