April 6, 1988
This has been an interesting week. On Thursday and Friday, we worked hard; we went around and checked on some part-member families, finding almost no one home, so we did some serious phone contacting Friday night. We were able to set up a few appointments.
On Saturday and Sunday, we attended General Conference at the stake center. Sitting in the chapel, dressed in Sunday best, made conference so much more special.
On Monday, we went on team-ups with the elders in Menlo Park -- actually, we went over to the Stanford bookstore before going up to the top of Hoover Tower and then visiting the Memorial Church. We did find someone to chat with about the church, so my new comp is calling it pros-time [proselyting time]. I thought it was a waste.
We had a spiritual experience on Tuesday. When I picked the streets we were going to tract, I prayed that the Spirit would guide me in my choices; I prayed that I would pick the streets that Heavenly Father wanted me to pick, a street where one of his sheep was ready for us to stop by. After much prayer and consideration, I picked two streets and we headed out the door.
We stopped at the first street I had picked and locked up our bikes. There was no interest at the first door, no one home at the second, but at the third this teenage girl answered. Elder Lake gave the approach, "We're sharing a message about Jesus Christ today and if you have 15-20 minutes, we were wondering if we could come in and share that message with you?" The girl replied, "Uh . . . yeah . . . I guess."
So in we went, and we taught most of the first discussion. We talked mainly about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. The girl seemed to be interested in what we had to say, but she said that she would have to talk to her parents about it first. We had a closing prayer and gave her a pamphlet dealing with our Heavenly Father's plan for us, as well as a copy of the Book of Mormon.
We finished tracting that street, but no one else who was at home was interested. We then went back to the flat for lunch. But that is the only way to tract, by the Spirit.
After lunch, we went to see Leslie down on Corina. We talked with her and gave her (finally!) a copy of the Book of Mormon. Then we went and tracted the second street I had picked that morning. That street didn't turn out as well as the first; we ran into a born-again Christian and had a near-bashing situation. After that we went to see Lloyd; he was at home and we were able to commit him to hearing a discussion of Friday. Things may be looking up.
This morning we went and played basketball at the stake center. We had a few serious, physical games; I ended up on the floor a few times and banged up my left leg a bit. After basketball, we went over to the Menlo Park apartment with Elders Whopper and November. As we were sitting around, talking, there was a knock on the door. Some J-dubs had knocked on the landlord's door, and he brought them back to chat with us.
At first, we pretended to be Stanford students -- we were still in our sweats and street clothes. One of the other three elders, as part of our pretending, asked if they were Mormons; they said that they were not, of course, and then proceeded to rip on the church. They said that Mormons believed that Jesus was God and that Mormons believed in the Holy Trinity; they also said that Mormons did not believe in the Bible.
Going along with the ruse, for the moment, I pretended that I had talked with some Mormon missionaries recently and said that they had told me that they believed in God the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. One of them interrupted me to say that Mormons believed no such thing and, in any case, God and the Holy Ghost are one and the same.
It was at this point that we confessed that we were, in fact, Mormon missionaries. I said that just yesterday, we had been out tracting and that I had had my Bible with me. The J-dubs said again that we didn't believe in the Bible. I picked up a copy of the Bible from a nearby table and turned to John 15:26:
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
One of the J-dubs, likely the senior of the two, countered by saying that God and the Holy Ghost are the same person and that the Spirit is only the force used by God. I flipped back to John 14:26:
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (emphasis added).
"Whom" would denote a separate person. The J-dub pulled our her New World Translation, which changed "whom" to "which". Now, I wasn't trying to bash, just present a scripture to support my beliefs [that's what I told myself, anyway]. I was trying to steer the discussion into the Joseph Smith story, but darn if they didn't keep on interrupting me. The other three elders, my comp included, were no help -- they were trying to bash.
A discussion of competing translations got us briefly back to John 14:26, but from there all control was lost. The senior J-dub continued to tell me that we didn't believe in the Bible, so I turned the copy I was holding so that she could see the spine, "See, The Holy Bible, King James Version." I said it three times!
Eventually, the J-dubs decided to leave, and as they did so they parted with: "When the day of destruction arrives and Jehovah is come, and you are destroyed, just remember, we warned you!" I shot right back, "And you just remember, we warned you." Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Then they ran into the landlord, who said to them that he once looked into the J-dub faith. Well, that got a reaction as they quickly condemned him to hell!
The whole experience was rather educational. First, there is just no talking to J-dubs and, second, love and sincerity is where it is at. Their whole attitude and approach were completely wrong, calling us to repentance and telling us over and over that we did not believe what we said we believed. That's just not how you spread a message, whether you're a J-dub or an LDS missionary [you cannot antagonize and influence at the same time]. Instead, you should use love and sincerity. We do not have the power to prove our words, that is the job of the Holy Ghost (may the Force be with you!). If your message is truly from God, then you have no need to tear down the other person's beliefs.
After all the excitement, the landlord, a member, took the four of us on a drive to San Gregorio Beach, on the Pacific side of the peninsula. I love the ocean.
As I said, it was an interesting week. Well, gotta go.
Love
Douglas
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