So it is june. What. Still kinda blows my mind.
This week we had quite a few miracles and interesting events. Monday night we were contacting and right as this Chinese man rode by us his bike chain came off and he had to stop. So we talked to him. Turns out he did his PhD at BYU and talked about God with his roommates a lot. We asked how he ended up at BYU and he said it was chance and a lot of things happened to get him there. He still doesnt believe but we asked him if he thought it was a coincidence that he met us here on campus. He said he knew to us it wasnt but he told us he just cant believe. So told him God would put missionaries in his path again one day and he said he would listen to them when that happened. It was kinda unreal. What are the odds....
Our investigator Brother TJ is doing really well! He faced a LOT of opposition this week. He is the man who got out of jail in kentucky and was flown here to work and live with 4 mormon roommates to change his life around. Anyway, his entire family disowned him early in the week and a lot of Anti literature got thrown his way and he was really struggling. In our lesson in the middle of the week he vented for 45 minutes and he almost skipped town but he calmed down and said he knew that this situation was a blessing from God. He told us he always calms down and feels peace when we come over. We asked him why he thought that was and he didnt know. He said, "probably because it is true." We grinned ear to ear and taught him about the Spirit. Anyway, the next time we went over he was completely calm with a big smile and the first thing he said was that he wanted to get baptized. He told us that his family had contacted him and told him they were sorry and loved him and were proud of him. A lot of other sweet things happened. :) unfortunately he gets sentenced to 2 years of unmonitored probabtion in 2 weeks so he cannot be baptized any time soon... but the Lord does his work. So it is ok.
Another cool miracle happened when we prayed and felt that we really should go drop by a media referral that lived a good distance away. We went there but did not get an answer. We left the apartment building and we decided we wanted to find out why God sent us there. So we went tracting and found this romanian lady who is really needing some help in her life. We shared a brief message since it was late and promised to send missionaries to come help her and teach her (we only teach YSA so we refer everyone else). Right before we left she told us she knew God had sent us to her that night.
On Friday we went on an emergency exchange with a team because one of the missionaries is really struggling and his companion was struggling to stay afloat with all the responsibility. I went with the struggling missionary. He really has all the skills needed to be a great missionary he just doesnt let himself see the talent he has. He kept telling me how unhappy he is, he just doesnt know why he is unhappy. His area is doing the best in the whole zone. they just baptized someone and have 5 more baptisms in the coming weeks. I helped him realize that happiness is a choice and he just needs to look around at all the happiness around him. He is thinking about himself too much to be happy. So we committed him to focus on his companion and investigators for an entire day and see how he feels. When we followed up the next day he was doing a lot better. Moments like this is where being a Zone Leader is very rewarding. I LOVE ministering to those missionaries in our stewardship.
Saturday held a bit of an interesting experience for me. It was inconsistently pouring rain. ONe moment nothing, the next a total downpour. We started teaching this guy who knew the Bible VERY well at a bus stop. It started to rain and so we went under an overhang. Out of the corner of my eye i saw a guy walk up behind us wearing a wife beater, but i didnt think anything of it. Right when we began to make some ground with the man we were teaching and he agreed to baptism and to read the Book of Mormon the wife beater man spoke up. Turns out he has studied just about all the anti mormon literature out there and he railed us. he totally turned off the guy we were teaching and started asking questions. I tried to answer some of the questions but he kept cutting me off. Then the man we were teaching started cutting me off too. I basically got railed from both sides and so i bore my testimony. But then they quoted some scripture about the heart being deceitful and told me that Satan had put that testimony in my heart. It was pretty frustrating. Then the bus came and the man we taught got on the bus and the other guy literally ran away from us as if we had the plague. Blah.
But that day got better! After that episode we went and got fed by a Chinese convert. He made us rice dumplings in accordance with the Dragon Boat festival that is going on right now. As the story goes, there was a really renowned poet who committed ceremonial suicide in a river to protest the corruption of the government in the era he lived in. All the villagers really loved him and didnt want the fish to eat his body so they threw rice dumplings in the river as an alternative food source and rode dragon boats down the river beating drums and blowing horns to scare the fish away. So now every year they ride in dragon boats and eat rice dumplings. It was really good. He also made us a japanese soup with tofu and seaweed. it was... different.
Later that night we went out contacting and we were getting rejected left and right. We decided to pray about where we should be. I felt we should go to the library. There was 3 ways to get to the library, but Elder Harrison felt that we should go near the Rec center before we go to the Library. Anyway, we follow that route and end up meeting John! He had a mormon roommate last year, came to church, and even took some lessons but things didnt click. We asked him why God put us in his path again and he said he really needs direction right now. We taught about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and boldly promised that Baptism and Confirmation would help him find direction. It was cool experience. I am a nerd and think of things in mathematical terms so the first thing I thought of was that God gave me the Y coordinate and Elder Harrison got the X coordinate to our destination where we found John. he he.
Anyway, Mormon is a beauty. I have really enjoyed my studies recently. In Mormon4:17 we read: And in this year they did come down against the Nephites with all theirpowers; and they were not numbered because of the greatness of their number.
It is interesting that almost always the wicked Lamanites outnumber the righteous nephites. Compare to today.
In mormon 5:18 we read about life without Christ: But now, behold, they are led aboutby Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about uponthe waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and evenas she is, so are they.
So let us now reflect upon one of the classics, Helaman 5:12: And now, my sons,remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Sonof God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth hismighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mightystorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to thegulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is asure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
The nephites were utterly destroyed off the earth because they failed to have a foundation of Christ. Let us not make their mistakes! We should seek daily to strengthen our foundation in Christ and help others around us build their own as well. If we dont do this then Satan will sift us as wheat.
I love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Elder Damron
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