I know I said that I was going to move on to Sister Wilson next. Today was such a nice day that I spent most of it outside, soaking up the rays. :-) So I didn't get around to working on Sister Wilson's first post. I'm actually kind of burned out on it. So I needed a break. But there is one more story about Sister Vega, that I could share. So I will do that in this post and hopefully get to more pictures and stories tomorrow.
One day, Sister Vega and I were out tracting as usual. An older retired gentleman opened the door, which was par for the course, and we did the door approach as usual. He acted interested in our message and invited us in. Once in a while you come across people who just want to talk. This was one of them.
He asked us what our political affiliation was -- keep in mind this was a few months before the 1992 general presidential election. We tried to explain to him that we were full-time missionaries, and as such we didn't keep abreast of the political situation in the country at the time. Because we were focused on missionary work full-time. But that before and after our missions we very much keep tabs on the political situation and consider it a civic duty to vote. Well, he wasn't interested in hearing that -- all he wanted to do was bash Republicans and praise Democrats. Needless to say he was a big Bill Clinton fan. He kept trying to talk politics with us. But we eventually steered him away from that and were able to teach him the first discussion. I'm not sure how well it went.
One thing I do remember him saying -- something I have remembered my entire life -- he told us that the road to hell is paved with preacher's heads. I'm not sure if he said that to us because we were preaching to him and he was telling us we were going to H. Or, if that was his way of telling us how he felt about organized religion. Whatever the reason, it stuck with me. I think there's some truth to it.
So you can probably tell that this guy was quite animated. He could talk your ear off if you let him. The funny thing is, after all that, he invited us back to continue teaching him. I wasn't quite sure what to think of him. Whether he was serious or not about learning the Gospel. But he said he wanted us to teach him so we gave it a try. He actually did quite well once we were able to start the discussion. He listened to us without much interruption. how well he was listening, I'm not sure but I guess he answered the follow-up questions okay.
So, we continued teaching him. I'm not sure which discussion we were teaching -- but it's the discussion that mentions immortality several times. I remember we were outside sitting around his table with an umbrella to block the sun and it was a beautiful Florida day. Anyway, we generally took turns teaching each principle. So during one discussion, we would go back and forth five or six times. Well, it was Sister Vega's turn to teach the principle. To my horror, every time the discussion mentioned immortality Sister Vega said immorality.
I thought to myself, "oh, no panic." (Inside joke) I didn't know what I should do. I kept thinking and hoping that she would correct herself. But she never did. I don't remember how I handled the situation, but needless to say she never made that mistake again. :-)
That was something we laughed about afterwards. But at the time, I was sweating bullets.
Truthfully, I don't even know if the investigator caught the mistake. I know he did not end up being baptized and I think the only reason he wanted us to teach him was for the company.
I don't remember if we ended up teaching him all the discussions or not. He was one of my more memorable investigators for several reasons mentioned above. And not only did Sister Vega and I get practice teaching the discussions, but we got a really good laugh out of the deal. :-)
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