Hermana Medeiros Texas Houston Mission: Week 49--wedding and a baptism

How are you? I'm super good! i don't know why but i'm really tired haha. I've been sleeping good but man haha i'm ready for a nap! I even went to bed a little early last night!

How is hermana McOmber? She's doing good, she's almost all packed. It's super weird. But i'm excited to see who my next companion will be. Hopefully a good one! haha jk. But yeah it's been super weird. We had dinner last night at a members house and they bought her a cake that says we love you hermana mcomber, and they made a super cute note and put balloons on the wall. It was really so sweet. and tonight we are having an "FHE" with the ward to say good bye to her. Been trying to keep it a secret but it's a little hard. I think she might know what is happening.

What are the plans for today? Today we are going to go to Freddy's for lunch and then finish making the picture book for mayte and marco (the elders recent convert) finish packing, i need to keep organizing my desk, I've been working on something and going through a lot of my papers that i don't need any more and so my stuff in a mess. I might steal her desk because i like it better haha.

I really haven't talked to Carbajal a lot this transfer. I haven't let myself text her or anything. But I'll see her tomorrow...i'm super sad. I decided to go through my journals and write down all the funny memories we had and i'm going to give it to her. i am going to miss her a lot, she's been the best. I was reading over my journal from when I first got to Houston and she was a huge support for me. .

I'm so glad that work is going so good! I'm so happy for everything that is happening in your job! And i'm so glad that you were able to get your wallet back and that the lady was super nice and that she was trust worthy!

Do you have any idea what you’re going to do? Will you have a curfew? I don't know if we will have a curfew for the forth of July...i haven't heard anything. my companion and i might just have to make a stop at the dollar store and buy some stuff and have a party in our apartment when we get home for the night and we do all the things that we need to do. Haha Right now we really don't' have plans and not to make Hispanics celebrate it like we do :/

I keep meaning to ask you, in your pictures I see you with a brown bag…where did you get it? what happened to your blue one? It was hermana Rupps old bag that she didn't want anymore because one of the sides broke but after she left i found it and fixed it so i use it sometimes. I've started using my blue one again because it's easier since it has a pocket made for an iPad haha

On Tuesday I got to go to Huntsville and it was super cool. I love the sister i was with. I was able to talk with her and ask for advice on things and we really bonded. But she's leaving tomorrow too! She bought me ice cream for my 11 months :) we got mcflurrys at McDonald's. She dyed my hair. The color is called Coco Red. So it's more brown but it still has a little bit of red in it so i like it :) On Wednesday we had a super interesting lesson with an investigator. She was in the middle of telling a story and she stops, points at me and said "this is a special child" and then she started saying things and i was like "what the crap! You don't know me! I've known you for 5 minutes! How can you know those things!" it was really interesting. But she was super sweet. I met a man who is just like hermano Morales. His wife had a stroke and so she can't speak, she just lays in bed and stares at the wall and he just loves her so much. It broke my heart. Friday we had the wedding and it went super well! Saturday we ate with the Morgans. I love them so much it's always so much fun to go over to their house. They gave us Texas shaped noodles to take home with us. Hermano gave hermana and i a blessing and mine was super cool. I loved it. Also there was the baptism and that was awesome too! Also a family in our ward got sealed Saturday and so after the baptism we had a reception. So two weddings in a row! Haha it was a blast! The family was so cute! No one knew that they weren't sealed. So i'm so happy that they finally got sealed. Church went really well we had a guy that we contacted into a few weeks ago show up haha it was so awesome and so many of the hermanos in our ward were talking to him and helping him out. We gave his information to the elders because we think it will be easier for them to teach him. I finally met some of the other less actives which is super nice because a lot of the less actives are just names and i have no idea who they are. We went to the members house to eat and they had friends over and i really connected with her. She has 7 siblings and her parents are divorced and 4 of them are with her mom and 3 of them are with her dad and step mom. HOLY CRAP! That's the same as me! i really felt something special with her. We talked a lot and at the end i gave her our number and she gave us hers! i hope we will see her again! We had an FHE with a less active family and it was super good. It was so cute they have a 3 or 4 year old girl and we were getting ready to say the prayer and we asked one of the other kids to say the prayer and she ran into the other room crying because she wanted to say it. We had to say a second prayer for her to calm down. Haha most the time we have to fight to get kids to say the prayer.

You’ll get to see Carbajal at transfers—right? yeah :( but i probably won't let go of her.

How was the wedding? It was soooo good! The ward really came together and helped us out! It was beautiful! The food was great and they were so happy.

Did the baptism happen yet? Yeah they and the elders other investigator got baptized and it was super good!

How are you investigators? They are good! We got another bap date this week for July 25 she's super awesome and super prepared. When we go over she tells us how she got 100% on her midterm or 100% on her final and she knows that it's because she's reading the book of Mormon and praying. She says she feels so good when she comes over. our other bap date we have to move it because she didn't come to church...Satan is working really hard on her. A boy friend came back into her life and has made things harder, we haven't been able to get in contact with her since last Monday and it's just been crazy. Are the progressing? so right now really no is progressing :/ even though we have two bap dates. But neither of them came to church. We will have to work on that this week.

How is your ward? It's good, I'm trying to think of ways to keep things positive but there is one thing I'm really not sure how to fix because all my other bishops have been natives but in this ward he is American and one of his biggest concerns are the peoples status. if they are legal or not and when we told him we had a bap date it was the first thing he asked. It's just hard there has to be a balance and i don't know how to find that with him. But our ward is doing good. I'm hoping since i'm taking over i'll be able to do a little more to help this ward and keep a positive attitude on it.

Looking forward to get a new companion! It will be interesting because they are white washing the leadership for this zone. 3 of them are going home and 1 of them is getting transferred. So either we are getting a completely new leadership or they will combine the two zones that are up here. Can't wait to see! I hope you have a great week! And i hope that Zurgy get's better! i love you lots! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I love being a missionary. I am so happy that i made the choice to serve a mission. As some of you know it was something that i never wanted to do. Being a missionary has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. i meet so many cool people and i get to share my testimony with so many people. My testimony has grown so much in the past 11 months. I have changed in ways that i never thought i could change. i just want to share my testimony with you all. That i know Jesus Christ died and suffered for us. Not just for our sins but also for our pains. I know that he did live again and that he is still here with us right now. We need to strive everyday to become closer to him and our Heavenly Father. To build a better relationship with them. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was restored through Joseph Smith and that he really was a prophet in our day. Just like the prophets in the bible. He was called of God to restore his church. We still have a living prophet today who guides and directs this church. While the world is changing and becoming more corrupted every day Gods standards will never change. For he is the same yesterday, today and for ever. I love this gospel and i love seeing it change peoples lives. Always trust in your Heavenly Father. I promise that he loves you and that he is aware of each and every one of you. Never forget him. he will never forget you. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. amen.