10/9/2023

Welcome to Houston. 

I made it to Houston on Friday. However there was still most of a week at the MTC + Conference. I shall begin there.

Conference was great. A lot of the missionaries all got together in the S3 Gym and watched it there. It was really cool to hear the sudden gasps of the crowd when they announced President Nelsons video message. 

I really enjoyed Elder Bednar and President Nelsons talks. I saw a message about the last days from Bednar and how we can prepare from President Nelson. Think Celestial. I heard that so many times. Also 20 temples is insane.

My Comp and I got super bored on Thursday. Our whole district left Thursday morning. This left Elder Child and I districtless. We got all packed before noon and then had nothing to do until the evening where we had just 2 more classes with some other districts. 

Friday morning was great. We woke up are 3:30 so we could be at the travel office at 4:07 in the morning. We took a bus to the Front Runner station and then was on the Front Runner for about an hour. My brother Hyrum got on the train and surprised me. We definitely didn’t plan that out before hand. We eventually got to the station to switch to the trax train that took us to the airport.

Our plane took off at 9:30. When I was saying my final goodbye to Utah and its amazing mountains for 2 years I just thought about the beautiful landscape. I thought about how God created this for us. This Earth was made so that we could come down here and gain physical bodies, use agency, and have faith in Christ. When seeing the Earth from above really gives a different prospective on things. 

After landing in Houston we were met with President and Sister Richards and the 2 AP’s. They are really fun and the got us going right away. We went to a park to do an OYM. I still don’t know what that stands for but it is talking to people and teaching about Jesus Christ. There were so many of us at this park it was difficult to tell who had already been talked to or not. After that we went to the mission office to meet our trainers.

My Trainers name is Elder Stober. He is from Heber City which is awesome. He has been out 18 months and I am his third child. (missionary trained). He is chill. I have the awesome opportunity of being the driver in this companionship right now which gives me first hand experience with Houston Drivers. They really are something. Almost no-one uses blinkers here. I never thought anything could be worse than Utah traffic but here we are.

Sunday was great. I found out I am assigned to 2 ward. Jones Creek and Pecan Grove. Everyone is so friendly and many have connections back to Utah so it is really cool. The Prices who I have known for a while are in this area so I got to surprise them at church today. I was so happy to see them. 

Now you have reached the end. Congrats for reading all that. There is more to say but I can’t write it all. Here are some pictures from my travels and boredom at the MTC for your enjoyment.