Glad to hear from everyone! Everything sounds normal so that's good.
So here is what happened this week. On Monday it was our P-Day and we went and played with our zone. We played poison and then some football and of course I rolled my ankle like I always do now, but I got your package during the week so I have my ankle things now so that won't happen again, so thank you for that. Then we went and had dinner with the Stoddard family and this family has some crazy kids so it was a very interesting dinner and we ate chili of course, I mean gotta have beans of course. Also we had exchanges that night and Elder Finlinsion exchanged with Elder Christensen who is a transfer or 2 older than Elder Finlinsion but that was way fun.
On Tuesday we did some service with our District and worked on a lady's yard by trimming bushes, cutting and bagging branches and trees (we have to bag them because it against the law to burn wood in Houston, lame!), and put up some Christmas lights. And then we went tracting (the story of this week has been tracting we only have 3 investigators). Then had an amazing dinner at the Ravenburgs! We had a breakfast dinner; we had biscuits 'n gravy, eggs 'n bacon, sausages, and German Waffles or pancakes I don't know what it's called but its good. Then we went on splits right after dinner with Bro. Ravenburg and another brother and just visited some families and checked up on them. Then we exchanged back.
On Wednesday we did service again with the same lady doing the same thing and we finished that day. Then we went and taught a RC Edith and talked with her about her brother because he is one of our investigators. Then we had dinner with the Coronado's and it was so so good!
On Thursday we had a specialized training with the Katy Zone and President Hansen came and talked to us (Specialized Training always = changes in the mission, so be prepared for anything) So the first thing President Hansen changed in our mission was that gyms were now off limits because missionaries would go to gyms and watch TV, listen to music, and be there all morning long. We had some missionaries not too pleased with this, one actually stormed out, but hey just got to make do with what we got..... and that means I will get even fatter :) Well, I am already Elder Chubs to Deanna so it doesn't matter any way :) Also we talked about the number in the Katy area. As you could see, last year we lead the mission with baptisms and now this year we are 2nd to last, so we talked about some things to change that. Elder Hill and I had some good revelation during this meeting to do with our area. One is that we make a sign up calender and pass it around with our dinner calender. This sign up calender is where the members can sign up just to have us come over and teach them a lesson during the hours of 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. because these are the hardest hours of the mission day. To be honest Elder Hill and I are not too happy with how our ward is lacking in the missionary spirit. There are only about 5 families or individuals that we always go to for help with missionary work and we want to change that now! Don't get me wrong, I love this ward and this area, but this ward needs to work on D&C 88:81. Then we did some tracting. We sent Elder Finlinson with a priest in our ward to teach an 8 year old who is about to get baptized. Meanwhile, Elder Hill and I went and cooked some dinner (we were having dinner at the Ramos family but we offered to cook them dinner and they accepted so we cooked up some mean cheesy potatoes).
On Friday, our Zone and the Cypress Zone, was invited to participate in Navidad En El Barrio (means Christmas In The Ghetto!) So we went downtown which is awesome cause we never get to got to downtown! And that took all day and I took a bunch of pictures, but basically we wrapped presents all day long, but it was super fun!
On Saturday, we tracted some more, still having little success. Then we had dinner at the Orton's and it turns out they are going to be moving to Salem, right by y'all.
On Sunday the ward had a special musical sacrament meeting. Then Elder Hill taught Gospel Principles. We then went to Sister Chavez' house because this was step two to Elder Hill's and my revelations we had. We made a whole bunch of Rice Crispy treats and we made enough for about 45 families and put a scripture with it about opening their mouths and it shall be filled (talking about missionary work and Rice Crispy :] ) That took the whole evening and I took pictures of that as well.
Well that's all for now but today we are meeting with an investigator named Ronda and are going to give her a baptismal date for Jan. 8 so I will let y'all know how that goes.
Love ya -Elder Barton
