Humorous Moth

Hi, 

We had a great week! On Monday we hung out with the Flowers and played a bunch of games including Ticket to Ride! We ate some super good taco time style butritos as well, with a tasty sour cream and salsa sauce. We had a lesson on temples in the evening with Tyre, and then had a good lesson with Becky and her boyfriend and family! Cleared up some misconceptions and so forty. We ended the night by touring the campus via Mustang with Logan...reminds me of the BYU campus except not quite as good in every way. :))

On Tuesday we walked the dogs, and this was Elder Schneider's first time doing it. The big difference between him and I is that he LOVES dogs, and I despise them (with limited exceptions). So while he was cooing at and coddling his dog, I was muttering orders at mine. And guess what, they both acted the same way, the coddled one giving no appreciation for Elder Schneider's kindness tsk tsk. No matter how many pats you give them, they simply carry on with their bleak existence. Such is the hard reality we face in this human sphere.

Now if they were bears that would be a different matter...

In the afternoon we had a good lesson with Xavier about commandments, and gave him some fresh copies of the Book of Mormon so he can draw some grafitti in and on them for us! One character he is drawing for Elder Schneider is a bear-shark. :) after our lesson with Xavier as we were about to go in for dinner, we felt prompted to visit Jerry Willis first. And we were glad we did cause he invited us in and we had a good long discussion with him! Talked about the role God plays in our lives, and then had Xavier join virtually and talk about church. 

In the evening we met with Reed and taught him in the middle of the road haha-- and then we had a good study session with David and Charlien. We also found out Tyre is on the run because he's being accused of some stuff he didn't do! We aren't exactly sure what, but we know that he has enemies in town. Luckily he said he will still be at church Sunday :)

Wednesday we had a virtual mission conference, and then did some service at the Thrift Store. Got to test some interesting things such as some mini earphones with built-in mp3 players. Also our tire got another hole in it haha--so we took it into Walmart and had it fixed again! Not sure why this keeps happening, maybe we need shouldn't keep driving it off-road when it isn't necessary...

We had a lesson with Jacqueline scheduled and when we showed up she wasn't there even though she had sworn up and down that she would be there the night before! Luckily there was a guy named Charles just wandering around (as many Charles do) and sat him down and taught him! Talked about the need for a Restoration and Prophets, and had Tawanna share her conversion story over the phone! He seemed to really like that, maybe a little TOO much! He kept commenting afterwards on how mature she was, and how soothing she sounded haha--and said "maybe I will come to church" soon after. 

Then we went over to teach Paul. When we arrived we realized the house that Paul wanted to meet at wasnt even his house but his buddy Bre's house! And Paul wasnt even there yet so we ended up just talking to Bre for 20 minutes while he was drunk. Then a lady named JP showed up (she doesnt live there either haha) and just plopped herself down at our table. She then proceeded to ask for her number and promise she would call us to hear a message about Christ. Every time we started to just try abd talk with her and teach her then she just would say, "Okay, I will call you dont worry and we can talk." We were very confused at this point and then finally Paul showed up. He seemed to actually be in his right mind, so we talked to him for a bit, and then drove to Shreveport to stay the night before Zone Conference in Longview. 

Thursday we woke up early and drove to Longview for Zone Conference. It was cool because we had a General Authority Seventy there, doing a mission tour. His name is Jose Alonzo, and he was great! He basically did a giant 2 hour Q&A and taught a lot of great things! Unfortunately I promptly forgot these things so I have no specifics to share here, but rest assured he did indeed teach great things! We had a mediocre lunch with pork and chicken with rice, salad, rolls, and dessert. It was better than no lunch though! In the evening we got pizza, and then exchanged with the Brownlee Elders. We went over to one of their member's houses (Franciso), and even though we intended to teach a Gospel lesson, instead we ended up being TAUGHT a lesson on all the best tourist spots in Mexico, and the best beaches in Cancun. :) I may end up taking a quick vacation this week so the sound of the quiet sand and water can allow me to recieve revelation more easily. 

On Friday we drove back up to Taylor, and helped Brother Mass put a tread back on his Skid Steer! We also pupped it back up with grease using a grease gun to increase the pressure again. And we may have even taken it for a little bit of a drive...just to see if it would work of course. :)

The Masses also fed us dinner, and took us out to some lessons as well. We had a good lesson with Becky and her family about baptism and why it's so important. The kids loved it, and want to be baptized eventually, but Becky still must have some reservations cause she told us that reading the scriptures IS baptism of the word, which is apparently enough haha

Saturday morning we walked the dogs again, and this time we had to keep a couple of them from climbing on top of each other. They would wine and try to go where they wanted to but they met an iron will and a concrete grip. Or in Elder Schneider's dog's case a thoughtful pat and a mild but friendly rebuke. We walked around in the afternoon, and visited some people on the party streets. One group told us they, "don't want to hear the word of the good Lord when we are about to drink some alcohol!" Which is fair.

We also stopped by 3 different people who call themselves KD within 2 streets of each other! Sadly one of them vanished without a trace. In the evening we drove down to Emerson, and visited a couple that was referred to us by a member. We drove into the woods, and once you get deep inside a big cheery yellow house jumps out! We talked to Rickey who LOVES members of the Church and Utah, but isn't interested. Talked to him for a long time though it was pretty cool. We also talked to Annette who unfortunately can't come to church because she's on house arrest. :( We talked to a lady named Shardae who was interested but was also drinking lots of wine so we will see how she is sober. We also walked around between our visits and saw a guy run out of his house shirtless as a woman came quickly behind him with a broom and proceeded to chase him around the yard! Had a good lesson with Charlien as well.

On Sunday we had a good time at church. President Smith came, and I was able to help 2 more people get temple recommends! Also had a bunch of meetings as usual. In the evening we had a few good lessons and had a good talk with Logan and Sarah.

-Abe