3/27/17

Hey anyone who reads this. This has been a great week for Elder Dameus and I. I'll put the best news first about our man Edward. We were able to teach him twice during the week about the Plan of Salvation, we read the Book of Mormon with him and watched the Joseph Smith movie. He's so awesome. He tells us how hes waited his whole life to get baptized and this is his time. On Sunday he came to church, so it was a perfect Sunday for us. The ward was great with introducing themselves and making him feel welcome. He'll be baptized soon after General Conference week. Woot!

Some days this week were cold, another day was in the 70s so its been weird. Besides our time with Edward we've done a lot of walking and talking with people. It felt like a long week but this up coming week we've got potentially like 5 people we could start teaching. So it could get crazy really quick here. I could stay in this area till August easily. In fact transfers are this week and Elder Dameus and I are staying together. This had to be the fastest transfer of my life. What else happened. At one point we were walking by Lexington Market and some Hebrew Israelites were all dressed in their leather and were yelling at everyone who passed by. Their deal is that the 12 tribes of Israel are different kinds of black people and that they are the only one's that God loves because they are the 12 tribes. So safe to say the hate everyone else. I decided to be bold, not cross the street. I was maybe a bit over the top when I smiled and waved into the camera as I walked by. The speaker noticed me and and yelled for everyone to hear: (Parental advisory here) JOSEPH SMITH WAS A HOMOSEXUAL! Wow! Ok man. My heart raced when I heard the prophet's name but when he ended the sentence like that, Elder Dameus and I died laughing. If he had said something about having quite a few wives I would've said "yep you got me there". But that was something else.

We had some good chicken at our ward mission leader's place.

Elder Dameus and I got to go to the top of the World Trade Center Building so that was fun.

After church on Sunday we had another wonderful meal at the Hyde's and took some good bye pictures as the wind sent bay water onto us.

The weeks just keep getting better!

Elder Simmons

3/20/17

This week has been one of the craziest weeks out there. The week started with the snow storm that was pretty miserable. But, i came prepared for it so I wasn't ever too cold. Oh and I did get my mittens back.

Friends said I look like that one guy off the first Star Wars

Pretty accurate honestly hahaha.

We were able to teach our man Edward the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. It went pretty well and he said that he really wanted to come to church to see for himself. He told us if church was what we were telling him that he'd get baptized. So we were banking on Sunday to be a good day.

We got to do some good service this week. A former investigator asked for help moving out of her house immediately. So we called a member we don't even know in a different ward to ask if he could help. He said yep and he came down with his truck. It went really smoothly and we even got to have St. Patrick's day dinner over at his place. The next day we helped at the Bishop's Storehouse with Bro. Mason so we could do another load of moving. But it fell through and he took us to Potbelly's instead. One of my favorite places that I haven't been to in a long time. That guy is a Saint.

Other parts of the week included trying some referrals and riding buses all over West Baltimore. I really like serving here, but I can't say I'd ever live here as a real human being. We saw a lot of people on Heroin this week. Like over 15 people sleeping on their feet in one day. Somehow I still haven't seen one fall. I guess the chants I have under my breath, from inside a bus doesn't effect their balance.

What a place!

Anyways, the best part of the week. Sunday. Edward came to stake conference. And it rocked his socks. He felt the Spirit the whole time "it was everything you said it would be." "I'm sold." "I'm not going anywhere." He got to meet a good amount of members of the ward and even more members from Bynum Run. (Seeing them was also a day maker) He talked to President Christiansen and when asked he said he wants to get baptized, "the sooner the better." It was the best stake conference ever I tell you. Edward. The man. And soon to be a Mormon. He also told us to not be surprised when he starts introducing people to the church as well. He has a lot of friends who trust him and it could be epic.

I realized that Edward was the first investigator I've had come to church since September! so its been a minute. Peace and Blessings

Elder Simmons

3/13/17

This week has been the best one in Baltimore so far, also has been the coldest with more misery to come.

Everyday this week while riding public transportation we've been able to talk to people. Some have been crazy, but others have been super cool. My favorite this week was when a guy said 'good luck on you missions' when I got on the bus. So I sat by him and he asked me a lot of questions to learn what was really up. He had heard all the average negative things about Mormons. Polygamy, Aliens, exclusive temples, priesthood restrictions. And thanks to experience I taught him how it was. Whether it was misunderstanding, commandments, or imperfect leaders or what have you. We talked for a good bus ride, we went way past where we were supposed to go but it didn't matter. He was so glad we met and said that he normally takes a different bus route but today he randomly took this one, he said it was to meet me. Wow. alright, that's when you know God is in control. We just have to do our part and talk.

(This is what a bus looks like.)

We were also able to teach a new investigator the Restoration and he really liked it. He's one of the ones who talks a lot but he let us give our message and it was great. He said he really wanted to go to church to check it out. He loved the idea of the multiple races being there, no pastor, and classes you can talk in. (Course when Sunday came he wasn't able to go but that's life of a missionary right there.)

Everyone who reads a paragraph poorly written like that deserves a picture break. So here's the cutest dog I've ever met.

We have also been trying to contact a few new referrals we've received. One on Saturday night was super solid, he said God saved his life once- like he was literally dead. and now God led him to order the Bible online and now He sent us to him. So we plan on teaching him this week.

Another highlight of the week was when we walked through Lexington market and got swarmed by 5 Mormons that wanted to feed us. We got a free meal. Since then we've tried to walk through as much as possible, but it hasn't happened again sadly. Haha.

Church is always fun in the Inner Harbor ward. The best quote from that being "Don't laugh but I call myself a Professional Husband." We all laughed.

Glad to be with my pal Elder Ressler all the time, we were together in Lancaster as well.

Here's a decent sunset in downtown

Elder Simmons

Wish me luck in surviving the snowstorm with out my mittens.

3/6/17

The weeks just keep flying by I tell you.

The highlight of Tuesday by far, was when we were walking down the street and got a referral text and the house was like 5 doors down. That was cool, plus the girl who answered is actually interested in the Gospel and is going through a hard time right now so we're excited for tomorrow when we get to meet with her. The only bummer is she is Young Single Adult age and I'll be teaching her with a YSA missionary so the transition is smooth. But yay for helping people!

Wednesday we had our great correlation meeting which includes food like Oreos and chips so that's nice.

Did a lot of walking. It also got ridiculously cold once March hit. March hasn't had a good first impression this year.

Thursday we had a zone conference. It was pretty good, I felt like I could actually relate now that I'm in a position that I can actually teach people. Thankfully every meeting gets a little bit better each time. I may be happy to call myself a Maryland Baltimore Mission missionary by the time I'm through.

Got to see Camden Yards

(Super excited for baseball season.)

Saturday was a interesting one. they had all the missionaries in the stake go to the Chesapeake ward and we teamed up with a member. Bro Hanson. From 11-4 we tried less active, inactive and unknown people. It was pretty rough. It was freezing, and a lot didn"t answer and those who did weren't so interested. It made for a long, long day. After a long streak of no one answering their doors we tried one again and a lady answered it. Finally someone. She didn't want to be a Mormon anymore so she signed the letter to have her records removed. So my first reaction was "yay we finally talked to someone". Then the next thought was "shoot, I just helped her not be a member anymore.." kind of awkward when that's the highlight of your day..

But we survived. Sunday was my favorite day of the week by far. We had a great time at church, some awesome testimonies were said. the most powerful one being a deaf girl with someone translating. We have a good amount of deaf people coming, and a few of them are visiting consistently. So I'm going to attempt to get some American Sign Language in me. Then we had dinner with the Hydes and that was great as well.

Next week the hope is to have a lot of lessons with people that we met this week.

Elder Simmons