Week 52: Feliz Navidad!

December 29, 2014

This week I realized I decided to serve a mission two years ago, and that my farewell was a year ago... how did that happen?

First Christmas away from home! So not Christmas, but still so fun. haha

Christmas Eve we helped the A family move and then we watched fireworks with Carol and Francisco. Then we had dinner #1 with the Melendez family {her food is to die for}. Then we had dinner #2 with the Rosales. They got us all gag gifts- mine being an old phone of theirs in case my companion loses ours again.

Then we went caroling with the other missionaries {we sounded pretty good, if I do say so myself}.

Christmas morning we opened our presents, made muffins, and curled up on the couch to watch the Testament. Then we caroled and delivered cookies to the bishopric. Then we had dinner with Betty {pasole y tamales, a tradition!} and got to SKYPE. Ahh! It was so comforting to see your faces and hear your voices! Best present I could have received!

Then it was Hermana Provost's birthday so the Barreras took us to Olive Garden. It was so nice to see them again! Best family ever!

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE #1: We finally saw E--- after a month of him being MIA!! He and I both almost cried and he tried to hug me. hahah

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE #2: We finally met R---! WOW. She is darling and I love her so much already! She is the epitome of prepared- cried during the entire lesson! Her closing prayer was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. 

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE #3: There is a man that we wave to every morning as he is on his way to work. I've been able to talk to him a couple times in the mornings {should've seen his face when I spoke Spanish}. On Christmas day we were walking back from our car and ran into him. We were able to talk to him and he is SO PREPARED.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY <3

Funnies of the Week:

I have bed bugs to go along with my cockroaches, Merry Christmas to me. Turns out when Hermana Miller got them weeks ago we were supposed to have an EXTENSIVE fumigation and wash every possible article of fabric in our entire apartment... good thing NO ONE said a word! The office called and said, "Brace yourself for a pretty miserable process." Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeat.

When we were helping the A--- family move their little boys were throwing NINJA STARS... with frightening accuracy. and Brother A kept distracting us and trying to show us how to disarm a shooter and choke an Elder with his own tie {have the feeling it will be come in handy at the next district meeting}.

Hermano Melendez told me a story:

"There were two elders walking down the street when a guy across the street shoots one of them. The elder falls to the ground from the impact but gets back up. The assailant asked him how he survived and the elder replied that he always keeps his Book of Mormon close to his heart and that "nothing gets passed 2 Nephi."

Hermana McOmber

Only in Texas - awesome mailbox!

Caroling!

Always wanted a pic with Brother Asay - "dojo" martial arts enthusiast

Christmas Eve

Skyping!!

Investigators gave me footie pj's!  Even has a cape!

Dinner with the Barreras

Week 51: Merry Christmas!

I'm fixin' to tell y'all to have a Merry little Christmas.

I had a few more dangerous experiences than I would have preferred this week. & I've been debating whether or not my Dad will personally pick me up and take me home if I tell you what happened... might just have to wait until I get home for those stories. :)

FRANCISCO IS MARRIED!!! 

It was a stressful week {as much as I wanted to find time to plan a wedding in my missionary schedule... I'm grateful for some hermanas that took our ideas and made it happen}. It turned out so good! We pulled it together in the last second {last POSSIBLE second} and they were so surprised and happy! I got to put on Francisco's boutineer and as I put it on he thanked me for everything I had done for him. It was the best feeling in the world to be here to teach him, his baptism, when he received the priesthood, got his first calling, and his wedding. Next step... temple!

My very first night in this area Hermana Miller and I met a man on the stairs of his apartment named M---. He was really interested and we gave him a card, but never saw him again... until this week! He moved back here and we were able to teach him the restoration! Wow! He remembered me and was so excited to talk to us.

Our golden investigator A--- just moved here so her apartment is bare. They sleep on the floor, they don't even have chairs! So the other Sisters in our ward found chairs we could give them and one of the members of the bishopric drove all of the way up to get them and bring them down to her apartment. When we knocked on her door she wasn't home! It was so unlike her and I was so disappointed, but something told me to stay. So I ran and checked the laundry room to see if she was there, and on my way back I ran into two guys, one of whom I had met a couple weeks ago. We were able to show them the He is the Gift video and teach them until A--- called and said she was home. Then the guys helped us carry the chairs up to her apartment! She was overwhelmed and so happy with the surprise, and the best part is that the two guys are her next door neighbors and they want us to come and teach them now too. The Lord's timing is PERFECT.

This week was the Christmas Conference! The entire mission got together and we sang Christmas songs, watched the Nativity movie {love!}, ate, and had the best time! They surprised us with Texas stockings stuffed with letters from our family! It was so much fun!

Funnies of the Week:

Tried to convince obispo to say, "Mawwiage is what bwings us togezah today."

We picked up a pizza one night. Pizza has NEVER tasted so good.

My farewell was a year ago! How did that happen??

C--- showed up an hour late to her own wedding. 

We had a lesson with O--- and ended up chatting after and showing her pictures of our families. She was SHOCKED to find out we are normal people.

Got an email from Hermana Miller with the title : "MERRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY SHNOOCKUMS"

I am LOVING getting all these Christmas cards!!!

 

I love you!

Hermana McOmber

Knocked on the door of a member who served in a sign language mission!  So sweet!

Saw the Grinch and almost cried!  I miss Hermana Miller!

Bawling my eyes out after getting the surprise letters from my family!

Christmas Conference with the Mortensens!

Our Apartmentship!

Texas tradition: Wrap your door in Christmas paper!

They are married!!

We got to be decorators, wedding planners, bridesmaids, and photographers!  Loved it!

Week 50: Feliz Navidad, Y'all!

December 15, 2014

This week was a ROLLERCOASTER. I am exhausted in every sense of the word, mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

It all started last Monday when we called the immigration lawyer to try to help E--- not be deported. Only... E--- stopped answering his phone after noon that day. I was stressed out of my mind about him. No one knew where he was! I tried so so so hard to have faith, kept his name on the board, planned for him during weekly planning, knocked on his door every night to see if he came back... nada. Then Thursday night we got a call from a number we didn't recognize... but the voice I recognized in half a second. E---! He had just gone to help a family member in a different city and gave them all his money so he couldn't pay for his phone bill. He was like, "I'm still getting baptized on Saturday, right?" haha We decided to give ourselves one more week to let him come to church one more time and finish all of the lessons. So the next day we went to his apartment and taught him and went over the baptismal interview questions. He was so happy and excited to see us and felt so ready to be baptized... until we told him we needed his parents' permission for his baptism, and he would have to get a few hours off of work for the baptism. He wasn't super excited about either of those, but he said he would buy a calling card for Honduras and we could do it the next day. So that night right before we went to bed he called me crying and said, "Thank you for everything you've done, but I have to say goodbye." and hung up. Break my heart twice in the same week, I THINK NOT!! Knocked on his door the next night and no one answered, but I followed a prompting to contact a less active in those same apartments and ended up finding one of E---'s roommates on the steps of that apartment. He said that E--- was home! So I have absolutely no idea what is going on with him right now. Going to keep knocking until he answers, and the entire consejo de barrio wants to come. haha We all love him so much! So... that was my week.

BUT the miracle of this week was when we were walking through the apartments and my recent convert's girlfriend comes running up with a marriage license in her hand! Ahhh! Their wedding is next Saturday and they put me in charge of... everything. hahahah good thing that baptism isn't happening! It would have been baptism ----> wedding -----> ward party. STRESS. 

One night we had just pulled up in the car and our investigator F--- popped into my mind and I decided to check and see how he's doing... and then I opened the car door and there he was! hahah So we started walking over to some benches to teach him and we ran into a member! He let us into his house and his wife's nonmember sister was sitting on the couch! We got to teach them both and they both loved the lesson! WOW. I love being a missionary!

Hermana McOmber

Funnies of the Week:

The zone leaders called to check in on our investigators, and asked about L--- and why we didn't see her this week. "Well, a car blew up in front of her house, Elders."

Our new investigator was saying his first prayer and was really nervous {picture a blushing lumberjack}, and he commanded me to close my eyes. haha

Another investigator was saying his first prayer as well, and made sure the door of his apartment was closed nice and tight and whispered so his roommates wouldn't hear him.

Saw a guy working on his car and asked him if there was anything I could do to help him. He said, "I'm going to need you to marry me." & I told him he was going to need to go to church for a LONG time before that ever happened.

Little E--- loves to jump off the couch and yell "Gironimo!" {sounds so funny in Spanish!}

Our investigator brought a menos activo AND another investigator for the other missionaries to church this sunday. That's what we call a dry member, ladies and gents.

Our investigator Laura told me if she ever had a baby girl she would name it Courtney. YAY!

The elders surprised us with a couch!

So many birds!

Texas thing:  They have to put rice with their spices to keep the spice dry - otherwise it clumps.

Our investigator put "Dios Te Amo" in Christmas lights in this window (God I love you)!

My favorite bench - this is where we taught F---

C--- with her marriage license!!

E--- is so dramatic!  I Love Him!

A--- is so cute!  I told him the horse was hungry so he ran and got a carrot and water for it - haha!

Week 49: Share the Gift!

December 8, 2014

And my new companion is... Hermana Provost!

It was another week of miracles! 

E--- accepted to be baptized this Saturday... and then he told us he might be deported. haha keeping our fingers crossed! We had a Family Home Evening with our recent convert F---- and his family and E--- last night. It was amazing! They all got along so well and it was so much fun! I am so so so grateful! He is so lonely, but last night he was so happy! We laughed and played and sang and read scriptures and ate arroz con leche! I felt like I was at home, so I can't even imagine how good he felt.

We were walking through the apartments our first day together and I saw this cute young girl walk by and started talking to her. She's from Mexico and has friends who are LDS. She invited us over the next day, so we went and taught her and her little boy the Restoration. They are both SO prepared! They read the Book of Mormon together and can't wait to feel that answer of its truthfulness! She said that she and her husband have felt that something has been missing in their lives, and that she thinks they just found it. Ahh! I LOVE HER!

One night we went to dinner with the M--- family and during the meal she expressed how disappointed she feels- feeling such great desires to share the gospel, trying so hard and not having the success she was hoping for. She invited us to meet with two of her friends, and we made a pie and cupcakes with her right then and there to bring to them. When we got to the doorstep she was SO nervous! It was darling! She did such a good job sharing her testimony! I was so proud of her! I've never seen a member with such great desires to share! It was so humbling to me! A few nights later a member and her son came with us to teach a lesson! This eight year old son who just got baptized taught the word of wisdom to two grown men AND invited them to church! MEMBER MISSIONARIES FOR THE WIN!

The referral of the little eight year old boy we gave to the other sisters in the ward just finished reading his children's version of the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true. He said he felt like "Joseph Smith was talking to my soul, and I felt more love than I ever have in my life." WOW.

I had a man I met on the street tell me that I "ooze happy." That I was the happiest, kindest, "brightest" person he's ever met, and that he would do anything to be like me. What a reality check! There I was absorbed in my own little selfish world, having a bad day, and this kind stranger told me exactly what I needed to hear. 

Irony of the week:

I found that street called Black Pool lane a few months ago, but it wasn't until the other day that I felt prompted to go visit a potential investigator on that street. On the way to his house we passed a little neighborhood of casitas that I had never seen before! I felt drawn to them so we went and contacted people for just a few minutes... found three new investigators and a big family of inactives. Looks like I made it to Black Pool after all. 

Funnies of the week:

It got up to 80 degrees one day.

A family in the ward gave us a giant bag of about grapefruits one day. A few days later the English sisters walk in the door at night with an identical bag of grapefruits. The members didn't know we live together, so now we have enough grapefruits to last until the millenium.

We read 3 Nefi 11 with E--- and when we asked him how he thought the people felt when Christ invited them to be baptized he said, "Me first! Me first!"

I can tell my Spanish has really improved the last week because I keep catching myself thinking in Spanish, dreaming in Spanish, and forgetting if I'm talking in English or Spanish.

We knocked on the door of a former investigator and his new ex-marine roommate answered the door. He played tough guy for a good fifteen minutes, but by the end he was a puddle of tears. That, my friends, is the Spirit.

It is so good to hear from you! Makes me cry every time to think that someone remembered me and took the time to write me. Thank you for reaching out! It means the world to me.

SHARE THE GIFT.

Hermana McOmber

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Hermana B hopping a fence to get to an appointment with us - Dedication!

I love kids!

First time at a Panda Express without you Nick - I miss you!

Made it to Blackpool after all!

Week 48: 11 Months!

December 1, 2014

By now hopefully you've all seen "He is the Gift" and shared it with EVERYONE you know!

I simply can't believe I've almost been out for a year! How did that happen? This last transfer flew by! I'll be in Louetta for Christmas! Get my new comp tomorrow. :)

It was another week of miracles!

Monday night we were walking down the street and saw a woman talking on the phone outside of her trailer and decided to ask if we could give her a card. She slowly put the phone down and her eyes filled with tears as she told us that she was baptized in 2000 in El Salvador, and when she moved here she hadn't been able to find the church. Yesterday, our investigator O--- drove her to church and the ward welcomed her with open arms. Amazing.

Also on Monday night we taught a lesson to our friend outside of the laundry room in the apartments and in my journal I wrote, "and another guy standing there listened too." Well, that guy called us on Sunday morning asking for a ride to church. He came and in the Sunday School class an hermano stood up to give the closing prayer, and right before he said it he invited the guy to be baptized.... and he accepted.

One day I asked a woman if we could help her carry in her groceries and we gave her our card. She called us the next day and asked us to visit her. SHE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We taught her and her son the Restoration and they committed to baptism on December 20th!

Okay, I saved the best for last. Our top progressing investigator is the 17-year-old from Honduras. He moved here to work and sends every penny back home to his family. He is really lonely because he lives with a bunch of older men who all drink and smoke and he doesn't. He is so mature and hardworking. We had an amazing lesson with him with an hermano from the ward and at the end we asked if he had prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He said he did and the night he prayed he had a dream: He was standing and had a piece of bread in his hand, and he could see his family behind him. He called out to God, "What do I do? I need to give my family this bread!" and God answered, "You know what you need to do." He looked down and saw the bread was gone, and everything around him was black. He couldn't see his family anymore but he could hear them crying and begging, "Help us!" He said he woke up and bawled uncontrollably. He asked us to interpret his dream! We told him that Christ is the bread of life and that he needs to share the gospel with his family! THE MOST POWERFUL MOMENT OF MY LIFE. We showed him a picture of the temple in Tegucigalpa and told him that he can go there with his family and be sealed to them forever. The Spirit hit me like a wall and bore an undeniable testimony to my soul that this is my purpose as a missionary. This is why I am here. This is why we leave our families, why we miss them and ache for them for a year and a half... so that others can be with theirs for eternity. It is a small price to pay, and it has been the greatest experience and the biggest blessing of my life.

Hermana McOmber

Funnies of the Week:

We were teaching a woman and her little girl picked up a MASSIVE knife from the couch. So what does the woman do? Put it on top of the couch, precariously balancing as the little girl bounces around on the cushions. We could NOT focus during that lesson. haha

I texted to confirm an appointment and got the response, "Yo no nintendo!!"

Our investigator told us he thinks our brains are computers because we always ask hard questions.

Make a remark in ward council... be called to speak on Sunday, again.

A girl asked me what I did before my mission and when I told her dance she said, "Duh, your make-up says it all."

I gave the twins CTR rings and they run around telling everyone to "Haz tu lo justo!"

Hector {8} told us his mom made 2 huge craps {crepes} and that there was enough batter to make more.

We ate Thanksgiving with a member family and brought our investigator. They fed us a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and our investigator's face was priceless... he did NOT like that food!

The member we found!

Investigators

The twins - I Love Them!

Last Exchange with Hermana Koch

First Thanksgiving Dinner with the Pinedas

Second Dinner with the Minogues

Zone Conference

Finally a picture in front of the Woodlands sign!

Upcoming baptism!

So ready for Christmas!

Hermana "B" just got back from a month in El Salvador and brought us presents!

"F" and "J"