My Heart is in Texas: A Week of Firsts...

1. It's the first week of my last transfer! NOOOO!

2. We were knocking doors and this Spanish man thought I looked like I was from Russia... I was shocked. I guess Nica is right, I am so white. I might need that tannin lotion after all!

3. I taught my first mini Restoration lesson in Spanish on my own! I've had opportunities to contact and talk to people about the Book of Mormon on my own when we have been on exchanges with the English sisters, but this week I taught when on exchanges again part of the Restoration!

4. Natasha is our YSA investigator and she came back from Winter break with such a strong testimony. She is reading the Book of Mormon each day and doing scripture studies through Skype with one of her best friends. She loves, of course, the story of Ammon! She came to church for the first time this week and loved it!

5. I got sick this week... the first time on my mission. But I am grateful that it wasn't even anything bad. Having good health on the mission has truly been a blessing.

6. We were out in the back country tracting and I have to admit there are some scary dogs. Everyone seems to love their pit bulls here... We usually are pretty careful. Well this one house had a BEWARE OF DOG sign on it (we usually ignore these as well as No Soliciting signs), we looked at the dog and it didn't seem that mean. It was barking at as and we slowly approached the driveway up to the door and it wasn't moving to attack. So we thought we were fine, knocked on the door, and started talking to a lady when all of a sudden this little dog out of the middle of nowhere comes and starts barking loudly at Hermana DeLaO and I. As we walked off, he bit both of us from behind on our ankles. It was a good thing we had our boots on!

7. I had Menudo for the first time at Gabby's house (see picture below)! I thought it was good except just like the lengua I had eaten earlier, I couldn't get out of my mind what it was. I think Menudo is like cow's stomach or something?

Being Bold and promising blessings

This week we met with a Less Active, H. Policarpo, and we talked to him about submitting to Heavenly Father's Will. We actually read the first Presidency Message with him where President Monson talks about his decision to withdrawl from the navy and take on the responsibilities of Bishop. It was the PERFECT message for all of our members to hear. I'm telling you, he is an inspired man.

But, we talked to him about the importance of church attendance... and he just wasn't getting it. I didn't really know how to say it, but I just opened my mouth and very boldly told him as best as I could, "Hermano we have received direction from our mission president to ask the members to make attending church a priority above anything else, even work and family. The Lord needs you. Even if you have to get a different job, we know that Heavenly Father will bless you more than you know." And then I passed it off to Hermana DeLaO to say the rest...

I didn't even feel bad about asking him to do so. I was so confident Heavenly Father would indeed bless him more than he thought possible, more than I knew was possible too!

As I was thinking about this during the week, I thought Why do I not even feel bad about this? I mean technically we are asking them to quit their jobs and take a HUGE step of faith! Some of them need this assistance to send money back to family in Mexico or they wont be able to pay their bills. But I have never been so certain of promised blessings these people would have than any other commitment I've ever given. I know Heavenly Father has the power to bless them SO much and that everything would turn out ok for them and their families.

... and he showed up at church this last Sunday. Hopefully this is the start of something!

Baptisms!!!!

I received such an awesome text from the Sam Houston 2nd Sisters that an investigator that I had found and taught for a short amount of time got baptized this last weekend! I was so surprised and shocked!

His name is Will and he is 19 and looks a little like Chris Brown. While on exchanges with Sister Fullmer, we were walking around and contacting and Will was a bit ahead of us. But he was the only one around, so I started walking quickly to catch up with him and then said, "Excuse me, have you seen missionaries like us before?" He didn't seem very interested and so we gave him a Restoration pamphlet.

Well Will ended up coming to church that week and we taught him the Restoration. As we were going the next week to follow-up with him we knocked on his apartment and his mom answered. She is deaf and so we had a conversation through writing on a notepad and she told us that Will was in Jail!

Apparently he had contacted a friend in the ward who he had gone to play church ball with a couple of times and said he wanted to come back to church! The sisters told me that he has grown so much and even bore his testimony this month during fast and testimony meeting! The gospel truly does change lives!

Then this weekend Amber, Lori's daughter, got baptized! She was beaming from ear to ear and so happy! At the end of her baptism she bore the sweetest testimony about how the gospel has blessed her life. The spirit was so strong! :)

Talk

This week last minute the bishopric asked me to give a talk. And they didn't give me a topic at all. It was actually a blessing as I was searching for what I should talk on, I was able to reflect on my mission and the many experiences I've had, the things that I have learned, and the miracles I have been able to witness.

As I was pondering, there were three main things that I have felt I have learned on my mission; Faith, Obedience, and Submitting to Heavenly Father's Will. As I kept studying and planning my talk I was filled with the spirit of gratitude for the experience of serving a mission- I would not trade it for anything! It truly has been the most inspiring, happiest time of my life. I just want to include some quotes and comments on each of these three topics.

Faith & Obedience -

I love what it says in the bible dictionary.

" [Faith] is more than belief, since true faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for."

So many times on my mission I have prayed for guidance and direction and I seem to get the same response over and over again... Have more faith! At times it has been difficult. More Faith?! Really! How can I have more Faith? But I have realized that Faith is something that we constantly need to work on and improve on. When we are increasing our Faith we are learning and acting, our testimony is growing. Faith is the initiator for Everything! No wonder it is the first principle of the gospel!

I believe Faith and Obedience works hand in hand together and I've learned that what it says in Isaiah 1:19 is SO true.

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land"

Submitting to Heavenly Father's Will-

I was able to share my testimony of my decision to stay in Texas. That sometimes what we want is not exactly what Heavenly Father wants for us. As I was doing so, I was impressed by how much Heavenly Father knows us. He knows what is best for us. And I definitely agree with him, being in Texas was the right mission for me. I needed to take that act of faith to trust him and he has blessed me tremendously! He has blessed me with the desires of my heart to learn more than I thought was possible!

Love Y'all!

Hermana Loo