Mad ducks are bad

Hi everyone we had a crazy week here!

Monday we played more Frisbee Gold, and got our frisbees in many a creek. We went out with Gene in the evening, and his old truck kept stalling haha--luckily it never died completely though! We stopped by a guy named Tre, and got to teach him on his porch! We talked about church, and the Restoration with him. He seems mildly interested. Then we went out to Garland, and visited some people out there! We met two different guys who happened to be outside, and were able to give off a referral to each of the Rowlett wards. We also talked with a guy named Daeveon about his BMW for a while. I think maybe I will get a BMW...

On Tuesday we had District council, and went put with Jack. We had a good hamburger dinner at the Nelson's, and eventually the conversation turned inevitably to the topic of pink pineapples, and if they were really worth it. Nobody knew the answer but after much research we came to the conclusion that pink pineapples taste the same as regular pineapple, and are not worth the monstrous price. We also talked about other colored fruits. The Nelson's really liked Jack as well. After dinner we had a lesson with the Watkins, and then went out to the boonies. We visited some people in Quinlan, then West Tawakani, then finally Lone Oak. We were so far out there now that we were starting to question if we should really have come out here, if it was really an effective use of time. We had one more visit to a girl named Sky, so we drove out to her place. It was 8:40 pm, dark, in the woods, and the driveway went way back and we couldn't see the house. It looked really creepy, but we decided to explore further cause there must be some reason we were there! So we walked down the private dirt driveway as it wound back into the woods. We found the house but there were some vicious barking dogs guarding the gate to their yard. So we decided to just start writing a note to leave. As we were doing that, a lady with a lantern came out and asked who we were. We told her we were the missionaries, and asked for Sky. She said "I'll go get her." Sky then came out and was extremely nice! She had just came back in town from school, and had been thinking just today that she wanted to come back to church. She said she had been looking for nearby ones, and we had come at the perfect time! She has no car but we said we could get her a ride. Then her nonmember husband came out and said "why are they visiting so late?" Sky told him that this is the time the missionaries used to visit her, and scolded him for being so grumpy haha--he said he might go to church with her! Unfortunately we had to send them over to the Greenville Elders, but they have a member right by them that can bring them to church!

Wednesday we did out Park-Your-Car day. We met some cool people while biking around. Nobody was interested but it was still cool! We ate dinner with Alejandra (our RSP in the YSA), and coordinated our efforts so we can be more unified with the RS. It was really good, Alejandra is going to do such a good job! We went out with Alex in the evening, and taught Daeveon and Robert. Alex is very good at talking to people. After our evening, we got a text from President Seitz saying we needed to cancel out other exchange, and exchange immediately the next day with a certain Elder who I will call Elder 8. He said to reach out to Elder 8, and NOT his companion. He didn't give us any more info than that.

So Thursday we called just Elder 8, told him we were going to exchange in 45 minutes, and drove out to an un-named city. I went with Elder 8's companion Elder S back to Heath. We drove back and did service at the Thrift store. Elijah was there as usual, and it's always fun talking to him! Elder S was veryyyy quiet. Throughout the day any time I would try to get to know him more he would give 1 word answers, or just say he didn't know or didn't have an opinion. He didnt seem to feel passionate about ANYTHING. And he never asked any questions, so it was very one-sided. So we ended up just staying in silence most of the time. Comp study was even worse he didn't have a single interesting thing to contribute. (This is kind of harsh, hence the name changes.) Luckily we had a fun evening out with Brother Palmer, so I got to talk to someone who actually converses again! He told us all about his company where he pumps foam into the ground to push concrete back up and make it level. He also uses it to plug leaks and lift roads! It was super fun to talk about, and we talked to some cool inactive members as well!

Thursday night we got a call from President saying to cancel our other exchange too, and to do a second day on this exchange. So Friday was the same. There was so much silence between me and Elder S it was almost funny! I started being obnoxiously upbeat and pointing out the smallest things I liked, nothing but a scowl came from my delightful friend though haha-- We did some walking around and talked to people as went to visit YSAs in Rockwall. All I was met with was gloomy silence from Elder S, and I was tempted to laugh but decided to try and keep it in. At 4:45 right as we were heading to dinner our rife for the evening cancelled, which I was not too happy about. I didn't want a night full of silence. So we decided we'd call some people after dinner and see what we could do, cause we had a lesson in Garland that we definitely couldn't drive to. We had dinner at the Thurgood's and their son Braden was in town and is going on a mission in a month! He also happened to have no plans for the evening! So you know exactly what we did...

It was super cool that God helped us out so much, and we ended up having a great night with Braden!

Saturday we exchanged back and they immediately exchanged with their DL after that. I now know all the reasons for this exchange, which I do not have time to say here, but if you email me directly maybe I will tell you! That night Elder 8 got ETed to be a DL somewhere else.

We did service at the Thrift store, and had a lesson with Jack as well! He's doing so well. We went out with Brother England in the evening, and he has a thick Tennessee accent. He is so fun to talk to, and when we visited an inactive member they proceeded to talk about guns for half an hour. Then Brother England payed $450 cash for an SKS, and we just sat and watched as various guns were handled and exchanged. It was really fun!

Sunday we had 3 inactive YSAs we've been working with show up! One even bore her testimony.

-Abe