Week Forty Six - A New Car and a Homecoming!

The new Corolla!

My dear and precious family and friends,

I miss you!  I am so grateful for the love and support and prayers I receive from you all.  I could not do this without you!  A picture of Toby was exactly what I needed this morning.  Did you take a picture of the fallen tree?  That is loco!  Must have been a vicious storm. 

I had a very good week.  I got my first sunburn of the year!  We had a really cool storm the other night.  The lightning was lighting up the sky almost constantly with all of its flashes!  I had never seen anything quite like it.  I had wild hog for dinner one night.  We got a new car!  The Malibu reached it's mile limit, so the Church is going to sell it and they gave us a brand spankin' new 2014 Toyata Corolla.  I love the smell of a new car.  It's probably the nicest vehicle I have ever driven.  Maybe.  I mean, it's just a Corolla, but it is so new and runs so smoothly and even has a  back up camera!  I am too spoiled. 

   We went to the homecoming party for David Mondragon on Tuesday.  It was lots of fun!  It didn't make me trunky one bit!  He is a super nice kid, served a diligent mission, and is converted to the restored gospel.  It is neat to see the difference between him and his brother.  His brother is a year or two younger than him.  I don't know him too well, but he seems to be quite the punk, has a trashy girlfriend, he's a grouch, and wastes his time catching and torturing squirrels and rabbits.  Because I had never met David, I just imagined him to be like his brother, not a very focused missionary, and serving for the wrong reasons.  Boy was I wrong!  David is mature beyond his age, happy, kind and genuine, focused on the important things in life, and just has his purpose figured out.  Missions really can turn boys to MEN.  Many of his family members said they would consider joining the Church more seriously once he got home, so we are hoping he can help get them to the waters.  We are excited to work with him!

   We helped a random family move the other night.  It was late and dark, and they seemed to be in a rush.  They said they were moving to start over.  There plan was to just head South, not knowing where they are going to live yet, or how they are going to find work.  Gutsy!  They were obviously stressed and greatly appreciated our help.  We offered to say a prayer with them before we left.  The parents started crying during the prayer.  They expressed extreme gratitude.  We gave them our number and let them know how the Church can help them.  I will never see them again, but who knows where that can go.  Serving feels good. 

   One of our investigators right now is Tatiana Fierro.  She is in her late 20's, and living with her aunt, who is a member of the Church.  She is probably my most favorite investigator ever.  After coming to Church once, she told her aunt she would have to be an idiot to not be a Mormon.  She is always happy and laughing, very straight forward, enjoyable to be around, and best of all, she is smart.  She gets it.  We ask her the same questions we ask everybody that nobody ever gets, and she answers them with ease in a way as if she was telling us "pfff...that was a stupid question".  She reads and understands the Book of Mormon.  We never find people like that!  We have only had two lessons with her so far, because she works a lot, but she is getting great member support and progressing well.  I love it!

   Another one of our investigators right now is Elizabeth Gallegos, as well as her husband.  They are coming along well too.  They do their homework assignments that we leave them, and they enjoy having us over.  Elizabeth and her seven year-old son came to church yesterday for the first time, and they liked it!  The third hour lesson was about pornography, which isn't necessarily the best first time church lesson, and that worried me a little bit.  But she has young kids, so hopefully she found it helpful!  When she introduced herself to everyone, she expressed desires to come back, be accepted, and receive help in growing her faith.  BooYa! 

   We explained to Wally what General Conference was this week, and his response was:  "okay, so it's pretty much like the Super Bowl for Mormons?"  Exactly!  But Conference is even better than the super bowl!  And we get it not once but TWICE a year!  We then watched one of President Uchtdorf's talks from last conference with him.  Wally thought he looked like an ESPN sports broadcaster, but he enjoyed it and agreed with everything he said.  We haven't handed Wally over to the English elders yet, but we are hoping to introduce them to each other sometime this week, and we can all watch a session of Conference together. 

   I have never been more excited for General Conference in all my life.  For me, it has gone from 8 hours of sleeping on the couch to the highlight of the month!  I hope everyone will take advantage of the Mormon Super Bowl this coming weekend, and we can all have an uplifting, inspiring, edifying experience.  That we can be sensitive to the Spirit, hear what we need to hear, and have our testimonies strengthened by the words of prophets and apostles of God! 

Mother, I would like to lovingly invite you to watch at least one session of conference with your husband, and pray before that you will be able to hear something that you need to hear.  I promise that if you do so, you will gain something from it and not regret it.  Emilee, you are not off the hook.  I extend the same invitation to you.  Love you both!

-David only went to Houston I am guessing because of citizenship issues, or he is not yet legal.  It is common.  We have lots of Hispanic missionaries in our mission that lived in Houston or another part of Texas before coming here.

-Lately I have just been eating cereal.  Every once in a while, Elder Malpartida will cook up enough eggs and hot dog to share, but it's mostly cereal. 

-The stinky oils seem to be doing something.  It is not gone yet, but it is looking better.

Adios! 

Elder Williams