selling dope & stealing stuff

Fam + Friends!

Another pretty busy week here in Des Moines. Past couple weeks have been a little slow on finding Hispanic investigators (a lot of investigators…just not for us! smh @ at the English missionaries) But this week was great! We were able to talk to a lot of people and get a lot of return appointments as well, so we will see how it goes. Mixed into this, we received a lot of referrals from the English missionaries that we share the area with. As we stopped by all of them, a couple of them were really interested and excited about our message. It was fun to answer all the questions they had and nice to have some people with potential to progress. A nice little ‘cherry on top’ for the week was that President Ortega brought an awesome young couple to church! President, Angel and Ana are friends and Angel and Ana did not hesitate when Pres. Ortega invited them to church. So walking into church, 2 new investigators literally feel into our hands. And in Gospel Principles, we just happened to be watching the Restoration movie and they loved it! Tender Mercies!

I want to also tell you about some guys that Elder Thomas and I met on our mini exchange that we had on Wednesday.  Little back story though first. We aren’t allowed to knock on doors after 8pm so from 8-9 is called the “Be Found Hour”, where we try to make ourselves ‘found’ in different places. So during this hour, E. Thomas and I were in Walmart, we happened to walk by some TV’s that were playing past Super Bowl highlights, so we just HAD to stop and watch for a minute or two…haha! But as we were turning around and leaving these two black guys started talking to us. Their names were Bobby Washington and Johnny James, some homies from Chicago and Mississippi. They both knew what we were, had seen missionaries walking around and knocking on doors, and even had some friends that are members. But they have never had the chance to talk with missionaries before. So meeting them started this whole conversation, answering all their questions, throwing some doctrine in a little bit, and clarifying some things about the church, etc. These guys were solid, prepared, and drop dead hilarious! Of course had to give all their info to the English missionaries, but they left me with some gems that I will never forget. LOL!

*Asking how they knew each other Bobby replies, “Johnny and I met way back in the day while we were selling dope and stealing stuff and we’ve been together ever since!”  Mind you, these guys are like 60 years old!

* ”How old are they sending you guys out now? You gotta be like 12 or 13..” talking to Elder Thomas, haha

*Talking to me, “You know bro, you look a lot like that Joseph Smith guy. I’m gonna start calling you ‘Baby Joseph Smith’ from now on, or just ‘BJS’ for short”

*And my favorite part, “If y’all have any problem in the hood…and we mean ANY problem…you have our number. We only need a brief description of the homie, and maybe his height, and we’ll take care of him. Just duck your head and don’t look back when you see us coming.”  The GOAT’s!!!

Moral of the story, people all around us are ready for the Gospel! Even if they did meet selling dope and stealing stuff….

Love from the 515…deficil es bueno!

Elder Christensen

Dinner with the Ortegas

Am I an Iowan yet?

New Whip