Official email #2

Written by Charles Boling - - no comments

Huh? A bit out of order, wouldn't you say?  Turns out, it's his 2nd email to his MTC district, who he apparently didn't email last week after all. He CC'd us as a consolation prize. :-)

Some stories he shared:

We met someone named Manuel. He loved listening to us, and he says he really feels the Spirit when we come over. The last time we met him, he gave us a two foot tall cross that he made out of sticks and wire in gratitude for us teaching him! ...so now we have a brown wooden cross in our apartment!


We also had a funny moment while we were walking down the sidewalk; a lady pulled up in her car and pulled off next to us. She rolled down her window, and with a heavy accent, said "You go Catholic church! Must go Catholic church! Catholic church only true church!" We told her a little about the Restoration, but she interrupted and said " No, no, you must go Catholic church!", and then drove off. I told my companion that she would soon meet missionaries that could speak her own language, she would want to be baptized, then she would eventually become the Relief Society General President! And we got to met her in person!

    It has been so fun getting doors slammed in our faces and deciding what huge potential they might have. And the best part is that it might actually be true!



    We had a couple members at dinner tell us about their conversion story. The wife was raised in the church, but fell inactive. She married a nonmember, who loved alcohol so much that he said , and whenever missionaries came to their door, she simply said she was inactive, assuming that that would keep them away. Little did they know that that  attracted the missionaries.

    One time when the missionaries came over, the husband started shouting at them, so they were marked as Do Not Contact.

    They moved out of state then, but little did they know, their...records moved with them.

    Just after this, the wife felt a strong prompting to send a friend an article about Joseph Smith. This was strange, as she hadn't been associated with the Church for many years.

    She acted on it, and told her friend the story, and her friend said that she may be strange, but it was in a good way.

    After this, she felt like she needed to get back to the Church. She did, and she got a calling, but she was still marked as a Do Not Contact. So that caused a few problems.

    After those were cleared up, She invited her husband to take the discussions, so he could find out more about the church. He agreed to, and eventually wanted to be baptized. the trouble was he was still drinking. They asked him if he would give it up, and he said yes, which was a huge shock to the wife. He said he would do puzzles instead of drinking in his free time.

    He was baptized, and both of them are active in the Church. When we went over for dinner, he showed us his hallway, which had dozens of thousand piece puzzles on it.

    So remember, even if someone yells at you and slams the door in your face, there is still hope. They might turn out to be wonderful people, as happened in this case. The Lord CAN work miracles.

    If you look for the potential in people, your missions will be a lot better. I've seen this for myself many times.

And, finally, about his companion:

Elder Koopmans is such an awesome companion! We get along so well, and he is hard working, positive, friendly, and is determined to do the Lord's work.

Elder Koopmans contemplating the first 7 months of his mission that he was on bike
Elder Koopmans contemplating the first 7 months of his mission that he was on bike
 

 

 

Charles is a full-time father and part-time proxy missionary blogger...

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