Hey y'all this week was incredible! From a slimy battle against raw oysters to an investigator almost starving himself to miracles finding more to teach, I'd say it was a great week!
This last week we met this way nice guy named Frank at the neighborhood crawfish boil we were invited to, and he had told us about his restaurant here in Mandeville. So this last week during lunch Elder Jensen and I stopped in! Well, this will just tell you how nice the people are down here in Louisiana. Frank comes out, brings a menu, and starts asking us what all we want to try. He ends up serving us like 3 appetizer dishes, and 2 full size entree dishes all on him. What a guy! He brought out some gumbo nachos, fried pickles, fried oyster, boudin ball cajun burgers, shrimp tacos, and last but not least a couple Raw oysters. YIKES!! That was nerve wracking to say the least. It was like cracking a raw egg and slurping that puppy... Can't even believe I got that down the pipe. Needless to say we were stuffed and sick to our stomachs after that haha. It was all wayyy good though! Frank is going to Glady's knight on Saturday as well.
So last week we were teaching Danny Meryl one of the last lessons for baptism: tithing, fast offerings, and fasting. The lesson went great, and with scheduling stuff it took us about 6 days for the next lesson. Well, we go to follow up with him on the previous lesson and he is like, "Well, I don't eat much to begin with and usually only eat a couple meals a day. But this last week I have only eaten 1 meal a day because I want to align myself with the church and obey the commandment of fasting." HAHAHA whooops!!! I am pretty sure we mentioned the 1 time per month thing, unless special occasions, but bless this man's heart. We have been starving the poor guy! He is seriously so faithful though and just wants to do everything right. He is excited for his baptism this Saturday the 28th, and is planning to be an Usher at the Glady's knight even later in the day. Just the most genuine and faithful guy you'll meet.
We have been working with several part member families especially those with a husband that served a mission, and have been having great success. This last week we had dinner with Bobby and Joanna Penton, who are expecting their first child in the next few months. It was so great because Joanna is from the Philippines and just super nice, and Bobby told us all about his mission to California. He took us out to the garage and showed us all of his old mission stuff, and that was way cool. We invited them to the Glady's Knight event this Saturday, and they are planning to pick us up :)
We also have been working with a guy named Steven Lee who is an anesthesiologist and served his mission in Taiwan. Him and his wife just recently had a baby girl, and have been thinking about how they want to raise her. We brought a former Stake President with us to visit him this week, and the lesson went great. Whenever I worry about being too bold or blunt I remember some of the Savior's teachings in the New Testament :D Steve made it to church this last week and said it was a great spiritual reminder. They are planning to attend Glady's Knight event too!
As you can see we have seriously been inviting everyone and their dog to this Glady's Knight event, because it is going to be a game changer down here in this area we think. I am so excited for it, and really think it is going to open a lot of doors to the gospel down here.
Miracle: On Wednesday we got a call from a guy from Utah that is one of the builders currently working on the Baton Rouge temple. Well turns out this lady came to "inspect the job site" for her work and ended up talking to some of the people on site. They shared a little about the temple and the Book of Mormon with her, and got her information to learn more. Lucky for us she lives in Mandeville!! Right after we got off the phone with this guy we gave the lady, Marcia, a call. We asked if she was busy that night, and next thing we knew she was inviting us over for dinner at 6 that same day, 2 hours after the original phone call! She fed us spaghetti with her 2 little kids and husband Kyle. They were both super nice and seem way prepared! We taught the Restoration lesson and answered so many great questions. Total miracle!
One last miracle: We were driving to an appointment and saw this older man outside his house carrying some heavy bricks to lay in a garden. We decided we better stop and help him. He was a way nice older man, but wasn't interested in the message after we helped him. However, before we left the lady next door, Lauire, came out to check on her kids running through the yard and started talking to us.
She was super nice and we ended up talking with her for quite a while over in her yard about the Book of Mormon. She currently attends a non-denominational church but was way open. She also knew members that used to live here! We went back the next day to bring her a copy, and she was way excited about the Jaredite people in Ether. We are excited to keep meeting with her too! It was way cool to see that those spiritual promptings are real, but may not end up in the way we expect them to.
Love y'all. Hope you have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
