Hola mi familia. We had an... interesting week. A very long week. Lets begin.
Last pday we went to Sylvan Beach with the spanish missionaries for memorial day. I already told you about that. I got burned on my face and now it is peeling. Awesome.
Tuesday we went to see Angie, the elders recent convert. She is the one that is full blooded native american. Her kids are the cutest things ever. I will send pictures. Anyway, she has no family support and we are trying to rally ward support for her, but in the mean time we will see her a lot. She is the queen of one word answers so it is awkward. Its best when we talk about the gospel. I can talk about the gospel wayyy better than I can small talk. haha i'm gonna be a weirdo for a while at home. We also saw Catherine again (not reading the book of mormon. uggggh) and Brock. We went to dinner with Morris at this DELICIOUS RESTURAUNT! We are going to eat there when yall come do a mission tour with me. :] It is called Southern Comfort Kitchen. HOOOLY it is so delish. It made sister Erickson real sick afterward. Here is a Texas tid bit for ya: Chicken Fried Stake is WAYYYY different here. It is literally a stake deep fried in chicken fat or something. It is not as good. I prefer Chicken fried chicken. Anyway we rounded off our night seeing our recently reactivated Brother Samford and Brother Raymundo - we're working on him. He's been a member for about a year.
Wednesday was the temple. :] :] :] Oh my gosh I have missed going to the temple. THAT is one place that will be a highlight when yall come back here. It is one of the most beautiful temple's I've ever seen. EVER. And the inside just beats the band. It was a great day for me. I was praying for a couple things, and a few answers, and for parts of my testimony I want to build. And in the celestial room, I just felt SO happy. Oh, so happy you can't imagine. Family, I've never been this happy. I really havent and I know it is because I start my day every day with prayer and scripture study and then I get to consecrate my life to it all the time. That is how I want everyone to feel. That is why I do missionary work becuase I want them to get to that room. The celestial room of the temple. The only thing that would make that better is to have my family there with me, and that is the end goal. That families can be together progressing and becoming fit to live with God. :] So happy. So happy. I love this gospel. I've had several moments of confirmation that it is true and real this week and those are such important moments to me. Even if they're fleeting, I am positive that I had them and I know how I felt in them. So I hold on to that in the inbetween moments, which there are more of. I have faith that one day they'll all blend together and I'll feel that flame of testimony all the time. Obviously, it was a great experience for me. I hope I get to go to the temple one more time before my exit temple trip. THE MORNING I fly home :O Way too soon. After the temple we went to the dirt-nast Chinese Barf-ee (as Cochran likes to call them haha) and I didn't eat. It was too sicko. Afterward, like I said, sister Erickson was sick so she slept before our ward correlation meeting. Sister Manzo is on fire and she is going to be the big difference in the ward. It is astounding to me when one person has the vision and drive to acheive how it lifts a group of people - so many people are getting energized and things are changing because of sister manzo. It's crazy to think that when I got here, she wasn't totally active. Things have changed and it's the scriptures and the gospel that does it.
Thursday we had dinner with Sister Ruiz and it was really good because it was an awful day before hand. Sister Ruiz was heartbroken when we got there because her mother who lives in Mexico had decided not to come visit her. And it was so sad becuase she loves her mother and she neversees her (obviously). We shared a lesson with her about faith and she felt really a lot better when we left. That is the power of the gospel. What it does is make people feel better- whatever ails them. I know that.
Friday we had zone meeting and it was my ONE YEAR MARK!! It is totally nuts to think about what I was doing a year ago. Because it doesn't seem like it's been a year. At zone meeting we learned we are doing the coolest thing as a mission. We are creating T.H.E. 1st ward. Which means we will have 345 either reactivated members or convert baptisms mission wide. That is enough people to make a ward. It will not be a real ward, but the number of people could create a ward. Does the make sense? I am totally jazzed about it. When we create the new ward we get to go NASA!!!! YUSSS! I'm way excited. I apparently live really close to NASA. Who knew? I have no idea where it is though. We went to KFC afterward and ate a ton of food and sang to me and Cochran (and Curtis and Baldwin via telefono) for our one year mark. It was awesome. We saw Robert and Angie afterward and then had a lesson with Jonathan. AHHH I don't know what to do with Jonathan. While we were saying the closing prayer I got the feeling "Drop him" and I was so scared to. So I tried to but it didn't work and Sister erickson doesn't feel that way so I'm like "uhhh I can't drop our investigator with only my inspritation!" so i don't know what to do. We'll pray about it.
Saturday we had another tri-mission conference. This is my 4th General Authority. What a lucky duck I am, huh? It was Elder Paul V. Johnson (and a lot of my perscription qutoes are from him!!) he is really tall. It was good to see all the Houston missionaries that I love. Elder Curtis (our district leader) is now a zone leader - I'm so proud!! And Leishman and Boehmer are district leaders. So great. I saw Melody Haslam do you remember her? She is in the south mission and she goes home at the end of this month. Crazy!! Elder Johnson was with Elder Villarreal of the area 70. HE WAS SO COOL. I loved him. He talked about his conversion experience and how important missionary work is even though it's hard. The work of the gospel is the most important thing there is, even though it's hard. He was just funny and cool. Romeo Villarreal. Look him up. I hope he becomes someone that we hear in general conference. Elder Johnson talked about his grandson who got Bone cancer and the leg had to be amputated. They did this bizarre sugery where they used his ankle joint for his new knee joint but he couldn't do the phsycial therapy it was too painful. For months and months htey tried to do therapy and it wouldn't work. Then one day they were doing therapy and he fell and broke his leg. His poor little leg. And everyone was so upset, especially Elder Johnsons daughter - the mother. And she said "Why after all of this, the cancer the chemotherapy the pain, does he have to break his little leg and feel all of this pain?" The little 11 year old boy said this pain was worse than the amputation the chemo everything. But what happened was incredible: because they had to reset the break the leg healed in a way that allowed him to do the physical therapy without pain. And he was running and walking with a prosthetic leg in no time at all. As opposed to months and months of pain and discouragement. Elder Johnson talked about how we ask "Why is this happening? And why do we have to go through the pain?" Because the pain is obstructing the view of God's plan. Of how He's going to make it okay. I have a testimony of that as well. It was a GREAT conference. I'm happy I got to go.
Yesterday we had "An historic conference" (hahah S. Gifford Nielson ALWAYS says that. This is "an historic conference" I wish people would just say "A historic conference". "An historic" sounds totally weird.) and it was they created the 18th stake in Houston - The summerwood stake. So we split from our Zone and it became the Summerwood zone and we are still in The Houston East Zone - combined with the old Spanish zone. It's weird sounding, but I can't explain it better than that. It was a good conference but the entire thing was bi-lingual so it took nine thousand hours. It was cool becuase our Stake is a bilingual stake. And our stake president, oh my gosh I almost cried looking at him up there. He is SOOO young. Probably like 40. And he doesn't speak spanish. He has been in the stake presidency for 2.5 years and he said he is super overwhelmed. The challenge that he gave us was to pray for him and his counselors :[ oh, of COURSE we will. It is going to be the best stake presidency. The Love and energy of his counselors was infectious. And he is just so humble, you can hear it. He does not know what to do and that makes us all rally around him somehow - cause he's really really young. It's going to be great. We're meeting him this coming Friday. Then yesterday was a really bad day. Sister Erickson was very upset so President and Sister Crawford came and talked to us. It just amazes me how the gospel changes people. I have felt so similar to how she's feeling and I am so happy now. I swear, there was a time when I thought :How can I do this for 16 more months when I hate it every day??" and I didn't hate it every day but it felt like it a lot. And I didn't think I'd be happy. But I AM. I am happier than ever before in my life. I know the Father was teaching me faith in His Son. I don't remember a whole lot of specific words from my setting apart blessing but I do remember the words "You will find the happiness you seek". And I thought about that when I was so sad in Porter. And do you know what? I have!! And becuase I have I know sister erickson will. I just will try my best to help her. It is going to be alright. It may not be a tap dance 24/7 but it will be alright and the Lord will help us. I can't say how special the feelings of faith and trust I do have in the Lord are. I think I was partly with Sister erickson to learn how to pray as my first source of guidance.
Well, I've been here a year. A YEAR!!!!!!! Can you believe it? I can't. It dragged at some points and flew at others. And right now I just can't believe I'm almost done. :[ I'm trying to be the missionary I want to be. I want to talk to everyone and that's so hard for me. But I will keep trying and the Lord iwll help me.
Mom, thanks for your letter this week! It was a good one I love to hear about your life! How are things this week? Thanks for sending my box and retainer you are just so great. I hope that you are so happy!!!!
Dad, thanks for your e-mail I took picutres of it so I could read it:] my companion is a genius and figured that out so we don't have to print anything. It's neato. And then we can print it later or print the pictures. So smart. I will read it today. How is everything going for you. Pray for my poor new stake president.he is so overwhelmed to be a president so young with so little experience and with a bilingual congregation when he doesn't speak spanish.
James, how are you? Hows everything going? I'm seding you a letter.
Jonny you graduate tomorrow!! tell me how it goes.
Grandma Hicken, THANK YOU so much for sending me 'the touch of the masters hand' i love it!!! you are the best and thank you for writing me always. I'm sorry I don't write back better, but I appreciate every letter I get.
I LOVE YOU ALL! BE good and start your day with scripture study!! LOVE YOU