July 6

Howdy everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! It was definitely a joy to celebrate the holiday down here as a missionary! It was mostly a typical missionary Sunday for us. We had early morning meetings followed by church at 9 a.m.. We visited and taught people and did our missionary thing. In the evening we volunteered at the Mont Belvieu city party. I thought of my mom and grandma and great aunts quite a bit as Sis. Mapa and I were assigned to monitor the quilt exhibit. (Our job was to walk around and smile, keep food and drink out, and discourage visitors from touching the quilts.) The quilts were lovely and our service was appreciated. The Elders helped w/ crowd control and serving free hot dogs. It was good times. :) After returning to our apt. for the night, while doing our nightly planning, we heard fireworks. We ran out to our parking lot for a few minutes and enjoyed the Baytown Fireworks display for a few minutes! It was very fun, and because we ran out barefoot, I of course got a couple fire ant bites- those of you who know TX and know me, know that that truly completed my 4th of July experience.

The work is still pressing forward here in Baytown, and we are loving every minute of it. I'm exhausted at the end of every day. Each day brings new challenges and trials as well as new miracles and joy. We are teaching some awesome investigators and are still particularly excited for Miss B.L.. She is excited for her baptism and loves all she is learning. She is gaining and nourishing her own testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and it's amazing. We have many potential investigators that we are optimistic about teaching and helping come closer to Christ. The Lord's work is powerful and such a privilege to be a part of. I love it so much!

The weather here is pretty nuts. It's either very hot and humid or very rainy, depending on the day and the nature of passing hurricanes and such. It's always an adventure.

I love you all and love hearing from you! Be good!