"The Streets Took Him"

Horchata,

This week went by extremely fa5t! It was a blast 

Monday I went on exchanges with our DL Elder Bagley. It was fun, there's some things he does that confuse me, but he's still cool. We taught some janky lessons, and then walked around an apartment complex and knocked some formers. We found a couple new people to teach! We also stopped by these people who weren't really interested in a message, but they WERE interested in Pamphlets so we gave all 8 of them one. We just passed pamphlet after pamphlet down the endless line until everyone had one. After that we walked around the complex more, looking for a  certain apartment. The only problem was, the person who made that apartment complex must have randomly assigned what buildings have what numbers, cause there is no order at all haha--We finally found the right one after just wandering in circles.

Tuesday was so much fun. Elder Rainey and I went on exchanges. On our way back to New Boston we stopped at the Texarkana church building to grab something stuff. On our way the fire department showed up and said they needed to inspect it sometime. Elder Rainey and I had a quick unspoken conversation, and then decided to wing it and pretend we knew what was going on haha--Someone from the Stake Presidency was definitely supposed to be there, but I'm sure nobody will care--so we let them inspect it and then signed all the paperwork. No harm done :)

We got back to New Boston and decided to eat cheese for lunch! It was really good we just ate Parmesan cheese and melted other cheese and ate it. :) Then we did comp study and language study and talked about Cameras throughout. Later in the afternoon and talked with accents as we walked around. We found a new person to teach also!

For dinner Elder Rainey made the best pork chops I've ever had! They were so flavorful. Afterwards we explored the treasure trove that our commissary shelf is (nobody quite knows everything it holds for the world).. We found some singular New Testaments and then Elder Rainey dared me to give out a Bible and I dared him to give out a New Testament haha--it was on! So two dudes caring Bibles and New Testaments were now walking around through the neighborhoods of New Boston. Every single person we saw had no choice but to encounter these two strange men. We attempted to share a scripture from the Bible or New Testament with every person, and it worked! We completed our challenges to each other and found 3 new people to teach! It was hilarious especially to give out just a New Testament, it's so thin and sad haha

When we gave it out, the guy we gave it to lit up and his whole demeanor changed! He loved getting it.

We gave out some copies of the Book of Mormon too, it's super fun to give stuff out.

Then as we were doing Facebook afterwards, I friended a guy and then stated my purpose as a missionary. He then called me!! We taught him, and got a return appointment. He said he wants to come to church! It was so cool, I love finding people through Facebook, it has been working better and better the longer I do it.

After we got home we made a gallon of Strawberry milk which we drank most of as we relaxed. It was a fun night!

On Wednesday we exchanged back, and then called a bunch of companionships to help them improve their Facebook efforts. It's really fun to talk with different companionships and be able to counsel about their unique areas and challenges. Elder Maisey also found someone on Facebook which was awesome!

Thursday was crazy, we woke up very early and got on the road to Longview for Zone conference. It was a fun drive, on the way we got hit with a sudden gigantic storm. It was pouring soo hard and there was tons of lightning and thunder. The visibility got very bad, and that's when you know it's a true storm, not just the wimpy kind. It was so fun, we had to vacuum our car so we pulled in to a deserted car wash (I wonder why 🤔 ), and vacuumed our car. Zone Conference was really good as usual, President Seitz knows what he's doing for sure. After Zone conference the ward in Longview made us nachos, which were super good. President Seitz has us do "relatives around me" while we ate, so it was fun seeing everyone we were related to. The closest relationship I had just said "close relative" haha--must have been so close that the exact relationship was private. 

After Zone conference our district hung around in Longview and did interviews with President and Sister Seitz. We hung out with our Zone leaders while we were waiting around.

In the evening we drove back to New Boston and were immediately picked up by some members to head over to the Watsons for a member dinner. It was a feast of corn, chicken pot pie, nachos, salsa, salad, fruit, enchiladas, artichoke dip, cookies, cake, and ice cream! It was really good, I naturally ate 4 plates. I'm still trying to bump my companion's habit of only getting one plate to at least 2! After eating we realized that it was time to BE back home and we were in Avery which was 40 minutes away! Actually now that I think about it, we would never be back late, so ignore what I just said. ;) Our drive back was very fun, it was dark and raining which is my favorite combination! They drove us a weird way through the Boonies. It was fun seeing how big our area really is! It's like an hour drive to cross it horizontally, and even longer vertically.

Friday we had a lesson with a friend named Amanda, and attempted to put her on date. We explained Priesthood authority (and how it's necessary) very well and had the Watsons with us and they were very blunt about it too. But then Amanda still said she's not sure and that she might get Baptized in another church instead. She said "would that stop me from being able to study with yall, cause I really like studying with yall" and Brother Watson basically said "yes" haha--she didn't commit to baptism but she said she'd think about it. So we will probably drop her. Other than that Friday was full of planning, meetings, and street contacting. 

On Saturday we did a bunch of biking, and besides teaching 5 lessons our day was kind of slow. One guy named Anthony we taught was hilarious though, when we asked him to say the closing Prayer he asked us to pray too. So we said three consecutive prayers haha--I felt very Baptist. 

Sunday was super cool, someone we found on Facebook came to church! It was really cool, she liked it a lot. Then after church I found a new person on Facebook! It was cool, now I've found 3 and my companion found 1 also in the last couple weeks from Facebook alone. So that goes to show that Facebook CAN be used for good regardless of what it may seem. 

We also met with Mark again, and he told he has started getting sick everytime he has coffee, so he has had to drink less and less! So that's yet another miracle haha, Mark is so close to baptism. :)

Explanation of title (yall are lucky I'm explaining it, you may never get this again!):

I was talking to the Shreveport Elders and they apparently lose half the people they are teaching every week haha due to one of 3 reasons which is always told to them by whomever the new residents are:

1. "Got shot"

2. "Went to jail"

3. "The streets took him"

They said they never know what that last one means, but it's just something that happens in Shreveport!

-Elder Neilsen