March 17th - One Year!

It is pretty hard to believe I have been gone a whole year. I remember very clearly thinking, "Will time EVER pass? Will March 13th ever dawn again?" And it feels like I thought that last week, and now it is 2014 and I have so very precious little time left in Houston! It is the perfect motivation to give all I can to every moment. I am glad I passed through the middle months of my mission without feeling too comfortable to slack off...thanks to being in this amazing area. We have transfers next week, and oh how happy I would be to stay one more. But oh how exciting it would be to go somewhere new!

Heavenly Father has really been kind to me this past week. I have been trying to put more effort into my prayers, trying to really converse with Him and listen. And as a result I have gotten almost immediate answers. So immediate that if I am not paying close attention, I don't notice them! For example, after planning on Thursday, we realized that we need to find some new investigators who are just ready to accept the gospel.  Our investigators are progressing slowly but surely, but many of them have situations right now that prevent them from truly committing to the church--husbands, schedules, divorces, law suits, you name it. So I prayed about it.

Yesterday at church the other hermanas assigned to our ward brought the most amazing couple with them. They are the parents of a little girl that they taught in November who moved here to live with her Mormon aunt until her parents could get here safely. The parents received some lessons where they were living before and one lesson from the hermanas here and accepted the invitation to be married on Friday (FREE MARRIAGE activity by the bishop is actually going to work!) and baptized the next week. We were in awe of them on Sunday and then the hermanas came up to us and were like, "so um, actually this couple lives in your area.....so could you come with us tonight to have a pass off lesson?" YES we can do that. It was so awesome. They are the sweetest, humblest couple from Mexico. Young parents. The wife is about 7 months pregnant.  They are just giddy about their wedding on Friday, especially because the relief society is making the dinner and there will be dancing. And they are completely ready to accept the gospel. They want the Spirit in their lives as they have seen it in their daughter and their cousins here. As Nancy, the wife, said yesterday, "I want to enter this path because then even the worst of the worst will still be good." It was an immediate, abundant answer to my prayer!  I have a real conviction that Heavenly Father is kind. And He blesses just as kindly, mercifully, and abundantly as we can dream of and he deems wise.

That little 8 yr old, is going to be baptized THIS SATURDAY.  Her mom had to delay it again this week because no one at subway could take her shift. But she worked extra this weekend so that for sure on saturday she will be available. And the super awesome part is that the non-member dad is going to be able to come as well. I have been really impressed with him the few times I have met him, and I am sure their family will become a focus family of the ward really soon. As we left our lesson with them on Friday, the mom clasped my hands and looked directly in my eyes and said, "Thank you so much for the love you give us. Even though we don't deserve it." Funny. I feel the same way.

On Wednesday we promised one of our investigators to start teaching her English if she would start reading the Book of Mormon more earnestly. It was absolutely hilarious. Teaching English to non-native speakers is the best because you are automatically the expert and just feel so smart and helpful and excited about their progress. She works at IHOP so we taught her all the basic conversation tips she needs there: "How are you doing" "What would you like to drink?" "Are you ready to order?" "How is everything" and all the condiments, etc.

When we explained to her what "You too" means, something she always hears, and she practiced it in our conversation, she just laughed and squealed and clapped her hands. And she actually has been progressing more since then! So we have decided to take this English class public. We have some ladies at the Fiesta store that have been asking since December and we decided to take action. So we are really excited about our English class and hope it goes well!

Everything else continues to go about the same wonderful way. We teach a lot of lessons, we have a lot of wonderful members that support us in every way they can. We have a wonderful new ward mission leader who is probably one of the three nephites. He looks down his nose at me through his glasses, just like dad does, and I appreciate that. Also, he tells investigators directly that they need to be baptized and they need to do it now.

I will never forget these things I am learning. I will never forget what it feels like to sacrifice and love. I try to ingrain in my memory the moments of joy, really breathe them in. That has helped my soul a lot in realizing what we are really here for and the things that matter most. We are happy here in Houston. And I can't believe how soon I will be home with all of you.