Week 21: Happy Memorial Day!

Hola mis queridos amigos y familia 

(dear friends and family)!

The library was closed yesterday, so we didn't get to write, but it finally gave us time to have a FUN PDay! We went to the Kolache Factory for lunch, so good! They're like the best dinner roll you've ever had, with dinner inside of them! Then we went to Sam Moon and I got the funnest little Texas earrings. Then we came home and actually relaxed! So nice!

On Friday I got 4 letters and 2 packages!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! It was BETTER than Christmas! Thank you so much for taking the time to write me, it means the world to me! It can be so lonely out here, so even just to know that someone is thinking about you makes all the difference. Thank you for being an answer to many prayers!

This week I had exchanges with Hermana Koch! I met her once at BYU! She and I just clicked- I absolutely LOVE her! She helped me learn and grow so much in just one day! It was the worst day ever, but she made it so much fun!

She and I knocked on the door of one of our investigators, and the door opened and out walked two Jehovah's Witness missionaries. They proceeded to Bible bash us on the porch of the investigator for a long time, not letting us defend ourselves or leave. Finally they begin to walk towards their car, telling us "pobrecitas" (poor things) to find the truth and read the Bible. We were pretty stunned and just stood on the porch, not quite sure what to do... and then we heard a sickening crash. They had backed into our car! At first I thought it was intentional and I was shocked, but it really was an accident, she was just an old lady who hadn't seen our car. She smashed our left mirror and dented the driver door. After two hours of standing in the heat filling out paper work and listening to her tell her husband that it was Satan that did it, the police came and she got a real nice ticket. The police officer was so impressed that we could speak Spanish and had already gotten all of their information and handled the situation so well, so we gave him two passalong cards and he put them in the front window of his squad car. haha

That night we went to visit A and M. She was baptized into the church in Mexico when she was 14 because the cute American Elders brought movies for her family to watch, but never went back to church. We tracted into her and have been teaching her, and the last few lessons her husband has been sitting in. Hermana Koch did such a good job teaching them about the Plan of Salvation, and at the end A opened up and told us that he loves us and looks forward to each time we come, that "mi casa es su casa," and that he is so grateful that we brought the Book of Mormon into his life! He said the closing prayer for the first time and the Spirit was so strong! It was an unforgettable lesson!

W is just my favorite person. We had a really good lesson with him this week, and he is SO excited to get baptized! He tells EVERYONE. hahahahah I gave him a CTR ring and it looked so cute on his giant fingers. I wrote on a sticky note the 4 steps for how to say a prayer and put it on the cover page of his scriptures last week. At this lesson he was telling me that he gets really scared to be home alone because of his epilepsy, so he tried praying and now he isn't scared anymore. Almost made me cry! Love him so much!

This week was also ZONE CONFERENCE! Ahh! It was amazing. I love being around President Pingree and Sister Pingree. And I got to see Hermana Hoj!! They called me up to speak, and the topic was the Atonement, so how could I not cry? haha Afterwards everyone came up and hugged me and thanked me! They all said they were so touched by what I said and that they love and admire me! Ahh! What an answer to my prayers!

X, G, AND E all came to church on Sunday! Ahh!

Funnies of the Week:

In Grandma Grace's letter this week she wrote: "I especially like to read messages from President Uchtdorf. He is quite a handsome man as well."

Hermana Koch teaches lessons in Spanish in her sleep.

President Pingree talking about the Plan of Salvation:

 "...sent to Earth in this body that only wants to eat ice cream..."

President Pingree: "Seeeeester McOmber!" (accents for the win!)

President Pingree: "Dear President, I have a detailed log of my companion waking up at 6:32 for three days in a row. A detailed database is attached..."

Everyone wanted to pick a fight with us this week! Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Native Americans... everyone.

Ate dinner with Carlos, Angelica, Fatima, and Shayla one night (SUCH good food!) and he served us peaches with sour cream for dessert. I was trying to cut one of my peach slices, but it slipped off the plate and went flying.

I laughed and Fatima said, "Que paso?" and all Angelica responded was "Se fue."

I love you all so much and hope you have the best week!

Hermana McOmber

Yarn bombing at the Library

Woodlands

We went to put a pass-along card on this man's car and he already had one inside!  

So we left another one for him and he put it right next to it!

Our poor car!

Hermana Koch!

I had so much fun with Hermana Koch!

When in Texas - do as the Texans!

O and J - love them so much!

Common floor plan here - Front door is on the side of the house

So cute!

Love Hermana Hoj!

Thanks for all the packages and letters!  I love you!

This cute little black dog follows us around to every house and sits on the porch while we talk. 

 It is hard to keep him out of the houses and our car!

Fun P-Day!

Week 20: It's raining, it's pouring!

Hi loves!

What a week. I finally went to the doctor and hopefully now I will be on the up and up. President Pingree came over and gave me a blessing one night, and it was absolutely amazing. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! He and Sister Pingree are two of the most incredible people I have ever met. They take such good care of me and love me so much. I don't think they will ever understand how much they've helped me and impacted me.

Hermana Glauser (my companion) is one of the Sister Training Leaders so I get to go on Exchanges often! So much fun! Tonight Hermana Koch is coming over and spending the day with me and I am SO EXCITED! I met her at BYU through Montana Brian! Can't wait to tell you all about it. This week Hermana McCleary came over for exchanges! It was such a fun day! She is one of the most unique people on the face of the planet. She has a pet BEAR for crying out loud! hahaha We had such a blast together. I learn so much on exchanges, I love love love it.

One night our ward mission leader, Hermano Escobar met up with us for a lesson. The investigators weren't home, and it was almost the end of the night, so I took Hermana Glauser and Hermano Escobar to meet Sabaloos (my sweet Pakistani friend) for the first time. It was so much fun! Sabaloos is always so excited to see me and just hugs and kisses me! She has a picture of Hermana Burnham and I as her phone background and she wanted to show it to everyone. She of course got right to work on preparing us a Pakistani dish, and I managed to convince her to only make us one thing. haha! Luckily her husband George was there and he helps me translate a little. She made us my favorite dish, these vermicelli noodles in a sweet sauce with pistacios and coconut. It was scalding hot and she just heaped it on a plate for each of us and kept dishing more on with each spoonful we ate. haha  It was so much fun to have Hermano Escobar see what we really do as missionaries. We are in the homes of people who we can hardly communicate with, eating HUGE amounts of food they literally force feed us, and you just LOVE them immediately. He was so touched by that experience, it was so neat.

It rained a lot this week, so River Oaks flooded, per usual. This week was especially bad though! Usually we can just walk across everyone's driveways to make it down the street, but the water had reached everyone's porches! We ran into a boy that we always say hi to, and he led us through the woods behind the houses to get to the end of the street. I was praying SO HARD! hahah J does not like us being in River Oaks because he used to live there and he has told us some serious horror stories about what goes on there, and I'm sure we haven't even heard the worst of it. So as this kid is leading us into the woods I was just laughing to myself, "If only J could see me now!" (Don't stress, I would NOT have followed this kid if I hadn't felt 100% sure that we were going to be okay). It was such an adventure. haha! Everyone in the neighborhood was passing us, trying to get to work or pick up their kids from school, so we got to meet so many new people! Never a dull moment as a missionary!

The best part of this week was when we stopped by to say hi to F and S, young girls in a menos activos family in our area that we just adore. Their parents are separated and we have been trying so hard to help them. So we walk in and not only their mom was home from work but their dad was there too! IT WAS THE FIRST LESSON THEY HAVE EVER HAD AS A FAMILY ALTOGETHER!!!! AHH!!! I literally could not believe my eyes, and just beamed through the whole lesson. Miracle, miracle, miracle! The night before I was so sad because I could not figure out how we were going to help this family, and Heavenly Father showed me how! We taught them the importance of family scripture study and prayer and the spirit was so strong! They all participated and it went so so so well! I still can't believe it!

Funnies of the week:

Watching Hermano Escobar eat Pakistani food.

Visiting the old folks:

John: "I know my phone number!"

Me: "Wow, John! I'm impressed! That's a lot to memorize!"

John: "Well, aren't you going to ask me for it?"

Me: "Ohh! haha Can I have your number?"

John: "NOPE!"

hahahah I love him so much

We kept seeing dead fish on the road and sidewalks, and we were so confused for the longest time. Then we used our brains and remembered all of the flooding.

I was describing the CCM to a member family at dinner this week and they made a joke about the natives only coming up to my waist (holding their hand at the height of the table) but I laughed and told them that literally is how tall Hermano Trejo was. They DIED laughing. I am a giant here.

I gave a little boy a CTR ring and was he wanted a picture of it, so I told him to do a thumbs up. He couldn't figure out how to do a thumbs up, and his grandma kept telling him, "One finger! One finger!" Unfortunately, the one finger the ring was on happened to be his middle finger.... he walked around and showed everyone his one finger with his CTR ring the whole rest of the lesson.  "Look what the missionaries taught me!" hahahahahah

I love you all so much!

Thank you for your prayers and support! They mean so much!

I'd love to hear from you!

Hermana McOmber

Such a nice note and money for ice cream!  Thank you!

Pretty blooming cactus

Hackin through the woods behind River Oaks!  

"Hunter" boots for the win!

Exchanges with Hermana McCleary

A little crazy! - haha

Love this!

Kids love the CTR rings!

I love driving in the Woodlands!  So pretty!

There are water towers everywhere

Apartments that we find a lot of families to teach

I am the queen of FHE!  

Tree of Life complete with their own little person to color

 

FHE for another family - their own missionary tags and calls

"Yarn Bombing" at the library today

This is getting ridiculous!  Praying to get better really soon!

My favorite hairspray now comes in "humidity defense"... YEAH!!

Week 19: Mother's Day - I love Skype!!

Hi loves!

Skype is the best invention of all. I LOVED seeing my family! It was so surreal. I love you and miss you all so much!

My new companion is HERMANA GLAUSER! Ahh! This area is actually her first area from the mission so it's been really fun to see everyone's reactions when they see her again. It's her last six weeks of her mission! She's the Sister Training Leader so I will get to go on lots of exchanges! I got to take over our area and it is so much fun! Hermana Burnham ended up being new companions with Hermana Jensen, my companion from the MTC! 

What a week! Hermana Glauser and I have the same hyperdrive work ethic so we are just killin' it! We have found so many new people to teach this week- one day we found more than ten! Love it! It is so interesting that she was sent back to this area, that never happens! It has been really neat to see her recharging these people that she worked with a year ago. So excited to see the miracles that come from it!

For example, Elisa! She was found, taught, and baptized by Hermana Glauser last year, but has since been struggling to continue with the "small and simple things." Seeing her face light up when Hermana Glauser walked through the door was such a sweet moment. It was Hermana's birthday on Friday, so Elisa and Rolando (her husband) surprised her with lunch. Their property is literally one of the scariest looking places ever (abandoned looking trailer hidden by piles of old cars with pitbulls chained to them and feral cats running all over), so I have been dreading the day that they would offer us food... little did I know that it would be the best food of my entire life! He made us tacos out on this flat grill in the middle of his car garage, and although I have absolutely no idea what kind of meat it was, IT WAS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. He bought us these fun giant Cokes in cute glass bottles from the street vendor. And Elisa made her this "cheesecake" with real queso in it! haha I was super apprehensious to try it, but it was unreal! I could have eaten the whole thing by myself! Ahh! They are feeding us again this weekend and I am STOKED!!!

The rest of her birthday everyone, and I mean everyone, fed us. hahah By the end of the night we had piles of "birthday pan" in the back of our car.

Umm... guess what. I RAN A MILE. miracle miracle miracle! It was my first time running in a year and my collarbone didn't hurt at all! Ahh! And now I do pushups every morning because they don't hurt either! blessings blessings blessings!

I never thought I would ever be homesick, but I've got it bad. Bishop has asked us to go around to all of the families in the ward and teach them the importance of family scripture study and prayer, and family home evening. How do I not talk about my family in a lesson like that? And how do I not cry when I talk about how much I love my family? haha There was one night we were teaching the Hernandez family this lesson and I just couldn't hold it together any longer. Big fat tears rolling down my face and they wouldn't stop. Hermana Hernandez just hugged me and cried with me, and little Edgar prayed for me (I LOVE HIM)! It turned out to be a really powerful way to get them to listen to the importance of it all, but not a very fun way, that's for sure.

One night we had a dinner appointment with Hermana Rodriguez, and as we walked in her open door we found her sitting on the couch teaching her next door neighbor the restoration! She was like, "Misioneras! Come on in! I was just talking to Gabby about Joseph Smith's first vision." haha BEST MEMBER MISSIONARY EVER! So we had an impromptu member present lesson and it was so great! As we were all sitting down to eat a storm blew in and the power went out so we had a candlelit dinner. haha! Hermano Rodriguez kept joking about loving the new ambiance of our lessons.

Yesterday Wilfredo came to church and it was so good to see him again! The ward had kind of scared him off and we hadn't been able to meet with him for two weeks. He loved Sacrament Meeting was really excited for Sunday School, but we walked in and I saw the word "bautismo" on the board. I was so scared that we were going to lose him for good! So the lesson started and the teacher is absolutely fantastic, it went really well and about half way through Wilfredo raised his hand, and announced to everyone that he was going to be baptized.......................................................................WHAT!?!? AHHHHHHH!!! BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE! We were completely stunned. haha We set a date with him right after class for June 14th!

Funnies of the week:

When we were at the birthday party for Hermana Glauser with the Hermandez and Santiago families we were all sitting around the table eating dinner and talking. Edgar left to use the restroom and a few minutes later we could hear him making a loud noise, and someone asked if Edgar was crying or singing. We all went quiet... and his mom said, "Cantando" (singing). HAHAHAHAH I was dying. He was BELTING some Hispanic love song.

We have this family of birds that have found their way into a space between the roof of the apartments and our ceiling and we think they have made a nest. They incessantly make noise and it is literally driving us crazy. One day we asked the two main workers at our apartment complex if they wouldn't mind taking care of it for us. She got this mean look in her eye and went on with this dumb excuse about how it wouldn't be ethical to move the nest and have the mother bird abandon the babies and on and on. They literally hate us. haha It's the first time I've ever met anyone who literally hates me because I am LDS. So funny to me.

Whenever we approach someone Hispanic and they don't want to talk to us they say "No English!" and I love being able to catch them and say, "No se preocupe, hablamos Espanol."  (No problem - I speak Spanish!) :)

I love you all so much!

Hermana McOmber

Juanita had us over for dinner.  She is the sweetest Southern Pentacostal lady and I just love her.  She gave me this book full of beautiful pictures and signed it with her favorite psalm.  She just talks so cute!  One of my favorite people!

Owl

Transfer time....

Hermana Glauser - My new companion!

Elder Cole Tanner (from Orem High School)

We got our calls on the same day to the same place

We had our farewells on the same day

We met at the airport 

Love him!

Hermana Parry

My last two companions are now companions!

Gabriel and Idaly

I love Pinguinos!

Lots of coke here....haha!

Our candle-lit dinner with Hermana Rodriguez and her next door neighbor during the flash thunderstorm when all the power went out

River Oaks flooded in just a few minutes!

We were floating down the road

I thought this was the cutest Mother's Day card.  I love Edgar!

Party with Hernandez and Santiago families

A member in our ward dropped off money for food: 

 "For the Angels of the Lord"

"Your drawer is the top one" - haha

Skypeing on Mother's Day was the best thing ever!!!