Super Sketchy....

Hey family/friends/concerned individuals:

What a week...! Elder Weiler and I definitely learned a lot this week, and saw some pretty cool miracles!

I've really gotten to see just how much the gospel, and the Book of Mormon(combined with the Spirit) can change people's hearts! We were doing a whiteboard with Elder Fogg earlier in the week, and we were all solo-contacting in this really busy area in the middle of town. Things were going well, I was really enjoying myself, and having a blast! I ended up talking to a lady with a baby stroller, and telling her about eternal families (definitely my favorite thing to talk to people about). She was waaay interested! But, all of the sudden, in the middle of the conversation, some Polish guy walked up and butted into the conversation. (he looked A LOT like the evil scientist/bad guy from the movie Red 2... so that was great...) This guy then proceeded to yell at me (while I'm still talking to the lady) that I was too young and too stupid to convince him of anything and all this stuff. I completely ignored this guy until he stopped yelling, and continued teaching the woman. She ended up taking a Book of Mormon, and said she would read it! Then, I talked with the guy for a second, then walked over to our free table and grabbed a Book of Mormon. I began explaining about what it is, and how we can come to know of it's truthfulness, and the whole conversation changed. He ended up taking a Book of Mormon, as well, also saying he would read it. The gospel changes people. :)

We also definitely had a super sketchy experience. We went out finding investigators one night, and were following the Spirit north of our apartment. We started talking to this guy that was literally like twice my size. He told us he was homeless, and said he was hungry. So, we took him and got him something hot to eat (yeah... it's freezing and windy here...), and then went and sat down on some sketchy bench in the near-dark, in some sketchy part of town that I've been to like once. We started telling him about what we believe, and where our church came from (we essentially just started teaching a 1st). We showed him Moroni's promise, and read part of it out of the Book of Mormon with him, when he started freaking out. He started shaking his head, put down the kebab, and started like...... judo breathing? his fists clenched up, and he walked into some sketchy alleyway in the dark and leaned up against a wall for a bit. This whole time I'm telling Elder Weiler the game plan if this guy wants to fight... (essentially if I say run, then Elder Weiler will start booking it :)... when this guy came back, he was still freaking out. Elder Weiler took a fake polish call to give us an excuse to get out of there, and I dealt with the guy. He essentially yelled at us in Polish (I didn't understand all that much of it), and then used a word that I really needed to understand. Here's where the miracle comes in. Before we left home that day, I felt prompted to throw one of the Dictionaries in my bag... At that point, I stopped listening and looked it up in the dictionary. We used that word to figure out what he was saying, and then explained to him about the Book of Mormon, and what we do as missionaries. I thought this guy was going to kill us, but he eventually calmed down, joked with us that everyone thinks the missionaries are crazy, and he ended up taking a Book of Mormon, promising to keep it safe, and said he would read it. The gospel changes people, for sure!

I sure love this gospel! I love being a missionary and being able to have this time to better myself and work through trials and get better every day! I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I am lucky enough to get to rely on Him every day! Love y'all, make it a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Quackenbush

Pictures of the Thanksgiving Day nap at the Gay's home.