DISCLAIMER:
The subject line of this letter has very little to do with the actual
happenings of this week. This week was, in fact, quite crispy. Thanks.
Hello!
First item of business! Winter is officially over and I am
already officially sick of the heat! I need to work on loving the heat because
at this point it makes me miserable. I got like triple sunburned this week with
all the walking around we do. Hence the "crispy" week. Not fun. With
the change in the weather, Windsor is a completely different city. During the
winter it was cold, dark, and dead. People were more grouchy than not and there
were few people outside of UofW campus and the Downtown area. Now that the
weather is warm there are people EVERYWHERE. Downtown is packed. There are even
hot-dog stands on the street corners! People are just out on their porch,
usually drunk, but willing to chat. It is a completely different place. I guess
they still have the familiar Windsor attitude but at least they smile when they
tell us to get lost. :) I love it here.
This week was fairly normal until Saturday. On Saturday we had
an exchange with the Zone Leaders which is always a grand time. While they were
here we changed the way the area was split a little and in that we gave up a
sweet new investigator named Logan. We tracted into him a month or so ago and
at the time he was super busy in his last semester of school and said to call
him after exams. We called him a couple times, left a message and I was
resigned to the fact that he wasn't as neat as we thought he was. To my
surprise he called us Saturday night and asked for the Church address and said
he was going to be there. It was sweet. He came it was wonderful and it wasn't
until halfway through sacrament that I realized that he was now in the South
Elders' area. :) If he wasn't we would have hit standards two weeks in a row
but I am willing to give him up to help the South Elders out because they are
struggling right now. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. Am I
right? Sad but happy. Souls coming to Christ are always happy.
On Saturday afternoon, Elder De Moura (from Fortaleza, Brazil
and my hero) and I had a lesson scheduled with a Persian Pentecostal Pastor.
On our way to the meeting, I stopped a guy on the street. He frankly told me
no, he was a Christian and he didn't need to learn more. The usual. We went on
to our meeting and it was...awful. The Pastor's English was almost unintelligible
and he was EXTREMELY passionate about the Bible. After about twenty minutes of
him yelling at us in half English about how we were wrong, the guy who had
rejected me on the street walks up. He introduces himself and informs us that
he is a Baptist seminary student and that he'd like to hear what we have to
say. We started teaching a lesson but both of them kept asking what Elder
Warner calls "Twinkie Questions." They are all fluff and just
make you fat (or in my case angry.) This turns into a bashing session and just
when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a Bible-thumping Ethiopian man asks
if he too could join our conversation. So there we were in a coffee shop,
getting yelled at by three extremely passionate people, being told we were
wrong and trying our best to control the situation. After an hour and a half of
this nonsense, Elder De Moura told them all to stop and asked them what, in
there opinion, was required for salvation. All gave their answers (except the
Pastor. He couldn't understand the question) and then Elder De Moura said,
"According to your doctrine Mormons are saved. You can't be upset with us
for trying to hard to be saved. Have a nice day." We gave them our card
and left. It was crazy. Bible bashing makes me super angry and I hate it. It was
a good thing that Elder De Moura was there or it wouldn't have ended well. :)
What fun.
My investigators are great. Linda FINALLY came to church on
Sunday and I about died with surprise. She loved it and said she'll be back. We
are working on a marriage date and then its into the water.:) Nothing else
super exciting happened otherwise but overall a great week!
My testimony of the truth of this church was strengthened so
much this week. After the bash on Saturday I did not feel the Spirit. I felt
angry and afraid and contentious and it was awful. As the day continued, each
time I prayed and refocused I felt the Spirit return. The contention had driven
the Spirit away but prayer brought it back. It was incredible to feel the
Spirit return and to feel that happiness the gospel brings. I love it. I love
being a missionary.
Well. Love you all.
Hope everything is well. Do good things!
Love,
Elder Smith
