Week 24 - "He said Spencer seemed a trifle... unhinged."

Hey, everyone.

This week has been a little hectic, and I haven't been great about keeping my journal, so I don't have much to help me recall what's happened. Because of that, this email may be a little chaotic, and events may not be presented quite in the right order. I'll probably just be sharing things with you as they come to mind.

The other thing that's been interesting about this week is I feel I've started collecting my first crop of crazy mission stories, you know, those things that happen that are just out of the clear blue yonder and would never happen in any other situation, hence the quote, which comes from The Man Who Knew Too Little. I don't mean to imply that the people I mention in these stories are crazy or anything, but it's certainly been crazy how we met them. 

So with the new transfer came a change in the mission, namely the introduction of "Training Specialists." We saw the designation on the PBZ that was sent out just before last transfer ended (that's Picture By Zone for you non-missionaries--it's just a sheet that shows our pictures and where we're all headed/staying in the upcoming transfer) and the elders and sisters who were going to be assigned to the role, but we didn't exactly know what they were going to do. They didn't have an area they were designated to be in. On a conference call last week, President Stratford explained what the purpose of these elders and sisters is and what they will do. For the next two transfers, these awesome, consecrated missionaries will be on an exchange five days a week. At the end of each day they will conduct a review with the elders or sisters they're exchanging with and drive to the next area they're going to exchange in. If I remember correctly, elders will participate in these exchanges twice per transfer, and sisters will participate once per transfer. The calendar of exchange dates was sent out a couple days ago, and I checked it and was stoked to find out that near the end of the month we'll be exchanging with Elder Hepler, formerly and very recently one of the assistants in the mission, and Elder Barnson, my former district leader from when I was serving in Worthington. There are a couple missionaries I've wanted to serve in a companionship with since I came into the mission, and Elder Hepler is one of them. I've done exchanges with Elder Barnson twice now, if I remember correctly, and I'm excited to see him again, too. Basically the reason for these missionaries doing this crazy circuit around the mission is that there are some new policies and practices we're trying to solidify as a mission and some old ones we're trying to shore up, and they're going to be there to guide us on how to improve. Later this week we're going to be exchanging with two other specialists, Elder McInnes and Elder Watkins. They seem really awesome, and I'll let you know how that goes in my next email.

So the first crazy thing that happened this week was that we were at the library, about to get in our car, and this guy on a motorcycle growled into the parking lot and parked next to us and started chatting with us. He said when he was in his mid-20s he and a 16-year-old "Mormon" girl (she had been emancipated) rode on a trip around the country, and she had told him a little bit about her faith, so he knew something about who we were. He also said he worked on computer systems, and we had a flaw in the familysearch website because it wasn't difficult to get an account, and as long as you had certain pieces of information you could get access to someone's whole genealogical record (at least, that was what I understood from what he was trying to tell us). He had a bunch of patches on his motorcycle jacket that were... interesting, we'll say. He also told us he was the president of a biker club called the Soulless Nomads (the insignia was on the back of his biker jacket), gave us each a card, and told us more about the area, including where the 'hood was (which, coincidentally, also happens to be the area where many of the best people we're teaching live--a funny story about that later), and told us if he wanted to know where we were, he could just ask his people, and they would tell him. Elder Anderson bonded with him a little over motorcycles (he used to ride one before his mission), and the guy told us to let him know when we were done with our missions, and we could join his club and ride with him.

Speaking of bikes, on a different day we were sitting on the bench outside the library with our bikes parked next to it, and a guy walked up and was like, "Hey! Fellow cyclists! How many miles you put on those things?" And we were like, "Only about 10 a day." He was incredulous. "10 a day?!" We explained that we also drove a car, and he was like, "Have you ever been to the bike trail?" And I was like, "No. Where is it?" And then again, he said, incredulous, almost laughing, "You don't know where the bike trail is?!" And we were like, "No, we mostly ride around on the streets," and he was like, "Come with me on the bike trail!" And we explained we don't get a lot of time to recreate, and he was like, "What are you doing now?" and we told him we were trying to contact some people on Facebook, and he was like, "Put that away! That's demonic!" Elder Anderson told him to settle down, and he was like, "No! Put it away! Come with me on the bike trail!" Then he got real serious, almost emotional, and was like, "You'll see God on the bike trail. Come with me on the bike trail." I asked him what his name was and shook hands with him, and he told us, and then again he said, "Come with me on the bike trail." Then he walked into the library. We left after that.

That same day we met someone who wanted to talk to us about how wrong it was that gay or transgender people serve in the military and how disrespectful it was. He seemed to think that we had some pull with someone in a position of authority, and he told us to talk to someone about that when we get the chance.

One day after teaching Bruce (he's doing good, by the way, and we're still teaching him), again on the bikes, we pulled into a parking lot near where he lives to report on the lesson and think about where we were going next, and another guy pulled up on his bicycle, and he was like, "I'm going to be straight with you. I don't want your money or nothin'. I just want you to pray for me." He said he was trying to get a bus ticket to see a friend of his, and he wanted us to pray for him that he got his bus ticket. We said we would, and I want to shake his hand, and he shook it, but then he was like, "Can you pray with me now?" and kept holding my hand, so we all held hands and bowed our heads there on the corner of the 'hood and prayed for this guy that he would be able to get his bus ticket. He also asked in the middle of the prayer that we pray for him that he would be able to overcome his addictions, so Elder Anderson prayed for that, too. Then when we were finished he showed us the cross he was wearing and talked about the state of the world and how awful it was and asked for a tract (we gave him a restoration pamphlet and a #becauseofhim card), and then he took off. He was pretty intense.

A few moments later, just as we were getting ready to take off, a suburban drove by, and a girl yelled out the passenger-side window, "Maaaan! Y'all brave as ****!" I told Elder Anderson after we passed by, "Or just stupid." It was funny. It's been interesting, though. There have been moments where I've been a tiny bit afraid for my life here, but the area where we teach some of our best people isn't really one of them, and as I've had confidence in the Lord that he will protect us, I haven't felt afraid. I think there's something about "men of God" that causes people to respect us or not be suspicious of us or leave us alone. It's interesting. The Lord definitely provides us with protection, and I'm not sure how he does it.

Well, as far as the people we're teaching, there's a guy named Nathan who is really progressing quite well. He wanted to give us a hug at the end of our last lesson with him, and I think he really felt, and we really expressed to him, the care that we have for him. I think we've been able to share that with a lot of people in the past week, actually, and the spirit has been strong in each of those situations. I think both Andrew and Bruce have felt that love and care. It's also been interesting. Elder Anderson says he can sort of see people's potential, and he thinks that one person in particular that we're teaching could be one of the strongest members of the ward in the future. It's been interesting as I've been on my mission, I've had little glimpses of what people might be like if they join the church. Maybe with some of them it's just my imagination and hope, but some of them have felt very, very real and been accompanied by a strong feeling of the spirit. Once in Worthington Elder Thomas and I were meeting with a person we were teaching named Hope, and we read the sacramental prayers in Moroni with him. We had him read the prayers aloud, and when he did, I was filled with the thought of him blessing the Sacrament, and that thought was strongly accompanied by the spirit. It really hit me hard. After the lesson, I told Elder Thomas, "Man, when he said the Sacramental prayers?" And he was like, "I know, right?" It's been interesting to have similar experiences with people in Warren. I'll be meeting with them and just think, "Man, what great work you could do in the temple," or "What a great and wise support you could be to many who are struggling in the church." It's really cool. Again, some of it may be just me imagining things, but some of it definitely isn't.

I'm trying to think if there was anything else I wanted to share. David got in touch with the sisters who referred him, so we may yet have the opportunity to teach him again. And we continue to meet people who seem prepared to hear our message. Our teaching pool is becoming very large, and I think it's because of the sacrifice that President Stratford and the mission leadership asked us to make in regards to member meals. Instead of being blessed with food, we are being blessed with people to teach, and it's great. Just today, while we were visiting a motorcycle dealership (Elder Anderson has been wanting to check it out for the past few transfers, I guess, so that was sort of our preparation day activity today), we met a guy who knows he was preserved by God. He was in a car accident that absolutely should have killed him, but he testified that God watched over him. He asked where our church was, and we gave him a card, and he said he would make it a point to share a Sunday with us sometime. He said the reason we met was probably so he could share his story with us and we could share it with others. :) If he comes to church, he may change his mind about why we met him--we have a message of our own for him.

That's about all I can remember from this week. I'm going to try to catch up on my journal and maintain it better so I'm sure not to miss anything next time. I love you all! Keep calm and carry on, and keep praying.

Elder Davis