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| How the kids play ball in the Hood. |
Being in the city of Cleveland, I have seen and experienced many weird things. If they had happened to me 6-7 months ago I would have thought I was going crazy; but now it is pretty much the normal. At one of our lessons this week, there were three naked babies running around in circles running from their dad. The other night Elder Allen and I were awakened at 2:30 am to yelling outside in the street. We went out to see what was up and It was some of the drunk neighbors yelling at each other. All the other neighbors were outside sitting on their front porches just watching like it was a weekly thing and their entertainment until the cops show up. Without fail, when we walk down the street and see someone walking up to us, like they are mad and it is going to be bad, as soon as they see the name Jesus Christ on our name tags, they just shake our hands and tell us to pray for them like 5-10 times. Sometimes the people will go as far as to say that since we are men of God, that they need to confess their sins to us. Then they start on this list of things they feel bad about and each time I hear crazier and crazier things. And after about 9:00 at night, we begin to hear gun shots randomly and we always just say that the city is celebrating early for July 4th with some fireworks. But after all of this stuff, I have met some of the nicest, most humble people here in Cleveland, that are looking for something more, but aren't quite sure what that "something more " is. I love this city and all of the people in it.
Anyways, Here are some cool things that happened this week:
1. We found 6 more new investigators. So in the past 2 weeks we have found 16 new people to teach! 2 of the people that we found I would like to share a little bit about.The first is a kid named Michael who just recently moved down the street from us from the East side. We were walking to an appointment on Tuesday night and he was out in the street talking to some friends. He stopped us as we were walking and wanted to know what we were all about. So I ended up talking to him for about 20 minutes about what we do and the message we share. Then he shared a little bit about how he has been looking for God in his life; so, I gave him a Book of Mormon and marked a chapter for him to read with a promise of how the Book of Mormon can help. He also asked for a Bible. So I wrote him a little note in the Bible and dropped it off. The next day when we saw him, he shared with us how he had taken the Book of Mormon to school with him and whenever he had free time he would start to read it. And each time he said all of the problems in the world and all the other things would just zone out and he would feel different as he read the book. He then told us the story about Nephi and how he thought he was so awesome. He is an awesome kid and he is excited to come to church.
The other person that we found is a former investigator named Jessica that met with missionaries for four months or so but her boyfriend didn't like the church, so he made her stop. She said that as soon as she stopped trying to find God in her life that everything just turned upside down. So she called the other missionaries and they found out that she had moved into our area. We went over and got to know her a little bit and she shared how when she attended the Mormon church that she felt something different. She is excited to start learning again and to be able to start studying the Book of Mormon. It isn't everyday as missionaries that you just have a golden Investigator dropped into your hands.
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| Pretty much like half the buildings in the city. |
2. We met with our investigator, Marlene, that we found 2 weeks ago. When we taught her about Baptism, she stopped us before we could even finish inviting her to be baptized and she said, "You need say no more. I know that I need to be baptized and I want to be baptized on the 16th of Aprill." So after we recovered from our shock, we were super excited for her. She is a good friend of a member and It just comes to show that missionary work goes 100x better and more effective when members are involved.
3. Elder Allen And I walked probably 70 miles this week if not more... But it all paid off because of all the people we have been able to talk to and find to teach. We taught 36 lessons this week! Hard work pays off especially when the Lord is putting people who are ready to hear the gospel in our path.
4. Since Elder Allen does not speak Spanish, I have to teach those alone which can be fun; but, sometimes when we are working with the Puerto Ricans and they forget that I cannot understand them when they speak 1000 miles an hour, it would be nice to have a companion who could help out with those situations. But it was awesome to be able to teach 10 Spanish lessons this week. But I am also grateful for a companion that loves to work hard and has a good sense of humor about things. We are learning to work together and we made lots of progress this week.
5. The scripture that Helped me out a lot this week was Ether 12:27
God gives us weaknesses to humble us. I am grateful for the weaknesses that I have been given to keep me in check and keep me on my toes, always trying to be better. But I know that through those weaknesses that God strengthens us as we continually try to be better. I love the Lord and all that he does for us. I love the gospel and the hope and peace that it brings into our lives. The church is true and the Book is Blue!
Love you all! Until next week,
Elder Frandsen
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