Email #7 - Twin Falls, ID
Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 1:17 PM
Hey Fam!!
To start off, Mom I have been checking my missionary balance account, and the toy store purchase was the game Curses for pdays (when we play games with the other elders) and a few puzzles. I also bought some food. The Target and Wallmart purchases were also food because I only have 72 cents on my mission card. (which will have more money on it at the start of next month, plus I am getting a refund from the money I spent for baggage at the airport so I will have 190.72 on my card. I am trying to be careful on what I spend money on.
Fun story that goes with that! The other day Elder Mitchell and I were at the store because we wanted pancakes but had no syrup. So we found the syrup and started looking for a good price when a woman came up to us and asked if we had enough food. We told her we had enough to last for awhile, and to our surprise she pulled out a 20 dollar bill and gave it to us. We tried to decline but she wouldn't take no for an answer (really, she wouldn't) she gave it to us and said “buy what you need” So we got more syrup, eggs, and milk! =) I love how the Lord blesses us even with shopping!!
Another story, just yesterday, (11-22-2010) Elder Mitchell and I had about an hour and a half before an appointment and had no idea what to do. So we pulled over into a parking lot and prayed, asking God to lead us to where we needed to be at that time. After the prayer we sat for a moment and waited for the spirit to shout at us GO THAT WAY!!!!! And guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED!!! So we just started driving again. When we got on the road I had the feeling that we needed to go the other direction, so I told elder Mitchell and we turned around. Soon we found ourselves in a small neighborhood and I then had the feeling to go tracting. Now just so you know there is a lot of snow down here now, and it was snowing at the time as well. But I told my companion anyway and he agreed with me. So we got out of the car and started knocking on doors. The first door a man answered and politely told us that he was busy and that we should come back another time, and shut the door before we could give him our number. The next door as we walked up to it elder Mitchell turned to me and said, "Your turn." I laughed a bit and said, "I'm not ready just yet." So he spoke again on the next door which was open enough so we could see the man’s eye. He simply said "Not interested" and closed the door. so that was the first two doors. My companion then told me that the next person to answer I was to do the talking. I felt a little better about doing that now so I agreed. The next three doors, no one answered. The fourth door however a man opened the door all the way and asked if he could help us. I began by introducing myself and my companion and told him that we were missionaries. When I said this he got excited and asked us if we were the LDS missionaries. I answered yes. He then went back inside to tell his wife, while he was gone we saw a picture of 'the last supper" on the wall and thought "oh dear, probably Catholics". The wife then came to the door and invited us in. She took our coats and hung them up as we sat down and began talking. They then informed us that they were Christian Baptist and they had some questions about our beliefs. The questions were the usual ones like "why do you worship Joseph Smith?" or, "Why do you wear magic underwear?" My favorite part though was how much we talked about the Bible. I have never read the Bible all the way through, but new a little about it because a lot of it is mentioned in the Book of Mormon. But they were strong believers that the Bible is the only word of God and that the Book of Mormon was false because the Bible said you cannot add to or take away from it. That's when I pulled out my Bible and asked them if they could "help" me understand a verse I had read in Ezekiel. The verse talked about the stick of Joseph and the stick of Ephram and how they will be put together. Now we know that is talking about the Bible and the Book of Mormon working together to testify of Jesus Christ, But the man had a "new Bible" written in modern day lingo so that you could "understand" it. and that Bible with the same verse read "Take a stick and write Joseph on it, then take another stick and write Ephram on it then put both ends together." the man then explained how the house of Joseph and the house of Ephram will one day be made into one house. I thanked them for the insight and then told them how I had come to learn that that verse told us that the Book of Mormon and the Bible were made to work together. But of course they told me that they didn't believe that. When we finished they thanked us for answering there questions and also told us that we would make very good Christians if we would only join their church. To them, you are only a Christian if you believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one person. (which made no sense because they had told us earlier that God wasn't a person he was a deity that is everywhere and has no shape, except when he takes on the form of Jesus Christ, then he becomes his own son so that he can talk to us his children????) It makes me think of the song called "I'm my own Grandpa". lol.
So THAT was fun! Like I said there is lots of snow, I got a letter from Kenton which was fun. We also got a new car!!!!!!! It’s a 2011 Malibu, and we are loving it! Only 690 miles on it! I am having fun and staying warm (and LOVING the cold at the same time.) I love you all and pray for you all the time. Stay cool everyone!
Elder Bevell
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