July 30, 2012 ( 11 more months to go)

YAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM NOT GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy that I get to stay in this area, I want to stay here for the rest of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it here so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Saenger and I are also staying together again this transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My email this week is going to be super short, I am so sorry everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian, my favorite investigator ever is moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we are having lunch with him and his mom today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so sad that he is moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been so great teaching him!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so blessed that Heavenly Father allowed me to teach him for a little bit, he is exactly like me when I was investigating the church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was really great!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to see a ton of miracles and we got to teach some really great lessons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to meet with Tim last night and set a baptismal date with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is such a great guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can most definitely see how the gospel has already changed his life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and I love the spirit we get to feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost want to cry everyday from all the happiness and joy of everyone that we get to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sorry again this is so short!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 23, 2012

Well this week has been a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to see a bunch of miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On monday night we got a call from our Bishop to go over to one of the hospitals because there was a member there that needed a blessing, the member lives all the way up in northeast texas but she came down here because she had to be with one of the doctors at this hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really cool except we had to stay there kind of late because the doctor made us wait outside of the room for an hour until he would let us in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its always so great to give people blessings, it really brings the spirit!!!!!!!!!!! We do it a lot because our area has all the main hospitals in dallas in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Treasure over to his area for the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His area is the Lakewood ward which is just east of our wards and his area has the main street of downtown dallas in it so we got to go down there also which was the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At night we got to teach a lesson with one of his awesome investigators!!!!!!!!!!!! We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he is really interested and he is just such a cool guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait for him to make the decision to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on wednesday we exchanged back and then Elder Saenger and I had to go straight to one of the hospitals to give a member a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This member goes to the hospital like almost every week and every time he goes there he always calls us to give him a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That night we had some appointments set up but they all fell through so we went tracting around that apartment complex and guess what?!?!?!?!!?!? WE FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We knew that the Lord wanted us to be there even though our appointments fell through!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This guy let us right in when he opened the door and we are meeting again with him today, I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we got to do some contacting in Preston Hollow in the afternoon and then we went over to go teach DayDay and we got to set a baptismal date with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for his baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is such a cool guy!!!!!!!!!!!! Then afterwards we had dinner with the spanish missionaries over at a recent converts house and she is doing awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Son family!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want Brother Son to be baptized so badly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them and he followed along with his vietnamese Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!!! I think its just the language barrier that is holding him back but he comes to church every week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we went to the Hospital again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This time it was for another member in the first ward!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Sister was so nice and she has a really bad colon disease so I felt her pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday we got to have the pioneer pancake breakfast in the morning for the ninth ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really fun and a lot of our investigators came to that which was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And at night we got to meet with Emily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy to get to have a lesson with her!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We showed her the baptismal font and she is really thinking about getting baptized and we got to answer a lot of her questions which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was an awesome day at church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the first and ninth wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never want to get transferred from here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well i hope that you all have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 16, 2012 ( Additional)

We are also teaching this couple, the husband is a member but the wife is not and the 8 year old son is not baptized either!!!!!!! But anways, Yvette's mom is a member up in the Carrollton 2nd ward, where I just came from!!!!!!!! Its so cool how that connection turned out!!!!!!!! We got permission from the assistants to call Sister Starks, the relief socitety president in the Carrollton 2nd ward and she is the member i lived with while i was there!!!!!!!!!!! Well anyways, we found out Yvette has been coming over to her moms house for a long time and meeting with the missionaries in Carrollton, like a year before I came to Carrollton!!!!!!!!!!!!! So its really cool that I get to teach her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also I found out this week that Jared's brother (becka's husband, the one that has a baptismal date in august) is in the Carrollton 2nd ward also and they talked about me this week when they talked on the phone!!!!!!!!!!!! Another really cool connection here in this area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And wait until you hear this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had dinner with the Franks last night, a family in the Dallas 1st ward!!!!!!! Well Sister Frank and the kids are members but Brother Frank is not a member but he comes to church EVERY Sunday!!!!!!!! His son got back from a mission last year and I guess he kind of pushed him a lot into him getting baptized so we are going slow with him!!!!!!!!!!!!! But anyways, they have a house in Newport Beach and they knew about me before I even came here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently Sister Frank's mom is in my ward back home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They heard all about my conversion story and when they found out I was coming to Texas, they wanted me to come to their ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND my mom and a lady from my ward went to the home tour in Newport together about two weeks ago and my mom got to meet Sister Frank's mom and talk to her!!!!!!!!!! It is crazy how many connections I have here in this area and how I am so excited to be here and work here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 16, 2012

This week has been such a crazy week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On monday night we got to meet with Christian which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is doing awesome and I cant wait for him to get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is actually in California right now which is way cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we got to do some tracting over by the church which was really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its fun telling people that the church is just right across the street!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know some members that have to take the DART every sunday to get to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are such a great example to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It shows that they really really want to be there and its a great example of dedication!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Rosalinda in the afternoon which was nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She went to the Temple last week to perform Baptisms for the Dead and she was telling everyone about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is a great missionary already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we did some tracting in the Park cities which is always good, we also got to meet with Christian in the afternoon which is also always great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner with the Waldrons!!!!!!!!!!!! They are a great family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They live in uptown which is just right north of downtown where all the high rise apartment buildings are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To get to the Waldrons condo you take an elevator and it goes directly to their front door, its so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love being right here in downtown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at night time we got to meet with the Montoyos and they are doing great except they wont come to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a lesson about obedience and reading the scriptures and praying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so cool that the way we can show our love to Heavenly Father is by keeping the commandments its that simple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we keep the commandments He blesses us so much in return because we are showing him that we love him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mosiah 2:41!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we planned in the morning and then we went out to go and visit some investigators that we havent had contact with in a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Jared and Becka at night and they are doing so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Becka is getting baptized in August, we are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so friday was a crazy day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a referral for a lady that lives in uptown, she wanted a together forever dvd, so we got to go and visit her after we did service at a reitrement home in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well while we were driving to our next appointment which was all the way up in the ninth ward and we were all the way down in downtown we almost got in an accident, it was one of the scariest moments of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were going through the intersection and this car coming from the other way almost hit us and it swerved over and hit the car right next to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know the Heavenly Father was watching out for us but it was so scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shaking the rest of the day and I didnt even want to drive anymore, it was bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But We said a prayer and the spirit helped me and then we got back to work again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner with the Barnhursts and the Gibsons, the Gibsons just got baptized in February!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Barnhursts had us and the spanish missionaries and the Gibsons over for dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was great, I love the Barnhursts, they are so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well it turns out that Brother Gibsons son just moved back with them and he is 14 and he wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we have started to teach him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miracles have been coming our way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we had a great day of contacting people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was great, I always love church here because the Dallas 1 and 9 wards are the best wards to be at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course the Newport Hills ward is also the other best ward to be at too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to meet with our Karen speaking family again last night, we are going to have to drop them and its going to be so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its just not possible for us to teach them and the only other karen speaking missionaries are in minnesota and they dont have permission to teach them over the phone, believe me, we have already tried to so hard to get permission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well this week has been an awesome week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 9, 2012

This week was a pretty awesome week and it was my favorite holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday was a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went on exchanges and I got to spend the day with Elder Christensen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a new missionary, he just got here this transfer but he is doing a great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got to come over to my area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to talk to a lot of people and we got to teach a lot of people too which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were supposed to go and visit one of our investigators at night but when we stopped by he didnt want us to come over anymore but while we were walking away we ran into one of our past investigators and he wanted to study with us again which was great so we got to share a lesson with him instead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We always see miracles everywhere we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are a mission of miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we were supposed to have a lesson with this lady who talked to us when we were in the parking lot of an apartment complex, so as we were walking up to knock on her door we saw this man in the window telling us to not come and he was moving his hand across his throat and then he started running for the door and I got kind of scared because he was this really big african american guy and he came up to us and started yelling at us and told us the lady doesnt live there anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we didnt get to meet with her but we got to stop by some other investigators and say hi to them!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had dinner with our ward mission leader which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we were driving home at night time from an apartment we got to see some fireworks which was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were doing fireworks over at Love Field Airport which is right by our apartment!!!!!!!!!!!! So we also got to see them from our window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was a bunch of people over there and the spanish missionaries got to spend the evening contacting people over there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we had a very very busy day with TONS of appointments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to do some knocking on doors in highland park and then we had a lesson with Rosalinda and then we had dinner and then we met a member at church and he came out teaching with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a great night and the spirit was so strong at all those lessons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sad that the people we taught that night didnt come to church on sunday BUT i know they felt the spirit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we had interviews with President Durrant which went great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He always inspires me so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also got to hear a training from Sister Durrant which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked about how we need to have the faith to see miracles and then we can see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that we went to the retirement house that we do service at and we had dinner with them there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Beatrice, she is a less active member that we have been working with!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at night time we got a call from the childrens medical center and they told us that someone there has requested a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! usually when we go and give blessings either the member calls us or other missionaries call us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we got there we found out it was for a two month old baby that just had surgery on its liver!!!!!!!!!!! And the mom hasnt been to church in a very very long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we got to meet with Jared and Becka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They just got back from a trip to Arkansas, we missed them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but while they were there they got to go to church at a tiny branch which they said was really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When they talked about it, it reminded when i was back in my first area in the Farmersville Branch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to talk about some of the commandments with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that if we are obedient to the commandments our lives will be sooooo much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its great to see people change and its also great to see when they have that desire to change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was great!!!!!!!!!!!! There was a missionary in the 9th ward that just got back from his mission and he gave a great talk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the afternoon we got to go to the hospital to give a blessing to a member in the first ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since our area has so many hospitals in it we are always getting calls to go give blessings to people in the hospital which is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to see our Karen speaking family and we got to talk with the Karen speaking missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to have to stop teaching them since we cant really teach them but i still love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been a great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and serving with all my might mind and strength!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 2, 2012 ( additional post )

Yesterday at church Rosalinda bore her testimony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was almost about to start crying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She calls us her angels and she got up there and said "I felt so lonely so I started praying and then my angels showed up at my door and rescued me"  I love my job so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 2, 2012

 I cant believe I have been on my mission for a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so sad how fast that first year flew by, it needs to slow down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been another great week back here in the Dallas 1 and 9 wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we worked on contacting all the referrals that Christian gave us in Highland and Univeristy Park which was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to talk to all of Christians friends which was really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Highland Park, it is such a nice place and everyone in there is so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to stop by Rosalinda in the late afternoon so we could have a lesson with her but she wouldnt answer the door or her phone which was very weird!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then we stopped by the Gibsons to see how they were doing and to share a lesson with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to have dinner with the Tiernan family which was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ate at this mexican restaurant which was so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its right by Lovers lane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we made a trip to the mission office in the morning (only 5 miles away) which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had to pick up some Thai material and some pamphlets and stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the mission office, all the senior couples that serve there are so great and they always brighten up your day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful for their service, they really help us out so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Christian in the afternoon and he is doing so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can see his testimony strenghtening so much and he is telling all his friends all of the things that he is learning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He even wanted to bear his testimony yesterday at church but he didnt get to come because he was at his grandparents house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with the Montoya family at night and teach all the kids about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were all understanding it so well and I know that they were feeling spirit, they are such smart girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And today was the day we found out why Rosalinda wasnt answering the door or the phone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She called us and told us that she was in the hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said that on Tuesday she just collapsed in her kitchen and fainted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that means when we were pounding on her door, she was laying in her kitchen unconcious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish that we could have just broke down her door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She lives alone but her brother came over that night and found her on the floor so he brought her to the hospital and she found out that she has diabetes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to get the address of the hospital from her so we could go by and give her a blessing but she didnt know which hospital she was at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later we found out she was at Baylor which is right in downtown right in our area but she was already out of the hospital when we found out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was a pretty crazy week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had so many appointments set up but most of our appointments fell through and the people either werent home or didnt want to meet with us anymore so we got to do a lot of finding this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On saturday night though we did have a really great lesson with this man named Tim who we found in an apartment complex parking lot last week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was very sincere and he really wants to know if the Book of Mormon was true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We introduced the Book of Mormon by talking about the pictures that are in the front of it which brought the spirit in sooooo strongly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the spirit and I could tell that Tim was feeling it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to stop by our Karen speaking family that we are teaching but they havent been home for the last couple days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was a great day at church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Green has been spending the last couple days with Elder Saenger and i!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is one of the spanish speaking missionaries in the Dallas 1 ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His companion went home this week because he was having some problems but I love Elder Baird, he was such an awesome missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So Elder Green is going to be with until today when his new companion comes in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last night we got to meet with Beatrice which is a less active member and she is so nice, she just needs some help from the ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Isela and we are still trying to help her recieve her testimony about the book of mormon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She comes to church every week with her sisters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every week it just gets better and better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still cannot believe that last week I have officially been on my mission for a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That first year flew by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope the second year doesnt go by as fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope all of you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!