mis-sion-ary, (noun)
someone who leaves their family for a short time
so that others may be with
their families for Eternity.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Chest Interptretation

Hey everyone!
At this time we are teaching a new investigator that we found a couple weeks ago and he is the most interesting person I have ever taught. His name is ดม (Dom) and he is actually an old investigator of the Elders from a year ago. The way we found him was miraculous! We were at church one Sunday and he came walking in looking for one of the missionaries that was teaching him back in the day. He found us and asked, with a concerned look on his face, is Elder Everton here? We told him no and he had gone home a long time ago. ดม (Dom) said that Elder Everton had invited him to come to church but he was never able to go and now that he is more available, he wants to come and learn with him again. When he found out that he wasn't here, he dropped his head and started walking out. We told him to cheer up! He can still learn, but with us! He didn't sound to thrilled though. So we asked for his number and told him we would call him later on. After giving him some time to recover from the blow of finding out that Elder Everton wasn't here anymore, we called him a couple days later and asked if we could meet with me. The first thing that he asked was, is Elder Everton coming?! We said no...and sounded a little disappointed. He still said, OK sure, you can come. We met with him the first time and mostly sat and talked with him, trying to get him to open up to us. I feel like we had success because the next time we went and taught him, he told us every concern that he has and he has almost every concern in the book. We have gone to see him about 4 times now and we uncover a new concern or sin that he has each time that we go over to see him. I wont tell you all of them because there wouldn't be enough memory in this computer to hold them all but I will tell you one of them because it kind of made me laugh. Last Saturday we met with him and watched the Restoration DVD to try and help him see that there is only one true church in all the world and he can't follow Buddhism and Christianity at the same time. He has to choose. But before we were able to begin the lesson he went off on some crazy theory about whether there is more then one world. He said he could understand if there was about 3 or 4 but 5 worlds is just way to many. Its impossible to have that many! I just sat there with a blank look on my face and thought, what in the world is he talking about? We didn't entertain his thought for too long because we were way confused. So we went on with the lesson. At the end of the lesson, he realized what he had to do and he told us he had to pray. As we were about to close the lesson, he stopped us and said, "Elder, I have something to show you. But you have to promise you won't get startled if I show you OK?" A little skeptical and suspicious, we said OK. He then stood up and all intense, he took off his shirt! Elder Westwood and I were a little shocked and very confused. He then said, "Do you see it?!" We looked for a second and all I could see that was out of the ordinary was a mark on his chest so I asked, "Are you talking about the birthmark?" and a little frustrated, he said "No! The red dots on my chest! What are they?! Is it a sign of how many worlds there are?" We sat there staring at him for a good 10 seconds trying to think of what to say...It was a little awkward because he was standing there waiting for us to interpret his chest and we had no idea! I then asked, "Are they zits?" I don't know if he like that answer because he hurried and put on his shirt and said, "No! I think they are signs of how many worlds there are in the universe." We then said "OK, well...let us know when they go away. But we've got to go..." We didn't have time to discuss his acne problem so we said a closing pray and left. I have never met someone that was so superstitious before! I have also never been asked to interpret someone's chest before...It was a new experience and I sure hope the Gospel is going to be able to help this guy. He is the most interesting investigator that I have ever taught and I'm excited to see what happens next time we go see him!

Steve

2 comments:

  1. Wow, what a story! The truth the gospel has to offer this man would make a HUGH difference in his life. I hope he gets it! I will be praying for him, and for you to know how to respond to his eccentricities. Keep us posted. I'll call Elder Everton's grandma to have him read this.

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  2. Dear Elder Olsen,
    I have the chest interpretation for you.
    It spells N.U.T. !!!
    Love - Grandma

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