Howdy from Woodville, TX where my life, emotions, and missionary work have been a complete roller coaster, and where I wouldn't have it any other way! This week has been the kick-off week of sorts for what President Moldenhauer has been inspired to call "The Standard of Becoming- living the doctrine of Christ". We're raising our vision as a mission and seeing miracles because of it.
Monday started off w/ a sweet P-day. After our normal cleaning and errand running we went up to Jasper for some district P-day fun. We went back to that ankle-deep creek since Elder Hakes and I both have new companions that had not yet experienced it. We all had lots of fun. We saw a snake in the water... we're pretty sure it was poisonus (red touches yellow and all that good stuff)... but we keep forgetting to show the picture w/ took to one of our many snake expert members to tell us for sure. When we saw the snake we all got out of his way and went the other direction. The M* family fed us dinner that night- spaghetti and garlic bread and green beans w/ strawberry shortcake for dessert. It's definitely different over there w/o Carrie around, but she is doing great in the MTC and leaves for California this week. We also stopped by the younger M* family for a good visit.
Tuesday was the day of our special mission-wide fast for missionary work. Some of our members participated as well. We started off our proselyting day by biking to the library to spend time on
mormon.org. Then we came back the apt. for awhile to finish our weekly planning that we didn't do the previous Thursday and hadn't finished yet. We made lots of phone calls to schedule appts. and recruit the help of the members since we're still pretty much not using our car. In the afternoon we set out to go visit Frankie C*, but on the way there we met a man named Isaac W* who was walking down the street. We ended up having a lesson w/ him while we walked and talked- he's totally searching for truth and trying to change his life. He's moving to Dallas this week so we exchanged info so he can meet w/ missionaries up there. Then we got to Frankie's and she wasn't home, so we headed to Bro. Jeff J* apt, but ran into someone else we needed to have a gospel conversation w/. We arrived at Jeff's in time to watch him bike away w/ his headphones in his ears so he couldn't hear us call after him... so we sped after him on our bikes and caught up to him. We had a lesson w/ him including a kneeling prayer right there on the busy street corner next to Walmart. It was pretty sweet. After that we met a man named Owen who accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and an invitation to read Moroni 10. Then we went to the D*'s home and watched "The Lamb of God" w/ them and commited them to prayerfully find someone to give it to. Then we biked home all speedy like just in time for Sis. A* to drop of dinner to us- homemade gumbo w/ an amazing "5 flavor cake" for dessert. We spent our dinner break recovering from eating so speedy when we broke our fast. We were pretty hot and tired too, so we just laid there for a little while. Then we biked up to the church where we met w/ a less-active member Jacob C* and one of his sweet daughters Chelsea (age 11) for a church tour. It was a powerfully spiritual experience, and Chelsea accepted the invitation to be baptized on May 7th. She's so cool. Then we started biking home and we passed a guy that looked kind of tough and it was getting kind of dark.... so I didn't plan to stop and talk to him. Then we totally startled him as we biked by, so he spazzed out for a second so I looked at him and realized he was a potential investigator we'd previously lost track of. His name is Abdul and we had a powerful lesson about the atonement right there on the street and invited him to be baptized on the 7th. He's afraid of water, but as we talked about faith he was comforted and felt like it was something he wanted and could do w/ the Lord's help. We're way excited about these people and it was so cool for all of that to happen on the night of our mission fast. That night as we were getting ready for bed, I told Sis. Bouwhuis, "I'm scraped up and bruised, and sweaty, and my ovaries hurt, and my allergies are about to explode!!!.... and.... I'm so ridiculously happy."
Wednesday we biked up to Heritage Village where we did service, sweeping and dusting around the village. We enjoyed lunch at the Pickett House and then biked up the the nursing home for our weekly visit. Then as we were biking to go visit a referral we met Jason H* standing out in his yard. We stopped and talked to him and sat on his porch and had an awesome lesson about the Restoration.... he accepted the invitation to be baptized on May 14th. He said he felt really different than he'd felt in a long time and that it was a good thing. It so cool to watch that light go on in people. We had a church tour scheduled w/ some investigators that afternoon, but when it fell through, Sis. M* still came out w/ us and we went to go visit Sis. Frankie C* and her sister Donna G*. We had a great visit and lesson about the Atonement. Sis. M* dropped us off at Temple St where we tracted untily our dinner appt. w/ the G*s who live on Temple St. They fed us steak and twice baked potatoes and salad and lemon bars for dessert- so good. We had a lesson w/ them about Easter and the Atonement as well, and it was pretty cool because all of Sis. G*'s daughter, Callie's family was there and participated. Callie's daughter Allie (age 12) was baptized last year, but the rest of the family are not members yet. We really love all of them and have so much fun spending time w/ them. Sis. G* dropped us off at the home of John and Ayisha W* where we had a lesson w/ them and their 3 children- Brittany (15), David (11), and Shannon (9). We met John and Ayisha at the library a couple of weeks ago and it turns out she's always wondered why there's so many different churches. They have a strong awesome family and have faith in Jesus Christ. We taught about the Restoration w/ them, and they're really willing to search this out together and find out if it's true. We love that family and are so excited about them. After the lesson we walked down Pine St and talked to people until it got dark and Sis. G* came to pick us up.
Thursday weekly planning took way to long, but we had a lot of really spiritual conversations. I really love Sister Bouwhuis and am learning so much from her and am so grateful to be her companion. That afternoon we biked over to visit Ladonna B* and had a brief lesson w/ her. We had dinner w/ our branch mission leader and his wife, Bro. and Sis. Ronnie and Dolores L*. They made us an awesome enchilda casserole w/ a tasty low-cal rasperry jello dessert. They've been out of town for like 3 weeks, so it was Sis. Bouwhuis' first time to really get to know them. It was fun, and Bro. Lovelace showed us his sweet cars and his massive train collection. They came down to the church w/ us after for a church tour w/ our new investigator Paul W* (a referral from Bro. Matt G*). It was SO powerful. When we went to the baptism font, we asked Paul how he was feeling. His response was something like, "I feel like I want to jump in right now if there was water in it." He accepted the invitation to be baptized on May 14th. He is so awesome.
Friday we biked up to the church for District Meeting which was awesome and then went to lunch w/ the Elders at the "Behind the Red Door" Tea Room. It was so funny to watch the elders experience such a girly place... but they told us to pick wehre to go. Our church tour w/ Abdul fell through after that because he had to work late. We did have a church tour that afternoon w/ Ladonna B* and her boyfriend Patrick. Sis.D* came w/ us and it was pretty awesome. Patrick said he really wants to find and know the "full truth" for himself. We biked around visiting people that afternoon. The D*'s fed us fajitas for dinner and then we met Megan O* and her friend Chanice at the church. We had a lesson w/ them on the Plan of Salvation. Chanice has so many good questions, but she really struggles to have real faith in Jesus Christ. We really love teaching her because she's so fun has so many high standards.
Saturday we met w/ Rose and Bro. W* at like 9 am because they called and wanted to meet w/ us before they went out of town. Then we came home and finished getting ready. Around 10, we went out to Chester w/ Sis. K* where we found all but one of the less active members and potential investigators we were going to visit to not be home. The one who was home, was getting ready to leave so we just got to visit w/ her for a couple of minutes. Sis. K* took us back up to the church and the 3 of us practiced our special musical # for Easter. Then she dropped us of at the D*'s where we'd left our bikes and we biked back to our apt. to eat some lunch. Then we biked up the church.... on our way my skirt got caught in my bike chain... and ripped... and messed up my bike. Sis. Bouwhuis prayed and was able to fix the chain and the tear in the skirt is low enough that I can just hem it and still have it be long enough. We got to the church and all our plans for church tours and lessons fell through. We were able to bike up to the W*'s and have a good visit w/ Ayisha and drop of copies of the Book of Mormon so they could each have their own. That evening Emelie O* drove us out to Spurger where we had dinner w/ Nita B and Ashley M*. They surprised us w/ a giant Easter basket filled w/ lots of yummy practical food, including fresh fruit, and a handmade bracelet for each of us. So sweet! She made us spaghetti. She puts italian sausage and SPAM in the sauce and it's actually kind of amazingly delicious. She also made us homemade chocolate pudding-yum. We played some volleyball w/ them in the front yard and then had a lesson about the hope that comes because of our Savior's atonment and what Easter is all about. Emelie O* brought us back to the church where another church tour fell through so we ended up stranded at the church. We joked about just sleeping at the church, but Sis. Gibson came to our rescue and took us home. That night as we planned for Sunday we discussed the fact that our Quality Contact goal for the week was 60 and we only had 20. Sister Bouwhuis was determined to get 40 on Sunday and I was determined to have as much faith as I could and support her 100%.
Sunday we biked to church...none of our investigators ended up being able to come and that pretty much broke my heart. That and a million other things had me pretty emotional and sad for most of the morning and early afternoon... this whole week really was rollercoaster in a lot of ways, but especially emotionally. Our church meetings really were great though, and our musical number in Sacrament Meeting really brought the Spirit. We ate the lunches we packed at the church after (mostly made up of stuff from our Easter Basket from the Mocks). Then we rode up the hill and went tracting for a couple of hours in the Blazing Sun. In two hours we only got 10 contacts and were quite drained. We went back to the church to cool off and drink more water. When then biked over to visit the C* family, and only Sis. C* was home. We met their cute 2 week old puppies and had a lesson about the Atonement w/ her. Then we went across the street and contacted a porch full of people. Then we biked up to to Pecan and passed a park w/ lots of people playing basketball. Unsure of how to approach them, we stopped at our potential investigator's home first. Tequila was home, but getting ready to go, but asked if we had anything for her to read. She was so excited and grateful as we gave her a Book of Mormon and explained what it was, and the hope of the message we share. We set a return appt. w/ her and then went back to the park where we contacted 12 more people. Then we biked over towards Jeff's complex, and stopped to talk to 4 more people. 2 of those are new investigators Tanya and Eddie L*. They are totally searchers!!! We taught them a brief lesson and prayed w/ them and he asked for a Book of Mormon and we set a return appt. for a church tour. Then we contacted one more person before Sis. K* picked us up for dinner. At the K*s we enjoyed ham, rolls, green beans, and sweet potatoe casserole for dinner w/ a coconut creme type pie for dessert. It was all completely delicious and especially fun because she unknowingly fed us a couple of my families traditional Easter food. That was really fun. After dinner, the K*s returned us to our bikes where we rode off and ended up contacting several more people the Lord placed in our path. By the end of the day we had contacted 46 people. It was completely a miracle, and completely after a major trial of our faith. We also visited L* where were very needed before biking home.
It has been an amazing week. This super long email doesn't even scratch the surface. I'm just SOOOOO grateful and happy to be serving the Lord as a full-time missionary. I'm learning so much and becoming the version of myself the Lord intends for me to be. There is so much joy in helping others come unto our Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly lives and loves us!!! I love y'all so much!!!
