August 15, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad

That is great to hear that there was a baptism in the ward. I didn't even know that missionaries went to our ward anymore! So Dad, you are working with one of my friends? That is cool! Was it Aaron Boyack or Aaron Filby? Both of them played football with us on the weekends. What a small world. We had a baptism on Sunday. It was a part member family. The dad is a member but the rest of the family wasn’t. We reactivated him and he brought the whole family. His daughters who are 11, 10, and 9, all got baptized. The father and the grandfather did the baptisms and it was a great service. Now we are working with his wife to get her to be baptized also. We also have another baptism coming up on the 28th. The member missionary work in the English ward here is incredible! Usually the Spanish wards are way more legit and fellowship really well, but this ward is amazing. All of our investigators right now are from referrals from members. It is so exciting to see the members get so excited about sharing the gospel. It makes missionary work way more effective. Anyways I hope you have a great week and I love you

Elder Strong

PS say hi to Aaron for me

The Quintanilla's Baptism

August 19, 2011

   Today was weekly planning and we got a lot accomplished. We wrote down the names of all the members in our area, hoping to find some part-members and new investigators. We found a lady named Claudia from looking for a member, so, so far it is working. Sunday is Billy’s interview and he is looking good to be baptized on the 28^th. Ray is getting interviewed to see if he is still on track to receive the Priesthood this Sunday, so hopefully all goes well with that and he can baptize Billy. Our August is looking great in the Zone. We could get 22 baptisms! We just need to look ahead to September, and find some people to baptize. I know if we are diligent the Lord will bless us with more prepared people.

August 28, 2011

   Today was Billy’s baptism. It was a powerful one to see Ray use his Priesthood like a pro and baptize Billy. Billy’s baptismal suit was super small on him and he said he couldn’t breathe with it on, haha! The twins gave prayers, so the whole family was involved. Now we don’t really have anyone else to work with, except Paulette. She is a former who we dropped, because we could never teach her, but after the three-day Valley Conference, we were prompted to go visit her. She has been going through some really hard times. She doesn’t have a job, and has two kids. She was in tears the whole lesson and accepted a BD for the 25^th of September. We are also trying to find a place for her to stay and a job. Aileen is helping us out with the job part and Sis. Bibiana might help us out with a place to stay. She has a lot of potential, and we are excited to get her to Church and help her out.

Elder Strong & Elder Lake at Billy's Baptism Performed by His Father, Ray

September 5, 2011

   Today was very eventful. It was P-Day and we played some intense ball. It was Rene’s last day and Labor Day, so we had more time to play ball. I got pretty beat up, and now my back is killing me. We went to a steakhouse with Rene and the Garza’s. It was really good. We also got pulled over for speeding, but luckily got off with a warning. We then saw Yobely at the gas station. I realized then that I should probably tell Pres. Trayner. It would be for the best, I think. We then taught the Canizalez family and it turns out that they are pretty legit and we are excited because they have a lot of potential. The Lord is blessing us a lot, but I still think we need to better change to receive even more success. The Church is true!

September 6, 2011

Dear Parents

It was good to hear from you. To answer your question, I should be coming on the 23rd of November. I should've received some papers tell me for sure but I haven't yet. You could maybe just call the mission office to double check. This week was a little rough for us but it was good to have a week to kind of humble you a bit haha.

That is good that Willard is still alive

It is good that BYU won. Everyone is talking about the game against the Longhorns so hopefully they win and I can do some bragging.

Everything else is going well here. I might be getting transferred soon but I will let you know if that happens next week. Have a great week

Love Elder Strong