I got a message from my recent convert Xiomara this past week, and she shared with me that she has the COVID19 virus... All I ask is that you all pray for Xiomara and her family. That news made me super sad and I hope and pray they can recover from it.
Monday was a super cool day! We had our three hours of proselyting time, or time to have lessons, and as a mission we had a goal of finding 100 people just in those three hours, and we did it!! We found 109 people as a mission in just 3 hours which was awesome! We had a mission call last night and we found 460 people during the whole week! That is crazy awesome, as we were finding like 300 ish when we were finding in person! Agh I love when we work hard as a mission and reach above and beyond our goals, it is so sweet!
Something EVEN MORE AMAZING is that I got a random video chat from President Tveten hahah we were sitting on the couch having a messenger lesson and jumped right up and got by our teaching desk and answered it haha but this is SO. COOL. so buckle up!! President Tveten went on to explain that Elder Clayton will be talking in one of the missionary devotionals in July, and had asked for a few success stories from missionaries in self isolation, and he asked President Tveten if Amanda's story would fit it and he said yes! So President Tveten asked us to write up a summary of Amanda's story, include how her fiance Joel was baptized, and how we found Phillip through Amanda and he was baptized this last week. Seriously just the most incredible story!!! So we got the story typed up and sent it in! We don't know if it will for sure get used or shared, but it's just funny because as a missionary you always hear about or see when general authorities share stories of other missionaries and how they're like "legends" and stuff and it's just so crazy and super humbling to be able to be a part of someone's story as special as Amandas!
Phillip also messaged us that night and asked if we could go to the church tomorrow and open it for him so he could pray, so that was cool! Then I got to talk with my fam and Linds never fails to remind me how many days I have left hahah
Tuesday morning we rode our bikes to the church and then cleaned the church in preparation for Phillips baptism!
That afternoon we drove to Cotulla and got a few things done there! We were able to stop by President Gonzalez's house and help them shovel some dirt, hahah they are building a gym in their back yard and needed help leveling it so we shoveled a ton of dirt. Then we went and stopped by David's house and met him in person for the first time! He was super nervous hahah but he is super nice and awesome and we continue to work with him!
We drove home and stopped by the church and let Phillip in, and he was there for like an hour and a half hahah we don't exactly know what he did because we left, but apparently he wanted to solidify everything he was doing with God so that was cool!
We drove to Crystal and picked up a violin from the Guerrero family, because Sister Brooks plays the violin and it has been fun to see her play since she got it!
We had a lesson with Dee that night and it was super good! She is solid and we are excited to see her progress.
We have been friending more people on Facebook and wow, I have never felt more uncomfortable on my mission than this past week hahah and my companion thinks it's sooo funny.... So we messaged a ton of people that night, but two boys replied back about our beauty and one is named Eliseo and he keeps messaging me personally and it's super awkward... All I want to do is share the gospel with these people but it's so annoying and difficult when they won't listen to the gospel messages and just keep hitting on me hahah I think I'm done sending friend requests to random guys hhaha.
Wednesday we made some more preparations for Phillips baptism, which included Sister Brooks baking the key lime bars, and dang they were sooo good! She was sad about them because they didn't fluff up like she had wanted, BUT they still tasted good and everybody was obsessed hahah.
We received a self referral that night, and we called him and said we saw a note he had requested a missionary visit, and his response was "yeah but I didn't know y'all were Mormons. I don't want no Mormons in my house" and then hung up. Hahaha that was funny. I had friended him on FB (before we called) but after we called is when he saw it I think, and then he accepted it and messaged us and asked why we were so persistent and I apologized and explained I friended him before we called hahah and then he went on to tell us our website is so "deceptive" because it's "Come Unto Christ" and "doesn't have any affiliation with Mormonism on there" so that was an interesting referral hahha at the end of our discussion he said "let's agree to disagree" so that's where that ended hahah.
We had awesome video calls with Oscar, and with Phillip and with Jesse! We taught them all different things but still awesome lessons and super solid people!
We also asked for some help from Amanda and her son Mason, and idk if anyone has ever seen Kid History, but that is a video idea we are going to do, and so we got Mason to send us a videoa and AGH my heart melted hahah He is SO CUTE!!! We are going to post one of his videos next week on our FB page, I'm sooo excited!!
STORY TIME: So. big oof. hahah but I learned this thing from my trainer, that if you soak your garments in Clorox, that they will become white again hahaha so anyways, mine have become a little colorful while being on my mission, so I decided to buy Clorox last week and soak them.... and I soaked them.... and then put them in the washer to wash them.... well..... when I went to transfer them from the washer to the dryer.... I literally pulled out shreds of garments..... soooo, I learned that you shouldn't soak clothes in Clorox for very long because they will literally disintegrate your clothes hahah.
Thursday will literally forever be one of my favorite days of my mission ever. We drove to Eagle Pass that morning and we were able to help at the South Texas Food Bank thing they had going on there! I will attach some pictures, and maybe you can see how insane it was hahha there were so many people but it was really fun! All of the missionaries in our zone were able to come, so we got to see the Del Rio missionaries which was sweet! The elders made a cute service video, which we will be posting on FB on Thursday which is exciting as well :) Service was fun, OTHER THAN our job was to go through these boxes of produce and pull out all of the rotten canteloupe and throw it to the side... ahhhh... soo gross hahah. That smell has literally haunted us cause we can still smell it at the most random moments hahha.
Then we drove home and changed and headed to the church and we got to have a devotional with an APOSTLE of the Lord! Elder Neil L. Anderson talked to the mission and it was honestly the coolest thing ever. As soon as he started talking, the Spirit hit me so hard and bore testimony that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Elder Anderson talked about the new mission opening up and blessed us that we will make the most of wherever we end up as missionaries. It was such a cool devotional and truly a super cool experience!
That night we had Phillip's baptism!! Agh that was such a special moment as well. He got there early and changed and we all took pictures and then the service was able to happen, and the Spirit was so strong there as well! We were able to have people there through video as well, like Sister Persia, so that was awesome! After Phillip was baptized and received the Holy Ghost, he had asked us if he could bear his testimony and share a little bit about his journey. He had it typed up, and we asked him if he could send it to us so he did, so here is his testimony! "My Name is Phillip Michael Gallegos. I am a child of God. A brother to Jesus. And a friend of the Holy Spirit. This decision has been one in the works. Its funny that I have heard The Lord knocking on my door, and I being deaf failed to hear Him, and failed to see his signs. Such is his love, strength, and wisdom, that I can still hear, and see the echoes in my life from him knocking on my door this whole time. I don't have scriptures, I have no words, that could equate. Through a series of seemingly random events that lined up perfectly along with the daring of "our" Sister Missionaries, the guts, Love, and willingness to Evangelize, I am here. I have raged, I have ranted, I have plied my strength, my intelligence, my will on building not just a wall, but a life on not ignoring virtues but ignoring The Lords part in it all. Now I come before God, giving up to Him, because everything I am, and ever will be, will never be complete without Him. I Surrender to You My God.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"
Isn't that just so sweet? It was so sincere and agh just literally one of the best days of my life!
We also found out that the Sanchez family is starting to prepare to go to the temple and will be starting their temple classes today!! (Monday the 22nd) Thursday was spectacular!
Friday morning was full of service as well! We went to Crystal and ran on the running trail again (2.5 miles) and then went to Sister Bustamantes house and helped her in her garden by pulling weeds, so that was fun! Then we went to Ms B's and helped her in her office and then went to the Morales' house and helped them clean up their yard some more! It was a morning full of service!
We got home and got ready, and then Phillip came by and gave us flowers and it was SO SWEET. He was like "It's just an appreciation gift for all you've both done for me" and ahh the flowers are SO CUTE!
That night we had our Faith Bible study on Facebook and that went well! I'm starting to get the hang of the live videos more haha but it's super fun! I received a letter from my favorite sister missinoary ever, Hermana Sauan, and last week I had asked for some advice on how to push strong to the end and she came up with this CUTE acronym for her last transfer that she shared with me that I want to share with you (mostly so I remember it in the future as well haha) It's called S.P.R.I.N.T.
S- serve as much as you can
P- prepare for future responsibilities
R- recognize the daily miracles
I- inspire the people around you
N- no negative thoughts
T- trust in the lord that if you just do your best, it will all work out!
I LOVE IT! Thanks Hermana Sauan ;) I wrote it up and laminated it and it's on my wall sooo that's cute hahah.
Saturday was a little less eventful of a day haha all of our lessons fell through, we were still able to contact random people and have lessons with them, but I felt super crappy all day which wasn't fun either :( But I'm feeling better haha I get super weird random moments where I feel really sick but it's all good!
That night we were able to invite Jason to be baptized and that was exciting! He accepted to work towards July 19th so I really hope he continues to progress well!
Sunday was Fathers Day and that was fun to be able to call home and talk with my family for the THIRD time that week hahah it's crazy how it used to only be twice a year and now there are some weeks that's three times.. haha but I love it and I wouldn't trade it! I hope everybody had a great Fathers Day!!
We were supposed to get our transfer news last night but we had a mission call, and President Tveten told us we wouldn't be getting them until today so that was crazy haha. We still haven't received the transfer news yet, so I'll just send the email without it.
This week will be crazy as usual, but I'm excited for it and all that this last transfer has in store!
Thank you all for your support, I love you all so much! Have the best week ever!
con amor, hermana griffin :)
All the Sisters in the border zone!! haha
The event was huge!
Service at the South Texas Food Bank in Eagle Pass.
Devotional with Elder Anderson.
Phillips Baptism!
His High School Coach baptized him!
After running 2.5 miles.
Service with Sister Bustamante.
Service with Ms b.
Phillip brought flowers!!
She had a cookie craving haha
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