Cool People Stories (3/20/2019)

Dear friends,

Transfers are upon us. We are both staying in Reynoldsburg though!

Let me tell you about some cool people we met this past week.

So we got a Bible referral for a guy named Shane. We stopped by and find they're moving into this place. His friend's name is Amy. They accepted the Bible and we started chatting about our role as missionaries, their faith in Christ (which was really great), and the Book of Mormon. They accepted a copy! It was so good. We didn't teach much of the Restoration at that point but we laid a super solid foundation and they were so nice and ready to meet again. We were going to meet with them again in a couple days but they texted and had to reschedule. Then they had to cancel. Then we stopped by again and though they were home, they wouldn't open the door and they shut the blinds.

Things like that happen a lot as a missionary. It can get pretty disheartening if you allow it. We don't know why they aren't meeting at the moment...they probably just aren't ready.

There was another cool couple we met: David and Megan. David is a member of the Church, converted around 2014, but he hasn't been to church in almost as long. He reached out asking for a Book of Mormon, but it turns out that was just because he didn't know where the ward building was and wanted to get in contact with the missionaries. So we set a time, biked downtown to get there one morning, and talked with him. He has great faith in the Restoration, which is really cool, and though working Sundays has been what's been keeping him from coming, he's planning on switching his schedule so he can come. We let him know about an event happening that evening where some ward and stake members would probably come by and he was up for it.

That evening we came again with the Bishop and Stake President to meet him and his wife, Megan. We had another great conversation and got to know them better. Megan had great interest in raising families (as their first is on the way), which was really cool. She is not a member but she is open and we are excited to hopefully soon begin teaching her.

Last cool guy we talked to: Jack. Last night Elder Pay and I were walking home from the church building and we went across a crosswalk with a guy about our age and struck up a conversation with him while he waited for the bus to arrive. It pretty naturally turned to a spiritual one and we learned about his recent trials of having been homeless amidst two hurricanes in Florida. He is looking for a church and wants to find and settle down in a friendly, family-centered one. (!!!) We connected with him a bunch. Super cool guy. It was amazing. He said he would definitely try out our church. By the end we were saying goodbye with a hug. Totally mind-boggling. Never would stuff like that have happened to me before my mission. We aren't even sure if he's living in our area, but he was so cool, I'm just glad we could meet him.

There's nothing quite like missionary work.

Love,

Elder Gallagher

PICS: Throwback to Kirtland visitor's center

District Photo