10 Finding Methods

October 27, 2014

Well, this week started out great.  Elder Feller and I were on some official business outside of the mission on Monday (really) and we got to buy Burger King.  Those two Whoppers got me through the week.  Elder Feller and I have been trying to test out our mission president’s challenge to use 10 finding methods every week.  I've already mentioned some finding methods from the last weeks, but here are some we used last week:

1.  Street caricatures.  We found an older lady named Ruth that way whose son was a member, but died a couple of years ago.  I actually made a drawing of her and of her son, by request.  We have an appointment tomorrow with the whole family.  In fact, when we visited the house a couple of days ago, she said that her neighbors are talking about "the gringo that makes free caricatures."  The funny thing about this way is that everyone wants a caricature, but no one wants to be the first to do it.  It always takes us 15 minutes of nothing at first, but when someone is brave enough to do it, there is immediately a line.

2.  Family history.  We used that on Tuesday with a man named Isidor.  He just so happened to be on the street with his great-grandkids, and when we explained it, he showed us his house—a huge house, where he and his six children live.  His six children with their FAMILIES.  We met one of his sons yesterday, a great guy, and it was interesting, because he told us that two of his brothers died a long time ago.

3.  Giving out Liahonas on the street.

4.  Dropping my pen.  That's one of the few ways I feel like I can contact when passing by the market.  There are just so many people that I don’t know what to do.  So I drop my pen and hope the people behind are kind enough to tap my back.  Then I talk about how dumb I am, etc.

5.  Unknown addresses.  We try to look in this black hole list that the area gives us of members that have apparently moved away.  We contact the old house, then we contact all of their neighbors, as though we're lost.

6.  Asking for directions.  I noticed when Elder Feller and I did divisions that I need to do that every five seconds anyway.

7.  Sitting separated while on the bus.  We had a new investigator on Sunday named Ernesto who I met on the bus.  He accepted the invitation for the 29th of November, so we'll see.  The nice thing there is that we always have to use the bus to get from the offices to our area.

8.  The survey.  This is just tracting, but the door approach is that we are doing this important 3-question survey that we need help with.  The three questions:  Have you heard that Jesus Christ visited the Americas personally?, Have you heard of living prophets and apostles?, and Have you ever heard that your family can be eternal?

9.  Trying to milk referrals out of the whole world

10.  The balloon animals.  It’s incredible how that just stops a family in their tracks.  The majority of the families we contacted was that way, because in the market they sell 50 balloons for 7 soles.  The worth of a soul, right?  Anyway, we get a lot of appointments that way, including the family of a less-active member we would not have found otherwise.

It was a very fun, yet very tiring week.  There will be a lot of fruits this week, so I am very excited for that.  Keep praying for us, and keep praying for us to find families.

Love you all!

Elder Johnson