Turkeys, Fire Ants, and Banana Spiders--Oh My!

Hello again y’all! I guess another week has gone by because here I am writing again! I hope y’all's week went well and that everything is peachy.

This week was Thanksgiving as I’m sure most of you know ;p So I hope everything went well for that! It was kind of weird not being with family for Thanksgiving this year but I had an awesome time this week regardless :)

For my week, not much happened on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon we went to Lake Charles to meet with the Beaumont Zone Leaders because they wanted us to help them make a google sheets document like the one we made for here in the Jennings branch. So we went down and saw them for a bit.

Thursday was probably one of the most fun days on my mission so far. So earlier this month we had scheduled to have Thanksgiving with the D* family but then a few days before they erased their name on the list... so the T* family picked us up like the awesome people they are. They told us they had been thinking about us the day before and were going to invite us even before they knew we didn't have a place! So we headed to their house at about 10:30 and pretty much spent all day there. Before lunch/dinner we played games outside with the kids. They live on a country farm so we had lots of fun. We played soccer, volleyball without a net, dodge ball with what E* calls peaches (oranges that have fallen on the ground from their tree) Then we had our feast. It was so good! We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, rolls, jell-o, etc. It was super yummy. (Their turkey wasn't as good as Grandpa's turkey though) ;) Before we started eating E* asked me to sit by her so I did and she told me about where she got her necklace from. Then I gave her one of those green shield CTR rings and explained to her what it meant. Haha-- she loved it! She went and showed it off to everyone in her family and then when we were going around all saying what we were thankful for the very last thing she said was the ring. After dinner we played a Thanksgiving matching game that E* wanted to play and had pie for dessert. Then T* went and got his girlfriend,  who is one of our investigators, and brought her over. The kids and us went outside and went exploring for a little bit. We found a fire ant hill which I was then dared to stick my hand in for 10 seconds... and you know me, I’m no lightweight ;) haha

"Haha I figured I gotta do it at least once while I'm
down here. And it actually wasn't that bad at all.
Like the bites are almost completely gone already."

In Louisiana on the outskirts of all the property there is just this massive jungle type forest that is super thick and seems like it goes forever! So we went exploring in that for a while! We found a big thing of super old junk that was pretty cool. We also came across a giant banana spider. It was probably the biggest spider I’ve ever seen that wasn't a tarantula... go look up pictures of banana spiders. They are something else. Anyways, this is super long so I'll finish up the day. J* and his grandpa took me and Elder Jones fishing in the bayou. We didn’t catch anything but it was still super fun. We had to be in our apartments by 7 though so once we got back from fishing we said bye to everyone and then headed home. It was a super fun day and if I ever visit Louisiana again, I'll have to make sure I see the T* family  :)

The Bayou

Fishing

Also, Thursday was my 3 month mark! Crazy how fast it’s gone!

Friday was kinda uneventful. We just had district meeting and such.

Saturday we had priesthood Saturday. So we biked around Welsh. We found this guy at the park and talked to him for 30 minutes about the gospel. We read from the Book of Mormon to him and answered all his questions and it was going super well! But then all of a sudden, at the very end he said he wasn't interested... That night we went and visited our investigators J*and J*. J* had to go chase his sheep things and so we talked to J* and her friend L*and J*’s mom who is technically a member. Jessica had read from the Book of Mormon and she understood it and liked what she read! They promised us they would come to church the next day and it seemed to go really well! But come Sunday, they didn’t show up again. This is the third time they've done this. So technically we are supposed to drop them since they aren't keeping commitments but J* read from the Book of Mormon... And she's really the only investigator I’ve had keep a commitment on my whole mission. So I think we will keep working with them.

I hope with this holiday season you all are reminded of what is truly important. I encourage you all to do the Light the World project the church has put out. As members of this church you all are called as missionaries to spread Christ's' light. Show others around you that you love them. Even small gestures of kindness can completely change someone's day. Be that light in their lives.

I love and miss you all. I hope your week goes well and I'm so thankful for all the support you all give me. I love it here and I love this gospel. I've never felt more pure joy than when I live and share the gospel. And I know that same joy is available to all of you.

Love,
Elder Wood

A fox tail hanging from some guy's roof