Christmas Report

Hola a todos!!! Christmas was an amazing day!!! Christmas Eve a family invited us over to do some of the family festivities that they do. First we did a little skit (without acting it out) about the Christmas stories in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible, then one of the son-in laws read the Christmas story in Krio ( mixture of English, french and some African dialects) it was so weird because you can actually understand it!! but it was so hard reading it. Then we did a christmas gift exchange where we read the "Night before Christmas" and whenever we hear the words "the" or "night" we were to pass the gifts.

Christmas day we went to a members home for breakfast. Their sons birthday was that day so they had pancakes, bacon, sausage, tamales, eggs and the whole 10 yards ( the phrase 9 yards does not make sense to me because 9 is not a full 10) Anyways later we were able to skype home and that was amazing!!! What made it even better was getting to see 4 grandparents, 2 cousins, and 1 uncle as well :) we then had 2 dinners to end the day. When we could we would walk around and if people were outside we would wish them a merry Christmas and give them a "He is the Gift" card.

 Friday we had two lessons. One was with JR and his family (parents are members and he is not) we went over the Priesthood and Missionary work with him.Then we stopped by another LA/PM family and shared the Christmas video with them ad they really enjoyed it. Last night we taught Paris and she is just waiting to get paperwork from Salt Lake. We taught about Agency and Accountability and we asked her mom (whose is a short, old Hispanic lady with a testimony like diamond because it is so pure and nobody could ever break it) She told us that she has been praying for the chance for her daughter to come back to the church and she is so grateful!! I love Sis. Barton! She treats us like her grand kids it is so funny.

well 2014 has been exciting and I am now reaching the end of my dark year and I will be home this next year.

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, He loves every single one of us and I know he lives!!!

I love you all!!! 

TSAM Christmas Conference

Hola a todos!!! This week has been pretty amazing!!! We had our Texas San Antonio Mission Christmas Conference( I will not be there for next years...) The food was great!! An amazing talent show with some great training as well. First a funny story. We were at the Lozano's home for dinner and I was saying the prayer. Her 4 year old is distracting her and so I say "we thank thee for Jesus Christ" and she just says "amen!!", almost like you would imagine in a southern baptist church haha and all of us just start laughing, it took a second for me to compose myself to finish the prayer :)

On the spiritual side we found a new investigator last night while walking around. He invited us into his home and some of his family was there, they were not interested in listening at the moment but he did. We shared the Restoration with him and Elder Grosh asks him " Do you believe that what we are saying is true?" and he says " Yes I do." which led to a baptismal invite and him saying that he just does not believe in organized religion. But he wants us to stop by again on Friday and talk to him :) I really am looking forward to this week and the miracles that it will bring :) I know Christ lives and that he is our Lord and King, He is the Son of God. I love you all and espero que tengan una Navidad buena con sus familias!! Hasta luego!!

New Companion!

So my new companion is Elder Grosh, he is from Danville, California and is a convert to the church. We found out that he has already finished training.... so we do not know what happened there haha either way it has been interesting adjusting but all is well :) This past week we have been working really hard on sharing that Christ is the gift and on doing that in different ways. Something that I  have just realized is that the normal routines of Christmas can help us discover Christ. You have a present under the tree, and you have no idea what it is but you open it and you now know what you have been given. But do you know how to use it? It comes with instructions and you spend time with it to better understand it.

Christ is a gift that we take for granted so much. We are told of him and what he did for us. Do we really know him though? Do we really know how to use him? That is what the scriptures are for, pray, fasting, church. We open the scriptures and read about him and he was like. Now we need to embrace him.

" For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Begotten son. That whosoever should believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" ( John 3:16). We know the destination. Eternal Life. How do we get help? Through His only Begotten Son. How do we get that help? By BELIEVING in him. Believing is having faith and faith is acting. Discover the Gift. Embrace the Gift and Share the Gift.

 This week 2 complete strangers have let us in and talk to them. One was a Jehovah's Witness and the other was christian. We were able to share the Restoration and the He is the Gift video with him, and only the video with the other. As well this week i met the 1st person who has seen the video without us having to show him. That was cool :) I love y'all and espero que tengan una buena semana y Feliz Navidad !!!!!

Transfer news....

So for this upcoming transfer Elder Gray will be leaving and I will stay...and I will be finishing the training of a missionary! This will be an interesting transfer! haha it will be fun.

So this week week our stake( San Antonio West stake) held a huge event called "The Messiah" based off of Handel's Messiah production. It was fantastic!!! :) We were able to get an investigator there as well and she use to do choir and she loved it!! It was great!! A lady in our ward was directing all of it and she did amazing. Yesterday we had a lesson with one of the member's daughters and went over Alma 34 and the Atonement.

This week has been awesome with the "He is the Gift" initiative that is happening. It is going all over Facebook thanks to members and yesterday the church bought out the main ad for the video. So i hope it was viewed a lot! :)

i love you all and I hope that this week is amazing!!! Adios!!!

Domino's Delivery, Anyone???

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! I know I did!! This week we had a great Zone meeting with out quarterly President interviews. We went over a lot about being God's missionaries and being consecrated to the Lord. As well we went over this new video that the church has put out called the "He is the Gift" Initiative. It is a really powerful video about the first gift of Christmas, who is Christ, the Son of God. Go to   http://www.mormon.org/christmas to see the video and website that the Church has put out. we have been able to share this video with a few of our members is the ward and they have all enjoyed it :)

Thanksgiving day we went over to our ward mission leader's home and had dinner with his family. We ate so much. Later we went to our Elder Quorum president's home and did the same. This week we were able to visit with a less active/part member family and have dinner with them.

Interesting stories this week. All time low here. Normally we get asked if we work at the store and stuff like that, but the day before Thanksgiving we were going to a dinner, walking, and a guy pulls up in his car and asks us if we are from Domino's..... all time low. Two guys in white shirts and ties and he thinks we are from Domino's. Second we get to the dinner and we find out that the family and been married in Montana..without being in Montana, marriage by proxy. Then we got to an investigators home and find out she has gone to the hospital for some serious health issues. To finish of the night the Elders quorum president smashes his finger with the lid of his truck. Great way to lead up to Thanksgiving! :) I love y'all and i hope you discover, embrace and share the Gift this Christmas and for the rest of your lives!

I Ate In-N-Out!

I can not believe how fast time has gone by!!!! This week we had a great week with our lessons, members have been helping out so much! This past week we were able to go do service for a lady; Carol. She referred herself  because her son was baptized, went on a mission and is a Bishop up in Utah. So she needed us to do some house work ( putting a mirror on a wall and setting up part of a chandelier) We were able to have Travis come and a Sister from the ward who did awesome!! She invited us over for Thanksgiving, only to end up in the Hospital last night :( we do not know why though :(

A family in the ward had us over for dinner and had a next door neighbor come over, apparently she comes to their FHE every Monday. Her husband passed away so they basically adopted her into the family. We shared a mormon message "The refiner's fire" and we feel like it went pretty well!

I was able to go on exchanges with one of the Elders we live with; Elder Green. His name says it, he is still in training, but I was so impressed by him and his love that he had for people not in his area. With him we had a dinner with Sister Lozano and her family and we talked about the Nature of God. Then we had a lesson with JR, and got even deeper with the Nature of God and his purpose and we focused it on Moses 1:39. Awesome week!

As well it was a historical moment for San Antonio this week as the first In-N-Out opened down the freeway from us. A member from the other ward took us haha.  The first night it was a 3 hour wait. they have quite the system going on there.

Not a transfer, but a new Address!

Well another week has come and gone here in Braun Heights. This week we moved apartments. It is the same complex 8711 Bowens crossing, but now it is 13306. 

8711 Bowens crossing #13306, San Antonio, TX 78250. 

We now live with 2 other Elders in the Wildhorse ward, fun stuff!!!

This week has been freezing and we have been walking everywhere. It helps members give us rides because only a few of them have trucks. Moving took up most of the week. We had some really good lessons with some converts on sacrifice and prayer. We went over the story of King Lamoni's father and the steps of prayer and sacrifice that was needed. The following lesson was with a less active part member family. Two of the girls are non-members and we went over the same lesson. It has a bigger impact on her because of her child. We asked her about baptism and she says she knows what it can do for her, but she does not believe in the church 100%. Her parents are having a big influence on her, but it is her decision. otherwise we have been walking. The Lord has blessed us and it is amazing how small and simple those blessings are. I love y'all and hope this week is great! :)

Adventures in Primary

Well this week has been pretty slow, did not do a whole lot on my birthday. We knocked, then had a dinner with a member and then went to a less active's home and let our EQP talk to him. He flat out told us that he has no testimony but that he believes the church is the best thing on the earth. The only other lesson that we had was with the guy who is on parole. He says he will be getting his ankle tracker off in January so we are looking forward to that. We taught him about sacrifice and praying and tied the two together and the spirit was really strong. on Sunday Elder Gray and I taught the CTR 4 class during the third hour of church, all the women were having a visiting teaching conference. So all the guys filled in That was an interesting class haha there was one boy asking all of the 3 girls in the class to go on dates with him. We did not know how to deal with that. i have respect for the primary workers haha. The last few weeks have been really humbling for me in learning to rely on the Lord and knowing that he has a purpose in what he does. But faith is the key, followed by your actions. I love y'all and hope you have a great week!! 

Birthday Week!

Thank you for the Birthday wishes!!! :) I look forward to serving The Lord on my birthday :)

This week was not to eventful. We did a lot of bike riding this week and some knocking. This is the most I have knocked on my mission. Either way we were able to teach a ex-communicated member last night about fasting and the power behind it. Our goal was to get her to fast so that she could quit smoking and she understands how it can help. Her 12 year old son told her that every fasting prayer he offers he mentions his mom and he prays that she will be baptized again. I love that kid!!!

As well one of the recent convert who is coming up on his year mark finally decided to get the Priesthood! After much fellow shipping and some lessons about how now that he is a member it is his responsibility to get the Priesthood. So he finally did it! Halloween we had to go in early at around 6 and so I read for most of the time.  Hopefully this upcoming week will be a lot more eventful :) I love y'all and hope you have a great week!!!

Transfer Week is here again....

Well the news for transfers is that both Elder Gray and I will be staying here in Braun Heights for another 6 weeks! I am super excited to not be moved to another area! This past week has been full of exciting events. First off we had Elder Hamula come and speak to us ( I got to shake his hand!) we were able to hear from his wife as well about a servey we took and she told us what we could improve on (in a loving way of course) Elder Hamula spoke on revelation and how we receive it. The first thing we have to do: is ASK. That is it. if we do that then we are on the right path to recognize it.

We had out trunk or treat this last Saturday and that was a lot of fun! We had a lot of people who we have not seen in a while. Many less actives and one girl (she is basically a member) and her family came to the party and they all seemed to enjoy it. The girl has been to church for several months and has a testimony already, but her parents will not allow it yet. So we have not even met with her :( But on the other hand we did receive permission to teach two girls whose parents are returning less actives, so all we have to do is ask the girls. One goes to mutual every week and attends church when she can. The other is 16 with a child and comes to church when she can. We know that both are ready so we just need to ask.

Kind of a mind twirling experience on Sunday, we have an Elders Quorum President who is amazing and comes out with us whenever we can and actually builds relationships and follows up with people. It is really hard seeing him really doing everything. And so I realized what I was like before the mission, and what I want to be like after the mission. I had a lot to think about last night. 

I love you all and I hope this is a great week!!!:) Adios!!!

The Work Continues On....

Well there is not a whole lot for this past week. We have been working fairly close with some of the less active/part member families and we are going to start pushing on some of them. One of them consists of the parents and 4 kids, the 2 oldest are out of house. But the youngest 2 are still at home. One of them has a baby (out of wedlock) and is 16 and the other is 13. and the 13 year old attends church and mutual whenever she can and we think that they are ready to take the lessons and so we are going to push for them to take the lessons. Another lesson we had this week was with JR and his parents (active members) He is waiting to get off parole and wants to come to church. We are going to try to get him to the meeting with Elder Hamula this Thursday when there is a general meeting. This week we went over the 13 Articles of faith with him, we have gone over so much with him because he has been on parole for a few months and so we are running out of things to teach about.

We were able to help at mutual this week(last minute) and Elder Grey  was Mormon and we took the youth around to different activities for standards night and "dressed them up in Armour and stuff and then got to shoot them with nerf guns as they did a little obstacle course using what they had been given haha. On Sunday we had many less active families in attendance)primary program may have been involved with that) but one of the families we are working with went to Temple prep class and so we are helping through that. There will be more for next weeks email. I love y'all and hope this week is great!!!

Did you see "Meet the Mormons"?

Well this week was a milestone for Mormons around the world with the "Meet the Mormons" movie (which our mission saw like 2 weeks ago!) We thought it was a great movie and in a lot of creative ways it can be used to show people who we are.

Some of the exciting things that happened this week. We received some contact information from one of my first companions; Elder Lundstrum, for a lady and her family in our ward boundaries. This lady's brother had just joined the church and she said he is in love with the church. And so she wanted us to stop by. We brought our Elders Quorum President along as well( he goes out with us a few times a week) and things were a lot different then we had thought. As soon as she opens the door we see her 11 year old autistic son come running toward the door ( he does not even look like he is autistic) and tries to get out side. And so his mom grabs him and he starts kicking and screaming and Elder Gray and I can not do a whole lot and so our EQP steps in to help out and he ended up having to help pull him in and sit him down and then the 11 year old started pulling on his mom's hair... and Travis(EQP) got some deep cuts in his hand from the kid and his fingers. And so he eventually calmed down and left the room and we talked to his mom and Gave both of them a blessing and Travis has connections and told her that he would find some help for her.

Our other investigator came to church and brought his two sons with him. things have been really hard for him and he acts like it is nothing (we do not know if it is faith or a self image thing) and so we stop by once a week. Other wise the work is going and our mission awaits Elder Hamula (spoke in Conference) he will be visiting in the following weeks. I love y'all and I hope this week is amazing!!!   

Conferencia General!!!

What a great week of hearing from our Prophet and other leaders :)There were a lot of great talks given and many perspectives, such as what way do I face and am I on the ship Zion? Great principles to think about. This week was very interesting. We have had a few lessons that were very interesting. One of our investigators who is in his 30's gets super off topic and has very obscured ideas when it comes to the scriptures. Somehow he got onto the topic of his friend who was in "area 51" and told him that if people knew what they knew everything would change. Right.....  teaching him is very difficult. We got to do service this week for a man and mowed his lawn and moved branches. What was bad is he has a man cave, and even though he knows our rules he wanted us to take breaks and watch SC and eat wings and fries.. man that was bad. Not a whole lot for the week, but I love y'all and God bless!

Finally Putting Some Milage on my Bike!

Well here in Braun Heights we roll differently than other missionaries. We be rolling on bikes.

They see us rollin, they hatin and we be rollin cuz we are missionaries! Elder Gray was trained by Elder Morrin as well so we are brothers! He knows this area really well and has helped me learn a lot.He has had great desires to better himself so that he can help others and has been a great example these last few weeks!

This week we have had a few great lessons with our main man Travis Anderson. He loves coming out with us and teaching with us, it is great!! We had a lesson with Jacob this week and  he has concerns about his father(member) and he is concerned about what everyone else thinks. We talked to him about the story of the Prodigal son and it seemed to help a little bit. It is super hard because his wife is against it( for now at least) and so we are slowly working him towards baptism. As well we had a great lesson with a guy named JR who has parents who are members, but he can not be baptized till he takes care of some parole issues. But he is going to watch general Conference so we are excited for that!! On Sunday I got to teach gospel principles to 16 other people (4 were non members, no pressure haha) and It was on the Word of Wisdom. We then had a lesson with a excommunicated member who wants to come back. She has a son who is a Deacon and is so spiritually in tune it is so cool!! We just have to get permission to teach her and help her quit smoking. But otherwise she is willing to work for it :) 

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here in Texas and to have the knowledge that I have. I can not wait to here the Prophet speak this upcoming weekend and to here what our leaders have to say :) I love y'all and I hope this week is great!

sorry no pictures again :( the computer at the library stinks.

New Area!

Well I am now in Braun Heights riding a bike every day.. :) so much fun!!! My new companion is Elder Gray and he is pretty cool, soft spoken and is from Montana. The last few days since I have been here have been really interesting to say the least. To start, first day I get sent up to Austin for transfers because Elder Mclean was getting his companion there. Then I drive all the way back to San Antonio to get picked up haha Elder Gray has a lesson set up with a potential investigator and  so we get back to the apartment and get on our bikes. We find him raking leaves outside and we start talking to him and then he starts focusing in on me and we get into what salvation is and it started to get really frustrating to say the least. Then he stops and says "well are y'all hungry?" and I am so confused and then he shakes my hand and tells me he is the Elders Quorum President and and then he goes and gets changed to take us to dinner. So I got played my first day haha!!

 Another experience which involves the bike. We were going to get our bikes tuned up by a guy that said he would do it for free and on our way there we were going down this hill that Elder Gray had warned me about and that there is this low hanging branch that will hit you if you don't get low enough. Not only did I not get low enough but it was a foot thick trunk.  So there is 4 of us going down the hill and I duck and I thought that i was low enough, but it clipped my backpack and so I get pushed down to my right side and I slide across the side walk and scrape my hand a little bit and get my shoulder all dirty. Thankfully the dirt came off and that I only got a scrape haha :)

Now for the spiritual part. We had a lesson with a man named JR whose parents are members and so we read Mosiah 4 with them and talked about General Conference coming up (so excited!!!) As well we had a man named Jacob come to church and he wants to be baptized. His parents are also members but he was never baptized and so he wants to change and do that. As well We had a lesson with a lady whose parents are members and her son is, but she removed from the church. But she has the desire to be baptized and we read Joseph Smith History with her and she really liked it. Her son is 12 and is really in tune with the spirit, it was incredible :)

I love y'all and hope this week is awesome!!!! Hasta luego!!! :) P.S. I sm trying to figure out this apple computer so I do not know how to upload pictures. Next week though!!

Here's my new address: 

8711 Bowens Crossing #2208 

San Antonio, TX 78250

One and done...

Well I will be leaving New Braunfels this Thursday :( I have loved my time here and I am sad to leave but I am thankful for all the people I have met and built relationships with.

So the biggest thing that happened this week was being able to meet with Dillon and teach him. On Friday we received some much needed rain, and we were teaching Dillon underneath some metal roofing and it just started pouring for the whole duration of our lesson. We had to yell to even hear each other! As well Dillon was able to come to church yesterday for all 3 hours and he really enjoyed it. A lot of members came and introduced them selves to him and he felt very welcomed. Dillon was then able to come to a 8 year old baptism and he enjoyed that as well. I hope things continue to progress with him. He told us that he wants to make a serious change in his life and be someone productive. :)

Christy here:  In the six weeks Taylor has been in New Braunfels, I've gotten several pictures via text message from members who live there.  What a tender mercy for a missionary mom...especially when our missionary doesn't send many photos home of himself.  So here are some random moments caught by the local members in Texas, to whom I am eternally grateful!

Hurrah for Israel!!!

Well this week was the week were I have been out for a year!!! Elders tell me it is all down hill from here and that it goes by SO fast. Anyways last Monday we were able to meet with Arby's man haha and read the beginning part of The Book of Mormon with him. He has already made notes and done research and has a lot of questions and things like that. Tonight we are meeting him at the church to have a lesson so that will be exciting!! As well we had a great lesson with a man who is the friend of someone we are teaching and he has a great desire to change his life right now and and was asking us a bunch of questions about what we believe and a lot of what he thinks is exactly what we believe. So we are very excited to get to work with him the upcoming weeks!! I love y'all and have a great week!! Hurrah for Israel!! 

And through it, all who believe and obey the glorious gospel of God, all who are true and faithful and overcome the world, all who suffer for Christ and His word, all who are chastened and scourged in the cause of Him whose we are—all shall become as their Maker and sit with Him on His throne and reign with Him forever in everlasting glory. - Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Working Hard in New Braunfels...

This week we had an awesome lesson with a man who knows some members in our ward. He really wants to get into it and study the Book of Mormon every week so it is really cool. Last week he had a question that he got while reading the Miracle of Forgiveness about unpardonable sins. And he was reading and saw the story in Alma 24 and he did not understand what that was about and we were able to explain the story and what happened. And as well the story of Daniel in 2nd Samuel 12. He has a Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. He is really cool. As well we had a lesson with this black lady; Jordan. We taught the Restoration to her and it all seemed to make sense, The only issue was her 4 year old niece who was really hyper and took away from the lesson. Tonight we are going to teach the man again at Arby's (we are going to try to change that) I love y'all and I hope y'all have an awesome week!!!

Half Way, Hump Day!

This week on Wednesday is my official half way point  on mission, HUMP DAYYYY!!

In New Braunfels we have done a bit of knocking and finding and are still trying to dfind people to teach. We have stopped by so many less actives in hopes of catching them at home or even getting in the door. But we have had a few less actives come this Sunday which was an awesome experience!! Elder Mclean is awesome!! Not only does he love Pysch, he is just an awesome missionary with a great drive to work hard.

(Christy here.... an ensuing email convo about his "actual" hump day left some confusion about when his hump day actually is... here in Chandler, we are celebrating on September 3rd, which was the day he flew to the CCM.  If he comes home a little bit sooner than that, we'll be super excited!)

An AWESOME week!

Another week here in New Braunfels!!! 
Really quick I messed up on my address. 
It is 1231 Huisache Ave. #710 New Braunfels, Tx 78130.

So this week has been an awesome week!! We have a family of 3 that want to be baptized! We had our first lesson with them last night and taught the Restoration to them and they loved it! Through the whole lesson they were all paying attention and listening and the Spirit was so strong in testifying to them. By the end both boys (they are 10 and 11) said they wanted to be baptized :) Then as well we had dinner last night with the Peterson family and they had a man over named David Smith who has been meeting with other missionaries off and on for a very long time. He is an awesome guy and is doing some deep investigating (makes sense since he served in the army and is a cop very close to to my last area, and you have to be tough around there) So after dinner we read the Book of Mormon and what was cool is that he even has his own Quad with his name on it that he bought! MIND BLOWING! We read 3 Nephi 16 and 17 with him and asked some really interesting questions that no one ever asks. And he understood it all, even in 16 when they are talking about the scattering of the tribes and the other "sheep" that Christ must go visit, He is a really smart man. And he shared a story that while he was over seas he ran to military camps, one had a chapel and the other did not. The one he stayed on did not have one so he decided to build one. And the only 2 LDS servicemen on the camp help set it up in 6 days and on the 7th day (Sunday) they rested and had service. And then a President of the Seventy who was a retired 4 star General visited and had heard about the Chapel and so he got to meet him. He is truly elect!!!

Hard part about the area is that there is the famous Guadalupe River which is a big tourist attraction and as well as the world famous Schlitterbahn resort and water park. Ugh it is so hard haha I love y'all!1 The church is true and I see the blessing every day!!

New Area, New Comp, New Adventure!

Well my new companion; Elder Mclean, and I got doubled into a new ward and area called New Braunfels 2nd!! It is crazy!!! this ward and the 1st ward were created by 2 other wards, all they did was change boundaries. But we came in having no ward roster and no investigators. And neither of us had a GPS. So a trip to radio shack and 135 dollars later we were rolling. New Braunfels is not what I thought it would be. I went from being in the ghetto with seeing mexicans at HEB to white people and nice houses.  

 #nowsociallyawkwardwithwhitepeople
 #spanishspeakerproblems. 

Elder Mclean is super cool! He is a really happy Elder from Sandy, Utah and has been out about 4 months longer than me. And he has a dairy allergy so I already know about that.  ;-)

Our new address is:
1231 Huisache #710 
New Braunfels, Tx 78130

Last night with Elder Johnson in the "hood"

New area

Elder McLean and I

We are super excited and this will be an adventure!!1 Love y'all and have a great week!!!

A transfer is coming...

Well I am going to be transferred this Thursday!!! Kind of sad :( we have some really cool investigators here. 

So news for the week, This upcoming transfer youth from our stake are going to be doing one week "mini missions" and be put all over the mission. That will be interesting haha as well this week we have had some interesting experiences. On Tuesday we had to drive some other Elders to drop off their damaged car up in Selma. Then because they did not have a car we had to take one to urgent care because he drank 4 gallons of water and went pee a lot and was really cold to the touch. So we spent 4 hours there and were there long enough to watch a couple hours of TV, and the doctors never found out what was wrong.

 Otherwise there has not been a whole lot of activity this week.

Divine Intervention

So this week on "The Mission":

We had an amazing week!! To start off we had a lesson and dinner with a less active-part member and we talked about the commandments and they loved it. And then we showed them the Bible videos on Mormon Channel. The next day I realize that my flash drive was not in my pocket. I had felt it in my pocket at the lesson the day before but I never took it out. So went through most of the day and then we went back to their house to see how they were doing (and as well I wanted to see if it was there :\ ). So we show up and We look under the cushions and they started telling us that they are getting a divorce. so that was bad :( Then I see my flash drive sticking out of their Book of Mormon. And when I had asked them they had no idea what I was talking about. And I knew I never took it out of my pocket. So we start to help the husband move all of his stuff and some of his family show up to help. And the less active member told us not to leave because they wanted to hurt her....so if we had not been there who knows what would have happened. Divine intervention??? And the less active came to church on Sunday and she was super happy!! :) 

This week we are starting to teach a new family, Joseph and Nakita and their 4 sons. They are so cool!! They both want to get baptized, they just have to get married and they already want that. So it will be great. One of our potential investigators went in to have induced labor and she asked us to come to the hospital this morning and say a prayer with her. So we went to the Santa Rosa Hospital and did that for her, and we talked to an Irish Nun that worked there haha.

Hope y'all have a great week and I love all of you!!!

Aliens have come to the West Side, LOL.

Oreos after a long day of work

More Changes...

So this was an interesting week!!! Our ward boundaries were changed, and the area we lost has most of our investigators...... :( But we did teach them! We had a great lesson with some of our investigators together, because they all had word of wisdom problems. The one who had been smoking week stopped, then went back to it after a week. The other one drinks and wants to stop but has no confidence. 

 We have 4 new people we are teaching and they are really cool!!!  

Not a whole lot this week. Oh we had a Pioneer day party and had 2 tours of the building!! It was sweet!!!

Everything is AWESOME!

Alright this week has been awesome!!!! This week we had a zone conference and we talked about the gathering and scattering of Israel and we got really in depth about it. and It all led back to me thinking about our TSAM purpose statement:

"I have been called of Jesus Christ through inspiration, to serve in the Texas San Anotion Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will bodly invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement,repentance,baptism,recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I will stand for truth and return with honor. Behold, I am disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, they they might have everlasting life. He aqui, soy discuplo de Jesucristo, El hijo de Dios. He sido llamado por El, para declarar su palabra, entre los de su pueblo. El fin de que alcancen la vida eterna. Every Sister, every Elder, every month." 

So this really has impacted me this week and how I have worked. and It has been awesome!!! We started the non smoking program with our investigator last Monday and he has not smoked since then and he says he feels so good!!! He is doing awesome!!!! We have a few other investigators who are kind of progressing as well and so our main goal is to get them towards baptism and get that desire.

This week I saw a bit of the germany and Brazil game when we stopped at a less active part member's. Man germany destroyed. Anyways I hope you have a great week and I love all of you!!!

Happy 4th of July!

What a great week we had with 4th of July this week!!!! 'Merica! Anyways this week we found a really cool family where the wife is less active and the husband is a non-member and they had us over for dinner so that we could talk to the husband about the church. We shared the Restoration with him and he was so excited about it all and when we got to the Book of Mormon he thought it was so cool!! The wife's mom is not a member and she started to get a little defensive about it (she had been out of the room for it) and was wondering why we did not read from the Bible. The wife got really into it and started sharing her testimony of it and then the husband even read a little to her and that kind of calmed her down haha. As well we were able to visit one of our investigators who is trying to stop smoking and he read chapter 4 of 1 Nephi and thought it was really interesting and he wants us to help him stop smoking weed so we are going to start that with him!!!

This week I got to go on an exchange with Elder Watts and we had a great morning work out of playing soccer on a really really nice high school field at 6:30 in the morning and it felt so good!!!

New Comps and the Zoo

So this week has been an exciting week!!! Last Monday we went to the San Antonio Zoo and had a blast!! Not as good as the Pheonix Zoo of the San Diego, but it was good!! Elder Campbell is now gone and enjoying the life of a normal RM. And because of that we ha a lot of weird things happen. One was we had to help another area because a missionary went home as well and we had to adopt that missionary comp in for 2 days. The next day we had to go to Stone Oak for a DL meeting for Elder Gonzalez and it was pouring!!! It felt like I was driving through Niagra Falls!! We then got back and heard that we had another Elder with us as well. So I was with two english speaking Elders and Elder Gonzalez was with Elder Warren. On Thursday we had Transfers and Elder Warren and I had to wait till 5pm to get our compaions from Austin and so we tagged along with the North Zone leaders and had a blast. Saw some of the World Cup when the U.S. was playing Germany. 

My new companion just came from Round Rock, Elder Johnson and he is super chill and half Mexican haha we have had so much fun since he got here. He thinks it is so cool that we have such a ghetto area :) 

We had a few lessons with some of the people we have been teaching and we are trying so hard to get them progressing even farther. some jsut need to come to church or get over surgery!!We are making a game plan and then go forward in faith and work hard! I love you all!!!

Transfer News!

Well I have news for transfers!! Elder Gonzalez is leaving and going District leader and I am staying and getting a new companion.

Well this week has been really interesting!!! We got to teach a less active family who referred themselves to the missionaries. The catch. The parents are deaf and the son had to translate. It was so cool learning a few new words in sign language!!! During this week as well we happened to drop by on a few families who were watching the world cup.We did not get in haha but I did see a glimpse of Mexico giving Brazil a challenging game haha.

This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Jackson; one of the President's assistants and it was really cool! They had been looking for new people to teach and so we were stopping by someone who they were teaching, but no  one answered. So we stopped by a random door. A lady answered and we told her what we did and what we shared and she wanted us to stop by again and she had been looking for a church to get baptized and so we found them :)

Soldiers for Christ

Well to start out and get it out of the way, the Spurs won!!! When all the cars started honking and fireworks and cars driving to down town started happening it got crazy!!!

Anyways this week we were able to talk to a lot of people and share the Restoration with them!!! There were a lot of open hearts this week and so we are really excited!! This upcoming Sunday is transfer calls and next Thursday is Transfers so we shall see what happens this upcoming week! Otherwise there has not been a whole lot this week besides working hard and trying to get people progressing. That has been one of the challenges for this week. 

I love you all and I hope y'all have a great week!!!

Meet our new friend, Rocky....

I have heard so much about all the Spiritual events going on at home. Camp, Mission calls and so on. It is truly incredible with what is happening in the world!!! Congrats to you all!!!

So this week we had a really good week!! We stopped by the man we have been teaching and his brother happened to be there as well! And so we taught both of them, and both of them were so sincere!! And it is crazy!! His brother was wearing a white tank top and he had tattoos and looked like some from Fast and Furious. But they had a true desire to listen and try to figure out for them selves!! It was so cool!! 

As well we were given an amazing referral this past week (and it was from Boerne!) This man has a heart of gold!!! He knows a few members who just moved up to Boerne and so he was curious about the church. We have not been able to meet with him all week till yesterday when he came to Stake Conference with this family!!!! He loved it and later that day we had a lesson with him and he really wants to know for himself! There were so many things that he noticed during the talks that he brought up during the lesson and it shocked me that he absorbed so much!

So bringing up Stake Conference, at the adult session we had a really cool experience! President Slaughter gave an awesome presentation about member missionaries and all they have to do is say a simple sentence. " Would you be WILLING to listen to a BRIEF message about(any topic)" The main words are the ones in all caps. He made it really exciting because then all 20 missionaries got up and went around the Chapel and helped them practice saying the sentence. Everyone really enjoyed it!!! What was funny is that he said if they say no, just say "okay well the invite is always there. So how about them Spurs?" haha it was really relaxed and so we are excited to see the members apply that!!!

P.S. we had another dog follow us. his name is Rocky :)

It's all about the Spurs...

Well this week has been interesting!!!! First off the excitement of the Spurs going to the Finals, All saturday night we could hear car horns, yelling and I think a few gunshots as well haha it is hard not to get caught up in the excitement while being in San Antonio. The only thing is that people do not want to talk to us as much because they are busy haha.

Anyways this week I got to go on exchanges with Elder Prince this past week. So I went to the South part of our ward (there are 2 sets of missionaries covering the ward) and I got to ride bikes around. We rode like 20 miles haha but we had a few really good lessons with some of their investigators. One is from Africa and speaks english and french and so we talked to him about baptism and its importance. But he did not understand the divinity of Christ and he does not want to change religions (Islamic).

In our area we met this really cool family and The Husband really wants to learn, but he is trying to stop smoking weed. But he has that desire to try and Him and his family came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it!!