First is the fire. We were tracting down a street,
and someone was burning a huge pile of branches, and we offered to
help. He said no, and so we asked him how we could help. He said he was
fine, but we'd already started picking up branches. He said he didn't
want us to smell like smoke, but we assured him it was fine. And so we
started helping, and he was grateful. We talked and worked for probably
about an hour, and had a really good conversation. It turns out he has
talked with missionaries before after a surgery that left one of his
knees immovable for 4 months, and they had visited him everyday. He
really appreciated what they did for him, and expressed gratitude for
what we did too. He also dispensed some life advice, which I've taken
into consideration. He also saved some woman's life once, dragging her
from a burning car. He's a really cool guy. He invited us back, and said
that we could come over sometime for dinner, and gave us his number.
It'll be great.
Number two was a lot of fun for
Elder Martins. We were knocking doors when someone named Terry opened.
He seemed a little strange at first, and invited us in. He gave us both a
hug, and said that he loved us because God loved us. We had heard
someone playing guitar, and we asked it had been him. He said yes, and
showed us. It was pretty cool. Elder Martins said he played guitar too,
and was given the chance to play as well. Terry (who asked us to call
him "Pops") got his son who also played guitar, and he and Elder Martins
played together for a few minutes. Then they got me to sing along, and
we just had a good time for a little bit. Trying to introduce the
gospel, we played/sang the only two church songs Elder Martins knows,
When I Am Baptized and something else I'm forgetting right now. Anyways,
we had a nice talk. He isn't very interested, because he's very firm in
his own faith. He used to play in his own band, toured the country, but
then had his moment of realization and turned his life around. He's
really nice though, and told us to stop by whenever we needed a drink, a
place to use the bathroom, get something to eat, or stay for a few
nights. A very generous man.
And finally, the guns.
We had set up a time to visit a less active member, and so we swung by
his house. We got to meet him and his two young daughters. He's a lot of
fun, and we ended up taking pictures with an inflatable poop emoji that
they had. But we were talking about his job as a police officer, and he
wanted to show us his guns. He walked over to a very large gun safe and
opened it, and he had some cool stuff, including an M1 Garand that his
father (or grandfather, I don't remember) had used. I ended up
describing it as "family history with firearms," and that fit pretty
well. He also invited us over for dinner whenever we were available, and
pressed $20 on us to
buy food. The hardest thing on my mission in refusing money from
members. They seem to think it's their duty to pay us sometime. Back in
my second area, I had a member threaten to shoot me if I didn't take his
money. But yeah, that was the majority of what happened this week.
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