Week 4 in Denver and Protected from Crazy Druggies on the Bus

This week has been an amazing week! Nothing super noteworthy occurred, but it just feels amazing to be in the service of the Lord. There were two stories that were kind of interesting that happened.

The first one was on Thursday. We went into the home of a man who is a retired preacher. He said he was really interested in hearing about what we believe. It turned into my very first Bible bash! It was much, much less glorious than I ever thought it would be. It was terrible. My companions and I were really trying hard not to turn the situation into a bashing argument but he was pushing for it really, really hard. He kept asking us questions and then answering it himself with his own interpretation. My companions mentioned a couple of scriptures out of the Bible to kind of show him how we view things but he was not interested in what we think at all. It just turned into him trying to preach towards us. My companion, Elder McMullens said that we would come back later when we found some more answers to his questions and we peeled on out of there. As we were leaving I pointed to my Book of Mormon and promised him that if he read this book he would get an answer to all of his questions. Hopefully, the spirit will testify to him and that will be able to stick.

The second story is a little more strange and not super spiritual, but just kind of funny! There's this street in our area where all of the crazy people just stand and talk at the bus stops without ever getting on. We go to that stop to catch the train so we see some of these people often and I like to say hi to some of the friendly ones as we pass by. A few weeks ago, one of these regulars stopped us and said a bunch of really crazy stuff as he was smoking a joint. We told him we really had to keep moving so he just asked us to pray for him right there, so we said a prayer for him and his wife right there on the sidewalk. Whatever was necessary to keep on moving hahaha. The story continues with this man, as we were waiting for the bus in this same area again and I see this dude out of the corner of my eye. I don't really want to start another crazy and unproductive conversation with him, so I just pretend to not notice him. He definitely notices us though. He walks up to this guy right next to us and asks "Hey, wanna smoke a joint just to piss these guys off?" Gesturing towards us. I wanted to say that I really couldn't care less, but I decided it would be best not to mess with this dude. He then walks right up to us and tries to get me to trade coats with him. I say no and say that I really need my coat and that I really like it and he gets a little upset. He then gets on the bus with us and we decide if he's going to talk to us, we're at least going to change it to a gospel topic. We start talking about how Jesus and how he's blessed our life. He says that: "Jesus' love and example is the only thing holding me back from telling you I have a .357 in my bag and to give me all your money and everything will be alright." I couldn't tell if he was actually trying to rob us or just messing around, but it was a wild situation in general. He ended up getting off the bus really quickly after that and I was just so glad that I didn't have to explain to this dude that I actually don't have any money because I'm a missionary and I legitimately have almost no money. I don't think it would have come across well hahaha. I just thanked Heavenly Father for keeping us safe in this wild, wild world and for all the blessings that I've had in my life.

Speaking of being in a scary situation, something that really impressed me from the Book of Mormon this week comes from 3rd Nephi 4. At this point in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites and the Lamanites have come together in righteousness and have taken on the name of Nephites to fight against the Gadianton Robbers. The righteous people are really scared and are nervous that they won't be able to survive this upcoming war with the robbers, but they followed the prophet, repented of their sins, and were strengthened through the Lord. When they went to battle, 4:10 tells us what happens:

10 But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them.  

When we follow the example of the Nephites and fear our God more than we fear other men, we will be strengthened by the Lord and be able to accomplish those righteous things that we need to accomplish. Sometimes doing what is right is hard. It's not always easy to make the right decision. And as I've been a missionary, sometimes it is really, really scary to do what is right and talk to someone who doesn't look too friendly or knock on the door of someone and not knowing if you're going to get yelled at. But when we fear the Lord more than we fear other men, we will have strength and we will be blessed just as the Nephites were. We have no need to fear those around us when we know that we have the Lord behind us. When we are studying the scriptures, obeying the commandments, and always trying our best to do what is right the Lord will always support us and we don't have to be afraid. I know that the Lord has strengthened me tremendously as a missionary and has made me more brave and confident than I could have ever been without his help. I promise that as we seek the Lord's help,  he will support us.

I love this gospel so much and I know that there is nothing in this world that will bring us more happiness and joy than by following the teachings of Jesus and having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I invite you all to continue to do what is right, continue to read the scriptures every day and continue to come unto Christ.

Love you all so very much! Hope you have a great week. :)