An Islander and a Christian Writer
Hello
Friends and Family!
I am so grateful, always,
for your love and support. I really do appreciate the emails, letters, and
packages that people have sent expressing their love and support towards me. I
couldn't say thank you enough!
About two weeks ago,
Elder Jacklin and I were asked to do service for a nonmember. We agreed to help
out, and recruited a few members to come as well. We showed up for the project,
and completed the task in little to no time. I didn't think much of it, except
as we were about to leave, the member we had asked to come said, "Elders,
I want you to come teach my brother." I was confused, because this
individual's brother was fully active and had been attending church faithfully
ever since I had gotten here, to Richmond Hills. I told the member we would be
happy to visit with his brother, but asked if he could clarify what he meant by
'teaching' him? Did he want us to just review some doctrines of the Church with
him? The man laughed and said, "Oh my brother has been coming to church
every Sunday for the past year but isn't baptized yet. He said he is ready for
the missionary discussions." We were blown away! We scheduled a time with
the both of them, and went over for a first visit.
The whole family,
including this member's brother, are all originally from the US Virgin Islands
and have only been living in the states for the last few years. As a matter of
fact, the member explained to us how he was one of the very first people to
join the church in the Virgin Islands! He said that when he joined the church
there, that the congregation was about 5 people that met in the back of a store
on Sundays. I was so excited for the opportunity to now teach this man's
brother, Dion. We went over for a first visit, and Dion explained how he had
been attending Church for a year now, and makes a great effort to get to church
at least 30 minutes early to hear the organ prelude music! He was a really
quiet man, but showed a great desire to be baptized. We invited him to pray
about baptism, and he committed to do so. When we saw him at church on Sunday
(as usual, he was the first one sitting in the chapel) he yelled,
"Elders!" and waved us over to him. We walked over, shook his hand,
and asked if he had prayed about baptism. He smiled and said, "It would be
GREAT!" We smiled and are excited to be able to keep working with Dion
towards making the covenant of baptism with his Heavenly Father. It will be
amazing to see him join the church, as most of his family, are already members
and have been hoping he would join the church for a while now.
Elder Rothamer (my new
companion) and I were planning on going finding in this neighborhood this past
week, and we felt strongly we should change neighborhoods and go somewhere on
the opposite side of town. When we arrived at the neighborhood (it was quite a
nice neighborhood), we started knocking a few doors. After a little over an
hour, we came to a particular house and knocked on the door. A man answered,
opening the door up just a bit. We shook hands, explained who we were, and he
stated that they were of a particular denomination. He was about to shut the
door, but we asked if he had heard of the Book of Mormon before? He paused, and
thought for a second, and said he had heard of it but didn't know anything
about it. We explained how it was an ancient record that was once written on gold
plates by the ancient inhabitants of America. We explained further that the
principal relatives of the writers of the Book of Mormon are the Native
Americans. The man opened up the door more, and asked us to repeat what we just
said. We did so, and added that it was translated from the ancient reformed
Egyptian that it was originally written in into English for our day. The man,
now stepping outside, asked if we could explain it all over again. Smiling, we
did so, and he stood there quite perplexed (as anyone would/should(?) be). We
added a bit more the third time by saying, "Sir, the Book of Mormon
clarifies the Bible by helping us more fully understand God's Plan of
Salvation. Being, where did we come from, why are we here, and-" we hadn't
made it any further than this when the man put up his hand and said, "What
did you just say? Do you believe we lived before this life?" We explained
very briefly how the Book of Mormon teaches of our Pre-Earth life, and how we
dwelt with God before coming to this Earth. The man's eyes got super big
(catching us both of guard), and he said, "No way." We kind of
laughed uncomfortably, and I said, "Yes way." The man said, "I
need to speak to both of you. My house is in the middle of moving some things
right now, but can you sit down in my garage for a bit and explain that
Pre-Earth life to me?" We said sure, and took a seat in his garage with
him. He got us some water, and then said, "My name is Matthew, and I'm a
Christian book writer. This is going to sound so strange, but I have NEVER
heard of a Christian Church that believes that we lived with God before this
life. I've been searching for a church like that my whole life. I gave up
searching a few years ago, and just decided instead to write my next book on
the topic of what life would mean if we lived with Jesus before we were
born." THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID.
He explained how he had
been working on this book for the last year and a half, and how much thought he
has been putting into the idea of living with God before this life. We
explained more in detail about the Grand Council, and our decision to follow
Jesus in the Pre-Earth life so we could come to Earth and gain experience. The
man just started laughing hard and said, "Shoot guys, the Mormon Church is
going to think I've totally plagiarized their belief system. This actually
might make a copyright problem for me. That's exactly what I explain in my
book." We couldn't help but laugh with him, and he just kept asking for
more and more information. We read part of 1 Nephi 1 with him (because it
teaches about the Pre-Earth life in verses 9 and 10) and explained how even the
original 12 apostles lived and followed Christ before this life. He sat back,
scratched his head, and asked us to wait for a second. He went back into his
house, and his wife came back out with him. She was hesitant, looked at our
nametags, and we stood and shook her had. He asked us to explain everything
about the Pre-Earth life from the beginning. We did so, and the woman sat staring
at us. She looked at her husband and said, "Honey, I think you found your
new church." We were blown away! The Spirit was so strong, and he kept
asking for our beliefs on the Creation, Purpose of Life, and the Fall of Adam
and Eve. EVEN BEFORE WE EXPLAINED ANYTHING, he said, "I cannot stand how
modern Christian churches view the fall of Adam. They curse him and Eve, because
they 'lost paradise' or something. But, I believe, without them, we wouldn't be
here and Christ wouldn't have been born. We couldn't have had the Earth
experience we needed to." I kept getting the chills all over my body, and
the Spirit was so strong in this mans garage! I showed him how he basically quoted our Plan
of Salvation pamphlet directly, and how we, as Latter-day Saints, view the Fall
of Adam and Eve in the way he views it. To keep a long story short, we visited
with him and his wife for nearly two hours in their garage, and they invited us
back for another (more formal) lesson this coming week. It was the single best
contact I've had my whole mission.
I have the strongest
testimony that God is preparing those that He needs in His kingdom,
Until Next Week-
Elder Robb
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