"FAUTHA GAUD.. Please bless my boys out heeya in da streets!"

We have a super nice house that we share with the Zone leaders. Oh it is so much fun probably to much fun haha.   I have not been keeping to much contact with the recent converts. To communicate to any of them I have to send a letter through the mission office. I do know this though. P should be attending the temple for the first time this upcoming weekend! S is still active but has picked up smoking again last I heard. She is still trying very hard to overcome her addiction, but she is trying which is what matters. F is on fire he received his patriarchal blessing last month and is beginning to consider serving a mission! Apparently he is the only one who participates in the huge elders quorum. Which is surprising because he was kind of shy when we were teaching him. His girlfriend is serving in temple square and yelling at him to go serve a mission haha. She was always yelling at him for something. 

   Funny story time. I am almost certain that I am the only missionary in the mission who has had and will have the opportunity to serve with the only black missionaries in the mission. Both of them from the deep south. Texas and Louisiana. it makes talking to people who aren't white so much easier and more fun. So for the story. It is 8:30 at night and we pull into this sketchy apartment complex. close by we see a bunch of hood-rat looking folk joking around near where we parked. Me and Elder B left our wallets in the car locked it and went to go talk to them. As we approach They start looking real skittish. We both put our hands in the air and let them know we weren't cops, but rather we are Jesus Christs servants. The four guys chill out a little bit and begin to ask us questions about what we are doing. We told them and asked if we could share the saviors message with them. They agreed and Elder B began to pray. Note: When elder B prays his voice gets very soft. So when these guys heard it, one of them spoke up during the middle of the prayer and said "Say it like you mean it man!" Elder B pauses and continues his prayer in the same fashion that he left off in. It didn't take long before once again the same guy repeats his request, except this time a little louder. Elder B pauses and then in a loud voice starts over. "FAUTHA GAUD.. Please bless my boys out heeya in da streets!" As soon as he said those words I died laughing on the inside and unfortunately a lot of it manifested itself on the outside as a snorting laugh that was obviously a failed attempt at not laughing. The other guys hearing my wonderful snorting sounds began to do the exact same thing. We all began laughing at some point. It eventually died down and we began to teach them a little bit. It turns out they were all really sincere guys who had just made some bad decisions in life. Though they were not to interested in the message it was good to be around people who were willing to at least listen and have a funny moment with. 

   As for the rest of this week we have been doing a lot of tracting. Which this time around has not been to fruitful. Though there were a couple other worthy journal entries from it haha. There are a lot of part member families in this ward so we are going to begin to work with them as well. But part members are really tricky. If you push them to hard they will get offended and not want to meet with you, but if you don't push them they will remain in the same rut that they have been in for the last 10 years. We will give it our best shot though. 

   I only get less than a year to finish out strong. I have set some goals for myself and plan on achieving them. Thank you for all your prayers and love. Stay strong and carry on. Elder Wagner