Elder Scott is in Chimbote South now and with the move came lots of other new changes. For one, he is now the District Leader of his area.. He is also one of the newly called Medical Missionaries in the Trujillo South Mission and he was asked to be the Zone English tutor. Needless to say, it's been a busy month for him as he learns about the new responsibilities all while he is trying to navigate around a new city, but Elder Scott tends to thrive under positive stress, so this should be a great time for him to learn and grow even more.
In his journal entries this week Elder Scott shared a story he simply titled, "I hugged a preacher today!" First a little background. Elder Scott and his new companion, Elder Chiza (he is fairly new to the mission field,and is from a tribe in Ecuador. How cool is that?!) had an appointment to teach one of their investigators. When they showed up, he was just leaving to take his niece home and asked if they wouldn't mind coming back a little later. The story picks up when they arrived back at his home later that evening.
"When we got back this time there were 4 people there from
the church of his oldest son (who attends an evangelical church). The 4 people were there talking to our investigator and included the
preacher of that church. So naturally, we knocked on the door and then stood and
smiled in the window so they undoubtedly knew it was us. Unfortunately that made the preacher
kind of angry so he started to tell our investigator that not everyone are children of
God and that we (the Mormons) are actually sons of the Devil, with all sorts of
trash talk happening. That made Elder Chiza kind of mad. It made me chuckle for a bit. The man
had no clue what he was talking about, and I honestly hope he repents and changes his ways because I don't think calling representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ "sons of the Devil" is going to look good on judgment day, but anyway, Elder Chiza was kind of upset how the
preacher was trash talking us, the Book of Mormon, and all of our beliefs so he was
ready to combat the trash talking with scripture, but I know that nothing
productive ever can or will come from that because it would instantly be viewed as Bible bashing and cause instant contention (For the record, we believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon to both be the word of God that work hand-in-hand. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and supports the teachings found in the Bible and vice-versa. Both books have the same purpose, which is to lead everyone back to our Father in Heaven through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We teach out of both of these sacred volumes of scripture and don't regard one higher than the other). So I told Elder Chiza not to do that and instead to take a pass-along card, write our
names and our phone number on it, and to tell the people to call with any questions they might have. Then I told Elder Chiza we were gonna solve this problem with love, because there’s no problem that
can’t be fixed by just adding more love ( great advice I got in the CCM from President Moore) So I told him when
they come out to leave we’re just going to go for a handshake, and instead pull each of them in for a genuine, true hug and just be very loving, friendly,
and happy. So
that’s just what we did. It ticked them off a bit, but I felt good about it and
know that it’s a lot more productive than anything else that we could have
done. And maybe one day he’ll realize that what he believes is false and open
up the door to the gospel. I know that it’s really, really true.
There’s not a
single problem that can’t be solved by just adding more love, including preachers trying to confuse your investigators. Everyone is a child of God and
God has the same love for them all and wants all of them to be able to come
back and live with Him again. There are no exceptions. That’s why trying to burn
people with scripture verses and Bible bashing is not the way of the Lord for
missionary work because that usually stems from a place that lacks love. So I know that what we did was exactly
the right call, and that’s the story of how I tightly hugged a preacher
yesterday, haha!
I'm so grateful my son has these insights and that love for his fellowman comes naturally for him. It's so easy to get offended, discouraged, or angry when someone doesn't speak, think or act the way we do, but what a different world this would be if we looked at each other the way God looks at us, which is with a pure and perfect love.
Final night in Moche
There are not enough words for me to convey how much we appreciate all the love and support Elder Scott felt from the people in Moche, so I will just say THANK YOU and tell you how much I appreciate and love you all.
Look at that DELICIOUS cake!!
Ready or not....
YUMMY!!
Good-bye's are hard, so how about "See ya again soon"
Introducing Elder Chiza, the newest companion
we get to know and love!
Sometimes missionary work can be a little "messy",
like when you're working on fixing an outhouse hole.
A good reminder for us all
