Tuesday,
we visited a whole bunch of members and nonmembers, trying to get more
referrals and see if they needed help. Then, we visited a bunch of
less-actives, and had some good discussions. In one of them, the guy
showed us his motor scooters and his vicious attack cat. Dinner was at a
recent move-ins, and we had a good discussion there. At the end, we
helped them move in more furniture.
Wednesday
was reserved for insanely lucky door answering. Three months ago, we
were tracting, and found a guy, Orlando. He was very welcoming, and
introduced us to his family right off the bat. He told us we could come
back any morning, and since then we've been knocking on his door and
waiting for an answer. Well, today we got one. He was just as inviting,
but had some...interesting beliefs. For example, he thought that Jesus
was an alien. Oh, and the reason he hadn't answered his door in three
months was because he'd been in jail. We didn't ask further, but are
probably going back anyway. Later, we were going through the "members
being taught" part of our area book, and found one member who actually
answered his door. He is a really fun guy! Apparently, his house used to
be the party house for missionaries. He showed us his cross-eyed crazy
cat in a cone. It was a very cross-eyed Siamese who was allergic to
himself, and had an Elizabethan collar on. As we were leaving there, I
got snagged on his missionary-eating bush, too. Then, unbelievably, we
met J-laz again. That isn't his real name, but it's what we call him.
He's been in our area book for five years, and has been taught on and
off for all of that. He is in college and has a lot of hobbies, and so
is home just about never. Since I came in, we've knocked on his door
whenever we had nothing better to do, and never have gotten an answer.
Since Elder Mackey came in, we found him twice. This time, he even
wasn't in a rush, and so we talked for nearly an hour. It was pretty
chill- he was cleaning his motorcycle while we talked. He's considering
getting more active in religion! Dinner that night was with a nonmember
and less-active couple, who had been in our area book for just about
ever too. They described some service that they wanted us to do, and we
told them we'd do it Saturday. Finally, we had correlation meeting with
our ward mission leader, and got to try the new toy he brought. It was
like a ripstick that goes sideways, and is motor-powered. You could get
going fast on it!
Thursday,
we had more insane luck. In the morning, we had zone training, then
went to B-dubs. After that, we went to a less-active's house, and helped
them take down their Christmas lights and trim their yard. I spent half
an hour facedown on a roof, hanging over the edge to take down the
lights a foot below the edge of it, before using power clippers to shred
bushes back into shape. After that, we had to go straight to dinner.
The lucky part came in that night- we met a bunch of less active
families we had never seen before.
Sunday
was Mother's Day. You can probably guess what all the talks were on. We
taught Gospel Principle as usual, then went to the Macanich's to Skype
home. Sister Macanich is the mission nurse, and has a super, super nice
house. I take that back- she has three super, super nice houses that are
all close together and share a driveway, that her family lives in.
Apparently, Brother Macanich built up a company, then sold it right
before the market tanked. Irregardless, we Skyped there, and talked for a
long while. After, we went to dinner, and had a lesson right after that with Andy, our recent convert. We
taught some laws and ordinances, then went straight to Persian. We hung
out there until curfew, and tried a new dessert. It was avacado, milk,
sugar, and probably something else I didn't hear. It was amazing, kind
of like the shake mix at McDonald's. The family's nonmember son was
there, and so we tried to talk to him a bit, but to no avail.
Friday was weekly planning again. We did it very, very thoroughly, and that took quite a while. We had a lesson scheduled for Saturday night,
and strangely enough, all the people we tried to borrow their house to
teach at had plans. You'd think they had normal social lives or
something. Either way, between those and Elder Mackey getting a little
sick, we didn't do much else that day besides visiting a few members. We
still hadn't figured out where we were going to teach at, too.
Saturday morning,
we went over bright and early to the couple we had dinner with on
Wednesday for service. We moved a (small) apple tree, dug a bunch of
holes, and did a lot of gardening, moving mulch, building brick
pathways, and composting. We also power washed their patio, moved an
enormous table with a glass surface, moved their enormous grill, and
split a bunch of (thankfully old and unused) buried sprinkler pipe. We
ended up having breakfast there, and got fed again before we left. As we
were leaving, they asked if we had dinner. We didn't, and they insisted
on us coming back to their house for that too. After the service but
before dinner, we visited a senior living complex, and got some opposing
viewpoints on life. The first person we visited, Lisa, was super
depressed, but is still easily the most generous person I've ever met.
She gave away her house to a homeless family when Lisa's family moved
out! She still helps out her neighbors a bunch, but has some problems.
For example, she has a huge bag of pills that she keeps on her porch,
where she throws all the medications the doctors prescribe to her in.
The next person we visited was Glenn. He has serious health problems,
and goes to the hospital regularly. He just had some intensive testing
done for some issues he has, but still is happy, and insisted on feeding
us cheesecake and fruit. We talked for a while, and learned that he'd
recently been out playing golf with his friends. By the way, he is 90.
And still plays 18 hole, normal golf. Sometime during those visits, we
finally got someone to go with us to the lesson that night, but not a
place to go. Then, we had dinner with the couple we had just done
service for. We shared loads of jokes, and didn't stop laughing the
whole time. That night, we held the lesson at the church, with two
members there with us. We taught Emily some more commandments, and
committed her to live them. While talking later, we learned that her
family is still against her being baptized. We asked if there was any
way to talk to her parents, and she said she'd try to arrange it.
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