Deep In the Heart of Texas

Merry Christmas! Wow, it has been a crazy week! My bike brakes were funky, and we took it to get it fixed. Stuffed my face at Panda with a member. I live for Panda.  It dropped below zero with 30 mph winds. So that was fun. To do. While riding a bike. I loved it. My body was so numb that it didn't even hurt after a while. I've begun wearing thermal leggings under my pants to keep my thighs warm. Zero regrets.  But like the cold weather was a huge problem here. Everyone was told to drip their faucets and open the cupboards under the sink to protect the pipes from freezing and breaking. And let me say that there are many pipes that broke in San Antonio. The apt the floor above us had theirs break, and there were 2 inches of water in their rooms. Super rough for them. I had my interview with President. He's an awesome person. I'm excited to see what the next transfer will bring. Might be leaving my first area. I also had comp exchanges which was cool. While I was gone, the...

Texas has land. Lots of it. We met a lady named Kim and actually organized a service activity for her so the ward could help, and we attempted to consolidate her storage units into one big one. However, she has a TON of random...umm, I'm saying stuff, to put it nicely (it was really mostly junk, I'd say). So that went well, and she loves us so much for helping her and what we do as missionaries. She said she's definitely coming to church, so maybe she'll come. Idk though, I've heard that a few times.... This week was a bit eventful! Played pickleball with my roomies, which was fun.  Had the mission Christmas party, where we were given fun Texas ornaments and listened to missionaries sing. They also had some bussin smoked brisket. It was so juicy and succulent. Tried out that fancy toilet again. I'm a changed man. It twas a magical experience. It even has a drying feature lol. Mmmm, that was a good day.  Now to the part where I smashed someone's taillight.......

Howdy! Texas got over the little cold bit, and it's back to 80-degree days, haha. Plus, it's pretty humid too. It's nice, though. I got to have exchanges with my guy Elder Leung Choi! He's super awesome, we click so easily and we are going through some similar stuff. Got to really talk a lot and grinded out some work. And then we stopped by a less active member, but she wasn't home. However, the grandmother and her 3 grandkids were there, and I was like, "Well hey, would y'all like to hear a Christmas message anyway?" And they were so excited, and all came outside. There was an 11-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old girl. We started just asking some questions and found out that the grandkids' mom died, and they live with their grandma. They are literally the sweetest kids ever. After hearing this, I KNEW that I had to share the plan of salvation with them. And it was just so cool, and they were so involved with the lesson and just pr...

Being sick is the absolute worst....which is a good thing I wasn't!! My comp was sick this week, though. Super fun. Just kidding it was not great feeling unproductive; however, one elder in the companionship that we live with was also sick, so we got approval to do a mini-exchange for a couple days. So me and my boy Elder Jackson got to hit the streets, covering lessons in both our areas. It was actually super fun having double the area, and I love Elder Jackson. We just get along so well and had some nice lessons together:)  But yeah, my comp, Elder Wheeler had a fever of 103 for a bit during one day, but I feel great! A sick companion ain't going hold me back from grinding with Elder Jackson. When his comp started feeling better, then I had to stay with my comp for a day in the apt. It was a rip. Once he was feeling better, we went to do our ward temple walk with 2 of our friends! They are so cool and fun, I love them. But basically, the ward walked to the temple from 20 mile...

Hey, y'all! Howdy.....I'm just kidding I'm not a Texan yet! Thanksgiving was a bit crazy. Had a lot of fun. Woke up at 4:30 to go to the Turkey Trot, which is a charity 5k. We were volunteers and got free shirts. Also got stuffed out of my mind because we had not one, but TWO Thanksgiving dinners. Like, WOAH, I WAS FULL. But it was nice, and then were like, let's do street contacting because if the people are alone, most likely they are lonely! So we ended up talking to some nice people.  This week was kinda a bit harder than usual. Once you get a new companion after your trainer, missionaries call it greenie-breaking. Basically, the new missionary has to learn to do things differently because his new comp does things differently. There are new perspectives, opinions, and different personalities that you have to cope with. And learn to work with. I will say it is humbling and has helped me see where I fall short. Some things were frustrating; however, I've been able...

This was my last week with my dad! Elder Nielson was transferred to the far side of San Antonio, and I stayed in Woodlake! We spent a few days visiting people that Elder Nielson wanted to say goodbye to. Then we all met together for the transfer itself, and it was a party! Got to meet and talk to a lot of missionaries, and was pretty cool. Also met my new companion, Elder Wheeler! He's been out for a year and has a very good knowledge of the gospel. Have only had a few days with him, but it's good so far! He likes to talk to everyone and stop while bike riding so I'm doing that and it's sweet cause we are meeting lotsss of people (also a lot more of the interesting type of people). Here is the really cool story I didn't share last week. Our Elder's quorum counselor told us about his stepson and how he's been struggling a lot with depression and stress. He lives mostly by himself though his sister lives there occasionally. And he was praying to God, asking if...

Holy moly, this week has been crazy y'all! Best week so far. Started off by giving a guy a blessing in our apartment and made him break down. He has been less active since high school and hadn't had a blessing in a very long long time, so we made his day. We also went to a gated community to stop by one of our friends. She wasn't home, so we decided to knock some doors around her house. And the first house we knocked, a guy literally threw open his door and was like, "HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!?! THIS IS A GATED COMMUNITY!!!!" And elder Nielsen said, "Umm the gate was open?" That led to the guy flipping out on us telling us that this is private property and if we don't get out of there right now, that he was going to call the cops. And then he slammed his door shut. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him. Probably has incredibly low self-esteem and had a hard life if he was going to be so rude to two 19-year-old missionaries. I forgive him, though, because ju...