PASTOR NORMAN

October 16, 2010 Saturday

This morning we went tracting going to houses where no one had been home the other three or four times we’d gone by. Orson was greeted at one door by a black man from Africa who invited us in. Turns out he’s the pastor for the Broome congregation of the Following in Faith Fellowship. It was begun by a young man in Zimbabwe whose mother had heard a man preaching. She related what she’d heard in a week of revival to her son. He was fascinated by it and prayed continually for God to answer his prayer and forgive him of his sins. At length he heard music and then a voice telling him that he was blessed, don’t sin, and continue to pray. He began teaching people. They now have 6000 pastors in 120 countries preaching to the less fortunate who can’t read the Bible. We told him about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Norman said he’d read a little of the Book of Mormon, but he refused to accept that there could be more than one book of scripture. He was adamant that anyone could be a pastor if he’d received the blessing of the Holy Spirit to guide him. Baptism was good, but it was done only if a person felt like his previous baptism wasn’t valid. They meet in his home on Friday nights and Sundays. It was an interesting discussion. That’s our first pastor! His wife is also a pastor in the church.
We had an appointment this afternoon with the cool Filipino family we found a couple of weeks ago. But, alas, the life of a missionary is never a guaranteed success. They weren’t home. We called them, and Evangeline told us that Jhun was out of town. She said she’d call us later. We got a text a little while ago that they would see us next Saturday. At least they are still willing to see us for now! So we drove over to a recently developed beach area. There were about 7 people there fishing. We took the camp chairs from the “boot” of the car and sat and watched the ocean and the folks fishing for about an hour before coming home. It was lovely. I wrapped a few Christmas presents. Yes, Christmas presents. It costs a fortune to mail anything from here, so we are sending it by ship, so we have to get it ready to go early. I still need to make an apple cake tonight for General Conference tomorrow here at the house. I did a big macaroni salad earlier today.