Sunday, October 20, 2013

Jamrocks..cool vehile! Sept. 16, 2013


Hey everyone!
Good week here. We werent able to visit with any investigators but.. still was good! We've been working with members, or at least trying to. We tried visiting some less actives. It was a funny/sad experience. We knocked on the door and a teenager let us in. We talked with him a little and his older brother was in the house, as well as his dad. It was kinda awkward since none of us had ever met before, you know? so we got talking. then the kid was like "oh by the way, im atheist" then his brother walked by and said "im muslim." uhhhh what?? hahahah and the "dad" wasnt actually the dad, just some guy living there and he was like "im christain, life sucks and im not interested." it was soo awkward after that. we thought they were members!! apparently the only person in the household who is a member was the actual dad, who hasnt been heard from in a long while and basically isnt a member anymore. Lovely. that was a nice surprise. 
We have a new rule as well. We can only eat at members houses once, and when we do, we have to show them the video "hastening the work of salvation." We cant come back until they have a referral for us. However, the exceptions are part member families, less active families, and families that have a referral at the dinner for us. So.... looks like we wont have any investigators until the members give them to us. I told that to our mission leader Sunday.. he didnt really like that statement too much. :/ but hey, its true! 
Oh we got chewed out again Saturday. it was interesting. Apparently, our assistant ward mission leaders wife's sister's daughter's boyfriend was at church and we didnt really know, so she got mad at us and was like "wow. shame on you elders. shame on you." I didnt really know what to say. i felt bad and all, but the girlfriend, or her sister, or the wife, (or just anybody for goodness sake), could have easily told us about the nonmember boyfriend. Missionaries dont just "know" those types of things. We also got told we werent doing our job by some other youth members because we dont greet everyone that walks into the chapel on Sunday's. uh maybe thats because the branch president gave us the responsibility to organize the sacrament and assign people to bless and pass it. I literally asked 4 different deacons who just said "uhh im not worthy to pass." I was so upset and just said "look, if you arent worthy to bless or pass the sacrament, you arent worthy to take it." Then a lot of the members that were there had to leave because they had work. are you kidding me?... Its really frustrating.  Then in the next class, it was awkward again, because the teacher (the same one who chastised us haha) went around the class and asked all the kids "so which commandment is the hardest one for you and why?" Me and my comp just looked at each other and didnt know what to think.. I mean, its great that she's trying her best, but thats simply not a question you ask. One of the kids totally threw his brother under the bus and was like "he cheats all the time and is very dishonest!" right in front of everyone. it just never is a good class.. i feel bad, especially now since i've heard about 5 or 6 false doctrines in the class. i dont want to stand up and be like "hold on, let me clarify what was just said" because i dont want to hurt anyones feelings. Church was still good though. Us missionaries had to sing a special number which wasnt too bad.. the sisters picked one that i really dislike singing if investigators are there. and its literally one of the highest pitched hymns sooo yeah it wasnt too good sounding. haha oh well. it was awesome seeing a less active member that we've been working with there in sacrament, but they left afterwards.. progress though!
Another thing! We had transfers. Im staying with my trainee here in Bradenton. Another 6 weeks! Almost at my year mark, which is kind of weird. thats about all though. love you guys!!
-Elder James

pics:
We see some really cool vehicles here. 


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