Hey guys!
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So here's an update on how thing are going for my area. The thing that probably surprised me the most is how humble the people are out here. It might be because of their condition or it might just be because the Lord has softened the hearts of this people, I don't know. But what I do know is that we are having a lot more success here than I ever did in the city. And I say in the city because it is so country out here like you wouldn't believe! Half our area we can't even go to because it's just all farms. Like look at this!
Suddenly Elder Biehn finds himself tracting through the Bamboo forest of China. This is actually the backyard of a member, but still, you get the idea.
Then there's
also these awesome horizons
But the
reason I say these people are humble is because a lot of them are willing to
listen. Now of course there are a few exceptions and I'll get into that later.
But! Good news is that we have a total 3 people on date right now for the 10 of
September. Yep, this coming Saturday. So me and Elder Ramos are running around
scrambling to make sure everything is prepared for the baptisms. It's gonna be
an awesome weekend, I can tell you that much!
Now as to those
exceptions I was telling you about. This week seemed to be full of Bible
Bashers. Like unusually full. Almost every other person that we talked to was a
devoted Catholic that just started throwing out bible references left and
right. Now, we aren't supposed to bible bash but sometimes it's just fun because
some of the things these people say crack me up. And me and Elder Ramos both
have been out on our missions for a year and a half so we've had plenty of
experience with bible bashers. Me, personally, I've spent quite a bit of time
studying the bible because I wanted to know exactly what these people were
talking about and how to respond to these assaults, but it has ended up helping
me get a better understanding of the Savior and how the church was anciently.
So now, I don't think there is a single lesson where I don't use a scripture
from the bible, which really helps because the bible is what these people
actually believe in! However sometimes,
no matter what you do people just want to argue. For example this one guy Elder
Ramos had talked to before. He wanted to go back and apologize to him if he
offended him in any way because it ended up being a bible bash for more than an
hour. You know what he did? He took his apology and threw right back in our
faces! He said, and I quote, "Bring out your bible. Let's read a little
bit." At this point I was thinking, oh boy here we go. And after 20
minutes of nonstop bible bashing where we were proving him wrong point to
point, we tried to leave because we knew he wouldn't listen. So we tried to
politely excuse ourselves and he denied us leaving. Like, legit he said "No
you can leave yet until we've figured this out" which actually means
'until I've proven you wrong.' We didn't leave and so we tried again this time
a bit more forceful. Still the same result. I wasn't in the best of moods by
this point so I got up grabbed my bag, said have a nice day, and left. That was
it. It's sad to think that people just use the Gospel as another topic for
argument rather than actually paying attention to what the scriptures say and
applying it to their lives. But, if it wasn't so then Joseph Smith never would
have had the impression to go pray in the garden about which church he should
join. The most important thing to remember is that we have the restored gospel
on the earth today with all of the priesthood and ordinances that were in
Christ's original church. It is even the same exact organization and everything
can be proven by scriptures. But it's not the proof that's important, it's the
impressions of the Holy Ghost telling someone that this is true. That's the key
to conversion, a witness from the Holy Ghost.
Love you guys
and I'll talk to you next week! Look forward to a weekend in white!
Elder Biehn
Elder Biehn
