Hurricanes and Wood Rings

Week of July 21
Another week down.
Monday night-So after p-day we went and dropped off a book of Mormon then found out we're all watching a movie as a mission. It was errands of angels or something like that. It was about Sister Missionaries in Austria. The climax was literally 20 minutes into the movie and the rest of it was just weird. So our whole district were just talking and laughing the whole time hahaha #mondaynightmovienight
Walk with Roberto--our man Roberto has been almost 4 weeks without any alcohol!!!!!! He told us he wants to change his life for his family so bad. We're so happy for him. Instead of drinking he'll go on an hour long walk. So he asked for us to join him. It was great!!
Doughnuts-So Krispy Kreme celebrated their 83rd birthday by a buy one dozen get one free. Sounds like an amazing deal. So we drove to get some for us and the elders. The line was literally backed up from around the whole store and into the street. It wasn't worth the wait. So we got some from a little place called Shipley's doughnuts no one was in there so we didn't have to wait hahah.
Juan Acosta-This guy is super awesome!!! He was a self referral that decided to click on veniracristo.org. He told us he wants to learn more about God. We were able to talk to him and drop off a book of Mormon...which he now reads every night before bed!
What's hard is that his wife and daughter live in Mexico. So every weekend he goes over there to spend time with them. We're trying to have a Sunday devotional with him and his wife.
He loved the Plan of Salvation.
Doris--Doris decided to take a trip to Mexico for like three weeks. :( so we won't be seeing her until the last week of July. But we'll still trying to have lesson's with her...she's really bad at responding. But we're not giving up
Irene and Fam- There weren't able to go to church because their son took the car. But we asked them about baptism. The littlest Regina really wants to be baptized but Irene still isn't super responsive about it. But she said she'll keep praying. I love this family so much.
Spirit-led walk- Holy cow this was the biggest miracle of the week guys. So I didn't feel like going on a walk for some reason but the spirit literally told us both that we needed to. We didn't know where to go so we just drove until we felt like stopping. We called some people while in the car then got out to walk around this neighborhood. These two dogs came running up and barking. Luckily they turned out to be nice. But the owner was yelling for them to come back. So we started talking to him. He was super excited he called his wife over and she had been to the church before. She told us to put her ni mber in our phone because they want to go on Sunday.
BLESSINGS!!!!!!!! They were so amazing. We walked away. Just like...what just happened. The spirit totally guided us to some amazing people.

Renovation project #2- So we went back to the same house for another project. She was missing the last piece of siding on the bottom of her trailer. So guess what we did...screwed in some ply-wood and painted it. Hahahah I was laughing soo much because nothing about the wood was straight and there were just so many non straight lines I could look at them. Also we went back to look at our work on the little house and I was looking at the foundation of it...wait there wasn't any foundation it was literally on 2 by 4's. I'm praying that it doesn't fall over haha. It was giving me a little anxiety just seeing how it was actually still standing.

Anyway we got paid in MOLE Y ARROZ!!!!!!! I love being paid in food. Especially mole. And they gave us pineapple water...which is just juice but they corrected us and told us it was water. I love that about the valley.

Our Covid cases are definitely going up so it's put more restrictions on our zone. We now can't go on walks outside to talk to people on the street. 😭😢 BIG SAD.
But I know that God still has a plan for us. And we'll still be able to find people to teach during this continuous quarantine.
We also got transfer calls and HNA MORGAN AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER!!!!!! I am so excited we have so many potentials for this upcoming month and I am excited to see the miracles another transfer is going to bring
The church is true guys. I know it. I have felt the spirit testify this to me. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the knowledge I have gained from it. The gospel has blessed my life and I love sharing it with the amazing people down here by the border.


Week of July 28
Well this is the beginning of my 10th transfer. Typing that out just looks so sad, how can I possibly only have 4 months left?? 10 transfers in and I'm still learning more about how to be an effective missionary through technology. 10 transfers in and I'm still learning more about my Savior and his sacrifice and love for me. 10 transfers in and I have had 9 companions (not counting the CCM) and 4 areas. I have 3 transfers left and I'm shocked to be honest. I would have never seen myself like this when I was a greenie over a year ago. It's unreal how much time is passing by. How many lessons I still get to teach. How many ward members I get to call and talk to. I am so grateful for my loving Heavenly Father who has given me everything I could ever need. I know I'm here because he called me to be here.
With that here are some phat highlights of my awesome week.
Exchanges! - We got permission from President Ocampo to go on exchanges with te sisters in our district. It was pretty fun. We taught some pretty cool people and honestly had a lot of fun!
Lockdown part 2-Our county is in a shelter in place because Covid is still bad over here.
Kahoot- We had a. Zone family game night again and I had everyone sned me a baby picture. I put them all in a Kahoot and people liked it so I consider that a success!
Scrub Poster-For personal study one morning I read this cool talk from Gordon B. Hinckley that basically tells the women of the church to be better...which I think is amazing haha. And he says at one point, "There is no need for you to be a scrub." My comp and I loved it so much that we painted it on a poster and have it hanging up in our apartment where we can see it everyday.
Sand service & Hurricane Hanna- So a hurricane passed through Texas like a day or two ago. On Saturday we went to go help people get sand bags prepared. It was pretty fun. We just helped them shovel the sand into their bags and loaf them into their car. We did it for a couple of hours and it felt so good to do some service again. At one point the city workers packed up and left and this lady showed up and saw us with the shovels. So she asked if we could just shovel some in the back of her truck. We then got her Facebook and are trying to teach her! Blessings of service. Because of Hurricane Hanna church was canceled and we dodged the bullet of speaking. But we were bummed because we had a lot of people that were interested in going with us. But we actually lost power and it was really windy and rainy for like two days.
So we stayed with the sisters in McAllen. Party! We definitely walked through tons of puddles and adventured into the attic. Super fun!
Rings-We had a lesson with Javier and Jill and we made wooden ring. They are super amazing!!!


This week was pretty crazy but awesome. Please pray for Irene and her family to accept a baptismal date.
I love you guys so much!!!
STAY 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT
Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling

Pictures!
Attic
Walkin in the rain
Wood rings
Servicio
Exchange with Hna Kroll
Spider we killed and tried lighting on fire
Scrub poster on our wall
Walking in the flooded grass
Oh I also chopped my hair this week. Feels good when it's shorter :)
Kind of before and after pics of my hair
Us painting
Being fed mole with Nancy and her fambam
Found a dope San Juan sign because we work in Pharr, San Juan, Alamo, and parts of Donna Texas.
The video is of my compa being awesome even though she dabs because...dabbing is dead

Do you speak Spanish? Do you like Jazz??

What a week of service and lessons. Here are some highlights of this week:

Aaron--after p-day our investigator Aaron called us. We had been trying to get in contact with him for a bit. We had a pretty great lesson with him and we asked him to be baptized. HE SAID YES. Aaron's going to be baptized on the 19th of July!! We're super excited for him. He wanted it to be this Saturday but he needs to come to church and he didn't so...we're working on him haha. We ended up having an awesome in person lesson and he got a blessing from the elders. Woohoo! 

Biking against the wind--It sucks don't do it. Everytime we bike to the church or the library we always get the wind going against us on the way home. Our legs definitely feel amazing after that. :) 

Prossing out in the streets...with puppies--So we're like technically allowed to go out on the streets and talk to people outside, before we're not allowed to anymore. But it's been pretty fun getting back in the groove of first contacts. We're a little rusty after 3 months of staying inside. But our first contact of the street and we see this like 25 year old sitting on his car and the first thing that comes out of H'Morgan's mouth is...Do you speak Spanish?? Hahaha. I just looked at her like...out of everything she possible could've said and she choose that? It was super funny. But we actually got his Facebook and we're teaching him. So I guess it works. When we were walking down the streets this cute little puppy came out of no where and was so excited to play with us. Ahhhhh I wanted to take him home so bad. He was so cutttteeee.

District councils with prez--Our president misses being able to see us so this week he scheduled a time for every district to be able to have district council with him. It was pretty awesome. We also got cookies out of it so score! 

Bathroom renovation--This was probably one of the most amazing service projects I have done since being out on my mission. This lady asked us if we knew how to put up sheet rock...like kind of... Haha. So we showed up with the elders to her house. She had this little chicitito apartamento that was vacant. The bathroom needed insulation and sheet rock. She showed us the tools and basically left us alone to figure it out. We'll luckily I knew a thing or two about insulation and sheet rock so I felt like a general contractor during this whole project because they always turned to me if they had questions. Thank goodness I know how to some what build a house...so it kind of felt like second nature. But get this. IT TOOK US 6 HOURS. We were all completely exhausted, hot, sweaty, and stinky. There wasn't any AC and it was like over 100 degrees inside this little room with all four of us.
But she gave us ice cream, mangonitas, chimichangas, and so many snacks. But we finished and it looked pretty decent for our first time. She loved it. So yeah...we renovated a bathroom. Hahaha. I think she also wants us to tape and plaster it next week...so stay tuned until next week for more of your bathroom renovation project here in the south tip of Texas. I could totally work for HGTV.

Call me Joanna Gaines ;) 

Flat tires--so right after working like non stop on the bathroom renovation Javier a recent convert called and told us he has some apples with chamoy. Long story short he left to bring them to us and his tire was flat. So we ended up driving to his house and helped him change his flat. We also got to say hi to his parents. We were exhausted and smelled horrible. So then we finally went home and changed. That felt way better. 

Backyard service--So the next day after the renovation we were able to do some more service for another nonmember. We help pick up her garbage all around her house and weed whack her backyard area. It was pretty hot out like always so I made sure to put sunscreen on haha but it was definitely an experience at her house...that's all I'm going to say. Haha

But at one point she gave me a machete to use to help cut part of the yard. That was pretty fun.

 

Do you like Jazz?--okay so we drove to the sisters apartment this week and wanted to celebrate with them because one of them had hit their year mark. Anyway we drove there and they were at a service project. So we sat outside their door and used the good service and wifi to call some people. Then this random guy comes up to us and asks if we like Jazz?? We told him sure. He ends up sitting down by us and we had an awesome like 45 minute conversation about life, missionaries, the book of Mormon, YSA, etc. He was pretty cool. It was a pretty awesome contact too. 

1 year in Texas--last week I officially hit one year in the south tip of Texas. It honestly doesn't feel real. It feels like I've been out for only like 6 months. But I'm so grateful for all the experiences I have had up to this point. And I'm excited to see what else is in store for the next few months. 

Church!!-- we showed up to our investigators house (Irene and her family) pretty early to have them follow us to church because her Google maps doesn't work. We actually ended up waking them up so they could come to church. They got ready really fast and followed us to church. We were like 15 minutes late. But they came!!! Irene, Regina, and Dante. The other two kids both have severe autism so Irene wanted them to stay home. But the ones that came were super peaceful and paid attention the whole time. We were so happy. They seemed to like it too.

Yayayay!!!

Miracles are happening down here in Pharr. And the weather is only getting hotter too. Over 100 everyday seems like normal now haha.

I'm so happy to be serving a mission at this time. I know our generation was saved for this period of quarantine. I'm grateful for so many people that I have met and will continue to meet.

I love you guys!
Stay 2 legit 2 quit
Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling


Pictures
Kind of before and after pics of Beth room reno and our team
Me and the cutest puppy ever
Machete
Our gift for the sister who hit her year mark
I tried cooking an egg outside haha it didn't work out super well

We found a dead fish on the side of the canal...but it didn't make sense because it's like a cliff... Anyway it was like solid hard for some reason, so we took a Pic 

Que significa Mormón???

Hey guys!

We have had lessons on lessons this week.
BEING BUSY IS THE BEST!!
Holy cow it feels so good to be busy even without knocking doors.
I mean that would be amazing to go out and do. But we happy using what we have.
We've been teaching the Sauceda/Mendez family. This week we dropped of copies of the Book of Mormon for their whole family. We wrote their names in them and marked a bunch of places for them to read. They loved it. We were able to stop by their house and have a lesson outside too...yes 6 feet apart and wearing our masks...which sucked when trying to actually explain the restoration.
Before we started the lesson Regina kept asking us...Que significa Mormón? Like 3 times because we couldn't understand what she said hahaha but we explained it to them.
But they all came out with their Books of Mormon and were ready to learn. They really liked it and wanted to know when we can come back. Haha

The youngest daughter Regina knows how to read out of the other kids because a few have some disabilities.

But we stopped by a few days after and were going to have a lesson outside but it was dumping rain. So we gave them pamphlets, Plan of Salvation. We drove home and made a video explaining what it is to send to them. Irene, the Mom, sent us videos of Regina reading the book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation pamphlet out loud for all her siblings to hear. AWWWWW

This family is amazing!!!! 

We are so excited for them to progress on the path towards heaven eternity with each other. The Dad is always gone and never able to attend the lessons. But we talked with Irene about it and she said he believes in God but not religion. We're hoping to change his mind soon. :)

We got a referral last week named Aaron. He talked with some elders in Robstown but moved over to San Juan so they sent us his info. He is amazing. He wants to come to church and said he'd go this Sunday. But it got canceled R I P. That honestly broke my heart. But...uh...it's God's plan, not mine.

Anyway we...well I basically taught him the whole restoration through our phone call(we were also outside chilling in our car because our reception is the literal worst). Hermana Morgan kept pulling her phone out and I couldn't tell what she was doing. She ended up taking some selfies with this huge bright rainbow that was behind the car. It was hilarious. But Aaron loved the lesson and he truly wants to get closer to God and go back to church. WOOOHOOOO Lucky for him we can help him. God is good. :)

Oh last p-day we decided to go to the border. There is this huge nature reserve that touches the Rio Grande and has some cool towers that you can walk up and see el vale y México. It was amazing! They also had this other tower where you can walk across a bridge. That was pretty fun.

Then after walking and getting at least 10 feet away from the river we all walked back to our cars. We were out in the sun on a little dusty path for like 2 hours. Thank goodness an Elder brought sunscreen or I would have been roasted toasted. Right after that we went with our district and played Spikeball and chair soccer for like 5 hours. I was a little dead haha.

But then we made an appointment with this kid we met on the street to play basketball with him. Man that was fun...but I was SO BEYOND TIRED. We played 2 v 1. We won...for obvious reasons...I was playing...duh. Hahahah kidding. He taught us some fun layups though. So that was great. Then after we "practiced" our Spanish and taught him the whole restoration.

My compa also bought a banjo on p-day, we've made some videos with it. She kind of taught herself. We're turning our district into a band too. Some elders have guitars and people can sing I'll do the cowbell. Someone can do the triangle...those are very important roles to take on.

We have been biking more and one day we decided to bike to the church. After two minutes of biking it D U M P E D rain on us. We were completely soaked in like 30 seconds. So we thought we'll we're already wet. So we biked all the way to the church and had some pass off lessons with the elders. It was a little cold but it was fun. Haha

We dropped off a Book of Mormon to probably the most prepared women of my life. Her name is Doris and she loves the church. She loves the services that we give and she's honestly going to be a member soon. :) 

MY OLDEST BROTHER GOT MARRIED. Woohoooooooo. Congrats to Kollin and Jessica for tying the knot. Glad I was able to watch it through my little phone hahah. Blessings of technology.
Looking back at the beginning of quarantine. I was not happy. I thought the whole thing was dumb and it would've been easier to just go home. Literally the more people I talk to the more I know they were thinking the same thing.

I am so grateful that never happened. I am so happy I'm still out here. I still have 5 months to work my butt off. And to truly rely on the Lord.

I wouldn't trade these moments as a missionary for anything. A really good friend of mine recently told me..."Love every second out there and don't waste a second, that time is so precious and when you take off that tag you feel it"

I know I'm in Pharr for the Sauceda/Mendez family and for so many other people.
I know God has prepared them and Aaron, Doris for this time.
I know God is mindful of me.
I love you guys from all the way at the border.

Stay 2 legit 2 quit.
Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling

Sum picts
Dope lighting
Our nasty garbage can
We didn't want to put our masks on our mouths haha
Rainbow

Sunset through the glasses of H'Morgan
H'Morgan drew my future life with my mansion and a swimming pool, tennis courts, the missionaries were walking up to my future house

Javier playing my compas banjo