Letter 1-28-10

Dear Family,

“I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my ‘last days,’ but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days.”
--Elder Jeffrey R Holland (Safety for the Soul, Oct Conf 2009)

What a great day to be a missionary. My birthday last week was good. Several people called and wished me a happy birthday, I got a birthday dinner from two different people (not on the same day, but both between last Thursday and now), and received Greg and Wendy’s birthday package in addition to another bag full of birthday goodies from one of the people who also provided a dinner. So I was well taken care of, no worries.

Time is running out, but yet there is still plenty of time to get things done. Although Elder Holland’s talk last conference was surprisingly intimidating (I had to double check in my mind to make sure I believed the Book of Mormon because he made me feel bad that I didn’t believe in it stronger), I share the same desire. I want to make it absolutely clear to these people that I testified to them that the Book of Mormon is true.

Some drama, good and bad, has happened this week. It turns out that Joe Sanchez could’ve been baptized this past Sunday. We postponed it because he was going out of town, and he did, but he returned earlier than he expected and showed up for church on Sunday. By then it was too late to do it that day, so this week will be just one more week of commitment, as Bishop Malcom said. Joe is really excited about Sunday, but writing on Thursday this week is a bit of a disappointment on your side, because I will have to leave you hanging. His wife, who has never had a problem with us teaching him, has suddenly turned against it. We have never taught her, tried to a few times, because she is closed minded to the church and doesn’t really want to talk to us. Yet she let Joe get involved and make his own decisions. Now she has said that if Joe pays his tithing, she will kick him out of the house, and she may be against him getting baptized. A baptismal candidate can’t get baptized without the permission of his or her spouse. All this news transpired today when Joe called us a few hours ago. She wants to have a chat with us personally later today. Put this story on pause now, because I don’t know how this will transpire. We will find out in a few hours and you all will find out if Joe got baptized… in one week from today. To be continued… just pray that everything will work out. It doesn’t bother me. Every baptismal candidate gets attacked by Satan the week of their baptism and 9 out of 10 times, the investigator pulls through and gets baptized anyway. I’ve only had one story where the investigator completely choked the week of their baptism and still isn’t baptized. Everyone else has done good. So I’m not too worried. Joe’s baptismal service has already been planned out and preparations being made, so it better not fall through, but whatever happens, the Lord is in it.

On a brighter note, if you remember back to last week, I mentioned that 3 out 4 people that were going to come to church didn’t show. Well, 2 of those 3 that didn’t show 2 weeks ago came to church this past Sunday. Jake Gonzales and Sara Fink were both at Church on Sunday in addition to Joe Sanchez. We haven’t had the opportunity to teach either, but Jake went and played basketball with the Elders Quorum on Tuesday and we have a set appointment with Sara tonight after P-day ends. We also plan on dropping by Jake afterwards so all is looking good. We finally were able to sit down with Chuck and Sharon Nelson this past week and taught a great Plan of Salvation lesson. Sharon has Agoraphobia, a fear of people, but yet she expressed that she really wanted to come to church, yet she isn’t quite ready because she describes her fear and random panic attacks to being in the same room as a tiger. That’s not a pleasant thought so I can understand that being in a closed up church with 200-300 people would be a little much. We plan on taking them on a tour of the church to help her feel more comfortable (we would do that on a weekday when the church is vacant) and we hope that that will help. Chuck would come, but his Sundays are pretty much controlled by his wife. It was funny when we were teaching the lesson because Chuck was pretty much teaching with us. He has so much truth in him that he said that he believes in the pre-earth life, the spirit world, and the 3 degrees of glory and even knows where it talks about them in the bible. Wow! We’re the only church that teaches those doctrines and he already believes in them. He’s what you call a dry mormon.

So that is the updates. We have not been able to catch the Hardins, but are still trying. Now I have to go because we have a big day in front of us. Take it easy everyone and have a great week, and a wonderful Groundhog day on Tuesday!

Elder Adam R Droge
The DrogeMiester