This may be a little long but I hope you will bear with me.
We've had a bunch of crazy experiences while we've been walking around in this wicked heat. It's been up at 95-98 degrees for the past few weeks and everyone on South-west Boulevard have been out where we could talk to them! We kept getting people who would ask us if we were selling something or if we were Jehovah Witnesses. There were a lot of people who warned us that 2 white guys walking around in a "predominantly black" neighborhood, isn't a very safe idea. But we haven't had any trouble so far. I've enjoyed talking to the people there and I feel at home there.
Granted, there are some sketchy people there. But the majority are white people who run meth labs in the back room of their apartments! Just talking to the people out here has shown me the signs to watch for to recognize a drug dealers house. It's pretty funny to knock on that house and see people run out of the back door and jump the fence.
But it's great when a bunch of black kids run up to us and ask for our cards with the pictures of Jesus. I don't know when they've had contact with Missionaries before, but this is just another opportunity for people to become more familiar with us. The looks we get from the parents are great!
We were out walking around an apartment complex and this lady was outside. I saw her feeding the birds and I asked her if she loves animals. She said she did and she worked at a nature preserve. I told her that I am planning on going into Animal Psychology/ Ethology and she was super interested to talk to me. I told her about how my Dad worked at Liger Town in Idaho, and she told me that the place she worked for received a bunch of animals from Liger Town after the big incident that happened there. She worked exclusively with the big cats and we talked a lot about that. I brought up our purpose as Missionaries, and tried to teach her. But she said she wasn't talking to God right now and she didn't feel comfortable talking to us about what happened. But she said we were free to stop by and talk to her anytime!
I love y'all! Have a great week!
~Elder Hegsted