While I was on my mission I had very little baptisms. The United States is I think one of the hardest places to get baptisms. So our focus was mostly part member families and less active members.
In the area I spent most of my mission we were teaching this one less active named Shawn. How we met him was kind of the most amazing thing to think back on. Every single thing had to fall exactly into place how it did in order for us to meet him. My companion Sister Nolin and I were going to meet with a potential investigator with a member who had just recently gotten back from her mission to Argentina. We went to the potentials house and she wasn't there, but we decided that because the member was with us that we would go walk around the trailer park that we were at and try to street contact that way.
After we had been walking around for about 30 minutes we decided to go back to our cars. While we were on our way back to our car the member stopped and started talking to this guy. And she was talking to him about how we (my companion and myself) would come over to his house and teach him and his wife and we'd give them a family home evening lesson and that it'll bring their family closer together.
The only way we would have met Shawn was because the spirit guided us to a place we knew, the trailer park, and then the spirit guided us to the person that needed us most.
Sister Nolin and I taught him on and off for about 2 months. Because most of the time he seemed semi interested in what we were teaching but then other times he would just think that it was repetitious.
In October Sister Nolin was transferred and I got a new companion Sister Taliulu. And we kept on teaching Shawn. One night we were going over to his house and Sister Taliulu said "Lets invite him to go to church." At this point I had been teaching him for a while so I kind of knew that he wouldn't come to church because he had too many issues. But wanting a positive attitude I said "Okay, we can try, but just be warned that he probably wont say yes." But we said a prayer and then went into the appointment.
What happened in that appointment was nothing more than a miracle. We went into the appointment with the direction from the spirit that we needed to not leave that house until we got the answer that he was going to come to church with us.
When we got to the point in the lesson where we extended him the invitation to come to church with us. He, as I knew he would, declined, but we weren't leaving without a yes. So we said everything we could to get him to come to church with us. A couple of times I thought we were going to get kicked out of his house. The most significant things that were said when we weren't taking no for an answer was my comp saying, "Don't bull crap us Shawn! If you say you're going to come to church with us you have to, otherwise we'll come bang down your door and drag you to church."
Also I said "You don't go to church for other people Shawn (because he had said that he doesn't want to go because of all the hypocrites there) you go to church for YOU, you take the sacrament for YOU not anyone else. Everyone else is just there to do the exact same thing."
One more "Can I call you guys on Friday to let you know if I'm going to come or not?" -Shawn
"No because you're just going to call us and tell us you're not coming."
That Sunday we were sitting in the chapel waiting for church to start and then realized Shawn wasn't there so we ran out to the foyer and we saw Shawn walk up to the doors. I was jumping up and down. Because I was so happy. Shawn had such a hard time with church in general and I was just so happy that he had made the decision to come to church.
That was pretty much the best moment of my mission. That is my favorite story to tell because Shawn could be anyone you know. Your coworker, your neighbor, even a family member. And they might just need a little nudge.
No comments:
Post a Comment