OK so update for this week.
On Monday we had dinner at the Flores's and they made some really good steak and baked potatoes but then they made some bread pudding which I had mixed feelings about. It was good and not good at the same time then at 3 in the morning I threw up all of the bread pudding so I guess my body didn't like it.
We did a lot of tracting this week then on Thursday we tracted but something really neat happened one of Elder Hill's companions Brother Hurd and his family came back to visit the mission and this name is special because one of my friends from St. George her name is Brooke Hurd so I got to have dinner with them on Thursday so it was nice to see a friendly face but weird at they same time too.
Friday we had to be in early so we partied with sparkling cider and played Monopoly which I totally failed at. Saturday we tracted all day long but it was way fun! Also I offered to help this lady take down her Christmas lights and she actually let me, finally someone in Houston let me help them! She was Hispanic so I got to try out some of my Spanish and I told her we were missioneros from La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias so I felt pretty cool doing that. I got to speak Spanish twice to people on Saturday it probably wasn't good Spanish and probably didn't make sense at parts but they got what I was trying to say and for some reason the Spanish people love it when you try to speak their language.
I had a really spiritual experience last night. So it was around 7 p.m. and all of our appointments fell through so we decided to knock some doors. Elder Hill felt impressed to knock some doors on one side of this apartment complex. Elder Hill would do the bottom doors and Elder Finlinson and I would do the top doors (thought it would be best because we didn't want to scare people since it was late and there were 3 of us) But we are knocking and we are getting ITL's when I knock on this door and a guy answered and immediately slammed the door in our face. Elder Finlinson felt bad after this since we were waking up some people since it was late and he wanted to skip the last door on that floor since the lights were out so he starts heading down stairs. But I got the impression to knock on this door so I did and I see lights flick on and I prepared myself for the worst, fearing I might have woke up this person. Then a black man answers the door and I tell him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we want to share a message about Him and our Heavenly Father and how they have provided a plan for us to live with our families forever and asked if he would be interested. And this man immediately let us in, so all of us go into this man's home and it turns out this man (Del Denis) is a member! He joined the church 15 years ago in Mississippi but "back slid" from the church. Then he moved to Houston and has attended churches like Church Without Walls and Kingdom Hall but never felt the way he did when he attended with the Latter-day Saints. Hefeels like since we knocked on his door this is his wake up call to "come back to his lost brethren" and we showed him The Restoration DVD and he loved it and we are going to visit with him and teach him the lessons again. But I am so grateful that I was able to be in tune with the spirit and find this man. I am so grateful that I am on my mission in the Texas Houston Mission and not at home where I could have missed this miracle.
Love y'all hope all is well.
-Elder Barton
