Semana 12: Party on Wayne

HELLO MY FAVORITE PEOPLE!! I love you all so much and miss each one of you! How are you all doing?? This week has been INCREDIBLE, so many spiritual experiences. This week has been filled with so many emotions it's so great I am maturing and learning so much! God is so good and I have never been so happy in my life, like honestly. It is so amazing being a first hand witness of how the Spirit testifies to the people here in New York, I have seen so many hearts changed and touched this week, including mine. My spiritual strength is growing exponentially and my view on the world is changing. The worth of souls is in fact great in the sight of God and that Christlike love is something everyone should aspire to have. See the good in people. Never assume the worst. Everyone comes from different beginnings. This was a very hard lesson I had to learn these past few weeks but I am so grateful with the change I have seen in myself. 

As for this week, it was again FILLED with finding on the phone. I am starting to really love talking to people even when they cuss us out. Elder Ballard said in a missionary devotional, "We should wake up every morning saying, 'This is a great day to be persecuted!'" At first I was like this man is crazy, but its literally so true! At the beginning of the mission, I would get super upset when people would slander my faith and our moral values but now it is so spiritually fueling to work harder and find God's elect! And we found some of them this week!

We were calling through our phonebook (the finding holy grail) and we called this one random lady and she was so so nice but had a lot of issues with our religion. She said her mother-in-law and sister were members, but she had zero interest. We asked her what issues we had with our faith and she told us the ordinance work for the dead doesn't make sense to her logically or spiritually. So we answered her concerns. We shared 1 Corinthians 15:29 which talks about baptisms for the dead and she was wowed that it literally talks about it in the Bible. Then I shared with her that if God was a merciful and just God, why wouldn't he give all of his children the opportunity to accept his gospel?  I talked about the people all over the world who haven't even heard of Jesus Christ and how unfair it would be if they just never had the opportunity to be baptized let alone have a testimony of Him. She was extremely touched and we could feel the Spirit so strongly. She went from almost hanging up on us to telling us that we could call her anytime to teach her more about the Gospel. She already had a Book of Mormon and she is starting to read it. The elect are out there! There are souls to be saved on both sides of the veil.

It is really funny getting calls from anti-Mormons who just go off about Joseph Smith and all of these fake stories and accusations. Something that I've learned to do to deal with these people is to testify. There was this Lady who was going off on me about the Book of Mormon and she was so angry. I just asked her if she's ever read the Book of Mormon before and she said no. So then I asked her how can she know if the Book of Mormon isn't true if she's never read it. When I say she was tripping over her words, she was tripping over her words ahaha. She literally could not get a word out besides "buts" and "ums" and after a solid minute her speech was just gone, she called in reinforcements which was her husband. He did the same exact thing and said the same things, so I asked him the same two questions and literally the same EXACT thing happened! We were able to teach them a little bit of the Restoration and testify of the Book of Mormon. We aren't sure if they will answer our calls from here on out but we sure hope so! We don't plant seeds in this mission, we are harvesters.

I have been flying through the Book of Mormon, I've read half of it in like 15 days! I read this scripture in Alma that I LOVE! It is about missionary work. Alma 13:23-24 says," 23 And they are made known unto us in plain terms, that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being wanderers in a strange land; therefore, we are thus highly favored, for we have these glad tidings declared unto us in all parts of our vineyard.
24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." 
This scripture is what missionary work is all about! We are 'wanderers in a strange land' and we are preparing the hearts of God's children to prepare for the second coming and to stand clean and pure before him. 

This week has been so great and I love being out here so much. Happy Birthday to the best dad in the world! I am so grateful for him and his example. I hope that I can get out to Mexico soon because it is starting to get really cold here. But I love being here everyday and meeting new people. The work is still really slow, but this is a new area and the people are limited so we aren't giving ourselves too hard of a time. The church is true, obeying God's commandments can make you happier than any worldly thing ever could. I am starting to sound like a Dad but oh well. Parents are always right I hate to admit it hahaha. I hope all of y'all have a great rest of your week! Love you! Feel free to shoot me an email telling me about your week! I love hearing from all of my friends and family!

-Elder Scown

Sorry no exciting pictures this week.