Dance Bags

I have never had a bag in my entire life that is more jam packed and crazy than my dance bag. It always had all the shoes I needed for dance (usually at least three pairs) plus snacks, extra bobby pins, tights, band-aids and moleskin, hair ties and street clothes. It was always disorganized and messy.

This week kinda felt like that.

This week was transfers. I am back in Rosenberg, and I'm in a trio right now. Sister Thompson and I are still together until tomorrow (Sis Thompson flies home to Massachusetts tomorrow) and Hermana Gutierrez has joined us. Hermana Gutierrez will be staying with me after Sister Thompson leaves. 

So transfer day we had Hermana Guiterrez's stuff and my stuff from the emergency transfer. We also got an air mattress for the week we needed three beds. It didn't all fit in the car. It's so crazy. It doesn't really fit in the apartment either. But it's so much fun. It feels like a sleepover.

Anyway, I'm super excited to be with Hermana Gutierrez now. She was my first ever exchange companion, and now we're together until the end of the transfer. (Yeah, I'm killing her and Sister Thompson. Two in a row in the same transfer.) As you probably inferred, Hermana Gutierrez was called Spanish but is now English. She is exactly what the area needs and I'm so happy she's here.

The rest of this week has been insane. I have never been so busy and I have never enjoyed it more. Some of the things we've had this week include: young women's in excellence, creating a master ward list, making Cinnamon rolls and other bread confections, eating two dinners one night, a last minute trip to Leadership meeting, crazy amounts of teaching and an even crazier amount of miracles. 

Wait, there was one other thing that happened...

Baptism :)

Meet Dillan, the newest member of the Rosenberg ward. It's been a long ride getting him here, but I know that his life has changed and that he is a new person now. Baptism is such a miracle. It's like me trying to clean my dance bag. It's easiest just to dump it out and start over. That's what the Savior offers. A new start. 

Substitution

Some of the most fun experiences I've had as a dancer were substituting for another dancer in a different dance or cast. The challenge of learning an additional number or a spot different from your own is exciting and hard, especially when you are on a time limit. You grow exponentially as a dancer from this experience.

I've been having the same experience this past week, but I've been growing as a missionary. Honestly, it's been a bit of a hard week, but I have truly been learning so much about who I am and what the Lord wants from me.

I'll start with the biggest news of the week. I was emergency transferred a few days ago. I'm now in Memorial until transfers on Wednesday. Then I'll be back in Rosenberg for the foreseeable future. Probably at least another transfer since I'm talking over the area. But right now, I'm in Memorial, with Sister Campbell, one of my MTC companions. I found out Thursday night and I left Friday morning. It's a really long story as to how I got here, and it really has nothing to do with me. But basically, I'm here substituting for a Sister who just couldn't handle it anymore. 

The rest of my week has been pretty normal. Ha, not.

In District Meeting on Tuesday, Elder Jones (our beloved AP) challenged Sister Thompson and I personally to baptize our investigator R this weekend because he has been coming to church for two months and President said that every zone could baptize this weekend. We honestly tried our best. But we found out R has more commandment issues than we thought, and then we thought that D, who was supposed to be baptized last weekend, was more ready than R, but he had work conflicts. So the ward is basically mad at us now and we didn't try for a baptism. In the end, it was actually a good thing.

We also had a Relief Society activity this week. We made candle holders. An hour and lots of glitter later, don't they look awesome? It was also great because lots of Less Actives always come to the activities.

Oddly, this week seems like it has been so crazy, but not that much actually happened other than working with people. I now have a double dose of people going on as well, since I have the Memorial investigators, too. Oh, speaking of dose, that's why my week has felt so crazy. I've been sick this week. The weather went from normal Texas hot to crazy Texas cold, and I caught a cold in the process. Yeah.

I'll just tell you about people really quick.

D should be getting baptized this weekend. He's so ready and he's so excited. Pray that nothing crazy happens to get in the way.

R will need a little more time. He's having a hard time committing to obey the commandments because he is scared of breaking them. So he won't promise to keep them. Pray that he will be willing to commit to keep the commandments.

Yeah, that's really all I've got.

I guess I've just been learning that the Lord's plan often does not agree with what you had in mind. It takes a lot of faith to do what he wants you to do, but there is always a lesson you need to learn, or someone you need to help. I'm still trying to make sure I learn everything I am supposed to learn, and help everyone I'm meant to.

Wow. That was all over the place. Oh well.

Calamity

In ballets, nothing is happy dandy the whole time. In order for any plot to be interesting, there has to be a conflict to resolve. Sometimes it is a minor conflict, where something stupid happens and there is a funny resolution. And sometimes, there is a calamity and everything falls apart for a time. These are the best ballets, in my opinion. There are more pieces to put together and more ways the characters can develop.

Things fell apart a little at the start of this week. But I have grown so much from putting the pieces back together and learning about myself and how to be a good missionary.

There was no baptism this weekend. We got a phone call Tuesday morning from D, our investigator. The short story is that he is not ready yet. We're hoping he can make it to either this weekend or the next, but we don't know yet. He is so determined though, it's amazing. He wants to start over so bad that he is basically overhauling his life to do it. Please pray for him. 

This week improved at we put pieces back together. We found two new investigators this week: D&Q who are awesome. We visited many less actives and members. And we got so many member referrals. Those are my favorite, because these individuals already have a foundation in the gospel: their friend the member. I'm so excited that the members trust me enough to share their friends and family with me.

The best example is a cul-de-sac out in the country. Two members live in there: the Banners and the Copes. They each referred us to a family in the circle. They also invited us to a neighborhood barbecue next week so we can interact with them. Whaat?? Awesome.

We also got to be part of the Pinewood Derby this weekend for the scouts. It's sad, but this was actually my first one, despite having a younger brother. I really regret not going to any of his, because it was so much fun. I got to be a judge, and help determine which cars crossed the finish first. It was such a fun evening :)

We also got to be part of ward choir this week. I love hearing the ward's talents and feel the unity of trying to figure out difficult songs. It was fun.

But the best part, the very best part of the week can be summed up in one word. TEMPLE!!! 

Yes, I got to go again. But this time, we went as a mission. Yeah. This was such an awesome experience, more so than usual. We got to a) see the newest new movie, b) have our mission president and his wife as well as the Temple President and Matron be part of the session and c) go to the training room after and be taught by the Presidents (temple and mission). I came out of there completely edified. One of the things that I learned that I want to share is that we often hold ourselves back from becoming who we really are. We were somebody incredible before we came to earth. We have forgotten who we are for a time. But we allow self doubts and fear and sometimes sin to keep us from our potential. But Christ overcame all that, and he helps us, if we let him. He will pick up the broken pieces and put them back together in ways we could never imagine. 

Nutcracker rehearsals

When preparing for the Nutcracker, everything starts before the Holidays even begin. Auditions are typically in September. Rehearsals start shortly after that. But by the time performing starts in December, it is quite possible to be entirely sick of it.

The defining event of my week was the Holidays really starting before the holidays arrived. This event has come to be known as Hallowgivemas. We took the Hallow out of Halloween, the give out of Thanksgiving and mas out of Christmas. We did this because we listened to Christmas music while eating Thanksgiving dinner on Halloween night. No, I'm not joking. That really did happen. It was so much fun.

I really don't have that much else to report on. It's only been 4 days since my last p-day. We've just been teaching people and working the the members.

 Oh, here's something:

Saturday morning we went to a nature park with the Beehives in the ward. They did team building activities. There were only three of ten there though, so it didn't work as well as we wanted. But it was so much fun. I learned how to make tortillas at breakfast after at a member's home. Conclusion. If I want to be good at making tortillas, I need shorter counter tops, or at least a stool to stand on.

We also had zone meeting this week. It was incredible as always. After the meeting, one Elder challenged our zone to eat Scorpion Peppers. It was a dumb thing to do. One sister was crying for nearly 10 minutes. Our zone is crazy.

I'll just talk about our investigators really quick.

D is doing awesome. His baptism is on Saturday. There have been so many challenges thrown at him, but he just wants to get baptized and start his life over. He is so excited for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Please pray for him.

And R just accepted a baptism date for Nov 29. He is going to have to work hard to get there, but he can do it. He just needs to give up smoking and drinking. Its hard for him, because he's going blind. His vision is tunneling and it really concerns him. But he is so excited to learn.

That's all I have for this week. I love you all! Remember that you are agents and have the power to choose.