October 21, 2013

Dear Family,

 

Another great week in PA! I sure do love it here. The people, the beautiful surroundings, it sure has grown on me. Others have pointed out that I'm beginning to use phrases common among Pennsylvanians...When I first got here I promised myself that would never happen. Looks like the Yinzers are getting to me :)

 

We picked up a new investigator this past week! His name is John Michael, and he's the guy we ran into who wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We taught him last week, and it went well! He's quite the talker, but then again, who in PA isn't :) He is a super nice guy, who is a former boxer and currently a prison guard. It was actually one of the inmates that introduced him to the Book of Mormon...hey, whatever works. It was pretty funny. He gave the closing prayer in the lesson, and the one thing I remember was this:

 

"God, thanks for letting these powerful women come and teach me. Talking to them has made me a better man, and I hope that I have made them better women."

 

You can probably tell, he's quite the character...but totally harmless. Don't worry Mom!! He is reading the Book of Mormon and we have another lesson scheduled with him this week! I hope that he will begin to progress.

 

This week we encountered a legitimate crazy person. We were walking to the bus stop, and this guy across the street calls out to us and says something like, "You girls don't fit in here!" We kinda laughed and told him that we were missionaries from our church. Then he starts walking towards us, with this crazy grin on his face. Now, this wasn't a friendly welcoming grin. The best way I could describe it would be, well, evil. Ha. Anyway, he continues the conversation by asking us what December 25th is...We told him Christmas, and to that he went off about how Christmas, specifically believing in Santa Claus, is an example of a lie we've been told in order to keep us under control by "the man" basically. (I don't know what it is about paranoid people and Santa Claus). After that he asks us,

 

 "Do you know that the sun is dying?"

 

"Yeah I guess..."

"Well, haven't you noticed that the days are getting shorter?"

 

"Yeah..." (it's called winter time)

 

I think the point he was trying to get at was that the world is ending around us, and we are completely oblivious to it because of the lies we've been told all our lives. By this point I told him that I can't control the things that happen around me, but I can control the way I live my life, and the way I have chosen to live my life has brought me a lot of joy. To that he said,

 

"Oh of course! I can see it! You both are just beaming with light! It's beautiful it really is! But, that is why I need to tell you the truth."

 

Since when did "beaming with light" become a bad thing? When I thought it couldn't get any weirder he says,

 

"I've been sent here from another time. I know what is going on and I've been sent here to warn all you people about the lies you've been told. December 21st is the shortest day of the year, you will see. Then, you will come back to me for more information."

 

Hahaha, sure we will Mike. There was no reasoning with this guy, so we told him we appreciated his concern and that we had to get going. I love being a missionary...Just when you think you've seen it all, BAM! On a more positive note, we tracted into a really nice family yesterday. We went to contact a former investigator who ended up not living at the address we went to. We started heading back home, but I felt like we should at least knock on a few doors in the area. The first and only door we knocked on was this family who met with missionaries a year or so ago on the other side of town. The mother, Naomi, said she'd be open to meeting with us. We have an appointment scheduled with them this Wednesday :)  I am so grateful for the Spirit. Without the Spirit we would be pretty useless. I hope all is well family! Love you guys!

 

Love,

 

Sister Denney