So last Monday after we were done e-mailing, we went up to our room and starting to get ready to go hang out with the Elders in Kamiah. While we were getting ready we got a phone call from the sister missionaries in Lewiston. They asked if we were visiting a woman in the mental hospital and they gave us the name. Of course, we replied that we had been visiting her.
The sisters then told us that at church there was a man who attended sacrament meeting who they had never seen before. After the meeting was over the man came up to them, introduced himself and told them that he wanted to be baptized as a member of our church. He was the husband of the woman we have been talking to in the mental hospital. They said that he told them that he was astounded at the fact that his wife told him that the missionaries had been visiting her. He loved how even in his wife's situation we were still willing to try and help her learn and grow. So he decided to attend the local LDS church. He said that he felt so strongly during the meeting that this was the church he needed to be a part of. He is now on date to be baptized March 8th
It's crazy to think that if we had decided that visiting his wife was a waste of time since she probably wouldn't progress much, that her husband never would have gained an appreciation for the church and would have never wanted to come or even be baptized.
When we visited her this week, the meeting went about the same as it always did. She was crying, giving us her prayers requests, expressing her concerns about her trial and reading scriptures with us. When we were about to leave she said, "oh, there was something else...what was it.." Then suddenly her whole face lit up and her eyes got all wide, and (as rude as it might sound to say) for a split second she looked absolutely normal as she exclaimed "My husband is meeting with the missionaries and he wants to be baptized isn't that just wonderful!?" She then left with this huge smile on her face and an air of just absolute happiness. It was a pretty cool thing to see. :)
We took our Catholic investigator on a church tour to maybe give him an understanding of what our church services are like. As we explained the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. and the sacrament, and a couple other things, he was constantly chiming in with "Oh ya, we believe that too" and "Now that's pretty neat, I never thought of it that way."
When we got the the baptismal font and explained baptism and how it is done. He starting commenting on how he liked that we do baptism by immersion the same way that Christ taught it should be done, and that Not every Catholic church does that and how it has always bothered him how the Catholic church doesn't just have one single way to do baptism, some do immersion, some just sprinkle water on you and other pour water over your head.
Of course, afterwards he went off on how he hates all the corruption in his church and the dishonesty of the church leaders, along with the money scandals and the many other problems he has with his church. BUT he insisted that even though the LDS church is a great church and doesn't have all the problems the Catholic church has, and that we follow the way that Christ wanted things to be done, he is a devout Catholic and is happy where he is. (He makes no sense) We'll definatly keep trying to visit with him because he likes the company and I think he is starting to lose faith in his church. He has expressed different conversations with his priests that he didn't like because of how the priests treat the views of other churches along with some other things.
So, yesterday we got together with our district and tracted Orofino as a district. We exchanged companions then went to our assigned streets that Elder Sanders and I picked out. I went with Elder Silver from Kamiah. This was my first time tracting (door to door) and I wasn't very excited because I don't like that approach at missionary work. But oh well I got a great story out of it.
We knocked on our very first door and this kind of freaky looking guy opened the door and just stared at us for a second then said, in a monotone voice "Come in" We went in and he asked for our names. I introduced myself,
"I'm Elder Rebalkin"
"I asked for your name"
"Ummm.. Elder Rebalkin"
"That's not your name, tell me your name"
He seemed like he was starting to get really angry and had a bit of a harsh tone of voice. I explained that we are supposed to go by the title of Elder, and our last name. He suddenly got really mad and, almost yelling said, "I DON''T CARE! I want to know your FIRST name. Your CHRISTIAN name. The name of which your PARENTS wanted you to be known as!" I just sighed and told him my first name and Elder Silver told him his. The man then put on the biggest, most fake smile I have ever seen and then motioned at the chairs.
"Thank you so much Mason and Chase now you may sit down" We sat down and I noticed on his wall a bunch of stuff written in Hebrew. We had just barely sat down and he started right off.
he said something along the lines of "Now, normally I would be a bit of a difficult person and I would have requested you leave the second I opened that door but I think I'll hear what you have to say today"
We began by asking him if he had a faith in Christ, he replied,
"I do, my faith in Christ is stronger than the foundation of this building, do you want to know why?" He suddenly jumped up from his chair and said really loudly, "I'll tell you why! Because I have walked with Jesus!"
Of course we responded with something to the effect of "Well that's cool, so in what ways do you feel Jesus has helped you in your life?"
"He sat back down and his face got really red. He sounded really impatient and said, "No no no no NO! You don't understand! I have LITERALLY walked with Jesus!"
Of course this is a story that I REALLY wanted to hear. I could tell that he was a very dramatic person and that this was going to be a really entertaining story. So I couldn't resist asking him to tell us about it.
He started off by asking if either of us have ever been demonized.
"Like... Being possessed by demons?"
"Uhh YA because that's what being demonized means! Here let me show you something" He stood up again and bent over to show us a big scar on top of his head. "Do you see that?"
"The scar? ya, i see it"
"That is where A DEMON entered into my body!"
He then told us a pretty dramatic story of being possessed by this demon and how his whole body was buzzing and that he had a priest come over and give him a blessing and that the demons shot out of his arm but were back that night. I was getting pretty into the story, mainly because this was the most entertainment I've had for over a month.
he told us that when the demon came back, he had a lady give him a blessing over the phone but that for some reason it didn't work.
Like i said, I was getting pretty into the story and so at that point I said, "No way. What did you do next?"
"My wife layed her hand on my head and she gave me a blessing!! When she took her hand off my head, there was still a hand there!" His eyes got really wide and then he threw his hands up in the air and said, "IT WAS JESUS' HAND ON MY HEAD! He guided me to this room where he was sitting right there!" He pointed at my chair.
I said, " No way, This chair. Right here?"
"YES! and he sat me down, and he taught me!"
"He taught you what?"
"EVERYTHING!! And I swear this happened! I Wasn't Drunk! I wasn't stoned! It HAPPENED!"
(His house was full of empty beer cans and smelled like pot)
He then insisted that we need to leave and rushed us out of his house. The rest of the people we met weren't at all anywhere near that interesting.
Well.. I need to go haha hopefully you enjoyed that story!
_Elder Rebalkin
The sisters then told us that at church there was a man who attended sacrament meeting who they had never seen before. After the meeting was over the man came up to them, introduced himself and told them that he wanted to be baptized as a member of our church. He was the husband of the woman we have been talking to in the mental hospital. They said that he told them that he was astounded at the fact that his wife told him that the missionaries had been visiting her. He loved how even in his wife's situation we were still willing to try and help her learn and grow. So he decided to attend the local LDS church. He said that he felt so strongly during the meeting that this was the church he needed to be a part of. He is now on date to be baptized March 8th
It's crazy to think that if we had decided that visiting his wife was a waste of time since she probably wouldn't progress much, that her husband never would have gained an appreciation for the church and would have never wanted to come or even be baptized.
When we visited her this week, the meeting went about the same as it always did. She was crying, giving us her prayers requests, expressing her concerns about her trial and reading scriptures with us. When we were about to leave she said, "oh, there was something else...what was it.." Then suddenly her whole face lit up and her eyes got all wide, and (as rude as it might sound to say) for a split second she looked absolutely normal as she exclaimed "My husband is meeting with the missionaries and he wants to be baptized isn't that just wonderful!?" She then left with this huge smile on her face and an air of just absolute happiness. It was a pretty cool thing to see. :)
We took our Catholic investigator on a church tour to maybe give him an understanding of what our church services are like. As we explained the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. and the sacrament, and a couple other things, he was constantly chiming in with "Oh ya, we believe that too" and "Now that's pretty neat, I never thought of it that way."
When we got the the baptismal font and explained baptism and how it is done. He starting commenting on how he liked that we do baptism by immersion the same way that Christ taught it should be done, and that Not every Catholic church does that and how it has always bothered him how the Catholic church doesn't just have one single way to do baptism, some do immersion, some just sprinkle water on you and other pour water over your head.
Of course, afterwards he went off on how he hates all the corruption in his church and the dishonesty of the church leaders, along with the money scandals and the many other problems he has with his church. BUT he insisted that even though the LDS church is a great church and doesn't have all the problems the Catholic church has, and that we follow the way that Christ wanted things to be done, he is a devout Catholic and is happy where he is. (He makes no sense) We'll definatly keep trying to visit with him because he likes the company and I think he is starting to lose faith in his church. He has expressed different conversations with his priests that he didn't like because of how the priests treat the views of other churches along with some other things.
So, yesterday we got together with our district and tracted Orofino as a district. We exchanged companions then went to our assigned streets that Elder Sanders and I picked out. I went with Elder Silver from Kamiah. This was my first time tracting (door to door) and I wasn't very excited because I don't like that approach at missionary work. But oh well I got a great story out of it.
We knocked on our very first door and this kind of freaky looking guy opened the door and just stared at us for a second then said, in a monotone voice "Come in" We went in and he asked for our names. I introduced myself,
"I'm Elder Rebalkin"
"I asked for your name"
"Ummm.. Elder Rebalkin"
"That's not your name, tell me your name"
He seemed like he was starting to get really angry and had a bit of a harsh tone of voice. I explained that we are supposed to go by the title of Elder, and our last name. He suddenly got really mad and, almost yelling said, "I DON''T CARE! I want to know your FIRST name. Your CHRISTIAN name. The name of which your PARENTS wanted you to be known as!" I just sighed and told him my first name and Elder Silver told him his. The man then put on the biggest, most fake smile I have ever seen and then motioned at the chairs.
"Thank you so much Mason and Chase now you may sit down" We sat down and I noticed on his wall a bunch of stuff written in Hebrew. We had just barely sat down and he started right off.
he said something along the lines of "Now, normally I would be a bit of a difficult person and I would have requested you leave the second I opened that door but I think I'll hear what you have to say today"
We began by asking him if he had a faith in Christ, he replied,
"I do, my faith in Christ is stronger than the foundation of this building, do you want to know why?" He suddenly jumped up from his chair and said really loudly, "I'll tell you why! Because I have walked with Jesus!"
Of course we responded with something to the effect of "Well that's cool, so in what ways do you feel Jesus has helped you in your life?"
"He sat back down and his face got really red. He sounded really impatient and said, "No no no no NO! You don't understand! I have LITERALLY walked with Jesus!"
Of course this is a story that I REALLY wanted to hear. I could tell that he was a very dramatic person and that this was going to be a really entertaining story. So I couldn't resist asking him to tell us about it.
He started off by asking if either of us have ever been demonized.
"Like... Being possessed by demons?"
"Uhh YA because that's what being demonized means! Here let me show you something" He stood up again and bent over to show us a big scar on top of his head. "Do you see that?"
"The scar? ya, i see it"
"That is where A DEMON entered into my body!"
He then told us a pretty dramatic story of being possessed by this demon and how his whole body was buzzing and that he had a priest come over and give him a blessing and that the demons shot out of his arm but were back that night. I was getting pretty into the story, mainly because this was the most entertainment I've had for over a month.
he told us that when the demon came back, he had a lady give him a blessing over the phone but that for some reason it didn't work.
Like i said, I was getting pretty into the story and so at that point I said, "No way. What did you do next?"
"My wife layed her hand on my head and she gave me a blessing!! When she took her hand off my head, there was still a hand there!" His eyes got really wide and then he threw his hands up in the air and said, "IT WAS JESUS' HAND ON MY HEAD! He guided me to this room where he was sitting right there!" He pointed at my chair.
I said, " No way, This chair. Right here?"
"YES! and he sat me down, and he taught me!"
"He taught you what?"
"EVERYTHING!! And I swear this happened! I Wasn't Drunk! I wasn't stoned! It HAPPENED!"
(His house was full of empty beer cans and smelled like pot)
He then insisted that we need to leave and rushed us out of his house. The rest of the people we met weren't at all anywhere near that interesting.
Well.. I need to go haha hopefully you enjoyed that story!
_Elder Rebalkin