RIver Falls week 20

It is starting to get chilly... and dark... But that is alright. We still only bike and so after dinner we put coats on and thermals under our slacks. The one store in the area that we can buy winter stuff at won't have winter clothing for another month, so hopefully we can stay warm till then.. ha ha.
Anyway, we had another slowish week, but that is alright. Our teaching pool is still not where we want it to be but we met some awesome people this week that we are really hoping will progress. One of those people was Sister S. So after all of our plans fell through for the day and the time was around 8 pm (most awful time of day to try and do anything because people freak out that it is "late." IT just gets dark early...) we decided to pray. After the prayer we felt we should visit Sister S. We had performed some service for her 2 weeks ago and stopped by to say hello and so this time we decided we were going to go teach her. She gladly let us in and told us how she is a recovering addict and the guilt of her addictions are weighing heavily upon her. WE shared a message on the atonement and gave her Alma 36 to read. We shared the message of the restoration too and then she hardcore rejected baptism.... but we will take care of that. 

We dropped by a member of the ward who actually attend a different ward in the area to do what we call a teaching evaluation, which is where we teach a lesson and they tell us how we can improve. It got awkward quick when one member said, "we know you are just here because the bishop thinks we are inactive." That is not actually true, but it was awkward nonetheless... 

So this week was filled with raking. We met this woman with some health issues tracting and asked her if there was anything we could do to help her. She was like, are you serious? We told her yes and she said she was physically unable to do her raking because of the health issues. We told her we would return the next day to help. And we did. We also returned the next day. And the next day. After about 8 hours of raking, 34 bags, and what we calculated to be 1352 gallons of leaves, we completed the task of raking that yard. Holy cow. But it was all worth it in the end when she almost started crying because of her appreciation. We also organized her shed and put some boxes in and she was speechless when she looked inside to see what we had done. I love to help people... she then asked us if we believed in Jesus, ha ha. She said she wanted to pray but she ended prayers in Jesus' name and didnt want to offend us. We told her we would love to pray in Jesus' name. Side note: another cool experience occurred on the first day we raked when the mother of the woman whose house we raked came outside and glared at us. We asked her how her day was going and she just said, skeptically, "why are you doing this?" We told her we just really love to help. She was shocked that there are still people in the world who offer help so freely. What is our world coming too, anyway. 

While tracting this 6'5" bald, mammoth of a man opened the door in an orange tank top. He folded his arms and just glared at us. His arms were probably as big as my thighs. This man probably could have eaten my soul. Needless to say, the conversation didnt go anywhere and Elder Cole and I scampered off quickly. 

Being in a college town weekends can get kinda crazy. On fridaynight we foolishly went into an apartment building looking for a potential. This man named David came running up to us totally high as a kite (we have talked to him  before) and was like you need to come and have some drinks with us! He knew already we dont drink. We reminded him and he said we could just sit and watch the movie instead. We talked our way out of that one and then we finally agreed to merely say hello to his roommates to get him to leave us alone. We waived from the doorstep, said a word or two, and quickly left. The door shut and then the hilarity ensued. The walls are quite thin and we heard David go on about how the other day he apparently confounded us with his opinion of Jesus being a legend, not a myth or fact or anything. In actuality all he did was invite us to join his booster club and mention Jesus was a legend. We hear the most interesting things through walls after we leave a door, ha ha.  Some people's kids... 

So on Friday Elder Cole said he would bet two ties that it would not rain that day. Around 3:30 it started to rain a little bit. He refused to acknowledge that it was actually raining and said it was sprinkling. I told him that no one said, "hey sprinkle drops are falling!" No, everyone and their dog says, "rain drops are falling." So we took this tactic into our finding and began asking people if they thought it was raining or not. All I am saying right now is Elder Cole needs to pony up two ties. 

So Elder Cole REALLY hates bugs. He flips out if one comes near him. After church Elder Walker (our new zone leader) picked up a box elder bug (those things are like flies here, sooo many of them) and threw it at Elder Cole who was sitting in the car with his window down. Elder Cole flipped out in his seat. Oh man, so funny. I got the bug out of the car for him, dont worry.

Spiritual thought: I was reading in Jonah recently. The Lord called Jonah to do a great work, but Jonah rebelled and resisted. But the Lord is very merciful and allowed him to repent and then complete that same work. This is very comforting to me to know that as imperfect as I am, if I will repent and follow Christ that no matter how many times I mess up, the Lord will still allow me to complete the tasks he wishes me to complete.

I love all of you! Have a wonderful week! 

-Elder Damron