Week 48 in Sherman, TX

This week we had a couple new people that came to church. It was pretty sweet. One girl we are teaching we brought the bishops daughter to help us teach her last Friday. We helped teach the restoration and we invited her to church. We had been inviting her to church for the past couple of weeks but she has flaked out every time. This week we found out why. Her dad lives in Michigan and she lives with her aunt down here. Her father doesn't want her to go anywhere without a chaperone. then a miracle happened. Her dad called her aunt during the lesson and the aunt explained the situation and she gave the phone o the bishops daughter. She talked to him for a little bit and then the dad said that she can go to the church this Sunday and she was able to make it and she loved it.

We are also teaching this part member family. The wife is a member and the husband is a Christian. He is really smart and he loves to talk with us. He came to church and he has been participating in the lessons there and I think that he really enjoys it. We have had a couple of cool lessons with him. Driving home from a lesson with them on a farm road number road. We hit a skunk and the smell stuck with the car for the next day. 

A couple of weeks ago my companion showed me a ghost pepper hot sauce at the store. On the label it said," this can also be used as a industrial cleaner" and last Thursday I found out that the mango habenero wings at buffalo wild wings can do the exact same thing. They were good and I know that I will be clean for the next good while.

Hope that you all had a good week love you.

 

 

Week 47 in Sherman, Texas

this week was somewhat disappointing. we had a ton of people flake out on us. on Tuesday and Wednesday we had 5 lessons each day drop. it was pretty hard, but through all of the hard there was a speck of good. well a bit more than a speck. we set a baptismal date with an actually solid person. He went to general conference and has been reading on his own. it has been so amazing with him. it is set for November 8th. it will be the last Saturday in the transfer. and my companion is hoping to baptize one more person before he leaves.

Halloween is coming up and we wanted to take a picture somewhere scary. and off the side of the highway there is a abandoned orphanage from like the 30's or something. and we went a took a picture with it. it is all gated off and NO we didn't go inside. we were good missionaries and we stayed outside the fence. but it looks pretty freaky. that was probably the most exiting thing of the week besides the baptism date. 

 

we have had 2 rainy days this week and it dropped the temperature down to the 50's. i was wearing my jacket.  it is supposed to rain again to day and some members are telling us that there is a possibility of a tornado. cool. 

oh and one more thing that happened was my companion got his Trunky papers (his flight plan). he knows exactly when he will be going home and the exact time he lands in Jersey. that just blew his mind. we are still working hard but he keeps reminding me that he can count the number of weeks on his hands and that he knows how far away that plane is. 

also another thing. i got to see the meet the mormons movie. it was awesome. i loved all of the stories and it was so great. cant wait to see it again. i love you guys so much and hope that you all had a great week.

 

 

Week 46 in Sherman, Texas

This week has been awesome. there is so much work to do here. and i especially  love the car. we are teaching a ton of people. My companion has a goal to baptize three people by the end of the transfer or in other words by the time he goes home. we are on our way to that goal. the area is interesting though. i guess it is what i get for being out in the middle of nowhere Texas.

we have had a big miracle this last week. we got a phone call on Thursday. and we answered and the guy that called us first said that he is not crazy. then went on to explain a dream he had where he heard a horn that woke him up and there standing in front of him was an angel who said his name was Moroni. and he told him to read the plates of gold. the guy then told us that he had never heard the name Moroni and asked us if it meant anything to us. then he asked what are the gold plates. we told him we could come over and explain it to him. so we went and shared the restoration. and he said that we answered a ton of his questions. then after he walked us out to our car and he asked us another question. he said that he cant drink coffee or smoke anymore. it makes him sick. he has been clean for 3 weeks now. then asked us if it means anything to us. wow right? the guy seems pretty honest. he has a medical job and has a girlfriend and a kid. he came to general conference but left after we gave him a church tour before conference even began. he said that he could feel something so strong there and it made him a little uncomfortable.  he is a great guy though. 

Elder W is a great companion. he wants to work so hard his last transfer. we are keeping busy and we get along great. 

well it is a bi-lingual area because there are little Spanish speakers here. i haven't had a lesson in Spanish yet but i have been able to speak it. 

i have all my pictures i have taken backed up on two different devices. other than my camera. that same thing happened to another missionary a couple of months ago in Famers Branch. except their house didn't get broken into. he had his bag stolen and all 2 years of his mission was gone! but don't worry. and i have 2 memory cards here. one from the beginning of the mission with 4 gigs and the other one you sent me for my mp3 with 16. just keep that one safe for me at home. sorry i haven't sent much pictures home. the computers wouldn't let me send and i think that these computers are the same way. there are even some pictures that you send me that i cant open up on certain computers. it is just stupid, but i will try to send you some.

i get to see the movie on Tuesday.  we have to go all the way to mesquite to see it. everyone in the whole mission has to go there.  it was originally going to be at 9:30 and we were going to try to get a member to take us, but then we got a text and president wants to do a meeting before hand  at 7:30. that means we have to leave the apartment before 6. so we are just going to drive there. it really sucks for people in East Texas who have to drive 4 hours to get there. and their members cant see it.  i am excited for the movie. it will be so awesome.

hope you had a great conference. i absolutely loved it. the Saturday secession was the best. i loved it.

All the changes they made were so cool. it was really neat to listen to all the native speakers in their native language. love you all. bye.

 

Week 45 in Mesquite, TX

TRANSFERRED

So here is the big news I am going to go to Sherman. I will be with Elder W. This will be his last transfer and he is so trunky. I WILL BE IN A CAR!!!!!!! cant wait to finally be in a car again. The area is in the country and is not quite considered East Texas. It will be a bi-lingual area and I will actually get to use my Spanish. Can't wait. I am super sad that I am leaving Mesquite and this has been my favorite area so far. No offense to people reading from my other areas. 

So a little about my new companion is I that I found out that he loves to work out. so I am back going to get buff.

 

So this week we had a giant meeting about stuff. Half the mission came in. It was really packed.

We learned about a movie that the church is making called Meet the Mormons. It will be in theaters and we will be able to see a special viewing for it. Can't wait to see it. 

Yep i got the package. I love my GPS. I will use it because I got a car. YAY. 

You are changing up the house so much. I wont be able to recognize it. I hope that the table turns out ok. 

love you so much.

New adventure will be starting. Can't wait for it. 

Love you all. 

bye.

 

Zone Meeting/Training

The Relief Society made lunch for all these amazing missionaries!

 

Week 44 in Mesquite,TX

So let me say that this week was one of the most boring weeks of my life. Everyone got sick and we got close to nothing done. It started on Monday when three people in my district got sick and then on Tuesday another got sick then my companion got sick Thursday night and Friday all day. We stayed home and it was so boring.  The only saving grace of the week was my HUMP DAY! It was awesome. There is a member that cuts our hair and her secretary at her salon is named M. She loves the missionaries and heard about the shirt burning and so she invited me to do it at her house. M M is her full name and she is not a Mormon. So we burned my shirt and I burned my six month tie too. I hadn't done that yet. Oh and BTW did A. send you the part about the M-150 I put in my tie before I burned it and about the part where i jumped over it? it was a fun night.

I cant believe it is almost Halloween already. Time has flown by. The tie I wore on hump day is just an orange color and design. I got that one at a garage sale. I am glad you had fun with the girls and you got a lot done this week. Wow I wont even recognize the kitchen anymore. You have done a great job. How have you kept Oscar away? That must have been tough.
 

This week we heard that the church is making a new movie called Meet the Mormons and it will be playing in theaters and we will be able to see it. Not in the theaters. They will have a preview for us to see it in a church. That will be pretty cool.
 

Thanks for sending the GPS. I will use and abuse that thing. It is really needed on the mission. Thank you for updating it.

Oh and on a sad note. L hasn't responded to us. I think it is because of her parents. It is too bad, but we need to respect their choices. Maybe now wasn't her time.

It would be cool to get someone else I know down here. I know two people down here Sister P M who says hi and Elder T L.  So if i could get someone else down here that would be really awesome.

i love the pictures and the picture holder. i already filled it up with other pictures i printed off. i have more pictures i am going to print off and buy another album and fill it up. thank you for everything. i love you and i got to go. bye.

This week is transfers and i don't know if i am staying or my companion is going to stay of if we are both going to be transferred out and have them bring in English missionaries. I want to stay. I love this ward. 

I hope that you all had a great week this week. 

Love you all.

Letter sent to us this week:
Dear Family,
Just a friendly reminder that it is 100 days til Christmas!!  Thank you for the hump day package.  I love the T-Shirt.  Taylor your drawing of a camel is awesome.  One of my favorite things though is the picture album.  It is awesome.  I love to see you all and all of my old friends and neighbors.  Dad you have gotten really skinny it is amazing how much you all have changed.  I hardly recognize anyone.  I love the picture of Oscar with the sign.  Coaches still look the same.  Thank you for the object lessons and the salsa.  I will need to buy some chips to eat it with.  It didn't spill.  Thank goodness and I love the tie.  I am so excited that I finally have some Spanish music!  Hope you like the card.  It is yet another thing that I have found here.  I hope that all my apartments are like this.  Just want to say that I miss you all a a lot and that I love you all so much.

Week 43 in Mesquite, TX

So this past week was pretty good. If you remember from last week I got that phone call from a former investigator named L. We met with her at a members house this week and it happened to be on the same day as another exchange with the zone leaders. So one of the zone leaders and I had the privilege to teach her. We went over the restoration and she remembers a lot but is is all jumbled up in her head. So we skipped around a lot to explain other things. She is a really awesome person. 

We taught her at a members home. L showed up like 15 min early and got to talk to them. they got along really nicely. It was a great lesson. The only problem is that she didn't come to church. She said that she would but then she didnt.

that is great Mikaela did so great. Hopefully she will break 20. I know she can do it.  Was it the same course as last year?  or have they changed it up again? it sounds like the team is getting good again. Are they going to contend for state again?

Taylor said that you will be taking them to the reservoir today. have fun. hope that the weather is nice. The past couple of days here have been a bit cold. We had a day in the low 70s. It felt super nice. I am being blessed with great weather on my mission.

Wow Emily is almost done isn't she? It has really been a year and a half has it? so Wayne and Shari will go to see her. I bet that island is pretty cool. 

You have only been to the temple 2 times this past year. I have been about 5 times already. You really need to step up your game. 

I will be looking for my package this week. I cant believe it has almost been a year. I need to celebrate. I know just how to celebrate the occasion. I will burn a shirt. At 6 months it is a tie (which i didnt do yet) at one year it is a shirt. and at a year and a half it is pants and at 2 years it is a suit.

yep those ones (pants) I am burning. Elder H had my same size and he grew out of them. so he left them for me and i have like 6 pairs of pants. 

 

My bag is about the same as it was when i last talked to you. i have had to sew a couple of parts. and i have been carrying a lot less stuff. Before i had my Spanish scriptures and two Spanish Book of Mormons in my bag. Now i only carry two Book of Mormons to hand out and a tiny bible. It takes a lot of weight off my shoulder.   

 

I haven't used that waterproofing you gave me at all. I still have the full bottle. My shoes are doing pretty fine. Cant wait to open my package on Wednesday. 

 

Another cool story was we were just riding our bikes around last Friday and there was this yard sale. We stopped and had a look around and asked the guy if he had any ties for sale and he told us to hold on one sec and he would bring them out. He brought out a 3 foot laundry basket full of ties. There were hundreds of ties there and I was able to get a couple of them to add to my collection.

oh BTW did you get my card i sent? it was another one i found in the apartment.

 

well i hope that you all had a great week. love you.

 

 

Missionaries leave behind interesting things!

 

Week 42 in Mesquite, TX

This week has been a lot like the last one, not much going on. It is like a roller coaster. One week you are full of appointments and the next you are bored out of your minds knocking and contacting.

I went on an exchange with the district leader Elder D this last Friday. It was fun being with him. He was once companions with Elder H. We spent almost the entire time talking about and making fun of elder H. No offense to him, but it is really easy to do.

I also got a random phone call from a girl on Friday. She said that she lived in East Texas and had been taking the lessons there. She had to move back to her parents house in Mesquite. She had found our phone number somehow and called me and asked for me by name. Cool huh. We will start teaching her on Tuesday. It is so cool that something like this happens. The Lord always blesses you after your hard work.

I LOVE THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.

So Dad told you to write short did he. He wrote me a pretty long email. Oh well. 

I can't wait to see all of the changes you have done to the house. I love you and thanks for the pictures once again.

 

Here is a picture of my new protein. It cost $20 as compared to $40 dollars and it has 29 servings as compared to 8. 

Also I heard that you had some problems with receiving my garbage chair 3 picture so here it is.

Can you look up for me object lessons that I can use in my missionary lessons. I want to use some new ones. If you could help me that would be great. thank you

 

Well sorry I don't have any more funny stories for y'all this week. I hope that you have a great week. love ya