Week 22: Baptism Date Set

 
June 15, 1988

We tracted on Thursday, on a street that seemed to go on for forever and a day, and placed a copy of the Book of Mormon.  In the afternoon, we also checked on a referral.  In the evening we had a dinner appointment that turned out to be a take out meal.  The sister who invited us cooked the food and we brought it back to our apartment to eat.

We drove out to Salinas on Friday, to see Trudy in the hospital.  We were hoping to teach her the second discussion but , unfortunately, she had had another stroke during surgery yesterday and was not well enough for a discussion.  After returning to Seaside we checked on a number of referrals without any success at all, no one was home.

In the afternoon we stopped by to see Brother “Bud” Bartlett. Bud is a stake missionary who lives in a shack behind his daughter’s home just over the city boundary in Monterey. Bud also has something like Parkinson’s Disease and is losing motor function and coordination. His wife left him because she couldn’t handle his medical situation. Bud is also the friendliest and most positive member of the church that I have met so far.

On Saturday, we attended a wedding at the stake center.  The happy couple, upon hearing that I was a yearbook photographer in high school, asked me to take the wedding photos with their camera.  In the evening, we had a dinner appointment with the Bakers.  We seem to be spending a lot of time with the Bakers lately because they have a foosball table.

On Sunday, we had a dinner appointment after church, out in Carmel Valley.  In the evening we had another dinner appointment with the Bakers, followed by more foosball.  Alas, it was all for the last time, as the Bakers are moving to L.A. as the father got a new construction job down there.

Monday marked five months since I entered the MTC.  We went tracting in the morning and Elder Spandau tried out a new approach, pretending that we were taking a survey about the church.  In the afternoon, Brother Miller, a stake missionary, drove us out to Salinas to visit Trudy in the hospital.  This time we were able to teach her the second discussion.   We also set a date for baptism, June 26, and it should go through if her health cooperates.

Let me give you an idea of how platinum this investigator is. Out here we see a lot of bumper stickers on members’ cars with an image of the Moroni statue with the letters LDS underneath. Trudy already has such a sticker on her car. She has made three promises to the Lord if she gets out of the hospital: 1. she will take care of her daughter’s son, 2. she will take care of the older lady she is living with and, 3. she will be baptized.

On Tuesday, we took a copy of the Book of Mormon to Brother Bartlett.  We helped him bring in some groceries and chatted with him for a while. He used to be a California Highway Patrolman and spent much of his career in Palo Alto and Modesto. Bud is a huge classical music fan, but he does not like anything by Mozart.

This morning we went out to Pacific Grove for some sight seeing.

In addition to spending a lot of time with the Bakers lately, and playing foosball, there is something else Spandau and I have been doing too much of.  There is another member family that we have been visiting, and we have been watching television.  I am not at all happy about it, but its something my companion keeps wanting to do.

Well, that's it for the week

Love

Douglas