Leaving Pflugerville!

What a hectic week it was. From finding out that I was leaving Pflugerville to know here in Kerrville which is on the outskirts of San Antonio it has been a big change. I knew almost everyone and created great friendships during my 7 months in Pflugerville. It has been one of my favorite areas and I loved both of my companions there Elder Biesinger and Elder Gardner. Change is hard but I am excited to know serve the people here in Kerrville with Elder Tiongson.

My last couple nights in Pflugerville we had several great lessons. Anna Seilbach said that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that she will soon be baptized. She has had several experiences of how she has changed since she has been reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us. Anna has a greater desire to do good and help those that are in need. It has been amazing to see her understand what repentance truly means and how she has been able to have greater happiness in her life because of repentance. I am excited to see her soon get baptized!

Also we had another lesson with Ava Shepard who is 9 years old. We gave her mother a blessing as she wants to change her life and draw closer to God. They were very excited to start coming to church and be apart of the ward family. Ava will soon be baptized and we were planning on setting a date once they came back to church for the first time. I also had the chance to say goodbye to some recent converts that were baptized right before I came to Pflugerville.

"Be Happy not because everything is good, but because you can see the good in everything."

Pflugerville memories!

It was another great week. We had several spiritual lessons throughout the week and also had a mini missionary out with us. On Friday and Saturday we had a senior from another stake spend all day and also sleep over with us. They are doing a missionary week and had all the graduating seniors spend a couple days with the missionaries. Our mini missionary is named Jack and he is planning to go to BYU for a year and then go on his mission. He is a very smart young man and we had a good time with each other. It was really fun being in a trio for a day and being able to show someone what a mission is like. He seemed to enjoy it even with most of our lessons canceling. 

During this time with Jack we had another lesson with Anna Seilbach. She has been reading the chapters from the Book of Mormon that we left her and also has shared several experiences where she has been able to serve and help others that are in need. She mentioned how she wouldn't have done this prior to our meetings that we have had. We had another one of her lessons in the members home and we hope that we can continue to do that. She came to church and stayed for all three hours and really enjoyed it. She isn't moving as fast as we hoped with wanting to be baptized. She said that she will be baptized but just not yet. It is a big promise we make with God and she just wants to take her time before she is baptized to make sure this is the best choice for her and her three year old daughter.

We also had a couple lessons with some nine year old girls and there families that haven't been to church in a while. One lesson was with the Shepards which is a mother and her two daughters. We shared the plan of salvation and since the two daughters love drawing we had them draw out the plan of salvation. It was a very fun lesson.  The Mom has several different challenges going on in her life and is starting to put more trust in God then she has previously done. We are excited to continue to teach and visit that family. Hopefully we can help them get active and have the 9 year old daughter be baptized. Along with the Shepards we taught the Salazars who came to church and want there 9 year old daughter to be baptized. We will probably be setting a date this Friday!

This morning I found out that I will be going to a new area and leaving Pflugerville. I have come to love the people here and the ward. I have created many memories in this area and also in the Austin Zone. It did not feel like I have spent the last 7+ months here in this area. My new area that I will be going to is Kerrville. It will probably be similar to my first area were there is a lot of farm land and the closest set of missionaries will be a good ways away. I am excited to go back out to the farm land and serve the people in the Kerrville area and the surrounding towns. My new address will be 1350 Bandera Hwy. #715 Kerrville, TX. 78028. I will arrive in my new area on Thursday. I know my companion a little bit and we will be having a great time so I am looking forward to it.

Local Pflugerville hamburger restaurant 

Week of exchanges!

This week was full of exchanges and learning from other missionaries that I was able to serve with. I had the opportunity to go to two different areas and serve with great missionaries. One of the areas I went to was the Spanish ward in our zone, Lake Austin. Since I don't know any Spanish I wasn't able to understand most of what was spoken that day but I was still able to feel of the spirit as my companion taught. The missionary I went with has only been on the mission for a short amount of time and he is still trying to learn Spanish.

Blessings from God!

It was a very busy and great week. We had interviews with President Polley, the Austin Zone Conference, and a couple exchanges with district leaders and the assistance. It was a week full of learning and finding ways that I can continue to improve. I am loving the mission!

This week we had a couple lessons with Anna Seilbach and a couple other investigators. Anna has been reading the chapters that we leave her with in the Book of Mormon. She also has been praying more and out loud and she came to church on Sunday. It has been amazing to see her interest continue to grow and she has a great desire to learn more and more. She hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet because she is still wanting to learn more before she changes was she has believed her whole life and from the teachings that she learned during her childhood in the Ukraine. We had a lesson in a members home Friday night. She shared several experiences over the past couple weeks that have been miracles and blessings from God. Our Heavenly Father has been giving her many signs that this is the true church. Also during gospel principles she said that this is her first time coming to a Mormon church because she wants to learn instead of coming to hang out and be with her Mormon friends.

We also have been able to continue to teach Jasmine Selman who is 20. When we first visited with her she was an atheist but now she believes in God. She knows if any church is true it is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. We are helping her realize and understand how God will answer her prayer. It has been fun teaching her and seeing her change.

During the Austin Zone Conference we focused on ways we can continue to improve our teaching by asking inspired questions, listening, and being guided by the spirit. We watched several different clips from the District and then were able to split up as a zone and do a lot of role plays. I learned a lot and once again realized the importance of not getting in the way of the spirit during lessons. I am grateful to have the spirit as the senior companion to help us know what to say and how to help our investigators progress.

Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do 

what you are asked to do."