4/24/17

This week has been pretty solid. We were able to teach 2 new people this week. The prevalent one being our friend Hank. He is 63 and is going through a lot of medical problems, but you would never be able to tell. He is a super positive and an optimistic guy. We were able to meet with him twice this week and he is awesome. He is loving the restored Gospel.
I have yet to get a picture with him, so here's a picture of Elder Dameus. Just keep skimming along.

(He doesn't like his picture getting taken at all.)

On Thursday I got to go to the mission office and help with the logo. And I ended up making a new version of the logo so that's fun. Sister Christiansen took us out to Mission BBQ and I went to the bathroom and I was really surprised how nice it was. I then went to the end of the stalls to look for the urinals but they weren't anywhere to be found. At the exact same moment I realized the unusual amount of flowers present in a men's bathroom. Then it hit me and I got out fast before a woman came in to her rightful place of - well you know. Only my companion saw the mishap.

We've really been trying to do better with having the spirit with us and I feel like we've been improving. We tried a former investigator at like 11 in the morning and that day he had taken work off so we actually got to meet him. Pretty cool. What else. We saw the Circus Tigers, that's a highlight.

Outside the Orioles game I have been able to talk to quite a few people, and its pretty awesome. We have a rough time talking to people in the harbor, tourists and such aren't really in the mood to talk to us generally. But Baseball is always the best conversation starter.

Saturday we had a Blitz and a bunch of missionaries came and tried less actives for us. So I appreciate that a lot. Also we got a lot of left over chicken.

Sunday was the best day by far. Hank came to church along with 6 other investigators the other elders brought. That's a record breaker by far. After 3rd hour Hank said he had "the most spiritual and intellectual conversations ever." Nice. That night we met a guy named Joey Herman. He's running for president in 2020, endorsed already by the self made Love Party. It was a fun conversation with him and the member that was visiting from Utah.

Yeah, Baltimore. Its a hoot and a half.

Elder Simmons

4/17/17

This week has been pretty good. I really can't complain, this is one of the best areas I've ever had. We went to Fort McHenry last Monday.

(The Fort is the big thing in the background) No its not.

Another notable thing about the week was that Slurpees were buy one get one free.

On Tuesday we saw Eddy and he is still doing great. Helping read the Book of Mormon more and understand priesthood has been on the list. Family history work will be this week. We also met some interesting people on Tuesday. One guy taught us about Egyptian Mysteries and their role of being everything in the world. America, Masons, hieroglyphs, Polygamy. We found out we could meditate at a tree and it will tell us what we need to do that day. The climax was when he told us, "If I went to your Bishop and we talked about what I was telling you, he'd say you're right. Now leave my church.' He would feel threatened." We also had an encounter with a baptist guy who let us know the Book of Mormon is not of God. But he's never read it, his Elders told him it was bad. Nice. Even a homeless guy who I gave a quarter too said, "please don't ever tell people that Jesus visited the Indians." No I don't think I'll do that and give me my quarter back man. Its a fun town.

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference. There was some good stuff taught. During lunch a missionary who'll remain nameless smashed a cake into his face and licked frosting off another elder's cheek. All because he lost What Are the Odds. My old companion Elder Stafford is back, so that's cool.

A cool thing about this week was Elder Dameus got to speak french to two different people.

Easter Sunday was great. Edward came and it was a good sacrament meeting. Some one crashed their car into the church the day before so it was only sacrament meeting..

We saw a lot of people dressed up for church. We even saw Bruno, the awesome owner of Italian Sensation, in the Harbor with his Family. Hes the one who let us have the hot chocolate stand during the winter.

We talked to a lot of people this week. Only one of which we got contact info for. But we're trying our best. We just need to do better at having the Spirit guiding us. But regardless this is a great time for me on my mission.

Oh forgot to mention, we met Jack Sparrow

And I stepped in some throw up on the Light Rail! What a place!

Elder Simmons

4/10/17

Hey readers. This week has probably been one of the most fun weeks of my mission.

Monday a group of us missionaries went and checked out Opening day for a few minutes. A drunk girl who called herself Mary from Maryland was asking us a lot of questions. "We Catholics love a good drink" she said. It was pretty funny.

Tuesday was an interesting one, we had 3 lessons set up with new people but all of them cancelled as we went. But we got to contact a referral and meet some cool people. One guy named Trevor is a cool friend of ours. I found him slack lining at a park so we talked for a while and we ran into him a few more times since during the week.

Thursday it rained like crazy all day. But I had an umbrella so I did pretty good. Just my left sock got soaked because my shoes are dying consistently more every day. But we'll pull through together. That day we had the baptismal interview with Edward and he passed. We also got two new people Karon and Anthony who really liked the Book of Mormon and are super excited to meet again.

Friday was fun we went and tried former investigators during the day, which turned out to not be so great but we also went to the Orioles game and talked to people who were trying to get a glimpse of the game from outside the gate. I talked to two college age guys who were curious and they got pamphlets. This week in the Harbor has been Light City. Pretty much a tourist gimmick and they had a lot of different art exhibits. Some were cool, some were bizarre and I didn't "get" it at all. But a favorite was a spinning wheel that has a strobe light flashing and it makes a cool animation. As we were watching a guy my age got a seizure. It was pretty startling. I called 911 got a hold of the operator first but that's about all that I could do. He was OK though.

Saturday was one of the best days. Edward got Baptized. It was awesome! He has been so solid the whole time. It just felt like a day that was meant to happen. He always says the longer the journey the greater the reward. And he is loving life being a Mormon already.

We also taught a guy named Enoch afterwards and he loves the restoration. And he really understands the need for prophets and priesthood and believes Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet. So he is also really exciting!

Sunday Edward was confirmed and gave a testimony as well. It was pretty awesome. Edward brought his 80 year old mom named Flo to church. We had Enoch at church and there were 4 other investigators at church that the other missionaries are teaching. It was so awesome, I've never had so many people at church before. That was my favorite day. All of us missionaries here are working, doing our best and great things are happening here in Baltimore!

Elder Simmons

4/4/17

Hey everyone, it's been a great week. Elder Dameus and I had some great experiences while walking around the city. Most of them have been started by some one saying, "You're a black Mormon??" Its been a good time.

We had a few new referrals to contact. We also got a hospital visit which was super awesome. We walked in the rain for like an hour to get there. The woman's sister is a recent convert in Texas so it was cool to testify to her of the restoration to her using her sister's testimony. We'll hopefully teach her sometime this week.

Elder Dameus didn't have a big blue umbrella like I did so...

There was also a super cool sail boat that came in to the Harbor that we got to tour for a minute. It serves as a boarding school for high schoolers and they live on that thing all year traveling the world.

By the time conference hit we had invited 8 people to come watch it with us. Course none of them came. Our man Edward gave us a good scare when he went to D.C. on Saturday and didn't see anything that day, and it wasn't until a half hour into the last session that he walked in the Chapel. Right when we heard talks about getting Baptized, getting the gift of the Holy Ghost and everything that I could've asked for him to hear. It was quite the moment. When he sat next to me he said, "I told you I wan't going to let you down." and he pulled through. Edward will be getting baptized this Saturday!

Light City is going on and today is the beginning of the last baseball season I'll have to miss.

Today, Monday, we went to a expensive seafood place but among all the Orioles fans I felt like a true Baltimorean as I sprinkled Old Bay seasoning on crab legs.

Elder Simmons