Don't Take Cookies From Strangers

This week we had a very interesting experience. We were knocking along a dead end back-woodsy road, and we met a Native American lady who was baking. She said she was spiritual and not interested in our message, so we walked away. A little bit later as we were coming back the way we had come, she came out of her driveway with two small bags, with two cookies in them each. She said she had thought to give us some cookies and she thanked us for what we were doing. We thanked her profusely for the gift, and accepted happily. She then asked us, just for clarification, "Which church are you from again?"

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the Mormons if you've heard us called that before."

"Oh, good. Well, enjoy the cookies. They are organic." She replied. Then she left. As we departed, I opened my bag and took out the cook. Organic food items are always a risk, especially homemade ones, because sometimes they taste like straight fodder, while other times they taste normal. I picked up the cookie and took a bite. The moment it touched my tongue, I could taste a horrid skunky taste mingled with everything else. For some reason, it tasted like something familiar. I chewed it a little more, when I suddenly realized that the nasty flavor was familiar because it tasted exactly like weed smelled. 

I quickly spewed the poisoned food all over the side of the road. "Sweet guacamole!" I exclaimed (I'm paraphrasing now), "She gave us marijuana cookies! She tried to get us high!'

Anyway, we narrowly dodged that snare of the adversary. Fortunately, I can recognize the smell of weed after serving in Washington for so long.  Anyway, other than that, the week wasn't too interesting. We put two people on date for baptism that ward members found for us, so that was exciting.

Also, just a fun fact about Washington: It seems that very few living rooms have light fixtures built in to them. I guess they've decided that the darkness of Washington should be inside the houses as well as outside them. Most people end up putting a few lamps in the main room, but it doesn't usually do much to fill the dark space, and the room ends up looking gloomy.

Have a great week, tout le monde!

--

Elder Benge