Good Food!

A few good foods I had that y'all should try out (look up the recipe online or something):

Mole and chicken - mi comida favorita aquí! also what I had for my birthday dinner :D

Pork tacos with tomato and pepper sauce, cilantro, onions, and guacamole

Gorditas - Yum!

Zone Conference! Be Happy!

We had zone conference this last week.  It was really good .  President Maluenda spoke about the importance of having "ánimo" or "excited motivation" (I honestly don't quite know how to translate that word) in missionary work and in life in general.  It really is a choice for us to be happy.  He said that when we truly work hard, plan well, and repent every day, we will always have ánimo.  He said that if we plan well, we can accomplish anything we want in life.  It really applied to missionary work because attitude really is everything.  If  you have a good attitude, you'll do better.  People mirror your mood.  So if investigators think you're happy, they'll be happy, they'll feel the spirit, and they'll get baptized.  Easy as that!

Hidden Members!

We found some hidden members! Those are my favorite!  They're people you run into who say, "Hey guess what? I'm a member of your church!"  The husband of one of our investigators who's preparing for baptism (Yay!!!) was one before I arrived.  The first two we ran into were two teenage boys who described their baptism as "they dip you in the water like strawberries in chocolate!"  A year in the field and this was the first time I'd ever heard baptism described así.  Then we were walking down the street on the way to another appointment when a man called out to us and asked us if we had a Book of Mormon on hand.  With the new teaching style that we're using, we don't normally carry around copies of the Book of Mormon to hand out.  But he explained that he was a member baptized in Mexico but he had gotten heavily into alcohol and was not happy.  We taught him a condensed version of the Restoration which brought him to tears, gave him a card with our information, took down his information and we're going to go back again this week! 

Texas Week! Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Others...

So this week was pretty great!  It was "Texas Week" or in other words all of Texas was out for Spring Break.  Being a tourist Party Spot, it was packed in our little area!  Traveling by car was crazy on Saturday, so we just went everywhere by foot.  (It took us almost an hour to go just two miles by car!)  Traffic was backed up clear until the next little town.

Spring Break Traffic

Apparently, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were in town this week along with R&B singer Nio (?) and a bunch of other singers/bands.  We saw a couple limos and wondered....but we didn't see anyone :(  Our little recent convert was going to get something signed by Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, so we gave her some pass-along cards to give them when she saw them and to get signed haha :)

On Saturday night, I couldn't sleep because you could hear the music in our little apartment!! :P Que feo!

"Hay Alguien Que Me Puede Ayudar?

Well, we've decided I pretty much have a calling in the Spanish Ward.  I'm the organist/pianist, a translator, and now the substitute Gospel Principles Teacher!

Last week, after sacrament meeting -  2 minutes before Sunday School - the elders who also serve with us in the Spanish Ward came up to us and said that Surprise, we're teaching Gospel Principles because the teacher wasn't there!  Long story short, we taught about scriptures with quite literally 30 seconds to prepare ---- in SPANISH!!!!!  It went good.  There were a few awkward parts when I'd ask a question and be met with blank stares.  But I learned a valuable lesson - when all else fails - just act adorable.  With those blank stares, I would just smile and say super sweet, "Hay alguien que me puede ayudar?" and then five hands would immediately shoot up. 

Samuel the Lamanite Role-Play

We taught a Family Home Evening for some investigators and we divided them into groups and gave them Book of Mormon stories to read then present in whichever creative way they could think of.  One group was given Samuel the Lamanite.  We somehow convinced them to present the story by acting it out haha...well, it was pretty hilarious.  One of them was Samuel the Lamanite and was "preaching the gospel" and the others started arguing with him over doctrine.  So it turned into a missionary argument/Bible Bash between them....but don't worry they were all having joking around so there was no contention.

Weekly Report - March 3

This week was great because we each of our goals, with the exception of one . The only goal we did not hit was "investigators" at church . We had everything lined up for our investigator family to go , but their ride to church "fell through".  We were in another town at the singles ward , so by the time we even found out there was a problem , it was too late to do anything about it . We were not super- happy about it , but there 's always next week!

On the bright side , we decided to pass the house of a part member family and were told that the non-member of the family wanted to be baptized ! ! : D: D: D Actually, this is my favorite family EVERRRRR ! So I'm really , really, really excited! : D: D: D The baptismal date in later on in March. Oh yeah , and we're planning a wedding for them! : D Hahahaa I am sooooooooo excited!

Also, we found out that the way in which the missionaries will  present the gospel will change. We received training in the new way of teaching . The zone leaders told us that we would need to change a lot, but when it was presented to us, there was not much changed . It's super fun because now we have to figure out this new way of missionary work; every contact is a trial and error run! It makes life interesting! :)

We're teaching this individual who has some interesting stories to tell us about his life . To help introduce the Book of Mormon , we shared the story of Nephi going to get the plates . Man, he ate that story up! He absolutely loved it! Periodically we'd stop to ask him how he'd feel if he were in the same situation as Nephi and his brothers . The insights he was giving were so unique . When we told him about Laban throwing Laman out and trying to kill him , we asked him how he would feel and he starts saying  "it 's one thing to mess with me , but when It 's with my family , That crosses the line! " Long story short  he really, really, really liked it . Telling him about  Nephi killing Laban was a bit interesting haha ! The scriptures teach us valuable lessons so y'all better read them! ;)

Preparation Day Happenings!

February 24, 2014

Everything here in Texas is going fantastic.  I gave a talk on Sunday in the Spanish Ward about the Plan of Salvation.

It went really well.

Right now, I am watching the other missionaries play basketball.  I would be playing, but I hurt my wrist.  :/

This week was fantastic.  Right now, we're teaching a family who has a daughter named...wait for it...Abril - the name

we use for one of my good friends at home!

We're also teaching this guy who has the most adorable dog EVER.  It's a chihuahua that is so overweight it is unable

to bark or run.  It has bulging eyes and has lost all its teeth so its tongue doesn't stay in his mouth and hangs off to the

side...I'm trying to relearn to like dogs haha.

So the story about me hurting my wrist, because I am sure Mom worried is that this morning, I was happily skipping

down the stairs and I had forgotten that I had mopped so I jumped from the third step to the wet kitchen floor and well...

the rest is history.  Don't worry, I don't think anything is broken :)  Moral of the story:  Be safe when you're happy.