Heat Wave

Dear Family,

It has been another boiling hot week here in Kansas. but a good one. :)

So, we volunteered at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead on Tuesday instead of Friday last week because we had interviews with President Keyes on Friday. Because it was a different day, we weren't in the ticket booth. We were in the pigmy goat pen! It was fun, but SO HOT. We got to help children bottle feed the goats. A lot of the children cried because the goats would crowd around them and fight for the bottle (unless I helped. I knew how to keep the goats off). But it was fun. :)

That was also the day that we got our second mini-missionary. This one was 19 instead of 16. It was actually really hard to have her along. She didn't really want to go on a mission. She did the mini mission because everyone was doing it, and she didn't really care to try. So it was a rough couple of days trying to make her be a missionary at all. Most of the time she was a quiet shadow, unless we were alone, and then she would loudly tell us distracting stories about High School and the "funny" things her friends did. Sister Hodson and I learned a lot from it, and we'll see what our third one is like this week. She's coming for the weekend, which will be interesting because then she will be with us for our 7 hours of church and meetings. We're still excited.

I don't know if I told you last week about our one new investigator we found Sunday night. Well, we went to the appointment time we had set up...and he was home! And expecting us! We taught him the second lesson and it went well. It was the most animated I have ever seen Sister Hodson because she was so excited to teach him. We need that to happen more often. He said no to coming to church, but we have another appointment with him next week, so we'll see how that goes.

It was a good week, but honestly most of the days we were struggling to find things to do in the heat. No one was outside, and no one was answering their doors. We were super grateful for the car. It is supposed to be over 100 for three weeks here. I just want some rain! There have been 4 sick missionaries and one in the hospital from the heat. We are being careful. Our mission president has given us permission to do our studies in the heat of the day and head out early (at 8) when it is still cool. We'll try it (and not visit the people we know sleep late).

I guess the only weird thing that happened this week was a street contact we made. We felt strongly that there was someone we needed to talk to before we headed home, and we almost accidentally started talking to a guy smoking on his porch. When he found out who we were he said "well I'm Baptist," in a way that implied that he knew all about us. He said he wasn't going to change, but he was willing to talk to us for a minute. We started talking, but then it became more and more clear that this guy was a little crazy. Not diagnosably crazy, but socially crazy. He asked us questions like "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" and "Well, do you believe He is your Savior?" And then looked a little puzzled when our beliefs matched up with his. I told him about prophets and restoration, but I don't know if he heard/understood, because he kept asking questions. He also informed us (three times) that he hated Catholic weddings because of how long they are. The only thing he could find that we believed differently than him was our concept of the trinity as separate people, so he latched onto that. He went into a strange rant. It went something like this:

"You just have to believe in the trinity. The three. Three in one, one in three. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe it. You just have to believe in it. You just have to believe in the trinity. You just have to believe in a mustard seed."
He looked very intense about it, so I asked,
"Faith like a mustard seed?"
"Yes, faith like a mustard seed in the trinity. I mean I have seen things. I know. I know it is true. My dad, he had half of his intestines removed. Half. Guts gone. I know there is a trinity. You just gotta believe in it. He wasn't supposed to live. You've gotta believe in the trinity--I can speak in tongues!"(he stood up)" I don't know what it is or why I have it, but you've just gotta listen to me" (he started doing fake looking sign language with his hands) "You just have to listen. I have the ability. to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues. I have the ability...to speak in tongues..." His hands moved jerkily, making the same crazy motions for the same words. Repeating himself over and over. Then he pinned his hands behind his back as if he had lost control of them for a little while, and was trying to reign them in.

The conversation ended up being an okay one. For some strange reason, I felt led by the spirit about what I should say to this crazy man. I felt the spirit testifying of my words, and I was able to recite the first vision and bear testimony of it. It was neat. He tried to get us to talk about politics and homosexuality, and informed us that we couldn't win an argument because he was a psych major, but we remained (mostly) in control, and it went well in the end. Sister Hodson is convinced that I will be able to teach him the gospel in the next life. Maybe so. :) Then we went home.

Well, that's all folks. I love you all. :)


Love,

Sister Atkin