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!