Hey kids.
Two Fridays ago we met Alexander from Bulgaria. Alexander is a young, not unattractive man who Sister Jardine may or may not want to marry someday. We found him at the flag pole just outside the temple gates. He was just sitting there by himself so we introduced ourselves and had a solid conversation with him. He seemed friendly but not really interested in most of the things that we had to say. We invited him to meet with local missionaries but he declined so we asked if we could call him to teach him over the phone. He asked us if we were asking him out on a date. Whatever works, right? He gave us his phone number so we were excited for another chance to teach him. We called him at the time that we set up to talk to him but he didn't answer. We called another time during the week but he didn't answer. Finally he answered on Friday. We wanted to find out if he sincerely wanted to be taught by us and we testified to him that the things that we can teach him will change his life for the better. No matter what struggles that he has in his life, the gospel that we can teach him will help him specifically. He wasn't really feelin' it since he said he already has a Church but he's not really active it that one. We told him that we felt like we needed to teach him because he is so special. "You think I'm special?" We had to specify that he's not short bus special but the 'God wants you to hear this now' special. Finally Sister Jardine just straight up said, "Hey, what do you have to lose?" That seemed to take so then we taught him the restoration. As we were finishing the lesson, he put us on hold because someone was at the door. We could hear peices of a muffled conversation in the background then he told us that the mormons were at his door. He put us on speaker phone and we yelled hi to the elders that had just showed up at his door. He read their names and said that one has a broken hand and asked if that rang a bell. Nope, we don't know the elders in any of the Salt Lake missions and we don't even know Alexander's address to send them there. So basically Sister Jardine and I were freaking out because WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? Seriously, he's been living in Utah for 10 years now, that Friday was his first visit to temple square and this is the first time that missionaries have ever shown up on his doorstep. He finally answers his phone and that's the time when the elders show up? Yep. Special. We told Alexander to let the elders inside but he said that he sent them away. Noooooo. whyyyyyyyy? He told them that they could come back later because he was already talking to the mormons. So then we were freaking out over the phone with super mellow Alexander and we tried to tell him that God wanted us to call him and that God sent him the elders at his door. C'mon, it's obvious! Then we committed him to pray. After an exhausting conversation about prayer, we asked when we could call him back so he told us to pray to find out when would be the best time. Touché. But God also gave us brains to plan things. Apparently that wasn't good enough. So we prayed a whole lot to know when to call him but our Sunday was super busy. We called him at three different times but he didn't answer. Laaaaaame. We'll continue to call. There were a lot of elders on the square on Sunday so we had the genius idea of trying to figure out which elders went to Alexander's door. We couldn't remember their names but knew that one had a broken hand. Within minutes, I outdid myslef again with my creeping skills. We had a message sent to Elder Willis and Elder Jackson (with a broken hand) to go back to Alexander's house and give him a Book of Mormon. Yes. We have so much hope for this Alexander even if he doesn't have any hope for himself.
Sister Jardine and I got to be the helpers of another big motor coach. These ones were mostly from New Jersey. None of them wanted to learn more but it went a lot better than our angry Brit group. There was one frenchman at the end who told me that I belong to a fantastic religion. And he means that. Presh. I also had an neat conversation with one lady about how ghetto Camden is. (hi Kenny)
Here's a follow-up story:
Remember James, the angry guy who called in and exhausted me with questions about the Godhead? No? Anyway, after that conversation, I found out that he's been calling in for years so his multiple numbers have been blocked. He seems sincere so Sisters always try to teach him but get nowhere. Yesterday at west gate I got a call from a laday at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. She had an investigator on the line with questions so she wanted to transfer him to me. Done. We started talking and within 5 seconds, I knew it was James but this time he had a different story that lead up to his same question about the Godhead. So I said "James, I had this exact conversation with you months ago and you could not be helped. I know that you call in all the time. Nothing's changed. I would love to help you but you don't accept any help." Caught red-handed. He hung up pretty quickly after that. Since all of his numbers are blocked on our system, he needs to go through the JSMB to talk to us? I don't understand! But I feel sorry for his life.
Party in the USA. Love you all!
-Sister Katie Kyle
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