A Grace Baptist preacher name Richard and a ferret named Sploch (I think)

For those of you who do not know me very well, I am extremely stubborn and I don't necessarily like being told what to do. If you know my mom, this won't really come as quite a shock. I also really really do not appreciate it when people try to tell me what I believe, and that I don't know what I'm doing. It makes me furious.

So, I bet you can guess what happened this week. 

Someone told me all of those things. 

His name was Richard. Richard is a preacher for the Grace Baptist church here in town and they basically hate Mormons. Why? I don't know. All we did was ask if he needed help putting up his Christmas decorations. Guess not. 

Richard tried to tell me that I don't believe in the grace of God, and that we believe we have to earn heaven. I wanted to quote to him 2 Nephi 25:23, "...for we know that it is by GRACE that we are saved, after all we can do." But I didn't because there's no point in arguing. He also tried to tell me that we worship Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon. I wanted to show him that the Book of Mormon is ancient records from hundreds and hundreds of years before Joseph Smith and that he only translated it through the power of God. But I didn't because that would be arguing. He tried to tell me that he knows more about what I believe than I do. I tried to tell him that I wouldn't give up 18 months of my life for something I didn't know what I believed. But I didn't because he wouldn't shut up long enough for me to. Finally, I asked him if I could shake his hand, (which he surprisingly let me) told him his Christmas lights would look lovely when they were done, and we walked away. 

So this experience really really made me angry, to the point that I was shaking as we were walking away. But! I learned a few things from this experience. Good things. First, that this poor guy really had no idea what he was missing out on. He can have his own beliefs, that's fine, and I totally respect that, but he doesn't even know what it is he's bashing! He was totally misinformed and that made me sad because this gospel is so. Good. And has blessed my life so richly. Second, I learned that contending with an idiot just makes you look like an idiot, too. (:

Later that day, we went to lunch with a member. While we were there, this guy named Brent came up to us and asked if we were Sister Missionaries. He basically talked to us the whole time we were there, asking us all these questions, and continually repeating himself. Guys, he was drunk. I don't know what it is about sisters and drunk guys, but we always seem to attract them. But the cool part of this story is that he was really interested in what our church teaches and let us get his information so we could pass him to the missionaries that cover the area he lives in. We hope he can get some help and let the gospel bless his life.

We visit this old 7th-day Adventist lady at the nursing home and she's really sweet and dying. She always asks us to sing her hymns and share stories from the bible, so we do and it's really neat. A couple of weeks ago, we met her daughter and her daughter said she wanted to come to our church. We gave her our card and hope to be able to help her out. But the other day when we were visiting this old lady, (her name is Alberta) she asked us about baptism in our church. We told her how it works and why it's so important, and that was that. We're not sure if this cute little thing might want to be baptized, or if her daughter had talked to her about it or what. But can you imagine baptizing a 90-something year old? We're talkin' oxygen tank and all! But it's never too late to enter into the straight and narrow. (: 

A couple of months ago, I started re-writing the lyrics to Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat, and I just finished it a couple weeks ago during studies. For zone conference, our zone leaders called and asked if I would do a musical number and I said, "Only if Elder Weidner will do it with me." Obviously, he said no, but he ended up giving in. He learned the chords for the song on the ukulele and Elder Assily (who already knows the song and the harmonies really well) sang it with me. So we got a video of it but it's too big to send, so I'll have to try and figure out how to get it to ya'll. But basically it was awesome and I'm so grateful for "willing" and musically talented elders who make it fun(:

Later that day, we were stopping by our investigator's house to drop of the Restoration video for them to watch, and we saw this lady sitting on her porch smoking. We stopped to talk to her for a minute and ended up asking her if we could come back another time to share with her what our church believes. We expected her to say no and whatever, but she said yes! Like, she's totally interested! We were super stoked about that and we're excited to see where it goes this week. She has a cute little baby girl and it'd be awesome to see how the gospel would bless their lives. 

Highlight of the week: I GOT TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH MY MOMMA!

Momma: noun - sister missionary who trained me whom I love dearly and am grateful for just how freaking awesome she is.

It was like hanging out with my best friend. We took a bajillion photos (k, not really a bajillion, but more than I normally take) and just had a blast. All the good times just came flooding back and I just love her so much. We taught a lady who had a ferret named Sploch. I think his name is Sploch but I'm not really sure because I asked the two year old and that's what I got. But anyways. Sploch kissed me. It was cute. It was a good time. 

A couple of sisters in my ward have sons on missions and they share their emails with us occasionally and they put my wimpy weekly emails to shame. So I've decided I need to do better, hence this super long email. My hands are cramping. Woe is me. But. I just love you guys so much and your support. It means a ton when I see names in my inbox that I haven't seen forever. It's just the best. 

I KNOW that this gospel is true and that it is of God. Don't try to tell me otherwise, or you might end up like Richard(; But I'm grateful for the impact it has had on my life and my family and for the Book of Mormon. I know it's true! 

Love you all so much(:

Love,

Sister Pipkin