Lifting the Hands That Hang Down

Hey y’all what’s good in the hood? This week was an improvement from the last one. Slowly but surely we are starting to see the missionary work in Oakcrest take off again after the hurricane.

Where to begin? On Monday we went to visit a potential investigator, but she wasn’t home so we decided to knock on a few doors in the area. We were let in by a woman from Honduras named Marisol who lived next door. As we talked to her we found out that she met with missionaries 4 years ago closer to the city. She explained to us how she watched the Joseph Smith DVD with her 2 year old daughter and liked it a lot. She loved the peace she felt at church and the church’s emphasis on families. Her family went consistently for about 6 months before deciding to discontinue investigating the church. When I asked her if she ever thought of getting baptized, she said not really because her family was already baptized into another Christian Church. But with a few more questions we found out that she hadn’t read much of the Book of Mormon. So we were able to emphasis the importance of reading it and praying to God to know of its truthfulness, which she said she’s never done before.

Anyway, after we left Marisol’s house, we felt prompted to stop by a less active family's home in the same trailer park. When we knocked on the door, they opened it and the whole family just stared at us, looking shocked that we showed up. A woman I’d never seen before whispered something to the mother of the family about us giving her (the woman) a blessing. The she explained that the night before, she and her husband were coming home to their apartment when they were robbed by someone with a gun. The person shot her in the leg and then her husband. Her husband ended up passing away on the way to the hospital. 

She had asked her friend only minutes earlier before we arrived if she would contact a member of the church to come give her a blessing. She asked if her friend had contacted us. We said no, but she instantly understood that the Lord had sent us there to minister to her specifically and to give her a blessing. We were able to do it and she said she felt peace enter her heart after we were done. She met with the bishop and expressed the desire she had to get her life in order, return to church, and do her husband’s temple work in a year. That was a faith building experience about the role we have as servants in the Lord’s kingdom. We are called to lift up the hands that hang down.

Later in the week on Saturday morning, we received a call to help at the home of a Hispanic family close to our apartment whose house had flooded big time. The mucking had already been completed about a month ago, so we helped repair their house again. We put in flooring, insulation, and sheet rock. It was so fulfilling to see the family’s faces as we helped them repair their home so they could have somewhere to live again. They were so appreciative and even asked us where the local church building was. They plan on coming this week so we are going to stop by today and see if we can get to know them.

To cap the week off, on Sunday we had our “Why I Believe” fireside up in College Station. It’s probably my favorite event that the mission puts on. Hearing the testimonies of new converts who are so enthusiastic about the things they’ve learned and the blessings they’ve gained never gets old.

Anyway, that’s all from here. Sorry for no pictures this week. I’ll try harder next week.

Elder Barrus

THM

Fresh From the MTC

Hey everyone how are things? This week I found out that I would be training a new missionary again. Before I was to find out on Thursday, I spent a couple of days in the Houston 6 area with Elder Christensen. It's an area that's a lot like the first area I served in. Lots of low income areas that you need to avoid after dark. But it was fun. You see a lot of interesting things that you don't normally see. And then on Thursday we picked up our new missionaries. There were 24 missionaries that came in so there's been a lot of turnover in the mission.

My new companion is Elder Broschart from San Tan Valley, Arizona. He's a really good kid that is motivated to work hard and give his all to the Lord. He studied really hard in the MTC and already has pretty good Spanish. He understands a lot and is improving rapidly on speaking the language. We've put in a lot of work already in a short period of time. On his first door he knocked, we got let in by an 18 year old named Carlos from El Salvador. He was really interested in what we had to say and loved the emphasis on peace and hope.

Also on Friday we had an all mission zone conference with Elder Uceda and Elder Daniel Jones of the 70. It was really awesome. Elder Uceda had tons of energy and enthusiasm despite arriving in Houston by airplane at 1 AM Friday morning. He talked about Matthew 28:19 which reads:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

He expounded on that scripture by saying that the original translation for the word teach is a Greek word that actually means "to make disciples." So he focused on the importance of helping our investigators become true disciples of Jesus Christ rather than just teaching them.

Another missionary before me hung up a story on the wall about the process of refining silver. Very relevant to our experience here as mortals and especially as missionaries. Recently I've been listening to a lot of Elder Holland talks in the car and there's been an underlying theme in almost all of them about suffering being a part of the process of true discipleship. I hadn't really thought about that before. I thought if we did good and kept God's commandments we'd have easy carefree lives. However, it is not the case.

Elder Garcia's last day in Oakcrest with our ward mission leader, Hermano Casco and his wife

Elder Barrus

THM

Transfers!

We got transfer calls last night and surprisingly my comp, Elder Garcia is leaving the area. I thought that I would leave but I don't mind staying in the Oakcrest ward at all. They've been good to us and feed us really well. Elder Garcia is a little sad but he's going to be a superstar missionary when it's all said and done, so he'll find success anywhere he goes. Also his mother and little sister are getting baptized this Saturday so he's really excited about that. His 13 year old little brother told the missionaries he doesn't want to. It's alright though, he'll get there.

This week was good. We were able to get back to a normal missionary schedule on a few days. We went with a group of members on Saturday and Sunday to do some flood cleanup 30 minutes south of our area.  As we got out and talked to people we realized how much people had been humbled by the recent events in the world. There was one lady named Brenda who let us in because she had some questions about God in light of all the natural disasters. She admitted she wasn't super religious but the recent events definitely left her seeking some answers. It's been very intriguing to see the hand of the Lord help open the eyes of others who don't claim to be to into the whole religion thing. It reminds me of a scripture in Alma 32:13 which says:

"And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved."

 And then something else that came to me is a quote from a talk by Jeffrey R Holland titled "Borne Upon Eagles' Wings":

"I decided that if those men had to go to the penitentiary to take advantage of the gift of mercy--and if by going there, they found the gospel of Jesus Christ or the scriptures or the Atonement--then their imprisonment was worth it.

So let us go to the place of penitence--to the bishop or to the Lord or to those we have offended or to those who have offended us. We have our own little penitentiaries, I suppose, all around us. If going there is what it takes to make us truly penitent and to enable us to lay claim to the gift of mercy, then we have to do it."

So all in all I've come to realize that if we need to go through a crisis or a difficult trial in our lives in order to truly be humbled, then it is worth it. So never forget that.

Elder Barrus

THM

September birthdays

Unfortunately I only managed to come up with one picture this week but for district meeting on Friday we did a birthday bash because 5 of the 6 members of our district have birthdays in September. Elder Hunt, Elder Garcia, Hermana Fluckiger, Hermana Hurst, and I.(And Elder Garcia didn't even tell me it was his birthday on Tuesday because he doesn't like birthdays!)

This is a really great video that shows some of the work the members and missionaries are doing to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. 

Cleaning Up

It was nice to get out of the apartment early last week and start helping with the disaster cleanup efforts. Only one family from the Oakcrest ward had their home flood so it wasn't too bad in our area. We spent most of our time helping out various families south of our area. It was crazy. Entire neighborhoods got flooded and are filled with garbage and debris on both sides of the street. People were very grateful to receive our help though. And not even one person slammed the door in our face! So it was a good week. This week we are going to find the balance between giving service and proselyting. I'll attach some pictures below.

This past week as we helped various families clean up their homes, I reflected on the process of repairing a home that's been damaged by water. First you have to get in the house and take out everything that got wet. Mattresses, tables, chairs, dressers, bookshelves, you name it. As soon as the furniture is out, you have to start tearing out the carpet in the house and the pad underneath it. Then you tear out the sheet rock and insulation from the wall in the entire house. As soon as that's finished you must let the house dry out, which can take up to several months. 

This is what is piled up in front of every home. 

I liken this process to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we have spiritual floods that happen in our lives which can be any type of crisis that happens in our lives. Loss of job, sickness, death of a loved one, etc. It is in those times that we usually have to look in the mirror and identify what needs to change. We start with the big stuff, the "furniture problems" like major sins we have not repented of or bad habits we may have. Bit by bit we try to remove everything we can that is not in harmony with the Lord's will, which is both challenging and an ongoing process. However, as we take those things out of our lives that have accumulated mold from all the moisture, the musty smell of wet furniture starts to diminish. After everything has been removed and is dry, you are ready to replace the carpet, sheet rock, furniture, and flooring that was damaged. This is like replacing our bad habits, thoughts, or surroundings with positive and constructive things. As painful and laborious as the process may seem, it is well worth it, because instead of living in a house festering with mold, water damage, and a horrid smell, you are living in a clean house that smells nice. So never forget that regardless of the cost or effort it may take to clean our lives up, we can do it. We just have to be patient with ourselves and with the Lord and trust that he'll help us make the transformation as long as we do our part.

Anyways that's all from here. Pray for Texas and for those affected by the flooding.

Elder Barrus

THM

Hurricane Harvey Helping Hands

First house we helped with--an elderly couple.