Week 64: 100 days!

Mi gente!

100 days until I see you again! Ahh!

This week was so great. I UNPACKED! After moving 3 times in one month, and living out of garbage bags and suitcases since the end of December, I am {officially} UNPACKED! Happiness.

I got to go on exchanges with an English trainee in Hunstville this week, so fun! she was darling! It was a really crazy realization to understand that I've come full circle. I remember when I was training and I went on exchanges with the older girls and how much I learned and how much I looked up to them {Hermana Driesel<3}. It was so funny, she thought I was the greatest Sister Missionary to walk the earth and asked me 09287459384 questions. "Did you ever struggle? Did you ever have an adjustment stage? Did you ever not know what to say? Did you ever get sad?" Honey, I'M STILL THERE. hahaha 

I love being a missionary!

Wednesday we got to go to our member's ranch. HEAVEN ON EARTH. Ohh my goodness. It was absolutely gorgeous! They had this amazing ranch house and she made us food that was to die for. Wow.

While we were having district meeting, a brother timidly walked in and listened to us discussing for a minute, and then said, "I don't want to interrupt... I just want to say thank you." ...he walked away completely overcome with emotion. One of the best moments of my mission.

This week we've been praying about one of our investigators and how we can help her. We got the clear impression that we needed a member with us in the lesson, but after almost a week of calling and begging members to come out with us... nada. We pulled up to her house for our appointment really sad, and said a heartfelt prayer telling Heavenly Father we're sorry we couldn't find anyone, but that we tried our best and asking for his divine help in this lesson. When we walked in another woman was in the house... turns out it is her inactive sister who was baptized 19 years ago!!! We had a member in the lesson after all! And the best part is that five minutes later her entire nonmember family shows up! We had a really powerful lesson with all of them and they all want to learn more. Do all you can and Heavenly Father makes up for the rest!

I love you all and miss you all so much!

Hermana McOmber

p.s. my apartment number is actually 714 - it has been covered because they're painting, so I mixed it up. Lo siento!

Funnies of the Week:

One guy we met called us "plasticos" because he said we look like perfect little mannequins.

The Elders had a little bit of an "intervention" with one of my "admirers" this week.

A menos activo answered her door and said, "One sec..." closed the door, and left us standing in the pouring rain for 10 minutes! ok...

My shoe got stuck under the car while I was backing... awkward.

Adinelio is my "little" buddy. I love him so much. I teach him English and it is literally like the scene from Pink Panther:

"I would like to buy a hamburger."

"Ay vuld luk toa bey eh damfrupmfer."

We were teaching him the Alphabet yesterday and it took ALL of my self control not to laugh. He is the best.

St. Patrick's Day

Exchanges with Sister Dastrup

J--- (She has an AMAZING story!)

I love Texas!

The Ranch!

We want to hold the baby!

Week 63: Here comes the sun (doo doo doo!)

First of all, my companion is an angel. This transfer has FLOWN by laughing with her, and it's so ironic because this is the hardest area I've had.

Second of all, I am FINALLY in a clean, safe apartment. We were supposed to move last week, but long story short it didn't work out on the other end of things. So we stayed in our practically-homeless shack for another week, and almost had our power shut off on us. {had just enough self control not to check myself into a hotel} mmm hmm. I've gotta say... after 3 months of living out of garbage bags and suitcases, I CAN'T WAIT TO UNPACK!! We ended up having tons of crazy miracles as the Elders helped us move, we talked to so many people! the best was when we were bringing our things into the new apartment and our darling next door neighbor knocked on the door. She is so nice and we had a great chat! I told her we are missionaries and she lit up and kept saying, "That is so cool! I love that!" And then she said, "I am really, really interested to learn about your church!" I literally had to shut my lower jaw because it was hanging wide open. Then she ran and got everyone cold water and asked if we wanted to play with her kittens (she's studying at Texas A&M to be a vet). OKAYYYY.

One of the amazing miracles this week was when we were driving down the street to visit an investigator when Hermana Larson screamed! She saw a menos activo outside of his house who is never home. The appointment fell through and we were able to go meet the hermano and teach him. He was in tears he was so grateful! It was so sweet! I love being a missionary!

This week was the Elders' baptism of Adinelio! He is so special, he bore his testimony and the Spirit was SO strong. In his testimony he thanked me for being his friend {mi corazon!} and tried to hug me for making cookies for his baptism. {I <3 Cubans} The crazy part is that only two hours earlier he got a call from a friend from Cuba that he hadn't seen for years who just arrived in Houston and wanted to see him! So he invited him to the baptism and the friend drove straight there! He brought his whole family and cried through the whole thing! WOW.

We had an interesting lesson last night... I am really glad I've studied hard on my mission. Taught a young guy that has veeeery interesting views on religion, and incessantly shot me with questions. I was able to stay patient and calm, keep the Spirit, and answer all his questions. BOOM.

Funnies of the Week:

Singing "Head Shoulders Knees & Toes" with our English class, because Adinelio is literally the BFG.

Sister Morgan telling us the story about the one time she had a warrant out for her arrest. HAHA she is a riot! I love her!

The Elder's quorum president planned the ward activity... watching frozen. Our ward mission leader went into a rage when we explained that we wouldn't be able to participate because we can't watch movies, and got up on the stairs and acted out Jesus throwing over the tables in the temple and saying he was going to do the same at the ward activity. Luckily we got his heart rate down in time for the investigators to show up. haha

I literally can't even remember everything funny that happens in our district because we spend ALL DAY laughing together. love it!

My new address is:

4475 Carter Creek Parkway #417

Bryan, TX 77802

I'd love to hear from you!

Hermana McOmber

Elder Christensen!

I love my district!

I love teaching kids

Adinelio's Baptism!!

Week 62: It was the best of times...it was the worst of times!

Week 2 in exile: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Really though, one day EVERYTHING that could POSSIBLY go wrong, did. {such as: our heater breaking in the middle of a winter storm, sleeping on a mattress older than I am, no food, all appointments fall through, aimlessly driving back and forth to complete meaningless chores}. 

We were M I S E R A B L E.

Then, out of the blue, the next day is nothing but miracles.

Such as:

Teaching a new investigator the plan of salvation and having her "novio" walk in at the end. Turns out "novio" investigated the church 15 years ago! We taught an impromptu restoration lesson and when I asked if he had any questions he said, "When are you coming back?" and when I asked if there was anything we could do to help them he said, "Just come teach me SOON!"

THEN we decided to try a former investigator from January 2013 who discontinued her investigation due to her very, very catholic mother. When we walked up to the house we were greeted by this devout mother, but we won her heart and she went in and got her daughter! We taught them the restoration and it was so powerful! Right before we were about to say the prayer her sister came home from work and joined us! As we asked the former investigator when we could come by to see her again her sister said, "but what if I want to be there!" So we set day and time when the entire family was together! AHH!

THEN as we were walking to our car a car pulls up to us and a man calls out and asks what we're selling. We shouted back that it was free, and we ended up teaching him through his car window right there in the middle of the street.

THEN we went to visit a menos activo family and as we finished the lesson and packed up to leave their friend walked through the door. He started asking us tons of questions and we ended up staying for another hour!

Heavenly Father sure does love us.

This week I got to go to Yanny's baptism. What a blessing! We drove an hour to Conroe and met up with the Barreras and they drove us the other hour down to Houston {they are angels}! It was so special. The Spirit was so strong! I miss Louetta SO MUCH! {I cannot wait to come back after the mish and give a huge hug to Francisco and Hermano BerRios}

Funnies of the Week:

"They should make a monument for you in Louetta." -President

Tyler Boulter goes to the same church building as I do. {thought I was hallucinating}

The chapel has ceiling fans {only in Texas}.

Two guys we contacted on the street tried to "conquistarnos." They asked us out to dinner and I texted back saying "WE ARE MISSIONARIES", and this is what they sent back: "We understand that, but y'all are also beautiful young women who have to eat and maybe even bowl a few games. God wants us all to be happy and have fun while we are spreading his word. The Bible says it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. We understand if y'all are scared of the temptations you might face, but the Lord won't put on you more than you can bear." ....literally.

An hermano in the ward thinks I look like a movie star and walked around showing everyone them the picture of the actress I've never even heard of from a movie I've haven't even seen yet. haha

I love you all so much! I need your prayers!

My new address is going to be:

4475 Carter Creek Parkway

Bryan, TX 77802

Hermana McOmber

Elder Christensen

Map of Woodlands, Louetta, and Brazos

The Elder's car

Frio - Cold!

Broken stairs - we do what it takes!

Downtown Bryan is cute

I LOVE MY NEW COMPANION!!

Home Sweet Home

Welcome to the COUNTRY -

I have never seen so many boots in my life!

Yogurtland

A member gave us a bunch of cactus to snack on - haha!

The Elder's explaining Kolob to each other

Taken at the end of the hardest day ever

Driving to Zone Meeting

Familia Guadarrama

Love when this happens...finding one of our cards when we tract!

So grateful I got to go to Yanny's baptism!!

Loved seeing mama Gaytan again!

Rosie and Yanny!!!

Thank you thank you Barreras for taking us to Yanny's baptism!  We love you!

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

Louetta District

Apartmentships in Louetta

Eliezer bought us random little water feature things - haha!

Transfers!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Hoj

Elder Hillebrandt

Hermana Tui

Our 2 hour drive to Bryan

There are hills in Texas!

Massive pile of leftover stuff from past Elder's in our apartment!

More!

Our bathroom door ... ???

Endless supply of ChikfilA