Week 39: Spontaneous Chinese Man, Prayer Meetings, and a Catholic named Stuart

HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL FREINDS, FAMILY, LOVED ONES, AND ALL AROUND FANTASTIC PEOPLE

how are you?

seriously, shoot me an email and update me. I wanna know how life is going

This week has been one of the weirdest weeks of my mission. Let me just get right into it.

Imagine you are walking down the street and you are approached by two guys in white shirts and ties on the street. They seem nice enough and so you chat with them for a moment. Yeah it may be a little out of the ordinary and you might feel a little on edge because there are two of them but they are smiling and seem fairly harmless so you carry on chatting and then carry on your way. Now this is basically my everyday except I am the one on the other side and I am trying to do everything I can to make sure that you feel comfortable as you talk to us. Now, imagine that same situation but there are now three guys. That is just a little bit weirder. Now picture trying to talk to them on the street. Either one of them is in the front with the two behind him, two are in the front and one is behind them in some weird pyramid formation or all three of them make this sort of arc that doesn't quite fully surround you but can be a little intimidating because you're in the middle of the high street and there are a bajillion people everywhere and these three guys have now created a miniature dam in the flow of traffic and it just feels a bit stressful. Yeah. That basically describes these past few days. BUT the good news is we are beginning to figure out the best ways to talk to people and how we can be less intimidating and more welcoming. It is a work in progress but progress has been made. So that is good.#

Having two companions make loads of other things so much more fun though. We laugh so much and so often. There is hardly ever a moment where we aren't laughing. The cleaning gets done faster, we can buy food in bulk (kind of, it's like 14% decrease in price but hey 14% is still awesome), and we now have three minds instead of just two (which can become a hindrance at times too but it is mostly a blessing). It basically is a party all of the time now and I promise that we are still getting things done.

We have been able to connect with some families that haven't been out to church in very long time and we have appointments to go and visit them again. They are super nice and friendly and we are excited to get to know them more and work with them and serve them. We have also been working with our friend Nisha and teaching her about how Christ can help her specifically in her life. It's been kind of slow going but we were able to have some really productive conversations with her last night and we now understand what she is really thinking and we are developing ways that we can help her with her questions. Any prayers for her would be appreciated.

So let me just explain the title of this email because it was by far the best day of the week. So, we were out talking to people, per usual, and we were just crossing a street. As we made it to the other side, this guy from out of nowhere says "Elders!" We turned and were just so surprised someone knew who we were. The man introduced himself as Tom from China and he is here in Oxford studying Finance and Cyber security. We automatically assumed he was a member of our church, but when we asked he said that he was not actually a member, he just had some friends who were Mormon. So we got to talking with him and we walked a ways when he asked us if we wanted a drink. Of course we said yes. Who wouldn't? So he just walked us into a random café that none of us had ever been to before and he bought us hot chocolate. We thought that he was going to sit and drink and talk more with us, but his actual intention as to just buy us the drinks and then leave. So we decided to just drink and keep walking with him. It may have been 60 degrees outside and I may have sweat just a little bit too much but it was well worth it. We walked with him to his research lab and then we exchanged numbers and just as fast as he came he was gone. Now fast forward about 4 hours. We are in the park, talking to everyone we see and we are having a really great conversation with this super nice guy. He was a dog trainer and really had some poignant thoughts on the world. So we're in the middle of a conversation with him when this older looking gentleman walks past us, kind of giving us weird looks as he does. We don't pay any mind to him and he continues on his way. Then he stops about 20 yards later and I can see him walking back to us out of the corner of my eye. Usually when this happens, the person comes up and tries to disrupt what we're doing and saying because they just really don't like us. I was bracing myself for an awkward confrontation when he said "are you LDS?" We said we were and then he said this:

"We're having a large gathering of leaders from about 30 different churches at the Saint Andrews chapel in about 30 minutes and we are going to pray for the city and for the world. We would love to have you there."

After 9 months of being a missionary (yes it has been exactly nine months, woot woot), I thought I was pretty good at predicting the kind of things people are going to say. I totally did not see that one coming. So we took his card and said we would do our best to make it. He carried on, we finished our conversation and then we were left in the middle of the park deciding whether or not we were going to go to this evangelical prayer meeting. We went. It was great. We only could stay for about 20 minutes but we were able to see how other faiths worship. Personally, it was not really my style, but it gave me some good exposure to how other people worship and let me meet a lot of cool people who also love Jesus. We even had a really good chat with a guy name Steve who said he wanted to meet up with us later and hear more about what we do! All in all it was just a ridiculous day but it reminded me how God has a sense of humour and how He will guide you to the right place at the right time.

British Word of the Week: harry - the prince of wales, he got married Saturday, honestly, I don't think anyone in oxford was bothered enough to care because no one really made a fuss of it

Companion Comic: We were talking about faces and Elder Man said "face equals to destiny". Hey he's not totally wrong. Thanks for the braces mom.

British Food of the Week: irn bru - its like cream soda but less creamy and more rust-ic (come on, that was pretty funny)

Scripture of the Week: Mormon 5:23 I know that I have used this scripture before but this week it gained a whole new meaning to me. If you want to feel somewhat of what I felt, imagine the person who loves you the most in the entire world saying the first sentence of this verse to you. Imagine them pleading with you to understand. Imagine them loving you more than you could ever know. Let me know what you think.

I will end my email with this story. Saturday evening, we were in the middle of a conversation with this really nice guy who is studying maths here. Out of nowhere, this drunk homeless man appears and starts verbally pushing us around. He made me a little anxious, but in that moment I just looked him in the eyes and I asked him his name. He said it was Stuart. Then I asked him about his day. He told us and after a few descriptions of his life and some attempts to contend with us, he asked if we could spare any change. We weren't carrying any at the time, we told him, and then he went on his way. Three days later, we were walking through a park when lo and behold, we see Stuart approaching us. He was still absolutely drunk but we had a short conversation. We asked him about his day. He asked us for a cigarette. We told him we didn't smoke. He then said "Oh you don't have any vices then?" I said we didn't. He said "Well I'm catholic and I don't have any vices either. I'm just drunk." Then he left, leaving us with his friend who joined halfway through our conversation. His name was Simon, he said he was religious and homeless and shared his plight with us. We gave him the address of his chapel and said that we personally could not help him with the temporal things in his life, but we would love to help him with the spiritual. Then we both carried on.

My best friend share a similar experience with me. He told me about how he wanted to help someone but in his current situation as a missionary, he couldn't help them specifically in the way they needed. He said it was really tough and hard to do, but that he was reminded of the story Peter outside the temple. I hope he doesn't mind that I quote him.

"Acts 3:6 says "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee..." He explained to me that there are some things we just can't give. As a church there's so much we want to do but we can't, and as missionaries that's even more limited. But what we can give is powerful, and we can bring the Spirit into people's lives. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I know that he's right. Doing all that we can to live worthy of the Spirit and to share it in the ways that we can is the best thing that we can do. He told me that one day I'll be in the streets of Downtown and the homeless will break my heart each day. I'll want to help them in so many ways, but really the best and only thing I can do for them will be to invite the Spirit into their lives. That doesnt mean that I just love them less so that I don't get attatched, just that I recognize what I can do and try to bring them to the Savior."

He's right. While it may be hard for me to not be able to fix everyone's problems, my job is to bring people to the person who can, Jesus Christ. Everyday I am so grateful that I get to do such. I love you all and would love to hear from you. Pictures will come soon. Have a great week!

Elder McKinley


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