When I left on my mission to Houston I expected to leave snow and ice behind me in Utah and Ohio. No such luck. Although we've had alternating days with beautiful weather in the 60s, sometimes 70s, Friday we had an ice storm come through. It was just like the stuff we get in Ohio sometimes--where everything is just coated. Our car was a solid block that morning. There's a lot of roads that are built up in the air, like an overpass, but go on for miles and miles. I'm so glad we dont' drive on those because I'm sure they were suuuper icy. But I can't complain too much because I know Alaskan weather is trying to take over the rest of the country.
Last Monday we went and played disc golf with some of the other missionaries in our district. I have always been a fan of ultimate frisbee and I consider myself fairly decent at the sport. Disc golf on the other hand, I think I've tried once before and I got really frustrated because the discs don't throw the same way. After some coaching from one of the other missionaries (who has done tournament disc golf stuff), I improved a little more and didn't do too horribly. I might even do it again someday.
Tuesday was great. We had interviews with President and some other training. It was all exactly what I needed to hear. I know President Pingree is inspired in the things he does for this mission.
We went to dinner at a member's house and they had invited some friends too, which is great! I think that's the first time I've been to dinner with a nonmember there too. Inviting people over for dinner is something I would definitely encourage everyone to do; however, I would also encourage giving the missionaries more than a few minutes notice that there's going to be other people there... especially when one of those people happens to be an ordained minister of another faith with strong opinions. It was a good discussion regardless, and he has honest concern for our salvation. He's just gotten a lot of misinformation about the church without taking the time to figure out our foundational beliefs. I struck a deal with him that if he would read all of 3 Nephi, I would dedicate more of my time to reading the New Testament. Lest anyone get confused, yes Mormons belive in the Bible, and I have been studying the NT, I just have a lot of other things to read too. I've been keeping my end of the deal, so hopefully we get to talk to him again and see how he's doing with his reading.
We went to dinner at a member's house and they had invited some friends too, which is great! I think that's the first time I've been to dinner with a nonmember there too. Inviting people over for dinner is something I would definitely encourage everyone to do; however, I would also encourage giving the missionaries more than a few minutes notice that there's going to be other people there... especially when one of those people happens to be an ordained minister of another faith with strong opinions. It was a good discussion regardless, and he has honest concern for our salvation. He's just gotten a lot of misinformation about the church without taking the time to figure out our foundational beliefs. I struck a deal with him that if he would read all of 3 Nephi, I would dedicate more of my time to reading the New Testament. Lest anyone get confused, yes Mormons belive in the Bible, and I have been studying the NT, I just have a lot of other things to read too. I've been keeping my end of the deal, so hopefully we get to talk to him again and see how he's doing with his reading.
Wednesday we had some other good lessons, and talked to this one guy on his doorstep for a while, and then continued our discussion inside. He grew up in a positive Catholic home, and thinks religion is a good thing, but doesn't really believe it. He had a lot of really interesting questions about learning truth, or how we can know truth. I tried to answer the best I could, and I was so grateful for my high school, and college philosophy classes. Mr. Raisch's classes helped me talk to people out here who pull from a lot of well-read sources. When people start quoting Voltaire, Thomas Aquinas, Dante and other things, I can at least know what they're talking about, even if I don't remember as much as I would like. One of the people who I was able to keep up with is getting baptized in a couple weeks. The other person is this guy we talked to on Wednesday. The Lord definitely knows who he sends where and has a reason for all of it.
Thursday and Friday were great. We taught both of our investigators with baptismal dates and had members come with us for those lessons which always makes them better. We endured some cold and then got another bout of warmer weather. Saturday and Sunday were not as productive as I would have hoped, but here's looking forward to doing better this next week! This week is temple week, so it's definitely going to be good. I love you all! Thanks for all you're doing to move the work along and continue coming closer to Christ.
All my love!
Sister Andreason
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