Limelight (it's a Christmas miracle--my letter came 54 minutes earlier than usual! I hope you are grateful for this great gift ;)

Dear frenchmen and frenchwomen,

How was Christmas eve? I hope everyone went to our annual butterscotch roll party! That's the true reason for the season is a worldly party :)

We had a good week although much of Magnolia was out of town. Everyone our age especially was gone. But Elder Stroud and I ate a lot of hot cocoa and hot cider so it was fun nonetheless.

On Monday we caught up on everything we keep putting off. We spent 1.5 (one point five) hours washing our car with boiling water at 5000 PSI and we still weren't able to get everything off. Some of that mud just becomes rock. We also played some Frisbee Golf at the campus course which was fun! We were both super sore after from so much throwing. And we had the campus all to ourselves! Monday evening we ran around all over town visiting out teaching pool. We went and had a lesson with Becky which went well! We've been trying to get in her house the entire time I've been here, cause she usually comes out and has us teach her as she and her kids sit on the steps. So we devised a plan to look super cold and shiver, and then say we wanted to watch an 18 minute video called the Christ Child with them and look in concern around us for another screen bigger than my phone screen. Then after looking around wildly to no avail we planned to have a stroke of genius where it occurs to us that she may have a bigger screen in her house that might be just the thing! (A TV perhaps!) Then since it would be silly to still stand outside and watch from outside through the window, we would naturally get invited in. We fully implemented this plan, and when we got to the part where we were musing that she may have a bigger screen inside aloud, she quickly jumped on the bait and said "I think I have a tablet I can go get!" We had almost lost the battle when finally Farod said, "We could just watch it on the TV..." So we got to go inside FINALLY and watch it with them! Becky fell asleep mid video but Farod and Fatima loved it and had all sorts of intelligent questions after that showed it really made an impression in them!

Tuesday was really fun! We woke up at 5 am and drove 3.5 hours to Bullard, TX (of all places) for Zone Conference at their big church building there. Because it was Christmas zone conference we had 5 zones all together in one building, and the conference went from 9 am to 5 pm haha

It was really good though overall, I LOVE Christmas zone conference. We started with some more talking about not limiting ourselves which had its good parts but as I explained last week I think they go way to far on it. I feel like telling missionaries to raise their vision to what the Lord will do and stuff is valuable and helpful, but when taken too far it has the opposite effect and makes missionaries think that they must be without faith or doing something wrong because they aren't seeing the huge things happen that their leaders are saying will happen. And so they miss all the small and tender mercies that God does. Sometimes God's will is tons of baptisms and sometimes it's not a single baptism but he's giving you small and amazing miracles either way! And you can MISS those miracles when your leaders are trying to make missionaries think too big. They will learn though. One more thing I disagreed with at Zone Conference before I get on to all the stuff I loved. For accountability they put all the zones up on this big screen and put all the stats of each zone in each of the KIs calculated to finds per missionary, baptisms per missionary, etc. In each zone. They then said the most ridiculous thing (this is the APs speaking in case I forgot to mention it. I'm sure you are as unsurprised as I was). They said, "Now this isn't supposed to be a leaderboard but..." and then gestured to each LEADING zone on the giant BOARD and talked about how each of should see whos LEADING in each category shown on the BOARD and ask them for advice on how to improve. They also talked about how it's interesting to see what those who are LEADING are doing based on the BOARD stats. I added the emphasis. So what do you think of that? A giant board that shows clear leaders depending on numbers but it ISNT a leaderboard? Most ridiculous notion I've ever heard. Leaders love stuff like this and I will never understand it. Did Christ use leaderboards??? No! Those are not part of the Gospel. Accountability is important and I understand that but we are told SPECIFICALLY IN PREACH MY GOSPEL many times over to NOT COMPARE OURSELVES to other missionaries. We compare to ourselves, we try to always be improving, and we are accountable to God. There is also value in analyzing trends with intentions of improving and problem-solving. But comparing to others is bad. There are some things that missionary leaders do that I may disagree with but tht doesn't mean I'm right. But for something so explicitly forbidden by our church leaders even in the Handbook they have made FOR missionary work I feel pretty justified in this tirade.

Okay thats enough, now for the things I loved. 

▪︎ We all got an early Christmas present of the new Preach My Gospels in print! Everyone got one and we've been waiting for them for 6 months now! It was cool to get our own copies so we can now set them on our desks and continue to use the one online but feel more accomplished! :)

▪︎ after the Mediocre trainings we had an amazing Christmas program!! There's so many numbers and practices and analyzing of behavior at missionary meetings that I am sad Christ isn't included more. So this program was amazing. They turned the lights off in the chapel and had a lit up nativity scene on the projector as our only light and President Taylor narrated the Christmas story. There were so many great musical numbers. Elder Oliver played the organ or piano for almost every one as the accompanist and he was fantastic. He's extremely talented and manages to be amazing at piano, organ, guitar, AND singing haha

I especially liked his rendition of O Holy Night where he managed to one-up Elder Stroud's and my version of it by singing, accompanying for himself, improvising the accompaniment, and singing some verses in French hahaha-- there was also an amazing organ + choir O Come All Ye Faithful and a fantastic jazzy version of Mary Did You Know on treble saxophone. The organ was so rich and assertive also for the Congregational Hymns which I always like too. One of the best Christmas programs I've ever seen.

▪︎ We had some fun activities and opportunities to hang out with other missionaries which I liked. We had a white elephant gift exchange and Elder Stroud ended up with a gold bust of Jospeh Smith hahaha--and I kept having things stolen but finally ended up with a kimono and a blanket. We had a fun scripture chase with President Taylor, a Christmas bingo, and a hot cocoa bar and clothing swap too. Elder Stroud and I had a goal to talk to some certain Sisters that had been mentioned by his mom as well and we completed that a well. :) 

Overall Christmas zone conference was fantastic, these are always the best ones. Then we made the long journey back. We stopped in Shreveport on the way and dropped off a present for my counselor down there and had a good visit with him. We didn't get home until 9:40 :)

On Wednesday we did some service at thrift store and also met a less-active member named Billy Ogle who we've been looking for. He was cordial enough and told us "no-promises but I will try to come to church" or inother words "I won't be coming to church but I am saying I am to be nice but making sure I dont commit myself to it." Met a lady named Letha who has a sister who is a member and we gave her a Book of Mormon! We also encountered a guy with the most bloodshot eyes I have ever seen! We had a lesson with Chris Rose on the Restoration which was great! He has one leg and is very lonely it seems, just lives alone. He reluctantly let us in at first but then by the end he had cheered up and said he was glad we came! He's interested and said we can come back literally any day we want. He also is excited to watch the Book of Mormon videos. We also taught Glenda and read 1 Nephi 1 with her. She had a far-off look lots of the time though even when we asked her questions so we will probably need to re-read it with her. 

Thursday we walked the dogs and they kept climbing on top of each other so we had to keep them sepparate. The one Elder Stroud was walking especially wanted the one I was walking to lick her and kept trying to make it happen haha

We had planned a whole evening of Christmas visits with the Millers but one by one things cancelled, including the Millers themselves pushing our departure time back. So we went and visited Mike Jones in the hospital who just barely fell cause his walker collapsed and broke his leg. He was recovering from skin grafts and surgeries and knee replacenents and a previous fall already so this was not a good time to break his leg. We gave him a blessing and shared a Christmas scripture with him which seemed to help. Then in the evening we did get to go and watch the Christ Child with Brother Crye which was so good as usual. Also the Millers took us to the Corner Clubhouse for dinner which is known for its potatoes but guess what they were all out of potatoes! So bad. We also practiced O Holy Night with sister Miller who will be accompanying us. 

On Friday we did some more organizing at the Thrift store. Some busy-body fellow volunteer keeps putting up signs trying to micromanage how things are done and so we keep ignoring them and each time we come back we see either more signs or previous ones re-placed to be more visible as if they thought we didn't see it haha--its hilarious this time we hid the sign and we are going to see if they find it and put it up again. In the afternoon it was drizzling so we went out with umbrellas and went down some new streets. Met a girl named Jordyn who is interested, and some street wanderers as well. We also ran into someone who was speed-walking to their destination and when they saw us they stopped, gave us her address, told us to drop off a book of Mormon there with her friend who would give it to her, and then resumed speed-walking. We talked to a very Christian family as well who tried to show-off how Christian they were by telling us about their Christian schools their kids go to and how their kids asked for bibles for Christmas so they could give them to others and then the mom even had her daughter recite a memorized verse for us hahaha--they were very nice and talkative, just show-offs. They gave us some Penny's with cross-shaped holes punched through them as well! 

In the evening we met a lady named Dell who wasn't interested at first cause she thought black people weren't allowed in our church until the 70s. We corrected her mistake and now she's interested! We also took lots of pictures at Christmas lights and got a lot of different poses because we are going to make some masterpiece edits. Then we also had another little lesson with Chris Rose

Saturday was a wild day. We started by walking the dogs and started filming a Christmas video as well. We did a lot of contacting and felt inspired to knock a certain door. So we did and met a lady named Debbie who is Baptist but mildly interested in the Book of Mormon! She said "what could it hurt?" Her daughter Brooklyn also came out with her and her mom exposed her saying Brooklyn has been hoping we would knock on their door and talk to them forever haha--and that she has been waiting for us and is REALLY interested. much to Brooklyn's dismay and embarrassment her mom also kept explaining that she had told her daughter that she couldn't just run us over to talk to us and so on and so forth. Luckily I difused the situation and they are both willing to read the Book of Mormon! We also had a great Restoration lesson with Vonn. He was engaged and contributing really well the whole lesson and we gave him a Book of Mormon! He said he'd come to church too and would love to learn more. 

In the evening we went to the New Life Community Church Christmas Eve Eve Candlelight Service haha-- I'm trying to get more connected with the fellow community leaders so that requires me to go to their stuff. It was very interesting seeing their service and hearing their weird pseudo-rock worship music haha--but fun! Also they had everyone hold lit candles at one point in the service, and they turned off the lights. So that was fun. The pastor was very mid though, even I could have done better and I don't get payed haha--it was the most generic drivel on being saved through grace and John 3:16, and so forth that I've ever heard. And it was weird cause usually at church I can feel the spirit the whole time and I just constantly have thoughts and ideas coming to mind, but at this meeting it was just dry and lifeless. The pastor was increasing volume and trying to be dynamic but it all just fell flat. Very interesting. 

On Sunday we had a very small turn out at church! Only 18 came. (And 4 on zoom). But it went well nonetheless. I did a piano musical number, a Duet of O Holy Night with Elder Stroud, and spoke to close the meeting as well so I was very involved just like last week. We also heard some other cool experiences from speakers! And Brooklyn and Debbie who we just met yesterday and talked to for 5 minutes came to church!! And they loved it. They've been looking for a different church because they don't feel welcome at their current one and are looking for a church to get baptized in too! It was really cool. We also visited Wade and Mike and shared Christmas messages with them Sunday afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who contributed messages to that nice video from my home ward! It was really nice to see everyone and hear from them. It's more meaningful than you know to get things like that so thank you again.

-Abe

P.S. since it's Christmas you get some additional commentary of what has been on my mind recently:

▪︎ how do I take down a blasted bulletin board that is so outdated and dry without offending anyone

▪︎ pizza and hamburgers

▪︎ Why are there squids why can't octopuses take care of all the squid duties

▪︎ good goal setting

▪︎ learning from people I don't like

▪︎ how to improve at making conversation

▪︎ how can I help the Branch be more in tune with the Spirit

▪︎ what should I focus on with the branch this last month or two

▪︎ why do people like dogs

▪︎ temple attendance is more important than may think

▪︎ what is the best meme ever made

▪︎ a certain couple of girls

▪︎ what is the best car for the price

▪︎ how to best manage hobbies for better well-roundedness 

▪︎ what gift can I get for the millers??

So there you go those are a few things Ive been wondering about. By the time I send this email though there will be new things

The Anvil of the First Century

Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

We had a good week here, though we dealt with a few annoying things as well. Although sometimes those things are more interesting than the good things! I hope after writing this to enjoy a nice champagne, and I hope you (the reader) will too. Sometimes life just moves so quickly that we forget to stop and admire all the plastic and metal around us. 

Okay thats enough random words to start the letter that I should be ready to go now 

Monday was so fun! Logan had no class so went over at 9 am and made a big breakfast and ate it with him. Unfortunately Sarah had work and had to leave. Then we spent the whole day with them getting up to shenanigans and playing games. We skipped zone pday for a couple of reasons:

Reason 1: I'm annoyed with the attitude of pride and superiority that I see in many of the missionaries in the zone. There has been a lot of annoying ideas like "We've started knocking on people car windows when they are in their cars because gospel!" and related ideas. Sometimes missionaries seem to think that because of the Gospel they are entitled to do whatever they want in the name of boldly proclaiming the Gospel. They forget to respect peoples personal space, time, privacy. And they forget common sense and basic manners. Being respectful is crucial regardless of what your sharing. Okay enough on reason 1. More to come on this matter in a minute

Reason 2: I am tired of making time for unexpected things

Reason 3: I am tired of Zone pdays

So spending the day with Logan was a much better option! Also while we were there we got all of our Nativity cards and had hundreds of them all over their house in places for them to find later haha--on fans, in cabinets, under decorations, on mirrors, and on their tree! In the evening we stopped by a bunch of people but not a single person talked to us sadly. 

Tuesday we drove to Bossier City for district council, and then visited Springhill on the way back. We walked around and talked to a few people who were out before driving back home. Then we had a zone call which was okay. They talked about not setting limits on ourselves, because God is on our side. So not to limit ourselves by saying things like "tracting isn't effective" or "after 8 nobody wants to talk to us" or other such things. They said we are limiting God when we say things like that. The whole call was ridiculous and I was rolling my eyes at every other comment haha--why do missionaries think they have it all figured out and everything they say is SO brilliant and SO spiritual???? It's ridiculous we are literally 18-20, so stop pretending like we are Peter, James, and John. The concept of God has no limits is very true and I'm not saying I disagree with that-- but imperfect human people do have limits. And sometimes cold knocking on someone's door after 8:30 in the dark in a sketchy neighborhoods means people come out with bats in hand ready to fight (I speak from experience, luckily he wasnt mad once he saw who we were). Also NOBODY answers their door when two dark figures come way after dark. Oops sorry I just tried to limit God I guess. But we will see how far your no-limits flight of superiority goes when youre lying dead in an alley! Anyway the point is, yes we need to have faith and be bold by thinking outside the box and trying new and uncomfortable things, but we CANNOT lose basic reasoning skills and basic manners! God works through us and even though he CAN make someone listen to us at 8:55 the second we knock on their door he lets people have their agency, and sometimes that means they are going to wait to be interested until people come at a decent time. I can't tell you how many people I've come accross who have left the church or been pushed away because some idiotic "super-bold faith warrior" missionary was just too bold and persistent to the point of rudeness. So there you go there's some ramblings of a madman for the day. And that's only one of the comments about no limits that was made, I woud tear them all apart if I had time. Faith-building happens when we trust in Christ, we don't need to try and build faith in all these fake ways. 

Also on Tuesday we had a really successful time talking to people! Met two Joyces, one we have termed the "less-good version of Joyce" because she wasn't interested and the other one was. We also taught Damion who was outside waiting for us and put him on date for baptism January 13th! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we invite him to be baptized he said, "of course!" 

Wednesday we went and helped Erik Russell clean out his apartment. It was a mess (being a guy who lives alone and only games all the time will do that haha). We helped organize stuff and I threw out everything I could that he didn't immediately know where it should go. This firmed my resolve to not live on my own too long, you have to have other people around to tell you that you should really clean up haha

We walked around an apartment complex near by after lunch and met a girl named Mon (short for Money) who's really interested, and then also had some EXTREMELY high dudes (stumbling all over the place and smoke coming out of their noses) come up and ask for some burger money haha-- we of course did not oblidge them. We also met a guy who we couldn't really understand and we think he's interested but we aren't really sure cause we can't really understand him! In the evening we met a guy named Blake who we felt inspired to knock, and then we "felt inspired to knock" (meaning it had a super nice BMW and a nice Camero and we wanted to talk about them) another house as well and found another interested lady. Then we went and taught Becky, and we read finally with them! We got Fatima and Farod to download the app and we read 1 Nephi 1! Fatima who is in 6th grade is better at reading than 80% of the people we meet! Also I showed my Rubik's cubes to Farod cause he likes cubes. Hes trying to learn how to solve one. We also got reprimanded by this middle-aged lady for knocking on people's doors way "too late" as she put it. Want to guess what time it was when she said this? 7 pm :))

On Thursday we walked the dogs and since a dog I sometimes walk is soooo scared of everything we tried to see how it would react when a train came! But when we heard the horn it was too late to get there in time haha--so next time. We did help move a giant pallet of blasted dog food as well. In the afternoon we drove with the Millers and visited some members to drop off Christmas ornament gifts and cookies! We also shared some Christmas messages. We did a full hour long Christmas story program with a less active member named Timothy which was cool, we even sang a bunch of Hymns with him! Then we had a fantastic evening as well. Found a lady named Jennifer who's really interested and is normal and has a stable family! We are really excited to teach her, she's active in her church but very open to the Book of Mormon. We also talked to her neighbor accross the street and her daughter Miracle asked if we could come teach them about the Book of Mormon every day!! They looked at their schedule and finally we got it settled that we can come every Wednesday and Friday. We met some other cool people as well.

Then Friday we went up to McNeil and Waldo. We visited a bunch of people to no avail, but we were able to have another excellent lesson with Damion! The Millers came as well and we read Moroni 6 with him and talked about church. He said he would for sure come and he even told his boss to let him go in late so he can come to church or otherwise he would quit haha 

We also met this really nice girl our age who's been looking around for a church, she goes to SAU but seems to genuinely be interested which is rare. Usually the college students are so flighty and even though they are nice you can't really pin them down. Also had a good long meeting with Royce and got 2 referrals from him and a lot of ideas for missionary work in the area.

On Saturday walked the dogs and mine and Elder Stroud's kept trying to fight each other they had so much energy. They took every opportunity they could get to grab each other. And they kept taking sips from mud puddles tsk tsk

We did our hour of inviting people to church also, which is my least favorite part of the day (especially on Saturday because its an hour instead of 30 minutes) because its tedious and rushed because we have so many people to get through. Usually we have to call and/or text 30-50 people in that time frame. We go to all the work to invite and usually about 5% of our contacts are fruitful. Which makes it worth it luckily! We also drove and visited some members and dropped off some more ornaments and Christmas cookies. We walked around some richer neighborhoods and found a frat/sorority house with some interested guys and girls! We also talked to a lady named Joyce who wasn't that interested but let us in and gave us candy and apples as a merry Christmas! Also met a lady who wanted a Book of Mormon. And as we were bringing her one we met a neighbor of hers that she was telling about it who also wants one! Everyone is drunk Saturday nights so we did as much talking to people as possible during the day, and then did my tasks in the evening and had a late dinner. We got 2 large pizzas and a Cheesy bread because we were so hungry, and had a little movie night where we watched church videos!

Sunday was long but really good! We had our Christmas Program which was my project lovingly crafted (with the help of some key players--thank you!) so I was really hoping the program would go well. And it did! I got to narrate and lead it, and we had some really cool personal experiences that people shared and musical numbers as well! We also had a new couple that is moving into the branch come! My after-church meetings were especially long today so we didn't get home until 5, but I got to write some reimbursement checks which I always find fun haha

We also went and visited some less-active members in the evening, and some far-out referrals. Met an elephant too! I don't know why I wrote that. We did not meet an elephant. 

-Abe

19 Round Organic Peas Squished Uncomfortably into a too-small Pod

Good day.

Today is a historic day because I am changing my usual day by day approach of talking about my week to bullet points where I will just hit the most interesting parts! What a change! This whole time you've had to make your way through endless drivel, and now you can get the information you need in bite-sized pieces of deeper meaning!! 

Just joking, ha! Leopards may change their spots occasionally but they don't change them to Pink rhombuses (rhombusi?) !

On Monday we got to spend the day with Logan again. We got pizza, tried out Jackbox 9 and 10, and then played some more games with Sarah too once she got home from work! It was such a fun day, and in the evening we had 3 awesome lessons. We talked to Vicki who's really interested and even sent us a text of a picture of a Book of Mormon she found! We also taught Jasmine who seems genuinely engaged in the lessons, and said she would try to make it to our Nativity event. We taught Damion who was awesome as usual, and talked about recieving revelation. Then we went back to (Logan and Sarah)'s to help Logan learn how to consecrate oil!  We couldnt find his oil vial though so we unfortunately had to drive with him in his Mustang to the church to find a new one for him. What a hardship. We spent the next 20 minutes hunting allll over cause I swear I saw some but then we couldn't find them anyway haha--We finally made do with an inferior plastic model tsk tsk

Also Sarah made us Muffins

On Tuesday we did district council and had a great time! Elder Stroud gave a training on extending invitations which wad good, and then we ate with the Minden Elders and they came up to Magnolia with us to do exchanges. We started by going to our church building and setting up for the nativity and Branch Christmas dinner with the Millers. There are a lot of cool nativities! Way more than I thought would be there, and they are all super cool. I especially love the veggie tales one. It was a ton of work setting everything up, but by the end we were pretty proud of ourselves! In the evening I went with Elder Miller the Greenie and we had a great night. He said he hasn't gotten to teach a lesson yet in the 3 weeks on his mission and so I took him and gave him practice teaching 3 different lessons! He said it was the best night of his mission so far. We taught Lewis the first half of the Plan of Salvation, but unfortunately he was sooo wishy-washy on reading the Book of Mormon. "I will read if I feel the urge too." So bad! Someday I'm going to buy every country in the world and then put everyone who won't do what they say they will in one country and see how long it lasts. 

We also felt prompted to knock a door and this guy told us he was drinking and we should come another day. Then when we walked back by his house later on our way back to our car he came out and said he wants to hear a scripture after all! Then Elder Miller said we should knock one that I had said at the beginning we shouldn't knock and so we knocked it and got yelled at to go away from within haha--poor Elder Miller I dont know why he keeps doing this to himself haha

Then we had a good visit with Mike Jones, and then taught a lesson to Liliana and her husband Diego! They are super strong in their church but are really nice and seem (fairly) open to the Gospel. We had a great lesson all on the purpose of life. I also took him to meet Logan and Sarah because we had to drop off a package for them. That evening our apartment became a nerf gun war zone and we are still finding foam bullet balls everywhere to this day.

Wednesday Elder Miller and I went to the Thrift store and did some testing of electronics, and then all 4 of us drove to Springhill and ate again at the amazing Sam's Southern Eatery. They always give us so much sauce there and it was amazing food. Elder Miller is very quiet, but he will talk to you if you ask him questions. I like him, hes like a fairly nice sheep right now. Quiet and follows along, but I'm sure as he goes farther on his mission he will find more confidence and become the wolf he always could be! Err-- maybe not wolf. We will see. Elder Stoud and I then drove back after visiting Tawanna and walked around campus. We talked to Fredrick who definitely looked like he needs friends so we talked to him. He was very cordial and expressed interest (like 90% of the students do but then they never respond when we reach out) but we will see. He seemed to genuinely be interested in why we are here. The rest of the afternoon was very boring because nobody wanted to talk with us and everybody canceled. Luckily our friend cat talked to us though and allowed us to pet it!

We did meet a nice pentecostal lady who said did a bunch of loud praising right there once we finished our scripture haha--the evening went very much the same way. Nobody wanted to talk and everyone who did talk wasn't interested. I think everyone must have been in a bad mood or something. We talked to Tori again who's that less active SAU girl we found who might be interested in coming back to church! Unfortunately she told us her friends aren't interested anymore though but at least she still is. We walked around a rich neighborhood and talked to a guy who kept asking his wife in the other room if she wanted us to come back and if she wanted to hear more. Her muffled replies were mostly "sure honey"s and "whatever you want dear"s but we will take what we can get! 

Also why do so many people leave their door open so that their screen door is the only one between us and them and as we walk up we try to pretend we can't see their lazy selves just slumped on their couch watching TV and they try to pretend they can't see us walking up and then as we knock we try to look everywhere but straight forward so we don't creppily peer straight  into their house and then when they come to the door they try to pretend they are surprised to see us. The whole process is horrible, just close your door!! It isn't that hard! Also it's cold outside anyway, why would you even want it open?? I'm almost to the point where I will just start pressing Mt face up against the glass of each offending door and look straight in until people stop doing it.

Sonya suddenly moved on us haha--so we are trying to find her new address and had to take her off date. But shes still responding which is good. 

Thursday we had our Branch Christmas Dinner! We had a lot of good food and a little Christmas program too. We also got to go and look at all the Nativities as a Branch and talk with everyone which was great! We also had a mission-wide Zoom meeting where all of the departing missionaries gave their testimonies. It was good enough, but once you've heard one missionaries departing testimony you've heard them all. "I never thought this day would come" "I've changed so much" "Don't give up!" Blah blah blah. President Taylor kept having to remind everyone to keep their testimonies to 2 minutes because everyone kept thinking that what they had to say was SO important that their audience must be hanging on every word. In my departing testimony I will fall into none of these blunders have no fear. Quick, to the point, maybe a story, and simple. 100 seconds or less. We also had an amazing lesson with Damion again! With out us even asking he brought up the tree of life and how much he loves that chapter in the Book of Mormon! He also taught US about how repentance is no good if you just ask for forgiveness and don't change haha--We taught him the second half of the Plan of Salvation.

Friday morning I took care of some agendas and then we had a nursing home come through and see the Nativity. We sang O Holy Night for them as well and all of the Elderly people seemed to really like our displays and cookies. After they left Elder Stroud and I drove up to Waldo and talked with Derrick. We also taught Shimeka the Restoration and she wants to come to the nativity as well! Then we drove to McNeil and taught Neka. She invited us in and then proceeded to clean her entire apartment while we waited haha--after 20 minutes we finally had a lesson and read 1 Nephi 1 with her. She kept just reading the first letter of a word and then assuming it was a different word and saying that instead which was confusing but it was stills good. (E.g. "and it came to poof" and "kind Zelda") We also met some softball players who stopped and talked to us about Christ and want to check church out! We also went to Felechia's apartment complex and met 7 new people and got their numbers! There were a couple more that came for the nativity but most were planning on coming Saturday.

On Saturday we spent 5 hours at the church because we were helping man the nativity. Hardly anyone came unfortunately, but I was still pleased with it. I think Sister Miller was a bit disappointed but that's how things go. It was good for me because I caught up on everything I've been needing to do (almost!) I haven't been this caught up in weeks haha 

Also there were so many leftover cookies that Elder Stroud and I took dozens and dozens and dozens home! Cream cheese frosting too, which is better that all other terrible frostings that people usually use for some reason even though they are awful. For example butter cream is terrible (if you like it don't worry it's okay, it just means I may hunt you down and give you all my frosting anytime I have any). We helped box up all the Nativities which was a big task, and then we went and talked to people. Taught Moe the chef on his porch about 1 Nephi 1 as he was falling asleep haha--and then went to stop by Tydrick. As we were walking up we noticed his house was surrounding by cars and LOUD music was thumping. He was holding some cash and yelling at a couple for not paying the proper amount. We've been teaching him for a little while now and this confirmed our suspicions that he's a drug dealer haha--he always has shady types coming and going. We just kept walking cause we didn't want to get involved. We met a guy named Serbia who's interested and a girl named Andrea who is quite interested as well! She wants to learn about our faith and the Book of Mormon. We also talked to Rocky who Elder Stroud visited on exchanges and he had told them he was thinking about killing himself and how his family left and he had no job and life was terrible. So Elder Stroud prayed with him and then when we came by today apparently a guy had come up to him and said he had felt God tell him to check on Rocky, and he gave him a job! Then Rockys family moved back in and he's happy again! So that was a huge miracle!

Sunday our sacrament meeting was fantastic! We had some really good talks on the Gift of Christ's Atonement and how we give the gift of Christ to others! And a really good musical number also. Everyone in the branch got to take a nativity home including us! I will attach a picture of mine. Also had some good meetings with some individuals to help ease tensions between Sister Miller and a couple of people who are mad she cleaned out their storage cabinets haha

We also had Branch council and walked around the campus lights

-Abe