To start off, we were tracting the day before Halloween (you know because we can't exactly do it on Halloween because of the trick or treat-ers) and we met the nicest lady!! She was very Catholic, but her children's piano teacher was LDS and had exposed her a bit, and that always makes a HUGE difference! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon which she gladly accepted and told us she would read :) she made a joke about how we chose a good night to come out since the next day was Halloween and then we parted ways, as we were walking to leave her house, she comes running out of her house yelling "WAIT! I have a treat for you!!" and she gave us some Halloween candy anyway :) members, your relationships with others make a huge difference in missionary work!
We went to a Halloween Party some members were throwing and we got to meet some non-members which was awesome because we were still able to talk with others not of our faith and build relationships with them!
So, we figured out the details of the no-soliciting laws and we now have an intelligent answer to tell people when they threaten to call the police because we are exempt from the non-solicitation ordinance. It's kinda more comforting now, to know how to tell people we are not breaking the law.
We did have a funny experience with that though this week!
-->So, we went on a wild goose chase to find this referral we were given by the Spanish Elders, they had a really hard time telling us the correct address. So...we went to a neighborhood where she supposedly could've lived. When we realized her house number didn't exist on the street, we pulled in front of a random house to tell them we couldn't find her, and asked for further clarification. As we were waiting for the Elders to get back with us, this man walked passed our car, then turned around came back and knock on our window. Which no big deal right? That isn't the first time that has happened to me. He asked if we were the HOA. So we told him no, that we were missionaries and we were looking for someone who requested a book from us. We asked if he had met missionaries and he said yes, so we told him we would love to meet with him if he wanted. He said no, haha worth a shot and then asked for our card. We gave him our card and watched him walk back to this other man who was standing in the street. The other man called our number. He started asking for information from us, and so we asked him if we could know the reason, and he told us "There is a suspicious looking maroon car in a residential neighborhood associated with your church, and we don't know if you are the people sitting in that car, but there is no-soliciting in this neighborhood and there have been a lot of break-ins in this neighborhood lately, and the police will be called if it doesn't leave."
LOL
We told him that we were in fact the people in the car and asked if he'd like to speak to us personally, and he told us no. We informed him we were delivering a Book of Mormon to someone who may or not be in his neighborhood and we waiting to receive more information. He told us that he knew for a fact that the person's home we were sitting in front of would not be requesting a Book of Mormon and once again told us there was no soliciting in his neighborhood. We informed him that we were exempt from the no solicitation ordinance because we were not selling anything and thanked him for his concern as a citizen for his neighbors. He then told us that if the car didn't leave soon that the police would be called just to "check things out," if not by him, then by someone else. The entire time this conversation was happening, the Spanish elders were trying to call us, so we told him that the people we were waiting to contact us had been calling us and that we needed to speak with them so we could leave. He was like "oh, okay. Bye!"
Moral of the story: we can't even sit on a public road without the police being called on us haha poor police. I think people call them for everything here. They are like the mom of the city people call when something seems out of place.
We did see a miracle while finding! We had a prompting to knock on a door, so we knock and a lady answers and tells us to come in and that she was actually in fact LDS. Wait what? She was baptized when she was 9 with her grandma, and then she moved and her records were never moved with her. So flash forward, she is 42, a member and hasn't been active since! CRAZY!!! She told us we could get her records moved and that we could also come over and teach her the lessons! We found a lost sheep! :)
We had a lesson with Brad, and wow this guy has been prepared! He told us that the Baptist church turned him off because he didn't feel like his grandma would go to hell because she was a good person even though she wasn't very religious and that he had always wondered why there were so many different churches! It was a great lesson, the Spirit was there, the member had great insight and he really seemed to understand. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!!! We are struggling to get a return appointment with him and we need the faith of all for God's work to be brought forth!
A Sister Bradley blonde moment: So we found out right before bed Saturday that it was daylight savings that night, my companion had already gone to sleep so I tried figuring out what time to change the alarm to because our phone doesn't change the time automatically. Soooo...I set the alarm for 5:15 which ended up being 4:15 in reality...HAHAHA my companion was so confused that morning! At least we got to sleep for 2 more hours though :)
I found a Spiritual gem in my studies this week. I was reading Matt 22:36-39 which says:
"36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
I've shared this scripture with many people over my lifetime and receive this response several times, "What if I don't love myself?" That always puzzled me, and I never quite knew how to respond appropriately. But, as I studied these verses, it hit me. First, we LOVE GOD with EVERYTHING that we have. This comes first for a very specific reason because once we have done this, we come to know the the DIVINE and ETERNAL love that God has for us. Once we understand that love, our lives are changed forever, and we in turn can love ourselves that same way. This leads to the second commandment to love others with that love that you have come to have for yourself, all from the understanding of love that God has for you. We can then see others this same way, and help them understand the love that God has for them.
Serving with a Smile,
Sister Bradley
Pictures:
1. Found some INDIANA swag at Target
2. Our favorite sign to see :) at least it's cute.
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