Religious Salesman

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great! It was also Elder Pollmann's birthday on Thursday so we had cake at district meeting. I also made the best french fries ever created. Thanksgiving was dope:)

I also let Pollmann cut my hair. On Monday, I found some sweet dark purple slacks on the street that caught my eye.

I feel like Professor Plum from the Clue board game when I wear them but I don't care haha! #Dress2impress

This time last year I was a Christmas tree salesman. Personally, I felt I was pretty good at selling trees. I'd approach the customers with a kind greeting and a joke. Since the lot was on the water park parking lot, I always thought it was funny to ask them if they were there for a tree or for the water slide. (It was at night and the end of November.) I always thought being a missionary would be like being some sort of religious salesman. Now that i'm here, I realize its very different. Yes, its good to know a joke or two and sure, its good to be a people person but, it's not safe to treat sharing the Gospel as if you were convincing someone to buy a product. My area has so many recent converts who haven't gone to church for a very long time. It's for that reason, i'm extra careful when I decide to extend a baptismal invite. Thanks to our friendly neighborhood Bishop, it's not difficult finding investigators a friend in the ward to keep them around and active. Most of the time, Bishop Tugbeh is that friend to the investigators! Just the other day we saw Bishop playing chess outside with one of our investigators! While missionaries come and go... Members stay put so it's only smart to use them as additional support.

We're finding a lot of positive progression with this new family of 8 we have been teaching. Especially with the children who are no younger than 12 and no older than 19. One day before a lesson, they asked me what my first name was. I said Elder but they didn't believe me and insisted I told them my first name. I said, "You can have my first name if you can guess my age." Everyone guessed somewhere around 23, 25, 28, and yes even 30. Once I told them I had just turned 18 in April... They were shocked! One of them said, "Wow, you guys grow big in China!" It was then I realized I hadn't told them where I was from haha! It didn't surprise me... Every time I go outside I hear kids chant, "China man!" or, "Chingchong-Bingbong!" I don't mind it haha.... It's pretty funny:)