La Villa Strangiato

Bonjour, j'espère que tout le monde passe une bonne journée!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Anything of note happen? Hopefully someone made a faux pas or two. Please report to me if this did indeed happen.

Monday here was good, we went down to Bossier for pday, and got to meet our new district members. My companion and I made everyone a surprise Breakfast Momday morning of Eggs, cheese, onions, bacon, sausage, SunnyD, juice, buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk syrup, maple syrup, Strawberries, raspberries, bananas, German Pancakes, and much much more. :) We woke up earlier than everyone else and made it in silence. There were a couple of roadblocks on the way such as a motion-activated fish trying to talk loudly to us and the blender not working, but we got it down. Except at the end the sausage made so much smoke that all the smoke detectors went off and woke everyone up haha--but it was still good! We also helped the ZLs move their couch out to a new place (not sure I've ranted in email about it but the new policy where missionaries aren't allowed to have couches is the most ridiculous piece of garbage I've ever heard. Senseless and clueless decision. But I suppose we do our best to comply anyway, luckily we already had no couch. We are adults, sometimes I wish they'd treat us like it instead of treating us like children.) 

After that we went shopping at Lululemon and Elder Mora got some new shorts, and Elder Andersen got some pants to replace some old ones he had. We also went to the game store and some gruff fellows asked if we would play a game of Magic with them. We decided it couldn't hurt, so we sat down with them. A couple hours later they had wiped the floor with us haha--which is what Magic players like to do. It's a fun game to play, but ne careful never to get into it to the point these fellows were. It will consume you entirely. A bit about the new district members:

▪︎ Elder Miller (different Elder Miller than the older model of Elder Miller)-- seems nice, quiet guy and depressed as greenies often are, but has a good desire to work and seems like he will open up more as time goes on

▪︎ Elder Andersen -- He has his good moments. The rest of the time he's super prideful, sarcastic, grumpy, and bossy. He's basically the epidemy of what I've been working my whole life not to become. He's 3 transfers in and already acts as if he knows more about the mission then everyone else including his comp Elder Irizarry who's 16 transfers in :)

All of that seems pretty harsh, and it is. But that doesnt mean we don't get along or that I won't grow to like him. He will be humbled at some point, and things will just start to click. I do like his desire to do what's right and his want to have fun with everyone! It's just very poor execution sometimes. I'm grateful to have him here so that I can know how to temper any tendencies similar to his that I have!

Monday evening we got Canes as a District (not me, I'm boycotting them for charging for extra sauce >:( -- just joking, just didn't feel like it). I went on a mini exchange with Elder Miller which was fun. We stopped by some referrals and inspire knocked a few doors too. I felt a prompting not to knock a certain door as we were walking up to it, and so we did a different one. Then I asked him if there were any doors he wanted us to try before we headed to our next visit. He expressed that we should try the one we had skipped and that we needed to give them a chance too haha--so I of course obliged him, don't want to shoot a greenie down by saying I'd felt contrary to what he said. We went and knocked it and proceeded to get angrily barked at for the next 5 minutes by this lady telling us we needed to read the REAL Bible and pray about it and how we are going to hell etc etc hahaha--also she had a mean dog that kept nipping at our pants so I kicked it. :)) After we left I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, sometimes people are just mean and maybe she will accept it some day but that still didn't stop him from never pointing out another house the whole night hahaha

Tuesday was district council, and then we went to Springhill to visit the Jacobs. They specifically said we needed to some because they wanted to "make me aware of some things." All managers and leaders know a complaint is coming before it even comes haha--they sat us down and then proceeded to complain about how they got served food they couldn't eat at the last Linger Longer, and some other related issues. I was of course very understanding, you just have to validate people's concerns. Dealing with complaints is always annoying, but I've gotten used to it at this point. In the evening we taught the Restoration to a guy named Lewis which was great, and then we taught a girl named Neka! She's really interested and even was the one who went up to missionaries and not vice verse! She wants to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and then meet and talk about it for each chapter in it! Which is super cool, and she wants to come to church. Also had a good lesson on 3 Nephi 11 with Sonya.

On Wednesday we walked the dogs. One of mine was so scared of cars and trains that he would just take off in pure TERROR everytime so much as a golf cart would pass. So when a giant logging semi came past he tried lay down so flat that he basically WAS the ground haha

The afternoon was great, after my administrative work we went to some areas we don't go very often and met some really interested people. One of then is named Vicki and she's been searching for a church and really wants to read the Book of Mormon! She also works at the hospital and wants us to come and teach the people she serves there!

We also met a "fitness pastor" of sorts, who talked about how he is a personal trainer who also uses the Bible to teach health and so forth. He also told us he is smarter than every doctor. :) which is a bold claim sir! He was nice though and gave us some health and Bible study advice. Wednesday evening we also had quite a bit of success! Met a lady named Jennifer who gave us her number in the first 20 seconds talking to us cause she's interested! We also saw a house using an old bathtub on its side to place Christmas decorations on in their yard. 

Thursday was great, President Taylor decided last minute to make it an all day additional pday! So that was super fun, we ate a strange Thanksgiving dinner of Stuffing, Turkey, Gravy, tacos, and pie with the Millers and Morales family. Then we relaxed and talked to family the rest of the day! At one point we decided to wander around the deserted campus and did some flips and things which was quite enjoyable, but other than that the day was quite uneventful. It was great to talk to everyone, I'm grateful for all of you!

Friday morning we went up to Stamps and Waldo to visit some referrals and less active members. We found a lady named Melissa who said her and her husband really needed our message and want to come to church! So she said to come back in an hour when Derrick was going to get home. Then when we came back Melissa was out running errands, and Derrick pretended to have a stomach ache so he couldn't talk to us even though we knew he just got home from work hahaha

We also went to a lot of nicer neighborhoods in the afternoon, and everybody we talked to wasn't interested and did the old fast-walk-away-and-pretend-you-have-somerhing-super-important-to-get-to-so-that-you-dont-have-to-talk-to-us trick. In the evening we taught Shakoya the Restoration and she said she will start reading the Book of Mormon but kept repeating herself and trying to make very clear that she's a Baptist and would ONLY be going to the Bible for peace or guidance and not the Book of Mormon haha--she repeated that like 4 times at the end of our lesson. I dont get why people are so attached to the 66 biblical texts tsk tsk, just open your mind for once! We aren't trying to take the 66 biblical texts away for crying out loud, just trying to give you more! But at least she's going to read a little bit she said. We also taught Becky  with the Millers and had an amazing lesson on how important praying about the Book of Mormon is, and watched the Moroni 10 video with her and Farod! The Millers were super helpful and bore some powerful testimonies about why we are even here! We also practiced for our duet which I think will be really good. We encountered many cute cats which we had no choice but to pet, some of them even try to come with us. Elder Stroud always wants to knock the ones that, coincidentally, have a cat!

Saturday we walked the dogs and I walked a puppy who didn't know how to handle a leash, so whenever he would reach the end he would get jerked back because of his momentum forward. And he didn't even learn from his mistakes haha

In the afternoon we taught a lady named Jaz who is super intrigued by the fact that our church is worldwide and sends missionaries all over! It was really cool talking to her cause she was asking US  questions! We also talked with Gracie again and she knows Sarah and likes her a lot! Gracie and Macy her friend both want to come to church too. And she has the same bag as me which is always a good icebreaker because I wear it front facing and people who share the same bag notice it. We talked to Jasmine who said she needed to use the bathroom and would be a while so we should come back in 20 minutes. When we came back she didn't answer though sadly. In the evening we found a lady named Aletha who let us in and talked to us about the Book of Mormon! We helped her download the app right there and get her right to chapter 1 so she can start listening. We also tried to visit Reed and right as we were about to knock a guy said that they don't want to be bothered by us. Even though Reed told us a few hours earlier to come by. So we told him that but the guy seemed to be trying to get us to back off so we turned and left. Then we called Reed and he was just confused haha--so I don't know what that guy's agenda was. 

On Sunday we had Blanca Morales and her grandchildren come to church! It was really cool, Brother Bahr last second went and translated the meeting live for her into Spanish! It was really cool! And she was in tears by the end of the meeting. Elder Stroud gave a great talk. Also Erik Russell who we try to get to church every week came and taught Elders Quorum. Other than that the day was full of Tithing Declaration and meetings.

-Abe

The Extremely Silent Banshee

Good evening folks, 

How was everyone's week? Anything interesting happen? Don't worry I will not ask you to actually reply to these hypothetical questions--it would be such a shame if you had to move your fingers a few extra times to type up a feeble reply!

Monday was great the Minden Elders came up and we went shopping and ate at Panda express. I can never tell how good P.E. actually is because I think my opinion is skewed because I love Panda Bears so much! We also went and hung out with Logan and Sarah and played some super fun party games. Maybe some of you (*cough cough* malachi) will recognize what we played...

The evening was fun too, I went on exchanges with Elder Ward, and we walked around some VERY dark neighborhoods and talked. We met some cool people too, including a lady named Breanna who's interested in the Book of Mormon! We also saw a small car with:

1. An SAU sticker

2. Hanging knick-knacks from the mirror

3. A Fluffy pink steering wheel

4. A sparkly license plate holder

Upon finding the required evidence, we determined that there was an indeed college student at said residence, so we knocked. We were right (as we always are, we've become pretty good at profiling)! She came out and was really interested in learning more! We were able to share a scripture and talk about the Book of Mormon with her. We also played some Jenga that night and got transfer news. Elder Stroud and I are staying thankfully. Unfortunately Elder Ward and Elder Haymond will be leaving us though. :(

On Tuesday we drove down to Minden for district council, and had a really good meeting! We learned that someone the Brownlee Elders are teaching said "I know all about you Mormons, I once tried to break into your temple!" Turns out many years back she climbed the fence at Temple Square (not knowing it's actually open to the public) and started climbing the Salt Lake Temple so she could break in and see what it was like inside hahaha--she was caught and they asked her to not do that and let her go. 

For lunch we had Subway, and then went with the Millers to Springhill where we visited with Tawanna. She was happy to see us as usual, and might be getting her Patriarchal blessing on Sunday hopefully! In the evening we walked around and ran into a guy named Patrick who was also knocking one of the houses we were visiting! So we struck up a conversation and then when Glenda came out we shared a scripture with both of them haha--Then Patrick offered to say a prayer, and I don't think I've ever heard someone say "Father God" so many times in a 2 minute span in my whole life! It was a good prayer though.

Then we went and taught Jarriod and oh man that was a crazy experience!! He invited us in as usual and he asked us some of the same ignorant questions as he did last time, showing his inability to listen properly. Once we got through the preliminary questions though we got to meat of the thing! He asked who we think goes to hell, and so we dove into the Spirit World. As we started talking about it his face showed utter disbelief and maybe a little horror haha--and then he kept interrupting us with what it's and not letting us finish. So we spent an entire 40 minutes on just covering what could have been covered in 5 minutes if he would let us finish speaking! Also he thinks everyone has equal opportunity to accept the Gospel and doesn't think we get any more chances after this life. When we brought up certain African countries and China, etc. he just kept saying "look at all the churches around us, there are plenty of opportunities!" As if that's how it is everywhere haha

Also he kept giving us scenarios if people and asking us to say if they are going to hell or not, and we kept replying that we don't judge, thats for God to do. But then he would say that ISN'T judging, even though that seems like the EPIDEMY of judging to me! But I guess deciding someone's eternal fate based on who they are is only SOMETIMES judging. Anyway we finally had to go, just wait until he hears about the 3 kingdoms of glory hehe! Also he kept saying that the Bible said things that it doesn't. He would take common sayings, and then say "as the Bible says" and then spout something that the Bible does not say haha

Wednesday we got to test a bunch of electronics at the Thrift store. We walked around the campus and campus apartments and met a girl named Rejoyce who seems interested! Also talked to a guy named Cameron about his Mustang and work for a while. He tried to sell us his Mustang haha--dont worry I bought it! ;)

The evening was pretty normal except when one lady yelled out from her bathroom saying she was in the tub when we knocked! We set up another lesson yelling back and forth. Also talked to this lady named Savanah who we suspect is making meth due to white gloves she had on, and the words, "come back later I'm cooking." 2 days later she's completely stumbling around and high as a kite haha--Then this week when we stopped by to check on her she saw us and changed from normal to "really sick" and told us her foot is hurting and head and she needs some rest. We are dropping her.

Later in the evening we felt inspired to knock a door near one of our dots. So we knocked it, and turns out its where Emma (who is super interested and we met at the campus last week) lives! We hadnt known her address so she was surprised but was happy to see us, and she had her friend Tori come out too. Turns out Tori is a freshman less active member at SAU right now, who knows Sarah. She has a Brother on a mission, and seems interested in sitting in on some lessons with us and Emma! She said she would make sure Emma downloaded the Book of Mormon app too! Really cool, hopefully we can actually start teaching some more girls our own age and middle aged too so we have a more balanced teaching pool. :) We also taught Sonya and put her on date for baptism December 9th! 

On Thursday we walked the dogs and they were STINKY today. So we let them walk as far from us as possible. We talked to a guy named Tarence who's eyes were bloodshot hed been doing so many drugs. We did meet a cool guy named Jabarie who seems genuinely interested though! We also met this lady named Stacy who we were led too when we planned our day of where to go! She's really excited about the Gospel, and said God must have sent us cause she was having a horrible day! (Don't worry I'm not excited about the horrible day) Talked about Christ's Atonement with her. We also visited Reed and after we knocked on his door since we were standing right by his truck with extremely tinted windows Elder Stroud said "what if he was just sitting in his truck" jokingly, and then he got out haha--it was hilarious and we taught him the Restoration right there. 

Friday morning we made some brownies and brought them to Sister Hunter since she's always doing so much for everyone in the branch. Her family estate is cool, they have tons of old cars, tools, construction equipment, tires, spare parts, and bikes just lying around. Looks like an old scrap yard but it isn't too messy. We taught a lady named Shakoya in the afternoon, and our other 7 lessons fell through. :) We met a girl named Jaz who's interested though! Her eyes wandered endlessly as we talked but then she kept giving answers that showed she was listening! In fact the Book of Mormon intrigues her, and she said to send her the app immediately. We also taught Becky, Farod, and Fatima about church organization but kept having to stop because a baby Becky was babysitting kept doing funny and loud things. Its always great talking to Farod (11 years old) though, hes more interested than the others! Other than that nothing very exciting happened Friday.

Saturday was fun! We walked the dogs as usual and one of the ones I usually walk always wants to get the cats sooo bad. He stands poised with ears and tail straight up, and then tries to pounce but is always hindered by the leash. Then whenever we take him back in he looks forlornly out the window at the cats wishing he could grab them. Also Elder Stroud made a funny noise at him and he took off like a rocket ship and licked him in the mouth! In the afternoon we had a good visit with Erik Russell and his many cats, and met a lady named Jasmine who's hoping to come to church! Also ran into Logan who did a burnout in his Mustang for us :))

In the evening we went to the Southern areas, and felt inspired to knock this door. A lady opened it, saw us, yelled "no!", and slammed the door. So we started walking away and then 1 minute later she yelled out to us to come back! She apologized, gave us waters, let us in, and we talked to her for 40 minutes! She has been going through a lot and thinks its a sign that God sent us. We talked about the Spirit World, and the Book of Mormon, and how the Bible isn't perfect, and so on! She agrees with us on many points. Also she was taking shots the whole time haha-- Then we went over with the Millers to the Morales family (nonmembers but Juan [who's in jail (sadly [but don't worry it will work out!]) Who's their dad, is a member, but his kids are staying with his Grandparents) and had a great FHE style lesson! It went really well, we played games with the kids, and then the Millers taught a lesson in broken Spanish about the Restoration to the kids and Grandma. They seemed to really like it.

On Sunday we had Becky and her family come to church and also Dinah! It was a great sacrament meeting we asked the Patriarch and hid wife to come and speak, and they gave great talks. We also had a Linger Longer, and then ordained Logan to the Melchizedek Priesthood in my office after church. We had a good Linger Longer with food, and I also got to do some more Tithing Declaration interviews. Other than all the meetings, we also did temple prep with the Flowers! It was a good Sunday.

-Abe

Giant Bam Bamper

Hello,

This week we had a lot of fun! It's starting to cool down here, but not too much. And the leaves are starting to change color! So missionary work has been going pretty well too. On Monday we spent the day in Bossier City. We went and hung out with a service missionary on Barksdale Airforce Base! Played some pickleball, and then he played some electric guitar for us at his house. We also went thrifting which was really fun, found a bunch of different Christmas albums from people's uncles and aunts where the plastic wasn't even opened hahaha--also found some funny shirts and shoes. We ate at Cicis for lunch which is a pizza buffet. It isn't horrible but the pizza is definitely on the lower end as far as pizza goes. Way too much grease. Then we went shopping and talked to family.

In the evening I went on a mini exchange with Elder Ward and we first went to a lesson with Elder Haymond and Elder Irizarry, because they had a lesson with several girls and didn't have a member to go with them. The lesson was all in Spanish but the girls seemed nice, Elder Ward and I spent the whole time rolling a ball back and forth between us and a kid who was there cause we couldn't understand a thing haha--we could tell that one of the girls really loved Elder Iriza--I mean the lesson because she was staring intently and VERY engaged the whole time! They were happy to set up another appointment. Then Elder Ward and I broke off and went and taught this lady who's name escapes me... tommy? Tammy? Timmy? Patricia? Can't quite put my finger on it, but anyway we had a good lesson about the Book of Mormon and read it with her since she refuses to read on her own. Many people seem to completely lack that ability or desire. Had a fun night with Elder Ward though, I heard all about his shenanigans in high-school and we had a good lesson with Brother Gyl (Gile? Gyle? Geil?). I love teaching him because he makes faces at you and looks completely sceptical and like you don't know anything as you make a comment and you start to feel more and more unsure of yourself and start to wonder yourself if you know anything, and then as your finishing up yet another raised eyebrow makes you wonder what you said that was so wrong, and when you finish he says "No I agree! Commendable!" It's a fun experience especially when you get to see new people go through it. The only problem is Elder Ward and I then started replicating his face as the other one of us was speaking and it just about made us completely lose it laughing in the middle of the lesson haha 

We stayed in Bossier in preparation for district council the next day, and had some fantastic 10 pm tacos and oreo cheescake!

Tuesday we had District council in Bossier, I gave a training on the Book of Mormon which seemed to go well. Then we drove back to Springhill to help the Jacobs put up a canopy, and visited some referrals there. As we were leaving Springhill we saw Sams Southern Eatery and felt it calling to us. We eventually gave in and went and ate there. It was the best decision we could have made, it was the best meal we've had in weeks! In the evening we walked around in a dark richer neighborhood and talked to some people. We also followed a cat as he led us to a few houses. It was a very nice cat I wish we could take it with us! We met a lady named CP who wants to learn more about the Gospel. We also met a guy with the body of a teen and the face of an adult with the saddest excuse for a dog I have ever seen! He wasn't interested.

We also talked to a lady named Rochelle who wants to read the Book of Mormon, and come to church! We taught a lady named Glenda at Reeds, and met some drunk people stumbling around by the dumpsters as well. 

Wednesday morning we got a call from Royce who needed help with texting some pictures to someone. So we helped him out and it took 40 minutes to do something that should have taken 30 seconds because hes a talker and doesn't know how to use his phone. It was a fun 40 minutes though! We made some visits in Waldo, and walked around in the beautiful fall weather. We tried to talk to this family, when we asked to share a scripture this younger woman said "sure!" And then this older woman said, "what she means is no!" We also walked around campus and were able to share a bunch of scriptures, and got a couple of phone numbers too. In the evening we had a pretty normal night. We did talk to a girl named Liliana though, and she said the most annoying and stuck up prayer I have ever heard. She obviously wanted attention with how "hip" and "spiritual" her prayer was. No attention was given! >:( We also talked to this lady who had some suspicious whitw gloves on when she came to the door, and told us she couldn't talk because she was "cooking." (Quotes added for emphasis.) We also met a guy named Robert who's looking for a church! Him and his wife are planning on coming this Sunday, and he is interested in the Book of Mormon! We also had a meeting with the Millers and learned more about Tyre and Juan because they went to the Jail. Juan got most charges dismissed except for one, and since he's a repeat offender he will have to appeal and that could take months. Tyre we don't know much more about except that now we know someone else was involved, and he maybe recieved some stolen property or something. 

On Thursday we walked the dogs. A train came by as we did so we moved off the train tracks where we walk them and I've never seen the dogs so terrified of something. They were scared to death that it kept blowing its horn at us and tried to get away as far as they possibly could from it. It was very entertaining to watch, those dogs need to be taught some lessons. We also had a Mission Zoom testimony meeting where we got to hear testimonies of departing missionaries. Its crazy because everytime we have these nowadays every single sister going home I was also already here when they got to the mission haha

We spent the afternoon taking care of administrative work, and then walked around a bit in the misty rain. Met a guy named Nate who seems interested! In the evening we had a good sit down talk with Mike Jones (a less active member) and he told us all about his life right now. He has a ton of health problems, and swears that his knee gets worse when it rains haha--also he won't come to church because he won't wear pants and doesn't want to come not wearing pants! Shorts might be fine because of his legs but he doesnt want to do that at church. After that we had a couple really good lessons. Gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon as well! One lady we taught is named Brenda and her apartment is filled with an uncanny amount of plants and vines. It's one of the places I will have to show my mom after my mission becuase I'm sure she would like it, it's cool! She also has a spiral staircase in her tiny apartment haha

Friday we did service at the Thrift store, and there was a ton of stuff to test this time! And we even had to test a Super Nintendo, we had to make sure each game functioned as it should in all aspects. We were very thorough (as we should be). I also tested an unhealthy amount of irons and curling irons. In the afternoon we knocked on a Sorority house for fun and found this girl whos very interested in the Gospel! We also met a pentecostal guy who chatted it up with us. The evening was spent on some new streets that we dont visit very often, and met a guy named David who's convinced sin can be in heaven. He also said there's no hell and if you don't believe in God you just cease to exist when you die. :) We also had a fantastic lesson with Kimberly and the Millers on the sacrament.

On Saturday we had our blood drive which went fine. We didn't have a ton of people show up though, and we finally decided since so few were signed up to not do a lunch but instead just do the drive. And it turned out to be the right decision. We also walked around campus during halftime of the SAU game and talked to people on their way out! We got 4 phone numbers, and it was fun to see the game going on, even though it was on a mini scale compared to what I'm used to. We also walked around and visited people in the evening, and found this super nice lady named Shalesa! She has been going through some tough times and said she's been looking for a church. We talked to her for a while and she wants to read the Book of Mormon! Then when we got her address we realized that I had already dropped a pin on her house cause I felt like we should go there a few weeks ago, we just hadn't got to it yet! 

Sunday was great! The Primary Program was really good, if I do say so myself! I'm not biased at all I only played for it and spoke to close it. Had some more Tithing Declaration interviews and a really good in person Branch council meeting in the afternoon! Had a really good discussion on ministering, and I think we are going to do a nativity display of over 70 nativities and have a branch Christmas dinner. Also had a temple class with the Flowers which was super fun as usual. 

- Abe