Week 25

There are so many stories for you this week. First: Johann Von Sax.  So there's a story to that name... A long one.

We were street contacting on Tarpon Avenue, which is this cute little downtown area, by the Gulf of Mexico. We were there, talking to people, and after we said a prayer with a couple of girls, this old man rides up on his bicycle. He starts off with talking about how he saw us praying with those girls. Then he says "I've been an archeologist for 44 years." We knew right then it was about to get interesting.

So he tells us that Poseidon's son was Atlas, and Poseidon's friend had a daughter, and she married Atlas, and they had 3 daughters whose names were Anglo-Saxon. He tells us that if you turn the map of Tarpon Springs upside down, you can see All of those people. (we did it later, we couldn't see anyone.) He also says that when Noah was in the ark, he landed between the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers, so he knew he was in Eden. But what Noah didn't know (but Johann Von Sax did, apparently) is that he landed half a planet off. See, the water stayed where it was, but the earth moved underneath it. Euphrates in English means water dragon, and there's a dragon river here, so obviously he landed in Tarpon Springs. Which means Tarpon Springs is Eden. But wait, there's more. He told us that Tarpon Springs AKA Eden was also Atlantis, and he has proof of it because he found 200 stone anchors lining Tarpon Springs. He then changed gears and told us that his father died 2 months ago, and that his father was the King of Switzerland. So now this man is the King of Switzerland! And because his last name is Von Sax, which obviously is the same as Anglo-Saxon, he is the king of all Caucasians. And Von Sax apparently means Isaac, which means he is the king of Israel and Judea.

I'm not sure how he can be king of so many different things, but apparantly he is. So we met a king! (Weird... So weird...) The rest of this week was interesting too, but not as interesting as Johann Von Sax. Nothing can be more interesting than him.

Did I tell you all about G? He used the word Serendipitous while we were walking with him. He was quite funny. Well, we met up with him again on Tuesday, and he was genuinely interested in learning more! We taught him about the Restoration, and then we gave him a Book of Mormon. He said he would definitely read it. Crazy cool!

On Thursday we got caught in a rainstorm. It was horrible! But miracle, a recent convert was driving by while we were walking in it, and she picked us up and drove us back to the apartment. Which was really nice of her.

On Friday at our meetings we talked about how to help the missionaries become better, and one of the lessons I took away from it was the importance of teaching by the spirit, and discerning needs. Afterwards, when we got back to work, I tried my best to do that, and the lessons were amazing! We found a wonderful girl, M, who genuinely wants to learn more. She is so cool!

Mission Leadership Council

On Saturday it was raining again, and it got really cold. We were out tracting, and we found a street called Cinnamon Blvd! for those of you who don't know, I have a cat named Cinnamon. So I took a picture by that sign, but that was a little boring because 20 years from now my cat will probably be dead, and then I'll have a random picture of me with this sign. But anywho.

Today we went to Steak n Shake to see D, one of our recent converts. While we were there, D comes up to us and says "Do you have a plan of Salvation pamphlet? There's this lady who wants to learn why I am so happy. I told her it was because of my sisters, who came to see me today. She said she wants to meet you!" So we talked with her for a little bit about it, and then we suggested that she come over here to our table, so its not overwhelming to have 4 girls come over to her all at once.

She came over! Her name is C, and she is amazing. She wants to have us over for dinner, and she wants to hear about our message. She kept telling us that we looked so happy and she has been looking for that happiness her whole life.  We got her contact info. Sister Macfarlane and I have another member referral that we are working with who wants to get baptized, so we told the other sisters that they can teach her. It will be amazing to see her progress.

We are teaching less people than normal. I'm not sure why that is, but we don't have a plethora of new investigators. People are just saying no. Although we have had a couple of amazing people to teach just show up. One I forgot to put in my other email was M. We were finding in an area, and we decided to stop by a member. We went to the house listed in LDS tools, and it wasn't her house! Turns out she was renting that to a tenant, and she lived next door. But we taught her Tenant, who committed to baptism! We are so excited to help her.

Yesterday I was sick. Man it is going around! I tried to muddle through it and go to lessons, but I was dying. So we went home and I slept. I feel much better today but my throat is still raw. Hope you all had a good week!

With love,

Sister Minson