12/30/19

Hello friends and family and HAPPY NEW YEAR. This week was great. I wanted to start out with some funny stories.

So to start out earlier this week while me and my companion were visiting some inactive members it was really dark and we had just knocked on this person's door.  No one answered so we were going to leave a card with a scripture and note inviting them to church. It was really quiet while this was all happening for like a couple minutes, then out of nowhere a ton of firecrackers started going off behind us on the other side of the street. It made me and my companion jump for a second but after it was really funny. We thought it was a gun or something but it was all good. A couple days ago we were helping get ready for a baptism and no one knew how to play the piano but I did so I said I could play and so I got put on the spot and the baptism was like literally in 10 minutes. So I basically winged a couple of songs on the piano that I didn't even know how to play. The first song was really good but when I played the second song everything went downhill. I basically played the introduction twice and then lost where I was for the rest of the song but it was really funny because I was trying to stay with everyone singing but I sounded really bad. It just goes to show that you should probably practice before you start playing in front of people haha. After the baptism everything else was good. 

The rest of the week was really good. We had service at the food bank and helped sort food and move food. We moved it all so that it was ready for the trucks. Most of our mission zone was there so there was like 20 missionaries. 

I finally read the whole Book of Mormon and honestly it was really good. I'm planning on reading it again and in Spanish too. It's perfect because of the New Year. I know it is possible to read it. If you read maybe a page or 2 a day you'll finish it fast. We did have 2 baptisms since last week and that was really awesome for our district. We have a couple other people on date and that's really exciting. We haven't had a whole lot of time to go tracking or finding new people this month but now that the holidays are over it should be moving a lot faster. We also had trainers training meeting this week too so we went half way to Austin. We counseled with our mission president and learned on ways we can use technology and other stuff. After we started heading back we went to a gas station called Buc-ee's. It's basically the biggest gas station ever. It has like a 100 gas pumps and a giant store. It has its own logo and everything. That was really fun but we only stayed for like 30 minutes so I'll have to come back there again sometime. 

In 2 Nephi 31:20 I liked it because it basically says that if we press forward with steadfastness in Christ and feast upon his word and endure to the end we will have eternal life.

I know that we can all live forever if we follow Jesus Christ's example and follow his teachings. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father and all that he does for me and others. 

I hope y’all are having a great week and I can't wait to email y’all again next week.

These are some photos of Buc-ee's, and us serving at the food bank. I'll try to get some better photos next week.

December 23, 2019

Hello friends and family, I wanted start out with saying Merry Christmas. I'm so happy to be out here and be sharing the true meaning of Christmas and light the world. This month has been so amazing and everything. We have had lots of opportunities to serve others. 

This week we had the opportunity to go serve by harvesting vegetables from a garden. It was really fun and we did a lot. All the food we harvested is going to the food bank and to people who need it. We spent a couple hours doing that and we harvested lettuce, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, and other plants. 

On Thursday we had zone conference. It was so fun because we saw all the missionaries in the San Antonio area. We had a really big Christmas dinner with BBQ Roast and Turkey and cobbler for dessert. It was way good. We also got all our packages too so now they’re under the tree in my apartment. We had a couple trainings on how to teach better and that was fun. Our mission president gave everyone TSAM aprons for cooking which were super cool. 

On Saturday we had our first baptism. It was so fun and an amazing experience. We had lots of things to do to get ready. The person that was baptized was Jeriah. His grandpa baptized him so we just helped and had everything else ready. The spirit was really strong there. We got some pictures with them after. 

I feel like I'm pretty used to the mission life now and I'm helping more with teaching. My Spanish is slowly getting better. I can definitely understand a lot. I just can't speak it that well. 

I'm about to finish the Book of Mormon and hopefully I finish it before the end of the year. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much and I understand a lot more now. I feel a lot closer to my Heavenly Father and I know for sure that this book is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a vision and Joseph restored the church in the world. I know that we can be with our father again if we repent and are baptized and do everything we can to be like him.  The Holy Ghost will be with us always if we make good choices and strive to be like our Savior. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon yet I invite you all to read it and pray to know if it’s true. I know that our Heavenly Father will give you an answer if you do.

I hope y’all have a great week and Christmas. I love and miss you all. 

Here are some pictures from this week.

Me and my companion at Jeriah’s baptism, our Christmas tree and presents, some of our district at the garden with the food, everyone at the zone conference, and a picture of us at a members house for dinner.

December 16, 2019

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great week. This week we have been working really hard. We found 7 new people to teach and it's been really fun. We have also been doing a lot with light the world. We did a service project on Friday and we handed out food at a food distribution place. It was really fun because we got to talk and get to know all kinds of people. After that we got to take some of the extra food home too haha. We had a ward Christmas party after that. It was fun because they had lots of food and lots of music. We ended bringing a ton of tamales home because they had so many extra. So now we have a fridge full of tamales haha. We also wrapped book of Mormons and the members were going to hand them out as Christmas gifts. It's really fun to do all these activities.

Funny story.  I guess everyone in my district likes to play Pokémon and they all have cards and everything and play it on p-days. So I ended up getting a card deck and I'm learning how to play now haha.

We have a person on date for baptism next week so that's super exciting. He's 9 years old and his name is Jeriah and he is so awesome. His family aren’t members but his grandpa and us have been working with him and he's really excited and ready to be baptized. 

We are working on a couple other people and trying to get a date for them. It's really cool to help people and change their lives. All the people we teach and find are ready to be taught the truth. Light the world has been a really good way to find people. We use Facebook a lot too for online proselyting which is cool to. 

We’re all getting excited for Christmas and we have a little tree in our apartment haha. We get to go zone conference next week and get Christmas presents and that's something exciting. 

I hope ya’ll have an awesome week and keep on lighting the world. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and everything. I love and miss you all.

These are some of the pictures from this week.

Us playing Pokemon, our Christmas Tree, The wrapped book of Mormon present,  the ward Christmas party, and the food distribution center.