Hermana in Houston: Week 9: Awesome Zone Conference

Hi loves!

TWO WEEKS in Houston and TWO MONTHS in the mission! Ahh! I love it. I absolutely love being a missionary. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but the very best thing I have ever done.

Honestly, this week was hard. The days are so long and so hard, and there is SO MUCH to remember. My brain reaches a point where I can't think in Spanish or English and literally just shuts down, which makes understanding what anyone says and responding reeeeeally difficult. haha So Thursday or Friday morning we were practicing teaching during study and I could not figure out how to say what I wanted to say in any way, shape or form, and I finally broke down. Big fat tears that I couldn't stop. I was defeated. I was down for the count and couldn't get back up. I felt like the world's biggest failure. Luckily I have wonderful companions who read me enough Elder Holland talks to help me remember that even though this is hard, I have been called to succeed, not to fail. I am one of 80,000 missionaries feeling the exact same thing, but "those that are with us are more than are with them." We are missionaries during the most important time for missionary work in the history of the world. There is nowhere else I would rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing. This is the most incredible experience of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There are so many miracles in a day, I can barely even remember them all in my journal, let alone pick which ones to tell you. One that sticks out in my mind was one day we were walking down the street after a few appointments had fallen through, kind of just wondering where to go next. This suburban pulls up next to us and this cute older hispanic lady yells, "MISSIONERAS!" It turns out she had just moved in down the street and had been praying to find someone from the ward so she could know where our church building was. She gave us milk and cookies and she talked to us for hours. She is on FIRE with missionary work, she told us she wants to work with us to convert her whole street! Umm, what?? She wants to drive us everywhere, feed us every night, and teach every lesson with us! hahahaha UNHEARD OF! My companions and I were just looking at each other and trying not to scream and jump around. WHAT A MIRACLE. She and her husband are exactly what our ward needs.

We went and had dinner with her the other night and she is so much fun. She teaches us how to make the food so we can go home and make it for our families. She taught us how to make Chili Relleno... to die for. I am learning to love spicy food! The other night we had fajitas and it tasted like something from Tucanos! I was in heaven! You would be so proud of me!

I finally heard my first real southern accent! We went and helped this old woman named Juanita clean her house. She is darling! She told us her love story and it sounds like something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel! We spent the whole afternoon with her and I loved it. Being able to understand someone and respond is so refreshing. I mean, I can speak Tex-Mex, like "checkando mi texto" is a real sentence I hear all of the time. haha Everyone tells me my Spanish is really good, but I seriously have such a hard time being patient with myself. I WANT TO SPEAK THIS LANGUAGE! So any prayers on my behalf for the gift of tongues would be SINCERELY appreciated. haha

I love handing out CTR rings! The little kids just love them!! I gave one to an older lady the other day though and she was more excited than any of the kids! haha

Side note: there is such bizarre diversity of wildlife here.

Dogs & Cats X 109839884756373920

vultures, hawks, pigeons, cranes, swans, ducks, doves, cardinals

turtles, frogs, lizards

WILD PIGS

skunks (we may or may not have run over one on our way to car cleaning checks. oops. epic fail)

squirrels, horses, raccoons, oppossum,

chickens, roosters

don't even get me started on the bugs...

Funnies of the week:

Prayer by little five year old Marco last night: "Padre Celestial, te pedimos que bendigas mi toys. Estamos agradecidos por mi birthday cake. .........toys......... .............cake......... Amen."

hahahahhahahah All shouted at the top of his lungs, with huge gasps of air. hahahah

I love you and miss you all so much!

Hermana McOmber