Stinker Pinker

Good afternoon,

We had a fun week, it's been interesting adjusting to having a new senior couple here. Lots of coordination. 

Monday we had Zone pday which was good, ate some pretty good tacos Elder Day made for the Zone, and got to talk to some new missionaries. Also played some Gatorball. In the evening we double-worked Bossier City and walked around some neighborhoods. We also got some pretty good Peach Shakes at Chick-fil-A! The night got pretty chaotic once we went in for the night and may have included (but was not limited to) throwing actual ninja stars at watermelons and lighting things on fire :)

Tuesday we had District council and the Millers came to their first Minden District council! After that we drove to Springhill and taught a lady named Uganda. Got to give her a Book of Mormon, which she promptly said she would ask her pastor about haha--people are so gullible here. Then we went back to Magnolia and since the Millers are still staying in a hotel they asked to use our kitchen. So we let them in and they made dinner for us. It was pretty good curry, but it was very awkward just sitting in a small circle in our apartment. We never have anyone besides us in there so I don't like it when others come in. They must have not liked it either cause that was they only night they did that haha

In the evening it was beautiful, we walked around and talked to some people in some nicer neighborhoods, and then went to a couple lessons with the Millers. One with David in front of a barred-up abandoned dark building by the run-down train tracks, and one by a little trailer in the trees with Becky and with Mosquitoes everywhere! A good intro to Magnolia. They were super helpful on our lessons, they are going to call David and Charlien and read with them so they remember to read! 

On Wednesday we did service at the Thrift store and while we were there I found a nice North Face Shirt, and Elder Davis found some $5000 Orange and Green (fluffy) Grateful Dead Dunks for $2 hahaha

In the afternoon we met Brother Lowther and Brother Elliott (stake auditor) for our biannual audit. It was fine except for when Brother Elliott scolded us for not doing the proper proceedures regarding fundraising even though we had no fundraiser. >:( Since one of our YW raised some money on her own, and hung it up in the church, he thought that was a church fundraiser and no matter how much we tried to explain it wasnt it fell on deaf ears. He's right that it shouldn't have been hung up in the church, but that was before I even got here tsk tsk. 

We went to have dinner with Logan and Sarah after that, and had some amazing Chicken Alfredo, Salad, and garlic bread! Very good meal and more then we expected from the newly-weds. In the evening we talked to a lot of people, but didn't have much luck.

Thursday we did service and then ran over to the church to watch David after the Millers told us how they took Charlien to a woman's shelter and she missed David so they were going to let them meet up at the church. Apparently there was some more to Charliens past that we didnt know about which qualified her for the shelter and more resources. After helping David clean the bathrooms (very obvious he does not know how to clean well) we went home and changed. Then we went and found a lady names Joel, and taught her the Restoration. After that we did some service serving up some EXTREMLY RED hot dogs at the Stew Pot food pantry. 

In the evening we had a combined RS/EQ activity and played a bunch of card and board games. Of course we paired up with Logan and Sarah since they are our age and played a bunch of Codenames and Sushi Go. We had some of our friends come too, and had lots of sandwiches. After that we taught David and Charlien at the church.

Friday was super good, we went out with the Millers in the afternoon and taught Neena the Restoration at McDonald's. She told us again that her and her daughter want to be baptized! Then we had a lesson with Xavier and put him back on date for the 23rd. :)) Xavier is so funny, when you ask him a question he sounds like he's giving an AI generated response. It's usually on topic and mostly right, but key parts and concepts are missing haha 

In the evening we went out with the Flowers and taught 4 more lessons! We taught Devunkus even though none of us could understand him very well, and then Lois. After her we went and taught Becky, and she brought some of the neighborhood kids over so we basically taught a primary lesson! The kids were super cute and smart too, one of them even sees visions and claims Jesus told him in a dream to go do a handstand in a gas station, and when he said no Jesus said, "You said you'd do anything for me right?" So the kid said he went to the gas station and did it, and then apparently this lady said that was the sign she needed to not kill herself! So there you go. I can't remember the kids names they were all Laquarious and Felicity and so on. After Becky we taught Holly who went from teasing Logan for being a new member of the church, to commenting on Sarah, to flirting with us. 

Overall the night was great, it felt like the YSA days going out with people our own age again. Also we had popsicles

On Saturday we walked the dogs and today the black dogs Marble and Dime were cracked out. They couldn't even walk forward without slowly turning and bumping into us repeatedly. Bad. Then we had a lesson that turned into a bash with Kaitlyn at McDonald's, nothing interesting to report about it though. Nothing new. In the evening we walked around with Tyre and talked to people, and multitasked because we taught him another one of the new member lessons as we went! Also the Branch got him some Sunday Clothes! Also we taught David and Charlien, and Charlien is ready for her baptism this Saturday! We are super excited for her.

Sunday was crazy and absolutely packed with meetings as usual. Was at the church from 9:30 to 3:30. I got to give Tyre the Aaronic Priesthood though which was fun!

-Abe