6 months to go!

My mattress luckily is bed bug free. Our apartments are too nice! Well my companion was “miraculously” healed and playing basketball last pday so I decided we would do stuff this week haha. The mission has gone by really fast, and this last little bit will go even faster. Only four more transfers.  I never thought I’d have six months left 18 months ago!

My week wasn’t too shabby. I was able to enjoy myself... a little bit.

Last Monday after pday a super cool member took us out to BurgerIM. It’s a burger place that sells sliders. So you can order two or three burgers at a time. They were really good. I had a salmon burger, beef burger, and tried a lamb one. They also had some tasty wings. They must know Hebrew or something because IM is used to make things plural right dad? Something like that. I ate way too much though. The past four weeks we’ve been fed a ton of food and I haven’t been working out
as diligently so sadly I’ve gained weight haha. I looked at photos of me in the MTC and I was way skinny. I was 145 then and now I’m 163. Gee wiz. Time to shave some pounds! Basically I’m sick of eating fast food, I don’t drink soda anymore either. Yuck. (Except I’ll have a Dr Pepper once in a blue moon)

Tuesday was super good, but long. From 9 until 4 we had Zone Conference. We woke up, got ready super fast and headed over to the church. The meeting was really good and I learned a lot of stuff. Our convert Carmen shared her testimony and it was so good. Everyone after was telling me how awesome she is. Feels good that all my work paid off. Lol. I was asked on the spot to give a talk too. I think I did an alright job. Had interviews with President too. I love him so much! We always have the best interviews. Based on my interview three things can happen next transfer. I’m either training, becoming a district leader, or going zone leader. We talked about all 3 in the interview so who knows. Maybe I’ll stay a normal missionary too. We will see in a week. We made a video for zone conference and played it for everyone. It was about introducing our investigators to the bishop. Everyone was laughing so hard. I was the star too After Zone Conference we had dinner and then went to mutual!

Wednesday I spent a lot of time planning our district meeting with Riches . We planned an amazing race themed meeting and it was super fun. Everyone loved it,  but I’ll get to that later. We ate with the Rodriguez again and afterwards took the other Elders a few places. That night we exchanged with the zone leaders at 8. I went with my good buddy Elder Johnson to his area. That night we visited a recent convert who is a health specialist. For free she did all these tests on us and told us our body age. Basically I’m 20 years old but my body feels like 30. Thanks dad. Haha

Thursday was super fun. Elder Johnson and I had little sleep because we couldn’t stop talking the night before. We were tried in the morning. We taught an English class that morning to a few people. We had some studies and he Bought us subway. That night too we went to a bomb dinner. We ate chicken, asparagus, rice, and had some delicious juice.

Friday was nuts. Super early I went with Riches to set up the amazing race at a park. We had stations that started in the park and ended in the church and they had to race and complete each one. At the start I was the host and introduced every team and everything. Then we had them race to find their team flags. Who ever brought me theirs first got to start first. Then the next would have to wait for a little bit before starting and so on. The first station was an activity at this play ground a ways away where they had to find pass along cards with scriptures on them. There was a detour option too where if they shared the scripture with a person they could skip a few stations. Two teams did that. After that we had lunch with Carmen. We had some super good food. That night we ate with the Fuentes too. They are one of my favorite families.

Saturday was super good too. We visited a few people in the morning then all afternoon we spent helping the Fuentes family at his mechanic shop. We chopped down tree branches and moved tires. We used machetes of course. They fed us some really good chicken too. Carmen’s family and them are really good friends too so they were there as well.

Sunday was pretty neat. Church was really good. We had 3 investigators there which was good. After we ate with the tenorios like usual. That always make super good and healthy food. It’s the best. It’s my mission to make them laugh every time I go over. Let’s just say I’m pretty successful at that. That night we had a fireside at president Rascon’s house. It was for less active, investigators, and recent converts. Carmen came with her kids. It was really good too. He shared some things and the missionaries sang. I made sure to add my birthday on his calendar too. We had cake and ice cream there. Carmen really enjoyed it and it was good for her eldest daughter that came. She’s investigating still. Her 15 yr old daughter is the one we are baptizing this weekend.

It was a pretty good week. Have a good week guys! Love y’all.

"Our hermana is leaving in a week... :("

Exchanges

I’m a little bummed to be missing the olympics. At least I got to see the summer games before I left. We have mattress covers because of bed bugs. It’s a problem down here. In just a few days I’ll hit the exact six month left mark. On the 15th. I’m pretty excited. Time has flown by. 

This week wasn’t too crazy and sadly I don’t think I have too much to write about. Who knows though, maybe I’ll write a lot.

Monday Elder Barnum hurt his ankle so we spent the evening in the doctors office. Sister Hewlett did take us out to eat though. We went to carrabbas. I had some good salmon. Doctors orders... my comp can’t do anything for 2 weeks. The mission cleared it too so looks like I’ll be spending a lot of my time in the apartment.. gross! Luckily this past week we did a lot of stuff, and the other Elders saved me by going on exchanges.

This week I went on exchanges with both Elder Taylor and Elder Riches. Both times were super fun! On my exchange with Elder Taylor, it was his birthday! We all went together to a Chinese place. Then that night I took him to the Fuentes and the surprised him with decorations and a cake. We had flautas and the cake was really tasty. We had a good district meeting too. I gave another segment. It’s fun to plan them with Elder Riches. We have a good time doing it. Friday night we had a Valentines party at the church too. There was some good food there. On Saturday we saw Daniel, who came down from Oklahoma. We went to a members birthday dinner too.

Sunday was a good one. After church we ate with the tenorios like usual. They always have something really tasty there.

Other than that I sadly don’t have anything exciting to write about. Hope y’all have a good week!

"Got Elder Taylor on his birthday, but he got revenge!" 

"Los Chulitos"  

Splits and good food

Hello!

My week was a good one! I’ve enjoyed the pictures. Keep on sending
pictures of what’s going on. Sad to hear about great granny. But she’s
in a better place now. I heard the Eagles won the super bowl. That’s
good. I hate the patriots. I got the card in the mail! Thank you mom!
I’m going to enjoy some chick fil a! Transfers are in a few weeks.
It’s week 4 in the transfer so two more to go.

Last Monday was sooooo good! Elder Riches got a new companion. His
name is Elder Taylor and he came halfway through the transfer because
he got injured in the MTC and then he came back out. He’s brand new
and super cool. We played lots of games at the church which was fun.
After that Elder Riches and Taylor came with us to a family home
evening at Carmen’s. It was so fun and the Fuentes family came too. We
had a blast!

Tuesday, Elder Taylor and Elder Vandermark where with us all day
because their companions were in a district leader meeting all day. We
did some service and helped a lady move their house, ate tons of
pizza. Afterwards we headed over to Carmen’s, taught her, and then ate
pupusas. By this time the meeting was over so Riches and the zone
leaders and everyone came over to eat pupusas together. I was so full.
I ate way too much. After that we went to mutual.

Wednesday we did more service in the morning. They bought us pizza
again too. After that we visited some people and had a soccer game
that night. I scored some goals it was super fun. That day the zone
leaders broke their car so they were stuck in Cloverleaf and couldn’t
go anywhere. We were the only ones with a car so we lent it to them.
That night it was way too late and we were all stuck in Cloverleaf so
we had to have a huge sleepover with the zone leaders. It was fun!

Thursday we  took the zone leaders to their car when it was finished
and then we had breakfast with a member. It was good and I ate lots.
After that we did studies and visited some people. That night we ate
over at the Fuentes family. They make the best Salvadorian food. Then
we went on exchanges and Elder Taylor came with me.

Friday morning we had district Training. That’s a training the zone
leaders give our district once a transfer. It was good! After that we
went to lunch. So before lunch I placed my iPad on a seat in the car.
Someone wanted to sit there so they took it off and placed it on the
hood. I however did not know it was on the hood so I drove off. We got
all the way to mod pizza, 20 minutes away, and I noticed it was gone.
I was so upset. We ate real fast and went looking for it. I used find
my iPad and sent a message to my iPad saying it was lost. Minutes
later someone called me and told me they found in in the middle of a
busy road but that it was all fine. When I got it back nothing was
wrong with it! The case is even more banged up but the iPad is fine.
That case was a good investment.

Saturday we went to Salvador’s soccer game again. It was fun and we
sat by his dad. His dad is hilarious. A member took us out to chick
fil a after and then we had some studies. We went on splits and Elder
Riches and I blitzed their area. We hiked around in the freezing rain
for two hours. I was soaking wet but we were able to find some new
investigators. That night we went to mod pizza again. That place is so
good!

Sunday we had church and it was super fun. After we all ate with a
family and had some good chicken and rice. We had to take the other
Elders a few places. I felt like a taxi driver. Other than that we
didn’t do much.

I definitely gained weight this week! We ate way too much food. The
week was a good one! We had lots of fun. Love y’all!

"The homies"

Ice Cream Parlor

Hello!

We were on Carmen’s roof taking down Christmas lights. Her daughter was snap chatting us so I had her send one to Aaron haha. I’m excited to go to various restaurants with dad. Riches is going to BYU so he will be close. He already says he’s coming over every day so be ready  it was actually a hamster that I was holding. It was cool! 

Last Monday was terrible! I won’t go into details but I just had the worst pday of my life. Just absolutely a wreck... that night though I left on exchanges with Elder Thomas so Tuesday was a good one.

Tuesday I was in Galena Park with Elder Thomas. It’s a weird area for sure... that morning we had a lesson with some crazy lady in a sketchy neighborhood. It ate up most of our morning because it was a little further of a drive. I cooked up some bomb sandwiches for lunch though! They were so good. We had some good studies together too. Their neighbors are really loud and obnoxious. We were eating and all of a sudden all these loud noises came from their house. Ghetto areas are crazy. That afternoon we tried lots of people which was fun! We went to mutual that night like usual and exchanged back there. 

Wednesday wasn’t too bad. It was actually one of my favorite days in the mission. We visited Lupe in the morning and that was fun. We ate lunch and then went over to the Fuentes. We went with hermano to his son's soccer game. I’m really close with that family so it was a blast! We also went because a lot of the kids on the team are our investigators. We’ve given most of them Book of Mormons. We sat next to an investigator too. Darwin. Unfortunately Salvador and his team lost. It was a good game though. After we ate at their house and had rice with meat and avocado. It was tasty. Then we hurried down to pine trails and took Riches to a lesson. While they were teaching we went to the park and had our weekly soccer game. Good day. We went on exchanges afterwards. I went with Riches.

Thursday was super fun!!! We went on exchanges so Riches and I could plan the district meeting for the next day. We stayed up late talking Wednesday night and so we were tired in the morning haha. We spent most of the day planning but we had good studies and visited some people. We bought these cool hats for our district meeting. I’ll explain later. We had dinner with a super cool family too, the Rendons. Other than that we not much happened! 

Friday was also in my top days on the mission. We started by going to district meeting. I gave a funny segment in the first part. After that we got to the fun part... so the topic was creating spiritual baptismal services for our investigators (the assistants come up with the driest ideas... annoying). Because we had a lame topic, we decided to make it fun! I came up with the idea to have a fake ice cream parlor! The hats we bought said "dragon" on them and have cool Chinese writing so we customized them with sharpies, and wrote the names of everyone in the district on them so we would all look like workers. We had ice cream and different toppings. They would receive an “order” and would have to create an ice cream sundae based on what the investigators would like in their baptismal service. We assigned each part of the service a different topping so it turned out to be some tasty ice cream! For example, I got an order for a guy who wanted hymns, a special musical number, or whatever. I would start by scooping some Ice cream and then add toppings accordingly. It was super fun and everyone loved it. After district meeting was over we served the other district some ice cream! I’ll include pictures. After district meeting Elder Riches and I went on splits and taught Carmen and her daughter! It was super fun. She’s such an awesome member already. She’s always bearing her testimony and it’s funny because she is always pushing members to do their best haha. She’s going to be the relief society president one day. After that we all went and ate with the Fuentes. It was sooo fun! We played games and ate hamburgers. They are my favorite family here! 

Saturday we did some service in the morning. We helped some people move some things. After that we had lunch. It was good. That afternoon nothing happened really. No one really would talk to us. Oh well. Life goes on.

Sunday was super good too!! Church was awesome and Carmen came as usual. She’s sooo cool. The gospel principles class was good as well. The other Elders had lots of investigators at church so it was good for them. After church we ate dinner with the Tenorios. We had meat and rice with juice of tamarind. It was tasty stuff. After that we drove allllll the way to Kingwood with a member for a monthly mission presidents fireside. We invite investigators, less actives, and recent converts to hear some awesome talks. It was really good and i saw lots of friends. It’s crazy, the hermana that came out with me goes home in 3 weeks... time has flown by! 

This week was super good. I hope you all have a good one! Love you guys!

"I bet you can't find me..."

"Riches' mom sent me bread!!"

"photo shoot"

Add caption

"We hit up a member's high school soccer game. Super fun."

"Ice cream parlor district meeting!"