Slow Week

This week has been a slow week.  I became ill on Tuesday and have mostly been unable to leave the apartment for several days.  We taught our family history classes on Thursday and Sunday.

Thursday we had a Zone Conference again - special training on conversion.

Thursday evening, Elder Halterman dislocated his shoulder so we spent from 9 pm to midnight at the Emergency Room at Methodist Hospital.  He will probably need to have some physical therapy.

We were planning on going to the Indian PowWow on Saturday at Traders Village, but I wasn't well enough to go.  That was disappointing.

A home in the southern part of the ward

 

A nice garden in Gloria's neighborhood

We visit the man working there, when we see him

 

About eight horses are kept here by black cowboys

Home near the Houston Texas Temple

 

Home near the Houston Texas Temple

 



The Houston Texas Temple in in our Stake.  It's located in a ward north of us.

 

Elder Jenkins discovered that our former bishop, Albert Haines lives in the Champion Ward of our stake.  He was our bishop when we lived in the Orem 60th Ward when Elder Jenkins was attending BYU.  At that time he was the City Manager for Orem.  He has since been the City Manager for Houston; as well as a mission president.  He currently is a ward mission leader and temple sealer.  He responded to Elder Jenkins' email and said he looks forward to seeing and visiting us.  

 

Nancy Glazier also lived in the Orem 60th Ward - she is an artist and is known for painting the "Lamb and Lion" that we see in many church buildings.  [She allowed me to watch her work on a painting once. She also gave me one of her small paintings that she painted when she was learning.]

Driving Miss Gloria

Last week we went to Zone Conference.  We learned about finding people to teach. 

Recently our zone and district have been divided.

 

This last week we did yard work for a part-member family, and made visits.

 

We started teaching family history classes last Sunday.  There is a new booklet from the church that we are using for beginners.  Last week we helped one member start to work on his family history.  His non-member companion asked us to help her with her family history too.  Her attitude towards the church has become more positive.  We will do what we can to help her.

 

Elder Jenkins has sent a proposal to the stake to see if we can get a couple of computers for family history into our building (satellite from the stake family history center).  It would make it easier for those who don't have cars or internet service to be able to work on their family history.

 

Today we drove Gloria to her pre-op appointment at the hospital.  Her surgery has been rescheduled for November 12th.  Once she gets healed up from the surgery she should be able to attend church again.  She claims to be the only person who has survived an intestinal aneurism.  She is so funny and keeps us laughing.  She told the nurse that if she needs a transfusion, she only wants blood from rich people.  She wants the nurse to get Donald Trump down here to give blood.  And if they needed a list of rich people they could call to donate blood, she could provide such a list.  She also told the nurse that when people call the hospital to ask about her condition after the surgery that she wants the nurses to tell them that she has been transferred to Spain.   

 

Saturday, C.J. was baptized and Sunday was confirmed.

 



Sister Jenkins, Elder Jenkins Elder Halterman, Elder Alvarenga

C.J.

It has been great having Elder Alvarenga here (waiting for his visa to Sao Paulo, Brazil).  He has really been a big help to those who speak Spanish or Portuguese.

We have a fresh "move in" list with 21 names on it - for us to check out and see if they actually live here.  If they live here, we welcome them into the ward and invite them to church.

Remembering 175 years ago

I feel to take a moment to remember the early Missouri saints that 175 years ago sacrificed so much that I may enjoy the blessings of the gospel today.

Church

Yesterday, we were happy that Michellyn, Martin, Marco, Mary and Elijah came to church.  I hope they keep coming.

Last night we had Movie Night at the church and enjoyed seeing "Ephraim's Rescue". 

Last week, we took Gloria to her medical procedure at Houston Northwest Medical Center.  While in the waiting room, I enjoyed reading CONSIDER THE BLESSINGS by Thomas S. Monson.

We had a wonderful Zone Conference last Thursday.  President Pingree talked to us about teaching the topic of the Godhead here in the Bible Belt.  Many good people we meet share many of our beliefs.  We may differ in our views of the godhead; and have the restoration to add.

Lunch after Zone Conference

In our mission, we have been encouraged to study the Atonement.  That was something I wanted to do while serving a full-time mission here.  I was able to read THE INFINITE ATONEMENT by Tad Callister - which was excellent.

Tomas had to cancel our family history session - he had to take his brother to the Emergency Room (his brother has terminal cancer).  I had found a couple of Mexican christening records for his ancestors I wanted to bring to him.  I had used a Spanish dictionary to figure out what the words were in English, and had Elder Alvarenga proofread it to make sure I got everything straight.  He said it was okay.  So when Tomas is ready we can extend his tree back another generation.

While we were driving through Gloria's humble neighborhood, we stopped and talked to a good Christian man that was working in his nice garden.  We asked him about his garden and we explained we were serving a mission in Houston.  The conversation naturally turned to Jesus and we had a nice visit and he asked for our card. 

One thing I find unusual here - black men riding horses alongside major traffic thoroughfares.  Apparently they are not afraid their horses will get spooked by the traffic.  Someone told me that in northwest Houston there are black cowboys where that is part of their traditional culture.

Busy

I'm a little late with this post.  We've been busy.  However, we did take a little time on Monday to watch "Ephraim's Rescue" - which we enjoyed very much.

Last week, we helped Sheryle with an organizational project at her home. Her health and living conditions are very poor.

We met again with Tomas to work on his family history.  His family tree is continuing to grow nicely.  In his family they like to use the same names through the generations so we have to make sure we have each particular person in the right placement in the family tree.

We helped a family move in.

We searched for more lost sheep, and visited with a few that we found.

It is our ward's turn to clean the church this month - so we help with that every Saturday.

On Saturday, I attended the ward Relief Society visiting teaching conference - which was excellent.

We attended the temple with our zone last week.  We have 390 missionaries in our mission now.  Many of them are sister missionaries.

Yesterday we took Gloria to her medical procedure at Houston Northwest Medical Center.  She is planning to have reconstructive surgery soon.  Last year she survived a rare intestinal aneurism.

We are enjoying the lovely weather.

Another Week

This past week we have been busy giving members rides to doctor appointments, ward temple night, bishop's storehouse assignment, etc.  Tomas is making great progress on his family history. 

We met with the high priest group leader to discuss the arrangements that need to be made for us to teach family history classes in two weeks.

Our ward media specialist said there is talk about bringing in two computers and putting them in a secured room at our building so we can do family history here (by appointment).  We have people in our ward who do not own computers or have internet access so that would be a great blessing for them and for those who help them.

Elder De Le Mare went home and Elder Barlow got transferred.  We have one new elder fresh from the MTC - Elder Alvarenga.  He is from Charlotte, North Carolina and originally from El Salvador.  He speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Our zone got split and we are in a new district.  Our Elder Halterman is our new district leader.  We meet at our building and don't have to drive up to the Stake Center anymore for district meetings.  We now have 390 missionaries in our mission.

Tomas

This past week we helped Tomas start his family tree on FamilySearch.org.  In the process we found his grandmother's birth certificate.  We also found the birth certificates of a set of triplets in his family (I have never seen documentation for triplets before).  I am excited to help him again this week.

Tomas and Michael

We heard Alex's remarkable conversion story (three hours to tell it).  He has been a member just under two years.  He is the ward executive secretary.

We enjoyed all the sessions of general conference at the church.  What a spiritual feast.  Even C.J. (investigator) watched the sessions.

Today we went to the Holocaust Museum Houston and the Weather Museum.

 

 

 

Our dear Elder De Le Mare is going home this week to Sugar House.  It has been great to work with him.  He was a wonderful missionary.

 

We have been helping Patrick (recent move-in from Idaho) with a few things.  He is Elder Carlos Asay's (formerly of the Seventy) grandson.  Patrick's wife and children will be moving down here in about a week.  He is in the martial arts/personal security business.