Hope everyone had a great superbowl sunday
- I never thought that I'd forget to think about the superbowl. We
didnt even realize it was yesterday until late last night at an old
lady's home. Its such a blessing to not care - people sometimes tell us
these psycho things that happen in the news, crazy weather reports, or
end results of the superbowl....It's interesting to think how much our
lives are wrapped up in things we consider to be of major importance
that aren't and then we wonder why we don't have enough time to do all
we need to or want to.
The lesson with Ali went great! He mentioned again and again
over dinner and in the lesson that he felt God's presence there. He has a
gift of recognizing the spirit - we talked about what that was and
God's pattern of how he speaks to us and shows us his love. When we
asked how he got involved with the church he said he was given a book of
mormon in 1984 and loved it. since then he's had members of the church
weave in and out of his life. late last year he was over a project with
another company. When he talked to the 2 men from the group he said "the
moment i looked into their eyes, the thought came to mind 'they're
mormon'." He said he didnt want to say anything at first but after
working with them, discovered they were infact members of the church!
They planned a business trip to SLC around general conference last fall
and he LOVED IT. He personally met Elder Nelson..I think even went in
his office! When he returned home, Elder Nelson wrote him a personal
letter. He talked about it like no big deal and I told him that I would
probably never get to experience that and almost all of the members of
the church will probably never get to experience that. So cool! It was a
great discussion - we tried to teach the restoration in terms of asking
questions and asking experiences of how God works and again about his
patterns. We didnt even talk about Joseph Smith and yet he brought it up
saying he knew that he was a prophet..that he would have had to receive
that revelation from God. He has a desire to get baptized and we
invited him to ask God when he should and what his answer would feel
like. He said his wife is supportive of him taking the lessons but not
interested herself, and since its such a sudden change of direction for
him, he wants to be cautious of her feelings - He said that patience in
that timing is the only thing holding him back. At the end we asked HIM
to teach US the plan of salvation for tonights lesson. He readily
agreed. We assigned up 2 nephi 2 with a question to think about and in
return he gave US a question to think about for it too :) Tonights
lesson will be another fun one where we wont know what the heak we're
doing.Watching this guy's body language and reaction to what we were talking about was almost HILARIOUS. I had brought a Book of Mormon and i decided to pull it out. I told him we brought him a gift that was very important to us and that it contained all the knowledge we talked about tonight. I told him that through out all the research he had done, reading this book with real intent of seeking truth not for selfish gain would be the most intellectually and spiritually exhausting experience he would ever have. I told him that only he could discover it for himself and that i knew it was true.
The guy looked at me like i was a downright idiot. He leaned in and said, "How old are you?"
But for some reason, I didn't care. I knew that I didnt know
everything about the brain and how to make clones in the future...but I
DO know about how the most scientific, knowledgeable, and most supreme
creator and inventor of all time talks back to us. I know who he is and I
know he is real. I thanked heavenly father so much that night that he
provided an opportunity for me to bear testimony hopefully that came our
half clear.
It was an awesome experience being able to participate in
the lesson but I wasn't counting on him really wanting to know more
personally.
We heard of a fireside about science and
religion coming up and texted Brother Sivers about it yesterday,
thinking van might be interested. He then called us and told us that
after the discussion that night, Van called him THAT NIGHT with a load
of questions. Then he said he woke up to an email van had sent in the
middle of the night..with more questions. THEN he said he called him at
work because he couldnt wait to ask him a question. He said he wants to
help us figure out this whole science and religion thing. Brother Sivers
also said Van said he was mostly touched when I told him about how I
knew truth and was astounded that someone of such a young age could be
so confident in a knowledge of something like that. It was nice of
brother sivers to say that. I really didnt do any of the teaching that
night and no way could i have ever explained the gospel in a way he
would understand by myself but its good to know that if all we need to
be is the innocent ones who say they know its true, we can be there. Van
is going on vacation for 2 weeks (we hope he brings his BOM)- but B.
Sivers says when he gets back he's going to help Brother Sorensen (the
other smartie there who also teaches gospel doctrine) teach in gospel
doctrine and add a few comments. He is also willing to talk to them
again about what we believe and B. Sivers said of course he'll have us
there. Crazy, right??
Oh and the other first lesson taught by amaaazing sister
kendall is now a new investigator! Maria! She's awesome! and we hope her
husband and kids will have the desire to learn too as she continues.
Blessings aflowin!
Love you all! Pray for me as I dont know what the heak im doing over here!
Sister Bell
Keep on keepin on!
1. Fenway park fun!
2. thanks to lindz for the b day cake! :) -fianally you can see what sister kendall looks like too! :)
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