Return from Utah

Hello everyone,

This spring break I returned to Utah again. If you haven't gotten the chance to read about last year's trip you can at my blog: gmarthe3rd.blogspot.com. The short novel of my last trip can be found under the archives on my blog. I am really hoping that the account of this trip will be inspiring and motivating to serve our great God. As some of you know, our trips to Utah are mission trips to the LDS (Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints also known as Mormons) people. The focus of our trips to Utah is to do ministry to the LDS and LDS-offshoot groups. The main focus of our ministry is at the Solid Rock Cafe in Ephraim, Utah. The Solid Rock is across the street from Snow College and 'tute (LDS institute; students take classes there with their college classes). Although the LDS claim to be Christian, their actual beliefs are far from it. They believe that God is an exalted man, that Jesus is the spirit-brother of Satan, and that salvation is earned. That is Mormonism in a nutshell. Mormons will deny that they are different, but when you ask them specifically these things, they will agree. The excuse they give is always different. I was talking to a nice LDS college student, and he told me that evangelical Christians misinterpret the Bible and misunderstand it. So I asked him, “like what?” Then he changed the subject. Anyways, I am going to try not to write a tome about the intricacies of the Mormon religion.

Our trip was plagued by things from the inception. Every year there is always something or someone opposed to our trip. Satan really does not like the Utah trip. This year was no different. The LDS in our community got upset because they thought that certain people from our school were part of a big intricate conspiracy against the LDS church that involved a faceless corporation of what they think is basically Satan. Believe it or not, that is what they think! If you didn't know, the LDS have a huge persecution complex and if you didn't know the LDS church itself is a massive corporation that owns Coke (ironic since they are forbidden to drink it) and a bunch of media services. In 1990 they were worth over 60 Billion or something like that (tithing is a part of their salvation; its one of their works). So, since their church is a massive faceless corporation, they view everything else as a massive faceless corporation. In reality, a few students from LeTourneau just wanted to reach out to the LDS in our community through a few of the LDS social programs. So the LDS found out that a few of our students were involved for the sole purpose of ministry (were pretty successful too) and they freaked out, contacted authorities, called the cops, etc. That damped our spirits a little, but the Lord was good to us. It was his trip and he does as he pleases.

Last year our trip leader was Gareth Evans and Flic (Felecia Carr). Flic graduated (looking at you Gareth), moved out to Ephraim, and has had a pretty successful ministry to the LDS. Gareth dropped out of college before his last year of school when he was presented with the opportunity to be the RD (resident director) of the men's dorm in the college house above the Solid Rock Cafe (where the guys stayed on our trip). Last year I was quite involved in the trip (I was the treasurer), so I got to see how to lead a trip. I still had a passion for the trip and for the LDS people, so I applied last semester. Normally, they pick a leader before the spring semester. This year they did not. So I prayed about it. I recognized that I may be doing it for the wrong reasons and that someone else would be better for leadership. The reason in my head was to glorify God and incite passion for spreading the love of Jesus in the lives of those coming, but at the same time I was torn. I feared I was trying to prove something, but I didn't know what. So I struggled with the decision. It was nearly two months before the trip and I got fed up as I had heard nothing from the Student Mission Committee. I felt that if they were honorable they would at least tell me “yes” or “no.” I went and found out that I was the only person that applied and they were trying to pressure someone else into leading who didn't want to do it. LSM finally told me that I would not get the leadership position because “I was hard to work with.” I was pretty angry. I tried to get Tyler to do it but he didn't want to. I went up to them and said I knew that there was no one else for the leader position and that they were pretty much insulting me and destroying the ministry. I said that having no trip rather than having me as a leader is an insult. Basically, the problem was someone had some personal issues with me that I didn't know that they had. So with no leader and no plans, we had no trip up until a month and a half before we left. There was a lot of prayer doing those few weeks. Anyways, apparently the committee changed their minds and give me the go ahead. As I said before , it was the Lord's trip. I asked Kate Vadrine to be the co-leader since she had gone six times or so (two leaders, one man, one woman). So God was amazing as always and the ball got rolling.

About the time I became leader, I sent out prayer letters asking for help to raise $275. God blessed our trip with 16 people that were already signed up and another 2 later on. It was amazing. Almost everyone was interested and excited from the start. Our friend John Khoury joined the trip because Tyler and I were on it. Tyler, if I haven't explained, is probably my closest friend and a Godsend. If it wasn't for him and his encouragement and support the trip would not have happened and I would not be in such a deep relationship with the Lord as I am in now. He is an anchor for me and keeps me accountable. Khoury is the grinding stone in many ways; he sharpens Tyler and I. I would not be as firm and sharp if it wasn't for him. I asked you to pray for him and I could tell you have. Khoury is from south central LA and is a strange man. He comes from a very fundamentalist background that borders on cultic (in the definition of cultic) behavior. He sometimes believes the KJV is the only true version and all others are corrupt. At times he can not comprehend how salvation is by faith alone and things like that. I used to think he was not a Christian, but after our trip back from California (on my blog, under the archives) and this trip, I think there is more than meets the eye on his issues, more that the obvious issues. I wanted him to come on the trip so badly so he could see a counterfeit Christianity in action. I hoped and prayed the Lord would open his eyes. I knew that if he could understand, he would have zero problems walking up to anyone and sharing his faith in a loving manner. Khoury is gifted in that he has no fear of a spiritual conversation. He has sharpened Tyler and I because he always wants to discuss theology. He always asks the hard questions that make us have to think since his theology is slightly skewed from orthodox Christianity. Also it seems nothing we ever say to him sticks with him, so we have the same conversations over and over again.

I told people in the first meeting that I could help them out with some cash if they needed it because I felt is was such an important trip. Anyways, Khoury came up to me the first meeting, before he sent out support letters, and said, “you know my financial situation.” I was like, “and?” Turns out he wanted me to pay his entire trip. At this I was furious. So I prayed about him; thats all I could do. I also prayed that I could show God's love to him even when he was putting no effort into this trip. I told everyone at our meeting to read the chapters on the “Doctrine of God” in the Mormon Scrapbook (written by Chip from the Solid Rock Cafe). At the next meeting we all broke off into small groups and discussed what we read so that each group could give a presentation on a topic. I was in the group with Khoury and we are discussing the passages in the bible that point to the triunal nature of God (John 1:1, Isiah 9:6, Matthew 28:19, John 14:7-11, etc.; Mormons don't believe in Trinity because God is an exalted man and Jesus is not equal with him) and Khoury is like, “it doesn't say Trinity in the Bible.” We stopped and I asked him if he was keeping up in the reading and if he knew why we were discussing the trinity. He tried to make an excuse, but I directly asked him if he had read anything thing in the book. He said no. I was like crap. He wants me to pay for his trip, and he hasn't done anything in preparation. So I prayed, “God what do I do! What do I do! I love him and I want to see a change, but he doesn't want to do anything!” So I was stressed. I though this was a bad idea trying to bring him. I confronted him and probably in a not so great tone told him if he didn't want to participate to stop wasting his time, stop wasting my time, and stop wasting the other 17 people's time. I went home and just prayed because I didn't know what to do. Then, the Lord proved me wrong. He was saying to me, “no hope? HA...HA! Watch this!” The next day I found out that instead of studying for the dynamics mid-term (arguably the hardest class at LeTourneau; he studied later), Khoury had read 15 sections of the Mormon Scrapbook. So I thought, “ya right, we'll see if he is caught up.” So I quizzed him...and he knew his stuff in a weird way. Talking further with him, I asked him why he wanted to go. He said, “because the Bible says to.” I asked him: “The Bible says so, but for what reason I want to know?” . He couldn't answer me. I replied, “to give account of the hope we have, the good news in Jesus Christ. Out of our the overflow of our hearts we go.” He was puzzled and then said he didn't understand salvation (if you know Khoury, it would make sense). So I shared with him 1 John 5:9-13. I told him, “salvation is a simple thing..” So anyways we talked and even though I had the same conversation many times before, things started to stick ... I think. If anything good came out of my mouth, it was because of the Lord. So now I was like, “Umm, wow God, but what about finances? What do I do? OK, you obviously know what you're doing, but how is he going to get paid?” If you have read my blog you can see that the Lord keeps teaching me object lessons in faith. Apparently, he still needs to teach me more object lessons in faith. So, one day I was working on my car and a man came up and said that he hadn't been tithing and asked if I knew of “a few people” that needed financial assistance. I said I knew a poor student that wanted to go on the mission trip named Khoury. A week later his account was paid! BLEW my mind! If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is. I prayed, “Ok..ok God, sorry for doubting, you blew my mind. Well while you are at it do something huge. I see that you are at work in this trip.”

Being trip leader I saw who had paid and who had not paid. So the week before we left, I got an update on who had paid. Only three people had paid: John Khoury, Chaplin Carl and his son Joshua. SO again I panicked! “Ahh, God there are only a few people paid, please being in the funds!,” I prayed. Of course God knew what he was doing and I needed to be patient. Then, the Mexico trips were canceled due to a high security risk of traveling in Mexico. Our trip received $400 from that and another $300 from students who wanted their money to go to another trip. Plus on top of that I got $200 for selling a car. So I was pretty much amazed. I had thought with the economy down that people were not going to give to the project. Again I was wrong! The Lord definitely provides! The night funds were due, we had everyone paid for and ready to go! Everyone on the trip was excited and motivated. Every one on the trip knew or had some LDS friends. As leader of the trip, God could not have provided a better team. Everyone was motivated. Khoury sometimes needed some motivation, but all in all, everyone was excited, willing, and desired to serve the Lord. I hardly had to direct anyone because everyone knew what to do. The Lord was good to our trip.

We left Friday morning after chapel. Our vans were late coming, but that was good because everyone was able to grab a bite to eat at Saga (Dinning Hall). We left at around 11:45 in the rain. It rained all the way from Longview to Wichita Falls and then after raining, it snowed. I had promised our friends in Utah that they would have to build a wall around Utah to keep us out. It rained heavily all day and then it started to blizzard in the pan-handle of Texas. It got so bad I could only tell I was on the road by hitting the bumps on the sides of the highway. It was so foggy that I could only see about 5 feet in front of the van and could barley make out the white lines. So the Lord was good to us. We made it through the storm about as soon as we left Texas. The entire trip out I was in the “man van” (all guys). It was all young guys with constantly loud music and craziness. As awesome as it was, it wore on me after 12 hours or so. Thanks to a local church in Albuquerque, we had a free place to spend the night. Next day we set out towards Moab and up into the heartland of Utah. We decided to “role play” for the new people on the trip. Tyler was a great student Mormon, Joshua was a great hard-core bishop Mormon, and I was the temple Mormon. We used our conversation experience and knowledge of LDS doctrine to try and give them a feel for the culture of the LDS and their beliefs. We had a good time and the Lord blessed our trip. We stopped at a big stone arch on the way to Moab and took some pictures. Late Saturday night we rolled into Ephraim and our traveling journey for the time being ended. Considering how, on most of my trips cross country, the Lord likes to give me an adventure, this trip was relatively uneventful, and I was thankful.

The next day we went to Ephraim Church of the Bible (the only evangelical church around). Pastor Rodney gave a sweet sermon on 1 Peter 3 and all the group was able to meet a lot of the local Christians (just about all XMA's or eX-Mormon Anonymous'). After lunch we started to write letters to polygamists. Somewhere along the line of planning our trip, a few of us returning people decided that reaching out to the polygamists was a must. Chip decided that the best way to reach the polygamists was to write encouraging letters that contained our testimony, or a favorite bible verse, or just something encouraging. The women of our group made their letters more personal and the guy's letters were more general. This was so that the polygamists didn't think the guys were trying to “steal” their wives. There were only five girls on our trip and 13 guys, so the girls did a lot of writing. In all we had 70 or more envelopes with 2 letters in them for each of the polygamists. We decided that a small gift might be a loving gesture, so we attached a magnet to the letters. Very few outside groups reach out to the polygamists. Polygamists groups are splinter groups from the mainline LDS. They believe the teaching of Joseph Smith and that the mainline church has altered his teaching (they have). Polygamists or Fundamentalists believe that the LDS church is apostate and an evil church of Satan. In actuality, the polygamists' practices are more true to the teaching of Joseph Smith than the mainline LDS church. Joseph Smith taught that polygamy was essential to exaltation and entrance to the Celestial Kingdom (D&C 132). For those of you who don't know, the end goal of all LDS is to be perfect as their father god is so that they can eventually progress to godhood. To enter into eternal progressing (its called) on the path to godhood, a good Mormon man must keep all the commandments of the Bible and must adhere to all the rules, procedures, rituals, ceremonies, and be in good standing with the LDS church or else you can't enter into the celestial kingdom (where father god lives) and you can't have the opportunity to become a god. So some day, men get to become 'gods' according to Mormon philosophy. Joseph Smith taught that in order to become gods, a man must enter into polygamy so that in the afterlife, if he is good enough, if he is in good standing with the church, if Joseph Smith approves of him, etc. he will be able to populate his new world with his many wives. So, ladies, in LDS theology, you have the chance to be eternally pregnant “baby factories”! Hurray! Of course you need to perfect your self so you are “worthy” to your husband. One of the prophets of the mainline LDS church, Spencer W. Kimball, went so far as to say in “The Miracle of Forgiveness” that, “We must always do better than we can.” (Miracle of Forgiveness 165). In polygamy, there are a lot of things wrong (obviously). There is a lot of abuse, both emotionally, physical, and spiritually. Wives typically don't live with their husbands. The husbands typically “make the rounds” and are not involved in the lives of their children. There are child brides married to “worthy husbands” (usually over 50 in age). In some groups, there is a lot of sexual abuse, the preparing of child brides for their husbands is one example. A lot of abuses come from the prophet (who is basically god). So basically a bad deal. Polygamists in a colony usually believe they are the only true church on the face of the planet. They have been told that everyone outside their church are enemies of their god. They have been told that questioning is doubting, and that anyone who leaves their church will be permanently “sealed” to the devil. So, we decided to reach out to these spiritually needy people and share the love of Jesus and the good news.

After writing letters, we had a $2 dinner night, where every one was put into groups and each group was given $10 to make a course to the meal. My team consisted of Gareth, Heidi, David, and I (maybe someone else, I don't remember, possibly James). Anyways we had the salad course. We decided to make a fruit salad with bananas, apples, yogurt, jolly ranchers, and graham crackers. I carved a sweet head out of an apple and we made a sweet salad. After making the food, we still had an hour before dinner. A few of us climbed aboard Gareth's Blazer (James, David, Gareth, Khoury, and I) and drove about 10 minutes to the mountains on the other side of the valley. Gareth somehow got a free '79 Blazer that he is somehow proud of. He kept wanting to take us off-roading, so he did. We drove a little ways up a mountain, then turned around on a ledge next to a nice 100 to 500 ft cliff (depending if you land on a bolder or something). That was real fun. Spending time with Khoury is always an adventure. We returned for dinner and then after dinner we wrote more letters to the polygamists.

Every morning on the trip, except the day we left, I believe, we had an hour of morning prayer. Thankfully, this year there wasn't as many interruptions. It was an awesome time of group prayer and sporadic music playing and singing. It was totally unstructured and awesome. Everyone that came, came because they sought the Lord, they had a desire to glorify him. It is really awesome to be a “leader” of a team led by the Lord. Just about everyone had the same things laid on their heart and things just flowed. Monday we did two things. Our team did street ministry and the afternoon was our “play time” of the trip. After breakfast, Chip had made us a survey to ask the LDS on the Snow College campus. The hope was to gather info for the next Mormon Miracle Pageant and at the same time lead into discussions about God, salvation, or something important like that. So everyone goes out in groups of two or three. I left late with Joshua Carl and we headed out with the camera (since I have experience). Apparently, all the students at Snow College thought that Joshua and I were pretty “sketchy”, so they avoided us. We decided that we would go stand in the center of campus so people could pass by us. We talked to one guy, but he wouldn't even look at us. We asked him a few questions, but he kept things distant and shallow. The students we talked to either said that they had never gone to the pageant (highly unlikely) or they didn't have time to talk. A few people we talked to agreed to at least fill out our survey. So things weren't going too well for the Joshua-Micah group, so we prayed a little. We started talking to one student. Sadly, I can't remember his name. He said that we only had a few differences and started to elaborate about how Mormons and Evangelical Christians believe relatively the same thing, and differ only on insignificant issues. I happened to note that the “insignificant issues” were things like salvation, God, and mission techniques (the first two being fairly significant). I asked him what he thought about salvation. He said that he believed that works were required because, “nothing is free.” So we dived into a conversation about how I believed that salvation is free and any works we do are because we love our Lord for His salvation and I mentioned that the Bible supports that idea. It was a pretty deep conversation, but it was good. We talked to this student for quite a while, and I explained to him that our works are not to glorify ourselves, but God. After a while he went off to class. We talked to a few other people, but nothing as deep as that conversation. Joshua and I didn't get any interviews on our camera, so we decided to see if we can find a woman to join our duo since we noticed the LDS guys had no problem talking to the women on our team. Our return to the college house was close to lunch, so we decided help out there until lunch. Despite our lack of conversations, everyone else had an awesome time. Believe it or not, the Khoury, Peter, and Danae group was very successful. As strange as Khoury is, he has a love for God. It was necessary for me to have faith that the Lord would work in him to bring him on the trip. He did OK, compared to a few days earlier when on the trip we role played and he was telling me (“playing” the Mormon) everything I believed, and more.

After lunch our group went back to writing letters to polygamists. We continued our letter writing until about 2PM. At 2 we left and went to play in the snow. I had brought my snowboard (just in case), so a few of us went snowboarding while the rest played in the snow. There was no ski resort or any real runs, just trees and snow. Most of our snowboarding was through trees in slushy snow. I found it quite hard to maneuver a lot and grazed a few trees and ate it hard at the end of one run. We snowboarded for a good 3 or 4 hours and then returned back to the college house very tired. We ate dinner and then the XMA's talked, which was an awesome experience of God's Grace. The XMA's (eX-Mormons Anonymous) talked about their conversion experience. One man had just been baptized a week before. The night program was set up as a forum. A few XMAs were up front and Chip or someone would ask them a question and each of the XMAs would answer in turn. One of the questions asked was, “how hard was it to leave the LDS church?” All of the XMA's said that it took a along time to come out. During the time they started to question the LDS church and what they believed, they all said it was the hardest part of their lives. Their friends and families had turned their backs on them. All of them said that so many little things changed their lives. Not one large thing, but just little things, like seeing the change in the life of new Christian's that they knew. They realized it was the Holy Spirit working in their lives through random people. At the end, Chip asked all of them if it was worth it. They all answered “yes”. It was a very awesome night.

Tuesday was to be the day we went to the polygamist colony. A few of us guys got together and prayed for everything that would go on later that day. It's funny but I am having a hard time remembering the schedule. I was the leader of the trip and the entire week I had no idea what happened on what days. Apparently, there was a schedule floating around (I had one for a day or so) but everyone knew what they were doing so I just followed them around. I think we ate breakfast and had a devotional before heading out, but at some point we made it over to the restaurant “One Man Band” in Nephi to meet up with Doris Hanson, a former polygamist. Doris runs “Shield and Refuge Ministry” which is a ministry to people trying to escape from polygamy. We had brought our letters to the polygamists with us. Satan didn't want us to give out those letters. As Candice pointed out to me and everyone in chapel last Wednesday, Satan did not want those letters going to those polygamists. Our writing of them was plagued with arguments, we slacked off, people started playing video games (I discouraged that), and we all got into a big argument on how to distribute them. We argued about whether the men should get letters. Jamie told me Tuesday morning to make sure we had the letters, I though someone had grabbed them, but we got 30 minutes into our trip and realized no one had them. Jamie drove them up to us. After we got the letters, Chip had the letters in his car while we were at “One Man Band”. Somehow, his car got locked with the keys in it. After his car was unlocked, we went inside and ate. Doris explained about how she had left her polygamist colony at a young age. She also told us what to expect when we go walking door to door in the polygamist colony. While she was talking, “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks started to be blasted over the speakers. Doris didn't even flinch as she kept sharing how she left the colony and came to Christ. After lunch and Doris' testimony, we loaded up into the vans and headed out. The basic strategy was to drive into the Rocky Ridge colony, get out, and break into groups to take different sections of the colony. The Lord did some awesome things at the polygamist colony.

I was in the group with Liz Linton from the SRC (Solid Rock Cafe) and Gummy (Erik Benson) from our team. Basically, polygamists are a matriarchal culture where it is always one man with lots of wives. The wives all live in separate homes with their children, while the men make the rounds. As mentioned earlier, to keep them from getting the idea that we were there to steal their wives, we formed groups around the women that were on our team and staff members of SRC. Thanks to the LeTourneau Ratio (infinitely large number of men to a finite number of women) we had about two or three guys to accompany each women. The women were to do most of the talking since they were talking to women (guys don't know how to relate as well, especially LeTourneau guys). Ministry to the LDS and ministry in general can be awkward. Since those of us at LeTourneau are awkward anyways, it comes fairly natural (His power is made perfect in weakness, especially socially). The colony was full of different levels of refinement (income?). The rank of privilege of the wives went from new houses to trailers. I had an itching to visit the trailer park area, but our group had a late start due to my being the leader and making sure everyone was in a group. Even this morning I was thinking of how awesome God was in the colony! The Lord can work seamlessly through us! At the time I didn't even think of what happened as being Spirit led but, sometimes only in reflection can we even see the awesome things God does. So it was Gumby, Liz and me. Gumby and I are the technical minded, little to no understanding of social things, and not very good people persons (only when God moves in us are we “social”). Liz is like the complete opposite of us. If my strength is parallel/sequential logical and mechanical intuition, her strength is people and relationships. It was a good thing she was relating to these women and not Gumby and I (ahh, I see your problem...Windows...that would make me a polygamist too!). So we head out to the west and up to the houses high up on the hill. Everyone had a hand full of letters and the small enclosed gifts. The first house we visited was a yellow and white house. I don't think anyone was there. The second house we visited was on the west side of the road. There lived a lady named R. I went up and knocked on the door and Liz talked to the lady and related to her well (illusive thing to men). The lady was very grateful to see us and told us that she was from England and moved to the colony. The three of us noticed that she was wearing a cross which is a big no no because the cross is considered idolatry by most branches of Mormonism (don't know about this branch). We left that house and saw another house on the east side of the street we were on. We decided to skip that house and go to a house on the west side where a lady was staring at us from a balcony. I led the way again (I figured I could do that) and we went up and talked to the lady. Her name escapes me but I know she was recovering from heart surgery. We gave the lady a letter, Liz and she talked about pain, and how we were just there to share the love of Jesus. We told her we were just walking around letting those in the colony know that they were loved. At one point the conversation was low enough for me to add my two cents. I said something I hoped was inspirational, but don't remember what, so I hope the Lord just blesses whatever I said and the Holy Spirit would just work in her life. So we left that house (actually duplex; the other lady was gone) and again looked across the street at the house on the east side. I asked Liz if she wanted to go to that one, but she decided to go to a nicer house on the west side where two ladies were playing with their children. I think the two were sister wives or a mother and her daughter (or both, sadly). Liz talked to them while Gumby and I gave our nods of encouragement. We gave them letters and told them that Jesus loved them and we loved them too. I again asked if we wanted to go to that house on the east side. Liz finally agreed, so we headed over there. We saw a few wives playing with children on the jungle gym (or whatever it was) and I figured that no one would be home. We rang the door bell, waited around and looked at each other. Eventually a woman came out and asked what we were up to. Liz said that we were just going around sharing the love of Jesus and handing out a free gift and a letter. I was standing next to Liz and was looking at the lady when I noticed a wasp on me! I flicked it off casually and it landed on Liz as she was talking. I thought, “Oh junk, its going to be mad.” So I ran over to her and flicked it off of her. It landed in the grass so I smashed it and told the wife things were OK. I don't know if that has any relevance or not, but it's part of the story. Anyways, she heard her kid crying at the jungle gym and ran over there and got her kid. I didn't know what to make of the situation, so we just stood around. She comes back over and says that a group had already visited her. So we are like, “Oh, ok.” Then she says something I don't think any of us expected. She said, “I got your letter and read it already. I think it is awesome what you are doing, tell me about LeTourneau.” So, Liz looks at me to explain. I said, “have you ever heard of R. G. LeTourneau?” She looks at me funny. “Probably not. Ok, well it is a Christian engineering school down in east Texas. We spend all of our time studying and up to our eyes in books and stuff.” I said; Gumby nodded. “Anyways, instead of spending our spring break partying or doing something nonproductive, we decided to come out and tell you the good news we have in Jesus. We have this good news and this joy in our hearts that we don't normally get to share while we are studying, so we decided to come out here and let you know that Jesus loves you.” I said. “We just want to let you know that Jesus loves you and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That is an awesome kind of love and we want to share it with you.” She was just blown away that a group of college students would just come from east Texas to the middle-of-nowhere Utah and let her know that Jesus loves her and that we love her. About this time Liz asks, “Do you know Jesus? Who is he to you? (I just remembered she asked this of all the ladies)” So, she was like, “Oh yes, he is my everything...he is my Lord, my Savior, my older brother...” I was thinking, “...Good! ...Good!...Good!....Oh, not good, ya Lord please work in this lady's life”. Meanwhile this lady was on the verge of tears and talking with Liz, so Liz prayed with her and told her that she could put the magnet we gave her on her fridge to remind her of the love of Jesus. After that we headed off pretty much BLOWN away (if I was Chip I would have capitalized EVERYTHING IN THS PARAGRAPH and increased the font size to like 40). I was just thinking this morning, “man Lord, if we had not avoided that house for so long, she may not have read the letter and we may have not gotten the chance to have such an awesome conversation with her.” The Lord had a plan all along and he glorified himself through our bumbling about the polygamist colony. I pray that the Holy Spirit would just move in that woman's life in a big way. So we wandered off dazed wondering what just happened (I knew what happened, the Lord moved!). We started at another house and got on the porch before someone told us that all the rest of the houses had already been covered. So we headed up the hill to the western-most house and dropped off a letter at the door. After that we headed back and talked a little while walking. We got into the vans and drove around. John Khoury had to go to the bathroom, so we drove to the polygamist's cabinet factory up the street. After that we left.

On the way back we decided to stop at a thrift store to prepare for “ugly dress night”. Ugly dress night is where we all dress up as ugly (or as good looking) as possible. So we stopped at this thrift store and everyone bought something. I bought a gray sweater with black and cyan geometric shapes on it along ($0.25) with a trucker hat ($1) that said “Hamburger World” on it. I had some very short shorts I wore to go along with my sweater and hat. When we got back, Gareth and I decided to take John Khoury off-roading so he can fulfill his dreams (“hey guys lets go to the woods/forest!”; “we should go off-roading” said at the most random times, like 2 AM). We have a deep love for Khoury. Khoury had been a part of our discipleship group (Tyler, Khoury, Gareth and I) and he has spent a lot of time with Gareth, Tyler, and I discussing life and salvation/God. We have encouraged him in his studies and he has made us laugh and joyful. Khoury came to us very sheltered, but God had in mind to break him out of his shell when he put him with us. So Tyler, Khoury, David (Gareth's little brother) and I grabbed Gareth's shotgun and shells and hopped into his crappy (but cool) '79 Blazer. Basically, we spent about an hour and a half and in that hour and a half we drove up a mountain, shot guns, and returned back down. I call our activities “man-tivtities” (new word by me) or male bonding activities (thats why we have all those pictures and video, Kathi). Gareth let Khoury drive up the mountain with a cliff on one side and a mountain on the other. Khoury decided that Gareth needed to give him the Blazer. So we got up to a flat spot on a level section of the mountain and got out the gun. We all shot about 12 rounds. People don't really trusts Khoury because he is strange and unpredictable (only those of us that know him can predict his unpredictability). We decided not only let him drive us up the mountain, but also shoot guns with us. Khoury had a “blast” (pun; thanks Debbie for pointing that out) and shot a bunch of coffee cans (video on my Facebook.). Tyler showed us all how to shoot guns when he blasted a few clay pigeons. I shot down some coffee cans from the waist and then turned and blew down a tree from shooting at the waist. We had an awesome time and called it a day. Tyler drove us back down the mountain. The five of us arrived back just before dinner was starting. We all jumped into our ugly dresses and started to head over to the party. So, I just blasted out the door in my short shorts and my very small sweater (comes about half way down my upper body) and my sweet slipper-socks and noticed the neighbor and his children (possibly LDS) were standing about 20 feet away staring at me. It was kind of an awkward pause and I turned around and went back inside and got a bathrobe so I could walk to the Thompson's house and be less of a scene. I passed the neighbor and said, “its just dinner.” He was still just staring at me. I got to Thompson's and think that perhaps I may have over done it a little too much because a few of the women were shielding their eyes. At least Jaime commented that I have nice legs. (she's cool like that) Anyways, we ate dinner and had a talent show that was quite ridiculous. Gareth and I did our amazing feats of strength, and Peter and I did “muhnamana” from Sesame Street. Liz bought a large doll from the thrift store and wore its skin as a costume and sung that song from the Titanic movie. Peter knew all the moves from “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley and preformed them flawlessly to the song. Chaplin Carl preformed his famous “Oreo cream cookie blues song” while I danced next to him and sang along. About this time an LDS student walked in the front door. While dancing and looking ridiculous next to Chaplin Carl, I kinda looked over at him and said, “hey, man!” and went back to what I was doing. Anyways this young man stayed and watched with us “Lifting the Veil”, a documentary about polygamy. After that we just kinda hung out at the Thompson's with the student and talked about life. I didn't even realize he was LDS until someone told me later. The Lord works in mysterious ways! I didn't even know this young man but he hung out and just had a good time, even without knowing it. I hope the Lord worked through our witness with him.

Wednesday was planned to be our day at temple square. I told everyone same time and same place for prayer, but I think we only spent a few minutes in prayer before I got everything ready for breakfast. I had been praying for months in advance for the day we visited Temple Square. We left early in the morning and made it up to Salt Lake City at around 10 AM or so. We broke off into groups again. Gareth, Hans and I formed a group. Tyler and David joined us, but they broke off as we wanted to go to the Beehive house. We all prayed while we were walking that the Lord would lead our conversations. We split up on the north side of the temple. Hans, Gareth, and I wanted to go take our picture with the big idol of Joseph Smith in the Joseph Smith Building (if you look closely at his pants, you can see the motivation for his religion). We always take our picture with Joseph Smith. While we are taking our pictures with the statue, a man came up and asked what we were doing. We told him we were just checking this place out. He suggested that we take the tour of the Joseph Smith building. None of us in our visits had ever heard of a tour of the Joseph Smith building. We started to wander around and eventually found a missionary that takes people on tours of the building. This older missionary named B, “the cowboy missionary,” took us on tour. I just want to say that, during some of my past trips, I learned that the information we studied about Mormonism, the LDS books and everything else, could be a destructive force in discussions with Mormons unless it is properly used. I was convicted that the last thing I wanted to do was go in and destroy someones religion. The Lord has given us the knowledge to tear apart the LDS theology, but I felt strongly that what was more important was that the gospel of Jesus Christ needed to be heard above all. Just logic and reason could destroy the Mormon faith, but what they needed was a hope. I know that the Lord works in all situations and that it's the Holy Spirit's work that changes lives, so I feel that everyone needs to hear the gospel. I decided that instead of destroying what they have, I would love them and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ, and then let the Holy Spirit do his work. The conversation we had with B, “the cowboy missionary,” was awesome. It was light hearted yet deep, we enjoyed each other's presence, and at the end B commented, “I had a wonderful time with you guys, I wish everyday was like this.” He showed us around and Gareth, Hans, and I cracked jokes all the time. He took us to meeting rooms and showed us around and we cracked a bunch of jokes. Turns out B was probably in his seventies serving his mission because as a youth he wasn't such a great Mormon. We walked around and he showed us the Ward inside the Joseph Smith Building. We walked into another conference room and we got into a light-hearted, but deep deep discussion. It wasn't like we ganged up on him, in fact at times we agreed with him. He obviously had dealt with some of the fallacies of his church, but he pushed them to the back of his mind. We were just sharing that Jesus loves him and asking him about salvation and things. He started to become evasive around things, so I asked him, “Would you agree with me that when we sin, God is the victim?” he got flustered and disagreed and tried to explain himself, but ended up agreeing. I said, “Look if God is the perfect judge, yet he is the victim and only a victim can grant true mercy. We have sinned and we can do nothing to make it better, only God can forgive.” He is flustered again and some how said that if one of his children was a better person then the others, then he should be entitled to the ranch. Anyways, we still were light hearted, yet deep, and he finally said to us, “you guys are so close. You are asking the right questions.” I said back to him, “OH YES, we are so there!” About this time people started coming into the conference room and B said he would take us back to get missionary snacks. We kept joking with him and Gareth and Hans went to the bathroom in the missionary bathrooms, while I talked to B while he munched down on some snacks. We joked about how rich the place was because it had carpet on the walls. Anyways, he took us up to the observation deck. Apparently, some ambassador from Russia was scheduled to meet there and I had told B I had been to Moscow, so he jokingly asked if I wanted him to introduce me as “the ambassador from Russia.” We wandered around and joked about stuff. Towards the end he said something very interesting. As we were walking back to the elevator he said, “It's not my job to convert you, it's just my job to make you happy.” I said back to him, “Some things in life are worth talking about. If you believe your gospel is true, then you should share it instead of making us happy.” I thanked him for sharing what he did. We got back down the elevator and then talked about guns and boots. When he was leaving he thanked us for a good time. I really pray for B that whatever seeds we sowed or whatever we did, I pray that the Lord moves in his life, that he would reconsider his last attempt to become worthy of the Celestial Kingdom. Please pray for B, “the cowboy missionary,” that something Gareth, Hans (don't think they didn't say anything, they said more than me probably, I just only remember what I said), and I said would just work in his life and that the Lord would just glorify himself in B's life and reveal to him the truth of the Gospel.

Gareth, Hans, and I never made it to the Beehive house. We returned for lunch. Tyler, our treasurer, and David were out the longest, so we had no one to pay for food, so we all just bought our own food. After lunch, Hans, Gareth, and I decided to head to the Beehive house again. We decided to make our annual pilgrimage to the kid's section of the LDS History museum, where the massive interactive pentagram was, along with a Velcro goats-head pentagram (I posted my research on Satanism on my blog). We stopped at the LDS History museum and I took some pictures of the upside-down goat's head and pentagram on the mural above the entrance of the LDS History Museum. We went inside and ventured to the top level and went into the kids section. We took some more pictures of all of us with the pentagram. In the same room there is a section for kids to color little pentagrams and put their little colored pentagrams on a light wall. Gareth wrote on one “THIS IS A SATANIC SYMBOL.” and I colored a purple cross on another and we stuck our pentagrams on the light wall and then headed out. Gareth, Hans, and I left and headed again for the Beehive house. The Beehive house was the house of the prophet Brigham Young where he lived with only a few of his 53 or so wives. All the rest were scattered around Utah (so he always had a woman to sleep with where he went!). Of course they never really mentioned he was a polygamist, or that he was a racist or anything like that. We started a tour with a few sister missionaries. I was disgusted how they tried to make it sound like Jesus Christ himself lived there. Everything was perfect. The three of us remained silent, but at one point one of the sister missionaries was telling us about how Brigham Young would never hit or physically discipline his children, but give them a letter when he was mad at them. I couldn't control myself and jokingly said, “ya I bet!” then make a whip cracking sound. We preceded upstairs and I started to feel sick. I asked if everything was covered in chemicals, because I smelled a really bad smell. I about fainted it was so bad. I was hot, dizzy, and I about fell over. No one else felt or smelled anything. Something was not right. I felt fine when I left. I wonder if I there was some kind of dark dark spirit residing there that attacked me. Before we left, none of us had asked any questions really. While we were filling out comment cards, I spoke up and just said that I thought Brigham Young was a polygamist and that they didn't make it seem like it. Gareth started to talk and Hans also. They had a decent conversation with the missionaries. I decided to contribute and asked them what Liz was asking the day before. I asked if they knew Jesus and who was he to them. Instead of answering me they just gave me this paper about what the official LDS stance is on Jesus. So I asked again, and one of the sisters kept telling me that all the information was on the paper. Anyways, I was so messed up I forgot to give the comment card to the missionaries and instead just walked out the door with it in my hand. Hans filled out his comment card and handed it to one of the missionaries and talked to her while they escorted us out. We decided to head back since at lunch we decided that we would visit Sandra Tanner and her ministry called “Lighthouse Ministries”. I started to feel better and was fine by the time we got back to the vans. Back at the vans we met up with Chaplin Carl and Chip. I didn't want to, but we called everyone back so we could make it to Sandra Tanner's place before she closed her building. At Sandra's place we learned pretty much everything there was to know about the LDS temple rituals and some other perspectives on LDS culture and how to reach out.

We spent a few hours at Sandra's place and after she told us of it, we decided to try to hit the DI thrift store on the way back. The DI (Deseret Industries) is the LDS's branch of stores. We always enjoy going to the DI thrift store in the SLC area because it is massively massive. They are like a thrift store the size of a small Walmart. I always wonder what people mean when they have these divine encounters; when the Lord tells them to go talk to someone. I always wonder if I had any of those or if that would ever happen to me. I believe at this DI I learned what one of those is like. I LOVE thrift stores. I am a huge pack rat and never leave a thrift store empty handed, especially such a massive thrift store as the one we went to. People that know me know I like junk. So I was wandering around, and I just felt empty, I felt uninterested and nothing was exciting. I just felt like all this was just junk and nothing interested me. I wandered around a little then decided to leave and wait in the van. I walked past everyone putting on sweet clothes and walked out into the parking lot. As I walked out I noticed an old lady trying to stuff a 3' by 5' painting in the trunk of her green 2000-2003 Chevy Malibu. I though to myself, “Hmm. A lady after my own heart.” I looked at her while I walked past and she turned to me and asked if I could help her. I said OK and headed over to help her. Turns out that she was stuffing this massive painting of an LDS temple into the trunk of her car. She noticed that I noticed it was an LDS temple and promptly told me that she wanted it for the frame. It was a nice frame, and I told her so. So we got to talking. She was suspicious of me I could tell. Finally she asked, “Are you from around here?” I said “no” and I told her I was a college student. She asked, “ Where is your home?” At this I paused and I prayed and said, “Well I don't have much of what can be called 'home'. My parents are evangelical missionaries living in Germany.” At this point the conversation turned. The cat was out of the bag if she is LDS I thought. “Dear Lord, where is thing going,” I thought to myself. Then she told me she was raised Baptist, but when she moved up to the SLC area, the only church around was an Adventist church. The little old lady then went on to tell me that the local people (LDS) didn't like her because she firmly held her baptist beliefs. I asked her what she thought of salvation. “Oh, its a personal relationship. Christ died so he could have a relationship with you. These Mormons just don't get that.” She said. So I agreed and we continued talking about salvation. Then, she asked what I was doing around there. I said I was from a school in east Texas and that we were staying in Ephraim. I told her we were just at Temple Square. She was super excited to hear we were on a mission trip and said that if we had come at another time she would have feed us and let us crash at her place. I told her about our visit to the polygamists and how the Lord was good to us. She agreed then told me, “The Lord is so good to me. I live alone and my LDS friends are slowly turning away from me, but the Lord has been good to me. This may sound strange, but he sent me my cat (oh gosh I thought). The Lord is all powerful and I believe he sent it to me to comfort me in my loneliness. Just like the Lord, he is there when I need to be comforted.” I thought a second. Chip ran up and told me he was going off somewhere (I forgot to tell everyone else later when they were looking for him). So we continued talking and I shared some things from my life. I don't remember the conversation to much. I really believe that the Holy Spirit was working in our conversation. I was blown away! I was just led by God to a holy Encounter outside to encourage this little old Christian lady entirely surrounded by LDS. I thought I came to glorify God through witnessing to LDS members, but the Lord had other plans also. This little old lady that was lonely just needed some encouragement. It just goes to show the love and power of our great God, that he heard the prayers of a little old lady and sent this college student from east Texas to meet her in the parking lot of a Thrift store in some random suburb of Salt Lake City, just for the purpose of encouragement; to tell her she is not alone. I am not a saint, I'm not perfect, I sin, I stumble and fall, I'm wretched, yet the Lord is bigger than my failures, and has a bigger plan in mind. He uses the reckless, the awkward, the mindless, and even the self-centered to do his will. There is nothing the Lord can't do. I prayed for so long that the Lord would just glorify himself in me, that he would use me in spite of my failures, my weaknesses, my self-absorption, my one-track mind, and he was faithful to glorify himself, but he did it in a way I never expected. I prayed that the Lord would do something big and I had my own ideas about what it should look like, but it was not God's ideas. He did something big, in a lonely little old lady's life, and it was awesome! I spent the rest of the drive back trying to figure out what all just happened. We returned back to the college house and thats all I remember of that day.

On Thursday morning I made crepes for all the guys. I made three batches of crepes (thanks for teaching me Debby) and had two pans going at once. We had prayer at 6 AM and then I started at 6:30AM and they finished baking at 9:30 AM. So we were running a little late, but I got it all out there. Some of the ham ones didn't have the cheese quite melted, but everyone ate them anyways. Thursday morning was planned to be like Monday morning. Everyone headed out to Snow College. Some did interviews and some handed out fliers for the dinner later that night. Like last year, we decided to hold a free jazz and food night for all the college students. So everyone headed out and I cleaned up my massive mess I made making crepes. People started to come in the cafe and I ended up washing dishes for the cafe in addition to the breakfast dishes. Did I mentioned that the guys stayed in the men's dorms above the cafe? Well we did and behind the counter area of the cafe was the sink area, so I was there washing dishes. I enjoy washing dishes when I am not forced to do them. At some point lunch rolled around and I don't remember much of what happened. All I really remember of Thursday is cutting lots of tomatoes for the salsa. I don't really remember where everyone was, but Tyler and I were setting up in the cafe and the manager of the jazz band came in and asked us, “Ok what do we need to wear and when do we need to be here?” I replied, “Whatever, and whenever.” He kinda looked at us and then said, “cool!” I added, “preferably, wear clothes. Just as a disclaimer” We kinda joked around for awhile and then he took off. So I think everyone was involved in some way of setting things up, buying food, and whatever else needed to be done. I drove people around and got food. I remember Hans, Tyler and I spent a good hour or so hunting for tortillas. Anyways, things got started while I was running around. I think I spent most of the night cutting tomatoes with Chip and Gareth. We argued over how to make salsa. I kept mixing the jalapeños with the green peppers (peppers goes with peppers, so I though) and everyone thought it was going to be too hot, but it was fine. Anyways the night was over really quick and everyone had left. I think all we did the rest of the night was clean up. Apparently, the jazz night went really well. People enjoyed the free food and the Solid Rock Cafe was seen as a cafe and not some evil as portrayed by the LDS in the community. The Lord was good to us as always. We made just enough food for everyone to eat their fill. Some of the team members were still talking to people when we started to clean up. I think after clean up we started to pack for leaving the next day. In perspective, jazz night is always a good time connect with the community of students at Snow College and show them that Christians are genuine, normal people (relatively normal), who are self-controlled, and have a hope and love only found in Christ.

Friday we started to head back home. Before we turned south, we first headed out to Maple Canyon to do a little bit of hiking (to wear people down for the trip home, of course). Maple Canyon is close to Ephraim and is one of the best rock climbing areas in America. Chip, Gareth, and Zeke, Chip's dog, accompanied us on our excursion. No one was at the canyon when we got there. The reason for that was that the road was covered in snow. So instead of going back, we decided to just walk up to a very nice climbing canyon. At the canyon, Gareth, Tyler, and I decided to have a race to the end of the canyon (canyon floor was covered in small stones and occasional boulders). We ran ahead and Zeke followed us enthusiastically. Every 500 feet or so there was something to climb up and over. Zeke had no problem until about the 3rd rock formation from the last. We all climbed up over it and everyone else took off. I heard Zeke whimpering because he couldn't make it up, so I turned around and found him. He was stuck behind a little crevasse that sloped up about 4 or 5 feet high. I grabbed Zeke and plopped him half way up, then pushed his butt up the rest of the way. He was over joyed and took off. I followed him to the last great hurdle. Basically, a massive bolder probably 20 feet in diameter had blocked off the canyon. One side was possible to climb, but not much to hold on to. The right side was a good 15 foot climb vertical, with a little ledge about half way up. There was a sketchy rope hanging from an anchor at the top of the bolder. I had no problem scaling the wall quickly, but at the top Zeke started to whimper and moan. I ignored him and explored, but got bored, so I decided to go get Zeke. I have to admit, this was slightly sketchy and stupid, but cool. I went back down and John Khoury was at the top. I grabbed Zeke with my right arm and the rope in my left. Convincing my self this was a good idea, I started to climb with one hand up to the ledge. I got about far enough up on the ledge that I could grab his butt and push him on. So now Zeke was scared and whimpering on a ledge high up. I got Khoury to take a good stance and I got to the ledge and grabbed Zeke again in my right arm. I lifted him up to Khoury and Khoury grabbed his front paws and started to pull him up. Again I grabbed Zeke's butt and pushed him up the rest of the way. Zeke was very happy. He ran around and made noises. Chip was up there and asked how Zeke got up there. I said proudly, “I carried him up.” Then he asked, “so how is he going to get down?” Of course I had planned ahead (sarcastic) and replied, “same way he got up!” After romping about for a few minutes, I decided to get Zeke down. Everyone on the trip was going down. Chaplin Carl and a few others made it down, so I decided to take Zeke down. Chip was at the top and I decided the best way to get him down was to carry him. I got down with one foot on the ledge and one on the bolder. I gabbed the rope with my left hand and Chip grabs Zeke and tries to put him on my shoulder, but he is plopped on my head. So Zeke is freaked out and is sticking all fours out. Two of them make it over my head, one in my shoulder, and one directly in my Adam's apple. After choking for a second, I secured Zeke on my shoulder with my right hand and rapel down with my left hand. A few award positions later, we made it to the ground and I set Zeke down and he ran off. I must say that it was an interesting experience. I have gone free-climbing a lot, but holding an animal made it way more fun and interesting. Thank God that I didn't kill myself or Chip's dog.

Anyways, we left Chip, Gareth, Zeke, and Utah and headed south. For me, it was the same crazy bunch of guys with coffee, energy drinks, and techno/trance music blasting for quite a ways (if you want to stay awake for long periods of time, techno/trance and coffee/energy drinks work!). I rode a little bit in another van to get stuff done, which I really didn't. We stopped for the night in Albuquerque at the same church. Next day we left super early and drove through good weather the rest of the way back. God was very good to us on the trip back. Everything went smooth and the trip was uneventful. Our team made it back late Saturday night safely. God really moved on our trip, but in ways we did not expect. I had a great time and I believe God used us in ways we still don't even know. I was trying to recall what happened at the polygamist colony and I realized that the Lord guided our steps. He guided our steps away from that one house on the east side of the street until she could read our testimonies we had written and placed in those envelopes. Because of the Lord's timing, she was interested when we presented the gospel, the good news that salvation came by the work of God, not man. For some reason Tyler and I had been looking for Galatians 2:21, but for some reason Romans 5:8 was on my mind. All that matters is that the Lord worked through us on our trip in bigger ways then anyone of us could imagine or anyone of us could do. Our impact on the polygamist colony was huge, and all we did was tell people that Jesus loves them and we gave a little magnet to remind them of Jesus' love. I did not mention this, but as we were leaving the colony, we stopped at a house near the highway that looked like a construction workers house. Turns out it was. Cheryl, Tyler, and I went up and knocked on the door. Out comes this big construction worker. He didn't look like a polygamist, but we figured we would tell him Jesus loves him anyways. He stared at us and I peeped up, ”Uhh...We are college students on our break and we just wanted to tell you that Jesus loves you, and we have a letter and a magnet for you.” So we gave it to him and he was nice to us and thanked us for telling him that. Who knows what the Lord will do. I just want to encourage anyone who reads this to remember that you don't have to go on a mission trip, you don't even have to leave your house to show the love of God to someone. God can do amazing things. Just pray that God would be glorified in your life and watch as your mind is just blown. So often we wonder why things in life don't go according to plan, that our prayers don't seemed to be answered, whatever. So often we pray that God would glorify us, that the Lord would cater to us, that the Lord should make our lives comfortable. That doesn't seem like a good deal to God considering he did send his son to redeem us. In reality, we should pray to God for his sake and that his plan be done (his plan is way better than ours anyway, he's God). My life has been tough, but seeing what the Lord has done, I wouldn't trade it for anything. We should live our lives as worship to God and live for God. It isn't a set of rules or just being “good.” God wants our hearts on him, not what we are doing or how to better ourselves. When our hearts are in the right place, our motives should follow out of love for our Great God that cared enough to save us from ourselves if we just let him. Our team just went. We prayed that the Lord would just work, we went, and things happened, it was an awesome trip!