Week 17: General progression and Preachers Deceivers

A bit of a slow week. So far, disappointment is more common than success as lessons fall through and investigators fall off the face of the Earth. But that's to be expected. I'm not disheartened though, and will keep doing my best, always striving to make my best better.

Highlights from this week:

We met with some Filipino women contacted a couple weeks ago. They speak English and are already Christian, and we thought it would be neat to meet with them. We taught the Restoration (at Mcdonald's, because they didn't want to meet at the church building down the street). While talking with them, we encountered many restored truths that they hadn't heard of and built upon current beliefs that they already held. It was a good lesson. After the lesson, they invited us to a bible study class in an hour. We didn't have anything else going on that evening, so my trainer agreed to go. We thought that it would be a class where everyone would read and share and study together. When we got there, we found that it was a full-blown sermon. We arrived a little late because the directions we were given were vague. We were walked in and seated in a relatively small room with about 40 people. After the preacher saw us, the only things he talked about from that point on were how there is no truth in religious books outside of the bible, and people who said anything different were "preachers deceivers." He had three different versions of the Bible that all said different things, but held that as long as it was titled "The Bible," it was correct (2 Nephi 29 nailed it). Everyone was invited to ask questions afterwards, but we decided that wouldn't really be a good idea. After the meeting, our contact told us that the preacher wanted to speak with us. My companion said that we could talk for just a few minutes, but that we needed to return home. So, we were ushered back into the room, seated down, and the preacher talked at us from his pulpit, rehashing everything he'd been saying minutes before. We decided not to try fight him on things and left after his spiel. I don't think we'll be going back. But it demonstrated why there needs to be a restoration of truth, and an interesting experience.

The woman who I talked about in the last letter is way solid. In our last lesson, we followed up on her Book of Mormon reading, and she told us that she'd read it all, the whole thing in one day. We were blown away. I'm not sure how much she got from it, but she mentioned a few things that signaled that it was more than just a scan. We encouraged her to keep reading and to study it and try to apply it in her life. My trainer says he's encountered a few members who read the Book of Mormon often, and they are always very strong.

Thank you all for your support!

-Elder Parish

Bro Tan posted this picture of Riley.  So great!