Here were the funny, strange, spiritual, and overall memorable experiences I've had this past week.
First one was when we were tracting (always the best way to find interesting people). This guy opened the door, and when we told him who we were and what we were sharing, he said "Do you know what opium is?" "Yeah I think so..." "That's what religion is like. This is a Marxist and Leninist household." So that was different.
But a few doors down we met a nice Indian lady, who seemed very quiet and shy, but seemed interested to learn more about God's plan. She said we could come by later that week and teach her and her husband.
We did, and they were both very nice, they said they would read the Book of Mormon a bit but couldn't see themselves going further with it. They were so nice though and I had a good feeling about them after our conversation with the wife! Oh well, that's life.
While tracting in a different area, we met one guy whose late mother was a member in Dumbarton Ward, and he has a Book of Mormon and had gone to church quite a lot in the past, and he even remembers the elders' names that used to teach his family as a kid.
So I was very hopeful that we could maybe teach him again, and perhaps re-ignite a spark that was once there! But when we asked if we could come back and visit sometime, he declined.
Flip! Sometimes people are just SO close and they "slip through the net," as another lady said about herself.
She answered her mom's door when we were trying to contact people in the ward [local congregation], and her mom was on the list. She was very friendly, and said she does wonder if ours is the true church, but didn't get an answer...yet.
We encouraged her to keep trying, and that the best way to know of course is through the Book of Mormon. So maybe we'll see her again, maybe not. At least we have her mom's address and we can follow up sometime.
Another guy we met tracting was really friendly, and when we asked him if he was religious, he pointed to the Rangers jersey he was wearing and said, "I'm Protestant, obviously." (Celtic=Catholic and Rangers=Protestant. I guess Mormons have to choose Real Salt Lake)
He said we could come by another day, because the Rangers lost the night before and he was "mourning" because of that. He actually said that. People are very die-hard with their football here. It's fun.
The sister missionaries and their recent convert, Pierre, organized a small Family Home Evening type thing late in the week at his house. We brought a recently reactivated guy with us, and it was a lot of fun. We watched a few Mormon Messages and then played Pictionary.
One of the happy surprises this week was when we decided to knock on a nice Slovakian lady's door, who we met several weeks ago.
We had an appointment with her, but she cancelled. We'd tried to call and text many times since, and we just assumed she lost interest because she never answered or returned our calls.
But she was happy to see us, and said her baby had been super sick for weeks and that's why she couldn't respond. We offered to bring her a Book of Mormon in Slovakian or Czech for her to read while she is sorta housebound with they baby. She said she'd be happy to have us over for a visit in a month or so when the baby is better. So that was nice!
On our way home on Friday night, we saw this guy kinda stumbling down the sidewalk, and he looked like he was wasted. As we walked past he started hitting his head on a brick wall. Not super hard but still, not good. We asked him if he was ok.
Turns out he was on some sort of hallucinogen drug and was seeing stuff and hearing stuff.
But as we talked to him he cheered up quite a lot, although he was dozing off mid-sentence and then twitching back awake allll the time. After we helped him walk across the street he gave us a hug.
And those are the eventful events of last week. Always so many interesting people to meet.
Hope all is well in the Promised Land. Until next week,
Elder Spencer A. Burt
Photos:
First day of college at Glasgow University! JK, just going to a museum. But that's what the photo looks like.
Other photos on the Glasgow University campus
I found Waldo Street.
