Groceries or Dinner?

It's the last week of the transfer.  I can't believe how fast it's gone by.  But this week has been really good!

 

We've been doing a lot of service this week, which is fantastic!  We love being able to help out anyone and everyone!  We've been cleaning houses, stuffing envelopes, tying blankets with the young women...all sorts of stuff.

 

This week has been kinda crazy too though.  I sprained my foot during soccer last week, and it got worse before it got better, so we headed up to the doctor.  (plus he doesn't charge the missionaries, and an x-ray is really the only way to tell what is wrong.)  But it's just a sprain, and getting better quickly.  (I guess I now take my soccer a little too seriously ;) 

 

 And we had an exchange this week. I got to go to Manvel with Hna. Greenwood.  She's in her second transfer, so it was fun to be with her, and to go back to a Spanish area.  Although all the people we taught were bilingual and preferred English, but it was still lots of fun.   Manvel is kinda out in the middle of the country, so we did a lot of driving, which gave us a lot of time to get to know each other.  

 

We've had some really great lessons this week.  We have three new investigators!  We've been trying to get a hold of some less actives, and just this past week we've been able to sit down with them.  One family has two girls who we are teaching, and the other has just one girl.  We are super excited to be able to teach them, and to help their families come back to church!

 

We've also been able to get in contact with a few more less-actives, and were even able to teach some this week!  

 

We stopped by to visit some members, just to get to know them, and because we couldn't even put a name to a face when someone described them to us.  They are a really cute couple.  But as we were talking with them and getting to know them, she just got up and started doing something in the kitchen.  She's from the Phillipines, so I thought "oh no, they are going to try to feed us, and we have a dinner appointment in 30 minutes".   And then the next thing I know, he's telling her "no, not that, they don't like that", or "give them this brand we don't like that one."  Anyway, they started placing grocery bags down at our feet full of stuff.  Freezer meals, peanut butter, shampoo, laundry soap, water, milk, bacon...all sorts of stuff.  (We did eat some ice cream with them though)  I guess they used to feed the missionaries all the time, but as their schedules got crazier and they weren't always able to have the missionaries over, they asked the missionaries if they would rather have dinner or groceries, and they said groceries.  So we then drove home with all that stuff, dropped it off quickly and booked it to dinner.  Which was a blast.  But that's the fun story of the week.

 

Well, love you all lots!

Amber

 

September already!

Can y'all believe that's it's September?  I sure can't!  It's crazy how fast time goes!  

 

I got the package, and the treats made it here ok!

 

This past week has been pretty good.  We decided to take our bikes to the park at the edge of our area for p-day, and rode around a little bit.  It was kinda cool, and there were some neat bugs, and lots of butterflies, but nothing too eventful.

 

We had zone meeting this week, which was lots of fun.  We basically reviewed what we learned in zone conference the week before, but it was good practice that we all needed.  We were also reminded of setting goals the Lord's way.  Seeking for his advice, and the goals He wants us to set, which means we do a lot more praying, and a lot less trusting in our plans.  

 

We were actually able to get into TWO less active homes this week!  Wahoo!!!  We were also able to get in touch with a few more.  So it has been a pretty good week.

 

A family from the ward invited the three sets of missionaries in the ward to their labor day BBQ, which was basically them, us, and one or two more family members, but it was a lot of fun, and some really good food.  We also had zone activity yesterday, which made for a very busy p-day.  We played chair soccer, which means that they more or less divided us up into districts, (although the four sisters managed to claim our own chair and be our own team.)  gave us a chair to guard (kinda like a goal)  and if your chair got hit by one of the two balls, then your team was out.  We managed to win a few games, and did fairly well for ourselves. it was a lot of fun.  Those six weeks of soccer at the MTC really came in handy.  Then we did some more less active hunting last night.  We found some really good leads, and we even taught a lesson.

 

We haven't had really been impacted by the hurricane, it sounds like it stayed mostly in Louisiana.  Although a less active has some family from New Orleans, so they came up to stay with her.  We've had some really great lessons with them.  

 

As far as scripture study goes...

Studies are one thing that Pres. Ashton really wants us to focus on.  So he gave us all sorts of ideas. And in our very first zone conference with him, we had a big zone study session.  I've learned that it is simply more that just reading.  It's asking ourselves questions.  Do I understand this phrase, what does this word really mean, and then looking for more scriptures to answer it.  And really letting the spirit enlighten our minds.  It's also making our own footnotes and cross references to other scriptures that we already know about that talk about the same subject, and using the footnotes.  (And of course writing it all down somewhere.)

 

I had a really good study of Helaman 5 a couple weeks ago.  It actually took me a few weeks to get through the whole chapter, (and I was using most, if not all, of my hour of study on it.)  And right now I've been working through King Benjamin's address, and Ether 12.  These are just a few starting points.  

 

Love you lots!

Kicked Out!

Well, this week has been more of the same I guess.  We've just been looking for more people to teach, and have been really focused on the less actives.  

 

Our zone conference this week was really good!

 

They've been working on the air conditioner in our apartment.  It seems we have a leak.  So they tried to fix it on Friday, and couldn't, so they let us use a portable air conditioner this weekend.  They've been working on installing the new AC this morning.  We are really excited to have a working AC unit!!!

 

We took the bikes out for a little bit this week, which was fun, and nice to be back on the bike!

 

We managed to get ourselves kicked out of a complex this week.  We'd been going by to find some less active members who live there, and the other day, when we were knocking on one of their doors, the manager came, yelling at us, about how we were trespassing, and she had called the police, and that we were no longer welcome on her property.  Because we were trying a few apartments, we parked at one end and walked to the other.  So she got in her car, followed us back to our van, and then proceeded to snap a few pictures on her cell phone of us, and the license plate number.   We had tried to tell her that we were trying to visit a specific member, and weren't really knocking other doors, but she wouldn't let us say anything, and told us that we were lying.  It was kind of a funny experience.  And definitely a new one.  Missionaries have been asked not to go around and just knock random doors by management before, but neither of us had been told to leave and never come back.  So that's the funny story of the week...

 

Well, it sound like everyone is doing well.  School started this week here.  There is a very fancy private school just behind our apartments, and they have the longest pick-up line ever!!! So we just try to avoid that area from 2:30-5:00.  It kinda reminded me of the charter school days, but this line was soooo much longer.  

 

I think that is about it for this week...

Love you all!

August 20, 2012

Well, I feel like there was something I forget to tell everyone last week, but now I can't remember.  

 

Our P-day was pretty crazy.  The elders had the van all morning, so we weren't able to leave our apartment until later on in the day, and didn't have a whole lot of time to email.  

 

We have been doing a lot of work with less-actives this week, so even though we don't teach too many lessons, we are figuring out where people are and when we can see them.  Plus, the area got a little bit bigger at transfers, so we have some new territory to work with.

 

We have a few people we are teaching right now, but we'll see how that goes. 

 

We have zone conference this week!  I am super excited!

 

We have also been giving a lot of service, we even helped our ward mission leader move, so there isn't much time for tracting between all the less active hunting and service we've been encouraged to do.

 

The English ward is very different from the Spanish ward.  I don't have to play the piano at all, which is kinda nice!  Plus the members are just a little bit different.  There are a lot more members who have been members all of their lives.  The Spanish wards have a lot of converts.  Which means that the flow of church is just  little bit different.  It's all good, just a little different.

 

We have had a ton of rain this weekend, which is good.  And it's actually a pretty decent temperature right now.  Not too hot.  The rain cooled everything down, which was good becuase our air conditioner broke this weekend.  It is nice and toasty in our apartment.  We've got fans blowing, but their not doing too much, here's hoping that they maintance people fix it today!

 

Well, I love you lots!

Have a great first week at school!