Another Transfer

It's pretty cold here. It's usually in the teen's or 20's. And I got transferred to a new area, but in the same zone. And I'm still without a car. It's AWESOME... Anyway quick story. One of the missionaries asked how old Clark was and I told him without thinking, "he has 6 months." I thought that's how you say it. But it's "he is 6 months old." It's because in Spanish you say "tiene 6 meses" (he has 6 months) I'm turning MEXICAN! But, the baptism went through. It was good I'll send some pictures of it. But we went to his house after the baptism and we were talking. And he asked how he could become an Elder. I explained there's a difference between the office of an Elder and a missionary Elder. And I suggested a mission. And I was so excited when he said he was thinking about serving a mission. I don't think I could of had any more joy. Actually I did when I went to say goodbye to some of my recent converts. I went to one of their houses and I told her that I don't know when I return but when I come back I want to see her active and going to church. (her husband doesn't want anything to do with missionaries, and her kids aren't interested. But she was promised her family would accept the gospel). And after I told her that she said "I'm going to be waiting." She's so solid. Oh and another one of the converts hasn't come for like 2 weeks and the same one who said she was going to be waiting asked us for her number so she could call her and see how she's doing. Man, she's going to be Relief Society President some day. I've had some other pretty good experiences lately, but there's too much to write. So we'll just have to go through the Journal when I get back to tell the stories. Because I can't really think of all of them right now. Anyways, My new companion is from Mexico and he is like 28 years old. I don't know why I keep getting all the old people for companions, but it's all good. A lot of people are trying to give me advice how to help get through the transfer, so we'll see how it goes. The new area is good though, We have 5 baptisms coming up this weekend, so we'll see how that goes. Well I gotta go.

Hola!

Anyways, I figure I should write about the week. It's only been a few days since I last wrote, so there won't be too much. Yesterday we had a ridiculous lesson. We were teaching these people and asked if they wanted us to focus more on Prophets or Christ's Earthly Ministry. They said Prophets. So after we finished the lesson they say "Why do y'all talk about prophets so much? Y'all talk about prophets but never talk about the Virgin of Guadalupe/Mary." Then they said "I think the Virgin is more important than prophets." And so I talked about how in the ten commandments it says to only worship the one true God, and the husband said "well my wife worships the Virgin" and she interrupted and said "I believe in the Virgin..." And then the Husband said "for us the most important people are God, the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin." and so I corrected them and said that the trinity is God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and that they should be the 3 most important people. They kept talking about how we don't believe in the Virgin Mary and so I read from 1 Nephi 11. I was angry by then, so I said "fine. read this." Then they started talking about how in the story the Virgin says that whatever we pray to her in the name of her son we'll get. And I asked where it was in the Bible and they said "no it's in the book of the Virgin" and I said no I want to see that in the Bible. Man that was an annoying lesson. But it's all good. I don't think much else has gone on. We're going to the temple tonight, so that should be pretty fun. It's with a family we're teaching. The wife is trying to stop smoking. I think she has around 2 weeks now. We've been teaching them The Plan of Salvation. So after the lesson we asked if she had any questions. And she said that she had a dream and she saw her grand child and a bunch of other children in a white area. And so I told her that that was a way that her prayers were being answered. That what she saw was the opportunity she has to live with her family forever. All the children she saw were her posterity, and that this is what Heavenly Father wants for her and her family. Well that's about the highlights from the week. I'm starting to get sick, but I bought some NyQuil/DayQuil, and some sore throat numbing spray, and some Orange juice. So I should be getting better pretty soon. I already feel like I'm getting better!

OH I forgot I'm having a baptism this weekend! I'll write y'all about how it went and the story behind him next week because there are people waiting for computers!

Alright So the first is a picture of the Virgin Mary some investigator has in their house. I thought it was funny because there's one dead flower, a it's the flower she's looking at.  The next two are of the Temple. The last is of a billboard. Don't know why but they're everywhere. Talk about Houston. ENJOY!

Prosper Año Nuevo!

HAPPY NEW YEARSSS!!

Well I hope that y'all are recovering from your CrAzY night last night. I know I am! to sweat out all the toxins from last night we sat in a sauna for an hour. Just kidding. But seriously one of the members has a sauna in their house so me and three other missionaries went and sat in it for like an hour. It felt so good. I think we're going to be doing it again next week. Anyways, the past week has been pretty good. We're staying busy and teaching a lot of lessons. There was some contention between me and my companion but that's all cleared up.

I was teaching the Savala family, the family of 6 from Mexico, and felt like I should promise them a blessing if they went to church today. So I was thinking of what I could promise them and I had it in my head. As I began to speak the Spirit came in so strongly and I said "As a servant and representative of Jesus Christ I promise you that if you come to church this Sunday you will feel the Spirit stronger than you have ever felt it in your life and you will know that this church is true." It came out different than I planned it, but I could feel the Spirit testifying to me that it was true. So we are going to try and get them to church.

Wednesday we went to Temple Square with an investigator named Marvin. He has a baptismal date for the 9th. And that was a good experience. He's solid. We left him with the pamphlet for the first lesson and taught him about God being our heavenly father, and how the Gospel blesses family. We came back and he asked us why the Aaronic priesthood was the lesser priesthood and the Melchizedek the greater. We met him because he came to church on his own for a few weeks in a row.

We had a meeting with the Mission President and all the Spanish missionaries. He talked about how next year all of us are going to be working with the English wards and stake. So I'm excited about that. We've been trying to do that since we worked with Elder McCollum and he taught us all that. So I'll probably be with someone who didn't get that training next transfer. So that's all about that has changed. Last night we watched Monsters Vs. Aliens. It was pretty funny. Y'all should watch it. and then at 9:00 we celebrated the new years in Halifax, Canada! Because it was before our bed time and we could celebrate as a zone. It was fun. We had pots and noise. Then today like I said we went to a member's house and used their sauna. Oh and I celebrated New Years for Texas with a countdown. Today I think we're going to watch Chronicles of Narnia or something. It should be fun. Well I think that's about all. I don't have my pictures this week. But next week I'll have some for you. Hope y'all have a great day of recovering and that y'all have a great week! I love y'all and miss y'all. Hope all is well!

P.S.-y'all should get the "Joseph: A nashville tribute to the prophet. It's good.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Otra vez!

Well We get to e-mail today, so I figured I'd send some pictures home. I don't really have too much to say because we talked yesterday, and nothing new has really happened. Yet. Well I hope y'all enjoy the movie today and have a great NEW YEAR. 2010 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Alright. The first picture is of me, my companion, and Elder McCollum who was with us for a week to teach us how to work better with the English wards. He was my first Zone Leader too. The second one is the MTC district, most of it, at the Mission Christmas Devotional with Elder Ringwood of the Qof70. The third one is from the ward Christmas party we had. It was great fun. Very Christmas-sy. The fourth one is me on Christmas with all of my presents. This is the one that should be in a Macy's magazine, or Kohl's, or Wal-Mart. You get the idea. And the last one is the normal one of me with the presents. Hope y'all have a great day/week. I'll write to y'all again next year. January 1, 2010. Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo! Love y'all and miss y'all!

Taloofa!

That's hello in Samoan. Well anyways, man it's too bad that I won't be home for Christmas. But Mom's favorite son will be there with Tiffany, so no se precupe. Haa. And as far as the missionaries, just make sure y'all are a fun house. Those families are always better. There's one that everytime we stop by the give us brownies and dessert and all that. I'm getting fat because of them. But oh well. I'll just lose all the weight after the mission/ in the last 6 months. They're in the english ward. It's kind of hard for me to get to know the spanish families because I'm still working on my spanish. But it's all good. There's one that's pretty fun. But I get along with most of them. But I get along easier with the english families. Oh and as far as the missionaries just make sure they aren't using the phone while I call. I'm still not sure what day we call if it is Christmas day or Christmas Eve. So I'll let you know about time and all that next week. Yesterday we had interviews with the president. I was the last one and he asked me how my spanish was going and I said it was getting better. And he said that he heard it was great. And then asked if I would be able to teach the 4 lessons completely in Spanish. So that's kind of scaring me.


The work here is going well. We had a lesson with a family and the wife has a smoking problem. But she's trying to stop. So we've been working with her on that. And last night she agreed to kneel down and pray while we were there and make a commitment to God that she wouldn't smoke again. I promised her that as she did this she would receive the help she needs to quit, and overcome the temptations. The Spirit was so strong. Then another family, the one I had the dream about, finally started to read the Book of Mormon. I had them tell me something each would be interested in learning about and gave them chapters based on that. They're finally reading and believing it's true. Hopefully they will come to church on Sunday. We're working with another kid that we have on date for the 26th. We are starting to teach his whole family. His little sister is taking lessons from the JW's. So we're trying to help her with that. I think that's all. I don't know I can't think about anything else that's new.

MERRY CHRISTMASSSS!!

It looks like y'all got my Christmas gift! I've been hearing that it's snowed/ been snowing in Houston. Unfortunately, that's probably the only gift I'll be able to send. The only place we go shopping is Wal-mart so it's kind of hard to find good cultural gifts I could send y'all. But I was reading a talk by Elder Holland and he said that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ, and the Wise men didn't show up until after the birth. So giving gifts on Christmas day isn't that important, but y'all will get them during the year.
So did y'all watch the Christmas Devotional? It was pretty good. It made me miss home too. It took me back to the days when y'all would make me go, but I wouldn't want too. What a bad kid. I bought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas cd today at DI for $3. I'm excited to have some Christmas music to listen to.

I've been reading the "Discourses of Gordon B. Hinckley." Elder Pearl is getting ready to go home so he gave me both volumes. Because they take up a lot of space. But I read the talk where he got his letter from his dad saying "forget yourself and get to work." So that's what I'm trying to do. Yesterday we shoveled snow for 3 different people. It took like 2-3 hours. We ended up missing the dinner appointment. But it was worth it. Helped me warm up, AND got my mind off of home. When we got into the house last night after working I checked what the temperature was, and it was 8 degrees. But it didn't feel that cold. So thank you for praying for me and that I would be able to stay warm. It snowed so much here lately though. yesterday we got like a foot of snow. There was enough of it to go up to the bottom of my knee. Way too much.

Well the other day we were talking to some of our investigators and we invited them to be baptized. The didn't say "yes," but they did say that they had been talking about it that day. And they came to church the next day and everything. We're hoping to get them baptized on the 26th of December. So hopefully that will be able to be done.

Decemberrrrr

Thanksgiving here was pretty good. We had dinner with a bishop in a different stake but we had fun so it was good. We went out with his son and were able to teach 4 or 5 lessons. and luckily for us we only had to eat 1 dinner. We didn't have a bunch of families forcing us to eat.

I'm sorry the weather is cold there. It's good for a little bit, but when it starts dropping into the 20's and teen's it's not so fun... But it could be worse. I could be in Wyoming. My MTC companion got sent there, and I wanted to see what the weather was like so I called Tell Me and it said it was 5 degrees. Toooo cold for me.

Well updates with what is going on with me. I'm no longer with Elder Gudino any more. Which is kind of bad. He was a good companion. My new companion is Elder Guillen. He's from Paraguay. He's been out for like 8 months or something like that. But he can't really speak english so I'm making sure he speaks it in the house. Because he doesn't want to work at it all his last companions just gave in and spoke Spanish. But I can do it. He's a little annoying.. I don't know it'll be an interesting 6 weeks. I'm still covering the same area, but they took away the Spanish branch so now I just cover 1 ward. The branch they took away is the one that didn't really have any work in it, so I won't really miss it too much. One of my friends from the MTC got transferred to the zone I've been in for the last two transfers. So when I heard I was staying in the area I was excited, but then I found out even though I'm staying I'm being moved to a new zone. This zone isn't as good as the one I was in.. But oh well. That's how the mission goes sometimes. Oh, and they're changing the e-mail system so My e-mail is going to be Kyle.Andrews@myldsmail.net. I think. OH and we were able to have our 4 baptisms this weekend so that was a good way to end the transfer. And for the first time I got in the water and baptized somebody. All 4 of them seem like pretty solid converts so that is good. Hopefully they'll stay active.

Here are some pictures from this last week. The first two are from the baptism of Ivet, her son Issack, and daughter Daniela. Her uncle (Hermano Sarmiento) used to be a bishop and she is living in the house with them, so she should stay strong. The third one is of the person I baptized. Alicia. She's been coming to church for 2 months or so on her own so hopefully she'll stay strong too. Then the last two pictures are of me and Elder Gudino messing around With the Sarmientos and Ivet. We had a pretty good time.