April 27, 2020

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going awesome. My week was super great and we had some really amazing things happen. 

Tuesday: Today was super great. We taught like crazy today because we had a ton of referred people. We went to Catholic charities again this week which was super fun. We worked in the garden and helped clean up and harvest some carrots and some other things. It was super hot and humid today as well so we were sweating a ton. We got Puffy Tacos from a Mexican restaurant called Ray's. They were soo good. In my personal studies I found a new scripture I really love. In Mosiah 5:15 " Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works." 

Wednesday: Today was really fun. We rearranged our study room in our apartment. It was super nice to change it up and it actually made more room for us in our apartment so that was sweet. We had district council and had a really cool training by Sister Ibarra on Humility. Me and Elder Corry and made a super awesome intro video for our zone. Everyone is making one so we can get to know each other better.

Thursday: Today was good, we went to Mission Creek to drop of some hot wheel cars for our ministering Elders which was super fun. We went and dropped a Book of Mormon off at a person we were teaching on the way home. Later we had an English class and that was soo fun. The person knows a little English but not much. We helped her with some words and pronunciation. We watched the new Book of Mormon video about Alma and Amulek going to prison. It was so good. 

Friday: Today was great. We were pretty much finalizing everything for Rita's baptism tomorrow. Were super excited for her and her decision. We talked to our families for come follow me. We had a basketball free throw completion with the Mission Creek Elders over messenger. It was so fun. We also ran about 2 miles after we got home at 9. It was super nice and felt great. 

Saturday: Today was amazing. We had Rita's baptism today and it was so special and super cool because we got to meet her and her family for the first time in person. Same with ward haha. The Spirit was so strong and it was really cool to see Rita. She was so prepared and ready. Her husband and 2 sons aren’t members but they still came to support her which was cool. I was able to play the piano and I had practiced the song “When I am Baptized" all week for the baptism and it was super good. I’m so grateful that I can play the piano. It's been such a blessing for me on my mission. The whole ward watched the baptism through a giant Zoom call. Being able to help someone come into waters of baptism has been such an amazing experience for me and I've seen so many blessing of helping others and it's just really amazing. Right after the baptism when we were leaving, Me and Elder Corry were prompted to drop by a person we met on the phone the other day.  She lived up where we were and it was about 30 minutes away from where we lived so it was perfect. When we got to her house we saw her talking on the phone sitting on her porch. She saw us and told us to wait one second. When she got off the phone she burst into tears and started saying that she was just on the phone with a member of the Church and that God had sent us to her right then because she needed us. And us being there was a sign confirmation from him. We gave her a Book of Mormon and said a prayer for her and told her we would call her tomorrow. After that we left and we were like amazed of what just happened. We were very grateful that we were prompted by the Spirit to go to her house. On the way home we saw a homeless man and we stopped and gave him some snacks we had in the car and right after we did that another car stopped to give him money. We started a chain reaction which was super cool as well. We had “Razing Canes” from a member that wanted to feed us which was awesome.

Sunday: Today was great. We taught a ton of lessons and I was able to have a video call with my cousin Amber that lives in San Antonio. It was super cool to see her and get to know her and her family. We did a really fun building our foundation in Christ object lesson with them. We used (Helaman 5:12). We also fasted with a member family of our ward today. It was a really cool experience. 

I'm hope y’all had a great week! Can’t wait to talk to y’all again.

Pictures for this week:

1. Ray's puffy taco's 

2. Pictures from Rita's baptism

April 20, 2020

Hey Everyone I hope you all had a great week!

We had our zone conference on Tuesday. It was a little different for this conference because we had it all on a zoom video call. We had lots of trainings on how we can use technology better in teaching and also trainings on how we can better minister to the members of the ward. It was pretty cool also because they did these role plays where we would stop the zoom call and call other missionaries in the zone to practice doing what we were learning. It was pretty cool and for lunch a member brought food to us so we had food. 

On Wednesday we were able to do service for the first time in a while which was super awesome. We went to Catholic Charities to help work out in their garden. We basically watered the plants, trimmed some grass, and mixed up a pile of mulch. While we were in the garden we found a little lizard and we all got pictures with it and called it Liz. It was a good day and were gonna be able to do more service now which a super awesome thing. I love serving others and stuff. It feels so good and makes others happy. On the way home we saw a road sign that said Buenavista which is the name of my area. 

On Friday we went to the Alamo because it was perfect weather for a picture. So we finally have an updated picture for our Facebook page.  While we were walking to the Alamo this guy on a bike passed by and his speaker was playing Molly Percocet and in that song it says "mask on put your mask on". We all that that was super funny. We also got to talk to our families for come follow me. On Saturday were brainstorming for ideas for posts on Facebook. We started making an intro video for me and were gonna finish it later this week. 

This week has been really great and we are working hard and having lots of fun. In my personal study this week I've been reading in Alma chapters 18-22 and these chapters are talking about Ammon and the sons of Mosiah teaching and converting the Laminates. It's really cool to read and it's one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon. 

One of my favorite scriptures of this week for me is in Mosiah 1:7

7 And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.

It’s talking about searching the scriptures diligently and following the commandments and if we do we will be blessed.

I've seen blessings of reading the scriptures and I know that it's true. 

I hope you all have a great week and can’t wait to talk to y’all again next week. 

Pictures for this week.

1. Me and the lizard we found during service.

2. The street sign of Buenavista 

3. Another picture of downtown.  Empty.

 

April 13, 2020

Hey Family and Friends! Happy Easter. 

This week was fast and there wasn’t a whole lot that happened. We've been filling our schedule with lots of lessons this week and as a district we all taught 56. It's been really good keeping us busy so that were not just sitting around doing things that aren’t productive. I know that we have been blessing people's lives as we share the gospel and help others. 

On Wednesday it was super nice outside so Elder Corry and I grabbed some chairs and went and sat outside the church. It was super nice and we tanned for like 20 minutes Haha. Nah we actually did some contacting. 

That night when we were in a lesson the fire alarms went off again. Like it was really weird because they had just fixed them. So we ended up going outside and the fire department had to check the building. Everything was good so we just unplugged the alarm and stuff. 

On Saturday we went to Al Carbon for dinner and one of the members of the church worked there so we got free food haha. I got a picture in front of the sign. 

The 4 of us have been playing a game called "Unstable Unicorns" it's a pretty crazy fun game and super confusing at first but so fun to play with friends.

On Sunday we went to get masks from another member that made some for us. They're pretty cool, they’re white fabric masks so we look like nurses or doctors haha. When we got back to the church the sisters had made an Easter egg hunt for us. We were looking for Jesus pass along cards and whichever companionship found the most won. So throughout the rest of day we were looking all over for them when we had time. The other Elders ended up winning but we were so close to tying also. Our district also got a picture of us and our masks in front of the Alamo. This week we all participated in the world wide fast and that was super cool to see everyone uniting and supporting each other no matter what religion  or background. I know that we are seeing miracles because of that.

I hope you are all having a great week. I love you all and hope to talk to y’all again next week.

1.     Me with my mask on

2.     The fireman truck at the church.

3.     Al carbon restaurant. 

4.     Our district

 April 6, 2020

Hey everyone!! I hope your week was awesome. Mine sure was.

I'll just start out with talking about the General Conference. It was such an amazing experience to listen to our Prophet and Apostles. Getting to listen and learn more about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was really cool. It's amazing to think that it's been 200 years since the first vision happened with Joseph Smith.  It's also been 190 years since the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints was restored. The Prophet and Apostles created a new proclamation, and we had an historic hosanna wave. Youth speakers spoke, they used pre recorded hymns from other conferences. My favorite one was the last song when they sang "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet". If you haven't seen the conference yet I invite you to watch it. 

For the Conference our district got super excited about it and we loaded out on snacks. The 4 of us Elders in our district went and bought some Blue Bell ice cream. It was so good Haha. We all decided to watch conference in the Relief society room in the Church and so we moved a couch and 4 recliners into the room for us to watch. It was so awesome and really made it fun. One of the members in our ward Door Dashed us Chipotle for lunch as well. I got a wrap with beans, cheese, barbacoa, and corn. 

My favorite part from the whole Conference was when our prophet President Nelson talked about ways that we can "HearHim" better. He said that if we study the scriptures, go to the temple, family history work, listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and heed to the words of the prophets, seers, and revelators we would be able to "HearHim '' better. I invite y’all to find ways like these and more to try to "HearHim''.

This week we got lots of new people to teach from some other areas in our mission. A couple of them were actually on baptism date and so now we have 4 people on Baptismal date now.

On Tuesday we said goodbye to Elder Trythal. He would have had one more transfer but because of the Coronavirus he had to go early. He was a super awesome Missionary and really focused on his purpose. For dinner that day, Elder Tudor's Mom Door Dashed us Buffalo Wild Wings. It was soo good and we ate all of it haha. They were pretty spicy but pretty delicious. 

On Wednesday we had a district council at the church building with our district. We still did a 6 feet social distancing thing to be safe but it doesn't really matter because we see each other every day. While we were driving to dinner later that day, someone rear ended us. We were all okay, it wasn't even bad. The car is gonna have to get a new back door though. 

On Thursday we went to Mission Creek and we stopped to say hi to the other Elder's there. My MTC companion Elder Coleman was there so that's super cool cause now he's in my zone. After we left we stopped at an HEB to buy some Cinnamon Rolls for a family we were teaching. While we were there we picked up some Blue Bell ice cream for the General Conference. HEB was so crazy. Like there were a ton of people there and they were all pretty serious about social distancing which made it tough to get around the store. On Thursday night the whole mission watched The Restoration Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ at the same time. There was a group chat on Messenger everyone was on where we could all text our thoughts about the movie and stuff. It was pretty cool. 

On Friday we made the Cinnamon Rolls and dropped them off at the Franco family we are teaching. Later that day we had a lesson with them and we put their 2 girls on baptismal date for next month which is super exciting. We were able to call our families for a Family Home Evening again which was also super fun. Getting to do this with our families is great because it helps us study Come Follow Me a lot better. 

As the virus continues to go on and we're in isolation, we are all getting pretty good at online proselyting and using our technology to teach lessons. I am just so happy to be here serving others everyday and helping others have a better relationship with their Heavenly Father. I hope you all have a great week and will talk to y’all again next week.

1. Elder Trythals last day.

2. Buffalo wild wings.

3. Us all holding our Blue Bell Ice-cream. 

4. Our conference set up.

5. Chipotle 

6. Lego missionaries.