After graduating from high school, Mathew sets out to do a two-year missionary service like everyone else his age.
Mathew thought that his only problem would be him adjusting to the city as someone who's lived in a farming town all his life. he didn...
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It was early noon, and I was sitting in with Sam and brother Joshua to have a chat with one of the people Joshua and his partner had convinced to come and sit down with us. She was a tall woman and looked like maybe she was somewhere in her twenties. We were in one of the many small rooms built for this exact purpose in our station. Joshua was talking, carrying out the lesson like we had been taught to.
"So, there's no hell?" the lady asked, looking over at Elder Joshua who had just finished speaking. I nodded, before sighing and shaking my head when I realized the girl wasn't looking at me.
"Yes, there's no hell. Heavenly Father loves us so much that the worst place he could put us in is a world like the one we live in now," I said, watching as the lady with pale skin and dark hair looked over at me. She smiled, rubbing her eyes that had dark circles under them — she seemed amused.
"Then why all this?" she asked, and I frowned a bit, looking from her to Joshua and then at Sam.
"Why what?" Sam asked, adjusting his position in his chair.
"Well, if you're not going to get punished for being a bad person, and if you're a good person you still get a good place to stay..." she trailed, pausing a bit like she was trying to remember what she had told. "The terrestrial kingdom, that's what you called it, wasn't it?" she asked and we all nodded our heads. She smiled, folding her hands.
"So, if there's no hell, what's the point of being Christian? What's the point of living so strictly like you have a stick up your ass?" she asked, and I coughed into my hand, trying to stop the laugh that had formed in my throat from spilling over. People here did have potty mouths.
"Well, human beings long to be reconnected with the father—"
"Well, I don't," she said, cutting Joshua off. I just stared blankly at her, but I spotted Sam shaking his head from the corner of my eye.
"So, we strive for completeness, completeness only a connection with heavenly father will give you," he said opening up the pamphlet on the table. "Also, wouldn't it be sad to be resurrected, and then find that you could have lived in a world filled with no pain and suffering if you had followed the gospel here on earth?"
The lady slouched on the couch, tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair. "I'm not sure. I kind of like my life as it is now," she said, and Joshua just smiled. "Besides, you said that people preach to, and covert dead people before judgment day. Why can't I just give my life to heavily father there? When I'm sure he exists."
Joshua chucked a bit, holding his hands together as he nodded. He looked like he was trying to search for how to explain things in better detail to her. He tapped the fabric of his trousers before running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. I could tell that he was getting a bit frustrated with her, but like with everything else — patience was key, so we sat there with her for another half hour before calling it a day.
