August 26, 2009

Hi all!

All is well here! It is so blastedly hot though! I'll have more on that later...I'll go in chronological order of the week. :)

The flight was good. My escorts were great! I love them all so much! One of them, Elder Oman had too heavy of a bag at the airport and I took some of his stuff in my bag. Well, he forgot to get one of his bags so I think I have all his shaving supplies...I'm going to give it to President this weekend and he said he'd figure something out for me...haha woops!

On the flight I kept having a feeling to talk to a lady. Finally, with about an hour to go, I busted into her conversation with the lady next to her. The lady, Laura Tanner, was from Liberty, TX and was on her way home from a funeral. She was a very religious lady and we had good talk. She believed that one could be saved by merely saying they were saved and staying faithful and good to the end, but yes, "I'm saved"...it was fun. She invited me to a festival in her town, but I didn't know where I would be so I couldn't. (turns out I can't)...She wanted to see me again so she gave me her information. I gave it to the missionaries that were opening that area (just opened on Wednesday...Elder Wilde was sent there!). Hopefully they will talk to her and share the gospel. She was so nice!

Sister Dupaix and Sister Mazza are so sweet. Sister Dupaix is a convert that helps in the office and sister Mazza is on a mission and is from Soda Springs (as is Elder and Sster Stelse, Elder and sister Rigby and President and Sis. Moldenhauer). I guess when you are a senior couple, the mission president calls you and then you put in your paperwork, so they are all from his hometown. They are great though!

So...my companion is Sister Shull from Missoula Montana. She is super funny. When she was introduced to me she had on fake teeth. She is a hoot...I don't even know who to compare her too. I could see Matt Edrington being closest to her in temperance and funness, but also very spiritual! She is also a theater major.... We get along really well. She isn't a morning person, and I'm not a night person so we compliment each other in that aspect.

So...for the big news....I'm in Port Arthur! It is about 20 miles from Beaumont, though, I can't tell you which direction. The town's roads are built facing northeast and southwest, so I am always so lost as to which direction I am going. We cover Port Arthur, Port Neches (naychez), Groves, Bridge City, and Nederland. I am in the Twin City Ward. It is pretty exciting. Our apartment has a huge map of the area and also a warning... Apparently, Sisters were flushed out in 2006 because there was a man stalking one of the sisters....we aren't allowed to proselyte near where the man and his wife live. It is dangerous to us and the Sister he was stalking. So anyway...

Oh man, there is some crazy weather here! One moment it could be clear skies and blazing hot, and the next it is storming! The lightening is pretty sweet! Sat. night it was thundering so bad that I couldn't sleep. I was a little scared, but only because in Utah that means that the lightening is close to you. Here, it thunders and quakes for miles! It is odd....But yes, super loud.

I got my request to not be where there are sidewalks! I thought that would send me to Chile or something, but nope, Port Arthur Texas! There aren't sidewalks! There are two lanes going each direction and if there is a parked car or someone walking in the lane, it becomes a sidewalk or something apparently. It is weird, but ok...I will survive....

Everyone here has either a cat or a dog it seems. They are mostly inside dogs and they like to lick a lot! I'm not a fan of dogs that lick (I was talking with Sis. Shull one day and said, "I'm not a fan of licking dogs" and she thought I was meaning that I lick dogs so I'm careful not to say that anymore. It was super funny.) The dogs are cute though for the most part.

In Hurricane Ike, all but 14 houses in Bridge City suffered water damage if nothing more (water damage is way way bad though). There are a lot of FEMA trailers there. They have a room on either side of them, a kitchen/laundry room/living room area and a bathroom. I wish people could get the help needed there...I mean, a year in a FEMA trailer, I wouldn't be able to handle it. Though, everyone is so humble and they realize the important things in life. It isn't about materialistic things, but about family, heirlooms, the gospel. Those are the things that will get you through this life! Not the appliances, the TVs, etc. Those are fleeting. The testimonies of the people are hitting me hard in this area.

Also, the testimony of prayer. The fact that we can ask our Heavenly Father and know of a surety that He is listening is something that a lot of people wish, but don't know about. I know that as we sincerely pray and share our hearts with Heavenly Father that He is listening and as we act in Faith to do the things He asks then we can be strengthened. It is such a real promise he gives us! I love it!

In my study journal I've learned that I can't abbreviate everything....for example, the Plan of Salvation cannot be abbreviated into the P.O.S....It is just not right! :S ;).

There are so many churches down here! There are seven as we go from one of the main freeways to our home. and they are all different! People wear clothes that would be frowned upon in Utah, but they aren't bad. My companion has one that is a Jesus Wii character that says, "Hii saved me" It makes me laugh real hard actually...and those types of things are everywhere. She has a folder that has a word search on it and Jesus is circled in the middle and it says, "I found Jesus!" I'll have to send some stuff home....

We don't have any investigators right now, but we are focusing on the members. There are like 550 members in our ward apparently, but the average attendance is about 150. So we are visiting a lot of Less Active families and helping them remember the feelings as to why they joined the church. It has been rewarding, but we have to wait a little longer...

I'm in the apt where Ben Newman served last.

Don't worry about us. The ward is taking care of us. Sis. Jolly just gave us a bunch of food....home canned jelly and such! Mmm.... She is making sure we are ok in everything. (as well as everyone else).

One of the ward missionaries is taking us to Beaumont so we can go to a museum. Beaumont is just out of reach. On Pday we can only drive 20 miles.. I am excited. I have the camera and all!

The place where we do service is like the DI and we hang shirts and clean up, so I got some shirts and sweaters and all 7 of my items only cost 7.56. It is really good how everything is cheap. They have a base price. It is the idea of the DI but better! :D

Anyway, my companion is ready to go, so I am going to head off...love you all so much!

Jackie