Brick

🦓,

We had a really good week! Had lots of fun, and met some really cool people. 

Monday Elder Freeman and Elder Haymond came up to Magnolia for pday, so we shopped with them, and the went over to the Flower's house! We spent basically all of pday with Logan and Sarah, got to play lots of board and card games (including Cover Your Assets!). We also ate all day as we played including:

▪︎ Andes Mint Cookies

▪︎ A cucumber

▪︎ Cuties

▪︎ Chips and Salsa

▪︎ Drinks 

▪︎ Mini ham and cheese sliders

▪︎ Popsicles

▪︎ Rotisserie Chicken

▪︎ Other cookies

▪︎ Apples

In the evening all 4 of us went up to Waldo and taught Xavier! It was super fun, we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he loved it all and is already keeping it besides the fact that he was wearing a big "WEED" bucket hat through the whole lesson haha-- Also taught him the Law of Chastity. Then we went and taught David and Charlien as well. 

Tuesday we has district council in Magnolia, and so Minden came up as well. After District council the Millers got us pizza, and then the APs showed up with all of their furniture and we helped them move into their new apartment! Then us and the Brownlee Elders drove to Springhill and had a member lesson with the Jacobs. Sam Jacobs likes to bash missionaries apparently, and so he started talking about the premarital life and so on, and the only problem is he didn't know anything about what he was talking about, and we didn't really know what he meant by his questions. Nothing was accomplished in this lesson, we all went out very confused and dumber than when we went in haha-- we also talked to a lady named Uganda who we found out was just talking to us to be nice tsk tsk. She also misplaced her Book of Mormon when she brought it to her pastor...

We had dinner with the Marchans, and then drove back to Magnolia and Elder Freeman gave Charlien her Baptismal interview while Elder Haymond and I went and taught Bill the Gospel. He loved it, and said he's been praying and reading the Book of Mormon every day, and as he reads the spirit has made it crystal clear and he thinks it's true! Once he can come to church he will get baptized for sure. Then the 4 of us walked around the campus and talked to some students who were wandering around. When we got in for the night we finally got to eat a giant bowl of banana pudding that we had been keeping hidden throughout the day so that none of the other missionaries would want it. It was given to us by Royce, and the 4 of us ate it very quickly :)

I also taught everyone in the apartment how to solve various degrees of Rubiks Cube.

On Wednesday we all did service at the Thrift store, and then went and ate lunch at Sam's Southern Eatery in Springhill. After that we said goodbye to the other Elders, and realized hours later we had forgotten to get the jumpsuit for Charliens baptism from them! Bad. We taught Tawanna, and Elder Davis said his goodbyes (which is always a mistake, because then you always end up seeing them again). 

Thursday we walked the dogs, and got to walk some new ones. Both of them walked with their rear ends up and their noses down to the ground for some reason. And they kept trying to eat the grass and jump in a puddle that we always pass. We got to teach Bill again, and afterwards walked around his area and got 3 new phone numbers!! Then we went with the Millers and taught Becky and her kids again, and they are going to try and come to church. We taught them about the organization of the church, and the kids seemed to grasp it better than Becky!

On Friday Mike Mass took us down to Taylor to help work on the Mayor's house again. We put a ton of joint compound on the ceilings and walls, and while we worked Brother Mass gave us lots of good life advice, such as not letting our future wives ask to do an accent room because of the extreme amount of work required. :)

We also taught Xavier about the Baptismal questions, and then went to Haynesville with the Millers! We stopped in Emerson first, and one of the people we were trying to visit was not accessible by car due to the roads being full of fire engines and ambulances. Much to the Millers dismay Elder Davis and I told them to stop the car and we embarked on foot! We aren't ever one to pass up a good fire. :) we walked past all the commotion until we were walking in the thick of Firemen running back and forth. We walked so purposefully that they didn't even bat an eye at us and we walked right up to the burning house. It was billowing black smoke and was completely destroyed in every way with the roof collapsing inward! The Millers were not near as confident as us and they got asked to stay out of the way haha

After Emerson we drove to Haynesville and I finally got to meet Quincy! He was going to get baptized right before I got here but then he went to jail. :*( But now hes out! :)

He is a very jolly guy haha--we also picked up the Baptismal clothing from the Minden apartment.

Saturday wasnt super eventful, but Charlien got baptized! It went so well she was so happy afterwards. We ate with her, the Millers, and the Masses at Atuguas afterward which was excellent as usual. 

Then we got in a bash with Kaitlyn and her recent convert friend from another ward that clearly didn't fully understand our beliefs yet and so he was just as confused as her when we talked about the imperfections of the Bible. He was nice though, and helped her see more reason than we could. Some people just dont think critically sadly. 

After the bash I finalized the Sunday program, and Xavier had his Baptismal interview. 

In the evening we taught Bill who got super excited when we taught him about Baptisms for the Dead! He wants to be baptized for his dad. 

Sunday we confirmed Charlien, and then we also had Becky, Carson, David, Farod, Fatima, Xavier, Star, and Jay come to church! Tyre also came as usual. After church we ate some Stew at the church with the Bahrs, and we taught some of Tyres friends in the evening!!

-Abe

Stinker Pinker

Good afternoon,

We had a fun week, it's been interesting adjusting to having a new senior couple here. Lots of coordination. 

Monday we had Zone pday which was good, ate some pretty good tacos Elder Day made for the Zone, and got to talk to some new missionaries. Also played some Gatorball. In the evening we double-worked Bossier City and walked around some neighborhoods. We also got some pretty good Peach Shakes at Chick-fil-A! The night got pretty chaotic once we went in for the night and may have included (but was not limited to) throwing actual ninja stars at watermelons and lighting things on fire :)

Tuesday we had District council and the Millers came to their first Minden District council! After that we drove to Springhill and taught a lady named Uganda. Got to give her a Book of Mormon, which she promptly said she would ask her pastor about haha--people are so gullible here. Then we went back to Magnolia and since the Millers are still staying in a hotel they asked to use our kitchen. So we let them in and they made dinner for us. It was pretty good curry, but it was very awkward just sitting in a small circle in our apartment. We never have anyone besides us in there so I don't like it when others come in. They must have not liked it either cause that was they only night they did that haha

In the evening it was beautiful, we walked around and talked to some people in some nicer neighborhoods, and then went to a couple lessons with the Millers. One with David in front of a barred-up abandoned dark building by the run-down train tracks, and one by a little trailer in the trees with Becky and with Mosquitoes everywhere! A good intro to Magnolia. They were super helpful on our lessons, they are going to call David and Charlien and read with them so they remember to read! 

On Wednesday we did service at the Thrift store and while we were there I found a nice North Face Shirt, and Elder Davis found some $5000 Orange and Green (fluffy) Grateful Dead Dunks for $2 hahaha

In the afternoon we met Brother Lowther and Brother Elliott (stake auditor) for our biannual audit. It was fine except for when Brother Elliott scolded us for not doing the proper proceedures regarding fundraising even though we had no fundraiser. >:( Since one of our YW raised some money on her own, and hung it up in the church, he thought that was a church fundraiser and no matter how much we tried to explain it wasnt it fell on deaf ears. He's right that it shouldn't have been hung up in the church, but that was before I even got here tsk tsk. 

We went to have dinner with Logan and Sarah after that, and had some amazing Chicken Alfredo, Salad, and garlic bread! Very good meal and more then we expected from the newly-weds. In the evening we talked to a lot of people, but didn't have much luck.

Thursday we did service and then ran over to the church to watch David after the Millers told us how they took Charlien to a woman's shelter and she missed David so they were going to let them meet up at the church. Apparently there was some more to Charliens past that we didnt know about which qualified her for the shelter and more resources. After helping David clean the bathrooms (very obvious he does not know how to clean well) we went home and changed. Then we went and found a lady names Joel, and taught her the Restoration. After that we did some service serving up some EXTREMLY RED hot dogs at the Stew Pot food pantry. 

In the evening we had a combined RS/EQ activity and played a bunch of card and board games. Of course we paired up with Logan and Sarah since they are our age and played a bunch of Codenames and Sushi Go. We had some of our friends come too, and had lots of sandwiches. After that we taught David and Charlien at the church.

Friday was super good, we went out with the Millers in the afternoon and taught Neena the Restoration at McDonald's. She told us again that her and her daughter want to be baptized! Then we had a lesson with Xavier and put him back on date for the 23rd. :)) Xavier is so funny, when you ask him a question he sounds like he's giving an AI generated response. It's usually on topic and mostly right, but key parts and concepts are missing haha 

In the evening we went out with the Flowers and taught 4 more lessons! We taught Devunkus even though none of us could understand him very well, and then Lois. After her we went and taught Becky, and she brought some of the neighborhood kids over so we basically taught a primary lesson! The kids were super cute and smart too, one of them even sees visions and claims Jesus told him in a dream to go do a handstand in a gas station, and when he said no Jesus said, "You said you'd do anything for me right?" So the kid said he went to the gas station and did it, and then apparently this lady said that was the sign she needed to not kill herself! So there you go. I can't remember the kids names they were all Laquarious and Felicity and so on. After Becky we taught Holly who went from teasing Logan for being a new member of the church, to commenting on Sarah, to flirting with us. 

Overall the night was great, it felt like the YSA days going out with people our own age again. Also we had popsicles

On Saturday we walked the dogs and today the black dogs Marble and Dime were cracked out. They couldn't even walk forward without slowly turning and bumping into us repeatedly. Bad. Then we had a lesson that turned into a bash with Kaitlyn at McDonald's, nothing interesting to report about it though. Nothing new. In the evening we walked around with Tyre and talked to people, and multitasked because we taught him another one of the new member lessons as we went! Also the Branch got him some Sunday Clothes! Also we taught David and Charlien, and Charlien is ready for her baptism this Saturday! We are super excited for her.

Sunday was crazy and absolutely packed with meetings as usual. Was at the church from 9:30 to 3:30. I got to give Tyre the Aaronic Priesthood though which was fun!

-Abe

Izzy

Hi young ones and old ones and medium-aged ones, 

This week we had some unexpected things happen which I will get to soon, but first a Gospel message:

Haha just joking, if you want a good gospel message go to Gospel Library and find one :)

Monday was good we did some more shopping, and tried some good jerky at the jerky store! We went to a couple malls, and looked at lots of sparkly and flashy dress clothes as well. We had lunch at Canes which was quite good since I haven't had it in a while. It is not as amazing as everyone claims though. In the evening we walked around and exchanged with the Brownlee Elders. Elder Haymond and Elder Davis were DETERMINED to catch the gator in their pond. I, being the skeptic, told them there's no way they will actually do it. And I was right! They were all talk as I suspected, claiming that, "it's too dark, we will do it in the daylight" or some such excuse as I anticipated. We did feed it some frozen fish though. 

Tuesday we had District council in Bossier City, and the ZLs came to it. I gave the training on Daily Planning, and then we ate at Fuzzys tacos for lunch which was mid. To survive in the Taco world you have to make REALLY good tacos, not just mediocre tacos tsk tsk.

Then we drove up to Springhill and visited some inactive members including Ruben who is deaf, bed-bound, and almost giving up on life. He still pays Tithing though, and we brought him the sacrament. We taught Tyre the Restoration again in the evening, and he said he relates a lot with Jospeh Smith because he also was searching from church to church for the truth! We also Taught Bill, and then David and Charlien about Tithing. They took it pretty well, and afterwards Elder Davis led them in a game of Simon says to demonstrate how we should listen to God and not the world. 

On Wednesday we did service at the Thrift store, and I got fed up with all the cords and just started cutting them every time I couldn't untangle them :) So we got rid of a lot of cords. Wednesday was boiling hot it felt like 115⁰F (46⁰C for all you foreign subscribers) but Elder Davis and I got talking a lot and so we didn't even notice it until we got inside and we were dripping in sweat haha

We also walked a lot in the evening, and approached every single person but had no luck. I guess everybody was crabby. We had a fun time though, got to see lots of interesting things, and lots of different rims on different lifted Chevy Tahoes. 

Thursday we walked the dogs. One of the dogs Elder Davis walked was terrified of him, and tried to walk as far away from him as possible. We may have taken advantage of this and chased after it and reached out at it as if to grab it. It got so scared that it literally tried to boing out of its leash haha--Im sure we helped it build character. After the dog walking I got a call from President Taylor asking how things were going in the Branch. He then asked if having a senior couple to help would be helpful. I said yes. An hour later we got a text from him saying he was sending us Elder and Sister Miller and they would be there in 24 hours! Apparently they had just they day before mentioned that they felt kinda useless working in the Allen 4th ward since it was so strong and there was nothing to do. So then a day later they a get a call saying to pack and drive to Magnolia asap. They said it was a prayer answered! And we have wanted a senior couple for a while, but because they are so hard to come by we never thought it would happen! 

We did our weekly planning, and planned some ways to work with the new couple. In the evening we went to some new areas, and met some cool people outside. One of which looked like her wanted to kill us but then when we asked if he wanted to hear a scripture he said of course, and ended up being really nice! We taught David and Charlien, and went over the Baptismal interview questions. Tyre joined us virtually for the lesson, and shared how his experience was with the interview and what to expect. And when we asked him his advice for Charlien and David to prepare for baptism and he said "practice it in the bathtub. Do it over and over until you're comfortable" hahaha

On Friday we did some more service, and looked at some potential apartments where the Miller's could live. Everywhere in Magnolia is cheaper than their tiny apartment they were at in Allen. We had dinner with the Masses at Flying Burger, and met the new missionaries as well. They are both soft-spoken and nice. They always try to ensure everything is just right so we had to go over the same things several times haha

After that we started walking around and we invited Tyre to come and he said, " That'll be fine" in his very Tyre way. He walked and talked with us, and we went to visit Bill. We had an amazing in-depth Plan of Salvation lesson with Bill and he said everything we taught even the Spirit World and the 3 Kingdoms made sense and were in line with the Bible! We didn't expect him to get it so quickly. We also walked around downtown a bit, and got some good pictures!

Saturday morning we walked the dogs, and they were crazy today. But in a normal, uninteresting way sadly. We visited Neena who swore up and down she would be at church, only to call us Sunday morning and say her leg was hurting, a very lame excuse (spoiler, I've decided to start adding in retroactive spoilers so that you know that something has been spoiled after it has been spoiled already). 

We got to have a meeting with the new couple though and got a lot done! The meeting ended up being two point seven (2.7) hours instead of zero point five (0.5) but we got a lot done so it was okay. We now have some plans of how we will all work together and progress the work forward. We also taught Charlien and David again, this time about Callings and Priesthood. Charlien asked us nervously if hypothetically hot chips were against the word of wisdom as her hands and mouth had a suspicious red dust coating as she asked us this. Luckily for her we explained that it was totally fine to eat hot chips, which elicited a sigh of relief! We also met a lady on the phone who we didnt realize she was on the phone until we approached her. She got mad at us for politely trying to leave and said the person on the phone deserved to hear the message too :)

Sunday we had a mandatory meeting for Bishops and YWP in Shreveport, so instead of Fasting and going to church we drove to Shreveport, partook of the sacrament in our Bishops council meeting, and ate a big breakfast AND lunch both provided by the stake hahaha--it was such a good meeting though.

-Abe