Finding Closed and Open Minds (and doors)

17 April, Saturday

We found two entirely different people today in our travels from door to door.

The negative man with no hope: He criticized everything in the world and the leaders of the United States and Britain. He is sure 9/11 and the bombing in London were set up to blame everything on the terrorists to keep the war going. He said everything the governments do is conspiracy and lies. We have ruined the earth and it is too late to do anything about it. He said it isn’t reasonable that a God would care about a little speck that is the earth in this huge galaxy. He thinks religion is a fantasy to help people deny reality. Anyway, you get the picture—he just went on and on and on.

A positive woman with hope and faith:  A few miles down the road, we stopped by a house where a member supposedly lived and this young woman answered the door with a beautiful smile on her face. She told us she’d lived in the home for two years and the person we were looking for was no longer there. Elder Blain said, “We are sharing a message today about how the gospel has been restored by God through a living prophet.” “I’m Elder Blain, what is your name?” She told him her name and he said, “____, what would it mean to you to know there is a living prophet on the earth today?” She looked at our name badges and said, “Oh, I have been meeting with some missionaries from your church!” She then told us she had been gone a while and the other missionaries were transferred, but Elders were coming back to teach the second gospel lesson.

Seeing two little girls watching us from a gate near the stairs, I asked if they were hers and she confirmed they were. I said, “Soon you will know how you can have your beautiful children with you forever and be a family throughout eternity.” She radiated good will and we felt the Spirit as we talked a little more and bore our testimonies of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. She is looking forward to learning more. Her accent was not English and we think maybe she is from Jamaica.

This lovely experience of being greeted with warmth made us feel like we were back in Georgia. That was such a change from the normally polite but standoffish way most people here refuse the invitation to learn more about how they can have great joy and gain answers to questions of the soul. That one sweet woman made the whole day worthwhile! Hallelujah!