January 27, 2020

Hey Family and Friends,

This week was great and went by super fast. We had another baptism this last week on Saturday and that was really cool. I played the piano for the program and it was really fun. There aren’t a lot of people who can play the piano so whenever I do everyone is super grateful about it and its super cool. The work has been going really good and this week we had a really cool lesson with this family. We were teaching the Restoration lesson in English and Spanish so basically Spanglish. It was super cool because we were able to help answer a lot of his questions and we invited them to church and to meet with us again. The family seemed to have been looking for a church for a long time and we were excited to start teaching them and helping them. The spirit was really strong in the lesson and was a really good experience. This family is willing to change and that's super cool. It was able to strengthen my testimony and my companions in this lesson. 

This week we had dinner with the members everyday so we didn't really have to cook in our apartment. So now we have a little more food for us this week and that's great. In the mission you learn several skills and cooking is definitely one of them. We take turns cooking for each other Elders that live near us and its super fun to hear about their day and experiences. They are super awesome to talk to and practice Spanish with. This week we were able to have a lesson where some of the members of the church came with us. It was a really cool lesson and they helped out so much. They are both fluent in Spanish so it made the lesson go more smoothly. We ended leaving the people we taught with an invitation to come to church and they said they would give it a try next week.

I’m very grateful and this week was super fun. The weather in Texas has been really warm and it feels like summer already haha. I hope y’all have a great week and can't wait to talk to y’all next week.

January 20, 2020

Hey family and friends, this week was awesome and went so fast. First of I’m doing great and my Spanish is improving. I struggle everyday and have new obstacles but its great because I’m becoming better and more of a dignified missionary. This week it's been a little more cold so we had to wear our jackets more often. We were able to find 8 new people this week to teach as well which was awesome. One of the people we had a lesson this week was really cool. It was a pass off lesson to the sister missionaries so they were there also. We taught the restoration to this Mom named Alliene . We all ended up bearing our testimonies of the church and of the Book of Mormon and we invited her to read it and come to church the next day. Her son was baptized recently to so he was able to give his testimony as well and it was really cool to see. 

This week we used one of the Book of Mormon videos to teach a small lesson. We used Lehi's vision that's in 1 Nephi 8 to teach a little about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the video really helped the person we were teaching understand it better. He was really happy we showed him those videos because it helps us study and understand the Book of Mormon a little better. We invited him to show his family the rest of the videos and read the scriptures and we set an appointment for later next week. One funny story for this week was me and my companion were visiting a less active member at their house and while we were talking she looked at something on the ground and screamed and started stomping on it and stuff. It turns out that it was a giant rat that had been hiding behind her stove for at least a week or two. When it was dead she was sad about it and said "Pobrecito" which in Spanish means “poor little thing.”  It was really funny and the most random thing that happened this week. 

Me and my companion are trying to start a new thing in the mission for ministering to other missionaries. What we’re doing is singing a song to random Missionaries every night to cheer them up and get them pumped for mission work. Like who can't be happy after someone sings them a song. It's really fun and we’re getting some songs that Elder Waite can play on his guitar so it sounds better and stuff. Something funny that Me and Elder Waite are also doing is we are re-writing the lyrics to the Imagine Dragons song "RadioActive" to a mission appropriate song.  It’s really funny and cool to do. Once we finish re-writing the song we plan on sending a video of us singing it. 

A scripture everyone in our mission is trying to memorize is Ephesians 2:19-20

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, 

but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 

Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.

I love this scripture because it basically is saying that no one is a stranger to God and that his church is built from the apostles and prophets and especially Jesus Christ who is the main cornerstone of our church. We can all see Jesus in our lives if we follow his example.

I hope y’all are having a great week and everything. I will email y’all again next week.  

This is just a picture of me pretending to be a cowboy Haha.

1/13/20

Hey everyone this week was great. I'm getting better at understanding Spanish which is really cool. When we are walking around and are talking to people I can piece what they’re saying and kinda talk back. I’m not really good yet but I can have a small conversation. My area is doing really good and this Sunday we finished the lessons for one of our people were teaching. He is going to get baptized on the 25th this month. My companion and I are super excited for that. Today we went shopping and I bought myself a cowboy hat and some boots. Now I can say I'm a cowboy haha. We helped some other missionaries today also because their car was towed. So we picked them up and helped get there car back. 

Here's a little summary of my week.

Wednesday:

Today was good, Me and Elder Waite, and the other Elders in our district went to help a recent convert who needed to clean and organize stuff in his house. He's really cool to talk to and is about 25 years old. We were there for a couple of hours and Elder Waite found an old guitar and the person gave it to him for $5 dollars. After that we studied for a little bit and then had dinner with a member family. After we had a lesson with a person named Antonio who is visiting from another part of Texas. He is really awesome and is preparing to be baptized as well. Funny story, after when we had gotten home Elder Waite was playing with the guitar that he got and was cleaning it and stuff and I was reading my scriptures. A big black spider had crawled out of Elder Waite’s guitar onto his leg. When he noticed he jumped up and yelled and the spider flew across the room. It was super funny and we don’t know where the spider went so we ended up cleaning our room and vacuuming. It was so funny because it was really random and scary for a second haha.

Thursday: 

Today was great we ended up studying in the office until lunch and then we drove to the Catholic Charities food pantry. We helped clean and organize food onto the shelves. We also had transfers today and Elder Glade ended up leaving the area and we got a new Elder in our area now his name is Elder Trythal. He's really cool. Later that night we went to have our Spanish study with some other missionaries at WhataBurger. While we were studying a person walked into the restaurant and started talking to us. He was really strange and was probably on something. We asked him what his name was and he responded with “My name is Bigdaddy from Cincinatti with a catti but no catti." like super fast and talked really fast. It was really funny and he started dancing and rapping and stuff. We ended up leaving after that. 

Friday: 

Today was flipped a little. So we started the day with getting up and going to the Catholic Charities food pantry. We helped put food into a food truck for a couple hours and that was great. The food was gonna be handed out to the homeless or people that need help. After that we hurried home and grabbed our bikes and rode them across the street to the Tower of Americas. We had lunch up there and it was really cool because you can see everywhere because there’s no mountains and its all flat. After lunch we went to the observation deck and had our weekly planning session which is where we plan for the whole week. We were up there for a couple of hours. When we finally finished we finally got to have our study time and we usually do that in the mornings. We had dinner with a nonmember named Mark Ortis. We had been there before and he worked at the food bank so it was fun to see him.

Saturday:

On Saturday it rained super hard in the afternoon out of nowhere. It was raining so hard that the streets were flooding. Our parking garage started flooding too. When we were driving it was all dark and lightning was flashing all around. It was really cool too but a little scary to drive in. 

Sunday:

We had ward council in the morning today so we had to be at the church at 7. We ended up staying at the church most of the day and taught some lessons and helped some people. It was really good. It did feel a little slower that day but it was all good. 

I’m really grateful to be here and helping and serving other people. My testimony has grown so much. I'm reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and it's really fun. I hope you’re all having a great week and I can’t wait to talk to y’all next week.

Pictures from this week.

The hat and boots I bought, Me and Elder Waite eating lunch at the Tower of Americas and on the observation deck, A view of San Antonio, some of the rain that was flooding our garage, and Me and Elder Waite with a family.

1/6/20

Hey everyone Happy New Year.

This week was awesome and I'm doing great. We started having 9:00 church. I'm already used to that though so it didn’t do much. 

This week we did something called blitz with our zone and that's where and bunch of missionaries go and help out in another area and help find people to teach and stuff. It was really fun and after we had a little chicken and pizza and it was great. We didn’t really find a ton of people but we found some more inactive members and were able to share a message with them. 

We had dinner at a member’s house on Sunday and they had tacos and pizza. So basically that's Texmex for ya haha. It was really fun and after they had this weird cake where everyone takes a turn cutting a piece and there's a baby Jesus toy inside the cake. If you cut it and you have the toy you lose or something and have to bring food next time. It's some weird Spanish tradition. I ended up getting the baby Jesus so now next time we go I have to bring food haha. We went and got our car fixed this week because it was having some problems. While we were waiting we found a Corvette and pretended that we got an upgrade. It was awesome.

We also had the opportunity to attend a grave dedication which was really cool. The other Elders dedicated it. 

In my area we are doing really good. We plan on having some baptisms this month which is exciting. My Spanish is getting better and I'm able to talk and understand more. I'm grateful to be here helping the work and find people who need help. I hope yall have a great week and I'll talk to yall next week. 

These are some pictures of us playing Pokémon haha. 

Me at the aquarium with a shark

A really cool snake we saw

Me and my with some really good food we made

Me and my companion with OUR Corvette

Our ping pong table in our apartment.