Week 30

Hey Mom!

   This week has been pretty good. Yes, I have a new companion, but I'm in the same place. My new companion is Elder Johnson. This is his 15/16 transfer and his first as a district leader. This is my 3rd transfer as a district leader's companion. He's pretty cool, he knows literally everything, it's crazy. I'll ask him super random questions like, "how much does an elephant weigh?" and he's like, "African or Indian? He's great. Also another Elder that I lived with when I was in Alice was transferred to our apartment. So I have some pretty good friends in my apartment.

   Our investigator Jerry was baptized yesterday. He was super happy and it was great to see him finally able to join his family. Next week he'll be confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Their family has been doing super good. And in a year they can go and get sealed and I can go with them! That would be so cool to go through the temple with them. Also his dad past away a few months ago and he's already learned about baptisms for the dead, I hope he'll go and do that ordinance as well.

   So on Monday's we go tie digging. I think I told you about it. We go to a "bodega" like a big warehouse and dig through old used ties to try to find nice ones that are cheap. And today we decided to go to Burlington because sometimes they'll have ties on clearance for like 3 dollars that are usually like $80-$90. There is a brand called "Ted Baker" that everyone in this mission loves because they are super pretty. And we found two that were sister ties. They have the same pattern but different colors. And they were so pretty, but they were $25 and we almost bought them. But we decided not to. It seems really dumb but ties are a big deal on the mission haha. 

    These next few days Elder Johnson has three day training. He goes to a bunch of meetings all day for three days and learns how to be a leader. And so I will be working with a different elder for a few days.

    Aside from it being super hot this last week that's about it. 

             Thanks for keeping me updated! Have a great week! Love you

  (Sorry so blurry!)

Week 29

   This week was another great week. Our investigator who quit smoking is still doing great. He is so excited to be baptized, it is so funny. Everytime we bring it up he's like, "I'm gettin' wet!". He says it all the time and I always laugh super hard. He's pretty southern and he has a bunch of funny sayings that kill me. Really a testimony builder when you see someone like him change this much. I'm super happy to have been a part of it. 

    We had a service project at an old woman's house who is actually our new investigator. She has about an acre or so and her grass was overgrown a ton! We were picking up trash in her back yard and as I walked I could hear stuff crunching under my feet, so I pulled back a layer of dead grass and there was like an old suitcase, some wood pallets and a bunch of other stuff. We found so much trash in her back yard. I think we found like 8 pallets, 6 tires, a tricycle, some old metal buckets, and a bunch of other weird stuff. We found like this huge counter thing. Like a bar service counter. Super heavy and we pushed it out of her little patio deal and we tore it apart, it was fun. It took like 3 hours and we almost finished but we're coming back next Saturday to finish. It was pretty fun, but really hot too. 

    I've been reading that book "The Infinite Atonement" a little bit every night. It's super cool. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it because I only get like 30mins/day to read it. And I'm not a super reader like you, I'll get there one day. I've been learning a lot about the Atonement, mainly how much harder it was that I can even fathom. It talks about how he suffered for not only our world but all the other billions of worlds he has created. Blows my mind the love that he had for us. It gives me great comfort in knowing that anybody that I meet, no matter what they are going through, can be helped by Christ. I knew that before, but I don't know, having a deeper understanding of a principle strengthens my testimony of it.

    Transfers are tomorrow, and we wont know until late tonight if I need to pack or not. But no matter what happens, I know I'll love it. 

   Hope you continue to have fun at work, it wouldn't be fun if they didn't keep you on your toes would it?

         Love you! Have a great week!

Week 28

    I told Elder Lindsay that you said hi and he blew a kiss back. 

    I'll pray for you guys, lots of decisions to make. Isn't that so fun? Having so much stuff to consider and think about all the time? Haha its like being the junior companion. My senior comp has to make all the tough decisions. One day that'll be me, but I'm pretty convinced I'll be junior comp my whole mission. Haha just kidding I dont even think that happens. 

    This week was pretty cool. I kicked my first dog! This boxer ran up to me on my bike and tried to bite me and I kicked him in the face super hard. It was exhilarating? Boom, I remembered a decent English word. I figured out that the mission just makes you dumb. Like, never have I been so wise, yet so dumb. I dont remember like math or english or anything like that but I can feel the spirit and know a lot more doctrine. It's a weird swap.

    Also this week we confirmed Miguel and Juanita, the two that were baptized last week. Their dad is starting to quit smoking, yesterday was his first day out of 2 weeks where he cant smoke cigarettes. He is struggling a ton but we are buying him Big Red gum and we fasted and other stuff, he's doing really well! Tonight we are going over to a member's house who had to quit smoking too. I have high hopes. I told the dad, Jerry about Nathan and how he quit. He's a great example, super proud of him. 

    Not a crazy week, really flew by. This is the last week of this transfer. I'm already going to be my fifth transfer! That's 5/16. Yikes!

       Thank you for keeping me updated on everything. I love you so much, have a great week mom!

  

Also these are pictures of my future house.

Its a house here in southern texas. Pretty cool, heres my comp standing next to the door.

Week 28

Hey mom!

  

        This week has been really crazy! Remember that guy that was talking about racist stuff? Yeah well this week his son expressed that he wants to get baptized. And he has already been at church for about a month or so. And so we started teaching him and he is super smart. He's 15 and goes to a small private school and is very skeptical. So we taught him all the lessons in 2 days and he wasn't really sure about Joseph Smith being a prophet, but we told him to pray about it. Then my comp and I prayed and fasted and he was baptized yesterday. AND! His mom doesn't speak any English, but she understands it. She said she wanted to be baptized too, because she didn't want to make him do it alone. She quit drinking coffee and was interviewed, she was there for all the lessons and she was baptized yesterday as well! It was a crazy few days! And the dad has to quit smoking, but he has super great desires! Today we got a call from him and somebody sent his daughter an offensive text and he called us and asked what the church's standards were for this type of thing. I was super shocked, he has changed a ton in only like 4 days. The church is true.

     One of our sisters got hit by a car. She is totally fine, she was biking down the road and this lady was turning and didn't see her and gave her a little tap. She has like a bruise on her elbow from falling off the bike. Her front tire is a little bent and everyone in our zone was worried. We gave her a blessing and she's doing great now. 

    Having sisters in our district is super different. We give soo many blessings. Not that I'm complaining, its super cool, the flow of revelation is great. Also, there are little things we do as we hit different marks in our missions. At six months, you burn a tie, at one year, you burn a shirt, at 1 1/2, or your "sister mark" you burn pants, and then after 2 years you burn your suit. Don't worry, nobody actually burns a suit, that's crazy. But we had a few people in our apartment hit those marks so we burned things out infront of our apartments. Which normally would be weird but we're in Mexico so it's pretty normal. I burned a tie, another elder burned a shirt and another some pants. Super cool.

     Last night we went to eat at a member's house, and they live like 1 mile from the border.  And we (the missionaries) were sitting in the room with all the younger people and we hear a bunch of Spanish coming from the kitchen, and this family speaks English. So we walk out there and there's this little Mexican guy eating food and talking in Spanish. (the family had invited over another family to visit with us and they speak Spanish). And this guy was wearing all black and was covered in mud and had like brush all over him and his hair was all messed up. Superrrr funny. I almost started laughing when I saw him I was so surprised. They gave him food and let him use a phone so he could call his aunt and come pick him up. He said he took a 18 hour bus ride to get to the border and then ran across and now he is going to stay with family. 

      Really interesting week haha. Thank you so much for the books! I got them today! Love you! have a great week!

Week 27

     Hey mom and Dad! Thanks for sending out those books, I'm super excited. Wow.. who would have thought I'd ever be excited about reading? Huh... That's great that the ward is growing! Be sure to friendship the new converts, they'll fall away if they don't have friends. But people there are pretty good at friendshipping. 

 Thanks for keeping me updated! Always good to know what to pray for for you guys. I will especially pray for Grammie and Grampa, it seems like things are getting harder and harder. I will keep you in my prayers also, I know this isn't easy for you either. 

    This week started to get a little hotter, and apparently will only get worse. Yay! And yes our apartment does have A/C. Good thing I didn't actually go to Mexico, they don't have A/C usually. There are so many props to being in the U.S. I didn't even realize it before the mission. 

     What kind of crazy food diets does mom have you doing now? Now she isn't eating gluten, lactose, red meats, sugar, trans fat.. Haha just kidding I don't think its that much.. or is it? Haha, good job doing it with her. Honestly the mission teaches you so much about relationships and stuff. Being with a companion, and our mission president talks about it all the time. I always notice little things that you guys do that he talks about now. I never really realized it before, but good job :). Everybody down here has divorced parents and almost every missionary too. I never realized how blessed I am to have strong, loving parents. Thank you for being a good example for me. 

  Btw, You can just use my room as an art studio, its just wasted space if you don't do something with it for a year and a half. So weird, already been 6 months. 

    Yeah, it's super hot here, this week it's supposed to be over like 105. I'm super excited. Biking in heat is the best.. Haha the only thing that's really hard about it is that my contacts dry out really quickly but these contacts are also 3 months old so... I could probably change them. I like shaking peoples hands when they open their door and seeing how long it takes them to wipe the sweat off from their hand... That sounds super weird and gross... but might as well make a game out of it right? Jk.!

    We talked to this super interesting, very southern man the other day. He didn't let us talk very much because he had quite a bit of things to tell us. Like how we should be able to have a Confederate Flag, and how it's not fair they can't have their flag but there is a black history month. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit and then I was really mind blown when he started talking about how there is a definite difference between a black man and a "n word". He had an interesting view on the world. He believed that Christ was the Son of God because of A.D. and B.C. If Jesus wasn't the son of God than why would he be a mark in history? I haven't heard that one before.
     It's really great, I've learned a lot already and its only my first 6 months, everyone says the longer you're a missionary, the more you learn. Hopefully I learn how to make the changes I need to make. Its hard for me to do that, I can realize what I need to change, but actually changing my personality, or thought process or anything, is super hard for me.  

   It was a good week though, thanks for all the support. I love you, have a great week!

Week 26

  Hey Mom! This week was a great week, not a ton happened really, just another week in the mission. Elder Lindsay and I continue to get along really well. He's from Wyoming but he seems like he's from Utah, the words he says and stuff. All of the missionaries here say the same words like: dope, sick, tight, freak, frick, chill.. stuff like that, super white and its funny. Only thing is sometimes I catch myself saying some of them sometimes and I wanna hit myself. I haven't stooped to saying "warsh" yet though, so that's good.
  I love the mission, honestly, and no offense, but I haven't been homesick once. I love the mission, I can feel the spirit everyday and I know I'm doing what's best for my future, I get to help people get back to God and make huge changes, and pretty much I just hang out with my friends all day doing it. What more could a person want? I mean yeah it's super depressing when you have to drop an investigator or someone doesn't show up to church, but that stuff is just going to happen. That sounds super prideful and I don't mean to come off like that, but, I love the mission.
  We had interviews this week! That was exciting. We went to our church this time, we didn't have to travel. We had some trainings by our leaders and they helped us to realize the things we need to improve and/or focus on. Sis Maluenda (President's wife) checked our area books and planners to see if we have been using them well. We are good at using our Daily Planners, but we never use the area book, and Sis Maluenda is super nice, but I'm more afraid of her than her husband. So she just told us to start using it more, because hardly anyone keeps it updated. 

  There was a really cool training, it was going to be my companion, but he asked one of the sisters in our district to give one. She had worked at this place for 2 years that studied body language, and gave us a training on what it means when people look different directions when you ask a question. Super interesting. I want to take a class in body language in college for sure. But also every time I talk to her I feel like she can read my mind.

  We have found that a bunch of our younger members don't do a ton during the summer and so they will hopefully be coming out with us more. That way we wont have to bike quite as much. 

  Not too much other than that though, was a good week. Hope you get the A/C fixed and good luck with your artwork, sounds exciting!

Comps Mugging for the Camera

Elder Lindsay found a sign with his Mom's name :)

Week 25

Hey Mom!

  That looks super fun! [ Mom and Dad went to Estes Park,CO ] I wish I could go to the mountains! But I guess that's the really nice part about Texas, I don't even have to bike up hills. Which would stink because I would probably die. 

   My area is no longer one of the biggest bike areas! They split our area and brought in a pair of Sister missionaries. Have you ever seen Sisters on bikes? Me neither, but they are! Super weird, I have no idea how they do it in skirts. We lost a few awesome members, because they took that part of our area but it's nice not having to bike as far as we did. 

   Elder Madrigal did get transferred, he is now a Zone Leader in Sinton! So basically where I was at the beginning. He wasn't too excited about it but it's his last transfer before he goes home so I think he'll be fine. I just hope he doesn't stop working and just think about home and college and all that.

  My new companion is Elder Lindsay. He is super cool, I like him a ton already. We get along great and he is a really great missionary. He has about a year in the mission, better Spanish than me, of course. He has a really great vision for our district and knows how to work with the ward and everything so I'm excited. I hope we can accomplish a lot and that I can learn a lot from him.
  Yeah I really enjoy studying the scriptures, in all of our district meetings we always have a little training by our district leader and he uses some scripture story and relates it to us. One of the trainings was on sacrifice. We read Genesis 22 I think it was? When Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac. It is really cool to read about his life and then how he was asked to sacrifice his only son, who he had been asking for for years and years. Makes me realize the little things I've been asked to sacrifice, like worldy things and desires for 2 years, to serve the Lord. I know that by making these little sacrifices, the Lord will give me even bigger ones in the future, but I will reap greater and greater blessings as I am faithful.
  We went to the zoo again the other day, Bro Daniel hosted a 4th of July party up at his house. We got some investigators to come, and now that they've seen that place they have to get baptized, right?

   We also have figured out that we have a lot of members that don't really do anything all day and so we are working on making a teamup schedule so we can always have a member with us and then we wont have to bike hardly at all. 

   We have interviews with the president this Friday! I'm really excited, he'll tell me all the things I suck at. Haha but seriously it's really great, I love it when people tell me what I'm doing wrong, then I can work on it. Sometimes I just don't notice stuff.

          Hope you guys can top last week! Haha I love you mom! Bye!