Hermana in Houston: June 2014

6.30.2014

Week 26: 6 months!

Mis amores,

Tomorrow is my 6 MONTH mark! AHH!!

This week started out so hard. I have really struggled with being sad and lonely on my mission, and one of the only things that really made me happy was that black puppy that would follow me around on River Oaks street. He was always so excited to see me and would follow us wherever we went and would sit on the porch and wait for us while we taught a lesson, and then walk with us to the next one. If we taught a lesson outside he would sit on my feet and take a nap because as hard as he tried I wouldn't let him sit on my lap. He always hated when we had to leave, always jumping in the car after we got in. I LOVED that puppy. Just having anyone or anything that was happy to see me and showed me love helped me get through the hard days. On Tuesday we were walking down the street and a truck drove by going too fast and hit puppy. I have never felt so helpless, I was literally living my worst nightmare watching him die. To have my tender mercy taken from me in such a brutal way ripped my heart out. That night we had to go on exchanges, so Hermana Carter came over to our apartment for the night. She could see I was in shock and even though I thought she would think it was dumb, when I told her what happened, she cried harder than I did. We just sat on the floor of my apartment and cried. That night I prayed so hard for those images to be taken away from my mind and for the ability to pick myself up and move forward. When I woke up in the morning there was a wall in my mind, the memories were faded and I felt so protected all day, I wasn't sad at all! What a blessing to have a Savior who loves us so much.

The rest of the exchange went so well. I absolutely love Hermana Carter! She is fabulous! Her Spanish is IMPECCABLE. I learned so much from her and we are such good friends now!

On Friday we were able to go to the Houston Temple with the Pingrees. We did a session with them and had a special class afterward with the temple president. I was asked by him to say the opening prayer. What a powerful moment to be in the temple with so many missionaries dressed in white and to feel the Spirit so strong! It was an unforgettable experience. We had to say goodbye to the Pingrees, and it was like saying goodbye to my family all over again. SO HARD. Sister Pingree needed a ride home, and she asked me to drive her, so I got a little extra time with her. I am going to miss them so much!

I finished the Book of Mormon again! President Pingree challenged us to read it in one month with the filter of "How can I use the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement?" in mind. What a neat experience! I learned so much!

W is so wonderful. He is REALLY getting into the Book of Mormon and it is so much fun to watch him learn and grow. I bought him a hymn book and he was so excited, he told me he wrote down the lyrics for "I am a Child of God" and gave them to a friend at work! And during one of our lessons this week he turned to the woman (who owns the house that he rents a room in) in the kitchen and invites her to sit and listen, and told her all about the Book of Mormon! He absolutely loves us and thinks we are angels, and he wants to be a missionary! I love it!

I love seeing that God has such a detailed plan for us. Yesterday there were two different instances where he put specific people in specific places at specific times for us to talk to them and teach them. It is absolutely amazing. Nothing is a "coincidence."

Funnies of the week:

The "bastante" number of gym rats that go to Chipotle for lunch. "See this little black nametag? Yeah, it says NOT INTERESTED."

Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with our investigator M, rapper covered in tattoos, and he pronounced all of the "yea"s as "yeah"s. So hilarious.

Helaman 5:9 "O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; YEAH, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; YEAH, remember that he cometh to redeem the world." hahahah

R called us, "Bonita! Trae la nueva y ven a mi casa! Estoy cocinando taquitos!" Hahahaha He is so good to us.

It is so easy to tell which teams are playing which day in mundial by all of the jerseys everyone is wearing. Yesterday was a sea of green Mexico jerseys.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and support!

I would love to hear from you!

Hermana McOmber

Dulces from Mexico

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Exchanges with Hermana Carter

Chicken Lollipop ... YUM!

The Pingree's

Hermana Clement and I at the Houston Temple

CTR Rings!

Fridge of a missionary -

You know it is Sunday when all of your food is gone!

I have been out 6 months!!

These are all of the letters we have received!

One Year Left!

Last pictures with my "Little Black Puppy"

I am going to miss my "Little Black Puppy"

6.23.2014

Week 25: My New Companion ~ Hermana Clement!

Good-bye President and Sister Pingree!

Hoooooooola!

I can't believe Spencer's farewell was yesterday! Y'all better write him! Love you and so proud of you Elder McOmber!

My new companion is.... Hermana Clement!

I absolutely LOVE her! We have been out on our missions the exact same amount of time, we met in the CCM!

It was really funny because one day with Hermana Glauser in the car we were talking about who my new companion might be and I mixed up the names McCleary and Carter (the other two Hermanas in our ward) and said, "Maybe I'll be with Hermana Clement!" and she said, "Who is that?" haha It has been such a blessing! We get along so well and have the best time together!

I have LOVED taking over the area! It is the best feeling to decide where to go and who to teach and what to teach them, and then to DO IT! To be able to talk in lessons and follow promptings and actually participate in the work! I love love love it! Now THIS is missionary work! Hermana Clement is really shy and quiet, so I have had to be the strong one and the bold one, and it is so much fun! I try really hard to talk to everyone we see and we have had SO MANY AMAZING MIRACLES this week! We have found so many new people to teach!

I finished reading Preach My Gospel for the first time all of the way through this week! It's about time! haha Now that I'm feeling better I can actually get something out of my studies instead of reading the same page three times and still not even remembering what I read. haha I found Alma 26:27 this week, and for those of you who don't know, it was written specifically for me.

Our first day together we knocked on the door of a man we had visited before, who I thought lived alone with his elderly father. To our surprise, a woman I had never seen before opens the door, takes one look at us and lets us right in. She's his "esposa" that I never knew about! We had a really powerful restoration lesson with her and she accepted the invitation to be baptized right away. She said, "I feel as though you angels have planted a seed in my heart." So I whipped out Alma 32 and had her read it, and she cried! BEST EVER!

We recommitted W to baptism on July 19th! So excited! He just needed a little more time! But we just barely read an email from the church that they want us to teach lesson 5 BEFORE and after baptism, so now we are on a time crunch!

So Saturday was the longest day ever. Not to mention the hottest day I have ever experienced. DRENCHED, absolutely DRENCHED in sweat. We walked all over and had a really good day, but dinner time rolled around and our dinner appointment cancelled. So we were soaked, exhausted, starving and had no idea what to do- just knew that we needed AC, a chair, and some food. I had a random idea to go to this Mexican restaurant I had seen on the way to an appointment one day, so we decided to try it. We walk in and one of our waiters TURNED OUT TO BE A GUY WE HAD BEEN CONTACTING! We had literally just barely tried knocking on his door and I had been thinking about him all day and how we could get in with him. It was such a cool miracle! (p.s. I am so excited to come home and go to Los Hermanos and eat the most authentic thing they have and talk to them all in Spanish and if I happen to convert them all so be it).

Funnies of the week:

Got my first sunburn! So that, combined with my 10982375782 bug bites feels like my entire body is on fire.

I love Uncle Doug's letters! I sent him passalong cards and he wrote back and said, "The small saga of passalong cards continues apace." haha

The trailers we knock on look like abandoned junk yards, but you walk in and everything is crystal and plush and velvet and they have a giant screen tv. Shocks me every time.

I have my calendar of family pictures on the wall and this month is a picture of Dad and I because his birthday is this month. Hermana Clement on our first day, "May I ask who is in the picture on your calendar?" "Umm... my dad."

Love you all so much! Thank you for writing me!

Hermana McOmber

Zone activity at the park

Hermana Glauser's shoes!

I got to hold the cutest puppy!

Goodbye Hermana Glauser!

My new companion - Hermana Clement!

These mini frogs are everywhere!

I hate this bug!

We were all in the CCM together

Love my girls!

Hermana Clement

Hilarious sign - so true!

Pretty flowers

Fried Ice Cream!

Missionaries here have "love journals" that they have everyone sign.

I didn't have one so Alma bought me one and wrote the SWEETEST letter.

6.16.2014

Week 24: "What a blessing to be in the right place at the right time!"

Mi familia,

ANOTHER TRANSFER DOWN! Ahhh!

I find out who my new companion is in the morning!

This week was challenging, and I am so grateful for President and Sister Pingree. They take such good care of me and love me so much.

It is getting HOT! Right when we step out the door to exercise at 6:30 in the morning we are hit by a wall of heat and humidity! You just drip with sweat all day, every day! You never dry off!

This week I got to go on exchanges with Hermana Buno! It was fun because we were in the CCM together, so we had a blast figuring it all out together. I was able to really teach in the lessons and it felt AMAZING! I am always surprised by how much I can do. She is such a good friend! I love making friends with all of the missionaries out here.

Rolando and Elisa made us lunch for Hermana Glauser's goodbye party with them. He spent 8 HOURS cooking barbacoa tacos for us! They were unreal! And he bought us cokes and chocolate. And as we were leaving their house the ice cream truck drove by, and he ran it down and bought us popsicles. AHH! I LOVE HIM!

One day we were walking to a lesson in the apartments and a man called out to us and asked if we could give him a Bible. We got talking to him and he is SO READY for the gospel. It was absolutely amazing! I love to see that people really are being prepared to accept our message. He was so grateful for us and was so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. What a blessing to be in the right place at the right time.

Another day in the same apartments we were trying to visit the same people and instead their little cousins were there that were visiting from Honduras to watch mundial (World Cup Soccer). They were darling 13-year-olds and we ended up having the BEST lesson with them! One of them had been recently baptized and you could totally tell, she had this glow about her! I absolutely love them! They kept asking if we were angels. Ahh! What a special experience.

My Spanish is really coming along! So many people told me that I was doing a good job this week. Yay!

It is so difficult to be homesick, and have a companion going home. Every lesson is about going home, every hymn we sing, every song we listen to in the car, every single conversation... it is incessantly in your face. Hopefully I don't have to "kill off" (as they say) any of my companions ever again.

Funny of the week:

There was a member we had dinner with on exchanges and he spoke 100% SPANGLISH. He would start a sentence in English and finish it in Spanish WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT. It was absolutely hilarious!

I love you all so much!

Hermana McOmber