Saint Bibeau and Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

My first taste of the infamous Whataburger

Saint Bibeau:

We had exchanges on Tuesday and I was supposed to go to Hillsboro. At first I was really disappointed, I didn't want to leave because we had an appointment with our most solid investigators, and I really wanted to be there! On top of that, Elder Rowley kept telling me about how awful Hillsboro was compared to Mexia.  He explained how the members are all inactive and how dirty everything is and that they didn't have any food there. Hillsboro was his first area and he absolutely hated it. When we met for exchanges I reluctantly got in the car with Elder Bibeau and we headed towards Hillsboro. Elder Bibeau handed me his tablet and said, "play some music."

Side note: President Whitney says we can play whatever music we want as long as it's uplifting, doesn't contain romantic lyrics and our companion agrees it's ok to listen to.

I automatically assumed that all he would have on his tablet was Motab because that's all Elder Rowley has and the only thing he likes to listen to. When I opened his music library I was shocked! He had things other than Motab! So we listened to "The Prince of Egypt" soundtrack and other good stuff for the day. That may not sound like a blessing but listen to nothing but the same 11 Hymns for a month and then get back to me. Elder Bibeau also downloaded all of his music onto my tablet so I could take it back to Mexia with me. He's a Saint.

When we got to Hillsboro, I realized Elder Rowley was a liar (at least he overexaggerated). The city was clean; they had plenty of food in the fridge; they have a bigger branch than Mexia and the members feed them all the time. We obviously worked hard that day but I've got to say, it was the closest thing to a vacation a missionary could have. 

It goes to show that you can't judge something until you've actually been there.

Of course, I still love Mexia too. I like them both. I just really like Texas!

The "sermon":

On Thursday we stopped by a former investigators house in Groesbeck. We knocked and this dog came out and jumped on me. It wasn't attacking me or anything he was just a really happy dog. Then this old man that looked like if Obi-Wan Kenobi chewed tobacco came out and started hitting the dog. He probably hit and screamed at the dog for a good 10 minutes before he even acknowledged us. He told us his name and, as we expected, this was the guy we were looking for. He was really mad and said that the missionaries hadn't been by since August, then said he'd been in the hospital since August so that explained why no one had been around to see him.  We were already off to an uncomfortable start.

He said he'd been reading the Book of Mormon but now he couldn't because he broke his glasses. We asked if he believed it was true and he said it was. We got really excited at this point but that excitement was dashed to pieces when he said, "it's true except for the part about the prophets. The only prophets are in The Bible." He told us that in The Bible, God said that only the prophets mentioned in The Bible were real prophets (wrong) and that if anyone claimed to be a prophet in The Americas they were a false prophet (also wrong).

We tried to explain to him why that just wasn't true and how God had messengers on both hemispheres but he held up his hand to silence us.

Then the crazy started.

He proceeded to speak for 2 and a half hours, outside, in very hot weather, without even asking us to sit down. He told us he was a Baptist preacher and that he'll be getting back to preaching to youth as soon as his health will allow him. He said that even though he's a Baptist he still believes in practicing the Pentecostal practice of "praying in tongues".  For those of you who aren't familiar with the practice, it basically just means that when you pray you don't actually speak a real language and just scream gibberish. Since his "sermon" lasted for 2 and a half hours I really couldn't tell you everything he talked about, nor do I think I should. Needless to say, the subject started on prophets and ended on gun safety. Then, somehow he tied gun safety back into prophets, he concluded his speaking with, "and that's why there could be no prophets in the ancient Americas." We told him we had to leave and that we'd come by again. We really don't want to go by again.

That will be an experience I won't forget for the rest of my life for sure.

Also, I've included a picture of the meetinghouse so y'all can see how tiny it is.

Love y'all 

Elder Murdoch 

Branch building in Mexia