Hermana in Houston: Week 61: Brazos

My new companion! Hermana Larson!

It's official. I'm getting the full missionary experience.

...I've been exiled.

It's called Bryan, Texas, heart of Texas A&M, and it's in the middle of nowhere. We are "white washing," basically starting from scratch. I am working with a ward with a VERY low activity rate, with an area book whose most updated contents date back to 2008, living in an old Elders' duplex that is literally falling apart, with a brand new bishop, no investigators, and no mail.

Bring it on.

I had an absolute meltdown breakdown after three days, but now I'm on the up & up {but I would sincerely appreciate any prayers sent my way}.

The one ray of sunshine in all of this is my new companion, Hermana Larson. She is darling! We get along so well and I literally couldn't do this without her. {She was trained in this area, was sent down in the area next to me in Houston for one transfer, and brought back up here. If she didn't know her way around here I seriously would have lost my mind by now.}

and even if I was exiled, I was exiled with Elder Christensen {favorite Elder award}. Happy 14 months to me! haha

I am doing my best to pump up the people here. I shared some of my ideas in ward council and it was so neat to watch their faces light up! We are going to turn this place around! I am learning to be lovingly bold! One night we went to visit a menos activo familia and after some serious effort to get them all into the same room together we had a great little lesson, until the parents started screaming at each other. I was getting whiplash trying to follow the conversation and I finally grabbed my things, stood up and shouted, "The Spirit has left, and so must we!" They just stared at me, and finally the abusive husband grabbed another beer and went into his room to watch tv, and we said a closing prayer and left. The oldest son pulled me aside completely awestruck and thanked me for having the courage to do what I did. Brazos will remember the name Hermana McOmber by the time I'm done with them. haha

Funnies of the Week:

They all call me "Hermana Barbie." A little girl was convinced I was a living Barbie and wanted to do my hair and my nails. haha!

Elder Christensen slid open our little brick phone to text someone and one of the young men almost fell backwards from shock. He had never seen a slide phone before.

We came home one night and I had a really uneasy feeling about our apartment. A man knocked on our door at 11 at night, and when we called the Elders because we were scared out of our minds they said, "Did you answer the door?" NO ELDER, WE DID NOT ANSWER THE DOOR {angry whisper} "You'll be fine. See you tomorrow." Later we found out he misunderstood and didn't think the man was at the door right that second, so the other three Elders beat him up for doing nothing to help us. haha where is Elder Diaz when you need him?}

Pray for me!

Hermana McOmber