Okay I’m not sure if you got my email last week... I tried to send
it a few times but it kept saying that it didn’t send. So I hope it did. What a
week. Adversity really builds us up. This past week has been tough and I think
that the coming weeks will be as well. Dad I are in Kearns. In the western
hills Stake. It is actually very small. We can tract the whole area in 4 weeks.
But that is not a good use of our time as most people are not home or they don’t
answer the door.
This one area where Elder Kulu and I are serving is apparently one
of the hardest stakes to serve in. The area book is rather small. Not many
potential investigators. Also there are a lot of house here that people rent so
the wards are constantly changing. It is hard to get members to help us if no
one knows who their neighbors are.
So the type of people that we run into here are either Hispanic
and catholic, white and members, or white and inactive, or Polynesians. The
poly's are all over the board. But they are always very friendly. They are
always trying to get us to eat dinner after we already had it. They pick us up
and drive us places even though they may not be members. I think it has a
little to do with kulu because he is Tongan. But they have always been nice.
The Hispanics are also very nice. They don’t always talk to us
because they say they don’t speak English. But to the Spanish missionaries in
the same stake they are always feeding and talking to and inviting them over
for parties even if they are not members. The white people haha are
not always as friendly. The members are nice and will say hi to us and people
honk and wave at us all the time but the nonmembers are very unfriendly. They
don’t answer the door, they tell us to go away and some even try to bible
bash with us.
So a few stories about that, we tracked into this one home and
this lady was telling us that we don’t believe in the scriptures that we read.
She kept saying that we worship on the wrong day that it should be Saturday. My
companion and I knew there was a scripture to answer that but neither of us
could think of it. So I distracted her by just talking while my comp found it.
haha she was trying to bash and say we are wrong but all I was doing was
bearing testimony of truth; That we have a prophet who receives revelations
from God and he directs our path. Then we shared Acts 20:7 haha and shut her
down. She was speechless and didn’t know what to say. We didn’t fight but she
asked for a scripture that said why we worship on Sunday. We gave it and all
she said was, "well I’m blessed" and shut the door on us. haha
Also we were taking Jade and her family to temple square for the
tour (its cool cause if they are getting baptized we can take them there) and
these two guys on the street started talking to us. Obviously anti-Mormons and
we really didn’t have time but they kept trying to tear down our faith with
scriptures but they didn’t understand the meanings of the scriptures. That was
different because they kept saying we believed in things and they obviously didn’t
know what we believe. They told us the book of Mormon didn’t have the Melchezidek
priesthood in it or that the bible talked about baptizing people for the dead. I
knew both scriptures to show that they were liars but I chose to just leave. In
case you’re wondering its Alma 13:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:29. There just wasn’t
any spirit talking with them nor was I going to convince them. Only get angry.
Anyways so we definitely had a miracle this week. In the MTC they
told us to ask for specific miracles. So this little girl Jade she is about 11,
and the missionaries have been teaching her for a long time. Her whole
family is members except her dad. But she lives with her mom and step dad. Anyways
I came in and taught her once and she didn’t really know what to think about
the church because she went to her father’s catholic church and they teach
different stuff. The first lesson we taught her about her feeling the Holy
Ghost how he won’t lie to her. I had an idea and started talking about fasting.
Good thing my companion and I teach by the spirit because he was right there
with me. We challenged the whole family to a fast to help Jade find the truth. The
following Friday we were all going to fast for her. I didn’t know but they
called cousins and grandmas and grandpas and everyone fasted. Then on Friday we
taught Jade again at the close of our fast. It was a long lesson where we just
talked and had her clear up her own doubts. It was amazing because she accepted
to be baptized at the end and she was actually really excited and then we went
with everyone to temple square the following Sunday. That all happened last Friday
and yesterday. It was a great testimony builder.
So this area has soooooo many dogs. And they are not even nice dogs.
They all have metal fences around the yards and the dogs are always barking at
us. Almost every house we pass. It is a little annoying. At first it was a
little startling and I would jump but know I expect it and sometimes tease the
dogs. I know I shouldn’t but it’s kinda funny. It makes it hard to tract because
some dogs will bite us if we go to the door. But if a dog bites me I’m not
going to hold off. haha. So ya they better not bite me.
So if there weren’t so many dogs, and the members actually
wanted to help us this area would be super cool. There is a great view from up
here because we are just a little higher than the rest of the valley. Kulu and I
are trying to get the wards to do the Ward mission process correctly because
most don’t do it at all. But I think with some good teaching things can pick
up. We have an African American from New Orleans that we are teaching. Today is
supposed to be his quit day for smoking. So we teach him tonight and will try
to help him. Also we are teaching a less active member who was baptized but that’s
about it. He knew nothing but it’s great to see his desire. He really wants to
change and he’s got great support. He has a girlfriend that comes to the
lessons and she’s a member. They are both probably in their early 30s. I wish
we had more investigators. I wish we had more people to teach. It gets
discouraging and frustrating but I know with faith things will pick up.
Love you all until next time, Elder Salmon
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