Gargantuan Bunny

Hi people, 

We had a fun but hot week here! Sometimes getting as high as 98⁰ and 110⁰ if you factor in humidity haha

On Monday in the morning we drove down to Bossier City for pday and then exchanges, and hung out with the Brownlee Elders all day! It was a blast we even got to go to my favorite store ever--Bass Pro Shops!!! Just joking, it's an okay store, nothing special haha--not sure what all the rave is about. But we did see an alligator which was fun! We had Popeyes for lunch, and my chicken sandwich was pretty good, much better than I was expecting. After our pday in the evening I went on exchanges with Elder Gentry! Hes super funny, and laughs at literally everything (and his laugh is contagious) so it's a blast hanging out with him because he enjoys life. We met a lady named Sarah and I gave away another Book of Mormon which I've had a bad habit of doing lately haha--our mission is out of them, so I'm having to cut into my secret stash. >:) We met up with the other Elders again at the end of the evening and had a great night at their place.

Tuesday we went to district council in Minden, and then went and ate at a unmarked blue building that some people claim is called simply "Minden Seafood." It was actually pretty good though, I got the popcorn shrimp with cocktail sauce and fries which is often my choice at a place where I'm unsure about the fish. It was pricey but pretty good! After lunch we drove up to Springhill, and went out with Sammy in the afternoon! At his house he has food storage from floor to ceiling filling every room with little walkways through it all haha--its kinda crazy. We went with him to visit Tawanna, who's a recent convert that recently moved into our branch! She's really nice, but is bed-ridden. Her Grandma who has dementia also stays with her and was very delusional. But we had a really good visit, and afterwards we went and taught a lady named Carolina. She didnt seem completely there haha--she talked most of the time. To give you an idea what her life is like, she has this racoon that she likes to feed hotdogs in her backyard. 

After going out with Sammy we drove back to Magnolia, and then talked to an inactive member about gaming! He showed us some of his games, and magic cards, and I knew a lot about it all so hopefully was able to help him see that we can enjoy life and have fun AND have the Gospel. We also found a lady named Doneshia who has one leg, her step-daughter who lives a few houses down but comes over so much that she basically has 2 homes, and this guy named David (called "The David" in our area book) who isn't all there but will randomly blurt out super intelligent things when you least expect them. It's quite a group! But they are really interested in the Book of Mormon, and we had a really good lesson with them. They want us to come back every day, so we are doing our best to at least come by every 2 days. 

Wednesday we did service at the Thrift store, and tested some old electronic typewriter thingies. In the evening we drove up to Waldo, and we taught Xavier about the Restoration! We called Brother Bahr in, and he was able to share his testimony and experience with receiving revelation, which set Xavier off on a vision he just saw the other day of his future wife (he hopes) haha

He also got out his pistol and showed it to us, not a very nice gun but at least he likes us and just wanted to show it to us! 

On Thursday we walked the dogs as usual, and did weekly planning as well! They came out with a new PMG which makes weekly planning so much better, and Area Book has a feature where you can do it all in there now! Also there are 4 lessons instead of 5 now. 

We biked in the evening and taught Becky, and read in 2 Nephi 31 with her. Every week she promises to come to church, and she never does tsk tsk. After Becky we taught The David, Doneshia, and Sharlene again, this time the Plan of Salvation! We had Sister Hunter join us virtually for the lesson which was really good. The David offered to say the closing prayer, and then came and put his hands on our backs and asked some questions throughout while he prayed haha

Friday we did service at the Thrift store and I took it upon me to start sorting their awful jumble of thousands and thousands of cords. I started making a bin for every kind of cord imaginable. I only got about a 10th of the way through in 2 hours, but I made good progress. I have never seen so many micro USB cords in my whole life. I probably processed more than most peoples families go through in 3 generations! It was fun though. 

In the afternoon we drove down to Springhill, and went out with Johnny in his brand new Dodge Charger, which he is very proud of and is really excited about it. I like how much he likes it, he genuinely thinks it's really cool, and likes to tell us about it, which I admire. Most people we visited did not answer, except for a pretty much deaf inactive member. We had a good visit with him that consisted of us saying things and him saying "huh?" Or "what was that?" We gave him a blessing though! For dinner Johnny took us to Sams Southern Eatery which is one of the best restaurants! I had it in Texarkana many moons ago and it was just as good as I remembered. The fries are some of the best ever made, and so is the burger! 

After dinner we drove back and on the way visited some people out in the middle of nowhere. One house we visited the first step up to the door snapped in half when we stepped on it haha--so many abandoned houses out here!

On Saturday we had a lesson with a guy from Africa who we could hardly understand, and then we went and talked with Ronny. Runny is not a member of the church, but he was married to one at one point. He goes to Temple Square every few weeks, and to Nauvoo every few months. He knows more about the church then some members. He loves the Tabernacle Choir, he loves the church in general. Sometimes people haven't been very nice to him at church in the past, and yet he seems to just laugh it off and still likes the church anyway. He met Spencer W. Kimball, and all of the apostles at that time, and then ate a private dinner with one of them after sitting with them at a meeting. He visits the gravesites for many of the apostles that really made an impact on him often. He has a Mormon Trail Cookbook that he just likes to read, and showed us all his pictures from Nauvoo of all of the Church sites he loves haha

But for some reason he isn't a member and doesnt seem to have a desire to be one. It'd pretty baffling and on our visit we couldn't really figure out why...

After Ronny, we walked some puppies for the shelter. They didn't really know how to walk much less with a collar on so most of the time they kinda just stumbled around haha--I spent the afternoon finalizing some stuff for Sunday and making some agendas for our meetings, and then we went and stopped by every person who said they could come to church that we could think of! We went up to Waldo and down to Emerson, and all over Magnolia as well. It used an astounding amount of miles, but due to us being too careful we have an excess of them! And it was lucky we drove too because it sooo hot. 

Sunday church was good! If I do say so myself since I gave the talk haha--it went well and we had Tyre, Sharlene, David, and Doneshia show up! After church I set apart Sister Hunter as the new RSP and I think she's going to do great! Nothing else too noteable to report on, but we biked around in the evening and talked to a lot of impaired people as usual.

-Abe