This week we gave our first church tour to some of our investigators. It was a really good experience and I'm excited for the opportunity to try that again with some other investigators. If they come to the church once, they can come on Sunday, right?
We showed them some of the paintings on the walls, the classrooms, etc and our final destination was the chapel. The Spirit was really strong in there. We talked about church services and sat in front of the sacrament table. We had one of the investigators read the sacrament prayers. We explained the promises we make as we take the sacrament and the great gift of always having the Spirit to be with us. After that, I was about to stand up, but couldn't. I felt like I should stay for a while. After a few seconds, they said that they really like this church. They compared it to the other churches they have been to and said that our church follows the Bible the most. eg. we have baptism by immersion, no crosses, no images to focus on in the chapel, everyone's invited.We hope this church tour idea will help more people to get to church, or at least plant a seed of desire. People really like it as soon as they actually get there, but "stuff" keeps getting in the way.
We also went to visit a lot of less active families this week. One was a really frail old lady who is the mother of one of the active members in the ward. It was a really long drive and at first we weren't even sure why we were out there. But it looks like there's a lot to be said for just the fact that we came. The family told us that they hadn't had missionaries at their house for years, and the last missionaries that came over found them by accident and didn't speak Spanish. It was really exciting seeing that less active member at church.
Another less active family we visited and invited to church was really interesting. He was doing everything a faithful LDS member would do, except for church. He was offended by someone at church and hadn't come back since. We shared Alma 32:27 with him and he got really emotional. He testified of the truth of the gospel and of the church and he knew he needed to go to church. What was really sad was that he felt like such a hypocrite not going to church even though he believed and he knows what he needs to do, but he won't do it.
It reminds me of something one of my drawing teachers at BYU-Idaho (Bro. Leon Parson) taught me: "Who's the boss, you or the drawing/subject/reference photo/other things outside of yourself?" We really do have more power to design things around us than we think. You can make a beautiful drawing of something ugly. You can work with less than ideal circumstances to make something beautiful. I think it's a very good question to ask in all aspects of life. "Who's the boss, you, or the things that stand in your way?" Everyone knows what the correct answer is.
I also have a testimony that the Spirit influences investigators/those we teach to say what needs to be said and answer their own questions and doubts. We shared a scripture with a less active family and asked them how they can exercise faith in their lives. After the father read the scripture aloud, he started talking about how the church makes such a big difference for the rest of the week, and how important it is. He talked about the great opportunity we have to take the Sacrament. We didn't know what we were supposed to teach them, but they answered their own questions.
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