It'll be a White November

Seriously had another superrrrr great week here in Westgreen. We set some baptismal dates and the work just keeps getting better and better. As well, we got transfer news last night and it was determined that both Elder Sellers and I will be staying together for at least another 6 weeks which was welcome news because we still have some unfinished business to complete!

Both MarieAntonietta and Rosa are doing well, they are progressing well and are still on track for their baptismal dates. Rosa shared a really neat experience she had when she watched General Conference. She really related to Juan Uceda's talk when he told the story of how the Holy Ghost told him not to go hiking with his other missionaries in his zone, but he ignored the prompting and did it anyway and almost fell to his death as a consequence. She talked about how she had met with missionaries about 8 months ago and felt that everything was true, she just would not act because she feared what her family might think if she got baptized into the LDS church. Well, as she looked back, she realized that she ignored God's will for her to get baptized and was not able to progress much spiritually during that time.  Now she is ready to take the leap of faith and get baptized on November 6 despite what her family might think or say because she knows it's what God would have her do. 

We were out knocking doors on Saturday morning when we happened upon an open garage door with a barber cutting his friend's hair and before we knew it, the man in the chair called his 5 kids over and we were teaching the Restoration to 7 people. They all liked it and said they would read the Book of Mormon and asked that we come back the next Saturday. The best part about it was the fact that they mostly spoke in a black southern accent with lots of slang, so it was pretty funny how Elder Sellers didn't really understand what they were saying most of the time and I had to fill him in on what words like "gucci" and "3 hunna" meant. (To be fair I'm not really sure what they mean either I just know how to use them in the correct context.) 

Anytime anyone wants to take their picture with you, it's a good day!

Saying goodbye to Elder Schloer, the Zone Leader

 On Friday we had zone meeting and said goodbye to our beloved zone leader Elder Schloer who goes home on Wednesday. Later that day, we were contacting in a trailer park and found a party of only semi-drunk Mexicans that invited us to come eat with them so we did. We ate some really good tacos and grilled pizza and had some fun talking to them about God. They also offered us beer, which I've been offered at least 5 times on my mission, which means that there's been 5 times as much temptation to break the Word of Wisdom on my mission than back home. 

Later that same night we were able to meet with the Cintura family. They are doing much better than when we last had taught them and had read 11 chapters in the Book of Mormon and felt great about it. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation and extended a baptismal date for all 3 of them and they all accepted without hesitation! The next step is helping them get work off on Sundays so they can come to church. The spirit was so strong and it was the first time in my mission where I've taught a whole family and they've all accepted the invitation to be baptized. 

We also set a baptismal date with José, so that makes for 6 baptismal dates set for these next 2 months which is very exciting. It's amazing how faith really can move mountains. When I arrived in Katy about 3 months ago, this area had zero baptismal dates and not really much was going on, missionary-work wise. But as my companions and I have worked hard, been obedient, and shown our faith in different ways we've been able to see things improve immensely over a relatively short period of time. 

On Sunday I gave my first official talk in a sacrament meeting in Spanish. Somehow I was able to talk for over 10 minutes without anyone in the audience laughing too much at my terrible accent. I still have a lot to learn and improve on, it's just frustrating because I am not as able to communicate myself as eloquently as I want to. But you know, the gift of tongues is real because I can understand about 90 percent of what is being said in Spanish. 

With that being said, on to the next one. Hope you all have a great week. 

Our favorite ward mission leader, Hermano Suarez

Westgreen Ward missionaries with Hermano Suarez and his wife