Temple time!

Tammy chose April 7th at 7:00 pm for her baptism!  She said that she is tired of questions and she just knows that she feels wonderful every time she walks in the church. So she's going with her heart and doing what feels right.  Thursday morning we got to go to the temple!!  We took Br. Sneed for his second time in the last 20 years and it was great!  We don't get assigned to go to the temple very often.  Elder Quincy and I get to go much more frequently than the young missionaries, because we take the member that are being activated or returning to activity. 

Here's the better picture of the Texas Blue Bonnets.

We took the Sisters to teach these 2 sisters on Tuesday.  They are hilarious!  The older one, one the right has Alzheimers and is about as sweet as can be.  We looked at a cross stitch on her wall and asked if she had done it and she said: "I don't know.  Maybe I did".  They are both widows in their 80's and they LOVE Jesus!  The Sisters can't talk loud enough for them to hear, so I repeated everything they said in a simplified form.  One of their husbands made all the woodwork on the walls.

A member lives in this locked up place.  We left him a birthday card.  The puppies were adorable!

A member lives in this house.  The sign is great, be sure to read it!

Here's most of the Zone after our temple session.

Brother Sneed.

Our district.

Saturday morning Br. Duke Hodges went through the temple for the first time!  The Elder next to him came from the legendary Fred, Texas to be there.  I got the sad news as we left the temple that sweet little Sophia Faith Mason had died the night before.  I had to text the Bishop and Relief Society President with the news because they were sitting in Sarah Bible's funeral.  We are sad for the Mason family, but so happy for Sophia!! 

Elder Quincy started a bathroom remodel for the Rudolphs.

Sunday was our Fast Sunday because we have Stake Conference on the 9th.  Luke got up and bore his testimony and it was really powerful.  He said that the first time the missionaries were teaching him, he didn't pray and read the Book of Mormon and didn't feel much, but once God told him he should be baptized, he read and prayed and the Spirit was so strong.  He said he felt himself getting closer to God and it has been awesome!  He was ordained by Elder Quincy to be a priest after church and got his temple recommend so he can go do baptisms with us this week!  Woohoo!  Another temple trip.  We also had a recently activated couple call us today and ask when we can go to the temple with them. They got their recommends signed today!!  We're feeling so blessed!

Sister Smith and Elder Taylor are leaving us tomorrow!  We took the Sisters to say goodbye to the Grahams.

Our last District Meeting with this district. 

Best day ever!

This week has been amazing!  We had our usual great meeting with the Allen bunch, but with Luke there and so excited to be baptized it was better than ever.  We had an amazing day Tuesday; everyone we tried to visit was home!!  It was like we couldn't go wrong!  That has never happened before!  We visited about 12 people!  We had dinner with the family who's daughter was just baptized on Wednesday and talked to the dad about the priesthood for his 13 year old son. They would do anything for us.  I am surprised at how much I love these people!  Saturday we had a little miracle.  I never take my cell phone when we walk in the morning, but I did.  As we almost got home Sister Bradley called us from the church.  She was trying to get in to clean and no one else had showed up, so we were able to help her clean the building,  Heavenly Father knows and cares about us.  Saturday couldn't have been any better!  Luke's was the best baptism yet.  Partly because he's so excited, but also because so many people came to support him.  Tammy had told the Elders before the baptism that she's not ready to be baptized next week.  She had some unresolved concerns about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  I prayed all through the baptism that her heart would be touched and all through sacrament meeting yesterday.  After church yesterday Tammy said she definitely wants to be baptized, not Saturday, but within the next 2 weeks!  I hope to hear the story at the meeting tonight.  Another miracle!  After church, Ashley got her limited us temple recommend and a recommend to get her Patriarchal Blessing and Luke was interviewed to be ordained a Priest next Sunday.  I get teary just thinking about it!  We are going to the temple with our district on Thursday.  Saturday we are going with Br. Hodges for his first time and on the 28th we're going with Ashley, Luke, Sonya and Jaycie to do baptisms!  We are excited!  Firsts this week were going all the way East to Beaumont, having Jenny's family involved in a baptism, and Dan talking to an investigator for us about how to get a divorce.  Elder Quincy fixed a couple of small things this week and he met with a member to plan a ramp they will build.  We had a FHE with a family with 2  young kids that are HORRIBLE in Sacrament meeting this week.  We challenged them to be quiet and think about Jesus during the sacrament and they were actually quiet during the sacrament!!  Progress!  We are having some great adventures!! Life is good here in Texas!  Give Jonathan a hug for his birthday for me tomorrow! 

  How many missionaries does it take to baptize one young man?  7! 

We helped the Roberts paint their house on Tuesday evening for a minute.

The sisters gave me these pretty flowers.

wild flower on the side of the road.

I don't know what these are, but suddenly the little webs were everywhere on Saturday morning.  Silk worms?

We drove to Beaumont to pick up Elder Kent for the baptism.  He's serving in Lake Charles, Louisiana and a member brought him there and met us.  I got a kick out of this town we passed; Sour Lake.  We could smell the stink as we approached.  Sulfur, I think.

They have a big, beautiful church in Beaumont!

It was worth the drive, because Luke was so happy to see Elder Kent!

None of Luke's family came, but his girlfriend, Ashley's whole family came!  They are awesome like that!  My family; the Kendalls, came too!  I wasn't smart enough to get a picture of them though. 

We had a ward party; Game night after the baptism.  Not a lot of people made it, but for those who did it was very successful and fun!

Crummy pictures, but those are Texas Blue Bonnetts in the foreground.

We turned around and tried to get a picture of the armadillo on the side of the road.  This is the best I could do.

Fishers of men

Br. Roberts and Elder Quincy took Luke fishing Monday morning.  Its great to combine 2 kinds of fishing on a PDay morning.

I told you about the miracle of the Jones family.

They moved to Farmington, New Mexico in January. Amanda, the mom, sent me these picture of  the baptism of their 3 oldest kid on Saturday!

Sweet Br. Ford died Wednesday morning.

We've loved taking the sacrament to he and his sweet wife.  His funeral was a happy one.  He was so ready to get rid of his failing body.

We were at the church from 9 to 6 Saturday.  We set up for the funeral luncheon, attended the funeral, set up for the baptism, served the funeral luncheon, cleaned up and then it was time for the baptism.  Shawn Harris and Morgan Graham are cousins.  A cousin of Shawn on the other side of them family has also been taking the lessons. She, Sagen, is soo sweet.  She brought her mom and little sister to the baptism.

Br. Roberts baptized Shawn's mom and Morgan's dad many years ago.  Since Morgan's dad wasn't quite ready to do the baptisms, Br. Roberts was their first choice.  Elder Quincy gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and did a great job.

Here's the dad and his 13 year old son.

Ready!

The family planned a picnic in the park after, but it was raining, so we had a picnic in the gym.

We have been working at activating this family for 7 months now.  This was a big step. 

After eating at the funeral luncheon at 3, and the post baptism picnic at 5, we took the Sisters to dinner at a part member home at 6:30. We came home uncomfortably full last night! We had meals with members and investigators 8 times this week!  That's a first!  Elder Quincy fixed a truck, dressed another body and  repaired a dryer which was less service than usual.  I got to do Primary music today and Elder Quincy taught a primary class. 
We were driving Luke home from a lesson at the church Friday and talking about his upcoming baptism and his future marriage.  He asked us how much it costs to get married in the temple.  We laughed and said; "about a year".  We are pretty excited about his upcoming baptism! 
We took Ruby Morales to the airport this afternoon with her new baby and her less than 2 year old son.  I tried to get a pass to help her to the gate, but they don't do that any more!  So I left her at the security line and prayed for her.  She texted late Sunday night to say she'd made it and was with her husband Antonio in Guatemala!!  Such a relief!  Now we're praying that things go well at Immigration today!

Sharing Cleveland with my Sisters by birth and by marriage

Such a great week!  We got a surprise call from Luke, a former investigator Monday, saying he wanted to be taught again, that he's felt God telling him to follow this path.  Tuesday morning he called to say he wanted to be baptized!  We took the Elders with us to pick him up from work and to go over the baptism interview questions so he knew what he needs to work on.  He read them and said' "ok, I'm ready"!.  They asked when he'd last had a drink of alcohol, the day before, how about chewing tobacco, that morning.  So then they explained that he needed to live the word of wisdom for 2 weeks before he could be baptized.  We took him to Walmart to get the cinnamon mouthwash, cinnamon mints, vitamin C, and grapefruit juice that's supposed to help; juice and vitamins to flush the nicotine out of his body faster, and cinnamon to get the flavor out and help with cravings.  So he's been great and clean ever since.  He says that when he has a craving he reads a scripture and prays!  We're excited for him!  On a side note, the member he was dating who first introduced us to him, gave him a ride home from church yesterday. A baptism and then a possible marriage in the future?

We helped a less active family put up a fence on Wednesday.  Its always a lot of fun doing service with all the missionaries together.  And it was great to see the family at church yesterday!

My sisters and sister-in-law arrived Friday afternoon.  We have had so much fun taking them do service, meeting some of our favorite people, and playing with them!  Everyone loves them of course!  They all helped teaching or in Amy's case playing the piano for Primary and Relief Society Sunday!  We took the sacrament to a couple of home after church Sunday and it was great to have a whole choir to sing with us!  They made Sister Roberts soo happy by sharing some of our pioneer stories with her after a fried fish dinner.  They got to try the best hush puppies in Texas there.  We had a fun birthday dinner party at the Kendalls for Jenny and Nicole last night.  The kids loved having 4 great aunts there!  Jenny survived her half marathon on Saturday and got a great time.  My girls seem to get younger instead of older! 

Firsts this week were having an investigator call us to say he wants to be baptized, teaching lessons in the horse pasture, setting up and attending wedding reception, and sharing Cleveland 1st ward with my sisters and sister-in-law.  Elder Quincy thought that we laugh way too much.  We sure had a lot of fun! Thanks so much for coming!! 

Exploring Br. Robert's trophy room.

Saturday morning we picked them up and went to see the Bradleys.  Here's their pot belly pig.

Or course we had to go to the Ranch Hand Café.

Taking the sacrament to sweet Mary Jernigen.

Future missionary?

Wisteria blooming.

Great sunsets.

We passed these guys on the way to teach Luke a couple of times one day.  Black pioneers?

Anna lane.

This is at Lake Waterwheel where Elder Quincy went fishing with Br. Roberts last week.  They didn't get any fish, but the beautiful pictures of the sunrise were worth the trip.

Working on the fence.

Elder Allen decided he wanted to cool off by being buried.  He said it worked. 

It was in the 80's that day.

Missionary lesson in the pasture.

Luke doesn't have a car, he has a horse, which he rides to the corner store when he needs to buy stuff.

Br. Bibby showing the Spanish Elders what he's been working on since the fence project.

Luke found this 3 foot snake in the pasture where we've been teaching him.

Leaving after doing service at Ruby's.

They made it!

Br. Robert's trophy room.

some of the creative spelling my sisters enjoyed.

More of Br. Roberts stuff.

A van full of fun!

Amy had to touch the Spanish moss on Glenda's trees.

We also helped decorate the church for the Bright's wedding reception..

Such cute moms!

We look better with the kids in front of us, don't we?

James can fit a lot of kids in his lap!