April 10, 2017

Dear family,

Well, it's been a fairly average week. Again, not too weird not too normal. No bearded ladies or anything. I think the weirdest thing that happened was that we went to visit a guy who was taught pretty consistently a few months ago that was never dropped. His first lesson report said he was totally crazy and ready for the gospel at the same time. By the end we determined he was mostly just crazy and probably not fully capable of grasping Doctrine much at all. He has an interesting story though and has been in the local news a couple times for non-crime reasons. He has lithium poisoning apparently and was homeless for a while. While he was living in the forest off of East Lancaster a couple charities took notice of him and he did a little painting for them. He then discovered he actually has quite a talent for abstract art and auctioned some off to help support other homeless individuals. The charities got him set up with a home and other amenities so he's doing a little better now. This has been within the last couple years.

Anyway, he also believes the heavens have called him as a high priest and doesn't quite understand why people don't take him seriously. We talked about random things for a bit and tried to direct it towards doctrine but Texans like to talk, so... The visit ended with him explaining some of his art to us. At first it didn't really make a whole lot of sense but the longer I stayed the more I understood. He pointed out a mustache playing piano in one and I could totally see it! Seriously. Elder Brinkerhoff said I was crazy but haters gonna hate. I'm going to have to google this guy's name when I get back so I can show you. I have a few pictures and a video that Elder Brinkerhoff took.

This weekend was definitely an up and down one. Most of Friday and Saturday was spent contacting people who were either too busy or not really that interested. Yesterday made up for it though because we got four bible referrals. One of them we taught within an hour of receiving the referral. She seems pretty open but I'm not quite sure about her husband. We'll see. There was another one named EJ who was originally contacted by one of the Spanish companionships. His brother joined the church not too long ago so he had heard a bit from him and was super excited to get a Book of Mormon. He also is recovering from a bit of scuffle with one of his other brothers. Apparently his brother is going through some things and got irrational for a minute, had a sword for some reason and went to hit EJ with it. EJ put his hand up to block it and now his hand is not doing so well. Go figure. He said he's totally forgiven him though. That was definitely not the type of story I've heard before. It sounds like he has a lot of potential with his brother and all so we'll see what happens!

Oh, also, I had super awesome cake yesterday. It tasted exactly like orange creamsicle and I didn't even get a chew in before I could tell it was amazing. I may have to get the recipe before I leave.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder O'Brien (the younger)