Manti Journal-3 2007

Saturday, June 16th 2007
Part 1

Every morning at Ephraim Church of the Bible Christians gather for praise, prayer, ex-Mormon testimonies and to listen to the teaching of a pageant veteran. This morning Becky had the privilege of presenting the Impossible Gospel of Mormonism. (scroll down the page from the previous link until you see the listing.) Becky did a good job and many people came up to her afterwards to thank her for sharing our approach.

Not only did Becky get to teach this morning, but she had a very cool witnessing experience in the bathroom of McDonald’s before we arrived at the church. Becky is keeping a journal so I’ll just have her tell you herself.

Today’s morning started out with a bang. We went to the showers and I had
trouble finishing up because we had planned to go to McDonald’s for the guys to
get some breakfast. It was a non-hair-washing day for me, so I decided, in order
to not have everyone waiting on me, I would just do my hair at McDonald’s since
I was not going to eat anyway. Rosanne saw my hair and advised my not to brush
it out because she thought it looked curly and nice and Keith even agreed with
me and told me not to brush it out, but I told them I felt nappy and yucky
having not brushed my hair since last night and then slept on it too. I was
adamant that I was going to go into the bathroom at McDonald’s and fix my hair,
even with Keith teasing me, telling me to take the advice of the professional.
(Rosanne is a cosmologist)

I went in the bathroom and started working on my mop-head when a lady
employee came in, used the restroom and then came over to the mirror to wash her
hands. I removed my stuff and stepped out of the way and told her she was there
for the right reasons, not me, so I would gladly step aside. She said she
understood not having time to fix yourself at home. I told her I was camping in
the park, so it was nice to have a real mirror to use. She asked why I was there
and I told her it was for the pageant. She asked where I was from and then she
told me she lived in a near by town. We exchanged names and then she told
me she had lived there all her life and had just seen the pageant for the first
time last year.

I told her this was our 8th year coming and that we were Christian
missionaries to the LDS people and coming to Manti was the highlight of our
year. She looked surprised and then said quietly, “I have been LDS all my
life but a while back, my husband and I visited a Christian church and we think
we believe more of what they teach at Christian churches than at the LDS
church!” My jaw probably dropped to the floor! I asked her if she knew
about Ephraim Church of the Bible, but she did not. I told her where it was,
since had heard about it.

I asked her if I could take a moment to pray for her and she seemed
shocked, but then we stood there in the bathroom and I prayed for her. As soon
as she finished she said, “You know, when I came in here, I noticed your
T-shirt with the cross on it, so I figured you were a Christian. Do you know
what the LDS say about the cross?” She proceeded to tell me and then she
said rather proudly, “BUT I HAVE 10 OF THEM!” We
laughed together and then she described some of them to me.

I asked her if she knew why we loved the cross as Christians. She said she
wanted me to tell her, but that she needed to clock in very soon, so I quoted I
Cor. 1:18 to her that says, “For the cross of Christ is foolishness to
those who are perishing, but to us, it is the power of God.” I told her
that I’d be back to see her, told her about the wonderful folks at the church
and that they would so love to help her and her husband. She seemed sincerely
grateful, took a tract, and left. What a wonderful way to start the day! Again,
another example of having to be ready in season and out of season. Later, I told
Rosanne and Keith that I was right…I was supposed to go fix my hair!

OK, I’m hungry so I’ll have to post our Saturday evening activities later.