Randsom
New Member
I served an LDS mission in the four states area of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.
It was really difficult sometimes to try to preach about Jesus to bible thumpers in the bible belt. Sometimes, it was downright terrifying.
I had only been serving less than 6 months, and I lived in Osage Beach, Mo. We would tract and knock on doors in a bunch of the neighboring towns. My companion and I had received a message from the mission office that there was a woman in Eldon, Missouri, who requested a King James Bible and a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Eldon is about 20 minutes northish of Osage beach. My companion was what is called the senior companion, and he called the number attached to the message. The woman, let's call her Katie, was a single mom and was curious about our beliefs and wanted to learn more. We set up a time to meet and finish the call. A few days go by, and we leave to make the appointment with her. Because of accountability and safety, two elders alone can not enter a home if a man at least 16 years or older is not present. So we brought along a local member of the church. We arrive, and this is when the good stuff starts.
After knocking on the door, it was answered by a young boy. I would've guessed he was around 10. I asked if his mom was home, and he nodded and yelled as loud as he could to his mom that she had company.
She rounds the corner from the hallway, and the usual pleasantries are exchanged. "Hi, how are you, I'm Elder so and so, and this is my companion, Elder blah blah." "Hello I'm Katie. Nice to meet you, come on in. Sit anywhere you'd like."
Upon entering the house, it's not hard to see that young kids live here. Toys in every corner of the family room, and I saw two boys chasing each other with Nerf guns and a younger boy sitting on the couch coloring with an even younger girl sitting next to him watching. This mother deserves a medal and sainthood.
Because the kids were so loud, Katie changed her mind on having us sit in the family room, and we walked to the kitchen. I asked her how she handled so many kids. My companion asked for the names and ages. She started with the boy who answered the door was 11, the middle son was 8, and the youngest, who was 6.
She only mentioned 3 kids, though, so i asked how old her daughter was. She looked at me confusingly. "I don't have a daughter," she claimed. " Is she just a friend over to play?" I asked. She looked even more confused now. No one else was there but her and her boys and us. "Then who was the little girl sitting next to your youngest on the couch?" I'm even more confused than she is. My companion is giving me the 'are you crazy' face, and Katie frowns, "You've seen Maggie then?"
"Maggie?" I inquire cocking my head a little.
"Maggie is the little ghost who haunts here. She's harmless though and we only see her every now and then. She doesn't really bother us." Katie brushes this off like it was nothing. Anyway, we deliver her the scriptures she ordered and set a time for us to come back, and I'll spare you the details of future appointments that spanned about a month. Then for some reason we couldn't get Katie to answer any calls. So we just chalked it up that she had lost intrest and we just hoped she would call us when she wanted to continue.
3 weeks go by after losing contact with Katie then at like 1:30 am one night our landline phone is ringing off the hook. I answer and I hear Katie on the other end. She is crying and I can hear in the background her boys are crying and freaking out too. She told me that something bad was happening at her house and she and the boys ran outside to escape whatever it was. I could hear various banging and other noises from her end. Even the call had a little static as she tried to calm herself down. I asked her what it was and she said she didn't know but it felt evil.
Now, I have to say that growing up I had heard many stories of missionaries and demons and strange crap like that but I thought it was just stories. Attempts to scare the younger kids. Now I was in a ghost story of my own? Holy Crap!
Obviously I told her we were on our way and obviously my companion was creeped out beyond reasoning. But I have always done well in crisis and was prepping my mind the whole 20 minute silent drive up there.
When we pulled into her drive, Katie and her boys were in her car and she got out when she saw us pull in. Somehow she managed to get her boys back to sleep and they were all passed out in the back seat.
Random ruckus could still be heard coming from the house and I asked Katie what happened. She said in the middle of the night every light in the house flipped on and all the door knobs started rattling. Her boys were screaming for her and it was all she could do to round them up and get outside before she lost her mind. She then relayed to us that she stopped having us around because from the first day we met, strange things had started happening around the house. She just thought it was Maggie doing things ghosts do. But as we met with her more frequently the strange things got worse. "Maggie" started breaking things, locking the boys in rooms with no locks, hiding the car keys and TV remotes. You know... Poltergeist things.
She thought it was our fault that things were getting so bad so she never asked us back. In all fairness, it made sense she would make that connection.
Then desperately she asked if we could help her. I of course jumped at the opportunity to help her and her boys. Unfortunately my companion felt he wasn't quite ready, or able to face something like this. Personally I thought he looked terrified. So I walked through the door alone.
Upon crossing the threshold all the banging and other noises stopped. A strange calm urged me further. I went to the middle of the house and commanded having authority from Christ, in his name this entity should flee and never return. There was not a single trembling door or spooky moans, or anything out of the ordinary. All was calm. Katie's house seemed brighter than it was ever before. I then blessed the house and returned outside. Katie and my companion were standing next to Katie's car and I walked to Katie and with my hand on her shoulder I told her that it was safe to go back inside.
Katie was still not interested in having us back, but she appreciated us coming out so late to help her. I warned her that there are things we do in this life that can "invite" disturbances like this to our homes. I told her to try her best to keep her house a clean and safe place. Essentially, a place you would be proud to invite Jesus to come in for a visit.
I never heard from Katie again after that, and I ended my mission without too many weird experiences.
But my home and work life have been paranormally exciting enough. But that is for future stories.
It was really difficult sometimes to try to preach about Jesus to bible thumpers in the bible belt. Sometimes, it was downright terrifying.
I had only been serving less than 6 months, and I lived in Osage Beach, Mo. We would tract and knock on doors in a bunch of the neighboring towns. My companion and I had received a message from the mission office that there was a woman in Eldon, Missouri, who requested a King James Bible and a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Eldon is about 20 minutes northish of Osage beach. My companion was what is called the senior companion, and he called the number attached to the message. The woman, let's call her Katie, was a single mom and was curious about our beliefs and wanted to learn more. We set up a time to meet and finish the call. A few days go by, and we leave to make the appointment with her. Because of accountability and safety, two elders alone can not enter a home if a man at least 16 years or older is not present. So we brought along a local member of the church. We arrive, and this is when the good stuff starts.
After knocking on the door, it was answered by a young boy. I would've guessed he was around 10. I asked if his mom was home, and he nodded and yelled as loud as he could to his mom that she had company.
She rounds the corner from the hallway, and the usual pleasantries are exchanged. "Hi, how are you, I'm Elder so and so, and this is my companion, Elder blah blah." "Hello I'm Katie. Nice to meet you, come on in. Sit anywhere you'd like."
Upon entering the house, it's not hard to see that young kids live here. Toys in every corner of the family room, and I saw two boys chasing each other with Nerf guns and a younger boy sitting on the couch coloring with an even younger girl sitting next to him watching. This mother deserves a medal and sainthood.
Because the kids were so loud, Katie changed her mind on having us sit in the family room, and we walked to the kitchen. I asked her how she handled so many kids. My companion asked for the names and ages. She started with the boy who answered the door was 11, the middle son was 8, and the youngest, who was 6.
She only mentioned 3 kids, though, so i asked how old her daughter was. She looked at me confusingly. "I don't have a daughter," she claimed. " Is she just a friend over to play?" I asked. She looked even more confused now. No one else was there but her and her boys and us. "Then who was the little girl sitting next to your youngest on the couch?" I'm even more confused than she is. My companion is giving me the 'are you crazy' face, and Katie frowns, "You've seen Maggie then?"
"Maggie?" I inquire cocking my head a little.
"Maggie is the little ghost who haunts here. She's harmless though and we only see her every now and then. She doesn't really bother us." Katie brushes this off like it was nothing. Anyway, we deliver her the scriptures she ordered and set a time for us to come back, and I'll spare you the details of future appointments that spanned about a month. Then for some reason we couldn't get Katie to answer any calls. So we just chalked it up that she had lost intrest and we just hoped she would call us when she wanted to continue.
3 weeks go by after losing contact with Katie then at like 1:30 am one night our landline phone is ringing off the hook. I answer and I hear Katie on the other end. She is crying and I can hear in the background her boys are crying and freaking out too. She told me that something bad was happening at her house and she and the boys ran outside to escape whatever it was. I could hear various banging and other noises from her end. Even the call had a little static as she tried to calm herself down. I asked her what it was and she said she didn't know but it felt evil.
Now, I have to say that growing up I had heard many stories of missionaries and demons and strange crap like that but I thought it was just stories. Attempts to scare the younger kids. Now I was in a ghost story of my own? Holy Crap!
Obviously I told her we were on our way and obviously my companion was creeped out beyond reasoning. But I have always done well in crisis and was prepping my mind the whole 20 minute silent drive up there.
When we pulled into her drive, Katie and her boys were in her car and she got out when she saw us pull in. Somehow she managed to get her boys back to sleep and they were all passed out in the back seat.
Random ruckus could still be heard coming from the house and I asked Katie what happened. She said in the middle of the night every light in the house flipped on and all the door knobs started rattling. Her boys were screaming for her and it was all she could do to round them up and get outside before she lost her mind. She then relayed to us that she stopped having us around because from the first day we met, strange things had started happening around the house. She just thought it was Maggie doing things ghosts do. But as we met with her more frequently the strange things got worse. "Maggie" started breaking things, locking the boys in rooms with no locks, hiding the car keys and TV remotes. You know... Poltergeist things.
She thought it was our fault that things were getting so bad so she never asked us back. In all fairness, it made sense she would make that connection.
Then desperately she asked if we could help her. I of course jumped at the opportunity to help her and her boys. Unfortunately my companion felt he wasn't quite ready, or able to face something like this. Personally I thought he looked terrified. So I walked through the door alone.
Upon crossing the threshold all the banging and other noises stopped. A strange calm urged me further. I went to the middle of the house and commanded having authority from Christ, in his name this entity should flee and never return. There was not a single trembling door or spooky moans, or anything out of the ordinary. All was calm. Katie's house seemed brighter than it was ever before. I then blessed the house and returned outside. Katie and my companion were standing next to Katie's car and I walked to Katie and with my hand on her shoulder I told her that it was safe to go back inside.
Katie was still not interested in having us back, but she appreciated us coming out so late to help her. I warned her that there are things we do in this life that can "invite" disturbances like this to our homes. I told her to try her best to keep her house a clean and safe place. Essentially, a place you would be proud to invite Jesus to come in for a visit.
I never heard from Katie again after that, and I ended my mission without too many weird experiences.
But my home and work life have been paranormally exciting enough. But that is for future stories.
