Hello!
I hope y'all are doing well! Here is what has happened this past week.
3/21 - We had transfer calls on last Sunday and I found out that I am staying here with Elder Conrad and Elder LaMont but Elder Barlow got called to go to Oak Wood and taking his place is Elder Hackett. So Elder Conrad and I were happy that we got to stay together but this is his last transfer before he goes home so I will be "killing my father" and Elder LaMont is also "dying" in Katy this transfer.
3/22- This was Prep Day so I e-mailed at Lone Star College then I went on splits with Elder Barlow and went to the stake center to play some basketball with other missionaries in our zone (Elder Conrad isn't into sports so we usually do splits on Monday). Basketball was fun and I didn't hurt myself so that was good but on the way back we got stuck in heavy traffic and it took us FOREVER to get back home. I had to quickly shower and get ready for our dinner appointment with Bro. Sosa who is a counselor in the stake presidency. They fed us this thing that was kinda like lasagna but it wasn't. I can't remember what it was called but it was good and they gave us church juice
3/23- On this day we took Elder Barlow to Target and the post office so he could get some stuff he needed before he left and send a package home. Then we took him to the Bear Creek building at 2:00 because that's where the transfer bus was going to show up so we could drop him off and pick up Elder Hackett. The bus didn't show up until after 3:00 so we waited a while but we said our good byes to Elder Barlow and we got to meet Elder Hackett who is from California. We then drove Elder LaMont and Hackett to their apartment and helped him move in. Elder Conrad and I had a dinner appointment with the Christensen family at 6:30 so we went to that and had hot dogs and potato chips. After that we visited with the Jones Family (LA - less active)
3/24- We did service at Langham Creek High School with their bar code. We were there from 10:30-1:00. We then visited Alex Banks (LA). He is my age and when we come over and teach him he is always playing his video games but this time he actually sat there and listened to us plus he had his friend over which is awesome. We taught them about what the youth do in our church and also about what we do on our missions and why we are out here. We had a dinner appointment with the Davis family (RC - recent converts) but one of their newborn kittens got super sick and Sis. Davis was going to take it to the vet so they canceled on us (the kitten ended up dying ) So we called a member to see if they could feed us and they ended up taking us out to Outback Steakhouse so that was yummy.
3/25- We visited Johnny and spent some time with him and talked about some sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. We had an appointment set up for us at 4:00 by some other Elders who got a referral for us but while we were going over there we got a call from these Elders saying that the appointment they set up was for next week and not this week and they were sorry. But they told us about this couple we were going to see. Apparently, the husband is 7 foot tall and really buff so that shall be interesting. We had a dinner appointment with the Henry's (RC) at 6:00 but when we came over they were making lasagna and it wasn't even close to being ready. So we had a appointment at 6:30 to visit this guy named Kris. He is dating this lady's daughter who is a member but we went to the address she gave us and it didn't match. So we called her and it turns out the actual address is not even close to our area and this lady isn't even in our ward or a ward close to it so I don't know how she got our number. But we contacted the Elders in that area and told them the address and they were able to go to the appointment. We then had an appointment at 7:00 with Lonnie Hubert who is going to be marrying a member. He is an AAA roadside worker so he gets called into work randomly and when we showed up he was pulling out of his driveway to go to a call he got on the other side of town. So we then went back to the Henry's and had dinner. After that we decided to do a drop by visit with Jason Durbin since we haven't seen or heard from him in about a week because of his health. He let us in he and we found out he is doing better but it turns out that his sister who has breast cancer isn't doing so well. Also his father is old and not doing well either but we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and that made him feel a bit better. While we were there he told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so this is amazing news to hear. But he still hasn't come out to church yet because he says there is something in his past and what he is doing right now that makes him feel unworthy to come. We told him that church isn't for perfect people and if it was no one would be there. (Found out from his friend who is a member that he smokes and that's whats keeping him from coming to church)
3/26- We went and visited some less actives earlier in the day. We then dropped by to visit some referrals we got via text message but nothing happened with them. We them got a call from the Spanish sisters that they could use some help painting at a member's house so we went and did that. Elder Conrad and I didn't have masks like the sisters did so we got super dizzy and were in a goofy mood for a bit. We then got a call from a lady in our ward who had some teenagers working in her yard that she would like us to come over and visit. So we came over and met Jacob Boston who is 19 and homeless. Turns out that his mom died when he was young and his dad has been in prison for 19 years and isn't coming out anytime soon. But he is common law married to a girl and she is 4 months pregnant and he is saving up money to get an apartment for them to live in. This kid has had a really tough life and he is covered in tatoos. One tat I knew meant that he lost someone he knew to a gang. We told him a little bit about our church and he was a little bit interested but this member says she will keep having this kid over to work in her yard and she said she will call us when he comes over so we can come visit him. We then had dinner at the Maya's who fed us some crazy Mexican food but it was delicious.
3/27- We went to a member's house to do service in their backyard at 8:30 a.m. with the Copperfield Elders and Spanish Sisters. But first this member fed us some Mexican breakfast thing - it was eggs with salsa on some shell thing and it was dang good.....but there were beans on the side. After that we worked in this member's backyard (which is the biggest back yard I have seen in Texas so far) pulling weeds, spraying weeds,and mowing the lawn. Oh and I took out a lemon tree which was dead because of the winter they had. We didn't finish until 3:00 and after that we were way tired and some of us burnt but we went home showered and got ready. We had dinner at the McClure's at 5:00. This is a Polynesian family and they fed us so so much food! They kept feeding us chicken, ribs, and rice but when your plate was only half way done they would grab it and say "you need to eat more Elder" and just keep stacking my plate. I finally finished my plate and I was so full!!!! but when I finished they said "Now time for cake" I was like no more food!!!! But I shouldn't complain because that food was so delicious and I was quite entertained watching the grandma do the Haka to her twin grandsons - that was really cool.
3/28- Had PEC at 9:00 and studied until church started at 1:00. Then we went and had dinner at the Davis's which fed us her own style of lasagna and that was super good. Then we got to play with and feed their newborn kittens, talk about cuteness!!!! We then watched The Lamb of God video with them and just talked with them for a while, I really enjoyed it.
Well that's all for now
I love and pray for y'all!
-Elder Cory Barton
