Knock! Knock! Who's there?
Hello again, everybody!
Another week gone by; pretty uneventful.
We knocked on doors.
We got rejected.
We knocked on more doors.
We got rejected worse.
We talked to some people on the street.
They were nice, but they lived in a different city...
We knocked on some more doors.
They weren't so nice.
And then we got home, and I read a comic that I thought was hilarious. It showed two missionaries, they were standing in a doorway. One of them was already through, the other was behind him. The one behind said:
"Hey, at least we got into a door today!"
The one in front, with a weary look said:
"The missionary apartment doesn't count, elder."
Heheheh....
And then I cry because it's true...
Just kidding, I didn't cry. I only cry when I go to the temple.
Oh wait, that means I did cry this week.
Anyways, there's not much to say. I'm just trying to solve a mystery, because I need to know who the culprit is.
Considering how wet I am when I get home every night, and yet the fact that there are no clouds in the sky, it seems to me that someone is holding a gigantic magnifying glass over the Philippines. I just need to figure out who...
IT IS HOT! So hot. And the fact that nobody is really interested in letting us into their home means we're in it all day.
But there's no such thing as TOO hot when it comes to the work of the Lord...
But I'm still praying that there will be an extra breeze when we go out to work later...
This week we found out, unexpectedly, that one of our investigators is an atheist. What's more, he did a book review of the Book of Mormon. He handed it to us when we came to him.
I read it.
He gave it 2 stars and a 4/10.
I handed the book back and told him that I knew that he needed to read it. He looked confused, and said: "Again?"
I looked at him and said: "No. For the first time. You haven't read this book."
And he sheepishly admitted that he had only skimmed it and read a couple of passages.
Then he launched into a series of questions to try to prove that what religion teaches cannot be true. Remember that at this point we didn't know his religion.
He asked, "Why would a loving God make a hell to throw his children into?"
He stated, "I read the Bible twice. The second time I read it, I noticed there were a lot of mistakes."
He asked about baptism, and why a baby who was not baptized would be any different from a baby that was baptized, because they both acted the same way. He also stated that it wasn't fair for children to pay for the sins of their parents.
We told him that he was right, those things didn't make sense. We thought that our message would really help, and would make it clear why those beliefs were held, but also show that those concerns can be answered through the Book of Mormon, and the teachings of prophets in our day and time.
We let him know that as for ourselves, we didn't believe there was a fiery inferno where the souls of wicked men burn for all eternity, because of the very reason that he gave. We did, however, believe that the anguish of the guilt of a wicked man would be like a fire within him. God would not be the cause of his suffering, but his guilt while being in the presence of someone who loved him so much would.
But he seemed to take what we said and simply file it into a repository. "Oh," he said, "okay, so you're like Jehovah's witnesses. Don't believe in a hell."
I was confused. Was he really asking the questions? What was going on?
I tried to explain why many mistakes can be found in the Bible. I started by testifying that I knew the Bible was true, and then explained especially that the New Testament was of importance. I noted how Jesus Christ came, taught, established a church, and was rejected of men. He agreed. I spoke about how, after he was resurrected, he ascended into heaven, leaving his apostles to guide his church and keep the doctrine pure. I was going to lead into how there were false ideas and doctrines, dissensions and philosophies, and doctrinal questions which crept into the church, and we can see in the epistles of the apostles that that was happening, but he stopped me when I mentioned the resurrection.
He let us know he didn't believe in a resurrection.
My companion shared a scripture that talked about the resurrection.
He responded by telling us he believed that somebody said and wrote that scripture, but that they didn't speak the truth.
To make a long story short, he's gone almost to the point of atheism. He can't bring himself to say there is no God, but he doesn't believe in any God we believe in. He was simply trying to make us doubt...
We testified, and left.
It made me sad that I couldn't do more to help.
Oh well.
From,
Elder Streeter
Another week gone by; pretty uneventful.
We knocked on doors.
We got rejected.
We knocked on more doors.
We got rejected worse.
We talked to some people on the street.
They were nice, but they lived in a different city...
We knocked on some more doors.
They weren't so nice.
And then we got home, and I read a comic that I thought was hilarious. It showed two missionaries, they were standing in a doorway. One of them was already through, the other was behind him. The one behind said:
"Hey, at least we got into a door today!"
The one in front, with a weary look said:
"The missionary apartment doesn't count, elder."
Heheheh....
And then I cry because it's true...
Just kidding, I didn't cry. I only cry when I go to the temple.
Oh wait, that means I did cry this week.
Anyways, there's not much to say. I'm just trying to solve a mystery, because I need to know who the culprit is.
Considering how wet I am when I get home every night, and yet the fact that there are no clouds in the sky, it seems to me that someone is holding a gigantic magnifying glass over the Philippines. I just need to figure out who...
IT IS HOT! So hot. And the fact that nobody is really interested in letting us into their home means we're in it all day.
But there's no such thing as TOO hot when it comes to the work of the Lord...
But I'm still praying that there will be an extra breeze when we go out to work later...
This week we found out, unexpectedly, that one of our investigators is an atheist. What's more, he did a book review of the Book of Mormon. He handed it to us when we came to him.
I read it.
He gave it 2 stars and a 4/10.
I handed the book back and told him that I knew that he needed to read it. He looked confused, and said: "Again?"
I looked at him and said: "No. For the first time. You haven't read this book."
And he sheepishly admitted that he had only skimmed it and read a couple of passages.
Then he launched into a series of questions to try to prove that what religion teaches cannot be true. Remember that at this point we didn't know his religion.
He asked, "Why would a loving God make a hell to throw his children into?"
He stated, "I read the Bible twice. The second time I read it, I noticed there were a lot of mistakes."
He asked about baptism, and why a baby who was not baptized would be any different from a baby that was baptized, because they both acted the same way. He also stated that it wasn't fair for children to pay for the sins of their parents.
We told him that he was right, those things didn't make sense. We thought that our message would really help, and would make it clear why those beliefs were held, but also show that those concerns can be answered through the Book of Mormon, and the teachings of prophets in our day and time.
We let him know that as for ourselves, we didn't believe there was a fiery inferno where the souls of wicked men burn for all eternity, because of the very reason that he gave. We did, however, believe that the anguish of the guilt of a wicked man would be like a fire within him. God would not be the cause of his suffering, but his guilt while being in the presence of someone who loved him so much would.
But he seemed to take what we said and simply file it into a repository. "Oh," he said, "okay, so you're like Jehovah's witnesses. Don't believe in a hell."
I was confused. Was he really asking the questions? What was going on?
I tried to explain why many mistakes can be found in the Bible. I started by testifying that I knew the Bible was true, and then explained especially that the New Testament was of importance. I noted how Jesus Christ came, taught, established a church, and was rejected of men. He agreed. I spoke about how, after he was resurrected, he ascended into heaven, leaving his apostles to guide his church and keep the doctrine pure. I was going to lead into how there were false ideas and doctrines, dissensions and philosophies, and doctrinal questions which crept into the church, and we can see in the epistles of the apostles that that was happening, but he stopped me when I mentioned the resurrection.
He let us know he didn't believe in a resurrection.
My companion shared a scripture that talked about the resurrection.
He responded by telling us he believed that somebody said and wrote that scripture, but that they didn't speak the truth.
To make a long story short, he's gone almost to the point of atheism. He can't bring himself to say there is no God, but he doesn't believe in any God we believe in. He was simply trying to make us doubt...
We testified, and left.
It made me sad that I couldn't do more to help.
Oh well.
From,
Elder Streeter
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