Slay and His son Summers

Alright everyone what a week. I can tell you all about it. It is pretty cool. Wanna hear. Ok fine you convinced me I'll tell you. 

So yeah what a week. Last week was wild I had to drive 2 hours to get my new companion, I had all these meetings and got to meet him. He immediately was so excited to be here and be a missionary. That hasn't changed at all. We got back to our area and just got to work. He just wants to work so hard and make every single day count. More like every single second of every day. It's amazing. Gotta love the fire. They call it greenie fire when a missionaries is brand new and is ready to work. He is that. 

So this week something sad happened. So a lot of areas in our mission are really big so that means people have to drive a lot. The mission tells us how many miles we can drive a month and not many people always follow that but this month they cracked down. They said we could only drive 1,400 miles this month and that's it. What's hard is last month we went maybe 2,400 or something around there. Wild but now they said do not go over whatsoever. So we had to plan out when we have meetings and stuff this month and added that up and then found out that we only can drive about 20 miles a day to not go over this month. wow. So it takes maybe 20 miles to get to just the top of our area. Yeah it makes it challenging. At the same time it is really cool to see us making new ideas and conserving every single mile. Good for us!

Also this week I got to go to the dentist. Kinda cool. I had a permanent retainer in my mouth and it wasn't so permanent after all. It broke so I had to go in and have him pop it off. Fun. Also Autumn and Jessie two people that we were teaching moved to Wisconsin. I am so sad. I love them a lot and will miss them. Take care of them land of the cheese. Also we had 4th of July. Sadly our mission president said we couldn't be outside for fireworks so Elder Summers and I got to spend this fun outdoor barbecue Americas holiday together indoors. We shot off a streamer then texted people and posted on Facebook the rest of the night. Beautiful. 

Yeah so that is all. We work hard we have fun, I dare Elder Summers to do crazy stuff like drink hot sauce and eat fun foods, it's great. We love it. I love you and you should have a good week. Bye bye. 

Elder Slavens

Elder Lonely 4th Of July Streamer

Elder I Bought A Soft Blanket Today

St. John 24:17 So much peace, yes.

ในบ้านของผมผมพบเครื่องหลอมขี้ผึ้งหากคุณต้องการซื้ออะไรซักอย่างหาเครื่องละลายขี้ผึ้ง มันจะเปลี่ยนชีวิตคุณ นั่นคือทั้งหมด

In my house I found a wax melter. If you are looking to buy something get a wax melter it will change your life. that's all.

This is the day we got to go on a little adventure to to dentist. Yay for us. Watch the YouTube video 

David at the Dentist.I remember loving that video in middle school. It is gold. 

Slay in the dental chair. Thank you health care people and dentists and pool cover installers for all you do. I love you. 

Elder Summers and I. I take a picture every single day. I simply call it a photo a day. This was my photo this day. 

What a good day. 

This is Autumn and Jessie Cazales. They are amazing. I met them the first day I was in Fred and I was with them 

the last day before they left. Fun. I will miss them. 

I wish you and you and you and all of you reading this a happy 4th of July. I know that day has already passed but still, 

happy 4th. 

This was the first picture Elder Summers and I took together. We are so cute. Dad and Son. Friend and fried. 

Brother and brother. So many words can be said about us. 

Oh Indie I love you. I want the world to love you. Enjoy this picture of my niece. 

Elder Slavens father of 2

Good Evening all my fans. You know what. I miss you, but I bet you miss me too so that's cool. We are even and I am glad about that. Ok I have exciting news for you. Yes you. The person reading this sentence right now this news is for you. I am Father, again! Hurray. Elder Slay is so old what a good boy. Well let me explain. 

Ok so this last week was great but sad. It was my last week with Elder Stokey. He is going home and I am sad about that but this Sunday my mission president called and asked if I wanted to train. I said, "Well yeah for sure." Calling accepted. So here I am training again. Happy for me. I just got my new companion today. His name is Elder Summers. He is from North Ogden, Utah and he is so excited to be a missionary. He is such a happy boy and I love it. Motivational that is for sure. We are both in Fred and we are ready to tear it up. We get along well and he is again happy to be here. I feel like I have to say that many times because it is very true. He is excited to be in Fred and I am full of joy. Now I just need to train him and we got to get to work. EASY.

Ok but this last week like I said it was very good. We have doing lots of service for people in our area and have had a couple really good lessons. We are teaching a couple people. Some of them are Autum and Jessie, and Dawn and Sky. Autum and Jessie are amazing but sadly they are moving to Wisconsin. Sad I will miss them. Dawn and her granddaughter Sky love to meet with us. They have a lot to learn and understand but it's great. But this week consisted of lessons, service, and Elder Stokey packing and saying bye to people. Byes are always hard. I said bye to him and I was sad. BOOOOO. This week I did exchanges with another Elder and we went street contact and I was dead sweating. It is hot and humid and rainy here. You just constantly are dripping. It's sometimes your hot bodies fault and sometimes the clouds in the sky’s fault. Hard to tell sometimes.

Well yeah not tons going on. Always good memories but not many stories I suppose. But the take away from this is, I am training and have 2 sons, Elder Stokey left, it rains a lot, Fred is still amazing. That's all. Love you all have a wonderful wonderful week! 

Elder Slavens

Elder Father

Elder Sweaty

Alma 26:16 shoutout to Emma Wheeler. A great scripture. 

เพื่อนสวัสดีผมเป็นพ่อถ้าคุณรู้จัก Star Wars มันก็เหมือนกับตอนที่ผู้ชายคนนั้นพูดว่าลุคผมเป็นพ่อของคุณผมคิดว่ามันเป็น Darth Vader idk Star Wars ที่ดีแต่นั่นคือผม

friends hello I am a father. if you know star wars it's like when that guy says Luke I am your father. I think it's Darth Vader idk Star Wars that good but that's me.

POV: You grind your missionary work and your prize is sweat and a good feeling in your heart. Aww. 

This is the last time we all met as a district. I love these people a lot and will miss some of them. We separated and I am upset about it. 

When you find a mirror and realize, man that would make a great picture, so you take that picture. Love it. 

We did a service for a member where we just hauled loads of loads of branches to another house. That's just life in Fred. Tractors and trees. It's the best. 

Bye bye Elder Stokey. I will miss you. You are my friend, my very good friend. 

Welcome to my life Elder Summers. Glad you are apart of my wonderful exciting super good life. You'll love it here! 

the elder with the ringworm

Ok so this is quite unfortunate. I wrote my whole weekly email today, and then tried to sent it out but oddly when I pressed send it was sending then deleted itself. So now I have to rewrite everything. I hope I cover everything but you know trials come in our life. Gotta find the positives so I guess you guys didn't need to read that email. So welcome to this new and improved weekly email 2.0! 

Oh Fred, Texas. So small, so wonderful. I am still here and I am still alive. I love my life and I love my mission. Now let's get into it. I have one very very interesting story this week. I hope you enjoy it. So last week I told you about my ringworm scare. I have an update on that story. So some background again if you forgot or didn't read my last email. Last transfer Elder Winder and I found a cat under our car so we took it home, fed it and gave it to some people we were teaching. That part was great. Well a week ago or so I got a lot of mosquito bites and some of them turned into blisters. I thought that's odd went to the doctor and he said I was fine. Here we go. Drumroll please. Well Elder Winder calls me this week and says," Hey so you know those blisters you have on your arm? Well I have them and the people we were teaching have then and their dog has them. It is ringworm." So apparently I've had ringworm this whole time and had no clue. I learned ringworm is a contagious fungus that lives in you. Exciting! Well I have that but don't worry I am taking medicine. Wild but hey I feel fine my arm and legs just look nasty. 

Also this week I got to go on exchanges with some other Elders. It is basically where you switch companions for a little bit. Well we had a good day and then their car was having trouble so we had to take it into the shop. We had to leave it there for 2 days to get fixed so we were stranded at this automobile fixing place. Super exciting. We got it all figured out but when we went to get the car back we got there and realized we had 2 of us and 2 cars. So we got permission to drive alone. The best day ever. I am a unique person with the unique ability to drive alone. It is very weird that that is something that is wrong now. Like WHAT you drove by yourself! You are crazy! Yes I drove alone and I closely followed my companion while driving the speed limit. Wild! Still a wonderful memory. 

Well last time I wrote this email I think I had something else but I totally forgot what it was so I guess this is the end of the road for you. All I can say is don't get a stray cat, don't drive alone unless you have permission, and DO get the BTS meal from McDonald's. I promise it will change your life. Chicken nuggets with Cajun and Sweet Chili sauce. WOW! Yeah that's all. Ok everyone have a good safe fun exciting wonderful yee haw kind of a week. Love you bye bye. 

Elder Slavens 

Elder Confirmed Ringworm 

Elder BTS

Elder Oh You Are From California, I Am Sorry. 

Everyone Here Hates California But It's Ok I Still Love It. 

Doctrine and Covenants 66:6 This is a good one for all you wild people out there.  

สวัสดีทุกคนผมเองและครั้งที่สองในอีเมลฉบับเดียวผมจะบอกคุณว่าต้องซื้ออาหาร BTS ราคาไม่แพงและอร่อยได้รับมัน

hello everyone it's me and for the second time in one email I am going to tell you to get the BTS meal it's not that expensive and it's yummy. get it.

Nice to meet you, we are Elder Merriam and Elder Slavens. We love to drive cars by ourselves!

This is my best friend. I took a picture of Elder Stokey and I when this lady runs up and says, "Take another one, I missed it!" I've never been happier than I was when she said that. 

I always love it when I take off my hat and get to see what my hair wants to do today. I look like Jim Carrey in the movie Ace Ventura. Hurray for me! 

The BTS meal. This meal has a very special place in my heart. When they say happy meal I just think of this food. Not the toy but the yummy sauce. 

That moment when you get to give a devotional to a group of kids in Peru. Thank you HEFY and thank you mom for letting me do this. So kind! 

Elder Slay may have OCD we are unsure

Alright yee haw welcome everyone. Ok I have so much so say so I have to just get started. This was a wild week. Did lots, learned lots, saw lots. Gotta love Texas and missions in general. 

Ok where to start. So to explain the subject line. You may think, "hmm that's a little odd". Well to explain for some reason both here and in Arizona missionaries just do not clean apartments, like never. Maybe it's just who I have been with but nobody is clean anymore. Our trailer here is just nasty. One day I spend 3 hours just deep cleaning. Scrubbing stuff, throwing stuff away like all the good stuff. Somehow every mission house i've ever been in has tons of Tupperware and plastic Walmart bags. I found a cupboard with at least a thousand old Walmart bags. Like why. And alot of Tupperware with no lids or no matches. So odd. But I was cleaning and cleaning and thought, "Do I have OCD". No I don’t. I am just normal and like clean houses. Well maybe normal isn't right apparently but you get it. Next I thought "Whoever my future wife is, you are welcome because cleaning is something I enjoy”.  Also as I cleaned I realized there were white worm maggot things on our ground. I was sweeping worms off the floor. Gross and it was definitely not something I wanted to see. Also I grabbed a bowl out of the dishwasher and a large cockroach ran out and hid in the door of the washer. I thought, "Well that's unfortunate". I just started the washer again and hope that fixes the problem. Exciting. 

Ok next. This week Elder Alliaud of the Quorum of the 70 did a mission tour of our mission. We had a zoom meeting with him and his wife and then we all got to meet together as a mission to have a big mission zone conference. It was so amazing. Driving there I though, "Wow I really don't know that many people here what am I going to do". Boy I was wrong I knew so many people I guess and people I didn't even know knew about me and wanted to be friends. I guess I am just a popular guy. Everyone wants to be my friend. Who knew I could become so famous in like a month in a half not me. But anyway it was an amazing meeting about faith, and the Book of Mormon, and testimonies, and helping others. Like so much in just a little meeting. 

INSTAGRAM ALERT. Ok if you or your friends are looking for a cool account to follow I recommend you follow trenton.slavens on instagram. I got a missionary instagram and it's so exciting. I am trying to find people with this app now. Haven't seen tons of success yet but I have faith.

Finally, last week I got a few bug bits on my arms and legs. I was like, "Ok that's normal it's Texas". Well the next few days they started to get bigger and blister up. At this point I realized this was probably wrong. I called the nurse and she said, "Ok Elder Slavens, you may have ringworm so you are going to need to drive an hour today to go to the doctor". That was exciting. I went to the doctor and of course I am fine. They may be mosquito bites or ant bites or something I am not sure but they said I will be fine. The best part is this is my second ring worm scare. I had a bite in Arizona with a ring around it and now this. Ring worms that aren't ring worms love me! 

Well that's about it. I have good pictures this week so I suggest you take a peek. Love you and miss you. Yee haw cowboys and cowgirls. Have a wonderful week. 

Elder Slay

Elder OCD

Elder You Are Welcome Wife

Elder Ring Worm 2.0

Elder @trenton.slavens On Instagram

Romans 8:17 We are all children of God.

 ถ้าคุณเคยนั่งอยู่ที่นั่นและคิดว่า อืม ผมจะช่วยเอ็ลเดอร์สะเลเว็นส์ตอนนี้ได้อย่างไร ผมบอกคุณได้.  มะพร้าว La Croix.  ถ้าคุณต้องการส่งอะไรมาให้ผมส่งมาได้เลยและผมจะกอดคุณอย่างแน่นอนเมื่อผมกลับถึงบ้านและผมจะเขียนจดหมายดีๆที่มีรูปภาพให้คุณถ้าผมอยู่ในนั้น  ขอบคุณ.

If you are ever sitting there and think hmm how could I help Elder Slavens right now. I can tell you. Coconut La Croix. If you want to send me something send me that and I'll for sure give you a hug when I get home and I'll write you a nice letter with a picture if me in it. Thanks

Repent Across America oh boy. Ok so we teaching this lady named Dawn. She told us about a repentance event and we said awesome we will be there. Assumed we would just be talked to tons of people about Jesus and repentance. Wrong. It was just a live concert for 6 people. 

Still loved it. I hope you can see that video. If not please let me know cause it's good. 

Elder Alliaud and I are such good buddies. We go way back. 

When we met in person I complimented his tie. So kind of me!

Elder Slavens at the doctor. This picture actually makes it look like I am about to die but 

since I am typing this right now I am in fact not dead. 

This is from a little place called Chuck's. Everyone in the mission talks about this place so much. Sure Texas is hot and humid but they do have some good barbecue.

Welcome to the Texas Houston East mission missionaries. There are a lot of us and we all love each other. If you see me congrats because there are a lot of people here. If you know any of these people let me know. We could have one of those times where you say, 

"Oh wow small world". Could be fun!

After the cleaning spree. Cleaned 3 rooms and a kitchen and bathrooms. 

Way to go Elder Slavens. 

Elder Slay the plumber pepper guy

Howdy everyone. Elder Slay coming at you live from Fred, Texas. The place with the population of 700, a lot of highways, few homes, and a lot of random dogs running across the street. Hypothetically, if there was a worldwide game of hide and go seek and you had a month to try and find the person I would likely hide here. There is nobody, nothing, no cops, not much. It would be a good hiding place. But a wonderful place really. Thanks for that brain, well back to our normally scheduled event keeping up with Elder Slavens.  It was another great week, a lot happened and a lot of stories and memories. Let's get into it.

Ok so for some background a few cities around me are: Fred, Spurger, Woodville, Jasper, Silsbee. Such wonderful places I would have never been to. Thanks mission! So this week in Jasper we went to do a service project. Some other Elders cover that area so we went with them but what happened was this ladies house is on a hill and in this area of Texas it rains a lot. It rains and rains. Any rain and there are floods and the road is covered in feet of water. So this lady's house being on a hill had a bunch of rain slide down the hill right into her house. We got to take out all this old, wet, moldy, stinky, heavy carpet from her house. We were cutting and ripping and starting to smell bad. The lady at the house absolutely loved me. She kept saying, "Oh I love this boy". I guess it pays to be yourself. Lesson of the day, Be Yourself! Ok cool. Well for lunch she gave us just beans. Everyone loves beans, well oops I accidentally poured a third of the pepper dispenser into my bowl of beans. Those were some peppery beans. That's ok she still loved me for who I am, even though I may be clumsy. It happens. 

To be totally honest I do not know why people enjoy living anywhere around here in Texas. I mean it is super good but it rains and floods, it is hot and humid always, there are so many mosquitos outside it's almost like you look outside and you start getting bit. It's fun here but people just always have to wonder, "Oh well it's raining again, I wonder if our house will flood this time, or if the water will knock down that tree into our house". Like what. I don't get it, but it makes it pretty interesting for me. 

Ok another service we did this week. We had to clean an Elders apartment because they all get moldy and nasty here. I became the plumber of the day.  I was under sinks fixing and screwing stuff and tightening little things not super sure how to he a plumber but it worked. Impressive if you ask me. If anyone has a sink that needs a fixin, let me know. We also have amazing members in our branch. There are only about 75 families in the branch and not near that many are active or come to church, but some are very strong and we get to visit them often and I love it. It's the best thing ever. 

So there you have it. A good week full of some lessons, members, and a bunch of service. It's about hurricane season so we will be getting lots of rain that means lots of flooding and that means we will be busy. I am excited. Well not for rain or floods but to be busy with service. Gotta love it. Now that I mention it service. If you are reading this serve someone this week. Get someone ice cream or pay for their taco bell in the drive thru. Serve someone and God will bless you. Oh perfect scripture for this down below. Love you. Have a good serving week. 

Elder Slavens

Elder Service

Elder Plumber

Elder Pepper Beans

Mosiah 2:17 Serve others-Serve God. Easy as that. 

สิ่งเดียวที่น่าเศร้าเกี่ยวกับการใช้ชีวิตคือ Fred ขาดทาโก้เบลล์ ไม่มีอะไรที่เหมือนกับความอยากทาโก้และรับทาโก้ที่ง่ายและรวดเร็ว ถ้าผมต้องการทาโก้ผมต้องขับรถไป ๑๓ ไมล์ หรือห่างออกไป ๑๗ นาทีขรุขระ

The only sad thing about living is Fred is the lack of a taco bell. There is nothing like craving a taco and getting a taco quick and easy. If I want a taco I have to drive 13 miles or 17 minutes away. Rough

When you go to a members house and they say, "Want to watch me burn a bunch of trash". It was a lot of trash and a large fire. It was very warm. I danced around and clapped. Wonderful experience.

Branch President's wife snuck up and took this candid picture of me and dog. I saw it on Facebook and said

 "Oh look there I am". Unexpected. 

Meet barefoot Willie. This man does not wear shoes. He doesn't go to stores that say "no shirt no shoes no service". 

He just loves being barefoot no matter what. I strive to be just like barefoot Willie in my life. 

We went to this bbq place and they ordered the Caveman Platter. It was like 4.5 pounds of meat and then fries and toast. 

I was so dedicated to finish it but my stomach couldn't not handle it. I was upset with myself. Only 3 missionaries have ever finished it and I wanted to be the 4th. I'll be back. 

When you go fishing with 2 people you are teaching and it is very peaceful. Also when you fish and don't catch anything. 

I made it seem like I knew what I was doing. The guy asked "do you know how to string a pole". "Well yeah duh that's easy". 

I figured it out don't worry. 

We were helping people with their goats and it started pouring cats and dogs. I felt like a newscaster explaining how much rain we were getting and in detail describing the dogs falling from the sky. 

Fred Texas and Fred Bernhardt I do adore you.

Dear Everyone, 

I really do love exciting weeks. Not only because it makes it exciting and a big change for me, but it also makes it a better email and experience for you. I say this because it was a super boring week and I'm excited for a crazy week were something unexpected happens. oh jk that was this week. Buckle up please and keep your hands inside of the vehicle. Enjoy. 

So week started normal with Elder Winder enjoying life being good missionaries you know. Normal stuff. Tuesday we get a call from the mission president and he starts talking to us then says, "Ok well here is the real reason I am calling right now". So he tells us that an Elder was going back to his original mission call so I was being moved to take his place. They call this an emergency transfer when you get moved randomly. I've only been here about a month and I am already being moved. So that day Elder Winder and I had to pack and had our final fun work day before I left. I then was taken from Pasadena, Texas all the way to the boarder of Texas and Louisiana. I am now in a town called Fred, Texas. Fred, Texas let me tell you about it. I am living in a town with a population of 700 or less. I am currently living in a trailer home. It is a huge trailer home for just 2 of us but still. Fred has nothing. It is just large long highways and then some houses. No parks no stores nothing. I think I heard there are like 2 big restaurants here and I already went to 1 so I've seen 50% of what this town has to offer already. 

My new companions new is Elder Stokey. He is from Heber, Utah, loves trying to catch snakes, and is going home in 4 weeks. So I am his final companion. While there isn't much here I am making us work a lot. We are teaching 2 people Autumn, and Jessie. They are married with 3 kids that love to play in the dirt. I think that's most kids in the world but especially in Fred, Texas people love dirt. We have gone to their house just a few times and we always have to kill wasps with bats and it is very exciting. We also go to our branch presidents house a few times a week. Super cool family. The dad is a high school teacher and he teachers science and chemistry and I legit hated those classes and I told him that I don't like those and he said, "hmm I'm starting to understand what you were like as a student". Now what does that mean. I am not sure but it hurt. He also told me how students are cheating now. I am learning so much on my mission! But yeah Fred is cool for sure but very different. Went from a huge area with lots of people to a bigger area with like 18 people here. Its a change but it's super good for me. 

It's getting hotter in Texas so lots of mosquitos and I hate those things. They are everywhere. We also have bugs in our trailer here don't worry.  We are right off the highway so all night there are cars zipping by our house. It's like nice sleeping noise. I don't mind. One day this week our air conditioning went out and I did mind that. We had to sleep at some other missionaries apartments and of course they were 40 minutes away. I am in the middle of nowhere. Also my moms uncles name is Fred Bernhardt so I thought that was cool. I love Fred and Fred!

Ok but finally we don't have a ton going on here but I am trying to get us moving and doing everything we can to find as many people as we can teach. At the same time if anyone knows of anyone that wants a message of peace or hope please please let me know. I am a pretty positive guy I can for sure help your friends. I am not saying this as a "I AM A MISSIONARY AND WANT TO TEACH YOUR FRIENDS" no I just am a friend and if you have someone that needs it, or wants God in their life, that is why I am serving a mission so please i'm here to help. 

So yeah that's about it. I know for sure I will have crazy stories here so stay tuned. Love you guys have a good Texan week. Yee haw. Enjoy life and enjoy the non-mosquito life you live. It's good. Don't take it for granted. 

Elder Slavens

Elder Fred

Elder Ton Loan

Elder Missionary

ร้านอาหารที่ผมกินที่ใน Fred มีเครื่องปรับอากาศที่แข็งแกร่งที่ทำให้ผมล้มลงผมมีขนลุกทุกมื้อมันเหมือนห้องนม Costco แค่เย็นชาและน่าสังเวชไม่ละขอบคุณ

The restaurant I ate at in Fred had such a strong air conditioning unit that blasted directly on me I had goosebumps all dinner. It is like the Costco milk room. Just cold and miserable. No thank you

Doctrine and Covenants 58:27

Read this and was like yeah that is true. We are rewarded by our good works so yeah we do need to do good works every day. Be engaged! 

Bye bye Elder Winder. You were fun. I said bye to you today. Enjoy life in Pasadena, Texas not Pasadena, California.

 

This is Elder Slavens and Elder Stokey. Yes we have a lot of boxes in the back of our truck but no we are not affiliated with FedEx or UPS. We just love to help other people.  

Sure this picture may look boring to you but this is the room I spend every morning working out. We have 3 bedrooms in this place so I can have my own room with nothing in it where I can spend my mornings. Love it!

I took this picture and immediately said, "This for sure is my favorite picture I took this transfer". I just know what I like and I know I like this one. I mean just look at it. C'mon!

A candid picture of a dog and I. Her name is Jet or Jessie idk they call her both names so I just call her You. "Hey You come here". It's so weird that I say that and everyone in the house walks over to me. Odd. 

The Elder that could be a veterinarian

Now this was a week. All other weeks are weeks but this was a WEEK. You know? Basically means it was a real good week. Wonderful for me. I love it. This week I hit my one month in Texas. Really crazy. My time here went really fast but at the same time it was very slow. Trying to readjust here was the slow part but every day goes by very quick. Our of nowhere its 9 and I'm like ok time to get ready for bed. That's one of my favorite parts of the day, sleeping. I love to sleep. I also love personal study. I just get to sit for an hour and study it's the best thing ever. I'm getting good at not using my phone. Man that thing is distracting but not anymore I'm a good boy. 

Ok want to hear why this week was good? I can tell you. I got some exciting stuff this week. But first what are we doing? Well we have been calling tons of random people getting lessons, we are teaching a lot of people so it was just a super busy week. We have lessons in person every day and then after the lesson since we can street contact we just talk to people in complexes and around on the street and my companion and I are talkers and are social people so we are pretty good at that. People just love to talk to us. 

Ok so story time. We had this lesson at this lady's house and it was a nice house but we went in and it was a crazy cigarette house. It smelled awful and there were drugs all over the table. All sorts of bad stuff and she and her friend met with us and told us a lot of struggles in their lives so it did end up being a super good lesson. It was very interesting though because she was acting weird and people kept knocking on the door and it was just all over the place but it was good. Later we got a called by a few people telling us that she is a con artist and does this to a bunch of different missionaries and churches and she is a drug dealer and every story she told us is fake. So we have no clue how true that is. We don't know what to believe but we are going to still try to meet but either over zoom or at a church to see if she is really interested and if this is something she wants or if she is trying to trick us. That was a plot twist to our week. 

We also got to visit this other family and the mom's son passed away so we got to eat dinner with her and cheer her up and at the end she asked us to give her a blessing. There were 4 of us and she picked me. Idk why but i've given so many priesthood blessings lately. Everyone that asks always asks me like I gave 3 this week. It's been so cool every time I have the chance to do this. The Spirit is real. The church is true.

Finally an amazing story. So we were leaving a lesson and I was driving home. I was going and thought I saw an animal then we drove over it. Like we didn't run it over it just went under the middle of the car. I pulled over and we jumped out and it was a little baby kitten in the middle of the street. We grabbed it and it was so small so stinky. We took it home washed him up with axe body wash gave it tuna and water and found it a home at one of our investigators house. We called a ton of people and either they said no because we hate cats or no we are allergic. I am also allergic to cats but apparently when they are little they are hypoallergenic so I didn't feel itchy so we good. We named the cat Tubi after a streaming service we heard about recently. He is a needed cat that won't stop meowing or following us. Glad we got rid of that but also sad. A bittersweet goodbye. 

So yeah see quite a good week. Thanks for coming and excited to see you again soon. Yee haw I love you sir. Enjoy your week in the Wild West. 

Elder Slavens

Elder Veteranatian

Elder Tubi

Mosiah 3:19 an all time goodie. I want to be a child again. Take me back. 

ผมยังไม่พบคน ๆ หนึ่งใน Texas ที่พูดอะไรใกล้ ๆ ภาษาไทยผมกำลังพยายามอย่างเต็มที่ หากใครรู้จักใครใน Pasadena Texas ที่พูดภาษาไทยได้โปรดแจ้งให้เราทราบขอบคุณ

I have not met one person yet in Texas that speaks anything near Thai. I am trying my best. If anyone knows anyone in Pasadena Texas that speaks Thai please let me know. Thanks

Our president gave us permission to go to a roller skating rink and while we couldn't skate 

we just went to talk to a member family and their nonmember friends while they were skating. 

Pretty fun we bonded with them quite a bit. 

Someone gave us a lot of otter pops so I said, "if you blend a lot together does it become a snow cone"? the answer is no it was just dark green, sticky, and gross. don't recommend. 

This should be something that everyone does. This is the new planking I call it DVDing. 

Like "oh after we eat this ice cream want to go DVD for a little bit"? Could be cool.

And here is our kitty Tubi. He smells like tuna and dirt and He is needy and jumps on me 

while I'm trying to study. Kinda unfortunate but at least he has a new home. 

Slay teaching English. Every Friday I have to stay up late to teach English. I am always tired 

but don't worry every time these people leave they know at least a few more words.