Week 39: Halfway!

"We're halfway there! Ohhh! Livin' on a prayer!"

Ahh! I will hit my HUMP DAY this Wednesday {so perfect }! I am in complete shock that I'm halfway done! Best feeling ever! I can't wait to kick it into high gear and accomplish amazing things the next nine months! It's all downhill from here!

!SI SE PUEDE!

It was such a fun, busy week! First of all, we got to see Meet the Mormons! UNREAL. A must see! Did I bawl? Uncontrollably, along with every other missionary in that room.

Then I got to go on exchanges with Hermana Koch up in Conroe! I had the best time! I absolutely love the people up there, especially the Barreras- the Hermano who is the master of Spanglish. haha

Then we got to work a shift at the Peanut Butter Factory owned by the church! So much fun! I loved it! Hermana Miller and I were literally modern day Lucy & Ethel trying to get those jars of peanut butter down the conveyor belt. It was HILARIOUS! Everyone was laughing and we were able to talk to a lot of people! I even met a woman from Costa Rica, so I got to use my Spanish { I LOVE speaking Spanish }!

THEN we had our family history class and as I was looking at my family tree, Hermana Perry and I figured out we are RELATED. Mmm hmm. 

THEN we had the Women's Conference! So good! They had a program before the conference and they had some rm's from the stake speak... wow. Then all of the missionaries sang Army of Helaman in Spanish and it was so tender to watch the Spirit hit them like a wall and the tears come. I love being a missionary!

AND THEN our investigator D came to church! He literally threw up the entire time, and I felt so bad. I thought he was sick and then the Spirit was like, "C'mon silly, use your brain." We taught him the Word of Wisdom the day before! He was having withdrawals! {he is a hard core drug addict} Such a trooper!

Such a good week!

Funnies of the Week:

We contact everyone we see, and sometimes they speak English, so we have to pass them off to the Sisters we live with... but sometimes the people would rather have us teach them. haha Kind of awkward trying to explain that even though we speak English we only teach in Spanish. There was cute african american girl this week was trying to convince us that she could speak Spanish so we could visit her, so she said, "!Yo quiero Tacobell!" It was a nice attempt.

D said the closing prayer for our lesson and at first I was so impressed with how much he had improved! ... and then he said something about aliens. 

Our investigator E is this cute young guy and he was trying to prove to us that he knows how to cook, so he took off his boxing gloves and went in the house and came back out with oven mitts on and a glass pan with a couple pieces of salmon he had stuck in the oven. hahahahahah He was SO proud of himself.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your letters and packages on my birthday! I am overwhelmed with how much love I am being shown! 

Hermana McOmber

Everyone here cuts their blinds to peek out - 

I was teasing one of our Young Women about it!

The Young Women sent me a CRAZY birthday candle!  

It played music and spun and everything!

Doing geneology - figuring out we are related!!

I have the same bag as one of our trainees in the district - Sister Woodard

Our roomates - Sister Bonner and Sister Bonner - they are cousins!

Got to see the Barreras on exchanges - LOVE THEM!!

I love Hermana Koch!

Peanut Butter Cannery

Part of the "spaghetti bowl" freeway by our apartment

Thank you!  Thank you!  Sarah!!

Cutest package ever!  Box of Sunshine!

Everything was yellow!

Best taqueria ever!

Ran into Hermana Jensen and Jocelyn from Woodlands at the Women's Broadcast.

Saying goodbye to an Elder from our ward who had just been set apart!

Week 38: Best Birthday Ever!

I had the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

I've been joking the last couple months about how "great" my golden 21st birthday on the 21st was going to be as a missionary... little did I know that it literally was going to be the best.

Hermana Miller woke up at 5:30 and decorated the apartment before I woke up! They all got me presents and signed a giant card and everything! Then they made me crepes while I opened my presents! Mom, you did SO good. & I cannot believe my Young Women! They sent me a giant package with so many letters and presents!! I am so so so blessed!

Then we spoke in church! It felt so good, I am finally getting this language under my belt!

Then we had the Mission President's fireside. UNREAL. One of the most powerful spiritual experiences of my entire mission. We sang in a big choir of missionaries and it was priceless to watch the spirit hit people like a wall as we sang "Army of Helaman." Not a dry eye in the place. During the dress rehearsal they all sang Happy Birthday to me! So nice!

It was the best birthday I've ever had! 

The day before was the birthday of a member's son in our ward, so she invited us over for dinner and cake. The whole family was there and it was such a party! haha It was SO MUCH FUN! We had fajita and pico de gallo {to die for} and they told us so many stories about growing up in Mexico and their conversion stories. I absolutely loved it!

It was such a tender moment this week to realize how far I've come. We were doing a practice teach during companion study and I could tell that Hermana Perry was disappointed with herself. I decided to pause and just remind her how great she's doing and how loved she is. I had a flashback of when I was being trained and I HATED practice teaching and I would just cry, and I remember Hermana Hoj or Hermana Driesel just hugging me and telling me I could do it. I realized how much I've grown! I'm on the other side of it! I am so grateful for the things that I've learned on my mission and the person I have become.

Remember that "bad allergic reaction" Hermana Miller had to the bug bites last week... they progressively got worse and worse to the point her eyes were swollen shut and I finally called the nurse for her and made her get the soonest available doctor's appointment. The doctor couldn't figure out what it was, but gave her a shot and a bunch of medicine. That night we were in the apartment and the English sisters we live with were freaking out about her bites and asked her if they were bed bugs. Hermana Miller was like, "No! I've checked a million times! Look!" Lifts up the mattress to prove her point.... and two bed bugs are sitting right there. They came in on the stupid bunk bed they were so excited about. Had to take the stupid thing apart and get it out of our room, but it was already late at night so Hermana Miller slept on her desk and Hermana Perry slept on the floor. Then the Assistants brought in all new bed frames and mattresses {I swear all we have done this transfer is put together their beds}. Quite the adventure and I am happy to report that I don't have any!

One day we went to visit this family the English sisters had found for us, they speak very limited English so they had us go visit them. They have been telling us for weeks how amazing they are, and we were finally able to get in with them. It started out so good, and somehow it got so so so wrong. We sang them a hymn and before we could even say anything they went off about how they created their own religion based on information found on the internet and their own ideas from the Bible, and how they are the only three people in the world who know the truth. The way he spoke was so creepy and ritualistic and condescending. The Spirit was gone before you could blink and left this disgusting, twisted feeling in my stomach. I never want to feel like that again in my life! Hermana Miller wanted to try to teach or testify but I got us out of there as fast as I could. He told us his hobby is to teach missionaries of other faiths the truth. They set an appointment to convert us next week. haha

A neat miracle from this week was during the first lesson with one of our new investigators. I started to introduce the Book of Mormon and she reached over and touched it, complete shock on her face. She told us that she was taught by missionaries when she was 10 in Honduras, and that she had read the Book of Mormon before, but that she never found the church again! Ahh! ALL missionaries make a difference.

My favorite miracle from this week was the lesson we had with the professional martial artist in the English ward, the one where we met him because he was doing jiu jitsu in his garage as we were walking by? Turns out he has actually been less active for a while but when he saw us and talked to us in Spanish it brought back all of the memories from his mission. Another day I felt prompted to stop by and ask them for some water. He was so excited to see us again and asked for the direction of the church. He came to our ward on Sunday and loved it, and then called us over to his house for a lesson. It was such a good lesson and he is so excited to reactivate himself and he wants his whole family to go to the Spanish ward. It made me so grateful that we were in the right place at the right time and that we opened our mouths, AND that we followed promptings to follow up. I love being a missionary!

Funnies of the Week:

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs... ohh wait."

We saw a cat "sail" jump off an apartment. Laughed UNCONTROLLABLY.

Only in Texas would they BBQ at 7am.

Only in Texas would they start wearing winter coats when it reaches 80 degrees.

Met a real nun!

At a member's house for my birthday lunch. "And for dessert... broccoli salad!" Literally.

We all admitted to thinking the crazy family tried to poison us. hahaha

Make Bishop cry during our lesson at his house: check. Be asked to speak on Sunday: check.

We are always in this certain block of apartment complexes and we always run into a guy coming home from work at the metro station across the street. He called out to us one night and said, "You're here more than I am! They should start making you pay rent!"

I love you all so much! I'd love to hear from you.

Hermana McOmber

We picked up a few groceries for a member at this grocery store.

Never seen so many tortillas in my life!

There was a line of low clouds and at first glance they looked like mountains!

Waiting for her prescriptions - holding ice cream on her swollen eyes

I'm the #1 ewatts fan!!

I bought a world map and put pins in each country that I've met someone from on my mission.  Stateside mission for the win!

Elders are having a plank picture competition!

Only in Texas

Giant cockroach we found in our bathroom!

Hermana Perry forgot her tag so she had to use Hermana Miller's spare for the day!

My birthday!

Screaming about my new CTR ring!

So in shock at the amazing package my Young Women sent me!

They even sent me jam!

Thank you Thank you Thank you all my Young Women and Leaders!  I love you!

Birthday morning crepes

It's my golden birthday

I'm 21!

Mission President Fireside

So fun to see them again!

Thank you all my family and friends and companions for making it the best birthday ever!

Week 37: Always Follow Promptings!

Hey Y'all!

I am happy! I love being a missionary!

This weekend has been the best! We walked out the door on Friday morning to go running and got hit by a COOL BREEZE. We almost cried! Fall is here!

I am SO PROUD of Hermana Perry! She is so darling! She works so hard and is already seeing miracles! Her first day we found and taught a guy named D. He has a sketch past and has totally cleaned up and reads the bible every day, but he has some very strange ideas about... everything. So we enjoy the challenge of creatively and kindly answering his questions! Yesterday she asked him to be baptized and he said, "But I've already been baptized into another church." I was super nervous, but she handled it perfectly and settled all of his doubts! He accepted and is so excited! He said, "Thank y'all for trying to baptize me!" MELTED MY HEART. hahaha

One night it was 8:30 and we were trying how to effectively use the last half hour. We had already started walking to our car when I felt the quiet prompting to try one more potential {someone we've tried a million times and is never home}. We turned around and tried one last time, and she was home! We had the best lesson and she just cried and thanked us for helping her feel loved. She just moved here from El Salvador so her kids can have better opportunities, but it broke her heart to leave the rest of her family. We were able to comfort her and help make a difference! ALWAYS FOLLOW PROMPTINGS.

Then the next night it was 9:25 and we needed just 2 more people contacted! So we walked around our apartment complex and found 2 people to talk to. As we were walking back to our apartment, completely exhausted, I saw this young guy and felt the little push to talk to him. I said hi, and he totally lit up! Everyone in the our complex knows us as "the girls who run and wave at everyone in the mornings." haha He said he was so impressed with us that he wanted to come to our church... and then he DID! Ahh! ALWAYS FOLLOW PROMPTINGS.

One night as we were walking away from an amazing lesson, we passed a member of our ward and he sent us over to his apartment where his wife and another member had bought us tons of food and water! And then the Hermano and his friend {another police officer friend! We're the safest missionaries in Houston!} helped us carry it all to our car! So blessed!!!

We have been getting a ton of referrals this week {46 to be exact} so one day we tried a bunch of them. At one house, the guy who had been contacted wasn't home, but his girlfriend's daughter answered the door. Dark make-up, dark hair, piercings on every part of her face and hands... didn't look like the kind of person to give us the time of day. I testified to her that we are representatives of Christ, and that we came to tell her that He loves her. The Spirit was so strong and tears just rolled down her cheeks. She said, "I wish I could say something with the same conviction that you have." We went back and taught her and I testified to her again that she is loved and that her life has a purpose, and she just wept. It was such a sweet moment. She doesn't know what to think about God, but now she wants to learn! I love being a missionary!

Funnies of the Week:

One of our less-actives said the closing prayer of a lesson... "Bless errbody..." 

We were in the car with the Elders on the way to District Meeting {don't panic, it's okay because we're a trio} and we were laughing about how bad some of our worst transfers have been, but then we remembered we're training so Elder Grasse tried to lighten it up by saying, "But I mean, it definitely makes the top 10 transfers!"

I have eaten 15 chicken tacos in the last two days, NOT voluntarily.

Walked past the apartment of some of the investigators we teach and we saw one of them on the balcony as we walked past. Between the two seconds he took to run to the front door he managed to lose his shirt...

{psssst. my golden birthday is this week! 21 on the 21st! send me a letter!}

Hermana McOmber

Heart shaped tree!

Hermanas Miller and Perry - our new trio companionship!

Hermana Perry with all her new shelves and her first package!  Happy as a clam!

The assistants came to "set up our bunkbed" ...they set it up in the kitchen and stacked our mattresses - Real helpful!

All done!

We are doing a lot of family history and one of the elders goes all the way back!

Birds

The moon was so close one night!

The hermana bought us creme puffs : )

The scariest dog I have ever seen.  It's only a puppy!  We were talking to the owner and they don't even know what mix it is.

I think it is so hilarious when they are so short they have to move the peep hole down to the door knob!

Tacqueria!

E loves to sit between us for lessons :)

Sometimes all you can do after a long day of tracting is give your poor feet a bubble bath!  And yes, thoses are callouses on my knees - had them since the MTC,

"Freebirds" for lunch one day

Made an angel Moroni out of tin foil

Longhorns in our backyard!

One of our investigators wrote "thanksgiving day" instead of something like thanks, and have a nice day" !

Day One of wearing scarves again - Yay!!

Hermana Miller had a really bad allergic reaction to the bug bites we got this week (we have been eaten alive)

I love my beautiful companions!

This mailbox was dominated by this plant  - so the mailman just stuck the mail on the branches!

Menchies with the Hermanas

Hermana V in the middle left Texas the day I came to Texas - we met in the airport!