The Intriguing Baton

Bonjour, 

How is everyone this week? Please respond with a one word answer describing your worldview at this moment in time.

Our week was great! Monday we had a good day in Shreveport, and we went to DixieMaze Farms for Zone Pday. Got to play some table games, and then ate pizza and spent 2 hours talking with Elder Mora and Elder Freeman! In the evening we went out and talked to people, and then we also drove around a trailer park trying to identify a house that we knew kinda where it is but not exactly. We were not successful. Then we went with the Bossier City Elders to hand out English Connect Cards at the Mexican Market! So I wrote cards while they handed them out. It was really fun. Afterwards we looked around inside and got a bunch of things to try including (the names are the official Spanish names for them):

▪︎ Some weird dry sandy PB candies

▪︎ A Strawberry pastry or two

▪︎ A filled pastry thingie

▪︎ Milky substance kinda like Horchata but better and stranger

▪︎ Some spicy and sweet leathery things

▪︎ A sweet and smooth nectar of some sort

Then when we went in for the night we played a board game as a District, and then had a feast! We ate all our findings as well as a Baked Ziti that a member gave us! It was super good.

Tuesday was district council and Canes, and I got to give the training. I talked about Obedience and Dilligence. In the afternoon we drove to Sarepta and did some sleuthing to try and find some less active members with the Millers there. We went around to different places looking for one guy named Richard with no luck unfortunately. We did have a good visit with a less active member though! Then we went and talked to a guy named Timothy who used to come to church and even went on a mission but then on his mission they had 2 baptisms that none of the ward even came to or cared about, and that paired with other things drove him away. He was nice though, and his son Jacob and Jacob's girlfriend are interested! We drove back and had dinner after we made some visits in Springhill.

On Wednesday we drove to Taylor, and helped Brother Mass fix his Track Loader (or Skid Steer if you want to use the wrong name for it, which I do)! It was super fun, they have the biggest ones you can get so it weighs over 11k pounds. The problem is it isnt built to handle itself so it's constantly breaking. I got to pilot it and push it up by its bucket, and then we removed the tread (which is extremely heavy), and removed the offending wheel (the bearings were shot). Then we had to replace the wheel, and replace the tread. We then had to pump it back up with grease using a grease gun so the tread would be tight. This whole process took about 2.5 hours, but it was pretty fun! Then we ate at the Tiger Den, which had excellent fries. 

In the evening we went out with Elder and Sister Miller, and had 5 awesome lessons! We taught Marquil the Restoration, and then Christina as well! We taught Charles who was definitely drunk, but it was still a good lesson. Felt like we made some progress at least in getting the Book of Mormon videos on his phone. We also had a good lesson with Charlien, and then with Charlien's friends she's been teaching! Sharlese and her family have been learning from Charlien, and now they want to come to church!

On Thursday we went from service to The Kitchen Table with Royce again. The cheesecake was amazing, and so was the meatloaf. Then we went and taught Tatyana and Randy, and since they won't read the Book of Mormon on their own we read with them. We had a meeting with the Millers, and then did service at the Stew Pot. Another girl from SAU named Gabrilla was there too, and the whole time we were serving food she talked about her fascination with murderers, and her love for chocolate haha--it was a very strange few hours. Thursday evening we taught Sonya and Charlien joined us. She LOVED church and said she felt so welcomed! She will be coming back with her 2 daughters and all of their kids as well. :))

Friday we walked the dogs, and it was a beautiful day!! It was super stormy, and started raining a light rain the whole time we walked them. It was so refreshing, and made it actually pleasant to walk the dogs. If only we didnt have any dogs and the walk would have been perfect! They kept shaking themselves off every few minutes and spraying water at us. And as we walked on the train tracks they were slipping around all over the place.

I worked on some agendas, and then had a lesson with Kaitlyn. Which was very frustrating, we basically went over the need for Prophets and the Book of Mormon as we always do, she asked why we need to do works like baptism as she always does, we proved her wrong with the Bible as we always do, she said "I'll have to look into that" as she always does, and we made no progress. It's like teaching a wall. If it weren't for the Sisters telling us not to give up on her cause they referred her, we would have dropped her after lesson one (1) tsk tsk. Then we ate Breakfast for Dinner with the Masses. It was quite good, but I would rather have dinner for breakfast personally. 

We had 7 lessons set up in the evening but unfortunately only 2 of them happened. We also walked around and talked to some people, including some surly people in a truck who wouldnt even give us their names and just kept saying "we know who you are" when we tried to have a conversation with them. We also drove down to Shreveport in preparation for the temple on Saturday!

I got a call from a member complaining about how the Millers stopped by and proceeded to list all of their health challenges and how they can't have anyone coming even remotely close to them haha--so in other words they are living like hermits, and are so scared of sickness that they arent even living much of a life. At some point you just have to realize that you are going to die at some point and just go from there haha--luckily my experiences dealing with angry customers prepared me to be understanding and comforting rather than unsympathetic and annoyed as I felt deep down! 

I've also had some other interesting calls this week involving the hand sanitizer machines at the church and how they need batteries. And then I keep reassuring him we will get some, and then he forgets the entire conversation and we have it again 2 days later haha

Saturday morning our whole district piled into a van, and the back was only meant for 5 people but all 6 of us fit in by stuffing 4 in the back! It was a blast driving to the temple with the whole district. Also got to stop at Bucees and finally tried the Brisket Sandwich! It was quite good, but definitely overpriced. We did get a picture with Bucee though. As soon as we went from Texas back to Louisiana the roads almost instantly got worse haha--and we definitely got some air on some of the bumps while we were in the van! 

Sunday was super good! We had 52 attend which is the highest its ever been. 8-9 of those were friends we are teaching. It was super cool, and then we had an amazing Linger Longer After with a ton of dips, Crackers, cheeses, salsas, and chips. And tons of Root Beer floats. Logan and Sarah spoke which was great, and we taught them a temple class again as well. Logan shared his conversion story which unsurprisingly Sarah played a big role in. I think that's all I have time to write haha

-Abe 

Wine

Hello people and animals (if there are some on this list),

We had a good week, including lots of driving! Its a good I like driving. We spent pday in Shreveport with our district. We did shopping, and then when lunch time came we were considering eating Canes again, but then we passed a restaurant called "Yeero!!! Yeero!!!" and I knew what we had to do, I just wasn't sure if we had the strength to do it. We went inside and we were immediately no longer in Shreveport, we were in Greece! The music, the ornamentation, the atmosphere, the seats, the decoration, the bathrooms, and everything else was in stark contrast to Louisiana where we had just been. Even the bathroom was extremely fancy, and had an air of aristocracy. We sat down in seats that weren't quite long enough to sit in comfortably, and stated perusing the menu. After much deliberation we ordered, and eventually our food came. The food was exceptional, better then anything Canes could hope to deliver. I got the Gyro of course and it was one of the great ones I've had for sure. We will definitely try and return.

In the evening we worked Bossier with the Brownlee Elders. We walked around the hood for a bit, and talked to some kids who kept trying to challenge us to a basketball game. We also saw some pretty Casino + Sunset shots haha--and we walked around some dark neighborhoods.

Tuesday we had interviews with our mission president, so District Council was a little later in the day. We had a joint comp study with Brownlee, and then had our district council and interviews with President Taylor. He gave some good tips for how to make Branch Council meetings more effective! Then we went as a District to Waffle House which was good as always. We visited some people in Springhill, and taught a lady named Teresa. Gave her a Book of Mormon which she gladly accepted. Then we drove back to Magnolia and ate a good meal with Royce, his granddaughter Tatyana, and her boyfriend Randy. Tatyana made some super good pork chops (which is the first time in my life I've had good pork chops I think haha), Mac and cheese, cabbage, sweet potatoes with butter, and Cornbread. Everything was super good! Then we read in the Book of Mormon with them afterwards. Also I forgot to mention that for breakfast we made my new idea: Mac and Choc! We switched the cheese powder in a Mac and Cheese box with a packet of hot cocoa. It was very interesting.

On Wednesday we walked around campus and talked to some people. It's BUSTLING these days, everywhere you look are cars, and there's always students out and about. We also walked around in Waldo, though unfortunately everywhere you look are abandoned houses. So you can only rely on about 1 in every 3 houses actually being inhabitants. We learned that David's Grandma passed away, so we had a good lesson with him reviewing the Plan of Salvation and the hope it gives us. Charlien joined us for that lesson. We also stopped by some others in South Magnolia, and ran into lots of interesting things, including but not limited to:

▪︎ A foundation of a house that was pouring water out of its crevices

▪︎ A zombie (some people in this area just wander around with vacant looks in their eyes haha)

▪︎ Tiki torches for some reason

▪︎ A really tall guy who wears his pants very low and it seems to impede his progress (but only mildly)

▪︎ A racoon

▪︎ A lifted Lincoln Truck

▪︎ Many burned down houses, one of which had thumping music coming from within!

On Thursday we walked the dogs. I was walking one who I have nicknamed "The Uggliest Dog at the shelter" and Elder Schenider has nicknamed this same dog as "The Cutest Dog at the Shelter" tsk tsk. Not only is this dog ugly, but it kept trying to jump up on me. Which all dogs quickly learn is not a smart decision...no hugs come from me! After service we walked around and stopped by some of our interested people. As missionaries we often get counsel from mission leaders saying "make sure to be finding all day, not just in the evening" but then whenever we have time to follow this counsel WITHOUT FAIL nobody is home. Not a single visit panned out haha--and this is nothing new. People simply aren't home at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday. Then we had a mission-wide Zoom meeting for the departing missionaries to share their final testimonies. As usual each one was almost identical, I need to make a departing testimony bingo. President Taylor also unveiled the mission-specific standards which he released as if this is Apple and hes releasing the latest iOS haha

We also did some service at the Stew Pot, and then had a Branch family history activity! We were able to help get Charlien and Tyre set up. We also had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Tatyana and Randy. 

Friday after the Thrift store we went and found a guy named Adrian! He is very interested in the Book of Mormon and has lots of questions. As we taught him another lady came by and kept trying to say how we aren't supposed to ask questions cause that's questioning God haha--and we kept trying to explain that questions are actually good! We have Adrian a Book of Mormon. We also talked to some others at his house because we meet new characters every time we go to this house! Later in the day we taught Joel, and then in the evening we taught Marquil. We walked around and felt prompted to knock a certain house. A guy named John answered and he goes to SAU and is looking for a church!! We also met a lady named Laquisha and a guy named Louise who we think is interesting but we can't tell because he only really speaks Spanish. :))

On Saturday we woke up at 3:40 and drove to the Bahrs house and drove from there with them and Charlien to the temple. Charlien was able to do baptisms, and then Royce got sealed to his wife finally! He's been wanting to for the longest time but just recently was able to get his temple recommend. It was awesome. A bunch of other missionaries who have been in Magnolia at some point or other came as well! Its always great going to Sealings and talking to the Sealer. I got to be one of the witnesses :). Now I've gotten an opportunity to help people recieve every ordinance except for Endowment I think hehe

In the evening we taught a drunk guy who claimed that it was okay to drink cause Jesus turned water into wine! We also invited a ton of people to church.

Sunday we had a good church service, Elder Schneider spoke and I did a piano musical number. Our friend Sonya came and brought her family which was cool! In the evening we got to teach Logan and Sarah the first lesson of temple prep.

-Abe 

Roast Beast

Good day, 

This week was crazy, for some reason I had thing after thing come up that I had to deal with all week, so I'm glad to have some time to rest right now haha

Monday was great, we did shopping as usual, and had a lot of fun at the bins. We tried to find somewhere good to eat lunch, but all our favorites were closed. So we decided on a whim to venture into a sketchy Chinese buffet, and it turned out to be the best decision we could have made! The food wasn't amazing, but it was pretty good all things considered, and I ate lots of potstickers as usual. We drove back up Monday evening, and did some stopbys in Sarepta. Unfortunately all the addresses were fake or at least impossible to find. On our way through Springhill we felt like we should go see Tawanna, and she was sad when we walked in because it was Labor Day and she was missing out on all the festivities. We talked to her for a bit, and she slowly started cheering up, and then we learned she'd just barely read the sacrament prayers today! And it was cool because we just happened to have the sacrament supplies with us, so we gave her the sacrament too.

On Tuesday we did service and then Royce took us to "The Kitchen Table" again and we had some good food! I love the Hotwater Cornbread, and the cheesecake was amazing just like last time. In the afternoon we basically were in meetings the whole time haha--We went over to the Millers for a coordinating meeting and they had some good ideas and thoughts on activities and Callings and food and people and meetings and topics and so on and so forth. It was all good but it was wayyyy too much to address in one meeting tsk tsk, sometimes people need to realize that one thing at a time means that that one thing will actually happen. So we were talking with them for hours, and then I immediately went and met with Brother Lowther for another hour and we did Tithing and worked on some other things.

In the evening we went and taught Jacqueline and Charles, and there happened to be a new lady who was just loafing around in their carport too! (This is normal.) And then there were three. We taught them the restoration, and Sister Bahr was able to join virtually and really brought the spirit with her thoughts. We met a guy named Tydrick after that, and he's intrigued by the Book of Mormon, so that was cool too. We also taught Lois, and then Randy and Tatyana at Royce's house. Randy is interesting, he seems disinterested when we teach him, but then he will say something really insightful that shows he's listening really well. He also gives us hugs even though we've only taught him a couple times, but it's good I guess! 

Wednesday we drove with the Millers to district council, and the ZLs came too. I really like Elder Mora, one of our new ZLs! District council was good, and ended with us exploring the weird old church building with the Baptismal font on the stage. :) We ate lunch at Cottons and drove back with the Millers. Sister Miller is an unending stream of good ideas, she can go for hours and hours haha--by the time we got back we had accidentally agreed to another musical number idea, 2 more activity ideas, and another meeting. In the evening we went and talked to a nice old lady named Vivian. And boy can she TALK. She told us about every aspect of her life, and was very kind to us. It was good, but unfortunately shes pretty set in her church. I also had an hour-long training meeting with the Stake Clerk, and David asked us to help clear out the stuff in his house. We went over at 8:15 and went in and I have never seen such filth haha--everything was covered in bugs, dirt, or crusted on food. Everything was strewn accross the floor, and there were loads of paper plates with food remnants everywhere. There were roaches, and probably rats too. All the furniture was decaying too. It brought us great satisfaction to throw every last piece of junk out of that infernal place onto the curb or into the trash! I don't know how some people live like this haha

On Thursday we walked the dogs in the morning, and nothing interesting happened unfortunately. Just the same dumb dogs. Maybe there will be something interesting about them on Saturday so stay tuned :)

After lunch we were doing some studying at the food court on campus, and a guy came up to us and tried to manhandle our beliefs tsk tsk--he asked us all these questions and was trying to show us kindly how we are going to hell if we don't stop going to this false church. He had some good points so finally we got up, promptly called church headquarters, and got our records removed! So thats that.

Just joking, I don't know what he was expecting us to do haha-- bathers rarely have any logical bones in them, and they are so blinded that they can no longer see things objectively. We should have ended the conversation sooner, but there kept being holes in his reasoning that were just too tempting to pass up...

Due to the basher we got behind on everything, but we did eat at a Chinese Buffet the Millers took us too and Elder Schneider got the phone number for the one Chinese lady in town! 

That evening we taught Charles, Annette, and Dallas. Dallas is our age, and lives at a frat house kinda, except it also has several girls staying there too haha--so while talking to him there were many antics going on all around us, and everyone just seemed unfazed that we were in the midst of it all. Dallas wants to come to church which is cool! He says he will if he isn't too hungover :)) Cam also wants to come, even though he looks like he wants to look too cool for all that. 

Friday I had to take care of everything I was behind on which took about 3 hours, and then I practiced for a musical number Im doing. We also did service at the Thrift store, and in the evening the Masses drove us out to the lake to eat with their nonmember friend Betty! It was nice eating on the lake basically, and they made us ribs. They were pretty good but would have been better if their were no bones (bones are for dogs). We also taught Tatyana and Randy the rest of the lesson. They were trying to go hang out with friends but Royce told them they have to stay for a lesson with us. And to our great surprise they did! Even though they are both early 20s haha

Saturday we walked the dogs, and they are tightening down security at the shelter because the dogs have started escaping! Specifically one of the dogs, named Buck. He seems normal enough, until you realize he has the power to take off like a rocketship instead of jumping like a normal dog. It was super nice outside which was good, and despite the beautiful weather one of the dogs kept trying to stop and rest cause it was breathing so hard. 

In the evening we taught Jacqueline and Charles again, which went really well! They loved it, especially Jacqueline got really excited about it all! 

Sunday as usual was completely packed. Nothing super notable happened, everything was meetings and administrative work.

-Abe