Instructors

Instructors in dance are extremely crucial. They are the ones who communicate what is proper movement and educate in safe execution. They are the creative force behind performances and they help you fulfill your potential. Instructors are held in the highest respect. 

Sometimes in life, we have incredible teachers and instructors. Sometimes we wish they could be better. Sometimes we are the teachers. Whatever the situation may be, we have the opportunity to learn.

Missionaries both teach and learn and everything else in between. It's great :)

FHE Halloween 

This week we had another youth FHE. That was so much fun. We want to do activities that will keep them engaged and still encourage spiritual learning. This time we recreated Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life in an apartment complex. Yeah. That was super fun. The kids were blindfolded, and it was dark outside. One youth was the Holy Ghost. He had to lead the others to the rod of iron (blue yarn) and help them move along it despite the dangers (mildly sloping hill, wrong pieces of yarn, and temptations of others) and storms (spray bottles and cardboard fans). It was so much fun. The youth came away realizing how hard life can be sometimes and how easy it is to get lost.

There was a Ward Halloween Party this last weekend. They had a trick-or-treat for the kids and a chili cook off.  We had the opportunity to decorate a door for the trick-or-treat (classroom door in the church building). We, being missionaries, made ours gospel themed. We put pictures of different prophets on the door. For the kids to get a piece of candy, they had to name a prophet. I didn't think it was that hard. I forgot that that the ward primary is 30% Senior, 70% Junior. And the majority of the junior primary kids are under 5. They knew Joesph Smith and Jesus Christ. It was so fun.

Houston Temple

We also got a new Ward Mission Leader this week. We found out on Sunday. He's a recent move-in from California. He is awesome. We met with him last night, to dicuss the work: how the ward is, what works, what doesn't, what we as missionaries want/need from the ward, where we want them to be. Stuff like that. I am seriously so grateful for Brother Riddle. He is going to be an awesome ward mission leader.

Something else happened happened this week. It was super awesome.. what happened...? Oh yeah. I went to the temple this morning. I seriously love the temple. Seriously. Love. Ahh. Yeah. Just go to the temple as much as you can. Take the time to be a missionary for the dead and do their work. Feel their spirits and their gratitude. Let the Lord teach you.

Finale

The end of a big performance is always bittersweet. You are sad it is over, but it is your opportunity to revel in what has been accomplished and to reflect on what you have learned. 

I've been learning that a baptism is like that. Except there is no bitterness in a baptism. But you can reflect on the journey of the individual and how they have come closer to Christ.

So we had a baptism on Wednesday! Yay! That was such a crazy day. No joke. That was actually our P-day and we spent most of it on last minute details for the baptism. Like cupcakes and filling the font.

But it was all worth it. Say hello to the newest member of the Rosenberg Ward. This is Nate. He's nine and he is so excited to be a member of the church. It has been an incredible journey getting him here and we are now so excited for him. It's going to be awesome.

Our week was a little boring after that. Not really, there just is very little to talk about 

I can talk about this cool experience though. We were having dinner and a lesson with the Sayer family. They moved here from Utah about a year ago and have really put in the effort to get to know their neighbors. We were sharing the Work of Salvation video with them for our spiritual thought, and immediately after, they started putting it into practice. They introduced us to the mother of a son's friend who came to drop off the son, and all the friends of their daughter Hannah. We met probably ten new people that night. It was super cool.

It was so nice for me to come to church. I haven't had actual church for the last two weeks because of General and Stake Conference. It meant so much to be able to come and take the Sacrament again. I've been learning a lot about the Sacrament lately, and especially how to make it an experience where we can be sanctified as we repent. It is such a direct and powerful symbol of the atonement of Christ. I love taking the Sacrament if only because of what it represents and how it can affect my life.

So I'll just quickly give updates on those we are teaching.

D is doing awesome. He's almost all of the way through the lessons and working towards baptism. Nov. 1. Please pray for him. We taught him the repentance process and most of the big commandments (chastity, word of wisdom), and he is trying to change his life. But I know he can do it, cause he's awesome. 

John (is a member) and he is doing so well with becoming active. He was so comfortable at church this past week. I was so happy to see him happy. He is now scheming with us on how to get his 14 year old niece up to get her to church.

It is so fun being a missionary. I really, truly love it. It is hard work true, but anything in life is. But that hard work always pays off. In sports, you score or reach a goal. In performing, you take a bow. In the gospel, you obtain eternal life. We just have to work towards that finale. 

Master Class

Note from mom: When she didn't write on Monday, we wondered if she had been transferred. We were relieved to hear from her on Wednesday....glad she and her companion were still together!

In dance, some of the greatest opportunities are to take classes from the masters. Thanks to dance competitions, I have had the opportunity to attend three, all with So You Think You Can Dance finalists. I have never learned more about dance in such a short period of time than I did with them. It was astounding. 

This week involved a lot of master class experiences.

To start off, we had transfers again. I'm staying put in Rosenberg, and so is Sister Thompson. She's going to die here, it's official, and I'm so glad that I get to stay with her until the end. It's going to be hard to send her home, but we've grown so close that it's worth it.

I also got to help out with an FHE efy this Thursday. We're trying to help an almost-investigator make friends that will invite her to come to church. This week we learned about temples and made them out of Sugar Cubes. How awesome are they?? The youth had so much fun. :)

Now onto the Master Classes. This weekend was Stake Conference. Oh my goodness, I learned so much. And I don't even have my notebook to tell you all the best stuff, but the themes for the conference were missionary work, family history and conversion. I am so grateful for all of the speakers and the Spirit that was there.

Can anything get better than Stake Conference? For a missionary it can. We had Elder Schwitzer of the 70 touring our mission.  We had the opportunity to have zone conference and receive training from President and Sister Ashton, and Elder and Sister Schwitzer. That was a truly incredible experience. On thing that I loved was that Elder Schwitzer directed us to only write down what the Spirit impressed upon our hearts. That was a good thing to tell me, because I have a tendency to write large plates. 

We were given instruction on extending baptismal invitations, testifying of Christ, our ability to be tough and go to work, and burying our weapons of rebellion. I want to briefly talk about the last one. This phrase comes from Alma 23:7. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/23?lang=eng . Did you read it? I've been thinking a lot about weapons of rebellion. Not literal weapons, but the things that we do that keep us away from God. Maybe our attitudes. Maybe we justify a certain sin. I've been able to identify several weapons of rebellion that I have yet to bury in the earth. I would like to challenge each of you to identify one weapon of rebellion and strive to release it. I've already seen such a difference in my life from doing that.

Quick update on investigators:

D is progressing so well. He wants to move his baptismal date closer, even though he's only had three lessons. There is no way we can make that happen though unless we meet every day. And that can't happen because he isn't comfortable with members coming. Pray that he has a change of heart. We still have to teach all the commandments too. He's breaking a lot of them. But he has such great desires to be baptized, I know he can do it.

Nate is getting baptized tonight!!! I'm so excited, this is going to bless his life so much. I'll send pictures next time.

I love you all! Thank you so much for your support! I hope you are all planning to go see Meet the Mormons!

Presentation

In dance, presentation is key. Lines, shape and aesthetics are so important and are often the reason we have to practice something again. So much is determined by how we present it: mood, skill, story and authenticity. A slight head twist or bent wrist can have huge repercussions, and every measure is taken to ensure that the presentation is perfect. 

That's what I've really been learning about this week. The way things are presented can change so much. So little can affect so much, and we have consider carefully how words and actions affect presentation, for the better or worse.

This all started on Tuesday with Zone Meeting.  It's not really zone meeting that I want to talk about though. It was our super unusual activity after that I loved so much. We got to watch Meet the Mormons!!!What??? Yep. 

I give unto all a commandment, right now. Whatever you do, You had better go watch that movie on October 10th. I don't care what it takes, go see it. It is such and incredible movie! Oh my goodness. You will laugh and cry and love it so much. The Spirit is so strong and it is awesome. Invite non-members to see it too. It presents Mormons in a different way than a lot of the world perceives us. They understand that we are normal and that we love Christ. I love how it presents us.

So the rest of my week was unusual too. Our Stake has a booth at the Fort Bend County Fair. This booth was focused on Family History work. Members of the Stake took turns manning it, and they gave the missionaries of my District the opportunity to participate. I have never, in my life, had more fun doing family history work. We had a big tv/computer hookup so that we could help people use familysearch.org in real time to look for their ancestors. It was so incredible to watch the joy that came into people's faces as the Spirit of Elijah began to work in them and their hearts turned to their fathers. Few people took Restoration pamphlets or church material, but so many had their lives positively influenced by this experience. I'm so grateful I got to be part of this. 

I'll give an update on investigators before talking about Conference.

N has been progressing well. We've had to push his date back, but things are back on track. His mom, Cindi is starting to see things looking better. Work is improving, but she is still struggling and facing difficult times.

D has been having a really hard time with his family not supporting him. He still desperately wants the Gift of the Holy Ghost, but doesn't want to "disappoint" his family by becoming Mormon. Last time we met, he asked if he could just be a "wanna-be Mormon." Umm. No. But he has been reading the Book of Mormon and he watched Conference. We'll be seeing him tonight.

Those are the only two with baptism dates, but we found two new investigators this week, the Ryals family who are part member and Taylor who is the girlfriend of a member. The Diaz family continues to listen to the lessons and John has been going up and down in progression. But all is well in Rosenberg.

Conference was amazing. Everything was presented exactly as I needed to hear it. I just sat there an soaked it all in. I'm so grateful for a living prophet and the apostles. I'm grateful for all they spoke on and their dedication to being righteous servants of the Lord. Most of all, I'm grateful for the revelation that is received by listening and searching. I have never loved conference more than I did this weekend. 

Anyway, presentation is important. Present yourself as a disciple of the Lord. Follow him, face him, hold on with both hands. Be aware of how choices affect this presentation and strive to be your best self.

I love you all!