This week we met some interesting people. We had several unexpected instances where people stopped us on the side of the road and asked us to come and teach them. And not just because we're white. One of them had read the restoration pamphlet before because she saw it and borrowed it from her sister. I don't know how she knew that we were the ones to talk to about it. She said that she just saw us and felt like she should ask us to know more. And then we pulled out a pamphlet to give to her and she said "I've already read that!" We taught her later in the week and she seems like she'll really progress quickly.
Another boy that we've been teaching is the son of one of the major pastors here in town. In the past, his father has confronted missionaries and tried to tear down their faith. It hasn't really worked, but he has always seemed kind of edgy around us. We pass their door often to see a member in the same compound. His son (who is a pastor in training) asked us to come and share something with him. We had a short lesson about what we believe about Jesus Christ. The big boss pastor dad sat quietly across the room for a while and then eventually pulled his chair over to our circle. We were expecting some serious contention from him, but he just sat and listened intently for the rest of the lesson. We finished, asked if we could come back, and left all without him saying a word. When we returned, we taught about the plan of salvation. The father was there the whole time. The boy pastor was asking us some basic questions that seemed like poor attempts to catch us in our words while his father again sat quietly and listened to our explanations. As the lesson progressed, he began to contribute a few words at a time. At one point, his son wasn't understanding the vital nature of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Big boss pastor dad, who had been paying attention to what we were teaching, stopped us and laid out the doctrine plainly to his son. Elder Austin and I smiled at each other and built on his explanation. For the rest of the lesson, the father seemed to be more on our side than that of his son. I'm not sure what's going to come out of it yet, but we're praying for the best. We're still trying to figure out how to handle him.
On a different occasion, we had a slightly less inspirational exchange of words with a Muslim who decided to forcibly stop his wife from coming to church. She has been a member for quite a while, and he's always allowed her to come. He's a super less active Muslim, so he pretty much didn't care. But his wife visited another member's house for longer than he expected a few weeks ago, leaving her house empty, and she stopped coming to church since. When we went to investigate, he told us never to come back and never to have her come to church again. We weren't happy about that. Women are treated like property in the culture here. It sucks. I never want to be like that when I get home.
We did service at a blood drive on Saturday and got soaked by a huge rainstorm on Friday and ate a really weirdly shaped lemon from our tree out front. So life is normal.
Well I feel like I'm becoming a better missionary a little bit at a time.
Love,
Elder Nelson
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