Hello, one and all!
The weather report from Texas...variable! Some days we have uncomfortably warm weather, sometimes uncomfortable cold. Never seems to stay at a comfortable middle temperature. But it is all good, and we aren't buried in snow like back home.
On Tuesday we got the opportunity to attend the Houston Temple. Brother P___ drove us up there, and since we got there early we got to do initiatories before our session, so that was really cool. I love the Temple, and seeing the changes was a very good experience. It reminds me that my purpose out here is to help others get to the Temple, where their families can be sealed for time and all eternity. That is the richest blessing I know, and it is wonderful to be able to offer it to people.
Thursday we had our apartment inspected, and we got a 103/105. So I do know how to clean ;)
Friday was an exciting day. We went up to district council with our zone leaders, because they were going to be going on splits with us that day. Well, at the end of the meeting I noticed a text from Bro P___..."missionaries can now call home every p-day". Haha, Bro P___, really funny joke to play on the missionaries. And then I looked at LDS.org. whaaaat!? It's true!? So I read the announcement out to our district and we all went wild. There are so many inspired changes going on I don't even know what to do with myself. And President didn't place any restrictions on it. Although...poor President, he heard about it the same time that we did. Actually, he was doing interviews, and an Elder coming in for his interview told him about it. He thought the Elder was lying at first! In any case, I can apparently now text and call. I dunno if Skype or Google Hangouts would be preferable for y'all, but whatever works. Pretty crazy, though. And I guess that removes the restriction on back-and-forth emailing as well. So hey, you wanna talk to me, go ahead. Craaaaazy.
And the rest of Friday went really well too. Elder B___ was with us for exchanges, and we tracted out an area and made five return appointments! In only about two hours! So we crushed our weekly goals for new people to teach. Then we had a lesson with L___, who we recently started teaching, some fantastic venison steaks with the S___'s, and then we taught two more really good lessons, with J___ and M___. We got home after all that ready for bed.
Saturday we walked and walked and walked and waaaaaalked, despite not being pioneer children. Had a great dinner with the R___ family, though. Bro R___ played the funniest prank on Elder Gunderson. So around the table we had Sis. R___, who doesnt speak English, Bro R___ and me, who are bilingual, and Elder Gunderson, who doesnt speak Spanish. Well, we were finishing up the meal, and Elder Gunderson was very full. Well, Sis Re___ offered him the last cob of corn, which he politely refused. And then Bro R___ turned to his wife and told her in Spanish to give the cob to Elder Gunderson, and then told Elder Gunderson that she had said he had to eat it. I looked at him and said, yep, she said you have to eat it. We are both straight faced until Elder Gunderson concedes and starts eating, and then we bust up laughing. Bro R___ is great.
Sunday was a really good day as well. After church we went on splits, so I was with Bro T___ and Elder Gunderson was with Elder C___l (he is a service missionary in the ward). As Bro T___ and I were going to the first person I had planned to visit, an inactive we didn't know, he was asking me if we had visited the name he had given us last week. Oh. We had completely forgot. Well, we get to this house, knock, and lo and behold, there is the person he wanted to see! Turns out that she is the daughter of the less-active member! So that was a huge coincidence.
Bro T___ and I then went to see M___, who talked to us on the doorstep because J___ was asleep. It went really well, though, and we are all set for dinner and a lesson on Tuesday, and she invited Bro T___ to come as well which takes care of our member fellowship. Super cool! It also turns out that M___ knows Sister T___, who works as a teacher in the area. So we were definitely led by the spirit in who to visit.
Anyways, it has been a really great week, but also a really long one. Looking back it is hard to imagine that going to the Temple was still this week, it feels so long ago.
Well, as my brother might say,
Have a great day, have a great week, have a great life!
Elder DeFord
P.s. early Christmas because we get to call at Christmas...get it?
No comments:
Post a Comment