Inviting all day leads to some interesting experiences . . .

October 4, 2010
We can start the week's email by saying that I have never been so wet in my entire life. This week the weather has settled into a quite predictable pattern. And that is that it rains every evening. VERY HARD. Let me tell you a story. Last week we had companion exchanges. I am an idiot and left my umbrella in the basket of the bike I was borrowing. So I am wandering around on Wednesday, heading towards an appointment but we are walking and inviting on the way. We are looking at the ominous looking clouds and Sister Eyestone says "But I think it is moving the other way". Literally two seconds later, drops start to fall. Then it is raining so hard that we can't really see. This is all while we are out in the wide open with one umbrella between the two of us. Sister Eyestone is wearing a white shirt. So she wins the privilege of using the tiny umbrella. We try really hard to get to a seven to buy an umbrella but by the time we get there it is completely pointless. It is literally like I just got out of the bathtub. As we were walking, Sister Eyestone says "I think it is lightening up". Why does she say such things? Right as she was finishing her sentence, there was a huge crack of thunder that made me scream. Yes. I screamed. Just a little bit. But it was REALLY LOUD. So anyways, we finally get to a 7 and I buy an umbrella and then the rain stops. Gotta love life.
So apart from being wet almost all of the time, it has been an interesting week. Ma Nit still seems to be pretty golden. We taught her on Friday and watched the Restoration DVD. Ma Nong was helping us teach. Ma Nit said that she felt confused like Joseph Smith - that she had joined Christianity and then gone to her old church and they were dancing and doing all sorts of weird stuff and she was like "this isn't right! This isn't how it is supposed to be!" So she made appointments with other churches but all these things started popping up to stop her from going there and the whole time she was driving past our church every day and she felt like she should go in. Then when she walked in she felt like it was the right place to be. We asked her to pray about Joseph Smith and she said "I already know - it is true." We asked her to pray for confirmation. She said she would. She is awesome. When we are teaching she will be like "can I say something?" She is adorable. She is very excited because her baptismal date is in November and that is the month she was born. So she is doing well.
Other notable events - we were inviting yesterday and we came upon a group of people who were about to go somewhere. There was a lady standing off to the side holding a baby. So the natural course of action would be to go to the lady with a baby - you know - families and all that. So I say to Sister Eyestone "lets pick off the one with a baby". (Yes my language sounds suspiciously like hunting when we are inviting). So we start walking towards her. She sees us coming and turns around and goes inside - doesn't want to talk to us. The funny thing was that when she turned around, it turns out that she was holding a dog. I think my brain has been fried from sun exposure. I REALLY thought that she was holding a baby. I valiantly tried to invite the other people that were right there but I was on the verge of laughing the whole time so I don't think it was very effective. We had a good laugh about that one. I am kind of glad she walked away - if I would have started inviting her and THEN realized that it was a dog and not a baby, I would never have made it through the invite with out losing it. Also in the area of awkward inviting - we saw a girl sweeping inside her gate. We walked up and said hello and she literally dropped the broom and RAN into the house. We thought it was pretty funny. Apparently we are quite terrifying. She was well trained in what to do if she saw strangers. But she was probably 16 years old - a little old to be running away, I think. Gotta love inviting! So much fun!