This week included his St. Patty's care package. I wanted to give a little less junk food and go for more of an Irish theme..ish. It included :
Lucky Charms, milk, corned beef and hash, instant potatoes, ice flavored water, leprechaun coins, and pretzel shamrcoks.
Lucky Charms, milk, corned beef and hash, instant potatoes, ice flavored water, leprechaun coins, and pretzel shamrcoks.
This past week was pretty good, it went by pretty fast and this p-day kind of took me by surprise. I think i'm surprised at how fast days can go by.
So we were up in Weippe following up on a couple referrals and we decided that since we were up there, we should go visit some less-actives.
We went up to one house and the woman who we were going to visit came outside as we pulled up and when we got out of the Jeep, she just yelled, "I don't want to talk to you! Go away!" and then went back inside. Her husband was out on the porch and said, "Well that was weird, I guess if she won't talk to you then I will."
So we started to talk to him a little bit and as we talked we realized he knew pretty much everything about the church. He even told us that if he were to join any church, it would be ours. Of course, we asked him why he hasn't and he said that he just didn't feel like going to church every Sunday. We asked if he would come the following Sunday. And, like a lot of people, he made up some lame excuse why he won't.
Oh, before I forget to mention it. This guy and his wife had (I believe he said) 21 dogs. So... yeah.... it was loud. only about five of them were outside where we were but you could hear the other ones in the backyard and inside.
So we started to talk about Jesus and so we asked him if we had a faith in Christ, he said something along the lines of "Yes I do! But do you want to know something that bothers me?"
"Sure, what's that?"
"There is someone who's name is used just as often as the Saviors"
"What do you mean"
"I mean that every single day, there is one particular name that is brought up JUST as often as our Savior's"
"Umm, I'm not so sure about that"
"Think about it"
We thought about it, and he just kind of stood there fidgeting back and forth with a big smile on his face . He actually looked pretty excited. We told him that we couldn't think think of anybody. He told us to take a guess. So I said, "The Devil?"
"Nope! Close though! Try again!"
"Umm.. Ok. So It's close to the devil.. Is it Obama?"
"Nope! But that's REALLY close!"
"Well who is it?"
"Hitler!"
"Hitler?"
"Hitler"
"I don't think I hear Hitler's name as often as I hear the Savior's"
"No you do! I guarantee that you can't go one day without hearing about, or talking about Hitler! He is all over the radio and the TV and he is someone the kids are learning about in school!"
"Well, yeah, But we don't hear about him everyday"
"I guarantee you do. Pay closer attention! Turn on the TV and I promise you that it is something about Hitler. On the radio, I guarantee that sometime today, someone will be talking about Hitler. And Tomorrow and the day after that and the day after THAT. You can't go a single day, or even very many conversations throughout the day, without Hitler coming up!"
He went on about it for a little while and we were able to work the conversation to tell him that he should read the scriptures more to help him take his mind off of Hitler.
Our Zone leaders came up with a set of goal of which we should try and reach every day. They call it 3 2 1
3 Preach My Gospel lessons taught each day
2 Rejections (So that you have to talk to, at the very least, 2 people who might reject you)
1 Baptismal Invite
We were at zone meeting and our zone leaders asked how 3 2 1 was going. Elder Sanders shared, "I like the 2 rejections because i'm naturally a pessimist, so I see someone we could talk to and when I think we shouldn't talk to them because they'll reject us I say, 'That's the point!' and we talk to them"
Immediately I shared, "I like 3 2 1 because I'm a natural optimist (everyone laughed of course) When I see someone i think, 'hey, I might get a lesson or a baptismal invite out of talking to them!' and if they reject us then its all good because we can still count it towards something!"
We were tracting one day and we came to a house where a really happy guy opened the door. It was one of those things where we knock and the person who answers the door acts as if you were their long-lost best friend or something. We introduced ourselves and told him that we had a message about Jesus Christ that we would like to share with him.
"A message about Christ? Absolutely I want to hear a message about Christ! I'm actually the pastor for the church across the street!"
He pointed at the Orofino Tabernacle, we had heard lots of good things about that church and on one occasion we were told that if we were to have one conversation with the pastor you would walk away feeling uplifted with a new sight of the world. So naturally I had some high expectations.
We talked a little bit about how he likes being a pastor and how he came to find himself in Orofino. I asked him if he liked it here and he said something like,
"You know.. when I first moved in, I hated it. I hated that there was nothing to do here and how small the town was. But then God opened my eyes and I finally saw how beautiful everything was (he motioned at the mountains) he reminded me that these mountains are where people go hiking and backpacking and this river is where people come to fish. I used to hate it here. But now I've come to recognize that I have been so blessed as to actually live in a place where people come to fish. I live, where others come to vacation. And so do you. Always remember that you have been placed here in Orofino for a reason and even if you haven't seen it, all you need to do is open your eyes, and you will"
Yup, I left feeling pretty enlightened and uplifted. He actually invited us back for this coming Friday so that he can learn a little bit about what we have to say. It's either going to go well, or its not. But he seems like a nice enough guy.
That was pretty much the extent of my week. All in all it was a good week. We had some training and had stake conference. and now I'll be heading up to Lewiston with the Kamiah Elders for P-day.
-Elder Rebalkin
So we were up in Weippe following up on a couple referrals and we decided that since we were up there, we should go visit some less-actives.
We went up to one house and the woman who we were going to visit came outside as we pulled up and when we got out of the Jeep, she just yelled, "I don't want to talk to you! Go away!" and then went back inside. Her husband was out on the porch and said, "Well that was weird, I guess if she won't talk to you then I will."
So we started to talk to him a little bit and as we talked we realized he knew pretty much everything about the church. He even told us that if he were to join any church, it would be ours. Of course, we asked him why he hasn't and he said that he just didn't feel like going to church every Sunday. We asked if he would come the following Sunday. And, like a lot of people, he made up some lame excuse why he won't.
Oh, before I forget to mention it. This guy and his wife had (I believe he said) 21 dogs. So... yeah.... it was loud. only about five of them were outside where we were but you could hear the other ones in the backyard and inside.
So we started to talk about Jesus and so we asked him if we had a faith in Christ, he said something along the lines of "Yes I do! But do you want to know something that bothers me?"
"Sure, what's that?"
"There is someone who's name is used just as often as the Saviors"
"What do you mean"
"I mean that every single day, there is one particular name that is brought up JUST as often as our Savior's"
"Umm, I'm not so sure about that"
"Think about it"
We thought about it, and he just kind of stood there fidgeting back and forth with a big smile on his face . He actually looked pretty excited. We told him that we couldn't think think of anybody. He told us to take a guess. So I said, "The Devil?"
"Nope! Close though! Try again!"
"Umm.. Ok. So It's close to the devil.. Is it Obama?"
"Nope! But that's REALLY close!"
"Well who is it?"
"Hitler!"
"Hitler?"
"Hitler"
"I don't think I hear Hitler's name as often as I hear the Savior's"
"No you do! I guarantee that you can't go one day without hearing about, or talking about Hitler! He is all over the radio and the TV and he is someone the kids are learning about in school!"
"Well, yeah, But we don't hear about him everyday"
"I guarantee you do. Pay closer attention! Turn on the TV and I promise you that it is something about Hitler. On the radio, I guarantee that sometime today, someone will be talking about Hitler. And Tomorrow and the day after that and the day after THAT. You can't go a single day, or even very many conversations throughout the day, without Hitler coming up!"
He went on about it for a little while and we were able to work the conversation to tell him that he should read the scriptures more to help him take his mind off of Hitler.
Our Zone leaders came up with a set of goal of which we should try and reach every day. They call it 3 2 1
3 Preach My Gospel lessons taught each day
2 Rejections (So that you have to talk to, at the very least, 2 people who might reject you)
1 Baptismal Invite
We were at zone meeting and our zone leaders asked how 3 2 1 was going. Elder Sanders shared, "I like the 2 rejections because i'm naturally a pessimist, so I see someone we could talk to and when I think we shouldn't talk to them because they'll reject us I say, 'That's the point!' and we talk to them"
Immediately I shared, "I like 3 2 1 because I'm a natural optimist (everyone laughed of course) When I see someone i think, 'hey, I might get a lesson or a baptismal invite out of talking to them!' and if they reject us then its all good because we can still count it towards something!"
We were tracting one day and we came to a house where a really happy guy opened the door. It was one of those things where we knock and the person who answers the door acts as if you were their long-lost best friend or something. We introduced ourselves and told him that we had a message about Jesus Christ that we would like to share with him.
"A message about Christ? Absolutely I want to hear a message about Christ! I'm actually the pastor for the church across the street!"
He pointed at the Orofino Tabernacle, we had heard lots of good things about that church and on one occasion we were told that if we were to have one conversation with the pastor you would walk away feeling uplifted with a new sight of the world. So naturally I had some high expectations.
We talked a little bit about how he likes being a pastor and how he came to find himself in Orofino. I asked him if he liked it here and he said something like,
"You know.. when I first moved in, I hated it. I hated that there was nothing to do here and how small the town was. But then God opened my eyes and I finally saw how beautiful everything was (he motioned at the mountains) he reminded me that these mountains are where people go hiking and backpacking and this river is where people come to fish. I used to hate it here. But now I've come to recognize that I have been so blessed as to actually live in a place where people come to fish. I live, where others come to vacation. And so do you. Always remember that you have been placed here in Orofino for a reason and even if you haven't seen it, all you need to do is open your eyes, and you will"
Yup, I left feeling pretty enlightened and uplifted. He actually invited us back for this coming Friday so that he can learn a little bit about what we have to say. It's either going to go well, or its not. But he seems like a nice enough guy.
That was pretty much the extent of my week. All in all it was a good week. We had some training and had stake conference. and now I'll be heading up to Lewiston with the Kamiah Elders for P-day.
-Elder Rebalkin