This week was pretty crazy. So much has happened I don't know where to even start. So I guess at the beginning will work.
Monday—We went to the sand dunes with Ethan which was super fun. That evening we met with Teresa, and oh boy was that a crazy crazy lesson. Collin came with us and it was such a stressful lesson. She went off about how God is just a light that brings peace and nothing more. She also doesn't think that there is any point to the scriptures. She doesn't want to follow anybody else's rules. She didn't write them or personally speak to the people who did write them so they have no importance to her in her life. She doesn't want the gospel for her, just her little girl. We have tried to tell her that unless she believes in it, then her daughter will never believe in it. It just doesn't work that way.
Tuesday—Went to a semi-active member's house. It was an interesting appointment. He kept trying to show us movies done by different churches and different things he had recorded on T.V., like how they think that Christ was actually crucified, super not a nice thing to watch. I'm just happy that the T.V. stopped working. Little miracles make life much better. The food was fantastic though. He pressure cooked bbq pork and it was really nice. We had it over chips.
Wednesday—We got stuck at the Temperance doing service. It's really hard to leave once we get there. The lady that runs it really needs the help and she is such a nice person. It's so hard to say no to her. All of our other plans fell through and we ended up getting a lot done, so I guess it worked out.
Thursday—We met the best family ever! They are Portuguese. They've lived here for about 8 years and have 3 kids. They aren't married though. They were a referral from a Brazilian lady in the Crosby Ward who does translating. Gabriel's father was really, really sick with throat cancer and he asked us to give his father a blessing. We will be able to help them, a lot, and they are very humble. They want to have God in their lives.
Friday—We met the meanest human being I've ever come across. I start out by complimenting his garden. He starts off by yelling at me about how much he doesn't like us and how bad we are at what we do. Ethan then cheered us up with lunch and by making us cake for Elder Singsam’s birthday. It was a bit late but the cake was super nice. Besides the rough start to the day, it was a good day. We went and saw Gabriel and Ana and gave them a Book of Mormon in Portuguese. They are fun to teach, but it's a challenge because their English is only at about 75% so we have to both really work to communicate.
Saturday—We went on exchanges and I went with Elder Pape. It was pretty fun. We found a new person for them to teach which is good. They are finally starting to see some success in the area which is really good. We then went to Henry's. I just love Henry. He gave me a Chinese name which is 罗根 Luō Gēn. It's kinda fun. We then talked about how when we get baptized we have the physical part which is the water but also there is the spiritual part which is the confirmation. We talked about that and everything about that for about 2 hours. The we missed our bus and had to wait for another hour so we talked more. We think he understood it all. He actually told us that he wants to come and be an "assistant missionary" for a day. That would be so much fun! I just don't know what is holding him back from baptism.
Sunday—We went to church but only got through the Sacrament when Gabriel calls us in tears asking us to come to the hospital. We got a member to give us a lift and Ethan came with us. It was pretty crazy, the other Elders had given his father a blessing the day before and Gabriel said that his Dad looked really good but we got there on Sunday and his Dad was already gone. We ended up spending most of the day waiting for Gabriel to come back with Ana. We then spent the better part of the day with them, we didn't get back to Southport till about 6:30 and had left at 11:00. It was a long day, but it was such a strange and powerful teaching opportunity. It's still strange to sit in a room with a dead man lying on the bed in front of you.
So that has been my crazy and interesting week. Hope that you all have had a good one as well and I will talk to you soon.
Elder Tarbet
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