Tracting Works - 08/17/15 (Belleville, IL)

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from the land of Lincoln! It is another sizzling warm summer day here in Belleville. It is also P-Day, and as President Morgan says "Even I know P-Days are sacred." So we are planning on taking a trip into St Louis by metro train to the zoo. Even though I got to go there last transfer, I am looking forward to going again! Like I've said before, I just love getting out and spending some time in the city. 

This week we were able to see a lot of success in the work we are doing. We dropped several of our investigators who were not making much progress and keep dropping appointments on us. That is what frustrates me the most, when we make appointments and have to drive or bus a long ways away then they flake out. But that is missionary work sometimes.

We had the Car this week so we were able to get a lot done, we got to see a lot of people we haven't been able to see in a while. On Thursday we got to go out to Mascoutah, cook lunch at the senior Center then do some proselyting. We even had an appointment with a less active member 15 minutes east of Mascoutah in the town of New Memphis. 

So my whole mission I have knocked on a lot of doors, I've talked with mean people, nice people, weird people, I've talked with many people who have invited us back and have showed some kind of interest. But I honestly have not seen very many investigators come from tracting... But that has changed this week! We picked up 3 new solid investigators this week, all people we have tracted into at some point over the past few months. In fact over half our teaching pool right now are people we've met knocking on their doors. 

Dan our new investigator is a good guy, he is covered in tattoos and has a big family that he cares about more than anything. He kind of feels like God has kind of put him on the back burner and that he really doesn't care that much about him. But Elder Griffin and I were able to teach him about the restoration and the book of Mormon and really testify to him that God does love him and wants him to be happy. 

Dario, our new investigator has several young kids, we found out that his wife used to be a member of the church, but we taught him about The book of Mormon and a little about Joseph Smith, he was really open and even his kids listened in. His wife was nice and they are all excited to have us come back on Wednesday. Hopefully we have teach their family. 

Tomia, our 3rd new investigator this week is an older lady who is very strong with God and the Bible. She is reading the book of Mormon and starting down the path to find out for herself if the church is true. She is willing and wanting to learn more, which is cool. 

After we had our lesson Tuesday night with Tomia we were walking back to our apartment, we had just turned the corner from her house and there were some guys out in their front yard talking and drinking.. We were walking by and of course one of them yells, "Hey! Come here for a sec!" then thinking back to my experiences out in Charleston with people drinking and wanting us to come talk with them. All I could think was, "Oh No.." But we went over and talked with them and by the end of our conversation we had answered a ton of questions about missionaries and the church. They really respected us and admired what we were doing, which was cool. They invited us to stop by anytime to hang out and talk! haha! Then as we were leaving one of the guys said "Hey, You guys be safe alright? ... Love you guys!" 

Well That is about it for this week.. We are going to have dinner with Crissy this week (the lady we helped move with the spider infestation). We are going to go over to her house early to help her cook dinner and I have to bake two of my Apple Pie's for everyone. We are looking forward to that, and we hear that she has been asking more questions about the church. 

Have a great week everyone! I love you all.. Remember that the church is true! Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer, the bread of life and the prince of peace. The very light and life of the world! He loves us and has our back. He knows how we feel all the time! 

Till next time. Peace

Elder Chase Peterson