A Few Fun Adventures!

It's been another week and it's email time. I had a few fun adventures this week. Our friend Shaun has been reading the Book of Mormon, which is great, but we didn't get to go visit him in person this week. We did go to stop by a media referral near his area though and found a deserted "neighborhood" if you want to call it that. It was a couple abandoned houses and a bunch of old rotted out trailers just sitting around all up and down this small side road. We weren't able to get to the house where we had the referral though, since the road was gated off. We had another media referral that we went to follow up on this week. Their phone number was invalid so the only option to get in contact was to go find them in person, so we went to their address. It was in this tiny community north of Poolville, right by the border of the mission. I think that's the only place we've gone so far where I was actually a bit scared to go knock a door. The vibe was extremely weird, it was a tiny, filthy trailer court in the middle of nowhere. We ended up running into a neighbor of our referral and he told us they weren't home, so I guess we'll have to go back again at a different time and see if we can catch them. It's a long drive though and doesn't feel promising, so we'll probably only try getting in contact one or two more times before moving on. There's one more crazy story this week, there's this recent convert in our area, an old lady named Donna. She got baptized the weekend before I got to Texas and we met with her once. We thought she seemed pretty crazy the first time we met her, and I guess we were right because she sent us a text this week and told us that God told her to go to Jerusalem. I was super skeptical at first, and I honestly still am. But all of the arrangements for her trip have gone incredibly smoothly. She's sold her trailer, gotten visas in order, has a plane ticket, and has a place to stay along with a ride from the airport. All set up in less than a week. It's maybe the most insane thing I've ever heard of. I'm a bit worried it's going to be a scam of some sort, but she seems to be aware of the risks. I've never met anyone who trusts God more than her, but I still worry about the situation. I don't think anything we say will change her mind on this though, so I guess all we can do is watch and offer support. Whatever happens with her is going to be crazy, I just hope it ends up being a good story. That's it from me this week. The people have very strong faith here, the Baptists have that down to a science. It's just a matter of finding those who are open to additional light. Too many people are content with what they have. Far too many people say, "A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible." But those with eyes to see and ears to hear, who truly love God and believe the Bible, will also believe the Book of Mormom because they will recognize the spirit and the fullness of the gospel in its pages. Read the Book of Mormon, and open with a prayer every time you do. Pay attention to what it teaches, and what the spirit teaches you. All things are made known by the power of the Holy Ghost, and we can invite the Holy Ghost with prayerful study of the Book of Mormon.

I Made it to Dallas!

Hello friends and family, I made it to Texas last Tuesday. The weather here hasn't been as warm as I was afraid it would be, but it is definitely much more humid than home. My mission president is pretty cool, he's a chill guy. He's really smart and knows a lot about the doctrine. Everyone keeps saying we're the most doctrinally sound mission in the world, and it seems possible from what I've seen so far. I don't have much to compare against since I've only seen my own mission, but everyone I've talked to so far is very familiar with the scriptures and the doctrine. They have to be, serving in the Bible belt. My trainer is Elder Layne from Lehi, Utah. He's pretty cool, he'sbeen out for 15 months. Whenever I tell him about what I'm learning in my scripture study he always asks what it means to me. That question always helps me make the doctrine more personal, which will help me teach it to others. Elder Layne and I are serving in Decatur, a rural town northwest of Dallas. It covers a lot of nearby towns and it's the biggest teaching area in the mission. We spend a lot of time driving to appointments. We haven't done a lot of teaching so far because we're both new in the area, so we've had to find our own way around and start meeting people. We did meet some members at sacrament meeting yesterday though, so we should be in good hands now. The ward loves working with the missionaries. It's gonna be a good 2 years in the Dallas Texas West mission, and it's all starting now. I'll talk to you all next week. Elder Mullins