For those of you who didn't understand the title of this post- today was shot day. This is a good news bad-bad news type of thing. Good news- it's over. Bad news- it hit the pocket-book (between Marcia and I we had six shots). Good news- it's over. Bad news- I had to have all three shots in one arm (Because I have no lymph nodes in my right arm). You get the idea.
Today was an exciting day as we were able to teach a discussion to an "investigator." These are volunteers who come to the MTC and allow the missionaries to teach them. They bring in real life experiences and portray those to give the missionaries experiences. The person that Marcia and I taught was an older gentleman. We received limited information regarding his background so we had to do some inquiry to determine what his needs were and how to address them. The limited information that we received indicated that he had 3 of his adult children pass away. As we talked with him he almost immediately informed us that his wife had recently passed away as well. Now some of these people are pretty good in their ability to portray a certain character. One of the things that we have been taught is the necessity to focus on the Holy Ghost and to discern the needs of the investigator. Marcia was very quick to listen to the Spirit as she listen to this man give us his recent history. She was able to share with him some of our beliefs about the life that will follow after we have passed away. That is something that we have a personal background in and Marcia has done grief counseling in the past. He did mention a concern about the three in one philosophy that religions practice. That is where I focused. Marcia and I were able to team teach well but I should have listened a little better in the direction that she was heading. We got through our lesson, were able to obtain a commitment about prayer, and scheduled a follow-up appointment. Following the appointment, as we talked, Marcia indicated that this gentleman was sincerely either one of the best actors that she had seen or he was grieving for the loss of someone close to him. Our instructor, Brother Hawkes, informed us that he was under the impression that the scenario had been made up. Marcia was surprised as to how well the older man played the part if it was truly made up.
During lunch we found out the rest of the story. As we sat next to another couple prior to an afternoon class, Marcia conveyed to the Sister missionary what had happened that morning. The Sister informed Marcia that the older man was someone they had known. When they entered the MTC they saw this man and talked with him to get updated in how he and his family were. He was a man whose wife did die three weeks ago and did have three adult children pass away in the past seven years. He was man who truly was grieving. Marcia, through her skills and the Spirit, was able to pick that up and give him some comfort in the short time that we were with him.
This is an exciting time. Tomorrow we will teach another "investigator." We can't wait.
jsf
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