Week 44

Hola Mis Seres Queridos

Oh my craziness. Our ward is just full of missionaries now that there are 8 of us all serving in Houston 10. I am excited to see the ward get into gear and come out teaching with us more and be more involved in the work. We are really trying to work more with the members, we are going to talk to the Relief Society President this week to see if she will help us to organize a weekly split with us and the sisters in the Relief Society. I think this would really help the members get excited to share the gospel and be more willing to help us with the work. We shall see how it turns out!

We biked this week a little bit, the weather is slightly cooling down, but we still were sweaty and gross. Hermana Ang loves biking, probably because she has really long skirts and it's pretty easy for her to ride a bike. All of my skirts ride up while I pedal so I either have to hold it down with one hand or wear leggings underneath. I really don't like either of those options. Needless to say, I am not a very graceful bicyclist and would rather walk or use the car.

A few weeks ago Hermana Ang and I got out the map of our area and said a prayer that we would be guided to the streets that we needed to visit, ones where people are prepared to hear our message. We each wrote down 15 street names after we prayed and then quite some time later we put our lists together to see which ones matched up. There were only about 4 that matched up, but we were both super excited to find some success on those streets and trusted that Heavenly Father would guide us to those who need to hear our message. On Friday we went to go knock doors on one of those streets, Colleen Rd. (which is also the name of my wonderful mother), and as soon as we got there and look around we both realized that this was a very english speaking community. But, we decided to press on and do as the Lord as guided us to do and began knocking doors. One woman answered the door and was pretty defensive, asked us some questions about what we teach. After we answered her she said, "well y'all are the first Jehovah's Witnesses I have ever met that believe that!" So, I kindly replied that we actually aren't Jehovah's Witnesses and her reply was, "Oh, so you're Mormons!" Slam. Haha We kept on knocking and eventually spoke with this one man named Gene. He was soooo nice to us! He is a 2nd Baptist and taught us a little about his beliefs, family and background and we talked a little about what we do as missionaries and about the Book of Mormon. He said several times that he just loves our church and everything that we do and wishes there were more of us in their community, but at the end said he really struggles with the Book of Mormon. So, I asked him what he knew about the Book of Mormon and he said, "Well, I don't know much, but from what I understand it is a book that Joseph Smith wrote while he was walking around South America." This answer rather surprised me, I had never heard before that Joseph somehow got down to South America, haha, so I explained a little bit about what it REALLY is and he said the english missionaries were more than welcome to come by to talk more about it, but that they had to come soon because on Tuesday he leaves for a 3 month business trip to Singapore.

Last night we were on our way to go visit the Patinos went I felt like we should go drop by Gene's and make sure the Elders had brought him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We pulled up and I looked all over our car for an english copy of the Book of Mormon and just couldn't find one. I asked Hermana Ang if maybe we should drive home and get one real quick and come back and she said she wanted to look one more time in the trunk. The whole time she looked I was praying that there would be one, and what do you know she pulled one right out of our materials crate that is back there, haha. We knocked on his door and he answered and came out to speak with us, said he was so grateful he would have the opportunity to read it while he was on his long flight to China. Then he had his wife come out to meet us and can you believe this, she is from Nicaragua and speaks spanish!!!!! They invited us in and we learned that both of the parents speak spanish but the kids don't know much of it. They were such an amazing family! They said they loved what we do and have always been impressed with our church. We talked to them for like an hour, and we all just clicked immediately. We also learned that their oldest daughter plays soccer with a member of our ward and that Gene's wife, Alba, is the manager of that team. After talking some more and making an appointment to return tonight, I asked Gene if we could all kneel and if he would offer a prayer as head of the house, that his family may be blessed as he travels. They agreed and this was the craziest part, as Gene prayed he asked that Heavenly Father would bless us in our work, that we would have success and that we would be able to find more people to join our church. That has got to be the first and probably last time that a Baptist prays for us to find more people to join the Mormon church haha, but boy was I thrilled by their acceptance and support. I am SO excited to visit with them tonight. We are going to watch the finding faith in Christ video and begin teaching them about the apostasy of Christ's church after his death. I am sooooooo excited. Even if they don't accept our message tonight, even if they were to turn on us and throw us out of their house, I know we have been guided to them by the Lord. I know as we seek to do His will that He will bless us with all that we need accomplish His purposes.

Being a missionary is the best! There is no greater calling than that of a full-time servant of the Lord
Hermana Taets