Marshmallows, Persecution, and the tears of a Hardened Criminal

Well, for Marshmallows, very simply this week we rebuked our investigator (lovingly) for believing false doctrine. We have been working to help him get baptized (and he really wants to) but due to some things that he believes currently it would be bring him condemnation rather than blessings if he were baptized. So we were teaching him, and he's a very somber man. Things can get serious pretty fast, and they were extremely tense right after I rebuked him with scripture for missing the mark (missing the point) of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We sat in silence for about 3 minutes while He looked at the ground (and hopefully contemplated what I said). He then looked up at Elder Cox, and asked "can I share with you my version of the Garden of Eden?" up to this point we had been considering whether or not this man was a false prophet, and I was extremely worried about what he was going to say. "sure!" elder Cox said. And so this man commenced "In God's living room a long time ago was a boy named adam, and in the living room with adam god placed 2 marshmallow's. One was the marshmallow of life, the other the marshmallow of the knowledge of good and Evil..." This man's fellowshipper who was in the lesson with us during this tense moment busted out laughing, and couldn't stop! the man stopped and looked at his fellowshipper for a second, but then continued. He continued for another 10 minutes, meanwhile my companion and the fellowshipper and I were working so hard not to bust up laughing! it was one of those moments that was so ridiculous you had to be there. The Persecution. Simply enough, we knocked a door and a lady opened and said "Oh, the mormons. You have no respect for women." and she went off. I sat there with my righteous pride, waiting till I could lovingly correct her, because my mamma taught me to treat women the best! and this lady was just way off in left field about us. Well, we know from the scriptures that "contention is not of God" and so we just did our best to love the heck out of this lady! we found out that this random outlash was due to a lot of challenges in her life at that time, and since we acted out of love, and didn't argue (or contend) with her we parted ways with her having a better day. In another experience this week we were able to teach one of our investigators who is just a bro! we read 3 nephi 12 with him, and at the end of it he just poured his heart out to us. He told us about the guilt and shame he's struggled with a lot of his life for the decisions that have taken him in and out of Jail since the age of 11, and he was tearing up hard (tear like crying)! we were able to testify that god loves him and that through repentance he would be able to find the relief that he's looking for. We invited him to seek forgiveness and make reconciliation with those who he has harmed. The atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and through the sacrifice of our savior we can and will find healing in our lives, for all of the hurt and short comings in our lives. Elder Johnson Have a Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad :)