PASTOR ADAM

February 26, 2011 Saturday

This afternoon we finished all the visits we’d planned on and still had a bunch of time. So we drove to an area and tried something we’d heard about in a zone conference. We got out the map of that area and prayed to know what street we should tract. We both came up with the same street name: Sacred. Now that should have said something! Anyway we were greeted at one house by a guy in his early thirties who was very friendly and told us he was one of the pastors at Riverview Church (which coincidentally two of our investigators have mentioned that they attend). He thought it was great that we were out trying to bring people to Christ and was willing to listen and share ideas about Christ; but when we got to the Book of Mormon, he wasn’t quite as excited to listen. Still we told him about it and that is was a 2nd witness to Christ. We had him read the promise in the Book of Mormon. He took one of the “17 Points of the True Church” and also a pass-along card with the church web site on it. We feel he was the one that the Lord wanted us to find on that street. He wouldn’t mark with us for a return visit, but perhaps we planted some seeds that may bloom down the road.
Tonight we visited Scotty Tuiletoa. The bishop asked us to see him because he’s in the hospital with a spinal cord injury. We asked which hospital and the bishop couldn’t tell us or even which street it was on but he did know how to get there. We’ve asked a few others who also didn’t know. We went to Scotty’s house and left a note for his sister and her husband, the Ah Sangs, for them to call us, but that didn’t happen. Today we went to another Samoan’s house who we’d been told could tell us where Scotty is. (This has been a 3 week issue.) Someone else pulled up just when we did, and it turned out to be Brother Ah Sang. We met on the porch, and he told us the name of the hospital. We decided since we were there we should at least meet Tui Fatu, the guy who lives there. His son-in-law answered the door. I’d met him at church in the foyer last week. He wears the traditional sarong-type thing that men in the islands wear. We ended up not meeting Tui, but at least we had the name of the hospital.
So tonight we went to visit Scotty. It turns out he’s been there for 8 months. He injured his neck playing Rugby with friends and was paralyzed from the neck down. He’s in a rehab hospital. He seemed about mid-forties in age and was very friendly and upbeat considering his situation. He can now feed himself and has mobility in both arms. It takes 3 people to get him up into a chair. He’s not sure how long he will be hospitalized. He’s being moved to the “Quad Unit” next Monday. We aren’t sure what the difference in care will be. He’s been working with both physical and occupational therapist where he’s been. He came over here 2 years ago to help his sister with her business. His wife and 4 kids are still in Samoa. I guess they don’t have the money to come over to visit him. That’s sad, but he’s sure a neat guy. We’ll go back to see him again.
We also stopped at a beautiful Hindu temple near here. We’ve driven past it a lot and said we wanted to get some photos. Today it was open so we went in. It was amazing. Below are photos of it. They were happy to have us take pictures outside. We could go in. It was one huge room with all kinds of statues of their gods around the sides. At the front was an area where you could pray and get the red dot put on your forehead. There were a couple of priests up there, one talking to people who came to worship and the other was doing water rituals in front of some of their gods. It made us grateful for our church!