Mrs. R

I sat next to Mrs. R on the flight from Midland to Albuquerque on 1-5-09. She and her Family wore Texas orange shirts and had plans to attend the Fiesta Bowl to watch Texas play Ohio State. We had an enjoyable conversation about football and then family. When it seemed appropriate I asked her what church she attended. She said Stone Gate Baptist. She in turn asked me about my church. I responded that I went to the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS or the Mormon Church. She said that she had some Mormon friends and asked if I knew the Morris’ who lived in Odessa. I asked her if she knew why we were called Mormons. She had no idea. I pulled out my marked copy of the B of M and said it was because we used this book. I asked her if she knew about the B of M. She did not know what it was. We first went through the Bible / B of M picture. I explained that the B of M complimented the Bible. I asked her questions about pre-earth life, life after death and the resurrection. She believed that our spirits would be resurrected without our bodies. We then discussed the picture about “God’s Plan of Happiness”. We then read about the spirit world pg 308 and the resurrection pg 236. I asked her how she would define faith. After her response I turned to pg 289 and let her read the verse on faith. Until then I was holding the book. She took the book from me and read the verse and the rest of page and part of the second. She believed in being saved by grace and not by works. I turned back to the plan of happiness picture and talked about how faith, repentance, commandment were all works. I asked her if she believed in being born again. She said that was the same thing as being saved. I turned to Alma the younger’s conversion pg 201 and handed her the book. After reading the marked verses and then some she said that was just what she believed. I offered her the B of M. She leaned away from me and said that she was secure in her religion and did not want to change. This is the second time someone from Stone Gate has wanted to put distance between them and me and my B of M. She quickly changed the subject and we talked about her Mormon friend and how her son served and 2 year mission in the Philippines. I felt it was a good conversation. She learned a lot. My next step is to find her Mormon friend and give her an update on our conversation and a challenge to keep working with her.