All dressed up for Zone Conference!
Oh yeah!!! Zone Conference Rocks!
8/05/13
Hola Familia!
I can hardly believe I am already
sitting at the computer again! We are nearly halfway through this transfer
already! How does it go so fast! It is a huge lesson of living in the moment.
You gotta love it while it is here!
Well this week has been really
great. I am so grateful to be serving in Texas. It is like a big Christian
melting pot. We experience so many different cultures, and the majority is very
Christian based. One awesome experience last p-day happened when we were
walking around one of the apartment complexes in our area. We had just had a
lesson with a new investigator, who is from Guatemala, then we checked the
phone and our next appointment had cancelled, so we were on our way to our
backup when we walked passed these three middle eastern looking people. We
walked up to them and offered a pass along card as always, and the woman there
just kept saying to us "house… house!". The one that was there told
us that meant she wanted us to come in. We had only said that we were
representatives of Jesus Christ and she invited us right in! We sat down and
she started bringing out all sorts of different plates of fruit. We began
talking and it turns out the husband and wife that live there are from
Pakistan, and the other man that speaks a lot more English grew up in India.
Well what are the chances (well obviously God did it on purpose) but Hermana
Miller had gone and done a service trip to the very same town in India that
this guy grew up in! It was an immediate connection to talk to them and bring
us on more familiar terms. We had talked about various things from India, and
the food ‘parati's’ got brought up. All of the sudden the lady of the house got
up and went to the kitchen. We kept talking and about 15 minutes later she came
out of the kitchen with a plate stacked with parati's and this lentil dip. It
was crazy! (and so incredibly delicious). She was the most hospitable person
ever. (I just kept thinking about Ashley Robinson in Jordan, and how amazing it
must be being immersed in this culture!) We ended up sharing a brief message
about Jesus Christ and the man of the house said that their family growing up
was of a different religion, and didn't believe in Christ to be the Savior, but
he said, in rather broken English, that he knew that Jesus Christ was the
Savior of the world, and it was only through him that we can be happy. Wow.
Just the love that people have for the Savior. In the end we sang I am a child
of God, and although they may not have understood all the words of the song,
the Spirit was definitely there and the smiles on their faces were so sincere.
The whole situation was really just incredible. One thing Hermana Driesel said
afterward is that although the lady couldn't understand all that we were
saying, we felt that she could understand us for who we were, and who we were
there representing. I love being here!!
Also, a really special experience
that showed how loving the members can be really is such a blessing! The
Amorims are new in our ward, they have been in Texas for about a month. We have
visited them a few times and Hermana Amorim has come with us to a few lessons,
and she is so amazing and has such a strong testimony, and has only been a
member for about a year and a half! Well she is pregnant with her first baby
and a few days ago we got a call at about four in the morning and she was
having contractions (she still has two months) and such and her husband had
already left for work and she didn't know what to do and the first people she
thought to call was us!! Well, we were able to get in contact with the Relief Society
president, and she took over from there, but I was so grateful to have
established that relationship with her, that she trusted us!
I am loving it here. Our ward is
incredible and one of the miracles of the week... WE GET OUR CHAPEL BACK!! I
can't remember if I have mentioned, but about six months ago someone burned
down our chapel... so we have been going to the stake center, which is nearly
45 minutes away! (hence the picture of my sleeping companions). But after much
long suffering, we finally get to return to the Woodlands chapel! This weekend
we got to go and do some deep yard work out front, it reminded me of when me
and Scottie used to have to clean out the pit.. ayee. But it was so worth it
and our newly refurbished chapel looks so nice!
Well, we just keep pressing on! We
are meeting lots of new people, but having a hard time to find ones that are
really progressing. But have no fear, I love Galatians 6:9 where it says
"let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we
faint not"!
So just keep on keeping on. I love
you all so much! Reemplace miedo con fe!
les quiero,
Hermana Draper
Sleeping in the car on the way to church....
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