The Downtown

As for things in the norm, I may not have much to offer. It was a week of success, love and awkward encounters. All the makings of a good time.

Saturday: We mostly tracted that day... and the other days. I liked it. Some time in the afternoon we found ourselves knocking around a certain apartment and wandered around the back until we found some mysterious stairs. The stairs seemed to keep going higher and higher and looked like it didn't have an end. But, oh... did it have an end. Once Elder Pymm got to the top he just turned around and walked back down before I saw the destination. My curiosity led me to see the top before I followed him back down. I saw two doors that looked like a closet without locks.I felt a little adventurous and said, "I'm just gonna walk in... watch this..." I thought it led to the roof or something. I didn't actually do what I said I would, of course. I'm too scared to live up to my talk. So I just knocked on both doors at the same time and walked away. As I turned my back I heard the door knob jiggle and then open... I looked back and saw a woman's bedroom and a scared person peeking outside to see who would be knocking on her fire escape door. It's the Mormons, of course! Who else would it be. So we had a good laugh and as I wiped the sweat off my forehead like a nervous wreck. Turns out that the woman is super cool and is super prepared. . Her roomate came out too, and we talked about Fox Moulder and Thomas S. Monson. We'll be seeing them tonight. I guess the moral of the story is... Back doors are creepy. Always go up staircases that lead to "no where."

Story two: We were weekly planning and I had a thought that we should stop and finish planning the next day so we can go out and tract. I looked at our planner and we had nothing planned for that time other than weekly planning. So I thought, what are we going to do with all that free time... and then I had another thought that came pretty clearly that said, "It will be filled." So we hit the pavement not really sure where to go or what to do. After about a half hour I was like... hmm... this isn't being filled! Why are we doing this when we planned to be planning... The next door we happened upon a nice Athiest fellow. He let us in and we talked about Joseph Smith, the problem of evil and every other lesson that we knew. It wasn't an ideal time schedule for teaching. We try to keep it shorter. He's the question asker type for sure. I think it's my first Hard Core Athiest investigator. I have had conversations with Athiests almost every day,,, they've just never become investigators. I don't know how far it'll get with him (there's that faith I need) but we'll give it a shot. The time was definitely filled though. Kind of an interesting experience for me. Oh, and about two minutes before we knocked on his door I got a text from a investigator that said we can't meet anymore because he's too attracted to me. Though he phrased it a little less classy. Just thought you'd like to know the weird details of this strange yet wonderful week.

James is getting more and more solid every millisecond... maybe... and if not that then at least every other day. We taught him the Word of Wisdom this week and his natural reaction was opposed to coffee and tea (which we knew it would be). We taught and testified of the commandment and talked with him a bout how he felt. He said he'd be willing to do it. So yesterday we were at break the fast with him and he said, "I went to Starbucks today (haven't taught keeping Sabbath day holy yet... settle down) and I got hot chocolate instead of coffee. It was the best hot chocolate I've ever had." Blessings. Blessings. He's getting baptized pretty soon now! Two weeks.

One of my favorite things happened this week. You see, when you go towards downtown Bellingham... good things happen. It's just a trend I've noticed. This time we didn't even get the chance to make it to too close to the downtown before the good stuff happened. While on our way we came across a man named "Uncle Buck," but I call him Zack. Zack is what we (and he) likes to call.... a Gypsy! He's part of a family called The Grateful Dead. So... you know it's legit. He was standing on a street corner smoking a fatty cig when we first saw him. The left side of his body shut down and so he was kind of stuck on that one side of the street. So after we helped him across the cross walk and learned about Nymphs and things, we got to hear more about his life. I love those kind of conversations. I love hearing other people's stories and perspectives and beliefs, especially...... gypsies. He said we could join the family so... I'm still having to figure some stuff out on my own. He's also read the Book of Mormon before (not really... pretty sure.) so that's cool that he tells people that though. It's a good book. When he told his stories he would grab the longer side of his chin beard and wrap it around the other hairs which makes him look very wise and thoughtful. Quite intriguing for all who is around. Long story short: don't do drugs.

I'm going on a treasure hunt,


Elder Trent Jay Merrill