Texas Te Amo

this week was pretty schweet Luis and Andrea Medina were able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday!! It was very special and I was able to feel the spirit so strongly as this happened. Missionary work is pretty hard sometimes and it is difficult mentally a lot of times. I have been having a little bit of a hard time with anxiety sometimes and it just has got me thinking about how much opposition there is in this work! It is special to see that, even in the hardest days (even when they are hard, and I don't even know why), I can always rely on the love that Heavenly Father has for me in every moment.  I am grateful for my companion, and all of the members here in Mount Pleasant who show so much love for the missionaries.  3 Nephi 22: 11-12 "For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, ...

I learned so much about my Heavenly Father this week and the love He has for us. He is reaching out to us through our families and He wants us to be guided during this lifetime.  ASSORTED HIGHLIGHTS Luis and Andrea got baptized on Saturday!! Truly it was a very special experience because it has been such a long time coming with these guys. It has been amazing to simply see how prepared they have been for over a year. I think that the coolest part was seeing the sheer amount of support that they had and how much love I saw projected toward them. Also their sweet grandpa Robledo was able to baptize them and he was so excited. It was really special to see the outpouring of love and welcome from the ward.  I have been really aware lately of the way Jesus Christ is teaching us the limits of our control. We have started studying the New Testament as a mission, and one of the most powerful stories that has always stood out to me is Jesus Christ calming the tempest.It ...

I AM SO FILLED WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE RIGHT NOW!!! A FEW STORIES - I took a wrong turn on our way to our friend Adolfo's house (what's new?) and we happened to see another one of our friends, Johnny, sitting out on his porch. we immediately pulled over to discover he was studying, for the third or fourth time, the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we had given him a few days earlier. He had dog-eared some pages, annotated it, and was bursting with questions. It was seriously incredible. There are so many times in life, and especially on my mission, when I feel under qualified for the tasks ahead of me. But it was so special when I really felt the Lord qualifying me for this task through the precious collection of His words, bound in leather and resting in my hands. (the Book of Mormon of course :)) We were able to answer many of his questions through verses that popped into my head the moment he brought up a question or thought. Johnny is so humble and an honest seeker of tr...

the reason for this title is because well we were served cherry yum yum pie not once but TWICE this week I really like living in rural Texas for this period of my life!!!  THE HIGHLIGHTS/ PERRITOS - Our 2 friends Luis and Andrea are going to get baptized and we are SO EXCITED!! THEY ARE the coolest kids ever.  - soaking up the clean country air and being surrounded by happy fluffy cows!!! eeeeee - were chased by dogs probably more times than I can count. One time we were walking though Mount Vernon and looked to our right, to see a HUGE grey pitbull sprinting full speed at us. We were absolutely terrified and then it just stopped mid-sprint right at the edge of the lawn, as if it had whacked into a glass wall. Shock Collar? Angels? Tender Mercy? who knows, but we defs are protected out here.  - on the plus side the people we live with have 2 Red Heelers and we just discovered they are super nice and they also have a really funny white old chihuahua named...

this week was excellent!!! Mount Pleasant is a very special place  HAPPENINGS - Hermana Casper got to be my companion for one day because we went on splits and it was absolutely amazing bc Mount Pleasant is her old stomping ground!! I learned so much from her, specifically that I am not at all alone in being obsessed with her!! she came back after a year of not being here and it was so inspiring to see the look of sheer joy people got on their faces when they got to see her again. She also taught me that most of Mt. Pleasant smells like chicken always, because of Pilgrims, and she is right, and I can't un-notice that now. jaja - we also ate the best huaraches I have ever had - had an extremely edifying zone conference - we were handed 2 crisp $20's this week!!!!! what?????  - we are teaching a nice lady from Mexico named Veronica and every time we have gone by she gives us a full plate of amazing Mexican food  - I really love where I live because there ...

hellooooooo this week was the week equivalent of being placed inside a blender, and then the blender being turned on the (pulse) setting ya feel? EAST TEXAS LIFESTYLE Texas is sooooooo cool. it's wild out here. I am in very classic boonies now.  here are some assorted descriptions that may help you get a pretty good feel of where I now live: - roadkill every 1/4 mile - they say "supper" and not "dinner" - my address is 3625 CR 3070 Cookville, Texas 75558 CR means "county road" - in order to get into town, we take a road called "farm to market" - We have been chased by various loose dogs - Vultures are circling ALWAYS. jaja.  - most of downtown is surrounding a chicken plant called Pilgrims, sometimes when I get lost driving we somehow end up there and it's so funny. Slightly scary also.   - 2 types of people: those who glare at you with a mean face and a dog behind them drooling at you and jumping alm...

Y'ALL EVERYTHING IS CHANGING I AM GETTING DOUBLED IN TRAINING AND SHIPPED OUT HERMANA RASMUSSEN IS HEADED TO MOUNT PLEASANT I am going to have a child in a brand new area it will be so fun  but I am also quite nervous because they are entrusting me with a precious brand new missionary a bittersweet day: I have truly loved serving here in Garland and will be very sad to leave this ward. also I am very much looking forward to being immersed in east Texas and everything that goes along with that (razorback hogs & other wild animals, brisket,... the rest is tbd) get ready for a wild ride I feel like my life as a missionary is 10x as dense as normal life and it is such a roller coaster sometimes jaja. I do not believe that this transfer is over!!! They are speeding up in a scary way FUN ITEMS - Mission conference on Saturday, it was extremely fun and spiritually filling experience. I got to see some excellent friends including mi querido Hermana Casper <3<3<3 - Joy...