My Heart is in Texas: The Most LEGENDARY week of my mission!

Caution: This is going to be a long post. But, every experience was amazing and miracles continue to happen!

Monday: Fishing

· Preparation day we got to go fishing in a nearby stream next to our apartment with our zone. Of course we didn't have fishing poles so we just used fishing line, hook, and hot dog...yes hot dog…and guess what? I caught my first fish! It may have been a small one, but a fish nonetheless.

· Frank, an investigator we met while walking around the park near the mall came to Family Home Evening! He has been to 2 youth conferences with a friend who now is attending BYU and he loves the Book of Mormon. When we met him and asked about the Book of Mormon he told us it was amazing. His friend asked, "Oh so it’s good?" and he replied, "NO. It's AMAZING!"

· Received news that the forecast for Friday was supposed to be thunder and rainstorms and we have been planning a missionary bonfire activity for 2 weeks – see Thursday and Friday below.

Tuesday: CHURCH TOUR

Meeting with Brandon, our miracle tracting investigator. Sister King and I were so nervous to meet with him and we couldn't figure out what we wanted to do. Whether we wanted to give a Restoration lesson, a church tour, or a combination of both. A church tour is when we basically give a tour of the chapel, the paintings, the classrooms, and the baptismal font. We talk about what to expect when attending a meeting, the sacrament, the bishop, and of course baptism.

We both felt uneasy and really really nervous about the meeting and we didn't have a plan. We decided to just cover all of our bases since our lessons NEVER go as planned and go early to get the chapel ready for a church tour if we decided to do one. As we were turning on the lights we went into the chapel and the spirit hit us like a brick wall as soon as we stepped inside. An overwhelming sense of peace came over us and we both looked at each other and knew we had to do a church tour.

We first got to know Brandon and he truly has been prepared by the Lord. He has attended other churches but was offended by some of the things they believe in, such as babies going to hell if they die before they are baptized. We walked into the chapel with him and again the spirit was so strong there. He could feel it too and he said that he felt so peaceful. We continued on with the tour and talked about the many pictures hanging in the halls. He really liked the picture of Christ knocking on the door but there is no handle on his side. We explained that like he was talking about earlier with us, Christ is always there. We are the ones that have to open the door and let him in.

We continued on with the Restoration and he accepted everything that we taught him. It was more of a conversation then a lesson. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he was so intrigued and interested! Everything seemed to clique with him. He was so excited to start reading and knew that the book would help him strengthen his relationship with his Heavenly Father. We told him that it was not a coincidence that we had met him and he said, "Nothing is a coincidence."

10 minutes after the lesson we received a text from him telling us that he had posted about meeting with us on Facebook and that his mom wrote and said that she wants to come to the next lesson! Sister King and I screamed, hugged, and were jumping up and down all at the same time in the church parking lot!

Wednesday: 4 New Investigators!

Probably the longest and most busy day of my mission so far – I didn't even have time to go to the bathroom! J

Sister King and I attended The Mission at Lone Star. Afterwards a girl stood up and started asking, "Who here is sick? I know (and points) she has a broken ankle. But does anyone have depression, is sick, or has a mental illness? Well, today Jesus wants to heal you and perform a miracle. So if you are in need see a leader."

Sister King and I went about and started talking and meeting new people and in the corner of my eye I see a whole bunch of people crowding around the girl with the broken ankle. They are touching her shoulder, squatting near her, touching her head, and praying. I felt so sad for them. They had so much faith that it would work, however they are missing one key thing. The priesthood power- the authority to act in God's name. I was so grateful to have the knowledge that our church has the authority and priesthood power that Jesus Christ had when he was on the earth to perform miracles and blessings.

We then rushed back to the Klein Stake center as we had a lesson with Frank. Since the church tour with Brandon had gone so well we decided to give Frank a tour even though he had been in the building before. As always the spirit was so strong in the chapel and Frank did not want to leave. He felt so peaceful. But we moved on to the baptismal font and had a Restoration lesson right in front of the font! At the end of the lesson Sister King asked frank if he would be baptized and he said that he had already been baptized. We then explained the priesthood authority and starting with a clean slate. Sister King didn't back down and again asked if he would be baptized... and he said YES!

We had to run to our dinner appointment but Frank stayed at the chapel with a member of our ward to watch the Restoration video. He texted us later that night and said that he absolutely loved the video and wanted to watch the full version.

Thursday: Fasting for Sunshine

The weather started to turn for the worse and it was raining…a lot. We were really nervous that all of our wood for our bonfire was going to be wet. We didn't know if we should continue on with the bonfire and were thinking about alternative plans. But, we were not going to give up! We wanted this bonfire to happen! I have never prayed so much for strength and also that it would not rain!

So we decided to get tarps to cover the wood... which we did in skirts... in the rain... trudging through a muddy field. Over the past week Sister King and I have recently discovered that there are many things that you can do in a skirt!

Friday: The Big Day- Bonfire Time

After much prayer, sister King and I awoke to a massive thunder and rainstorm. We were so discouraged we couldn't even work out that morning. We continued to pray and pray and pray. We were debating on cancelling the bonfire on the way to District meeting but when we got there and were talking to the missionaries in our district they told us to not give up and keep with the faith! They said that either way it would be a fun time! So we decided to keep going with the bonfire plans.

We went to go and check the wood and when we got there we found that the tarps had blown off half of the wood and it was soaked! The field was also really muddy and flooded as well where we were supposed to have the bonfire. We went up the road to a members lot and checked their field and it wasn't as muddy. So we decided to move the fire there... But one problem. We didn't have wood anymore.

On the way home Sister King and I tried to think where we would find dry wood or pallets. Out of the corner of Sister King's eye she saw at a True Value Hardware Store that there was wood under a covering. So we pulled in to the parking lot and saw that they had wood pallets in the corner too. We went inside to ask how much the wood pallets were and this is the conversation we had with the owner.

Looking Sisters: "Hi Sir. We are having a bonfire activity for our church and are wondering how much the wood pallets are in your parking lot?"

Bob: "Well how many do you need?"

Looking Sisters: "Well how much are they?"

Bob: "How many do you need?"

Looking Sisters: "Umm... Like 10?"

Bob: "Well since it’s for your church you can have them and I'll give you a pile of dry logs for free too. Do you have a truck to take the pallets?"

Looking Sisters: "No. We will have to pick them up later."

Bob: "Well I have a truck. How far away is it? I'll have my worker load them up and take them to the place where you are having the bonfire."

And so the worker loaded the pallets into Bob's truck and followed us to our member’s property and unloaded them. Sister King and I were ecstatic! We could not believe the generosity of this man! It was a miracle. He was so Christ like and generous, we were so thankful and indebted to him. We covered this wood and the weather was starting to turn around. It was only sprinkling a little bit so we texted everyone saying that the bonfire was still going to happen rain or shine.

And the Lord will provide... It didn't rain the entire activity. We had a huge bonfire and it was a big success. We had about 60 people there and 13 non-members! Everyone enjoyed themselves and since it was so great we are planning to have another bonfire in a couple of months.

Saturday: BlueBell Ice Cream

After a long week we decided to treat ourselves to our very own personal tub of BlueBell Ice Cream :)

Heavenly Father has blessed me so much this week with the many miracles that happened. My faith was tested but The Lord Will Provide (seems to be our motto these days). I know that none of these miracles and events could have happened by coincidence. None of it was Sister King and I. We were fulfilling our duty and the Lord was working through us.

I know this is the true church and that prayer truly works. Faith brings Hope!

Love ya'll

Sister Loo