This week we had several really funny things happen and then also some miracles. Conference was amazing as usual.
The funniest thing is really just embarrassing. We went over to our investigators house Tatiana, but she wasn't there. We talked to her dad who happens to be a member. It was really hard to understand him in his broken English because he is Marshallese. He was telling us he wanted us to give his grandchild a blessing. He just turned one. We weren't exactly sure what he was asking so we kinda just went for it and agreed to come by the next night and say a prayer for him. Well when we got there the next day it turns out that the entire family was there. They have a huge family there was like 25-30 people there. And they had all gathered for this prayer. Well not many of them spoke English so we just kinda sat in the corner awkwardly. Then he brought out the baby who had just turned one and it was his Birthday. We were just confused. I was "voluntold" by Elder Phair to give the prayer. I asked what the baby's name was. He didn't really understand my question at first so I repeated and he responded "john ball." I thought to myself that's a weird name for a Marshallese baby. But I went for it and thanked God for John Ball and asked that he would bless him and things. Immediately after the prayer there was the question that left everyone's lips to their neighbors as they whispered to each other, "Who's John Ball?" Apparently his name was Tiem. To this day I have no idea why in the world he told me the wrong name.
Another funny thing that happened was we were tracting in these apartments and knocked on this door. Before we know it a cop answers the door flash light in hand. Me and Elder Phair were stunned for a few seconds. Then we decided to just go for it. "We're missionaries from the Church of...." Then he cut us off and said, "I can assure you we don't need missionaries here. We got some crime happening." In the back there was another cop in the back examining some substance. "Alright! Wellp see ya."
Amoungst the funny things that always happen we also had some really cool miracles happen this week. We have continued teaching Keith. He's awesome. This week we taught him about the addiction recovery program. Which he was all for. He also read our skeleton version of the Book of Mormon. We left him about 20 of the most important chapters to read in the Book of Mormon and he read it all and loved it. We talked with him about coming to conference and church but he refused. He said I won't come until I quit smoking. I think he's using that as an excuse. But he is solid and he will come around.
We taught a lady named Abisha. She was found by the missionaries who were here before. She has a 12 year old son named Wesley. Well they are doing great they were able to watch conference this week. She is very friendly.
Ok so miracle of the week. The first couple weeks we got here we went to try and contact a part member family. The information we had about them was that the father was less active and the wife was not a member. We got to the house and Elder Phair looked at me with bewilderment in his eyes and said, "what are we going to say to these people?" I thought about for a second. I have been so used to just doing it that I have forgotten how good it is to plan what to say before. I thought about it for a second. Then we came up with a great idea. We knocked on the door and the member answered. After our intitial greeting I said, "you know Jake, Elder Phair here just barely became a missionary. He really needs some practice teaching the lessons. Could we come by some time this week and teach you and your family the message of the Restoration?" It worked. He said sure and we went by just yesterday. We got in and met the wife who is not a member but she has come to church many times and even watched conference. We taught the message of the Restoration. We actually weren't being deceptive though because Elder Phair and I really did need practice teaching the Restoration. The lesson went awesome! We gave her a Book of Mormon. Funny enough the Book of Mormon that Elder Phair pulled out was an older one that had been lying around our apartment when we first got here. We opened it up and discovered that in the back some random people had written their testimonies in it. We said well some random person wrote their testimony in this so you can read it. They asked who it was. We looked at the signiture and out of pure "coincidence" that person was their babysitter growing up. WOW!
But it doesn't end there, at the end Natalie started asking us some excellent questions like, "Do people who are a different religion like me ever convert to mormonism?" and "Do you guys believe people from other religions can go to Heaven?" To the latter question we responded "Well you know we have a lesson that teaches all about life after death. Can we come by this week and teach you about it?" They agreed. Wonderful!
Well the work is really progressing it's super exciting. I love this ward this companion this mission. Everything. And I love you all too. Thanks for being there for me.
Elder Johnson
