Deep In the Heart of Texas

  Okay y'all, this week has been spectacular. Lots of just happenstance instances where we run into to someone or knock on someone's door when you're like, "Okay God, I know you're trying to tell us something. What are we supposed to do now, haha." One instance came when we were driving to Kenedy. We were running behind schedule and had skipped our personal study cause a member didn't allow us to leave until it had been an hour and a half lunch. So now we had do studies when we got to Kenedy. We happened to pass by a beautiful park by a river and I was like, "Hey, might as well do a short comp study in that pretty park." And so we pull up, and guess who we see. Our friend Sid. Going for a walk. And this man is older, and really wasn't progressing too much. So Elder Wood and I had decided to stop teaching him THAT DAY. And here we are, miles away from Sid's home, and he's just strolling along by our truck! In my mind I was like, "...

  Well well well, look who we have here. Mmmmmmm i guess just a bunch a folk who like to read emails.... Well this one's a good one!! This week has been a time of revelation and glory. The power and authority that comes from being a missionary is quite extraordinary. You truly are set apart to testify and teach the truth. In 1 Nephi 10:19 it says when you diligently work and seek, truly the MYSTERIES OF GOD are unfolded unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. And that's what happened to me this week. A mystery has been revealed to me by God.  Now most people have heard time and time again to "just have faith" or "faith has power" or that "you will see miracles from God IF we have faith!" And I have always been curious about WHY. Why does faith have power to bring miracles in our lives? Why is it so necessary for that to happen? And these past few weeks I've seen a similar scripture a couple of times.  For example 2 Nephi 31:14        14 But, b...

  Well howdy to all the Mothers who receive this  hahahaha y'all are the best! Keep doing those great things y'all are always doing. And for just being there when your kids need you.  Had a sweet tender mercy the other day! (Honestly they happen quite frequently if your looking), but this one came while teaching one of our friends, and I was able to share and read with her what I had read that day in personal study! If I hadn't been reading that specific chapter that day, I wouldn't have had some just awesome scriptural backing for what she was talking about and hopefully got her hooked on the Book of Mormon, haha;) We've tried to stay busy lately doing what we can to get this branch off the ground. We are teaching a few decently progressing people, which we're quite grateful for. And we also have been working with getting the members more missionary minded. And it seems to be working! Getting lots of glorious Book of Mormons with testimonies in them. Those are ...

 Haha! Welcomeeeee back! Now to truly finish my story..... A bit of background info if you missed the last one, basically we felt inspired to go to a small tiny town called Smiley to go finding. And we were wrapping up the day and remember to go and grab an address for a place, and on the way there we passed this RV. And a truck pulls up where lady comes out...... So the Magnificent Elder Wood calls out saying, hey! The woman doesn't even flinch, and continues walking to her RV. She opens the door and I boldly ask hey ma'am, would you like a little picture of Jesus?! She closes the door, turns toward us and says, I would love a picture of Jesus! So we stroll over and presented her with the beautiful gift of a tiny little card. We asked if she has faith in Christ, and she says, oh I'm actually LDS. I'm just inactive. And y'all know that me and Elder Wood were like, "Say whaaaaaat?" And she was like yep! And then I realized I knew her, and I know that she ha...

  Wow, I got no time today y'all.  Had a great week, but what really stood out was Sunday. Let me begin. We wake up right at 6:30 a.m., ready to do the Lord's work. We realize it's Brant's Council today, so we got to be to church early. We grab our breakfast and get changed. We get in the car, and we're driving. We get a text. Our lesson in a town that's 45 minutes away from home canceled. I get a distinct feeling in my heart that we should go to the town of Smiley instead. For now, there's no reason to go to the previous town. I don't realize why we needed to go to Smiley, nor did I realize that we needed to in my mind, but my heart knew. We get to church, have a marvelous Sunday, and head off to perform the Lord's labors. To gather Israel. Any way we possibly know how. Get to Smiley and park, and thus begins the session. We begin with the mighty prayer, calling upon the Lord for blessings and strength that we may magnify our calling and our time in...