December 31, 2012 ( New Year's Eve ) 163 days to go.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
hope all of you have a great new years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a great
week this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHristmas was so much fun and i ate so
much food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was also very fun to talk to my family and
the boyles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to choose a pg movie
that we wanted to watch and President Durrant told us to try to pick
an inspirational movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So i picked soul
surfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That movie is so great!!!!!!!!!!! The story is so
inspiring and it helps us all want to move forward!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont
have too much to talk about this week!!!!!!!! But we did get to start
teaching this guy named Austin and he is 17 years old!!!!!!!! he is
soooo cool!!!!!!!!!! Im excited to see him progress
further!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well i hope that everyone is doing
great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 24, 2012 ( Christmas Eve )

My email this week is going to be super short because its christmas
eve and i dont have much time!!!!!!!!!!!! But this past week was
great!!!!!!!!!! Everyone is getting excited for christmas and i am
sooooo stoked for christmas, i cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!! We have tons of
people to go over to on christmas, we are going to be sooooo
busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone has a great christmas!!!!!!!!!!
Take a moment to reflect on Jesus Christ tomorrow and think about
everything He has done for you!!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful for Jesus
Christ!!!!!!!!!!!! I am serving this mission for
him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feliz
Navidad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 17,2012

This week has been a great week because im starting to get back to
normal again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has taken some time but i am starting
to!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is this man from Lubbock that got into a very
bad car accident a couple weeks ago and he is at Parkland hospital so
we have been visiting him which has been very nice!!!!!!!!!! He is
going to be there for a couple more weeks so we are going to continue
to visit him!!!!!!!!!!! Its so sad because he doesnt really have any
family and he was excommunicated from the church but he is trying to
get back which has been great!!!!!!!!!!!! He has such a great spirit
about him and I love talking with him!!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to visit
the cooper family this week and they are doing great!!!!!!!!!!!
Christian still has to work on sundays because of he is a nurse at the
hospital but he said once its the new year he will be able to pick his
schedule and get sundays off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the cooper
family has been coming to church though which has been
great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once Christian comes back he will be able to get
the priesthood and then he can baptize Christian Jr. I cant
wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was also full of
parties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday night it was the relief society
christmas party in the 9th ward and the missionaries serve food at it
every year!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So us and the spanish missionaries got to
serve food to all the sisters and wait on them, it was a lot of
fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday night it was the first ward
christmas party!!!!!!!!!!! They had a DJ which was fun and it
basically turned into a dance party!!!!!!!!!!! Us and the spanish
missionaries sat there and watched everyone dance, we wanted to dance
so bad but we still had a lot of fun hahaha. Then on saturday night it
was the ninth ward christmas party!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo much
fun!!!!!!!!!!!! There were about 175 people there so it was
crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of our investigators and less active people
we invited were there which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
love the ninth ward, everyone gets along with each other so well and
we all have sooooo much fun!!!!!!!!! I keep telling everyone i should
just move my records into the ward since i have been here so long
hahaha. This week the elders that cover the lakewood ward which is
just east of us had to take their car to the shop in our area so they
got to spend three days with us which was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love being a missionary and I love everyones example around
me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We get to celebrate
our saviors birth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no one better then
him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have a merry christmas and ill
get to talk to you again on christmas eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 10, 2012

This week I just wanted to share my testimony with all of
you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got an opportunity to share my testimony
in the first ward sacrament meeting yesterday and how it has changed
after everything that has happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My mission has been
so great these past 18 months and I am so thankful for all the
experiences that I have had and for all the things that I have run
into and learned. I seriously cannot believe that 18 months have
already gone by, I know that these next 6 months are going to go by
even faster and thats why I want them to be the best months of my
mission!!! I am also so thankful for these past 8 months that I have
gotten to spend here in my dream area!!!!!! I love the Dallas 1st and
9th wards so much!!!!!!! They will always hold a special place in my
heart!!!!!!! Im not going to lie, being a missionary is most
definitely not easy. I've realized that this past month!!!! Even
though its been a month since the assault it has still been so hard
for me to get back to normal again, but I have felt all of your
prayers and love!!!!! It just takes time and I need to be patient!!!!!
This past week has probably been the hardest week for me!!! I have
felt the lowest I have ever felt in my entire life. I even thought
about going home. I just kept thinking "why am i still here? my
companion went home, why am i still here?" I felt like I have been
wasting the Lords time and that Im not able to be the missionary that
I used to be!!!!!! But my mission president met with me on Friday and
he helped me a lot with this!! I talked with him about all the
miracles that I have seen on my mission and he told me that I was
forgetting a miracle and he was looking at it right then. He told me
that Im the miracle. Its a miracle that I am on a mission!!! I love
being here!! I wouldnt trade the experience that I just had for
anything even though it is so hard to get through!!!! On friday after
I met with President Durrant I got to go to the temple and see a
recent convert family that I taught when i was in Carrollton get
sealed!! It was the best experience ever and I know have realized why
I am here, to see miracles like that!!!! The two sister missionaries
that started teaching them a couple years ago were there and it was so
cool to meet them!!! It just made me so excited for when I get to come
back to Texas and see the people that I taught get sealed!!!! I get to
see miracles everyday and I love it!!!! Miracles will never stop until
our faith stops!!! Other peoples happiness is really what makes me
happy!!!!! People ask me all the time how I am so happy and what my
secret is!!!! There is no secret, seeing other people happy makes me
happy!!!! About a week ago we got our weekly call from Parkland
hospital about how we need to go and give a blessing because one of
our members is there!!! Well we went there and I got the privledge of
meeting Brother Harned!! He is from Lubbock Texas and he was in a very
serious car accident!!!! He has a halo around his neck and splints and
screws on his legs and arms. But the thing that surprised me is that
he was still so happy!!!!! He started telling us all about his life
when we met him!!! He is still going to be in Parkland for a couple
more weeks and we visit him every week!!!! Thats what strengthens my
testimony!!!! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ!!!! I know that he
went through more than we can even imagine!!!!! What I have felt this
past month is only a little little bit of everything that Jesus Christ
felt just for us!!!!!!! He loves us so much!!!!!! Thats where our
message starts is that we have a loving Father and Savior in heaven
that cares so much for us!!!!!!! I am so lucky to get to share this
message with everyone!!!!! I am going to work as hard as I can these
last 6 months and make them the best!!!!! I am so grateful for this
Christmas season that we all get to focus on Jesus Christ and his
birth!!!!!! I love Jesus Christ so much, He is my Savior and Redeemer
and my best friend. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I hope all of you are getting excited for Christmas!!!!!!!!!! I hope
to hear from you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 3, 2012

 GET TO STAY HERE IN DALLAS 1 AND 9 ANOTHER
TRANSFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
am soooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!! I love it here soooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the members in the two wards are great and I have really gotten to
know all of them since i have been here for so long!!!!!!!!!!!! I am
so grateful for this area and for the opportunity that i get to serve
here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have learned so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so
grateful for this upcoming Christmas season that we get to celebrate
the birth of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone should check out
this really cool new website that the church just
made!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is
mormon.org/christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On it you can send
christmas e cards to people and give people free bibles and christmas
music!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Share it with your
friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was another
recovery week but i am feeling so much
better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My nose has stopped bleeding and
almost all the swelling is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This experience is
an an experince that i will never forget!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really did
test my faith but it also made my testimony just grow so much
stronger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has encouraged me to finish my mission
strong and to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and
strength!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE being a
missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you are
enjoying all the christmas decorations going
up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are really nice here in highland
park and university park and preston hollow!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a great
week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 26, 2012

Another fun week here in texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This
week was thanksgiving so it was a lot of fun and i got mega
stuffed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday i got the cast off of my
nose which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to get it
off!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My nose is still healing but it already looks so
much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its still just a little bit
swollen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to get my cast off just in
time for thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So in the morning of
thanksgiving the ninth ward had a turkey bowl that we went to which
was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course i couldnt play so i
sat there and watched with some other people from the ward which was
fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then us and the spanish missionaries went back to
the apartment so we could get ready for the
day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our first dinner was at 2:30 at the
sons which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner at 4:30 at the
barnhursts which was also very fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had
dinner at the hardens at 7:30 but by the time we got there we were so
full and they inderstood so we just had dessert and
drinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really needed all that food because I
have lost so much weight from all of thise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I had a great thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that everyone
else had a great thanksgiving also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The rest of
the week was fun too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a meeting on friday
morning with all the missionaries in the stake and the stake president
which was good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to learn a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Except my nose kept bleeding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been doing that a
lot lately but its getting better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The weekend was
very good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we got to visit with some great
families!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love all the families in these
wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Transfers are next week and I really hope that I
get to stay in this area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I keep telling everyone that
i want to stay here for the rest of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
LOVE the dallas 1 and 9 wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
hope all of you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would love to
hear from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 19, 2012

Another crazy week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So last monday i got my
new companion after I was inn a trio with the spanish missionaries for
a week which was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! His name is Elder Kay and
he has been on his mission for a year, he came from Hemphill which is
the farthest southeast our mission goes and now he is here in the big
city!!!!!!!!!! So on wednesday we had zone conference down in
duncanville which was fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its still hard for me to be
around big groups of people but i still enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then
thursday was the surgery for my nose!!!!!!!!!!! We got there at 10:30
and i had to take these pills and drink this liquid that tasted gross,
probably the grossest thing i have ever tasted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we
went back to the operating room and they gave me an IV and put me to
sleep and the next thing i remember is waking up with a really bad
sore throat!!!!!!!!!!!! and then i realized the surgery was
done!!!!!!!!! We got to go back and stay at the Franks house which was
so much fun!!!!!! They are a great family and took such good care of
us!!!!!!!!!!! So now im in recovery mode!!!!!!!!!!! I have a cast and
splints on my nose and I have to wear gauze under my nose so it doesnt
drip everywhere!!!!!!!!!! But i get the cast and splints off on
wednesday, just in time for thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!! Its hard for me
to eat so i have lost some weight which im not too happy about but im
still doing good!!!!!!!!!! Its been hard to not really be able to do
any missionary work but im learning patience which is
good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was interesting to go to church
yesterday with this all over my face but everyone knows what
happened!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am again so grateful for this church and for
the Holy Ghost, i have had so much comfort these past couple weeks and
I know that I am loved by Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully i have a speedy
recovery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all have a great week and a
fantastic thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 12, 2012

Sorry everyone for another short email this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has been a crazy week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So on monday after we went
to the mission office to drop off my companion so he could go to the
airport I was paired up with Elder Nelson temporarily!!!!!!!!!!!! The
problem is that he covers the wylie 2nd ward and wylie is about 30
miles away from my area so it was going to be really hard to cover
both areas!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then President Durrant called the next
day and said that I was going to be in a trio with the Dallas 9th
spanish missionaries and Elder Nelson was going to be with the Sachse
Elders!!!!!!!!!!!!! That change was so much better since the spanish
missionaries are already in my ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had my
doctors appointment on friday and i need to get surgery on my
nose!!!!!!!!!!! So i am getting it this thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As
soon as the doctor told me that i needed surgery I was so scared to
tell Sister Durrant because I thought i was going to have to come home
for the surgery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Sister Durrant called them and
explained everything to them and its only going to take me 5 days to
recover so I found out this morning that I get to stay here for the
surgery which i am so excited about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll
be an experience getting surgery on my mission but it'll be
good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My emotions have been crazy this week but im
getting better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ
and this church!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know where i would be right now
without it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have learned so much from all of
this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have great weeks and i'll
email more about everything next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See
miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 5, 2012

OH MAN THIS WEEK WAS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So
basically a bunch of trials happened to me this week and I got through
them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im alive which is a huge
blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My email isnt going to be very long since i
dont have a lot of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday Elder Sorensen and
I (an elder in my district) had to go to zone leader council and our
car got towed and we found out when we walked outside which was crazy
because we had to get to the meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we got that all
settled out and it worked out ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then the rest of the
week was pretty ok until we got to saturday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We
got jumped, but dont worry, we are all ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heres the
story:

Oh boy was Saturday night a crazy night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So after
dinner we were driving to drop the Spanish missionaries off at their
apartment and we were going to go visit one of our investigators right
after that to see how he was doing and if we could set up an
appointment with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the Spanish missionaries
said that he felt like he should come with us which we later learned
was definitely the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we were driving into the
parking lot and we saw a gang of 15 african American people!!!!!!!!!
So I told everyone in the car to not acknowledge them because I have
been to those apartments many times and I have seen that gang many
times and if you just ignore them then nothing will
happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were getting out of the car and one of
them came up to my companion and started yelling at him because he
thought that my companion was blowing kisses at my girlfriend but he
really just waved!!!!!!!!!!!!! So he started punching my companion and
then the gang swarmed around us and was yelling all these fancy words
at us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were about to get back in the car and one of
them came up to me and asked me what I was looking at and he was
yelling at me to get back in the car so I was backing towards the car
because I didn’t want to turn my back to him in case he had a gun or a
knife!!!!!!!!! He punched me in my mouth and on the left side of my
nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got back in the car and we started backing up and
one of the Spanish missionaries was on the phone with 911 and I was
holding my hand to my nose because all this blood was coming out and
blood was everywhere!!!!!!!!! We pulled over into a parking lot and
the police met us there!!!!!!!!!!! 3 police cars came and they were
asking us all this questions and I was on the phone with Sister
Durrant!!!!!!!!!! The police told us to go straight to the emergency
room, they weren’t going to confront the gang yet because they were
waiting for more police cars to get there!!!!!!!!!!!  So we rushed
over to the emergency room and Elder Judd one of the Spanish
missionaries was driving the car and we checked into the
hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!! President Durrant and Sister Durrant met us
there!!!!!!!!!! We got x rays and everything and we found out that I
have a broken nose and a bruised collar bone and my companion has a
broken jaw!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were at the hospital until two in the
morning, it was crazy!!!!!!!!!! We finally got back home and went to
bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My companion is going home today because he needs to get his jaw
worked on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just so grateful that nothing worse
happened and that the spanish missionaries were with
us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been a crazy week but I am just happy
that I have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and this wonderful
church!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk to you next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 29, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am excited for halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love seeing everyones halloween decorations that they have put up while we go tracting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some people here have some pretty great decorations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well a lot of change has happened this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got a new companion and both the spanish missionaries in the wards got new companions so there are a lot of new elders in the dallas 1st and 9th wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So on tuesday we drove up to transfers and I got my new companion, his name is Elder Stufflebeam and he is from Cedar Hills, Utah and he is fresh from the mtc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to go tracting in the afternoon and then we had dinner at the Asays which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Afterwards we had a lesson with Jaime and Caridad and they are doing awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked with them about obedience and why God gives us commandments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They still really want to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning which went great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked about ways we can encourage the members of our wards to do missionary work and how we can seek for referrals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then in the afternoon we got to do some service which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner at the Alders which is always so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that family so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at night time we got to meet with Beatrice and invite her to the halloween party on friday for the ninth ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thursday was another great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had lunch in the afternoon with Brother Smith which went great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to do some tracting in Highland Park which is always good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner with the Son family and they are another family that I love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday was a great day too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did some more service in the morning and then afterwards we got to teach BJ about the ten commandments and about praying and reading the scriptures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She really really wants to come closer to Jesus Christ, its just hard for her to come to church because she is in a nursing home so we are going to have to drop her but we will still see her when we go there and do service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Us teaching her now will help her in the spirit world and I know that she will get baptized there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that we did some tracting and we went to go and heart attack Jared and Becka since they have been going through so much lately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We wrote a bunch of notes on some sticky notes and put them up all over their door and we left some chocolate and then we rang the doorbell and ran away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that it was time for the halloween party in the ninth ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got there 30 minutes early so we could practice our dance with the spanish missionaries for the talent show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The party was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had some investigators there and a lot of less active people that we invited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did a dance in the talent show with the spanish missionaries which was sooooo much fun hahaha. The ward thought it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the talent show was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 9th ward has so much talent, i love the 9th ward sooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the final act was with some Sisters from the relief society!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were called the plungettes and they did a dance with plungers, it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we got to do some service with the stake since it was the day of service for the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a cemetery right by downtown dallas called oakland cemetery and its over 60 acres!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we got to help cut down branches and rake leaves and just fix it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are people buried there from the 1800's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And sometimes we would cut down a bush and there would be a tombstone under it, its so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!But it looked so much better after our stake was done, it was great!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was looking forward to church all week and it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! About a month ago a member from coppell called us and told us he got our number from President Durrant!!!!!!!!!!! He has a business partner that teaches sunday school at a presbyterian church and he wanted missionaries to come to his class that morning and talk about missionary work, it was a great experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and all the youth asked really great questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to drive right over back to our church and we made it just in time for 9th ward sacrament!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after church we had dinner at the Hatch's, i love that family so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bishop Hatch is a great bishop, hes the bishop in the 1st ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we did a lot of contacting and tracting and it was a great end to the week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone has a great halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 22, 2012

This week was a very interesting week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had district meeting in the morning which was great and we got to talk a lot about using our time wisely and planning and stuff like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to go on exchanges and I got to be with Elder Snow in the lake highlands ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that we finally got the chance to serve together and this is going to be his last transfer and we still get to serve together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Him and I are great friends!!!!!!!!!!!! The day was going great, we were tracting and contacting people and having great lessons and then dinner came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ended up having barbeque and it was really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After dinner we got back on our bikes to ride and stop by people and my stomach started feeling really weird but we still kept working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got home and my stomach started to feel worse and we got ready for bed and i was just going to try to go to sleep and feel better then i woke up at midnight and i had to throw up really bad so i ran to the bathroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then like every hour after that i kept throwing up, it was horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We woke up in the morning and I wanted to start to get ready but elder snow wouldnt let me, so i layed in bed and rested and he helped me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we didnt exchange back until thursday since we had a lot of appointments in my area so elder benard and elder shuman stayed over there while we stayed inside and did the stake presidents report and stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were supposed to go to mutual that night in the 9th ward to talk about missionary work and getting the youth to invite their friends but i couldnt go since i was sick so Elder Benard and Elder Shuman went to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so sad that i missed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But on thursday I was feeling much better and we had planning and got to go and visit people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we did service in the morning after studies and we did tracting and then we had dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday we got to meet with a bunch of people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach Michael and his brother which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wish that we could speak bermese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to go over the plan of salvation with them and they loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can tell that they feel the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At night time we got to see Yvette and Jesse and they are doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Church was great yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was Elder Benards last day so he said goodbye to a lot of people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is going out to East Texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM STAYING HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had transfer calls on saturday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im going to be training another new missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Most of my companions have been new missionaries hahaha. You'll get to hear about my companion next week, all i know about him is that he just landed in TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well i hope that you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 15, 2012

This week flew by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe it is already halfway through October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels like October just started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Monday night was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We stopped by this less active ladys apartment!!!!!!! We met her by the elevator at parkland hospital!!!!!!!!!! We run into so many people there since we go there so much to give people blessings!!!!!!!!!! I love it though, its so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love going to childrens medical center too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we also got to stop by Kaw Htoo and Mary Weh (the karen speaking family) and they are doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday morning we got the priviledge to teach seminary again!!!!!!!!!!!!! But only Daniel came so we talked with him for a little bit and then we all left!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was still fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we went to district meeting and then we got to go on exchanges with the elders in the lake highlands ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I spent the day with Elder Shuman in lake highlands which was great!!!!!!!!!! Its a biking area so i got to be back on a bike for the day which was fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked with some great people and we got to teach some fun lessons!!!!!!!! Elder Shuman is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday morning we exchanged back!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we had planning in the morning and then we got to go give some blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got a call about how there is a member down at childrens medical center and they are from oklahoma!!!!!!!!!! The whole family was there and the little newborn baby is the one thats in the hospital, she was born with a heart defect so she has to stay in the hospital for about 6 months!!!!!!!!!! The family is going to stay down here but the dad is going back up to oklahoma because he cant miss more work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT we got to give the baby a blessing which was so great!!!!!!!!!!!! Childrens medical center is such a great hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to go to Presbyterian hospital right after that and give a members co worker there a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so cool that we have all the major hospitals here in our area!!!!!!!!!!!! We get to give blessings all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had a great dinner in a highrise apartment building up on the 14th floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we took some pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was us and the spanish missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im going to send my camera card home soon so everyone will get to see some pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to teach the son family that night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We read Mosiah 2 with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Mosiah 2 sooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord really loves us so much and we follow him and keep the commandments he will show his love to us through the things he blesses us with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was stake conference in the Dallas East stake and it was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Saturday in the afternoon we got to teach BJ the gospel of Jesus Christ and even though she is 89 years old she is so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has the best questions ever and she loves when we come over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gospel is for everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on Saturday night we got to go to the adult session of stake confernce which was really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Franco from the seventy was there and his talk was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stake Conference on sunday was also really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to hear from President and Sister Durrant and Elder Franco again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that evening we met with our karen speaking family again and now we are teaching one of their friends that is 17 years old and he understands a lot of english which is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to meet with Sister Chavez and she is doing really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary, this church is so true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well i would love to hear from anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I havent heard from all of you in a very long time!!!!!!!!!!!!! Missionaries love to get mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See Miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

October 8, 2012

This week has been a GREAT week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely loved conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so good and I loved every minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially all of President Eyrings talks, he is my absolute favorite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So on tuesday we got to do a TON of tracting and contacting in highland park which was so much fun and we talked to A LOT of people which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we were inviting people to watch general conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we did service in the morning at the Parsons House and then we did some tracting and we met with Rosalinda which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then in the evening we got a call to go over to Parkland to give someone a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got there and we couldnt find out anything about him because he couldnt talk and his family was there so we didnt really know what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we gave him a blessing and he was really happy afterwards so we knew we were at the right room!!!!!!!!!!!! Then while we were in the hospital walking to the elevator this patient with an iv in her arm walking down the hall yelled "ELDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!" so we went up to her and talked to her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We found out that she lives in the ninth ward and she hasnt been to church in a LONG time so we are going to stop by her house this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we had lunch with Brother Smith, a member in the 1st ward in downtown and then we ate really fast and he took us and the spanish missionaries on a tour of the Free Mason lodge in downtown which was really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its a really cool building and has a lot of history and symbolism in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Jaime at night and he is doing really good!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to read with him and then we invited him to watch general conference, hopefully he did, we will find out tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we had interviews with President Durrant which was great!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to have some really great trainings to!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then saturday was general conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can everyone believe the announcement they made about missionary work?!?!?!?!!?!? I cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my future companions could be 18 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Conference was so great, I LOVED all the talks!!!!!!!!!! Its so fun being a missionary and watching conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of us missionaries serving in the dallas east stake watched it at the stake center and you should have seen us all when they announced about the new missionary ages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the members that were there were laughing from our reaction hahaha. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On sunday night we got to meet with Sister Reyes which was great, she was baptized about a year ago but she hasnt been to church since then and we have been trying so hard to get her to come, she is just never home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But last night we were driving past her house and i saw her truck out front so i swerved over to the curb and we parked and ran to her door and she answered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we got to have a great lesson with her and read 1 Nephi 8 which is my FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love reading about the tree of life and how we are all able to partake of it!!!!!!!!!!!! We just need to hold to the iron rod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a great ending to the week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that everyone enjoyed conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See miracles!!!!!!

October 1, 2012

OHHH THIS WEEK WAS JUST SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So on tuesday we had district meeting in the morning which was really good!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then afterwards we had the new missionary meeting for all the new missionaries this transfer and their trainers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really good, it was probably the best new missionary meeting I have been to so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had pizza afterwards with everyone which was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that evening we got to meet with Christian to prepare for his baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which went great and I'll tell you more about later in the email!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we got to do some service in the morning at the parsons house which is always so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then afterwards we got to contact people in highland park for a couple hours and pass out pass along cards and invite people to go on to mormon.org!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner at the Alders which is always so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thursday was a really great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! President Durrants father and his fiance came to our mission, Sister Susan Black, and we had a special devotional thursday afternoon for all the missionaries that are in the city and it was really great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brother Durrant is so funny and his talk was great!!!!!!!!!!!! He talked about how we need to be missionaries with personalities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We cant just go around like robots sharing the gospel with people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I agree so much with his talk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we have fun it makes the work so much better and it helps people feel the spirit more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then Sister Black spoke a lot about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith!!!!!!!!!!!! She is really knowledgable and she knows so much about Joseph Smith's life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She gave us some answers to concerns that people have about Jospeh Smith and the Book of Mormon and how we can resolve them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that night we got to meet with the Son family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are still  working on finding a vietnamese translator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday was great, we did some service in the morning and guess what happened while we were doing service at the parsons house!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!? One of the residents there, BJ, asked us if we can start teaching her, it was sooooo exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though she is 89 years old she is so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we set up an appointment with her to come back on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then guess who met us at our apartment after the parsons house?!?!?!!? CHRISTIAN HARRIMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was in Dallas for the weekend because his mom had to finish up some business stuff here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So he spent all of friday evening with us teaching people, it was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we went back to the parsons house to teach BJ and Christian came with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It ended up pouring rain that whole day which was really sad because it meant we couldnt go tracting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we taught BJ about the restoration and she said she is really sad because she hasnt put Jesus Christ first in her life for over 20 years and she said her heart feels like it has a hole in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But once we taught her she said the hole has filled in and she wants us to teach her eveyrthing hahaha, she is the best, i love her so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked outn perfectly because when we were done teaching BJ in her room the Parsons house eneded up needing our help for this activity they were doing that afternoon and it was pouring outside so we were able to help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then sunday was Christian Coopers baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the best day ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian was so excited to get baptized and his wife was so happy too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit was so strong!!!!!!!!!!!! I got the priviledge to confirm him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the most important gifts ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so lucky to hold the priesthood and act under the direction of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian is going to be able to baptize his son, Christian Jr, in the next couple weeks which is going to be so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and seeing all these miracles and seeing all these people change their lives, it is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 24, 2012

Well this week was very eventful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I forgot to bring my planner to SMU today so my email isnt going to be very long because i cant remember everything off the top off my head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But on tuesday i got to go on exchanges with Elder Snow which was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be so great if we were companions!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is from Huntington Beach!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so much fun contacting people and when they would ask where we were from we both could say southern california!!!!!!!!!!!!! We even met with some members and they told us that we need to tell our mission president to put us together because they have never seen a companionship where both of them are from southern california!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to meet with Jared and Becka that night and teach The Restoration to start the new member lessons and it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit was so strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love teaching about the restoration of the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Becka also got a calling this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is the young womens personal progress advisor, she is going to do great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the young women already love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for her!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to meet with Christian this week and he had his baptismal interview!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for him, I cant wait for this sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is so excited to get baptized and he is going to be able to baptize his son in a few weeks which is going to be even more great!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had specialized training on friday which was a great meeting!!!!!!!!!!! We practiced a lot with contacting people which was really fun because thats my favorite thing to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love tracting and contacting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was also a great day at church!!!!!!!!!!! It was the primary program in the ninth ward!!!!!!!!!!! I love that ward so much, it is so multi cultural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has really helped me to learn about how all cultures can get along with each other!!!!!!!!!!!! The ward has such a big heart for everyone, it is so great!!!!!!!!!!!! I love serving in a bilingual ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im so sorry this email is so short!!!!!!!!! Im so mad at myself for forgetting my planner today!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 17, 2012

Well this week has been another great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seemed a lot longer than some of the other weeks but it was still good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday i got my new companion!!!!!!!!!! He is brand new and his name is Elder Benard and he is from Salt Lake City!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a brand new missionary and so far he is settling in well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy that I got to stay here in Dallas 1/Dallas 9, i love this area sososososo much!!!!!!!!!!! Its the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had the new missionary meeting in the morning which went great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to get back to our area and i showed Elder Benard all around!!!!!!!!!!!! We went tracting for a little bit and then we got to meet with Rosalinda, she is the best, I know i talk about her a lot!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that we had dinner over at the Hardens and then we had an appointment with Jaime and Caridad!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are doing great!!!!!!!!!!! We got to set a marriage date with them for November 10 and then they can get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They love the church so much and they have been coming every week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we had weekly planning in the morning which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i got to tell Elder Benard about all of our investigators and more about the area!!!!!!!!! Then we went contacting in the afternoon which i LOVE doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then that night we got to meet with Jaime and read a chapter from the book of mormon with him which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit is so strong when we meet with him and he really has such a great desire to learn more!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Beatrice and she is great too!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday evening we got to meet with Christian cooper!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love him so much he is great!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is getting baptized the end of this month!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach him the plan of salvation and the spirit was so strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that we are able to have answers to all those questions!!!!!!!!! On saturday I got to see Elder Seager!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He went home on saturday but he stopped by to say goodbye to me and i loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was a great day at church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I realized that I havent really said anything so far about what i love about texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love barbeque now and i also love fried okra!!!!!!!!!! i never had it before until i got here and it is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I have started to say yall sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I hope that you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 10, 2012

GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM STAYING HERE IN DALLAS 1 AND DALLAS 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it here so much!!!!!!!! i want to stay here for the rest of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!! and im training a new missionary again which will be fun!!!!!!!!!!! Well tuesday was a fun day!!!!!!!!!!! it was elder Saengers birthday!!!!!!!!!! We went to downtown dallas for lunch which was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!! and then we got to teach some great lessons to some of our investigators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we got to go to the temple which was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love the temple so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we only get to go every six months which makes it that much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After our endowment session we went to get lunch in the cafeteria and the temple president was there and he bought us lunch which was so nice of him!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for that!!!!!!!!!!!! Then afterwards i got to go on exchanges with Elder Taylor which was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to meet with one of our investigators John that night!!!!!!!!!! He is the one that went to the temple wanting to worship with us so he came to church the next sunday!!!!!!!!!!! But anways we got to teach him the plan of salvation and it was so great to see how he was feeling the spirit and how many of his questions got answered from the plan of salvation!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so lucky to have that plan and it answers so many of our questions that we have about life!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has created this great plan for us!!!!!!!!!!! On friday night we got to meet with the cooper family!!!!!!!!! Sister cooper is a member of the church but her husband is not!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has already come to church twice and he is doing so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to share the message of the restoration with him on friday night and he brought the pamphlet with him to church and was showing it to everyone and telling everyone how great it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him so much, he is so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so excited for his baptism which is happening in a couple of weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then saturday was transfer calls night and i found out im staying here which is so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on sunday night there was a back to school fireside that was organized by Preisdent Durrant for the whole dallas metroplex and i was invited to speak at it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were so many youth there, like over 1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there were people sitting all the way to the back of the gym!!!!!!!!!!! it was a great fireside on how to get the youth to invite their friends to church!!!!!! We need to get one of those firesides in newport beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry that this email is so short and scattered this week!!!!!!!!!!!! E mails are always hard for me to do on the first week of the transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!! ill tell you all about my brand new companion next week!!!!!!!!!! I am excited to get another brand new missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 3, 2012 ( Labor Day )

Well this week has been very interesting, a lot of meetings and reports which I dont like very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday night we got to meet with Jaime and Caridad which was great!!!!!!!!!! They are doing so good except they didnt come to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach them the word of wisdom and they really like it a lot and they said they are going to try very hard to follow it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday I had to go to zone leader council which was basically all day, i was about to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate sitting inside for that long!!!!!!!!!!! I would rather be outside working!!!!!!!!!!! But it was a very good meeting and I got to learn a lot!!!!!!!!!!!! we did some great role plays and we talked about some things that our mission can improve on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then when i got home that night we got to help this lady move out of her apartment that isnt a member of the church!!!!!!!! she called the bishops phone looking for help to move!!!!!!!!!! So we got to go over there and help her, she is a very nice lady but she isnt very interested in learning about the church!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday i had to work on the stak presidents report with the spanish zone leaders which took all morning but i am so happy that we got it done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to go on exchanges with Lakewood!!!!!!!!!!! I got to spend the day with Elder Christensen which was great!!!!!!!! He is such a great missionary!!!!!!!!!! On friday we got to go tracting in highland park which i love doing!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we had a baptism in the ward which was great!!!!!!! the spanish missionaries were teaching this girl for a long time!!!!!!!!!!! and she finally got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sorry that this email is so short!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont have much time!!!!!!!!!!!! But i miss all of you and I hope that you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 27, 2012

This week has been a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday I got to spend the day over in the Lake Highlands and Garland 1 wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was cool to be in that area for the day but I missed my area, thats one thing I dont like about exchanges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I got to spend the day with Elder Shuman and he is an awesome missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was serving out in Hemphill for 6 months and then he came her to the city to our district, so this is his second area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to have a lot of fun tracting and talking to people and it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to teach some lessons that evening and that was great too!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to share the story of the restoration of the church with someone and it was so cool to see their immediate change and to see the spirit working with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love seeing all these miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we had a meeting with President Durrant and Sister Durrant which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! President Durrants son just got back from his mission so we got to hear a little bit from him!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have another meeting this next week, I do like going to meetings but somtimes i just wish that we can be out doingn normal missionary work, I dont like being inside all day at a meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at night time we got to meet with the Son family and they are doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them a lot, we just need to really help them with the Word of Wisdom, because the kids understand it, just the parents dont!!!!!!!!! I wish we could speak vietnamese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we got to have a full day of tracting which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to talk to a lot of people and give a lot of cards out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully some people will take a look at the website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on saturday morning we got to meet with this man named Nano!!!!!!!!!!! The carrollton elders texted us earlier that week and told us that he came to church up there and he lives in our area, so we didnt know too much about him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we met him at the hotel he lives at and guess what?!?!?!?!?!?!!? He just moved here from spain about a month ago and he is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was already taught all the lessons by the missionaries in spain and he wants to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!! he still has all the pamphlets which is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He looks exactly like Carl which is also so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so great to see someone that appreciates the gospel so much and is not even a member of the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know this church is true with all my heart and I just love it so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Jaime and Caridad came to church yesterday which was so great!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so great to see how much they were loving church!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rosalinda was having a bad day because she didnt go to church so we went over there for a little bit to see her and Tiny, her dog, ran away which is so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is the only other person that stays there with her and she loves him so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today we are putting up signs everywhere in case someone has found him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love all the help we get to do for everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Missionary work is the best thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that everyone has a great week and everyone that is going back to school, have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!