September 22, 2011

   Transfers have come and gone and here I am in Weslaco. I replaced Elder Holden, so a lot of work is to be done to get the area back in shape. We didn’t have any BDs, but now we already have 3 and are looking to set another one or two today. We are working with a girl named Ariel. She is cool and has desires to be baptized. She has problems with smoking marijuana and doesn’t feel like it is a bad thing. But she is cool and will be going to the Single’s Branch on Sunday. The day I left Alton was crazy! We went to the Banda twins to say goodbye and they had decorated the living room with balloons and a banner saying “We’ll Miss You.” They gave me a bunch of presents. #1: Yobely (reet, reet, reet) #2: A basket full of candy, and T-shirt and a bear. #3: Letters from the twins and Krystal. #4: A movie of them shuffling and saying goodbye. Krystal said in the video that she will get baptized, so that was awesome. It was the most awkward hour of my mission. Yobely even had the date that I go home on her phone, so it is going to be super awkward when I go home. Right now I am focused on rebuilding this area and getting the Ward excited about missionary work. It is weird, but good, not being a leader anymore. I love this work.

September 24, 2011

   So far I am liking this area a lot. There are a lot of cool members and people we are working with. We were also able to find a lady named Jamie. She was walking out the door when we walked up to her house. We started talking to her and she said “Why did I come out here. It is really hot.” We joked around and said “Because you wanted to talk to us.” We had just gotten done with District Meeting and we talked about beginning teaching. So we applied that with Janie, and it worked out very well. Half-way through the lesson she stopped and said “You are such good listeners.” It was cool/District Status. She said normally people came from other religions to her house, but they never listened, so she never listened to them. She had also seen the Missionaries around on their bikes and wondered when they were going to knock on her door. It was an awesome lesson, but we found out she is moving to Donna, but it was a cool experience.

September 26, 2011

Dear Parents
Well, it is good to be back in Weslaco again. The members all still remember Who I am and it was a pretty warm welcome. We are just trying to get on our feet and find some new investigators to teach. We are both trying to learn the area a bit better and I am trying to get back into shape on the bikes.  We did get a girl to church. She went to the singles ward and said that she had a good time. She has a date to be baptized on the 23rd of Oct. I still have a lot to do in my last couple of weeks and I want to find and baptize as much as I can. Ihope y'all have a great week and I love you mucho.
Elder Strong

September 28, 2011

   Today we found a cool lady named Carla. She has a lot of referrals and hopefully we can start teaching the kids too. Tonight Elder Walker did something hilarious. We were eating at a member’s brother’s house. A foreign exchange student from Korea was living at the house. We were getting to know him and Elder Walker said “I bet you could be a junior in college, you are pretty smart, right?” Then he realized he was stereotyping just because he was Asian. It was really funny. The other day I accidentally thought that Ariel’s sister was her brother, so when I saw her I said “What’s up, Man” and she said “I have nothing to say to you.” I was hurt, offended and hurt! I couldn’t figure out why she would say that. Turns out that He was a She and I called her “Man.” Ooopps! I felt really bad, but it was a funny story.

 

October 1, 2011

   Today was the Saturday session of General Conference. It was super legit. I had a question about if we should do the Purification Challenge or not. The first two weeks we have been struggling in our area. Our numbers have been horrible. During Priesthood Session, Elder Walker and I received the same revelation that we needed to do the Purification Challenge. Priesthood Session is always the best! President Packer pretty much said that the world would end for a long time. That was pretty cool.

October 3, 2011

   Today was P-day. We went and played basketball at La Vista. Elder Walker threw an alley to me and I ooped it really sweet. It has been a long time since I dunked, so it felt good. Yesterday I fell for the first time on my bike. I was trying to cross a busy road quickly and as I was half-way across, my chain jammed and I flew off my bike, right in the middle of the road. It hurt a little bit, but it was funny. We checked my bike after and the back wheel was coming off. Elder Walker fell tonight too, so that is some good old comp. unity. We visited the Longoria’s and Bro. Lyle. Both haven’t been coming to Church because the Ward has been so bad. It is really sad to see, but we are going to try and turn things around. I’ve learned on my mission that Church isn’t a social hangout. It is a place to worship and to take the Sacrament.

 

October 3, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad
 
Wasn't Conference the best? At home I really didn't appreciate it as much as I have as a missionary. My favorite session of course was the Priesthood session. I received a lot of revelation for myself. Our
area has been in a funk the last couple of weeks. At first, I was trying to rely on my own talents and abilities to make the area better but that isn't how it works. I went to conference with the question of
how can I help the work in this area grow? I had brainstormed some ideas the day before conference and decided to see which of those ideas were going to be the one the Lord wanted me to do. In priesthood session I got the answer. At the same time my companion was doing the same thing and he received his answer at the same time. We found out that both of our answers were the same and we knew exactly what we needed to do. The funny thing is that it was the thing both of us didn't really want to do because it was the hardest but the spirit told us to do it so of course we will do it. I gained a testimony that as you go to conference with a question, you will receive the answer as you seek diligently to find it. Everything else is going well. I wrecked on my bike yesterday! I was riding across a busy street my wheel and chain jammed and I fell. It was pretty embarrassing! I just got little scrapes on my hands so it wasn't too bad. Anyway I love you and we will talk to you next week.
Elder Strong