Oi!
Everything is going great here is Illinois. I'm having a blast. I've already picked up some great stories. We have quite a few investigators. We're trying to get more though.
The first day out I taught my first lesson. Her name is Tina and she agrees with what we're saying, but isn't sure she wants to act on it. It was our first lesson with her. Elder Dearinger asked her to be baptized 3 times and she said no all three. We also had coordination meeting that night which was really confusing for me because I didn't know anyone we were talking about. I still have no idea where anything is which is an adventure. Elder Dearinger has it all figured out and he has his gps which is nice.
On Thursday we played some basketball with this christian group really earlier and we taught a lesson. They had a discussion about James 3 and how we should bridle our tongues. It seemed to be a little aimed at us and the members there with us. It was kind of funny. It was a pastor-I can't spell-leading the discussion. After that we did our study times. Don't worry we started them on time. Like I said it was early. Then we had our weekly planning. After that I had a little better grasp of what was going on. We had a lesson cancel on us, but we rescheduled.
We then taught an inactive member named Steve. He is awesome, but is really going through a hard time and has to work on Sundays. His wife isn't a member and is from Russia. Elder Dearinger had fun talking to her in Russian, but she says she prefers english. Elder Dearinger was a little offended because she kept ragging on Russian/Ukranian food and culture and that kind of stuff. He didn't react though he kept his cool. They have a little boy who just started kindergarten.
Our next lesson also cancelled on us so we went and contacted referrals. Both ended up being very strong born again Christians. That was intense. They were not open to listening to what we had to say and could not understand the concept of works to accompany faith. They especially did not like the Book of Mormon. Neither one would let us in. We just talked to them through the door. And let me tell you it was hot. 100 degrees plus humidity. Well one lady just really wanted to Bible bash, but we just ignored that. The other had a Mormon friend who told a bunch of deeper doctrine and she did not want anything to do with us. They were both good Christian people though. Just not ready for us. They people here are great. There are a lot of Born agains though which makes it a little harder. They don't like the authority thing. We had dinner that night at a less active family's house.
After that we taught another lesson to another less active, part member family. The mother and two older kids are members. They also have twin nine year olds who aren't members so we taught them and really the whole family the 3rd lesson. We invited the father to join, but he didn't want to. I think he was secretly listening from the kitchen though. They fed us ice cream which was great for how hot it was even though it was practically dark outside.
On Friday we taught Shawn. Shawn has a member girlfriend who is on a mission in California. He was in the Marines and is very strong willed. He is very receptive to the gospel, but he says he won't agree to anything until he finishes the Book of Mormon. He is in the war chapter and reads one or two chapters a night. We tried to speed him up a little, but he says he prefers to take his time. We're working on that. Trying to explain that you don't need to know everything to know it's true, but he says he made himself a promise and he's going to keep it. He also works on Sundays and can't come to church. Needless to say he rejected our baptismal invitation.
After Shawn we taught Grace and Russel. I won't get to detailed about them, but they make me laugh so much. Grace is 87 and just does not stop talking. It's so funny. Her son is in his forties. Russel is legitimately crazy. We're not sure how, but if I explained you would understand. We have some good stories. We taught them a combination of the first and third lesson. She said she'd think about Baptism. Russel said he doesn't like going to church and is fine with his church through the mail. They spent about 20 minutes telling us about their friend Merve who is crazy and never lets them talk. It was really ironic.
After lunch on Friday we went to go knock doors, but as we parked the car, said a prayer and got out we discovered we had a flat tire. So we spent 2 hours waiting to get it fixed because it apparently is a reoccurring thing. There weren't any houses nearby so we tried to talking to people in nearby stores which didn't really work. I found this crazy Bible children's book. The story of Adam and Eve was all out of order. Apparently Adam was created on the third and sixth day. Before birds, fish, or animals the first time actually and before the sun too. The moon was already there. Well so since that wasn't working we decided to do language study. So there we were in the middle of Pepboys reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. So we finally got our car back and went to coordination meeting for the other ward. We then had dinner with the Searle family. They are members and from Layton. They have lived here 3 years. They have a 19 year old daughter who wasn't there, a 6 year old, and a 4 year old. They little kids were so excited especially to see Elder Dearinger. We played with them while we waited for the pizza to be finished. It reminded me of good old times back in North Carolina except with reversed roles.
After dinner we tried to contact two more referrals and knock doors, but since it was Labor Day weekend everyone was gone.
Saturday we did service for an investigator named Claudia. We went and cleaned horse stalls and helped her move her new horses. She has 22 horses and runs a breeding program. She is really nice and was almost baptized once, but then was offended. She says she's too busy for church so we're going to make time by going and helping out once a week. She says she'll probably go next week because her son is coming and he's interested. This is really exciting for us. She's in her 60's and taking care of all these horses by herself. She also trains dogs. She is one tough woman. After our service project we went to have dinner at the Trudeau's house. They are less active members and we had chinese food. It was delicious and we really got to know them. They said we were welcome any time. We went down in their basement which was full of cats and an entire gym. They had all the nicest professional equipment. and a tanning booth which I thought was hilarious, but it got Elder Dearinger really excited. He's in to that kind of stuff. But like I mentioned it was full of cats. And I'm fairly sure I am allergic to cats now because that plus the combination of the hay and dust from the service project was making my eyes go crazy. It's alright though they calmed down after a little bit. And now my eyes aren't even red which is a miracle. After dinner we went to contact referrals, but they weren't home.
My first Sunday in the field was good. Just like my first Sunday in the MTC it was fast Sunday. Which isn't hard because you're busy all day. So went to 2 wards. One at 9 the other at 1 with an hour in between the 2. They were both great. After the first Sacrament meeting we were asked to teach primary. I thought we should probably do something else, but we ended up doing it. The kids were about 5 and not very cooperative. There was 4 girls and one boy. The little boy did not want to listen to anything. Which is expected, but we did manage to teach them the sacrament promises through much repetition. During the 2nd ward Elder Dearinger pulled me up to the stand and we did a double testimony. We were up at the same time. It was interesting, but it was cool and powerful. I've never seen anything like it which is also what a lot of people said. We had 5 investigators at church and they all had people they were with. 2 of these investigators were not planned. Other people brought them and they wanted to hear more. They were both teenage girls. One came with her grandma and the other came with her friend. Her name is Mary and is she about 18. She is very interested and has lots of questions. One of the young women brought her. We are so excited to start teaching both of them. After church both of our lessons cancelled so we went to dinner at the Olsen's again. Only Tyler was there, but he made us a nice dinner. Afterwards we went and knocked doors. As we were knocking some of the priests from the ward were driving by so they decided to come with us. It was pretty cool. No one really wanted to hear more except the last house we did. He is a comparative religions major and has actually read the Book of Mormon. But only for a class. We're not sure what his motives behind receiving lessons is, but we know the spirit will touch his heart. He studies ancient hebrew and all sorts of languages and he is very smart. He uses grammatical words Elder Dearinger doesn't know. That morning I had this impression I needed to go grab my oil out of my bag so I did. During the hour break one Sister came up and asked for a blessing because of an accident she'd been in. It was nothing big, but it was a cool experience for me that was testimony building.
On Monday it was Labor day. We started the day off with study of course then went to District meeting. It was good. Elder Dearinger is the District Leader so he taught the lesson on listening to the spirit and asking better questions. Our district has been struggling a little bit, but they all are great Elders. After district meeting we went the ward picnic with some of our investigators. We played volleyball and softball. Volleyball ended though when the young men's leader landed wrong and broke his ankle. It was very sad. He was rushed to the hospital. We knocked more doors then had dinner with one of the ward mission leader's family. It was BBQ. I would like to point out that I ate 2 hot dogs. They were covered in ketchup and onions, but I was so hungry it was the best Hot Dog I ever had. I still hate hot dogs though. He served his mission in Brasilia so we spoke a little portuguese.
Yesterday we played really early morning basketball. We woke up at 5:20. It was fun, but Elder Dearinger did a lot better than me. We taught a lady named Lisa for about 3 hours. She is a very strong Christian, but does not believe in one correct path. That's pretty much what everyone says around here. She said she really felt the spirit. We'll see how that goes. We also taught 5 more lessons yesterday, but I've already written too much. Sorry it's so long. I'm having a great time out here and I love you all. I hope to hear from you soon.
Love you too,
Elder Reeve Sudweeks
PS I've received 2 letters that were sent 8 days before I got them.
