Six More Weeks of Arkansas!

I was going to try and make some Groundhog Day joke, but then I decided that I didn't want to make a really corny joke at the beginning of a letter. So I'll just say that I get to stay in Harrison for at least one more transfer. Woo!

I was going to try and make some Groundhog Day joke, but then I decided that I didn't want to make a really corny joke at the beginning of a letter. So I'll just say that I get to stay in Harrison for at least one more transfer. Woo!

I had a pretty typical week this week. I did go on transfers up in Branson with one of the Zone Leaders though, which was interesting. His name is Elder Maqueary but because he is a Spanish speaking Elder, his tag just says Elder Mac. I think I would prefer Elder Mac too. We taught a bunch of lessons and even went tracting for like five minutes while we waited for a member to show up for an appointment in the apartment complex where we had an appointment. Elder Mac is like the most pro tracter I have ever seen. It's kind of like a joke in our zone because he's so good. The first door we knocked on was lame. Elder Mac was all pro-like and awesome but the old lady who answered the door shut it as soon as she learned we were Mormons. I thought it was kind of funny but also sad. Then we knocked on the next door and it was my turn. It was awful. I knocked on the door, and was ready to talk to someone and try to share a quick spiritual message if they'd let me. Then the door opened and it was seriously one of the most pretty girls I have ever seen. It so wasn't fair. 

"Hi, I'm Elder Drake, and this is Elder Mac," I said. "What was I going to say next? Where did my brain go? Why is she so pretty? Why does she have so many cute freckles and how are her eyes seriously that blue?" I thought to myself in about half a second. My brain went all mushy and it was bad. "Well, could we share a scripture with you?" Then I felt like an idiot. Haha, it was so bad. Even Elder Mac was all shaken. He stepped in after me, and said some more stuff that I don't remember because I'm pretty sure my brain is trying to block it out. The kicker was that instead of trying really hard to get a scripture in or something, Elder Mac said, "It's fair to say you're not interested." I almost died. Mostly because he's the king of tracting. It was horrible. Then we went to our appointment. That was very interesting.

Don is a super sweet guy. He is very kind, and very intelligent. He's some denomination of Christian and very knowledgeable. He's also an anti-Mormon. As soon as I walked in I could tell that we were in for an interesting experience. He had a stack of papers literally about six or so inches high of anti-Mormon articles (all very scholarly-ish but stiil) to share with us. During the discussion he would occasionally hand us an article. For the better part of the lesson I felt that I should just sit quietly and so I did. I didn't open my scriptures, and when he handed me an article I took it and folded it in half without looking at it, and continued to listen to the discussion. This continued for about 30 minutes. I felt prompted to ask a question so I did.

"Don, like Elder Mac has said, we just have different ways of understanding the Gospel. Mormons put a very heavy emphasis on the personal confirmations of the Spirit to discern truth, and you hold physical evidence and proof to be of utmost importance. How have you felt the Spirit in your life?"

He said something about not relying on emotions and that we should rely on the scriptures and the word that God has given us to confirm truth. I rephrased the question

"I can totally understand where you're coming from, but the feeling I'm talking about is very distinct and very different from an emotion. I can't really describe it, but I can tell you that I've felt it. Other people describe it as 'a burning in the bosom', a 'still small voice' or 'it's like a fire'. Have you ever felt the Spirit Don?

Again, he said that he had, but didn't describe it, and the Brother that was with us thought it was his turn again which distracted Don from the question anyway. The discussion continued as it had for about a half an hour more, and Elder Mac was getting antsy, so we prepared to close. They gave his stuff to read, and he told us some of the stuff he wanted to discuss next week. I again felt like I should say something to him, so I did.

"Don, that stuff that Brother Green and Elder Mac have asked you to read is great, and I urge you to do it, but before we leave, well, first, I assume that you have studied the Pentecost before, correct?" 

"Yes, of course." He responded

"Awesome. Well, Don, like we've been saying, we are just on different ground here. We figure out the truth very differently. We believe that being educated and learning is very important, but we also believe that above all, the Spirit confirms truth for each and every one of us. Oftentimes, it fills us up with this...just amazing feeling, that's very different from any emotion or anything. It's the same feeling that the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost. I would ask you to pray and ask our Heavenly Father to bless you to be able to feel a little bit of that as well, and I promise that if you do, He will bless you."

I said some more stuff, but I don't remember a ton else and that's all that's really important anyway. I felt inadequate and discouraged, but I was proud of myself for acting on how I felt rather than focusing on some of the holes in his arguments. I hope that I made a little bit of a difference, but I doubt that I did, and I may never see him again anyway. As we left, Elder Mac was talking about how frustrating it was and how mad he got when once, Don talked about how he instilled such doubt in a missionary that the poor kid actually went home.

"It just makes me so mad," he said, "that someone would be so proud of that."

"Well you have to look at it from his perspective," I replied, "In his mind, he's just like us. In fact, he's more noble than us. He believes that we are going about converting people to a church of lies, and so if he can bring one of us to the 'truth' he is not only helping to save one soul, but to save the souls of those that we might 'damn.'" Elder Mac pondered that for a minute so I continued, "It's sad really. You can see that he's never felt the Spirit. He's a very very smart and kind man, but he's never felt it. He can't feel that God really knows him and loves him because Don has never in his life felt the Holy Ghost, and his heart is so hardened and closed, and he focuses so much on the words of men that he will probably never be able to feel it."

It was so sad. I felt so bad for Don. It's one thing to be devoted to your religion and to slam the door in my face. If you're happy with your life, then cool beans. You can worship Christ in any way you want and I think that's awesome. But to never feel the Spirit and to believe that God doesn't have a personal vested interest in each and every one of His children and so doesn't care enough to intervene in the simplest way in our lives is so sad to me.

This letter is getting long, so I better wrap it up haha.

That was probably the most eventful thing that happened this week. It's been a little slow and pretty typical. Sorry if this one wasn't as entertaining as the previous ones have been. I hope that you are all doing well, and I wish you the best. I pray for each and every one of you in the fam by name. It makes for a long Sunday prayer, but I like it anyway :) I wish you all the best, and keep the letters coming! They're the best!

Love, 

Elder Christopher Drake