7/15/2024

Ok ok ok…. Sorry that there hasn't been an email in the past 2 weeks. Things got crazy over here. First, P-Day was moved to the 4th of July and then on Monday the 8th as many of you probably know, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Houston. Now for a super long email to cover the most important things starting all the way back on June 24th!

Monday June 24th.

Simple day. We went to Subway and I was going to try the foot-long cookie but they were all out which was super unfortunate. I'll have to try it another day. We started playing this game with the other Elders called Dominion. For those at home, I will be playing this card game with you when I get back. It is a deck building game so that's fun. After Pday time we had a lesson and that is about it. These friends we are teaching are super open and receptive to learning more. It is really cool. 

Tuesday June 25th

We kinda went everywhere in our area. We went to the east side of our area and then took the train over towards the middle. At some point we went to visit a referral who was at a behavioral hospital. How he was able to put in the referral is beyond my knowledge because the only thing he could use was a land-line phone on the wall of the area he was in. Security was super tight and we were just barely allowed to bring in a Book of Mormon. This guy was being taught by the missionaries a lot back in Idaho so he already knew what we taught. He just really wanted his own Book of Mormon again so he could read it. Actually super cool thing that happened. After that we made our way to the south of our area. After our time down there we made our way through Hermann park to Lorenzo who gave each of us a full rotisserie chicken. What a day.!

Wednesday June 26th

Super fun District Council. Elder Babcock was asked to give a training and then it turned out he was on exchange outside the area so Elder Cook gave one of his super fun last minute trainings. By the end we were all saying we need to S.L.A.P. our friends. However I can't remember what it stands for. This is also the day that the Richards took flight and they left the Mission chat. It was super sad to see but we are also so excited to have the Garns here in the THSM. 

Thursday June 27th

It was a super good day. Except I got my first flat tire but that was quickly fixed with a patch. We were still in the apartment so that's all good. We met someone named Mattie and invited her to Bible study that night and she brought her friend too. It was soooooo cool!

Friday June 28th

I was among the first to have an interview with President Garn. He is super awesome! He is also a little shorter than I thought but that won't stop him! He has got enthusiasm for this great work. I told him that it would be cool if I could work towards going Spanish so I need to really practice Spanish. That night we got kicked out of an apartment but to be fair Google Maps does say it's student housing. 

Saturday June 29th

Right as we were about to go out I noticed my bike tire was flat. The patch that we put on had a small leak so we fixed that but by that point it was too late to go out on the bikes so we hitched a ride with the other Elders to the Baptism of their friend Kiera. That evening we met a guy named London who was kinda new to the area but he said he has lived in the area before. He was super chill. I found a sign that says “No Dumping Allowed” and put it on the wall next to the toilet just to decorate the apartment a little more. 

Sunday June 30th

We got 2 friends to church. Stephenie and Troy. Stephanie is almost ready for her own Baptism so that is really cool. Troy made so many member connections. After church we had a Linger Longer and Troy talked to so many different members. It was super cool. 

Monday July 1st

Instead of having P-Day today it was moved to Thursday the 4th so it became a normal P-Day. About this point I started watched on my weather app and Google Maps a storm starting to hit the Caribbean. Hurricane Beryl I just kinda felt like it would come this way. We had to fix Elder Andersons bike tire and we met 3 new people. Really cool and it was also getting so hot. Humidity is so annoying. 

Tuesday July 2nd

We were going to do a stop teaching contact if this person didn't answer the door and then they answered the door! It's almost like they only answer when you are about to stop teaching. Any other missionaries get that? We later started talking to a guy at a park just about life. It was a really nice conversation. We talked for about 30 minutes. I really hope we run into him again. 

Wednesday July 3rd

We had a nice district council and then went to Hermann Park to meet up with a friend. That park is actually super cool! If you visit Houston I will recommend going there and exploring it. There is so much there! It's like Central Park in NYC but in Houston and not as big but still so cool! Our friend Mattie came to Bible study again and brought someone else and her friend from last time joined on the Facebook live for it. They have that fire to learn more and it is awesome!

Thursday July 4th

P-DAY FINALLY!!! Going a week and a half without P-Day is super weird. We went to Sugar Land for an activity with half the mission. It was a bunch of outdoor games in the heat of Houston which is all part of the experience. They only had us do 2 hours of work at any time of the day we chose so we got that done right after the activity so we could have our evening. Then we played a few games of Dominion with the Elders. I didn't get to watch any fireworks because they wanted us in our apartments at 8 and the sun went down around 8:30. I did hear the fireworks though as I tried to fall asleep. 

Friday July 5th

We got to use the car for half the day which was super nice. Our recent Convert Dennis really wants to go to the Temple and so we are really trying help him get the things he needs for that. After that we had Olive Garden provided by Rosenda our amazing member. We were getting ready to go do some finding when a random member texted us who is new to the ward. He just wanted to meet us and get to know us. He is super cool and it really made his day that we stopped by. 

Saturday July 6th

Elder Anderson had a zoom meeting and we had a media call so we were in the apartment for a long time. Then it started to rain really hard so we couldn't go out on the bikes. We were stuck. We had a lesson with a friend but the member came in clutch. Brother Peterson came and picked us up for the lesson. After the lesson the rain had stopped thankfully and we were able to get out for the rest of the evening on bikes. 

Sunday July 7th

It got super stormy once church started but that was short lived. However, Hurricane was suppose to make landfall tonight. It was slowly traveling north along the coast. I could barely see the top of it on my weather app radar. We chilled that night with the other Elders before we had to go to bed. 

Monday July 8th

HURRICANE BERYL

P-Day just kinda said Adiós. I woke up a little early to some super strong wind. This is about 6:15 so the storm has been here for about 6 hours. We quickly got ready for the day and made our way across the parking lot to the other Elders apartment. We planned to wait out Hurricane Beryl by playing Dominion. The power was flickering and eventually went out around 10-11. I just put everything into the freezer to keep cold for as long as I could. About 12-1 the storm had passed and the sun started to come out. Because we lost power we also lost the cell towers so our connection was little to none. When we could get connection we got the text that said to stay inside our apartments and to not go outside and we would receive further directions at 6. The time came and we didn't get any directions. At about 8 they said that if you don't have power, reach out to members and find a place to stay with power. We finally went outside and saw the damage done. There were a bunch of panels ripped off the apartment buildings and so many trees fallen down. We never were able to find a member for the first night so the APs had us go all the way to their apartment complex and stay in an empty apartment with 3 other Elders. We had 7 of us in there with only 2 beds. That ended our Monday here in Houston. 

Tuesday July 9th

Zone Conference. Yep the day after a Hurricane. We got up and had about 15 missionaries in the apartment gym. Then the Vietnamese Elders made us all breakfast. Zone Conference was super cool. It was our first one with President and Sister Garn. They care so much about this work and I am so stoked for it! Afterward we went back to apartment to see if it had power. It still didn't have power so we continued to reach out to members. Eventually the Norman's responded and invited us. We went straight there. They live in a high rise that looks over Midtown and over to Greater Uptown. It was such a cool view. I felt like I was on vacation staying in a Hotel.

Wednesday July 10th

Morning was great. We got to work out in the Norman's apartment gym which had a nice view of Downtown and I-45. We did service all day. There was a service setup by the city to hand out water and Ice. I was just with the Ice the whole time. We finished off the day with all 4 of us at Lorenzo to eat. 

Thursday July 11th

We went back to do more of the service and we waited for 2.5 hours and the trucks never came so it was canceled. What a great use of time. It started to rain but someone gave us some leftover pizza so that was epic. We then biked our way up to 4th ward to visit with a friend and Elder Anderson got another flat tire. The rain continued on and off. 

Friday July 12th

We were in a lot doing our planning. Daily, weekly, Studies, all that great stuff. We were just about to get going out for the day and we get a call that they are doing more of that service with the water and Ice and the other Elders dragged us into that so we went there. That ended up going for 4.5 hours. I was inside the ice trailer the whole time which was super nice because it was really hot outside so I was basically in AC. We got through 5 pallets of Ice which was crazy. I can imagine that each pallet holds around 100 bags of ice 20 pounds each. That took up the rest of the day. 

Saturday July 13th

My first normal work day since before Hurricane Beryl. We were going to do 2 different services though that would've taken all day but both got canceled for us. The trains started to run again. We met with our friend Charlotte who met with missionaries a really long time ago. She already had her own copy of the BOM. Later in the evening while knocking doors we met a guy who sounded like he may have met missionaries before and just kinda bashed but was nice about it. It was a chill evening. 

Sunday July 14th

Church was super good! Charlotte came along with our other friend Kaushik! He just got back from a trip to Utah and he was able to visit my family back on the 4th. He made it back just in time for the Hurricane. After church we had a lesson with another friend Marlie. She is super nice and open to learning more. We just need to take it nice and slow. 

There we go, all caught up. Again sorry about the super long gap with no emails. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did typing it. Now I mest go to bed because I am indeed very tired. Also all pictures I have thus far are on the Google Photos. 

Goodnight.