December 19, 2011

Well this week was an awesome week with a ton of great
events!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On monday we went down to Allen with the rest of
our district so we could finish up our music video which is going to
be awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on tuesday i was sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
was throwing up all day which was not fun at all!!!!!!!!!!! So I had
orders from Sister Durrant to stay in the apartment all day which was
not fun at all!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to go out and work even though I
was sick, I hated not being able to work all day!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we
still got to get a little missionary work done!!!!!!!! A member came
by our apartment to pick up a book of mormon and some pamphlets to
give to their friends which was way great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also had
to stop by an investigators house to pick up my wallet because my
wallet dropped out of our car onto their driveway the night
before!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we spent the whole day in
melissa and we didnt get to tract very much because it was raining all
day so we just stopped by some peoples houses and visited with
investigaros which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday we went
to princeton to do some missionary work there!!!!!!!!!! And we got to
eat at Jayson Carmona's grandpa's house that night which was
awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! then after that we got to meet with
alonzo!!!!!!!!!!!!! elder sullenberger and i found him back in august
and at first he wasnt very interested in the religion part of our
church because he is a 13 year old boy but he really loved mutual and
he basically has been going every single week since then!!!!!!!!! we
got to go over on thursday night and talk a little about the book of
mormon with him and he said that he really thinks that its
true!!!!!!!!!! so we just need to get permission from his mom for him
to get baptized, the mom is not interested in the church at
all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday we went on exchanges and Elder
Duffin came up with me to my area which was great and Elder Clark went
down to Allen!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to meet with Connie and Gary and they
are doing fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Connie is still wanting to
get baptized except she needs to come to church!!!!!!!!!!! She couldnt
come this sunday because she ended up getting
bronchitis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every single trial pops up for her every
sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wish i could go to her house on sunday
morning and drag her to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we watched the preach
my gospel the district 2 dvds with her and she loved them so much and
I knew that she would!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday night we got
to eat with Sister Lawson at her nursing home which was
great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! old people are
so great and I just love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!! Since we were the
youngest people in the dining hall by about 50 years. everyone was
staring at us and talking to us and trying to hug us, it was the
best!!!!!!!!! They had people singing there and everyone was trying to
dance, it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on saturday we
got to go up to melissa and anna and on saturday night we stopped by
sonic because one of our investigators works there and she gave us
free shakes which was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday at church we had
a lesson about the Spirit of Christmas and Jesus Christ and it was so
great!!!!!!!!!!!! We listened to a song that portrays the inn keeper
that rejected Mary and it just made me think that we should never
reject Jesus into our lives!!!!!!!!!! And the people that are
rejecting him, it is up to us through the spirit to help bring Jesus
into their lives and to help them feel the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
love being a missionary so much and even though I dont get to be with
my family for Christmas, I still get to feel the love of Christ which
is the greatest love that anyone can ever feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and dont forget to thank Christ
and to think of Him this Christmas Day since He gave us the greatest
gift of all, JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 12, 2011

Wow this week was a crazy week and we had a lot of stuff happen this
week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On monday we started filming our
music video!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the 23rd our mission is having a talent
show and us and another companionship are making a music video for the
talent show!!!!!!!!!!!! It is to the song You are Loved by Josh
groban!!!!!!!!!!!! It is going to be way great and it was so much fun
filiming it last monday!!!!!!!!!!!! Its an inspirational video to all
the missionaries to inspire everyone to not give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then on tuesday we had multi district meeting with our zone which was
great and I got to learn a lot from that!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that
afternoon elder clark and I went to princeton to spend the day there
and you will never believe what happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAD TO
CALL 911!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so here is the story!!!!!!!!!!!! We
went over to connie and garys house so we could teach them a lesson
and gary had to leave to go to the store so that means we had to teach
connie outside since there wasnt a male home!!!!!!!!!!!! it was
freezing and we were sitting by her front door and we started talking
about the church and everything and then all of the sudden gary came
from around the corner and just collapsed on the ground and started
yelling HELP HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I jumped up and ran over to him
and I had no idea what to do, i was going crazy and connie was
screaming in the background!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran into connies house and
grabbed her phone and dialed 911 and gave it to her and she was
screaming to get an ambulence there!!!!!!!!! He was throwing up
everywhere and he couldnt breathe so the ambulence came and got
him!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe i didnt think to give him a
blessing!!!!!!!!! Instead i just said we should have a prayer since he
was already in the ambulence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we said a prayer
and then we helped connie for a little bit and there was like 20
people outside of the apartment complex watching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then
later that night, Brother Dixon took us to the McKinney Hospital and
we got to give Gary a blessing and it was so spiritual!!!!!!!!!!! i
love Connie and Gary so much, they are so close to my
heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we got to teach John and he
is doing way great!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is fixin to get batpized the end of
January!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for him, the gospel has helped him
so much!!!!!!!!!!!! Then later that night the youth in Melissa Ward
were going caroling for mutual and we got them to stop by Lauras
house!!!!!!!!!! So we went over there with them to Carol with them and
Laura stood at the door and she was smiling the whole entire time and
she loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that we got to meet with
Asumpta which was great!!!!!!!!!! She is from kenya and she loves the
church so much and i cant wait for her to come to church so she can
see what its like!!!!!!!! We got her a book of mormon in
Swahili!!!!!!!!!!! It just is so cool that the gospel is really
spreading all around the world and we can get book of mormons in so
many different languages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even
swahili!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday we got to meet
with a man named Joe who the spanish missionaries have been teaching
even though he only speaks english!!!!!!!!!!!!! We set a baptismal
date for the 7th with him and he is definitely going to get baptized,
he is sich a great guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on saturday was
christmas party day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The melissa ward had their party
in the afternoon which was great and the farmersville branch had their
party at night which was also great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Four of the
youth from the farmersville branch did a hilarious performance and I
wish i filmed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was a great day and
I got to meet with a lady who is 93 years old, she is the oldest
member of the melissa ward and she is so funny and hyper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess what?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!/ we get to
go to the BYU football game on the 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! President
Durrant has connections so he got all of us tickets to the game and
there is going to be a whole missionary section!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am
so stoked!!!!!!!! Its at the SMU stadium!!!!!!!!!!! so look for me on
TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I love this gospel so much and i LOVE the
church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have awesome weeks
and are enjoying the winter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a great
week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 5, 2011

This week has been an awesome week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was definitely a struggle but I had the faith to get through it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday was a great day!!!!!!!!!! We got to go tracting over in McKinney after we had district meeting!!!!!!!!!! I love tracting in McKinney because its more city than melissa or farmersville!!!!!!!!!!!! After we were done tracting we got to have dinner at Genghis Grill and it was most excellent!!!!!!!!!!! I have never eaten there before and its so cool because you get to make your own food, a member in the Farmersville Branch took us there!!!!!!!!! Wednesday was great because we got to meet with Laura and wish her a happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We baked her a cake!!!!!!! She still hasnt quit smoking but she is trying and I know that she is going to get baptized!!!!!!!!!! Then that night we got to visit with a less active family in the Melissa Ward and they are such a great family, they just need to come to church!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday night we got to have dinner with the Ballenger family!!!!!!!!! Sarah Ballenger is 14 and she just got baptized in june!!!!!!!!!!! She is doing so awesome!!!!!! Her parents arent members of the church but they are so cool and I love them so much!!!!!!!!!!! Her mom reminds me exactly of my mom, she is so hyper and LOVES to talk and Sister Ballenger thinks that im a hoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday we got to teach this new women!!!!!!!! She is from Africa and she moved here a couple years ago!!!!!!!! She is such a nice lady and she has such a sweet spirit about her!!!!!!!!! We taught her about the book of mormon and I started to bare my testimony about it and she started crying and she told me that she knows the book of mormon is true and I got so stoked that I jumped out of my seat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the spirit so much!!!!!!!!! It really bares testimony to people of everything that is true!!!!!!!!! I saw Asumpta start crying and I saw the spirit of the Lord in her eyes!!!!!!!!!!!! Missionary work is so great and i just love it so much!!!!!!!!!!! I never want my mission to end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right now as Im typing this the weather is 37 degrees outside!!!!!!!! It has gotten so cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe that Texas gets this cold after being here in the 115 degree weather!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Friday and saturday we got to go to the Nativity Exhibit!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never seen a church do it before but they decorate the gym with a bunch of nativities and you get to walk around and look at all of them!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Christmas so much because we get to celebrate the birth of Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of people here think that our church doesnt believe in Jesus Christ even though its in the name of our church!!!!!!!!! So this nativity thing is a great idea because TONS of non members came to look at the exhibit and its great because there are people caroling the entire time!!!!!!!!!!!!! They even had a black church choir come and sing at it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Jesus Christ so much and I am so thankful to be a member of His church, it is just so awesome and so great and I get to be filled with joy all the time because this gospel is just so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT EVERYONE TO HAVE THAT JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was a struggle to find people but I have the faith that there are people out there waiting for us to teach them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week everyone and enjoy the cooler weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 28, 2011

 

Well this week was a stressful week but it is still so awesome being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since monday was my last preparation day with Elder Sullenberger we went down to Allen to play TopGolf with Elders Park and Dunbar and it was a ton of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a member of their ward that works there so we got to do it for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on tuesday morning it was transfers so we headed down to the main church down in Dallas and i met my new companion Elder Clark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is great because he smiles a lot just like me except he is a little shy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has been on his mission for almost 11 months!!!!!!!!!!!! Our whole district ended up getting switched up!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Calderwood got a new companion and his name is Elder Duffin and he is so cool!!!!!!!! And Elder Dunbar got a new companion and his name is Elder Park and him and I are really good friends!!!!!!!!!! Elder Hong got a new companion and his name is Elder Olvera and he is really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im still in the same area, I love it because I have been getting to know the members in the Melissa ward and the Farmersville Branch very well!!!!!!!!!! I had an awesome thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!! We ate at the Dowds house and there were 32 people there!!!!!!!!! There was so much food and it was all so good!!!!!!!!! There was a girl there who just got baptized a week ago and she couldnt eat with her parents because they basically disowned her for getting baptized, its such a sad story but its so great how members of the church are right there to help her every step of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After we had dinner at the Dowds we brought over a plate of food for Laura because she had no where to go for thanksgiving, she LOVED that we brought her a plate!!!!!!!!!! On friday we spent the day in Princeton and it was great because we got to Tract around there and meet a lot of people!!!!!!!! We got to have a lesson with Sister Lawson and Sister Smith that night and it was so great!!!!!!!!!! We got to give Sister Lawson a blessing!!!!!!!! I love the priesthood and the spirit so much!!!!!!!!!!!! When we were at Lauras apartment on thanksgiving one of her daughters friends came by, his name is Josh and he is 20 years old!!!!!!!!!! He told us that he has met with missionaries before and that he has a book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!! So i asked him for his phone number and I gave it to Elder Hong and Olvera because they are the missionaries that cover the singles ward!!!!!!!!! They ended up meeting with him on friday and he is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!! We went over to Lauras on Saturday to teach a lesson and Josh ended up being there so we got to teach him also!!!!!!!!! I love how the Lord puts people that are prepared into our path!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday in the morning we got an unexpected call from Laura and she told us that she doesnt want to become a member of the church anymore and I got so sad!!!!!!!! I told her we would come visit her after church to work things out!!!!!!!! She is still struggling with not smoking but I know that she can do it!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach this black lady yesterday named Ms. Riley and she is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i LOVE black people so much because they are so funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at night we had a great lesson with a less active family and they are going to start coming back to church!!!!!!!!!!!! I love missionary work so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah, on sunday morning we got a text from our ward mission leader telling us that he is sick and that I had to teach gospel principles, i barely got to prepare because we always have long meetings on sunday mornings!!!!!!!!!!!!! of course i taught on member missionary work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is truly the Lords work and he uses us as his tools to go out and teach the people the gospel!!!!!!!!! The spirit is so great and it can truly change peoples lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for this church and I love all of our leaders and the examples that they set for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 21, 2011

Well this week was another great week being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had a special visitor come to district meeting so that she could tell us about the nativity exhibit they are having at the stake center!!!!!!! she gave us a bunch of invitations to pass out to people and she told us all about it and it looks like it is going to be great!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wonder why we dont do that in newport, its a HUGE thing here in texas!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we got to meet with John and he is doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We showed up at his house and he had a brand spanking new quad sitting on his table and i started freaking out because he bought his own quad and that is definitely a good sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he then told us that he had something really important to tell to us and guess what?!?!?!?!!? he told us that he wants to be a member of the church!!!!!!!!!!!!! i started freaking out and i think that i got a little too excited!!!!!!!!!! I am just so excited for john because we have been teaching him so much and he has been progressing so greatly and he finally decided that he wants to become a member!!!!!!!!!!!! then after that we met with Laura and she is doing just great also!!!!!!!!!! We gave her a triple combination because she really wanted to read from the doctrine and covenants and the pearl of great price and she loves them already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i also gave her a picture of Jesus Christs second coming and she hung it up right when you walk in the door to her apartment!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for her to get baptized its just that she has a huge mega smoking problem!!!!!!!!!! She has been smoking for like 35 years or something!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have already tried to get her to quit twice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she doesnt have a car so she gives us all her cigarrettes and we throw them away and its basically impossible for her to buy anymore because she cant drive to the store!!!!!!!! so we went back to check on her the next day to see how she was doing and she opened the door and was like "elder tuma you are going to be mad at me" and i was like oh no laura what happened?!?!?!?!?!!?! she ended up finding cigarrette butts on the ground and smoking those in the morning,(barf in my mouth) her addiction is that bad!!!!!!!!!!!! i never realized that smoking can become such a bad addiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! her baptism date is set for the 18th so we need to get her to stop smoking by then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we met this lady named Christine and she is friends with Laura so we are gonna start teaching her also!!!!!!!! she definitely is ready for the gospel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So transfer calls were on saturday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im staying here in the melissa ward and farmersville branch and elder sullenberger is leaving, he is going to an area called sulphur springs!!!!!!!! Its going to be so mega different without him here, we were together for 4 months, usually missionaries dont stay together that long!!!!!!!!! but im still in my first area!!!!!!!!!!!! my new companion is going to be elder clark!!!!!!!!!!!! i havent met him before but ill meet him tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! no one else in my district really knows anything about him, im sure that he is going to be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yesterday was stake conference and we got a new stake president and then after that we went over to a bunch of families houses so that elder sullenberger could say goodbye to them, it was way sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my week was great and i just love the gospel so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit can really change peoples lives and it is just so great!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have an awesome thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know that I am definitely going to have a great thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! make sure you remember to thank Heavenly Father for everything that you have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gratitude unexpressed is ingratitude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 14, 2011

Well this week was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had district meeting and then we all ate lunch at the church which was great!!!!!!!! its always a lot of fun when our district gets to eat lunch together and we get to talk all about our investigators!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that it was time for exchanges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Mchardy got to come up to my area with me!!!!!!!!!!!! it was great and we got to come in contact with a lot of people!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Mchardy got to meet Laura!!!!!!!!!!!! She is one of my favorite investigators right now and she is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love her so much!!!!!!!!!!!! We found her because she was sitting on a chair outside of her apartment complex and she asked us if we gave out free food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we started talking to her about the church and she ended up wanting to learn more!!!!!!!!!!! She used to hate the church but we have been over there a few times now and she came to church yesterday and now she loves the church and she is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she went around church yesterday and introduced herself to everyone, it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she just has a smoking problem but we can get rid of that!!!!!!!!!!!! she really wants to stop smoking which is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! her ex husband and her daughter are both members of the church but they are less active!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has changed so much since we started teaching her!!!!!!!!!!! I love how the gospel and the Spirit can really change peoples lives, i have already seen it happen so much since I have been here!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday I got to go down to Allen because Elder Sullenberger had to do a baptismal interview for some of the elders down there!!!!!!!!!! So elder calderwood and I got to spend the evening together!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to a park to go and contact people and it was great!!!!!!!!!! we ran into a group of like 30 high school kids and I wanted to go and talk to them but elder calderwood didnt!!!!!!!!!! I forced him to, so i lead the way and started talking to them!!!!!!!!!! they all had such great questions and they all wanted to learn more about the church!!!!!!!!! they were all really cool!!!!!!!!!! they remind me of the people in newport, they were wearing toms and vans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we ended up handing out a lot of pamphlets to all of them and it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never be scared to talk about the church with people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! share it with everyone that you come in contact with!!!!!!!!!! you never know who the Lord has prepared next to learn about the gospel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My week was pretty good and church was good yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love church because the spirit is there the entire time and its just so much fun to talk with all the members about how the week was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you are have an awesome week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! transfers are next week so we will see what is going to happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you can do all things through Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 7, 2011

This week was an awesome week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The highlight of my week was definitely the baptism on saturday night which i'll talk about later!!!!!!!!!! on tuesday I got work down in Allen with elder dunbar which was a ton of fun!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so great and we got to talk to a ton of great people!!!!!!!!! Allen is such a great city and I love it so much!!!!!!!!!! We were riding our bikes around the high school and some kids drove past us and yelled something at us and we were going to talk to them but they already drove away!!!!!!!!!! That night we got to go tracting in a neighborhood where the homes were HUGE and the people were very nice!!!!!!!!!! We got to talk to this catholic guy that was very nice and wanted to learn more about the church from us which was great!!!!!!!! Earlier that night Elder Dunbar and I got to be guest speakers at some primary party one of the allen wards were having!!!!!!!!! there were 30 nine and ten year old girls all asking us about missionary work and what we do everyday, some of their questions were HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a lot of them thought that we live in the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then the rest of the week was great!!!!!!! we are teaching this guy named zack and he is 17 years old!!!!!!! it is so great that he wants to learn more about the church!!!!!!!!!!! he was supposed to come to church yesterday and he didnt, but hopefully he will come this sunday!!!!!!!!! We also have this other really great investigator and her name is Laura!!!!!!!! She smokes a TON so every time we go in her apartment we come out smelling like cigarrettes and I always have to spray myself with febreeze!!!!!!!!! Her daughter is a member of the church but her daughter lives down in Wylie!!!!!!! Laura is so great and she has been learning the gospel very well!!!!!!!! She lives alone with her dog but her apartment is so decorated!!!!!!!!!!! She gave me a winter hat so my ears dont get cold and she gave me a bright orange and yellow safety vest so people can see me while we are riding our bikes!!!!!!!!! I am definitely not going to wear it but its funny that she gave those things to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she didnt come to church yesterday because she currently has red hair and she wants to dye it brown and she didnt want to go to church and have people see her with red hair and she is going to dye it brown this week so hopefully she is at church on sunday!!!!!!!!!! On saturday night we had williams baptism!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so great and he is definitely one of the best nine year olds ever!!!!!!!!!!!! While william was changing his clothes after the baptism part, all the missionaries came up front and sang Joseph Smiths First Prayer and then I recited his account of seeing the first vision!!!!!! it was so spiritual and it went great!!!!!!!!!! other than that we had a great week and I love every minute being a representative of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope that all of you have awesome weeks and remember that you can do all things through Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 31, 2011 ( Halloween )

Well this week was definitely a crazy and busy week with a TON of stuff happening!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we went on exchanges and Elder Calderwood came up to my area which was great!!!!!! We just went around princeton and went tracting and met a bunch of people!!!!!!!! We knocked on one houses door and as soon as i stopped knocking, this guy on the other side of the door started banging as hard as he could and started yelling not so Christlike phrases at us!!!!!!!! We just started laughing and put a card in the door and then we walked away and he came running outside because he thought we were going to try and mess with him but we didnt!!!!!!! Then that night we got to go and see Kailyn and she is still doing great and even better because she know has the gift of the Holy Ghost with her!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we went and walked around East McKinney a little bit to go and contact some people in the streets!!!!!!!! We walked past a house and we heard barking and thats not always a good sign and we saw this HUGE snarling evil white dog jump over the gate and it came running after us and i started screaming at the top of my lungs and Elder Calderwood started sprinting so i started sprinting!!!!!!!! We lost the dog but the only bad part was that our car was parked right by the house with that dog and we had to get back down to Allen so we could exchange back!!!!!!! So we snuck down that street again and we were about 30 feet away from the car and we heard the barking and the dog came running back out so I jumped into the drivers seat and Elder Calderwood jumped into the back seat and the dog started ramming into the car so we drove away really fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am never going down that street again!!!!!!!!!!! Then on Thursday I got to go down to Allen again and do some work with Elder Mchardy and Elder Calderwood in their area!!!!!!!! It was great and we got to meet a ton of people and pass out a bunch of cards and teach lessons!!!!!!!!! Heres another story: We were riding our bikes past the highschool and it was around 3:30 and i love contacting high school age kids cause thats when I joined the church and some of them really want to learn more and a lot of them have mormon friends cause there are a ton of members in Allen!!!!!!! So we were riding our bikes past the high school and a car drove passed us and one of the kids yelled out the window "I love Satan" so as soon as he yelled that I got elder mchardy and elder calderwood to follow me and i followed that car and it stopped and i swerved up to the window and said "OH HEY!!!!! It sounds like you guys yelled out the window that you wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ" and all the kids in the car looked so stunned and they did not know what to say because they didnt expect me to come up to them!!!!!! So we gave them a card and left, it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday we had interviews with president Durrant and that was great!!!!!!! I love him so much and I am so glad that he is my mission president, he is such a nice guy!!!!!!!! Then On saturday we got to meet with some more investigators and William is getting baptized next saturday!!!!!!! I am so stoked for him and he is doing so great!!!!!!! And on saturday night we got to go to the Melissa Ward Chili cook off and trunk or treat which was awesome and we had some investigators there!!!!!!!!!! The gospel is so great!!!!!!! I love sharing it and I love seeing the chages in peoples eyes when I tell them about the church because I can totally tell when someone is feeling the spirit!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday we had a total of nine investigators at church, numbers dont matter but its still so great that our investgators are making the right choices and have the desire to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!! This week was awesome and I hope all of you are doing great!!!!!!!!!!! Let Jesus Christ be your light for this halloween night and remember to always be an example!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 24, 2011

Well this week was another great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had district meeting and my district planned a huge mega surprise for me without me even knowing about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At the end of district meeting they told me to close my eyes so I did and when I opened them they wrote "HAPPY THREE YEARS ELDER CODY LARKIN TUMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and there was a cake sitting on the table and a bunch of happy birthday signs!!!!!!!!!!!!! We celebrated the day I got baptized. October 19, I cant believe it has already been three years since I became a member of the church!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe the party that they suprised me with!!!!!!!!! I dont even know how they remmebered that I got baptized on October 19!!!!!!!! My district is the best ever, i love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to have a lesson with John on wednesday and he is still doing so great!!!!!!!! He is so close to getting baptized and I know that he is going to recieve his answer so soon!!!!!!!!!!!!! He hasnt been able to go to the melissa ward yet because he goes to church with his ex wife and daughter down in dallas. Then on wednesday night we got to go to young womens!!!!!!!!!! I love that the first time i have ever been to young womens was on my mission!!!!!!!!!!! The two girls from the family that we are teaching went to mutual on wednesday night so we were invited to go also!!!!!!! We carved pumpkins and did some service by cutting up beads and stuff!!!!!!!!!!! The youth in the melissa ward are so great and our two investigators had so much fun and the youth welcomed them like no other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sosososososo proud of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday we had a lesson with William and he is doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we told him that he was going to have his baptismal interview the next day he got so scared!!!!!!!!!! He told us that he wanted a copy of the questions and he wanted to write all his answers down and bring them into the interview with him!!!!!!!!! We let him know that the interview is not a test and he has nothing to worry about!!!!!!!! It is just there to make sure that he has a testimony and that he knows what he is doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So he was fine and he is sooooo stoked to get baptized!!!!!!!!!! On friday we had specialized training down in Dallas so we got to hear from President and Sister Durrant and Elders Jensen and Westfall which was so awesome!!!!!!! I love training days because we get to learn so much and our leaders our truly inspired by the spirit which is so great!!!!!!!!! After specialized training I got to go on exchanges with Elder Hong and Elder Seager and I went over to their area with Elder Hong which was great!!!!!!! Elder Hong is such a great example to me and I learn so much from him everyday!!!!!!!!!!!! So it was fun that I got to spend the night down in Allen!!!!!!!! Then on saturday it was the day of service for the Allen Stake!!!!!!!! All of the missionaries in our district went up to Bonham to do service on a farm up there and elder sullenberger and I went to Anna to do service there at a park with the melissa ward!!!!!!! We cut down branches from trees and cleared up the trails!!!!!!! It was a lot of fun because we all got to serve together and service is so great because in the scriptures we learn that when we are serving the people around us, we are also serving our God!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the members tied up an old tree to his truck and pulled it out of the ground with his truck which was hilarious!!!!!!! He had an audience of like 50 people and it was the best!!!!!!!!! Stuff like that doesnt happen in california!!!!!!!!!! Then at night we had a great lesson with the Hamm family and we watched the Testaments, and they are doing so great!!!!!!!!!! My week was great and I love serving the Lord and being a representative of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have an awesome and blessed week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 17, 2011

HI MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the great email and for the package that you sent, like you said, I wont get it until Wednesday!!!!!!!!!! President Durrant called me after he spoke on the phone with you and he said that he had a great phone call with you!!!!! What did you guys talk about?!?!?! I know that you really want to see me but right now Im set apart as a full time missionary and I need to be obedient to the rules and guidelines that I have been given!!!!!! President Durrant told me that he ride the part in the white handbook to you about how we cant see family for thosen two years because it will distract us. The white handbook is our missionary rule book. Id love to send one home to you so you can read it and get more of an idea of what a missionary is. I know that if i see you its only going to make it harder for the both of us!!!!!!! Itll distract me from the missionary work and itll make you miss me even more!!!! I do get to talk on the phone with you in two months which is good!!!!!!! I know that you guys will love texas and you can just think of me while you are here, but i dont think that a visit will be a good idea!!!! I love you a lot and it sounds like you guys are doing great!!!!!! I miss all of you and tell everyone that i say hi!!!!!!!! Is caileigh and stephen still wrtiting?!?!?!? You should go to church with mrs money or have her and the missionaries over for dinner or something, itll probably make it a little easier!!!!!

 

For the blog:

 

Well this week was another great first week of the transfer!!!!!!!! Since there was no changes im still in the samer area and with my same companion!!!!!!!!!!! I got to go on a two day exchange this week with Elder Treasure and he came over to my area!!!!!!! He is such a great missionary and we both love talking to people so its really fun to go tracting and contacting people with him!!!!!!! We got to meet a lot of great people that day and we got to talk to a lot of people about the church!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had a great lesson with a boy named William!!!!! He is nine years old and he wants to get baptized and he already has the greatest testimony ever and he LOVES the church so much!!!!!!!! The only problem is that his family is less active so we need to get them to come to church also!!!!!!!!! Then that night we had dinner with the roberts family!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much!!!!!!! They are so awesome and two of the boys in the family are already such great missionaries and examples to their friends at school!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we had a great lesson with John!!!!!!!!! He is doing so great and his testimony is growing so much and he is progressing so much!!!!!!!!!! I love how the spirit can change peoples lives and how it can make them have that desire to make their lives better by learning about Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!! Since we have been bike missionaries lately since the mission cut back a lot on our miles, we have been riding our bikes a lot which i LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we are on bikes we get to be seen by everyone!!!!!!!!!! Well on friday we got to our bikes after we were done tracting and we realized that all of our tires were FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so we had to go and get new tires later that night!!!!!!!! Luckily a member lived close by so we could get a ride to the church where our car was parked!!!!!!!!!!! But while we were tracting we met this 17 year old named Zack and he seemed really interested in learning more about the church!!!!!!!! I really do see him becoming a member and we are going to go visit with him later this week!!!!!!!! We talked a lot about his desires and how happy his life is and i know that the gospel can bless his life so much!!!!!!!! Then that night we had a lesson with Kendle and it went so great!!!!!!!!! She is doing so well and she is getting baptized on October 29th!!!!!!!! Her mom is the best!!!!!! Her mom was baptized in January and she has such a great spirit about her!!!!!!! She loves the gospel and she loves the church so much!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary so much and I love talking to everyone about the church and sharing the gospel with everyone!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you are doing great and loving being at school or wherever you are!!!!!!!!! All of you have an awesome week and remember that Heavenly Father LOVES you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 10, 2011

Well this week was another great week being out here in texas!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all the weather has been cooling down a lot and thats great because its not as hot anymore!!!!!!!!! Its a great thing that the weather has cooled down because we have become partly bike missionaries!!!!!!! The mission has cut a lot of miles from all the cars so now we have to put our bikes on a back rack on the back of the car and we park in a central location in the town that we are working in that day and then we ride all around town on our bikes all day!!!!!!!! Its great because when we are on bikes people see us more often and when members see us they always yell hi to us from their cars which is really cool!!!!!!!! Its a little harder now though because we have to get more rides from members and a lot of members are not very willing to give us rides!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach this man named John this week and he is such a cool guy and he is progressing so much!!!!!!!! His ex wife is a member of the church so he already knows a lot about the church from her!!!!!!!! Whenever we come over to his house to teach a lesson with him he always makes some kind of snack for us which is so great!!!!!!!! He always keeps his reading assignments from us and he even highlights his favorite parts!!!!!!!!!! He is still praying to find out if the church is true or not and i know that he is going to recieve his answer that its true and get baptized!!!!!!!!!! We also got to teach Kendle again, she is 17 years old and she has a baptism date for the end of this month and its going to be great!!!!!!!!!!! She has progressed a lot also!!!!!!!! On wednesday night we had dinner with a family in the Melissa Ward and they have a nephew thats in the Anaheim California mission which is so cool!!!!!!! He is serving in the Santa Ana 11th ward!!!!!! So i got to talk to them about the area!!!!!!! There are two members in one of the Allen wards that are serving in the California Anaheim mission right now!!!!!! Its so funny how many people i have run into that are serving there or have served there or have kids that are there!!!!!!! Well another transfer has gone by and we didnt get a transfer call on saturday night so im staying here for another transfer with Elder Sullenberger!!!!!!!! I know that we will see more miracles this transfer and that there is more work to be done here for me to do!!!!!!!!!!! For the past few days it has been really cloudy and rainy!!!!!!! I hope it gets better because i dont like the rain or clouds!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we also got to meet with a less active part member family and they have a 9 year old son that wants to get baptized so we set a baptismal date with him for the end of october also!!!!!!!!! I love how the spirit can change peoples lives!!!!!! It can even change peoples reactions right in a second!!!!!! We knocked on someones door the other day and she answered how most people normally answer and she said she wasnt interested in learning more but i told her about the book of mormon and how it has helped my life so much and I immediately saw a change in her eyes and she said that she really wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon!!!!!!! As long as people open their hearts to the spirit then it will definitely be able to affect and they will be able to recieve more blessings than they can even imagine!!!!!!!!!!!! Well i hope that all of you are having great weeks!!!!!!!!! Halloween is almost here and i have already seen so many crazy halloween decorations on peoples houses, its hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

Well this week was another fantastic week out here in Texas!!!!!!!! On tuesday i got to spend the day with elder calderwood down in his area which went really well!!!!!! Elder calderwood is a great missionary and he is very diligent and obedient which i love!!!!!!!! We went tracting around Allen and then we went and visited a few people and we met this black guy on the street who is very interested in learning more which was great!!!!!!! Then on thursday we got to go and visit Sister Lawson, she is an old lady that lives in a nursing home and she cant come to church so the young men come and bring the sacrament to her!!!!! But when we visited her she said that she is feeling much better and she is going to be able to start coming to sacrament meeting on sundays which i am so stoked about!!!!!!! she loves when missionarys come over and when people come and visit her!!!!!!! she got baptized four years ago!!!!!!!! On friday i had the weirdest dinner of my life!!!!!!! we had steak but the member that made it only cooked it for a couple minutes so it was so raw that it was basically like sushi!!!!!!!! i didnt want to be rude and tell her to cook it more so i had to eat it!!!!!! it wasnt very bad but i was scared that i was going to get sick from it and guess what?!?!?!!? i didnt get sick!!!!!!! the Lord really watches over us, its so great!!!!!!! then we went to go and visit this family that got sealed in the temple this week!!!!!! they are such a great family!!!! the dad has cancer but they are so optimistic about everything, its so great!!!!!!! all the mom cared about while they were in the temple was that her son could feel the spirit!!!!!! the family has been through a lot, they were excommunicated a few years ago but then they got baptized again a year ago and then they got to go through the temple this week and get sealed!!!!!!! they are moving to Potomac, maryland next week so the dad can get treatment for his cancer in washington dc!!!!! So emilee crowder tell your family to look out for them when they move there!!!!!!! their last name is farqueson!!!!!! also at dinner the other night a member gave me a whole half of a watermelon, emilee you would have loved it!!!!!!! Then the next day we had a few appointments planned but they all fell through so we went tracting instead!!!!!! we had to drop all of our investigators baptism dates because none of them are coming to church and they forget about our appointments with them!!!!!!! its okay though because i know that everything happens for a reason and the Lord needed us to be in a different place at that time!!!!!!!! Then on saturday night we ate at a members house and they have a PIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is HUGE!!!! we got to pet it and everything!!!!!! i love it so much!!!!!!!! yesterday was stressful because i almost got stranded at church again but everything worked out in the end so it was ok!!!!!!!!!! Even though this week was pretty tough because our investigators are being boofs, it was still a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 3, 2011

 got to spend most of this week down in the city of allen!!!!!!!!! i LOVE allen!!!!! it reminds me a lot of newport beach and the people are very similar!!!!!!!! all of the missionaries tell me that i have a good personality for the city and that i should be in the city!!!!!!!! On tuesday I spent the day with Elder Dunbar down in the Allen 1, 4 ,and 6 wards!!!!!!!! We went tracting and we taught a realy awesome lesson to this part member family!!!!!! The dad isnt a member and he LOVES the church he just doesnt want to become a member because of temples but we cleared that up with him and he said that he is going to sincerely pray to find out if the church is true and i know that he is going to become a member!!!!!!! I wish that he was my investigator!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday I got to spend the day with Elder McHardy in the Allen 2 and 3 wards!!!!!!!! Its always great to spend the day with Elder Mchardy!!!!! He is hilarious and he is such an awesome missionary!!!!!!!! We got to do service for one of his investigators which was great!!!!!!!! Its so great doing service for investigators but it shows them that our church really does focus on serving other people and helping them out!!!!!!!! Then on friday we got to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the temple so much, it is such a special place for me and its my favorite place to be in the entire world!!!!!!! The things that we learn in the temple are so great and I want everyone to be able to learn those things!!!!!!!! Our main focus is to get people to go to the temple!!!!!!!! Then it was conference weekend!!!!!!!! General conference was so great this october!!!!!!! I learned so much and so many of my questions were answered!!!!!! My favorite talks were President Eyrings talk at the priesthood and I really liked Brother Callisters talk on the Book of Mormon at the Sunday Morning session!!!!!!!! We got to watch the Sunday morning session with one of our investigators which was awesome because she loved it and it just testifies to me that the apostles and the prophet are just such great people!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for the leaders that we have in this church!!!!!!! They are able to be an example to us and we are able to learn so much from them!!!!!!!! It just testifies to me that this church is the true church because Heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today, and forever so why wouldnt he give us a prophet and apostles here on earth!!!!!!!!! I cant wait for all the talks to come out in the ensign so i can read all of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well transfers are next week so this saturday i'll find out if im changing areas and getting a new companion!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have great weeks and always remember that Heavenly Father loves you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Be loyal to the royal within you"

 

N

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Well this week was another awesome week out here in texas!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday there was a leadership meeting all day with President Durrant for all district leaders and zone leaders.  Since my companion is a district leader he had to go to that and i was supposed to spend the day with Elder Treasure and Elder Dunbar down in there area!!!!! But on monday night we got a text from the assistants that said that President Durrant wanted me at the leadership meeting, so i got to go to that on tuesday even though im not a district leader or zone leader!!!!!! it was a great experience and I learned so much and I took a TON of notes!!!!!!! after that we got to drive around in dallas for a little bit with the vehicle coordinator because elder pond had to get his car fixed and he was the one who was driving us back to our apartment!!!!!! On wednesday we had district meeting which is always good and then after that we had an appointment at this mans house named John Brown!!! He fed us lunch and he is interested in the church!!!!! His ex wife and daughters are members of the church and he wants to find out if the church is true and i am so stoked for him to get his answer that its true!!!!!!!!!! i love teaching people, it is seriously so great and i never want to stop being a missionary!!!!!!!!!! Then that night we were asked to help with an activity that the Activity Day Girls in the farmersville branch were doing!!!!!! There were over twenty, 8-12 year old girls running around screaming haha it was a lot of fun!!!!! They made us grilled cheese sandwiches and we talked about missionary work and then we taught them about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the church which was a lot of fun!!!!!!! There were even some non members there!!!!!! Then on Friday we had to go down to Dallas for the day because we had specialized training with President Durrant!!!!! I learned so much at that meeting and it was so great!!!!!!! And i got to see all my friends from the MTC which is always good and i got to see how they were doing in their areas!!!!!!!! On saturday night the air conditioning in our apartment broke which was horrible!!!!!!!!!! It is so hot and we are going over to the office today to get it fixed!!!!! Now i see why air conditioning is a necessity in texas!!!!!!!!!!!! In the melissa ward a guy just got his mission call and guess where he is going?!?!?!!? CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!!!! i was so stoked!!!!!! he is going to the oakland california mission!!!!!!!! Last night was definitely a very very interesting experience!!!!!! as soon as we were done eating dinner, it started getting really windy and all these clouds started coming in!!!!! then it started thundering and lightning!!!!!! then it started to rain really bad and hail!!!!!!! we were driving and we couldnt see anything cause the storm was so bad!!!!!!! we had to stop over at our ward mission leaders house so we could wait out the storm!!!!!! That was most definitely the worst storm i have ever been in!!!!!! im not used to thunder and lightning and apparently it does it here all the time in the fall!!!!! at least the weather is cooling down which is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shoutout to everyone back at BYU!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you guys are having a great time!!!!!!!!! i miss all of you and make sure you update me with what is going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok everyone, have a great week and always remember to keep Jesus Christ on your minds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Well this week was a very eventful week!!!!!!! On preparation day after we emailed we got to go and play volleyball with the district and some youth members and it was a TON of fun!!!!!!!! It was sand volleyball and it reminded me of the beach a lot!!!!!!! Then after dinner we went tracting in some apartments over by the Allen mall which was great and we got to talk to a lot of nice people who are interested in the church!!! This week was a week of many exchanges!!!!!! I didnt get to be with elder sullenberger that much!!!!! On tuesday and wednesday i was with elder dunbar and then on friday i was with elder hong!!!!! tuesday was great except i just kept stressing out because a lot of our appointments kept falling through but elder dunbar was doing good at keeping me calm!!!! elder dunbar is a very quiet kid but i got him to talk because im able to get anyone to talk, even if they are mega shy!!!!!!!!! elder dunbar and i had a great two days in my area and we worked so hard!!!!!!!!! i have a funny story that happened on tuesday: While we were tracting we knocked on this one ladys door and she answered the door and said that she wasnt interested in the church but she gave us some water bottles. ten minutes later we walked past her house so we could get to the other side of the street. she must have been watching for us through the window because as soon as we walked past her house she came running outside and told us that we believe catholics arnt going to heaven and "it says that in our book" and we kindly told her that we believe everyone has a chance to go to heaven!!! she started looking through the book of mormon for the verse but she couldnt find it and her hands were shaking because she was so nervous!!!! We just bore our testimony and then left. Then like an hour later she came driving down a street we were tracting on and she was in her car and she called us over!!!! she drove around in her car to look for us!!!!!!!!!!!! she had her book of mormon and read a verse to us in Moroni 8 that talks about how we shouldnt baptize babies and she interpreted that as catholics cant go to heaven!!!!!! its so funny to listen to things that people think of us and their interpretations of certain scriptures!!!!! Elder dunbar and i got to go and see connie and gary which was great!!!!! i love them so much!!!!! so far we have a baptismal date with connie for october 8!!!!! she just needs to quit smoking!!!! i got to give her a blessing yesterday!!!!!! Yesterday was a farewell for a guy in the branch so we both went to the farmersville branch yesterday and it was great!!!!!!! Tyler is going to be an awesome missionary and Sydney Australia better be prepared for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then last night the zone leaders called and they were using my article from the new area for a spiritual thought with an active family and they called me because they wanted me to bear my testimony over the phone to the family while it was on speakerphone!!!!! i love bearing my testimony at every chance i get!!!!!! a testimony is such a powerful thing and it can be as simple as that you know that Jesus Christ is the savior.  If you say that to someone and the spirit is there, then you can increase someones faith SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this church and i absolutely LOVE being a missionary!!!!! i hope all of you have awesome weeks and remember to always smile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

Well this week was great!!!!! so many great miracles happened this week!!!!!!! on tuesday we were out knocking on doors which i love doing!!!!!! there was this street that i felt like we should tract on so we did and guess what happened?!?!!?!?!?!? we knocked on this door and this 19 year old guy answered and he was like oh hey guys!!!! so we thought that maybe he was a member and he was just here visiting!!!!!! but it turns out that he just moved here from idaho two weeks ago!!!!! and before he moved here to texas he was meeting with senior missionaries and they were talking to him about getting baptized!!!!!! he said that he has moved five times after he moved out of his parents house when he was 18 and all five of those times missionaries have shown up at his house within two weeks of him moving!!!!! so guess what, we showed up at his house two weeks after he got here!!!!! it is so cool how the spirit works, i love it!!!!!! we have been meeting with this couple, the guy is less active and the girl is not a member!!!! they were supposed to get married today but something came up so hopefully they are getting married next week!!!! then the girl is going to get baptized after they get married!!!!!! our investigator james who is 18 and has a baptismal date for the 24th is doing great!!!!!! we went on splits with the ward mission leader and another member because we had a bunch of appointments on wednesday night so the ward mission leader and i went to go teach james!!!! i taught him the word of wisdom and the law of chastity and it went great!!!! he does have a smoking problem but tobacco doesnt even have a chance against the spirit!!!!!! so we are helping him give up smoking and he is doing so great!!!!!!!! connie and gary went through SO MANY trials this week but they are pulling through!!!!! i dont want to lose these investigators because i love them so much!!!!!! they still havent met elder sullenberger yet because every time i have been over to their house im on an exchange with another missionary in my district!!!! but connie calls me just about every single day and she is so great!!!! she thinks that elder seager is my companion!!!!!!! i cant wait for them to get baptized!!!!!!! after this week something good needs to happen for them because they went through so much this week and i know its because satan is trying to get them to fall!!!!! so yesterday we didnt get to go to church because elder sullenberger got sick so we had to stay home all day!!!!!!!!! in the morning i watched the testaments and then i basically studied from the bible and book of mormon all day which was great because i got SO MUCH studying done!!!!! all the missionaries in my district couldnt believe that i didnt slack off and that i studied all day!!!!! this week was great and it was a lot of fun and i learned a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its starting to cool down which is great!!!! this morning it was 75 and it felt so great outside!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUGUST 29, 2011

Well Im one seventeenth done with my mission and im already so sad!!!!!! i dont want it to end and i'm already done with transfer!!!!!!!!!! everyone says that these next two years are gonna go by so fast and that makes me sad because i love being on a mission so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! well its official, im gonna be staying in the same area for another transfer!!!!! i know that the Lord still has work for me here and thats why He wants me to stay!!!!!! two elders from my district are leaving, elder francom and elder redmond. im gonna miss them, they are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well this week wasnt a very eventful week except for the baptism on saturday!!!!!! Kailyn got baptized and it was so great and she was confirmed yesterday and that was great also!!!!! on saturday morning i got to go to another baptism because a boy named trevor was getting baptized and he was taught by elder treasure and elder francom!!!!! he is 17 years old and his baptism was so great because it reminded me of my baptism and he is so excited to be a member of the church and i was so excited for him!!!!!!! On monday we set another baptismal date with this boy named James!!!!! he is 18 years old and it is great and he is so stoked to get baptized!!!!! his baptism is going to be on September 17!!!!!!!! this week was just a lot of tracting because a lot of people canceled their appointments with us!!!!! but it was so much fun because i love tracting!!!!! i got to see connie and gary yesterday and they are progressing so much with the book of mormon, i love it!!!!! i know that they are going to be baptized soon!!!!!!!! nothing really interesting happened this week so im sorry if this letter is kinda boring, i hope more eventful stuff happens this week!!!!!!!!

AUGUST 22, 2011

This week was a HUGE week for me!!!!!! I had so much responsibility this week!!! I went on two exchanges this week and for both of those exchanges i stayed in my area and my companion went over to the other missionaries area. Which means i was in charge of my area for both of those days!!!!! The first exchange was with elder treasure!!!! he is such a funny kid and i can see us being really good friends when we get home. he is from idaho and he is going to go to byu when he gets back. he has been out for just about nine months!!! I was so nervous on tuesday because that was my first day taking over the area and being senior companion and i kept thinking the area was going to burn down and i was going to mess everything up!!!!!! BUT I HAVE GREAT NEWS!!!!!! that day has actually been the best day on my mission so far!!!!!! The spirit helped so much and we were able to have such a successful day!!!!! Something that i love doing as a missionary is talking to EVERYONE!!!!!! we can just go up to any person we see and start talking about how their day is going and then talking about the church!!!! Well elder treasure and i went to go check on some potential investigators and it turns out that they moved out of their apartment, but their next door neighbors started talking to us and they invited us inside!!!!! They are our new investigators for the week and they are hilarious!!!! They are brother and sister and they are in their 60's!!! They used to go to a pentacostal church but they LOVE mormons and they talk so much!!!!!!!!! The girls name is connie and she kept telling me that i have such a strong spirit beaming off of me and she kept telling me that im going to be a prophet when i get older haha (yeah right). then she kept telling elder treasure how funny he is!!! we taught them the restoration and they told us to come and visit them everyday!!!! even though we cantn visit them everyday we are gonna try like twice a week!! then elder treausre and i went to some other teacher appointments that i scheduled and they all were home and we got to teach a bunch of lessons!!!!!!! then for my second exchange which happened on friday was with the zone leaders. so elder seager came over to my area and i got to be with him for the day again!!! elder seager is great and he is such an awesome missionary!!!!! him and i are already good friends and he is going to byu also!!!! that day was very successful also and we went to go see connie and gary again (the pentacostals) they were so happy that we came over and connie said that she has been reading from the book of mormon and she LOVES it!!!! they are going to come to church this sunday and i hope that they have a great experience!!!!!!!! and she told elder seager that she sees me becoming a prophet and she told elder seager that he is really smart i have learned so much from elder seager, he is such a great zone leader!!! He started talking about leadership positions with me and asked me what i would think if i became a distrcit leader and a trainer next transfer and i told him that i would NEVER be able to do that!!!!! i told him that im fine with being junior companion for the reast of my mission and he said that is definitely not going to happen!!!! and i got really scared because i feel like that if i get a leadership position im going to stress out and want to do a perfect job and id get mad at myself if i dont do a good job!!!! he taught me a lot about patience and he made me feel so much better and he said that the Lord has so much in store for me and he said he sees me being a zone leader very soon. he was a zone leader his third transfer. i dont see that happening to me and i dont really want that to happen!!!!! then the reast of the week was great!!!!!! we had Kailyns baptism interview and she is getting baptized on saturday which is going to be so awesome!!!!! she is the first person that i commited to baptism and set a date!!!!!!! chelsea kimball if you are reading this i had dinner at a members home on thursday night and the wife looked and acted exactly like you!!!! i could not believe it!!!!!! you guys are exact twins!!!! the couple is in their mid 20's and they are such great members and just moved to texas!!!!!!!! i hope yall have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUGUST 15, 2011

This week was very eventful and i loved it and i had so many spiritual experiences!!!!!!! and i have learned so much!!!!! we had a baptism on saturday which was one of the highlights of my week!!!!!!!!! i didnt get to start teaching LJ since he already started getting the lessons before i came to the mission but i got to end his lessons and witness his baptism which was so inspiring!!!!!! He is about 30 years old and has cancer. he ended his last chemotherapy treatment last week which was so great and he is doing so much better and is in remission!!!!!! he was so stoked to get baptized and he could not stop thanking us for this opportunity!!!! it was so great!!!!! earlier in the week i got to go on exchanges with elder mchardy!!!!!! he is so awesome, i talked a little bit about him in the last email!!!!!! i was kinda down earlier in the week because i feel like that im not as good of a missionary as everyone else because im so new but elder mchardy helped me realize that it does not matter how new you are and he told me that im one of the best missionaries he has ever seen because of my testimony and my personality!!!! so it was great that i got to spend the day with him because i learned so much!!!!!!!! We got some new investigators this week which was so great!!!! they are a young couple and we are going to work more with them!!!!! Then we got to teach carey and anthony figueroa. i dont think i have talked about them before!!!! they are a young family and they are so great!!!! they are in their early 30's and they already seem so mormon!!!!! they are friends with members of the church so we all went over to the gustavesons house and we taught carey and anthony the plan of salvation and it went really well. carey said that she wants to get baptized!!!!!!! Yesterday i had a really neat experience!!!!!!!! there is this girl in the farmersville branch and her name is kailyn and she has been going to church for a few years but she hasnt wanted to get baptized!!!!! my companion and i split up on sundays since the ward and the branch start at the same time so the ward and the branch mission leaders come and pick us up and they are our companions for the day!!!!!!!! i dont really like it that much because after church we go out teaching and i would rather have another missionary with me to teach than the mission leader but i have come to learn that Heavenly Father wants me to learn from this!!! so after church yesterday, the branch mission leader and i went over to kailyns house to just drop by. i havent met her yet because im still pretty new and have not met every single person in the ward and the branch!!!! and soon as we walked in she told me that she doesnt want another missionary pressuring her into being baptized, and i told her to NOT WORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i got to know her a little and the spirit kept prompting me to talk about baptism and i really didnt want to because kailyn has been through so many sets of missionaries and i didnt want her to not like me!!!!! but i just started asking her about why she doesnt want to be baptized and i cleared up her worries and then i went over the baptismal interview questions with her and she said that they werent bad at all, then i just felt like i should ask the question "will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the Preisthood authority of God?" and GUESS WHAT SHE SAID?!?!?!?!?!? YES!!!!!!!!!!!! i was so stoked!!!!!!!!!!!! it has taken her so many years and she has gone through so many missionaries and she has finally said yes!!!!!!!!! i know im exactly where the Lord wants me to be and he has prepared people to be taught by me!!!!!!!! This week was great!!!!!!!! I hope you all are enjoying the last couple weeks of summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUGUST 8, 2011

Well this week was SOOOO mega hot!!!!!!!! It was 114 degrees one day and they say that we are about to break the record of 42 consecutive days of the temperature being over 100!!!!!!! i love tracting at night because its a lot cooler outside and everyone is at home so it makes it a lot better and a lot less sweaty.  I probably drink about 20 water bottles a day!!!!!!!! they want us drinking at least a cup of water every hour!!!!!!! This week was definitely a change cause i went on two exchanges this week (exchange means i trade companions with a missionary in my district for the day) on wednesday i went over to elder francoms and elder treasures area for the day and elder treasure was my companion!!!! the big change is that their area is a bike area which means i had to be on a bike for the WHOLE day!!!!!!! it made me appreciate even more that i get to be in a car!!!!!! it was a lot of fun being with elder treausre and we definitely had a lot of funny experiences with me being on a bike for the first time on my mission!!!!! im not used to riding a bike with a backpack on so i kept falling over for like the first hour!!!!! It was really cool cause while we were tracting we ran into an RLDS family and I dont really know that much about their religion. they invited us inside and they showed us their Book of Mormon and it basically is the same as ours except their chapters are set up a little differently.  Their church organization is really different from ours because they dont have a prophet because they believe prophets come through bloodline and they believe that women can recieve the priesthood!!!! We couldnt really teach them and give them our message because they believe the same exact thing, they are just members of the wrong LDS church!!!!!!! Then the next day i was back in my area and it was nice to be back and this is when my spiritual highlight of the week happened!!!!! We went to go contact this referral we recieved from the spanish speaking missionaries and we went inside her house and we taught this lady about the restoration!!!! We had a member with us which made the lesson even better!!!!!!!! We taught her the restoration and she listened and she had really good questions and we could tell that she is so interested in the church!!!!! We said the closing prayer and we were about to go but then on her wall i saw a plaque that said "the Lord is my rock and salvation" and as soon as i read that, Helaman 5:12 popped into my head. And i felt so strongly that i needed to have her read that verse. So right before we stepped out the door i grabbed the book of mormon we gave her and turned to Helaman chapter 5 and had her read verse 12. as soon as she got halfway through the verse she started crying!!!!!! it wasnt as awkward this time as it was last week because now im starting to get used to investigators crying!!!!! as she finished the verse she said thank you and she said she is so excited to read the chapter we told her to leave!!!! I know that the spirit was prompting me to tell her to read that because that is exactly what she needed in her life at that moment in time and the spirit helped me with it!!!!!!!!! i love teaching with the spirit, it is so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then the next day i went on another exchange with the zone leaders!!!! so i was with elder seager for the day!!!! elder seager is so great and i have learned so much from him. he graduated high school in 2010 but he left on his mission after high school inseatd of doing a year of college, so he has been out for ten months. his first name is cody also which we thought was cool!!!!!!!!! and he stays at the montage in laguna every summer and he loves newport!!! the zone leaders are over in allen so i got to spend the day in allen!!!!! we found a bunch of new investigators and we met a bunch of weird people, i meet weird people everyday but its hilarious!!!!!!! we met two deaf people and i got to use my sign language!!!!!!!!!!! miss smith would have been proud!!!!!! we had a meeting with the stake president and the bishops on saturday with our district which was so great. our zone is the allen stake and we have 10 missionaries in our zone!!! there is a missionary in my district named elder mchardy and he is such a funny kid, he is kinda like me but im more hyper!!!! he calls us every morning at 6:30 and yells good morning into the phone and then hangs up!!! this week has been great and we have a baptism on saturday and we got a bunch of new investigators!!!!!! i dont even really miss music that much because church music is so much better and i love it!!!!!!!!!!

"When the spirit touches your soul, it leaves a mark"

AUGUST 1, 2011

Ok so I just realized that i forgot to tell yall about my area!!!!!!!!!!! Well my companion and i cover a ward and a branch. The ward is called the Melissa ward and the branch is called the farmersville branch!!! the cities we cover are kinda po dunk and the houses are falling apart! my area is huge so we get a car, which is so legit because i dont have to worry about riding a bike for the rest of the summer!!!! im the driver because my companion cant drive!!!!!!!!!! but last week was another awesome week!!!!!!!!!!!!! on tuesday we had zone council and the stake president talked to us about always having the spirit with us and how important it is!!!!! i loved it!!!!!! then afterwards we had lunch with the zone at this place called cici's pizza!!! I've never been there before because they dont have it in california!!! It only costs 5 dollars and you can eat as much pizza and dessert as you want, it is DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my zone is great, we only have 12 people in the zone. and i love my zone leaders!!!! one of our investigators right now is named brynne and she has 4 kids and they are all so great!!!!! we watched the restoration dvd with them and they loved and i know that they truly could feel the spirit because it was so strong while we were watching it, and i saw brynnes eyes water up!!!! hopefully we can commit them to baptism!!!!! one of the hard things here in texas is that no one is married!!!!!!!! couples have been living together for like 10 years and have kids together but they just dont get married, i guess they think its just easier that way. so we need to have brynne get married to her boyfriend cause she cant get baptized until they are married. another problem is that everyone here smokes!!! its really kinda gross!!!!! me and tracting love each other!!!!!!!! it is so fun and i LOVE meeting all new people!!!!!!! the other day we were tracting and this black guy called us over and he had long dreads in his hair!!!! as soon as he saw me he knew i was from california and he was so wasted!!!! he said he was from compton and i told him i was from newport and he automatically loved me, he didnt like my companion that much. we talked to him for a little bit and he told me that i smoke pot and i told him that i dont smoke and he said that he can tell i smoke pot from the way i talk!!! i guess there really is a southern california surfer accent cause everyone here says that i have a surfer accent and everyone at byu told me that also!!!!!!! then we visited this less active lady and she had 40 cats!!!!!!!! as soon as i saw all of them i knew that caitlin and chelsea would LOVE being in that house!!!!!!!! the lady is totally anti mormon now and she fought with us about temples and things. as soon as we left the house i started getting red bumps all over my arms and i thought maybe it was because of the cats but then a few days later i realized that i have heat rash!!!! its all over my arms and it itches!!!!!!! i hope it goes away soon!!!!!! the good part is that it isnt affecting the work and thats all that matters!!!!!!!!!!! the other day we were tracting and we met this guy named roy and he is 20 years old. he said that he has been searching religions for the truth and guess what popped into my head as soon as he said that?!?!?!!? GOLDEN OPPURTUNITY!!!! he wants us to come back this week and teach him so we are looking forward to that!!!!!!!!!!! we have a baptism scheduled for next saturday and we set two more baptismal dates for the end of august!!!!!!!! my spiritual highlight of the week happened on saturday night!!! we were out tracting and we got to this door and a 60 year old women answered the door and we said our normal greeting and she said she was really busy at the moment and we normally dont bare our testimonies at the door but the spirit was telling me so strongly to. So i just flat out said "Heavenly Father loves you so much and he cares about you and i know that he is there watching over you and he wants to help you with everything" and as soon as i said that she just started crying and i had no idea what to do!!!!!!!! she wanted to give a hug but of course i cant hug her and she told us that when she gets back from her trip this week she wants us to come by and teach her!!!!! it was so great to have the spirit tell me to say that and thats what the lady needed at that exact moment!!!!!!!!!!! this one guy named tyler, in the farmersville branch comes out on splits with us a lot cause he is leaving for his mission in september and he is going to australia!!!!!!!!!! he was up at byu this past year also but i didnt know him cause he living in heritage. he is a stud and he is gonna be an awesome missionary!!!! this message is for all you people that were in the cdm ward!!!!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHO IS IN THE FARMERSVILLE BRANCH?!?!!?!?!?!? ELDER CARMONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yesterday at church it was my turn to go to the farmersville branch since my compnaion and i split up on sundays since the ward and the branch start at the same time and last sunday i was at the melissa ward!!!!!!!!!!! but as soon as i walked into sacrament meeting yesterday i heard someone yell cody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i was like oh my gosh who knows me by that name and i turned around and it was elder carmona!!!!!!!!! for all you people that dont understand, elder carmona served in my ward like a year ago!!!!!!!!!!! it is so cool that he is in the branch that im serving in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well it was an awesome week and i hope this heat rash goes aways soon!!!!!!!!! it may take a while for me to get some of your letters cause the office is having a problem with forwarding letters and they said that they will get it fixed soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!