Our elite District-leader, bike-trio taskforce has being working together this week extremely proficiently, like a finely-crafted precision watch, or any other mechanical device known for running smoothly, like a John Deere tractor--okay, maybe that's not the best comparison, let’s stick with the watch idea. We have just about gotten down teaching as a trio. I have spent my whole mission with just the two of us, so now having a third person makes it very different to teach, but nevertheless, and notwithstanding, we have figured it out. We have had so much fun. We get up every morning at 6:30 am and we work hard all day, talking to as many people as we can, and we try to work with the members of the ward daily.
This week we went to COURT!!! Last transfer Elder Morris got T-boned in the Sandbridge Elders’ car because he drove through an intersection where the stop sign was completely not visible and had no stop line. The city of Virginia Beach tried to charge him and say he was at fault. When we walked into traffic court, the three of us with two lawyers (somehow two got hired) we were surprisingly over dressed, the five of us were all in suits with white shirts and ties, while everyone else in the courtroom, getting fined, were all wearing ratty jeans, shorts and T-shirts. The Police officer who issued the citation to Elder Morris saw five people all walk in looking real serious in suits, and just asked the judge to drop the charges, so Elder Morris has won 100% of his court cases (mind you this was his only court case, but it was a fun experience for us)!
This week was my last zone conference since I only have 3 whole weeks left. I was part of a panel of "experienced missionaries" that was questioned by the group on our experiences as missionaries serving here in this mission. It made me cry, but that's okay. I was sitting next to my MTC companion, Elder Cooper, so that was really fun to hear about his experiences as well. We did the math (on Elder Norwood's calculator watch) and by the end of 2 years we will have spent about 8,700 hours doing missionary work, so we aren't quite ‘masters’ of missionary work yet, but we are approaching the 10,000 hour mark.
There is a man whom we teach named Alec, and he is phenomenal. He's in his 60's and has gotten to the point in his life where he knows he needs to change and he has a strong desire to change as well. He was found last transfer when he saw us and asked, "Hey, can I get one of y'alls Mormon Bibles?" He asked if we could teach him about our church. We, of course, were happy to teach him, even though a "Mormon Bible" doesn't exist. (We obviously inferred he was speaking about the Book of Mormon.) We were teaching him about family and how even though his wife had passed away it is possible for him to be sealed to her for all time and eternity. There is nothing that could have made him happier than the thought of seeing and living with his wife again. The doctrine of eternal families, is true and unique to our religion, and is central to our purpose here and in eternity to be heirs of God. Only in the temple of God can man and wife be sealed together forever not just “ ‘til death,” and only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the Priesthood Authority to do so. Thus temples are literally the House of the Lord. When Alec learned about these things he asked us so sincerely if he could come to church with us next week--so of course we are excited to work with him.
Besides that, I saw a family from my first area that I haven't seen in 19 months. They recognized me and knew my name (yeah, I know we have name tags, but I will just say that they remembered my name)! That family has a book with photos of the last 15-years of missionaries who served in the Franklin Ward, so they are pretty good at remembering missionaries who served there.
We also taught someone we care a lot about. He and his wife are great. She's a member, he isn't, but he's read the whole Book of Mormon, and gone to church so many times, and is a great person, but hasn't gotten an answer whether it is true or not. We have no idea how to help him. I think he hasn't received an answer probably because he prays through a sword he made...but we are working on helping him. His beliefs in God are skewed because of the excessive amounts of anime and manga they watch and read. However, we love them, and think they are great. We love everyone, even those who hate us, we just don't care, and we love them anyways. Until next time though, I hope that y'all have a blessed week!
--Elder White
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