Letter #10 (Shreveport, LA)

Whats up??
Alright so I know I missed last week and that was totally my bad! It
has been nothing but hot here in Shreveport, yesterday was only 104 so
it was a little cooler, but this weekend is supposed to be even worse!
And to top it all off, I get to ride my bike everywhere, but hey,
that's the life of a missionary, and I would not trade it for anything
right now. These last two weeks have consitsted of a lot of knocking
doors, gotta love it. If you had told me a year and a half ago that I
would be knocking doors in the dirty south for the next three summers,
I would have told you, that you were crazy, but like I said, wouldn't
trade it. We have continued to meet with our top investigator, Luke,
almost every other day consistanly, and it looks like my first
baptisim is coming on Saturday, which would be absolutly awesome!
Many of our other investigtors continue to progress, and I see the
hand of the Lord working in their lives each day to help progress them
each day. One thing that has been crazy as we've continued to talk to
more and more people is the curiosity and controversy that Mitt Romney
is generating. Everyday people will yell at us and let us know that
they are "voting for our president", and a lot of the people who we
talk to on the streets are very curious as to what he, Mitt, believes
in with him being a Mormon. And then there is the other side of the
coin, the controversy that being Mormon brings. Its amazing how many
people try to tell me what I believe being Mormon, and don't seem to
believe me when I tell them that we don't worship Jospeh Smith, and
no, we don't believe in animal sacrafice, and yes, we do believe in
Jesus Christ. The misconceptions that people believe in the South are
crazy, and all I can do is laugh when I hear them. But the one that
makes me stoked on being a missionary is when someone calls me a
Mormon, thinking it is a diss on me! Haha silly misinformed people
don't they know what a compliment that is? Mormon was a legendary
phrophet, and will gladly be called that any day of the week! The
members continue to feed us on a near nightly basis, but because of
the temprature, and the bike, I am actually losing weight! We are
still trying to get the ward to catch the spark as far as missionary
work is concerned, and they are getting better. Its amazing to me how
much more effective members are, than us missonaries knocking on
doors. Many members are nervous about sharing their beliefs, because
they don't want to offend people, but I have seen first hand how much
the Lord prepairs the hearts of men. We don't know the events that
happen to people when we aren't with them, that are slowly prepairing
them to draw closer to Christ. It is very easy to be content with our
religon. To live it on Sunday's for three hours, but when we decide
to live full time, and share the message of the restoration of the
gospel with others, God will bless us more that we have room to
receive.

~Elder Maddox