Family mission plan!

Another great week in the Texas San Antonio Mission. This week we were
able to have interviews with President Polley. He had us come prepare
with a Christ-like Attribute that we want to develop over the next six
weeks. He is a powerful man and it is always a blessing to sit down
and talk with him. Also on Saturday evening I was able to drive to
Boerne and give a baptismal interview to a 12 year old boy named
James. James was introduced to the church by his friend at school who
happened to be one of the bishops sons. James shared how he was
invited to the church and had to go home and pray to God asking him if
he should come to the Mormon church or go to church with his mother.
He felt that he should come to the Mormon church and when he came he
really enjoyed it and felt the spirit very powerfully. For a young 12
year old boy who will soon be the only member of his family he has a
powerful testimony and will be a great example to his younger siblings
and even his parents. Hopefully the rest of the family will soon come
and join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Being able
to conduct baptismal interviews have been some of the most spiritual
experiences that I have had while serving on my mission.
On Sunday Elder Wallace and I were able to give talks during sacrament
meeting. My talk was focused on the importance of a family mission
plan. We are going to start to visit all the active members in the
ward over the next couple weeks and ask about what there family
mission plan is and if they need help putting one together. On the way
to dinner Sunday evening we stopped by a less active brother John
Boutte who had a non-member friend over. They were recently talking
about church and the friend wants to start to come to church with John
and us. They committed to come next week and he also accepted a Book
of Mormon and was excited to read it. His name is Shawn and hopefully
he will soon start to be progressing.
In the middle of the week we did a lot of service for our ward mission
leader who moved to Utah on Saturday. We helped him load up his truck
with the stuff that is in his barn and take it into the garage so that
it was ready to be packed up on Friday. We also mowed two lawns this
week of of our recent converts neighbors. They are older and couldn't
get out in the hot humid heat that we had this week. Looking forward
to another week and hoping that the humidity and heat doesn't get to
bad.

Leave nothing behind!

What a crazy week it was. Wednesday evening shortly before we went to bed we received a text message from a member of the ward. The text mentioned that her daughter who is in high school has a friend Cameron
that wants to take the lessons. Cameron wanted to learn more about the church and take the lessons because he thought it was cool that we meet every Wednesday night for mutual and also every Sunday for church
with other activities that we sometimes have through the week. This was an answer to many prayers as we have been doing all we can to work closely with the members. We are going to hopefully be meeting Cameron this week and start helping him draw closer to Christ.

The following day on Thursday we had transfers. We had to wake up a little before 5 to get up and drive to San Antonio to where transfers were at. I said my goodbye to Elder Tiongson who I love and will miss and was able to then receive my new companion Elder Wallace. Elder Wallace is a great missionary and we are excited to give it are all as we both end are missions in about two months. It will be a fun transfer and hopefully a successful one also. We are ready to leave nothing behind and work harder than we have ever done before. Elder Wallace is from around Sacramento California. He played college football at a Jr. College in California. He loves to cook and is a really funny and energetic missionary. I have never really served  around Elder Wallace so I didn't know him to well. This will be my  third companion that I have had who has come out with me. 

To start off the transfer we spent many hours outside visiting with people and finding new investigators. We also stopped by and taught Brother Edmondson. He is a less active who hasn't been to church in about two years and came back for the first time yesterday. Hopefully he continues to come to help support and strengthen are small Elders Quorum. We had one investigator come to church named Elisa. She is a friend of a returned missionary and she has been coming to church faithfully for over three months now. She said that she doesn't want to start taking the discussions yet but we will be eating lunch with her on Saturday and we are looking forward to seeing if she is ready now. She is really shy and nice and has a lot of potential.

On the Sabbath Day we were going to be giving talks on missionary work and a family mission plan but the bishop forgot that a high councilor was going to come and speak to us. Because of this we are now going to be speaking next week with a priest or two.

Break it down!

Elder Tiongosn and I will be together for only a couple more days. On Thursday we have transfers and I will be staying here in Kerrville and receiving Elder Wallace as my new companion. Elder Wallace came out with me so we will both finish our missions together here in Kerrville as this is our last transfer. I will miss serving next to Elder Tiongson my Filipino companion from Houston but am looking forward to ending my mission with Elder Wallace. This week we had the last district meeting of the transfer. We discussed the importance of keeping lesson short and under 45 minutes. We practiced teaching each of the lessons using one sentence to cover each principle. It is hard but very powerful when we can take a principle that is so complex and break it down so that a child can understand it. The next day we went to a small town called Medina. They say that Medina is the apple capital of Texas. This small town doesn't really have anything in it besides a few houses, a BBQ place, and a bunch of apple trees. We stopped by and talked with an old bishop brother Bonnet. He is a great member who is trying his best to find people for us to teach. He is always helping and serving his neighbors and is being a great example to each of them as he strives to be Christlike. There are many members like him in this great area.

Hunger to learn!

We started off the week great with a lesson Monday night in the Cooks (Young family we met several weeks ago that have been looking for a church) home with a members family present. We were able to teach the Cooks the Restoration and they said that they would be baptized once they come to know the Book of Mormon is true through reading and prayer. They were super interested in what we had to share with them and they asked great questions as we taught them. The members also did a great job of bearing testimony and sharing personal experiences. This was a lesson we were able to walk away from knowing the spirit had touched their hearts. Sadly a few days later they texted us and said they do not want to continue to learn and that they found another church that they like. Hopefully they will have another chance in the near future to hear and accept the message. Later Monday night we drove down with a part member couple Jolie (Investigator) and Daniel (Member) to San Antonio to spend the night with are zone leaders. They were able to drop us off. During the drive to San Antonio we were able to get to know them both a little bit more since they have recently moved in to Kerrville. There are many concerns and things that we will have to help Jolie with but she has a great desire to learn and one day be baptized. This will be a longer process but hopefully she will continue to have this hunger to learn and change through repentance.

Towards the end of the week we finally were able to contact the Parkers in the ward that have shown interest in coming back to church. The father also wants to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood so that he can bless his family and others. We had a short lesson with only the father on Saturday night. He is a recent convert of about 3 years now and it seems as though he has been less active most of that time. We shared the Restoration and focused on the first vision. He remembered it a little bit from when the first missionaries shared it with him. The next day being Sunday he showed up to church for the first hour. It was great to see him attend church for the first time in a while.

We have been working very closely with the ward council. We visited different members that they wanted us to go by and also we had the opportunity to go on visits with the first and second councilor in the Bishopric to those that have been on their minds. It has been great supporting and helping as much as possible the members in the ward. President Polley has mentioned several different times that as we work more than ever with the members and help them in their callings that people will show up to church and will come to us asking if they can be baptized. I believe that miracles still happen today and I hope if it is the will of the Lord that we might be able to experience one like it soon as we continue to do all we can to find, teach, work with members, and baptize.

We have been lucky here in Texas as it hasn't been super hot yet. We have been in the low 90's a couple times this week but the weather has been pretty nice. I am sure that it will soon get hotter and hotter as June and the summer months come. This week we did serve a few times for a non-member lady. She is super nice but seems to be pretty set in her catholic ways. It was still fun and enjoyable helping her pour and spread mulch over her new garden. On Tuesday when we had the San Antonio Conference I spoke with several of my past companions and members from the "The Austin Zone". It has been fun creating great friendships not only with members and investigators but especially other missionaries.

"We do not have to be perfect, but we need to be good and getting better."

Change!

More and more change! Over the last couple months are mission has changed completely. The way that President Polley has been doing leadership is totally different. We have some really young District Leaders and Zone Leaders in the mission and many of those that have been Zone Leaders are now District Leaders or Jr. Companions. It has been great to see and experience how leadership works in the mission and also the church.

Also another change that has been made is the importance of working with members. President Polley wants us to work with members differently than we have in the past. He mentioned that we need to stop doing the things that don't work and find things that do work. He shared how we can work with the ward council, the ward mission leader, and all other active member. He wants us to become one with the ward members in finding and teaching. He has taken to heart and has wanted each of us missionaries to also take to heart what the prophet said a few years back “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together … to bring souls unto Him. … He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work". As missionaries we need to always be finding but especially we need to help the members in finding there friends, family, and neighbors that are ready and prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel.

This last week we were able to visit with several active members in the ward. We shared a brief message and helped them find ways that they could share the gospel. Along with these visits we spent some time serving a recent convert in the ward named Kathy Sangster. On Wednesday after District Meeting we drive to a town called Junction. It is about an hour away from Kerrville and this was are first time making it out there just because of how far it is and we are limited on miles each month. Junction has several less active members and the ward has been trying to get a worthy priesthood holder in that small town. We visited with a few of the members but most of them don't want to drive an hour or so to church every Sunday.

I am excited for another week full of finding and teaching.