My Heart is in Texas: Tis' the Season...

Texas Christmas Tree Finding in the Humidity

This week my companion and I decided to get a tree. Since I am from Oregon I had to have a real tree! When we went to go and get our tree it was humid and 80 degrees outside! Very different from the rain and cold in Oregon. Sister King had never been to cut her own tree so we found the only tree farm in Texas (as you can imagine it is very hard here to have real Christmas trees) and looked at the piece of paper with prices. You can only imagine my face when I looked down and a 5 foot tree was $50!!! So we took some pictures and went to Wal-mart to buy a tree (they are the only grocery store that have trees in their parking lot)... When Sister King comes to visit Oregon then she can have the experience of cutting down a tree. :) A sister in our ward let us borrow some lights and ornaments and we decorated our tree this week. I love the smell of the tree in the house! It brought the Christmas spirit into our home immediately.

Two White Women

This week when we were tracting after visiting a less active we knocked on the door and we hear, "Who is it?" and then "Its two white women. Two white women." To our surprise the door opens and two black ladies are standing there. So I say, "Hi. We are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." Then one of the ladies walks off shaking her head "Oh dear..." haha. Okay? Got a couple of laughs from that experience.

Prayers for NO TRANSFER

Sister King and I are already praying that we don't get split up as transfers are coming up in 3 weeks. Do you think we are starting a bit early? :) I am so blessed to have her as a companion and we really mesh well together. We continually ask the same questions at the same time (which can be embarassing at times) and finish each others sentences. I am so grateful for her wonderful example and testimony.

Miracles at Church

Yesterday at church Sister King and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off! We had 5 less actives at church and a Potential Investigator, Bryce! It was a miracle! There were so many people at church and the chapel was filled. Sister King and I had a pretty discouraging and slow week and so we were so uplifted by the amount of members we had at sacrament meeting.

Then to top it off, we gave a lesson in Relief Society on Missionary work. It was amazing! We had a lot of participation from the sisters and we made a goal to have 3 sisters baptized by February 14th as a Relief Society. At the end of the lesson I played I Know That My Redeemer Lives (my favorite song) while the sisters thought of at least 4 people they could reach out to. We then took 5 minutes and invited them to pray about the names that they had written about and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was overwhelming in the room. I could feel of Heavenly Father's love for each individual that each of the sisters were praying about. A few of the sisters were even in tears! I look forward to hearing about their missionary experiences and hope that the lesson motivated them to Hasten the Work! As I type, we just received a text message from a sister about a friend that she knows who is less active and wants us to reach out to him!

A few quotes we shared with the sisters on missionary work:

“Brothers and sisters, as surely as the Lord has inspired more missionaries to serve, he is also awakening the minds and opening the hearts of more good and honest people to receive His missionaries. You already know them or will know them... You too are an important part of this unfolding miracle. If you're not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart- painted, as Paul said, “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” - Elder Neil L. Andersen

“The key is that you be inspired of God, that you ask Him for direction and then go and do as the Spirit prompts you. When members view the work of salvation as their responsibility alone, it can be intimidating. When they view it as an invitation to follow the Lord in bringing souls unto Him to be taught by the full-time elders and sisters, it is inspiring, invigorating, and uplifting. We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior.” - Elder M. Russell Ballard

Investigator Update

Juwan & Tamara - Since Tamara is 17 we thought it would be best to pass them off to the family ward elders so that they can go to church together. We are still going to be keeping in contact with Juwan to invite him to YSA activities.

Fitz- This is an investigator that wanted to know the truth about Mormonism from The Mission Christian Group from LoneStar. He heard rumors from others in the group about us being a cult and other anti-mormon facts. But, he was sweet enough to come and talk to us and has a desire to know the truth. He told us that he did not want to convert but we will let the spirit work on him and see what happens. :)

Please specifically keep in your prayers the following individuals...

Brandon - That he will remember the excitement that he had in reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us. Brandon has been really busy the past couple weeks and we have not been able to get in contact with him. Satan is really working hard on him because he was so prepared to hear the truth of the restored gospel.

Frank - That his heart will be softened to come to church and realize the importance of the Book of Mormon.

Julie - That she will remember the spirit she felt at church. We have not been able to get in contact with Julie for over a month now but she is still in our prayers. She was also very prepared but we have not seen any response from her since our first meeting.

Love you all forever and always!

Sister Loo