Hey family! So this week was an emotional roller coaster! Last Monday got to play basketball with a couple of zones and I got to see my good missionary buddies like Elder Martin (former companion who is going home in a couple of weeks!), Elder Tobchan, etc. So it was great to see all of them! Then on Tuesday we had Elder Yoon H. Choi of the Seventy and his wife come and do a zone conference and got to hear them speak. They are such a cute and funny couple! They are from Korea so when I got to meet him and shake his hand I said "ahn nyeong ha se yo" thanks to Kristy's training :) Elder Choi talked about how listening to the spirit is the most important thing to do when teaching an investigator. He later went on and talked about....marriage! haha He talked about how in his final week in his mission he prayed about who he should marry and of course his wife now was the answer. He went on saying after our missions we should get married and not to put it off. Another funny thing he said is if you are not motivated to find investigators out here in Houston then try to find your wife out here because you never know you could find her out here such a funny guy! Sister Choi talked about how much she loves us and how we were on the front lines in the war in heaven. It was a good but long meeting. Longest one on my mission.
Thursday something tragic happened. So we were riding our bikes and according to my map it showed that there was this bridge that connected these 2 neighborhoods together that was separated by a creek. I wanted to tract in the other neighborhood so we bike over and well there wasn't a bridge! So in order to get to this place we would have to go all the way around which would probably take 15 min. to get there and I wasn't a big fan of that idea. I was hot and I wasn't really motivated this day to work but you gotta work so I decided since the creek wasn't too big that we would throw our bikes across and then we would jump across. So we do that but when I am picking up my bike and I am getting ready to ride and my bike wheel wasn't spinning. So after looking at it I noticed that I had broken 7 spokes on my back rim! And spokes are really important! So this was just the last straw for the day. I sat down and in my head I was murmuring, I was so ticked! I started to blame God because why would He allow this to happen. I wasn't motivated to work, but I knew it was important to work so I still went out and did it, so why would He allow this to happen! So after about 20 min. of me sitting there cooling off my anger Elder Ulugia and I walked to the closest gas station to enjoy the cool air for a little bit and get some drinks. After that we walked all the way back home which wasn't close and the whole way home I was trying to figure out how I could fix this problem. I have no way to pay for this to get fixed. I don't want to ask my parents because y'all have already given so much and there wasn't any missionaries who could let me borrow their bike. So we eventually get home and checked mail and thank goodness I had a letter that day - that helped! Then we get to our door of our apartment and we see Hermanas Martinez and Dement (Martinez is my home girl!) decorating our door with signs, post-it notes, scrap paper, etc. They heard about what happened and they wanted to help out so that was just so kind of them! I was seriously ready to cry at that point but luckily I had my sun glasses on. So that day ended on a good note.
Friday a member offered to take my bike in and get it repaired! Hallelujah. Then yesterday we went with Hermanas Martinez and Dement and Elders Tobchan and Taylor to the mall and we did some window shopping and just had fun with each other. I am so tight with everyone in that group, they are so awesome!
Thanks a bunch y'all I appreciate that y'all fasted for our success in this area - we need it! Oh also from Saturday to today the weather here feels so great! It's cool with a breeze. Man I am loving this weather! Oh also yesterday I bought this sweet towel thing called frogg toggs and the thing is you pour water on it and some how that causes this towel thing to get super cold so that will be amazing on bike! I tried it out to see if it works man best thing I bought on my mission! I love y'all take care!
-Elder Barton
