August 20, 2012

Another awesome week here in texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So on monday after we were done emailing and shopping we met the youth from the 1 and 9 wards at the church and had a lot of fun and played games and the spanish missionaries came too, it was the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on tuesday we had district meeting and I got to go on exchanges with Elder Sorensen!!!!!!!!!!!! He came over to my area which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is such a great missionary and so enthusiastic, i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except for a majority of the day I had to do the stake presidents report because thats when the spanish zone leaders wanted to do it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt so bad for Elder Sorensen because he just had to sit there and watch while we worked on the stake presidents report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to have dinner at Hermana Villalobos house, i love her so much, she is so nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then afterwards Christian came teaching with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so great to have him teach with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had an appointment with a lady we found about two weeks ago but she wasnt there so instead we met with Tim since he lives in those same apartments!!!!!!!!!!!! We caught him as soon as he was walking in his apartment which was perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to go in and read 3 Nephi 11 with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that chapter so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It just makes me so excited for the opportuniy that I will get to hug Jesus and personally thank him for everything that He did for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian did so great!!!!!!!!! He was answering all of Tims questions and teaching him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is already a great missionary and he has been a member for less than a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It just was a great example to me that any member of the church can be a great missionary no matter who you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord is there helping you 100 percent of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we exchanged back and then I had to work a little bit more on the stake presidents report and then it was finished, i was so happy it was done, that thing is so stressful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At night we got to teach the montoyas about the ten commandments which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the oldest daughter, Angelica, really wants to get baptized!!!!!!!!!! The mom has been less active for a while but she is wanting to come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they just wont come to church!!!!!!!!!! i think they might be scared so we are trying to help them and members are trying to help them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we got to meet with this man who just started investigating the church but he lives down in houston but he works up here in downtown dallas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he comes here every two weeks and he wants us to teach him all the lessons before the missionaries down in houtston go over to his house and teach his family!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is a really nice guy but im not sure if he is investigating the church for the right reasons!!!!!!!!!!! the first question he asked us was "if i get baptized in the church can i become the mormon leader???" So we are working with him and trying to help him understand the importance of Jesus Christ and our church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with Jared and Becka that night which was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We answered all of her last questions before her baptism and then we started preparing for it on saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday was such a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was Becka's baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but it was also sad because it was the day we had to say goodbye to christian!!!!!!!!!!!! but I'll talk about Becka first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So her parents came and all of Jared's family came and they were all so happy that Jared is now back at church and that Becka was getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were SOOOO many people there, like over 50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the service was so great!!!!!!!!! Jareds family gave a musical number which made everyone feel the spirit so strongly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then at the end of the baptism Jared's dad came up to Elder Saenger and I and told us that our mission is now complete and how happy he was that we got to teach Jared and Becka and help Becka get baptized!!!!!!!!!! It was such a great moment of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I have a lot more work to do but that baptism was definitely a highlight of my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had to go over and say goodbye to Christian, it was so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but the young mens president in his new ward has already called him and apparently there are over 30 youth in his new ward so that will be great for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is now off to colorado!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On sunday morning we had the meeting with the Stake president to go over the stake presidents report!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was one of the most intimidating meetings i have ever been in!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes i think i just need to keep my mouth shut haha i think i talked too much during it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I was happy that it went ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then we had church right after which was a relief, i love the dallas 1 and dallas 9th wards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and seeing all these miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is just so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a great week everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 13, 2012

Well this was most definitely an exciting week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we had the mission olympics which was soooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all went to the carrollton stake center because thats where the olympics/specialized training was going to be at!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was cool to be back in carrollton for a little bit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had it with all the missionaries that are in the city!!!!!!!!!!! the out east missionaries had their own olympics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had events like speed walking and who could do the most pushups and jumping jacks and scripture memory games and stuff like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got the most contacts on the day we had to count our contacts and we got the gold medal for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a great day and we had a great training afterwards about the book of mormon and about this runner that pushed himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He did something that no one in the world thought it was possible to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we can do the same thing as missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can see miracles that no one else in the world can even think of seeing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after the meeting we went over to the mission office to get some stuff and then we went right back to our apartment to get ready for the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so nice living so close to the mission office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had Christians baptismal interview that night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course he passed with flying colors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of our appointments fell through this week which was very sad but we did get to have a baptism which i'll talk about later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday we got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders down in oak cliff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to go down there with Elder Ricks and Elder Crockett came up to our area with Elder Saenger so he could do the baptismal interview for Becka!!!!!!!!!! Her baptism is this saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But anyways, Oak cliff is so scary!!!!!!!!!! I have heard so many things about it and now I got to spend the day down there!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I was scared to even get out off the car!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it humbled me to see how people can live in such poor conditions and still be happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We didnt really get to do too much tracting because the missionaries down there arent really supposed to go knocking on doors!!!!!!!!!!! But we did get to visit a lot of great and nice people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And while i was there I got to do three baptismal interviews!!!!!!!!!!!! I love doing baptismal interviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on saturday morning we had to exchange back bright and early so we could get ready for our busy day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had coordination meeting in the morning at our ward mission leaders house and then we got to drive out to mesquite so I could do a baptismal interview for the sisters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great to meet this investigator because the sisters talk about her all the time and she was so nice and you can see how the gospel has changed her life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after the interview we had to rush back to our area so we could get the baptism all set up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spanish missionaries were nice enough to go to the church for us and turn the font on so it could be filled up in time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had Christians baptism!!!!!!!!!!! It was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to speak which was really nice, I love Christian so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His mom came and his grandparents who live all the way up in oklahoma came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a special day!!!!!!!!!! His mom also got desserts and food for everyone at the baptism which was super nice of her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit was there so strongly!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so thankful that the priesthood has been restored back here on earth for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on sunday Christian was confirmed which was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so spiritual and all the members in the Dallas 1st ward were so happy for him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and seeing all these miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also get to see Becka get baptized this saturday which is going to be so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 6, 2012

This week has been a miracle filled week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On tuesday we got to go to transfers in the morning even though we werent being transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to drive one of the spanish missionaries in our ward there so thats why we got to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then right after that I had to go get surgery on my toe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have had a really bad ingrown toe nail for the past week and a half and I thought that I could get it away on my own but that didnt really work!!!!!!!!!!!! So I finally called Sister Durrant and she wanted me to go right to the doctor so i did and they took the ingrown part out!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels so much better now, I can actually walk without my toe hurting so badly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday we got to have multi district meeting down in Oak Cliff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since our zone is so big now we have our meetings all the way down there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was fun but I was ready to get back up to my area!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On thursday we did planning in the morning and then right after that we went to go and visit Elder Patrick, he is in the hospital again but now he is in some extended stay hospital which is right by Love Field!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats better because thats a lot closer to our apartment so when he calls for us to give him a blessing we dont have to go over to downtown which is right at the bottom of our area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after that we did some tracting in the park cities and then we had some dinner!!!!!!!!!!! Then we got to meet with the Son family at night and they are doing excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We still need to help Brother Son understand more about the Book of Mormon and why we have it!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish we could speak Vietnamese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on friday we had to get as many contacts as we can personally get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have our mission olympics tomorrow and we needed to count all the contacts we had for that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got 52 contacts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was contacting people like crazy that day which I love doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had some lessons planned for that night but they all sadly fell through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate when that happens!!!!!!!!!!! But that is just part of missionary work!!!!!!!!!!! We have to just keep on going forward and finding those people that are ready to learn more!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is sometimes really hard for me to stop teaching people but we need to focus our time on people that are ready!!!!!!!!!! On saturday we got to meet with Jared and Becka and they are doing great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Becka's baptism is set for the 18th so we are getting all prepared for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then wait till you hear what happened on saturday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christian called us during our lesson with Becka and I just felt like it was something important!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we called him right back afterwards and he told us that his mom is letting him get baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We set his baptism for this saturday so he can get baptized right before he leaves for Colorado!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a huge miracle that he is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love seeing miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was great a church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone was so excited to hear about Christians baptsim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary and seeing miracles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can see miracles everyday, we just need to keep our eyes open for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!