Follow the Yellow Brick Road and Ho, Ho, Ho

Welcome and hello to the past two weeks of life here in Gardner, Kansas

Earlier in the week we passed by two older men on our way to visit a friend of a member's. One was adamant about his moral code, reminding us "It's good or its bad and I always choose the good, but I'm not going to tell you what to do. I'm your not your mommy, or daddy, or your boyfriend. Just follow the yellow brick road and ho ho ho!” We shared a scripture and he shared his moral code. 

His friend told us his story of getting in a car accident and pantomimed the incident. He showed us his scar and said "They showed me a picture of the accident and I said d-mn I wouldn't want to be that guy... but it was me. I had been in that accident.” We tried to console him, but his friend reminded us "There's good and there's bad, but I always choose the good... follow the yellow brick road and ho ho ho, that's what I always say.” Needless to say they weren't interested in scripture studies and our next visit consisted mainly of explaining how me and my companion were not mother and daughter. 

Later on in the week we went tracting in a different apartment complex—a harmless adventure performed in the apartment complex where approximately "a couple years ago" (according to member lore) the missionaries had been chased out of their own apartment in the same complex. So we were knocking doors, and no one really answered or seemed interested. But finally, a guy opens the door. He has a Chicago Bull's baseball hat and looked and sounded like he knew the plot line to the show "Breaking Bad" way better than I did. And immediately asks for someone else to come to the door, which is a pretty common practice. But he turned back for a second and realized we were actually not the nurses he had though we were. He asked who we actually were and we told him, "We talk to people about Jesus". And he sat down and told us everything from where he was from, the things he had seen, the people he had lost, to where he was now. Now he wants Christ. He came to Church that week and he said a couple things that were not the most appropriate especially for being in a chapel, but it was like he was stuck at a default setting. He doesn't know how to talk about the things around him. Not to excuse his behavior, but it seems like the choices he made and the choices his parents made have now limited his ability to react and respond.

Later we had a lesson with him, and one of the guys from the ward who just gotten their mission call. And despite a train, an ice cream truck, and other residents of the house zombie walking through where we were doing the lesson to the aforementioned ice cream truck, the Spirit was present and powerful. We discussed the Plan of Salvation and eternal families, and we each bore witness of God's love. And the amazing thing was being able to see a glimpse of who he really was. 

For just a moment his face was calm, the grooves of stress and pain were gone, and the weight of every worldly thing was lifted. We saw him like he could be. If there is one thing I've learned it is that he has to choose it, to choose Christ. So many people live in some of the worst situations, and they've been controlled by poverty, by their addictions, or by their situations. But God still loves us and so I can never deny the Plan of Salvation, because it is the proof that God's hand shall be outstretched still. And I know that His hand shall be outstretched as long as it takes. 

We've seen this especially as we've been teaching one of our friends to pray, to read the scriptures, and believe in Christ. And he's beginning to have hope again despite all the death that he has seen. It's been incredible to watch the hope re-enter his life.

But on an unrelated note. 

One friend of ours pulled up to a lesson with two new Bibles and verses for us to read and committed us to pray to know the truth. It did feel nice to know that someone cared about my salvation one way or the other. I just felt bad because we clearly already had Bibles and told him that, but he didn't catch on. And he still didn't catch on when we specifically read verses about Jesus from the Bibles he gave us and connected them to the verses about Jesus from the Book of Mormon. But that was just a good witness to me that sometimes you can do everything and it still won't change someone's mind. 

While visiting an old friend of my companion’s, we felt like we should knock on their neighbor's door. And before we could even knock on the door, a little kid opened the door. And while his Dad rejected hearing a message, the kid said he wanted to hear one and the Dad allowed it. We shared a scripture from the Bible and met his Mom. The kid already knows a lot about the Bible. The hard thing will just be convincing them that the Book of Mormon—another testament of Jesus Christ—is really another testament of Jesus Christ. 

Another similar situation where a visit led to meeting someone led us to meet Francis. He's a guy who left any church because he felt like he wasn't able to ask any questions and just had to many questions to stay. We told him we have questions too and it's perfectly natural to have questions. We told him the Book of Mormon might be able to help answer his questions. And he said he would read it, but unfortunately he said we could come back only after transfers. (And spoiler, we're both getting transferred) This makes it kinda funny because he said he would ask a ton of questions. But it’s also a little worrying, so now we just have to hope whoever comes after us is going to be able to handle his questions in a constructive way.

We later found out both my companion and I are being transferred. And we have both never been so grateful for the members and how much they have taken care of our friends. Many of our friends have member friends as well, so they'll be well taken care of.

Following the yellow brick road,

Sister d'Evegnee