May 30, 2012 - Reunited

Email Update: May 21, 2012

Hello FAMILY!

Hey we had a really good week this week. We taught 4 "other lessons" and 10 member/ LA's and received and contacted 1 referral! So we are definitely going out on a bang for sure. Especially this is our last full week to work! Because Next Monday is P-Day, Tuesday we are going to be with President all day (temple, fireside, testimonies, etc.) Then on Wednesday I go home. It's all pretty crazy it still hasn't hit me yet. I still feel like I am not going home and everyone is just playing a joke on me. But I will make these last 9 days count.

So yesterday I did give my talk and I was the first speaker. I was only suppose to take like 5-8 min. but I took like 10-15 ha ha. We were suppose to have a intermediate hymn but they skipped that and went to the last speaker, oops! You can't expect a missionary going home soon to just only talk about missionary work for 5 min! I mean I have done this for 2 years! 

Our 4 other lessons were awesome, 2 of those were with Tyrone and he is the only man I have met here in Houston who can tell me all about Adam and Eve and I mean everything. This guy is so knowledgeable, but he is just your average guy. He never did like Bible school or anything, he just makes sure to read the Bible everyday. We are going to take a picture with him this week. Tyrone is huge! He is so in shape it's a joke! Another other lesson we had was with Guillermo and this guy asked so many deep questions! For example I will give you a brief overview of our interaction with him.

G: So the Mormons believe that god wasn't the only one to make the world?
Us: Yes
G: Is it in the Bible?
Us: Genesis 1: 26- And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
G: That makes sense! So who all created the world?
Us: God, Jehovah, and Michael
G: Michael? Who is that?
Us: Adam
G: Why does his name change?
Us: Jesus' name was Jehovah in the pre-earth life and changed to Jesus when he came to earth same happened with Adam.
G: That makes sense! Does God have a name?
Us:.......
G:I wanna know the name of my God
Us: Elohim
G: How do you know that?
Us: Modern day revelation (we also turned in the Bible dictionary to Jesus Christ which refers god as Elohim)
G: That is neat! Do we have a Heavenly Mother?
Us: Yes

Haha sorry kinda long but that is just a little bit of our interaction. We are always at Guillermo's house for like a hour and a half and it's always a question and answer session , which I like because it tests my gospel knowledge.   Also, in those meetings the Holy Ghost really works through us to answer his questions it's really neat. 

Things in the ward are a lot better.  We visited with the Bishop to apologize about the things that are happening and wanted to know how we could help. And things in the ward have calmed down a lot. It wasn't really the ward it was just a handful of really opinionated people who like to express their feelings. But yeah that it's.

I love y'all continue to have fun and thanks for your e-mail!

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: May 7, 2012

Hey family! So this past week we taught a other lesson to our eternal gator Guillermo. It was mainly a question and answer meeting but it was really good. He asked a lot of questions some of which were pretty deep. Some questions he asked were "Do we believe that we have a heavenly mother?  Do we hate black people? was Jesus a god? and Why do y'all believe that other people help create the world when the Bible says only God did, etc." It was really neat to have the spirit work through me to answer his questions. He accepted all the answers we gave him and said that they really make sense. We continued with success with the less actives. We also had Stake Conference on Sunday. Elder Packer of the Seventy (son of President Packer) came and participated in the conference also President Bradshaw who is the president of the Houston Temple spoke.  I really enjoyed his talk which opened my eyes to eternal principles of family history work.

This past week I really dove into my studies and lessons for teaching on the atonement and eternal families.

I really appreciate all that y'all are doing to help me out when I get home by providing job options and car and clothing arrangements. Y'all are definitely easing worries that I have had on my mind.

I am waiting to see the attachment of President Hansen's talk at Elder Alders funeral. I love y'all. Also if it's okay with y'all,  I would like to Skype y'all on Sunday. Please pray for me this week because I have no idea yet on what I want my talk to be about on Mother's day.  Bishop gave me the freedom to choose plus it will be for a missionary's homecoming ha ha. Thank you again. Can't wait to talk to y'all on Sunday

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: April 30, 2012

Hey family before I forget I wanted to give a shout out to Jessica - thanks for the letter I really appreciate it. I have been thinking about shipping stuff home so I'll keep that in mind. So how would I use your account thing? So I have no idea what is upin SLC but I do have the munchies for Beto's ha ha you can have the family vote on what ever place they wanna go eat because to be honest I don't really care ha ha. Kyle are you enjoying doing track? So it's kinda funny that dad brought up the whole Mother's day and Father's day talks because guess what I am speaking on Mother's day for the Westfield Ward ha ha I laughed so hard because this will be my 2nd or 3rd time since '08 or '09 that I talked on Mother's day I guess I haven't learned how to appreciate mom :) So I am nervous about that because it's going to be at a missionary's homecoming.

Well this past week we had success again. We finally taught a "other lesson" to a investigator named Tyrone and he is super kind and friendly. Then we continue to have success with the less actives. In fact on Sunday we visited with the H family but when we got there it was only Sister H then see was shoveling sand for a yard project she was doing so Elder Tobchan and I started to help her in our church clothes. I was still in my suit pants so they kinda got dirty so I might need some extra money for dry cleaning ha ha but that was a really neat experience helping her because one, it was really fun and Sis. H is really cool but you could tell it touched her heart so it was neat. Oh also Sunday was fast and testimony meeting since next week we have Stake Conference so I realized near the end of the meeting this would be my last fast and testimony meeting in Houston so I got up and bore my testimony. It's so crazy how fast the mission is coming to a end, it feels like a dream, like it's not gonna happen.

I love y'all send my love to the Hunt's for me.

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: April 23, 2012

So this past week was great because we taught as many lessons this week as we did over the past six weeks. So A LOT of success. We are having continual success with the less actives in the ward so I am really happy about that! We kind of have an investigator but he is an eternal investigator who doesn't keep his commitments but we wont give up on him. The R's are the ones I was telling you about who was making us the quilts and she finished it up this week and they look so awesome and are very comfortable! I can't wait to show y'all. 

Sunday we had ward conference so the bishop and stake president spoke the whole time and they did very well. 

This morning we started off bright and early by waking up at 5:20 to go to seminary at 5:40. We were asked by a seminary teacher to come today to her class because they were focusing on missionary work.   So we showed up and they split the missionaries in to groups to teach the students different parts of missionary work. Elder Stepp and I were in charge of Christlike Attributes. For our table we first had them unscramble each of the Christlike attribute words (Faith, Hope, Charity & Love, Patience, Virtue, Knowledge, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience) Then we had them look at a DNA helix and tell us how that relates to the gospel. Then we would give them a case study (there were 4) about how they would react in those situations. At the other tables they did memorizing Jeremiah 16:16, preparation, and something else.  Then at the end the teacher asked only me to give a 5 minute talk about preparing to go on a mission which I did. Oh side note, during the whole night last night tobchan was throwing up like crazy and only got two hours of sleep but he still got up and went to seminary with us, what a trooper! After seminary we went home so he could sleep. 

So yeah that's whats going on. Thanks for the picture Dad it is pretty swesome and it's good to see mountains ha ha. We did get some good rain out here, I loved it and today and yesterday feels like San Diego, it is beautiful! We are playing sand volleyball today too ha ha. I love y'all thank you for taking the time to e-mail me!

Love,

Elder Cory Barton

Email Update - April 16, 2012

Hey family! So first off I'll tell ya why I asked y'all for some money during the week so there is a member in the ward that she makes quilts and she gives a discount to the missionaries and she does a special quilt with one side having designs that we can pick from and on the back is the state of Texas.  It isn't finished yet but it looks sick!

So this past week we had continually success with the less actives in our area. We finally got a hold of two families so that is really awesome and they are really chill families. Still no gators but that's alright. Still trying to stay focused and finish strong.

Tell Michael Allred congrats on his mission call. 

Well I don't really have any job preferences except for nothing in construction or landscaping ha ha but as they say beggars can't be choosers I guess. Well transfers are this week and I doubt I am going anywhere and same with Tobchan so by Wednesday we will be the oldest missionaries in the mission it's pretty crazy! We'll I love y'all take care!

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update - April 9, 2012

Hey family!

Had another slow week full of tracting but miracles are starting to occur. For example: there is a part member/less active family where Bro M is the only member in the family and he is less active. He is married and has 3 children, two girls who are 23 and 19 and also a cute boy who is 2 years old. Elder Tobchan and I have been visiting their family on a weekly basis just leaving a quick spiritual message and continuing to offer service. So this week we went over around 8 or 8:30 p.m. and Bro. M came out with a cigarette in his mouth and said "Awesome! I got man power. Come with me" So we followed him around the street to the his driveway (turns out his garage door was broken) so we went to his car and help him carry in........can you guess it.....the 2 year old's toys ha ha. But we had a good talk with Bro. M. So we carried the toys in and chatted with the family for a bit, mainly talking about the 2 year old's obsession withTthe Veggie Tales the pirates who don't do anything ha ha. But so we were heading out the door and walking to the car and Bro. M. followed us out and asked "Elders can I ask you a question" of course! He then asked "Elders do you know who my home teachers are?" And when he asked that I swear the night became day the heavens opened and angels came down with trumpets and singing Hallelujah! This is exactly what we want to hear! We told him we didn't know but we would find out and get back to him on that. And he told us that we hasn't been visited in 4 yeas from his home teachers and this is the first time in a long time that someone from the church came to visit on a continual basis. Then after that he told us that his job he has (He is a cop in Houston) doesn't give him Sundays off but after he said that without Elder Tobchan and I saying anything he goes on to say "Maybe I can try to be an investigator for the police department. If I do that I can possibly get Sundays off." Man the Holy Spirit worked hard with him or what?! I almost passed out! SO that was definitely the highlight of the week by far! Still have no investigators though but that's alright.

Bishop also sat down with Tochan and I and we went over what we can do in our area then our purpose for us in his area - it was such an awesome meeting! Well that wasn't the original purpose for our meeting, he wanted our input on how we can help a certain individual but it turned into that and it was really cool. Because we were sitting on some bleachers outside on the beautiful Easter Sunday we had, the weather was awesome, there was a slight breeze going and just had an awesome, awesome brainstorm session. Man the bishop is so awesome, I have a lot of respect for him because during our visit I could feel his love and care for the well being of this ward in every aspect. So yeah that is my week.

Also any suggestion for work when I get home? I know Dad mentioned about selling security. I see those guys and the pest control people all the time down here but the thing is I don't wanna be a salesman. I would be ok with like installing the security systems if I could do that. I have been asking around with members on any job ideas.  One suggested being a counselor for the BYU sports camps and I thought that was the answer to my problems but turns out I checked today they are all full :( So I am open to suggestions.

I love y'all!

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: April 2, 2012

So General Conference was pretty awesome I really enjoyed Hallstrom, D. Todd Christofferson, and Holland's talks they were really awesome. Also I don't know if you heard but my last mission president, President Hansen was called as an Area Seventy so that was really neat.

This past week was a really slow week for our weekly numbers we got 0"s across the board except for 2 member lessons. But Tobchan and I continue to work hard. We actually did a surprise visit to Araiza's from Wheatstone and told them we want to help them get to the temple to get sealed before we go home and they agreed with the idea so hopefully we can work things out. We don't have any investigators so we are constantly tracting and finding.  We have a goal to get one baptism before we go home, so we are working hard so hopefully we can get some potentials.

I didn't do a bracket this year for March Madness. Sadly I totally forgot after they started the games and I have no idea how any teams did or who won so I am in the dark on that one. Did BYU or Memphis make it into the tournament?

Rebecca I wish you the best on tryouts. Kyle how are you enjoying doing track? Hows the 100 and 400? I did the mile in track because I am not a fast sprinter like you. I just try to be like the energizer bunny.

Oh so I was talking to sister Bowcutt who is a senior missionary at the office and she arranges the flight plans and all that stuff.  She told me that I have a layover in Memphis when we fly home so I thought that was really cool since I haven't seen Memphis since the end of my Sophomore year and I miss it a lot. I love y'all thank you for your e-mails

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: March 26, 2012

Hey family! 

Tell Dal Pal to keep his head up and tell him we are gonna kick it when I get home.

 

Thanks Dad for your words about me running cross country. I actually tie in a lot of those running experiences when I am giving a lesson. Running cross country surprisingly gave me an outlook on life and spirituality like I have never experienced and I totally didn't expect that coming out. Good thing I joined cross country for a girl huh ;) 

Sorry to hear about Brother Tew but sounds like he was ready and knew what God wanted for him.

I don't have much to report this week except we keep tracting, visiting less actives, and members. I am definitely getting my tan on my bike in this Houston weather. Summer is definitely around the corner. But it seems like the relationship between the ward and the missionaries is kinda distant and I found out that the last missionaries didn't make some wise decisions that the ward found out so it is pretty distant, but turns out it has gotten better over the past couple of months. So Tobchan and I are just gonna keep trying to let the ward know that we are here for them and want to serve them. Because having a friendship with the members is so important! It makes or breaks an area.

That's all I got for now. 

Tell Deanna sorry I haven't written her back yet. I love y'all!

-Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: March 19, 2012

Hello Family!
So I forgot to mention I am in a half car, half bike area. This past week was a pretty good week overall. Tobchan and I have been hitting up the less active members in our area and so far we have weeded out a good chunk of the list.  So far we have found that 5 of the families have moved and 1 wants there name removed, so it makes me wonder how long have these people have gone unvisited by the missionaries in this area. I don't blame them, before they split the whole Westfield area between two companionships, only one companionship had to cover the whole Westfield area, which is huge! But this is part of missionary work, finding those who are here and not, and reporting whether they are here or not, so that church headquarters can find out where they are now. But we did get to meet with two families, so that is good. We did a lot of tracting, in fact, we tracted all day Friday so it's just like Wheatstone all over again, but it was good.  We got two potentials out of it, one of which looks like lil wayne. Then Sunday I got the lovely surprise of meeting Corinne Shiver and took a trip down memory lane talking about how she used to babysit me and how small I was back then, it's so crazy! I mean she has two kids now haha. Also on Sunday it was Elder Tobchan's birthday so we partied up his 21st birthday by having a dinner with a member, it was a lot fun and a lot of laughs. 

During this week Tobchan and I were at the bishop's storehouse and we walked back to our apartment when we got a call from the senior missionaries at the mission office that a man just came in and wanted a blessing so we biked back down there and talked to this man who is trying to get a steady job which isn't working and he his having family drama and just a lot of stress in general. He was such a nice man so we took him into President Pingree's office where I gave him a blessing of comfort.  It was such a peaceful thing and enjoyed getting to know that man and giving a blessing. Well that's what happened this week! Tell Dal Pal to get better!

Love
Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: March 12, 2012

Hey Family I got amazing news for ya! So we had transfers this past week and I got transferred! So I showed up on Tuesday for the transfer meeting to see who would be my companion and what my new area would be. So drum roll please!....................Elder Tobchan is my companion! I was totally shocked! I mean 2 times together this is totally sick plus we both go home at the same time so we might be each others last companions......hopefully. And here is another shocker, Tobchan and I opened up a new area, we are in the Westfield South. So we are both new to this area and we had a hard time the first couple of days since we didn't know anyone at all! But it's starting to pick up now especially after Sunday since we got to meet the ward. There are 4 missionaries in the area, Elder Sleet (former comp) and Elder Rodriguez cover Westfield North and we also live in a 4 man apartment with them. So it is a lot of fun since, well enough said with Tobchan and I, plus with Elder Sleet we just have so many inside jokes and good stories and already know each other

Oh and I live right by the Mission office so you can send mail there. I am seriously right down the street. I love y'all!

Email Update: March 5, 2012

Hey family! A big "Ouch" to Dallin that doesn't sound fun at all. But you can tell Dal that I played Rugby for the first time this past week on Monday. I went up to College Station and played on the rugby field there on campus and can I say Texas A&M has a huge and beautiful campus. Man it is something else, but I had A LOT of fun. I got to see Tobchan and Ulugia. So we played Rugby and we had about 5 or 6 poly's up there and they kicked my butt all over that field. I think they decided to have mercy on me since I had no idea in the world what I was doing so as soon as I got the ball I would pass it immediately haha. We eventually played flag football which I did A LOT better at! I mean, 4 caught TD passes, including the game winner. Yeah a lot better at football than rugby, so I need Dallin to teach me whats up.

So nothing exciting happened this past week. We spent the whole week moving and cleaning our apartment. Because if the apartment people had to clean or fix something they would charge the mission office which in turn they would charge Kelly and I so we didn't want to cough up any money so we spent the whole week cleaning and fixing our apartment. Trying to fix and clean 15 years of missionaryness haha, it was not easy or fun or productive at all, but we had them check the apartment on Saturday and they cleared it, so we didn't get charged at all so I guess it was worth it haha.

Well we got a ton of referrals this past week so hopefully we can go contact them this week. Sadly that's all I got, I know nothing to fun or exciting. Oh we have transfer calls on Tuesday so I may stay or go who knows. I think I am out but we will see. 

Oh also, on Wednesday night we played basketball with the ward to relieve ourselves of the stress of cleaning the apartment all day and in the very first game I rolled my darn ankle and I was even wearing my braces too, so that was a first. Then 10 min later a member and a good friend of mine, Brother Bennett, rolled his ankle too but turned out he actually broke his foot! So that was crazy I hope to sign his cast. He is always telling me that I need to teach him my Ghetto Memphis Basketball that I apparently do haha whatever that means. 

Oh also, Mom it's ok that you can't pick me up I wanted to fly home anyway so it works :) Alright I love y'all tell JJ to keep up the good work.

-Elder Barton

Email Update: February 27, 2012

Hey family! So I officially hit my 21 month mark yesterday so 3 months to go! 

We had a great week this week, we had two baptisms this past week! One for Mercedes which was at 6:30 and that went very well. Her grandma gave the talk on baptism then the young women in the White Oak Ward did a special musical number which was awesome.  Then came time for the actual baptism.  So her grandfather, or something like that, was going to do the baptism and he is 92 years old.  They called during the week to let us know that he would need help so I volunteered.  So it was me, Mercedes, and the grandfather in the font and I help him into the font and helped with the actual ordinance. We had to do it 4 times (not having his arm to the square the whole time) but we got her under.  It was a unique experience. Then after she was baptized a young women gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then some of her cousins did another special musical number.  The whole thing went well. Then Phi's baptism was right after and her boyfriend who is a RM gave the talk on baptism and he did a AMAZING job,  probably the best talk on baptism I have ever heard. Then Elder Kelly baptized Phi and it was kinda funny because Phi has a looooooooooooooooooooong name! So Elder Kelly had Phi say her full name piece by piece and he would repeat after her. After she was baptized, a member from the singles ward did a special musical number. Then Elder Fisher gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  The service was awesome. So a really awesome week. 

I also went on exchanges this past week with my district leader and it went well.  We did a church tour with one of their investigators. 

Now that we baptized three of our investigators, it's time to go get some more because one our investigators dropped us this past week as well. 

So that's what's going on. Elder Kelly and I are moving apartments this Wednesday so that will be interesting. I love y'all!    -Cory

Email Update: February 20, 2012

So I got a surprise for y'all. So you know how we all thought I was coming home July 11th? Well turns out I was wrong. President Pingree dropped by this week and we had a really good visit and near the end of our visit he asked when I was going home and I said "July 11th" and he said "actually I think you go home May 30th."  I said, "well my certificate says July 11th" and he said he would check again and e-mail me. Well I got a e-mail from him today and sure enough, my release date is May 30th.  So turns out I am coming home six weeks earlier than expected.... Surprise! So now I have only three months left, I am trippin out! 

So Elder Christofferson came and it was pouring rain that day! In fact we had to change locations for the conference because the parking lot for the chapel we were suppose to meet at was flooded. 

Here are some things Elder Christofferson said:

"God knows you personally and He has called you to the specific mission in which you are now serving."

"The mission is the only time in your life when you can dedicate two hours each day to study and learn the gospel. Now is the time to establish a gospel and scriptural foundation for the rest of your life."

"Companion study is a time to receive revelation--to know who to teach, what to teach, which scriptures to use, and how to teach."

"We need to teach, not preach. Teach in such a way that you listen to know your investigators' needs. Ask questions so that you know what they understand. Seek to know what is in their mind and in their heart."

"Move people forward using commitments. As a companionship, seek to receive revelation for your investigators and to know what steps they need to take to come to Christ. Identify the next commitment they need, and then teach to prepare them to make and keep that commitment."

"How do we know who is prepared to receive the gospel? The Book of Mormon is the great sifter. It is the gathering tool for our day. We should invite people to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. If they respond to the Book, then they are ready. If the do not respond, and then they are not ready yet."

"To find greater happiness, forget yourself and focus on the people you serve."

"The motivation for your mission has to be love. If this is not why you are serving, then you will not get through it. How do we develop love? As you go about serving others and as you plead to the Father for this spiritual gift, it will come."

It was a really good conference plus I got to shake his hand so woot :)

We had Jeremy's baptism on Saturday and it was so, so, so good.  He was bawling the whole time! It was awesome and then he got confirmed yesterday :) We have two baptisms this Saturday for Phi and Mercedes. Also yesterday, this hispanic guy randomly shows up and asks for the missionaries so I go out to the parking lot to meet him.  Turns out he isn't a member but his wife and two kids are but they are super less active.   They haven't been to church in over a year or something like that.  Also they are members of some Spanish branch.  Anyway, so turns out his son is in the hospital and he wants us to come give him a blessing. So we go and as we are walking to his room in the ICU we find out what happened to him. Turns out he was out drinking with some friends and he got hammered and some how during the night he fell and hit his head on something. Turns out his brain is swollen and is bleeding. He has been unconscious for three days now and the doctors say they won't find out until the 5th day if they can do anything when the brain swelling has gone down. Before we get in there Elder Kelly says he wants me to do the blessing. I guess he was scared or afraid to do it, which is fine.  Elder Kelly anoints him and I did the blessing. I remember in the blessing that I said that this trial will stand as a testimony to him and his family how important church and Jesus Christ is to them. It was really neat to see how calm, peaceful, and grateful they were. Blessings are truly amazing and can touch the hearts of anyone. For example remember when I told we gave a blessing to Cathy in the hospital?  Well Elder Hill told me after I left that they went and visited with her and she also got a blessing from another preacher but she said she didn't feel the spirit at all when the preacher gave her a blessing. But the spirit was definitely there when we gave her a blessing :)

That was my week I hope y'all are doing well. I love you :)     -Elder Cory Barton

Email Update: February 13, 2012

Happy Birthday Rebecca woot woot! Sounds like you had a blast! 

This past week was good we met with all of our investigators even the ones we tracted into! We had zone conference on Tuesday and we went over plan, study, teach; importance of less active work; and how to effectively use our finding hour or "power hour". Thursday night I went on exchanges and I went to the Spring Branch North area and I was with Elder Stepp who has been out for 3 months and is from Washington. We had a lot of fun plus he is way into Hip-Hop dancing, like he use to teach it and everything, he is way good!

Friday we had Zone Meeting and went over what we learned at zone conference and how we can apply those things to our zone. It was also there we found out that we will be having a Tri-Mission conference Saturday Feb. 18th and Elder D. Todd Christofferson will be coming to speak with us! How tight is that?! Never thought I would have the privilege of seeing so many apostles and general authorities on my mission. So we have a baptism on the same day of the Tri-Mission conference for Jeremy who is for the singles ward. Then the following week we have 2 baptisms: Phi for the singles ward and then Mercedes for White Oak. So a lot of good things are happening right now I am very blessed.

Love Ya!  Cory Barton

Email Update: February 6, 2012

Hey family! Man Kyle, sounds like you had a pretty intense game of fugitive! Way to use your ninja skills! Gosh I still can't believe Rebecca how old you are and how grown up you are it scares me to death haha. I still can't get over how much you have grown! And then you will be driving here soon!

Well this past week was good. We now have 3 baptismal dates for the month of February. We have 2 for the 18th for Jeremy and Phi both of which are for the Sam Houston 2nd ward then the other date is Feb. 25 for Mercedes who is for the White Oak ward. This past week we tracted into a lady who seem interested and asked us to come back the next day at noon. We did but then she said to come back at 4 so her whole family could be there so we show up and it's pouring rain and I mean pouring! And all the blinds were shut and the lights were off and no one was home so we got soaked! But we dropped by the next day and met up with her and she said sorry but she said she wants her family including herself to be baptized and they asked us if we could lead them some to a place where they can do that :) We sure can haha. 

Super bowl Sunday was a bummer for missionary work so while the super bowl was going on we went to Wheatstone's apartment and kicked with Ulugia, Fuller, Beers, and Leishman. It is so good to see Ulugia again and I am so happy to be serving near him so that I get to see him more often :)

Wish everyone that is popping babies congrats on behalf of me :) I love y'all and pray for y'all.

Email Update: January 30, 2012

Hey Family

So I got transferred. I am no longer in the Magnolia 2 area. I got transferred to White Oak / Sam Houston 2. I am back in the Cypress Zone and my area borders my old area of Wheatstone. I was quite suprised to get moved. I have never been in a area so short as Magnolia 2. I was there for only two transfers. But in my new area I cover two wards: White Oak, which is a family ward and Sam Houston 2, which is a singles ward. My companion is Elder Kelly, he is from Las Vegas and he has been out for three transfers and I am his second companion. We have a lot of promising investigators, two of which have a baptismal date in February and I met them both and they are definitely prepared.

 I don't know my address. But apparently we are changing apartments here soon so just stick to the mission address for now I guess. Oh also this past week with transfers I said goodbye to my MTC district Elders: Esplin, Batt, Scoresby, Keliipuleole, and Maughan. Along with my good friend Hermana Martinez. It was very hard to say goodbye to them but this is the way it's suppose to be and they are a great group that will do great things. And I am very blessed that I had the opportunity to serve with them and have gotten to be their friends. I really liked the chart y'all did for Rebecca and I really enjoyed reading Grandma Wright's testimony that was really neat and special. I would love to have one of those.

That's all I can think of. I love y'all

Email Update: January 23, 2012

Sounds like everyone is doing well which is awesome! 

This past week was interesting! On Monday we had family home evening with the Ramsey family which is a part member family. That was really fun - we did an awesome activity which I took pictures of. 

Then on Tuesday we go over to Jason and Amanda's and when we knocked on the door Amanda came out to talk to us (When either Jason and Amanda come out of the house it is always bad news so we were like "uh oh") She told us that tonight wouldn't work because Cathy (Jason's mom) went to the hospital that night because she was having problems with her heart and she went to the hospital so the whole family was tripping. But as we were about to leave Jason pulled up he just came from the hospital. We offered him if he would like us to give his mother a blessing he called and asked his mom and she accepted so we drive to the hospital. We get there and we are trying to find Cathy's room when behind me I hear "Elders who's sick?" I turn around and there is this nurse there and it caught me off guard at first but I finally put the pieces together that the nurse was a member. I told her we are here for an investigator, not a member.  She asked us for the name so she could help us find it. I told her and Loni (name of the nurse) was like "oh she is my patient, follow me" (Hmmmm convenient..... there is a bigger picture here...) She takes us to Cathy's room, we make small talk and Loni continues to tell Cathy how she is a member and how the gospel has blessed her life and these missionaries right here will change her life. Loni continues to tell both of us that she doesn't even work at this hospital. She works at a different hospital called Memorial Hermann but the hospital we were at needed extra help that night so they asked her and she accepted (hmmmm weird..... I think not!) So we gave Cathy a blessing and promised her that she would recover. As we left we talked to Loni and we started talking about how this is so crazy and that the Lord is definitely working here. I am glad she accepted to work that night. Before we left I told Loni that when Cathy is permitted to drink anything make sure she doesn't get any coffee at all!!!! This is Cathy's huge thing haha she said "no problem". But it was kinda funny earlier, Cathy made a joke she said "well I am probably in here because I drink coffee like water huh." :) 

Well we find out the next day that Cathy went into the operating room so the doctors could put a pacemaker in her.  Well as they are rolling her in there her heart beat goes flat, but good thing she was right there at the operating room because they got her back and successfully put the pacemaker in her. She is now fine and is at home taking it easy. 

Then on Wednesday, Elder Troester and I were on exchanges and we went church hopping and got to talk to a Pentecostal preacher and share what we believe and understand more what they believe. Then on Sunday we got a lot of less actives at church which was awesome! Then went to Jason's new place (they moved just down the street from his parents) and visited with them. 

So it was an eventful week. Transfer calls are tomorrow so we will see what happens :) 

Love y'all a lot!

Email Update: January 17, 2012

I just hit 18 months and on the mission when you have 6 months left your are suppose to do whats called "6 months to sexy". Since you know you get all fat and flab (especially in Texas) on the mission, so you're suppose to make that push to get back into shape for when you go home..... yeah so far, not so good for me. Hopefully that will turn around. I need to start cutting down at member dinners but it's so hard since they go all with food and expect you to not leave any left overs! 

We just got a new investigator that seems promising. Jason and Amanda again didn't come to church it's so sad to always be anxious and looking for them every Sunday but to not see them in the end. Kinda depressing but, oh well, that's agency for ya. Thankfully the Texans lost their game and are now out of the playoffs! Nothing against them but like I said, they hinder the work. But it is still bad with the NFL playoffs still around because football runs this place. Places shut down for this stuff, not cool

Well transfers are around the corner. Tobchan and I have talked to President so we could be companions again up in College Station., hopefully that works out.

I love y'all take care now :)

Email Update: January 9, 2012

Ok so this past week was alright. The Texans played on Saturday and boy was it hard to work! Everyone was watching the game. So to make matters worse, the Texans won - I have nothing against the Texans. It is awesome that they made their first playoff appearance in franchise history, but it kills missionary work haha. Texas and football is just something else I can't even describe it. You would have to come here and experience it yourself. We got a new investigator on Sunday though so that is awesome. Jason and Amanda need to come to church still.

I hit 18 months in 2 days pretty insane. I woke up this morning to a crazy lightning storm and buckets of rain it is awesome! I have interviews with President in 2 days which is awesome. And I hope to report next week of more progression with our investigators.