Was it easy to leave the Woodlands? No. I will miss all of those I have met there, they are dear to my heart. The best thing about being a missionary though is knowing you are exactly where you need to be exactly when you need to be there. I think of a quote from an article I have read titled "Becoming Children of Light" by Elder Craig C Christensen in this months ensign (read this talk now)
"remember that your Heavenly Father knows all about you- your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows perfectly who you are, but He also knows who you can become. And with that knowledge, He has place you here, now-at the exact place and time in which you can do the most good with the talents and gifts He has given you."
How true this is and what comfort this brings to me. So I am serving in the Cypress Creek Ward in the Houston North Stake of Spring, Texas. My new companion is Sister Davis. She is from Logan, Utah. She is just wonderful, there is no other way to describe her. She is laid back, hilarious, and has a desire to work hard and be obedient. Am I ever going to get a bad companion? I doubt it. haha I truly don't even know where to begin to tell you all that has happened this week but I will do my very very best. I just want you to know though that I have no doubt, not a single doubt, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. There is no other way to explain how this week went besides the fact that The Lord Himself did all the work and just put Sister Davis in the spot He needed us, when He needed us there.
So I think the best way to do this will to tell you of our investigators:
Carolynn. Carolynn is a sweet lady in her 60's who has severe health problems. The Sisters before were teaching her and in her own words she has said that she is "hungering to know more and learn more and she can't get enough" She has been taught most of the lessons. Earlier this week we taught her about tithing and fasting. We went to her home yesterday before church and visited with her. She can't come to church at the moment because she has a horrible rash that is basically eating her skin and she can't sit down without intense pain. So we told her that today was fast Sunday and she stopped us right there and asked if she could fast. We of course told her yes. And then she asked if we could take money to the bishop for fast offerings. I couldn't help but cry. Carolynn has almost nothing but she pulled out her wallet and gave 5 dollars. The Spirit was so strong in the room. She was definitely prepared to hear the message of The Restoration. She has no doubt that it is true. We are currently helping her to try and quit smoking. Pray for her. Pray she can be healed from her rash and pray she can have strength to stop smoking.
Robby. Where to begin with Robby. So Sister Davis has only met Robbie once. He wasn't really progressing in the gospel. Well Tuesday night when I first got here we got a text from him at like 2 in the morning (no it did not wake me up, I am out cold by 10:30pm) saying that he was coming to church. We were so excited! Well then on Thursday he texted us and asked if we could get him a copy of the Book of Mormon because he couldn't find his. We said sure (DUH!) and that we would bring it to church on Sunday. He told us that He would just go get one because he knew that he needed to read it now. Well Sister Davis and I weren't going to let that opportunity pass and went and took him one even though it was clearly out of our way.I am so thankful that we did because that night we got a text from him saying "I know that the Book of Mormon is true." What if we didn't go? Now Robby knows truth! He later texted us telling us he wanted to bear his testimony at church on Sunday. We didn't see him Sunday but when we texted him he told us that he was there and to have faith because it was working. Yesterday we saw him briefly and he told us that the scripture we read in Alma sounded familiar. Mind you this is the boy who the sisters before stopped going to see because he wasn't reading the Book of Mormon. We still aren't sure exactly on all of Robby's story but we have a feeling he read a good portion of The Book of Mormon that night. Stay tuned for more :)
The Aguilera Family. So the Aguilera's were less active until a couple of months ago. They are now fully active and we are teaching their kids and preparing them for Baptism. There is Brandon who is 11 and Kiara who is 9 and Yeshua who is 7. They are planning the baptism for October 11th (far away i know) because that is Yeshua's birthday. The kids are the sweetest things in the whole entire world. They are actually having us over on Friday for a combined birthday celebration for Sister Davis and I (Sister Davis' birthday is on August 10th) She is making tres leches...yum! Brother Aguilera is from Honduras and they used to live there so she basically is an amazing cook! She made Horchata the other night and I hate horchata but hers? I couldn't get enough!! That is really besides the point though haha they are a wonderful family.
Zach and Yanelli. So these are our new investigators. Zach was baptized when he was young but he also knows nothing about the church. His mom had him baptized in a handful of different churches. Yanelli is also from Honduras. They have a sweet 2 year old boy named Zachary and are expecting a new baby girl soon. Okay so there story. The Spanish speaking Elders were teaching them and then they passed them to the Sisters. Sister Davis said she saw them once but never really met them. We were going to go visit a less-active and we said a prayer before we left the car. When we looked up Sister Davis was like, wait, I think that is Zach and Yanelli. I of course had no idea who she was talking about but sure enough it was them! So we pulled up and talked to them. They invited us to come back the next day. So yesterday we went back and they are so prepared. We taught them about how God is a loving Heavenly Father and how much The restored gospel will bless their family. We are so excited to teach them. The crazy thing is though we totally would have found them even if we didn't see them that day. Yesterday we found out as we went to go visit a less-active that they had actually moved into their old house! I know the Lord prepared the way for us to meet this sweet family.
That is all I have time for really. We have other investigators as well, Dimitrie and her 3 kids. Also Jamencia who is 17. My testimony really is that of Nephi's, this is the Lords work and the way is prepared if we just follow the commandments (1 Nephi 3:7) That is exactly what Sister Davis and I saw all week. I will quickly try to explain. So this area needs a lot of help. Like a lot. There are 119 households who are not active any more. 119. There are so many that we are finding a lot of them have moved and the ward didn't even know it. Doesn't that break your heart? So Sister Davis and I have felt strongly that our purpose here is to strengthen the ward and bring those lost sheep back to the fold. As we focused on this everything just fell into place. We thought that we weren't going to be able to find as many people to teach because of this new focus but of course that is not what the Lord had planned. We found 10 new investigators this week. We have also met a handful of those less active members and have boldly testified of The Book of Mormon to them. And the thing is we laughed and smiled the whole time while doing it! I honestly know that miracles we are seeing though are really because of our desire to be obedient. The nicest way to put this is the last missionaries really didn't have that strong desire to be obedient. Well you know me, my strongest desire is to be obedient and I thought I was going to have troubles when I first got here but nope. I have seen Sister Davis's desire to be obedient come out as well and together we have seen miracles because of it! What a blessing!!
Anyway this email doesn't do justice to this week. I am not kidding the Lord put us exactly where we needed to be. All day Saturday we were led and we saw a miracle every time we got out of our car. I love being a missionary. There is no greater work, no greater calling. There is nothing more important than sharing this gospel with others! nothing!!
I love you all so much! I am excited for this new chapter of my mission and you should be too, miracles are ahead of us!!
xoxoxox
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