Seasons Greetings,
Monday we went to the Bins as usual, and this time we found many interesting books and movies. Nothing worth buying though. Then we went to Lululemon to look for a suit for Elder Irizarry, but unfortunately they didn't have any of the blazers in stock. So we only had one choice and that was to go to the sparkly middle-eastern feeling suit store. Unfortunately after trying on every suit color they had, including the dragon suits we decided they were too cheap to be trusted haha--so we went to Dillard's and spent the next hours there because for some reason it took them FOREVER to check out when Elder Irizarry was finally getting his suit. I don't know why, you dont need ID to get a suit right?? They should just be able to charge you and go, but apparently that would be way too easy! We ate at Cane's again, and then did some other shopping and relaxed. That evening we drove back home and made some visits in Springhill. One lady we talked to named Teresa was super nice and even allowed us in to talk. It was going great until her 17-year-old daughter showed up and then kept trying to insert herself into the conversation. Talking nervously about her car, her job, her school, her nails, and other such nonsense. It was getting late so we finally decided to try and teach more another day. I also got a call from Qui-Qui (someone we met once) saying "hey pastor I really need help with my light bill can you help me pay it" and then said some sob story about how money is tight. I get these calls from people quite often, and we simply cant help everyone. We have to focus on the members, not the people who are just trying to take advantage of churches.
Tuesday morning we went to the church to help Royce order supplies for the building cleaning. After ordering more supplies then we know what to do with, we walked around the church and took pictures of spots that we need to have the FM group get power washed. It's interesting to see how many different teams are in charge of making sure things are running in our churches. We encountered a ton of huge wasp nests too, so we filled a giant bowl with dish soap and water and one by one obliterated each one. Once the soapy water hits the wasps they just start falling from the sky haha
We did some walking around the campus and talked to some cool students. One of them just said "Yes sir" "No sir" after each question and didn't seem to have any personality or life in him besides that. We tried to teach Becky again but she flaked out again. Elder Stroud doesn't even believe she exists at this point haha--this isn't helped by the fact someone different answers the door each time. In the evening we visited Victoria, and were told that they don't know any Victoria at the place we've talked to her COUNTLESS times. I'm so tired of people saying they "dont know anyone by that name!" Yes you DO! I saw them two days ago! We aren't stupid, we don't just knock on random doors and ask for random people!
Anyways sorry just had to get that off my chest, this has been happening way too much recently. People think we won't come back if they tell us nobody by that name lives there but they are wrong. We will come back MORE! If they don't want us to come back all they have to say is a simple "we aren't interested." Other than that though the night was good, we met a cool guy named Johnny who's very open to the Book of Mormon!
Then we had another lesson with Jarriod haha and it was crazy. He didn't remember 50% of the things we talked about last time and so we had to rehash a lot of the same things, and then he said he's been doing some "research." Never a good sign haha
Turns out his "research" was asking his fellow church members what we believed. So he proceeded to tell us what we believed. Not a SINGLE point he made was something we actually believed haha. So we proceeded to blow his mind again as we went over what we actually believed. He was very confused that we believed in God because he kept pointing to the Book of Mormon where it says "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and claiming that meant we only believed in Christ not God. Which is completely nonsensical. He also thought that if he were to join he would have to be a missionary, and so on. It was fun teaching him because hes so oblivious and shocked at each thing we say that you can see on his face the gears are constantly turning (or attempting to turn). We will definitely keep going back and maybe he will slowly start to understand.
On Wednesday we drove to Minden and had District council. The ZLs came and Elder Haymond gave a good training. Elder Lloyd is definitely still trying to figure it out as a DL, but he did a better job leading district council this week than last! We ate at Cottons and started the long drive home. 45 minutes in to the drive I realized I forgot my bag and so we had to drive all the way back down to get it haha
The evening was spent talking to people as usual. We stopped a jolly biker who seemed slightly tipsy, and shared a scripture with him. Turned out he's really interested and has been looking for a church! We also had a fantastic lesson with Juan and the Millers on the Restoration. Juan got back his kids from his crazy wife, and he may have some of his court charges cleared now that people are realizing his wife is on meth and actually clinically insane.
Thursday we walked the dogs, and one of them that Elder Stroud walked kept trying to jump on his so Elder Stroud finally started knee-ing it every time it tried (as he should). One of the times the dog attempted this stunt Elder Stroud stepped out of the way and it flipped around 360⁰+ and landed on its back hahaha--after that it calmed down and walked normally. We spent the afternoon taking care of tasks, and then we went and walked around some trailer parks, and found two girls (Jazz and Crystal) who accepted a Book of Mormon! We also had a good lesson on Mosiah 18 with Sonya. Then as we were heading over to teach Christina we saw a plume of thick black smoke coming from the other side of town. Christina fell through so we drove over with the Millers in tow and followed the smoke until we found the source. It was a house engulfed in orange flames. It almost looked like a fireball when we first pulled up. So of course we needed to investigate further. We walked right up next to it, and there were a bunch of fire trucks just watching it. We talked to a guy sitting at a table next door, and he said that the owner had a scheduled burn for the house since there were too many cockroaches and the house was a lost cause. We talked to Ronny for a while and turns out he and his fiance have been looking for a new church! So we gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him right there by the blazing fire! Moral of the story is always find the source of every fire.
Later that night we taught Annette and Andrew, who as usual haven't been reading the Book of Mormon sadly. Probably time to give up on them for now, but at least we had a good visit!
On Friday we had an awesome visit with a less-active member named Rebecca! She's super nice and told us a lot about her life. We were also able to find some ways we can help her, and set up some service for next week! Definitely a potential person who could become active. We did service at the Thrift store, and then in the afternoon we talked to lots of homies who were partying it up at 4 pm haha
We had some super good dinner at the Blue Bull with the Masses, and then an amazing lesson with Charlien on 2 Nephi 4 in the evening. It's cool to see how far she's come! Also felt inspired to knock a certain trailer, and found a lady named Lashonda! Which is funny because just yesterday we found a Shalonda!
Saturday after walking the dogs we spent the afternoon finalizing Sunday, and then walking around the richer neighborhoods in Magnolia. We knocked on this random guy's door and he drove up right as we were leaving! He got out and then talked with us for 45 minutes haha--he basically just vented about how corrupt Boy scouts has gotten and when they started the downward slope and so on. It was a very entertaining conversation. He also told us how much he admires what we do, and said if we ever need anything at all to reach out! He calls himself Grumpy Old Man Ed haha
In the evening we visited a bunch of referrals but as usual nobody was home because every Saturday night everyone is out drinking and partying. You can always here music for various parties thumping no matter where you are! We did have a good lesson with Becky and then with Sonya! The Millers came with us, and I especially liked our lesson on the 10 Commandments with Sonya! Sister Miller attempted to use "bearing children" to explain what "bear" means in "thou shalt not bear false witness" but it only made Sonya more confused about who's bearing false babies! Finally Sister Miller realized she should have just said "it means don't lie." Sister Miller is bold, but sometimes overly bold with people and it's funny to watch.
On Sunday we had a good church meeting, we had 43 in attendance! Which is way better than last week's 20. I also started Tithing Declaration and so I got to be on the other side of the desk haha--which I never thought I would be the one sitting down with families for Tithing Declaration just a year or two after MY last meeting. It was good though, I remembered what lots of past Bishops have down with us, so thank you to them for all they have taught me! Also got to do some interviews and we didn't get home from the church until 4 pm haha
-Abe
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