10/23/2023

Week 4 Houston is not cooling off anytime soon.

Another week in this Great Work of the Lord.

There was some really awesome experiences this week so stay tuned.

Tuesday

I got to be on an exchange with Elder Biggs. He is awesome. Elder Biggs let me do more of the interacting and starting conversations with people and then he would join in. It really helped me build my confidence. 

Wednesday

The exchange finished at our district council. There were 2 families this night who thought they were feeding us. We figured everything out and made it work. We were just given a box of food to take back to our apartment which was awesome because it meant we didn’t need to make breakfast. The other dinner was a full steak. It was so big I barely finished it. Brother Johnson who made the steak really knows how to make a steak. After dinner we got to know the Johnsons better. Brother Johnson has done everything there is to do in theater. From playwriting to stage managing. He has done a lot. Because of that I was able to really connect with him. Throughout the conversation they told their whole story which is much better told by them rather than me. Regardless I felt the spirit very strong while getting to know them. They also had a very nice very cute yorkie. I just had to throw that in there. Picture down below.

Thursday

Thursday was a seemingly normal day. We had a mission zoom meeting and our weekly planning. We had dinner with the Price's which I have been waiting for ever since I got here. I love this family. I did so much scouting with them. Lynden is really cool and he went with us afterwards to a lesson. During this lesson we invited someone to be baptized. They said yes so we put someone on date. It was really cool. Now we just need to keep following up to make sure that he is ready and it could be my first baptism. Sister Price also gave us 2 dozen eggs because we only had 1 left in our fridge. I was very happy about that.

Friday

Friday was a crazy day. We had a spiritual high and a spiritual low. We found a guy, well actually he found us while we were knocking doors. He really wanted to talk to us but was on his way out the door. He said we should come back at 6 so we did and he showed up right at 6. His name is Brandon and really cool. He said both his bosses are members so he promised them the next time he saw missionaries he would talk to them and we happened to be those missionaries. He is really interested and we gave him a tour of the church, taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He is the person we have been looking for. I feel really good about it. 

Shortly after meeting Brandon we were in a neighborhood. We were talking to a nice couple and their neighbor drove in and instantly was like “I want to talk to you guys and learn about Jesus”. The spirit for me instantly left. He said he wanted to record this conversation and as soon as he said that both me and Elder Stober knew what was up. BIBLE BASHER 2.0. He was so anti and was yelling that the Book of Mormon is false and that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. Of course Elder Stober and I stayed calm and didn’t give them the reaction they wanted so his wife taking the video stopped and went inside. This whole conversation was wild. He said he was a Born again Christian and that he didn’t want us talking to his neighbors, and that if we did he would get the cops involved. Like what are the cops going to do? I remain unshaken by this but it really made me sad because the couple we were talking to seemed interested in what we had to say.

Saturday

Time to help clean the church. While dusting in the church I dusted across the top of a picture frame and a lizard fell. It really caught me off guard but I guess I should now be expecting lizards everywhere. It was really funny. A majority of my day was spent outside my area. Someone my companion had taught before was getting baptized so we got to drive all the way to the downtown area or at least South Houston (The main city not mission). I love seeing the big buildings but I still wasn’t close enough to truly enjoy them. The baptism service was awesome. There were 3 people total getting baptized. It is really awesome seeing the excitement of someone getting baptized and see their testimony. 

Afterwards we didn’t have much time but also no dinner appointment so my companion and I decided on little caesars pizza. We thought it would be fast but things looked like they were getting backed up but that could have also been a blessing. While waiting for our pizza we were able to talk to a few people. One person lives in the ward boundary of one of our wards. We invited them to church and gave them our number. The seemed interested but said they would have to come the next week because they were busy this last Sunday. All in all it was great. While walking around that evening I got a frog on my Book of Mormon. Take a look at the picture below.

Sunday

THIS SUNDAY WAS AWESOME!!!!

It was the Primary program for both wards I serve in. This put me on a spiritual high. I just had the biggest smile being able to watch and listen to the kids sing. They are adorable. That is the highlight of Sunday. For dinner we went to the Balisi’s and they served hamburgers and hotdogs. I made myself the Heburger. Those who know, know. Sunday was just an awesome day.

Doctrine of Christ Challenge.

For those reading in the Book of Mormon along side me in this challenge, I am now on page 80.

While in my personal reading I am now in the story of Abinadi and king Noah. I am now able to start using the Book of Mormon map I got in the MTC.

While on my mission I have already seen myself grow so much. I have grown in my Testimony for sure as I have been able to read more diligently and share with others. My confidence in talking to strangers has gone up and I love it. it has been a little over one month so let's see what 23 more months will do to me and my testimony.

Here are the pictures for your enjoyment.

                                               running on the treadmill (that's why it's blurry)