Pecos week 10

Yesterday during dinner I got bored and made a duct tape tie.

It's pretty sweet, yet super hard to tie. Don't worry, I am not wearing it as a missionary.

This week we had district pictures. I tried to capture the chaos that usually ensues as we try to take them, so here's your behind the scenes look.

We had about 30 seconds of service this week. We helped a less active lady drill in her door that was falling off.

We had exchanges this week. I went out to Kermit TX and had a car for the day. What a blessing that was, because it was a cold one. Here I am with Elder Sork sleeping on their bunk beds. Truth be told, they're not actually bunk beds. They're just normal beds stacked on top of each other. Seems legit...

Here's another look at Kermit's shack they live in. They call it "the lillypad." It is basically a little shed converted into a one room house. It was fun... for a night. We woke up in the morning and our pipes were actually frozen. No water. We called one of the 2 members that lives in Kermit and we were blessed to be able to use their house for showers. That's my Kermit adventure.

I want to tell ya'll thank you so much for sending me letters every week. I love it and I am so blessed to hear from my wonderful family so often.

It was a great week for John and his family. He and Nancy, and Sarah all made it out to church. He's been doing a little bit of reading the Book of Mormon as well. We set a baptismal date with him last night for the 24th of January (Elder Palmer's last Saturday in the mission). We are pretty excited and we are super happy that both him and his family have been progressing so well. Pray that we may continue to teach him often. We were blessed with the perfect fellowship as well. Eddy (a long time friend of Nancy) came out with us and John and Sarah seem like they really look up to him and respect him. He has been giving them rides to church the last couple weeks as well. He seems like he can be a great father figure for those kids.

Not much other news with investigators this week. John was the only investigator we've been able to teach, although we did get to see a few other less actives. We had a total of 60 people at church yesterday, including some of the less actives we have been visiting which was very exciting.

This week in the mail I got the most gigantic Christmas card ever in the mail from Yoanna. She's the best in case you didn't remember that.

That's about it for this last week. Coming up on the radar this Friday we get to see Elder David A. Bednar and I am so stoked. I will be sure to let you know how it goes. I love you mom! I love you dad! I love you Meagan! I love you Courtney!

Pecos week 9

 I could get used to being a Texan. 

One week ago it was actually pretty nice outside. On p-day we went to this little western store in the middle of town and tried on some authentic get-up. I could get used to being a Texan. 

This week was a mighty cold one, as you may be able to tell from these pictures here. We bundled up well and stayed warm enough.

We also had a contest of who could slide the furthest on the ice right down the middle of the road (don't worry. Nobody was out driving on the ice).

This week it iced over pretty good for a couple days in a row and when I saw this tow truck hauling all these wrecked cars, I had to get a picture. I guess no one really knows how to drive in the cold and ice here. We played it safe and walked around instead of biked this last week. 

Good work Courtney! The picture you made is super cute. I love it. That's super cool about the blog book. I will love to look through them all when I get home. That will be fun. But for now, I will just live it. haha. Jessica made it out to church as usual, but Danny had to work. John made it out to church but his mom didn't. We got a ride for him and his cousin Clarisa who also came along. John has been reading his kids Book of Mormon this week with his mom. Great news. Church. Book of Mormon. We want him to come to church one more time and then we'll be setting a goal for him to hopefully be baptized the week afterwards. Javier was in Andrews all week. Never came back here.

This week at church we had the members from Van Horn come up and there were 53 of us in total. In testimony meeting John got up and bore his testimony! His whole speech was "I know this church is true." and then he sat back down. It was great. I really think that he is a bright light for his family. These last two weeks are the first time they've been since I got here. And this last week was the first time I ever remember them reading the Book of Mormon. Progress.

Texas is treating me fine. We did 10 hours of service this week moving a family in the branch. Whew. Cold, tiring, but fun week. I love you mom! I love you dad! I love you Meagan! I love you Courtney!