An Upcoming Baptism!

MONDAY - Hope everyone loved the blog last week, it took a lot of time to type haha, We did our usual for Preparation day and did laundry, shopping and emailing and then went and played basketball with the other elders from Gilmer and the other Longview elders. I gave Elder Richardson (big sea turkey... I mean seahawk fan) a bunch of crap about my rams showing them that they can beat the cowboys and the packers but they cant handle the horns! We played some good ball. Elder Chappell guarded each other and its always good because we try and get better from each other. We played some football then I practiced a song I learned on the piano hahaha, I cant wait to show y'all what it is. We were done before you knew it and were out visiting people. We tried the Albas and they were not there, so we went with Andy to our lesson with Charles. We read a conference talk by President Thomas S. Monson "Be of Good Cheer" Way good talk! Charles has been reading a lot lately which is really good. We answered questions and dropped off Andy and went to the Albas for another lesson with them. They invited us for dinner and asked if we like Mexican food and I told them (as I always do) "a mi me encanta toda comida mexicana, a menos que el menudo" hahaha, I like all food BUT menudo... worst food ever. We talked about Joseph Smith and headed home for the night.

TUESDAY - Today was a long day for us. I woke up sniffing and coughing like crazy so I slept in a little, till about 9:40 and I felt like crap. Super sick. I still went to District meeting and we shared our talks we prepared from the week prior. We went to Panda Express after and ate some delicious orange chicken YUMMMM!! I love Panda. We came back and started on our favorite report... Stake Presidents Report... YAY... not! We called and waited for 4 hours for the people to all call us back.. gotta love being a Zone Leader. We headed down to Kilgore for our lesson at 4 with Celia and her daughter and we talked more about the Book of Mormon and left them with some "homework" so to say haha. We ate some dinner before going to Marlenes with Hermano Cadenas and Plascencia to go over the questions of the interview with her. After we went to Hermana Monsivais' house and pronounced a blessing upon her house. We hit wal mart on the way back to get some NyQuil to knock me out and hopefully help me feel better. 

 

WEDNESDAY - Today was about the same as yesterday. I didn't hear my alarm or Elder Chappell's. That stuff put me out! I woke up at 8 and tried to study abut still I was feeling horrible. We then went and typed up the Stake President Report and got it done by about 2. We went to Albertsons. Yes Albertsons is still alive out here haha, good old Albertsons. We went there to contact and they said no... We then remember a talk our vehicle coordinator gave during the last meeting about how we need to take care of the cars because they are the Lord's cars. So we went to get some air in the tires and we were getting so fed up because we tried one place and payed a buck for barely any time and a thing that didn't even work! Then did the same at a different gas station till finally we found a working 25 cents for 3 minutes and filled all the tires in that time. A dollar for air.... What the heck!? The world is so expensive sometimes. We went to the Michoacana and contacted 60 people before heading to dinner with the Whitmans. We had Hawaiian haystacks, it was really good! Then we taught Riley tonight an Had a really fun lesson with her. We bought some cupcake stuff and taught the Plan of Salvation comparing it to cupcakes and she loved it. We did it in Brother Johnstons house. We had a great lesson, talked about the baptism and then went on our way to visit the Grizzles with Brother Sellers. We or actually brother Sellers went crazy on them and he committed to go on a mission and her mom to come to church. It was awesome. 

 

THURSDAY - Today was a driving day, I had to go up to Oklahoma to do some interviews of wonderful people entering into this wonderful and life changing church. So we drove up to Omaha Texas to meet the other elders, ate some Dairy Queen and then drove up. We dropped off my stuff and went and tried to stop by some people before doing the first interview of a family of 3. They didn't speak really well English so I had to speak very clearly but they are the sweetest people. We then went tracting and met some cool people before heading to dinner. We ate at Papa Poblanos and Elder Treasure paid for me. We had some good food, then went to do the last interview before the end of the night. Jarrak was her name and she had to have a translation. Such wonderful people. We headed back to end the night. A good day in Oklahoma. 

 

FRIDAY - Personal study was good because I finished the Book of Mormon yet again!!! Love the book! 3rd time on my mission. Now I plan to start it up again in Spanish focusing on the powers of the Priesthood and how I can be a better Priesthood holder. We got back and I was so pooped. We talked about the exchanges we had on the way and then we both took a nap for lunch. So tired! We got up and left to work. We tried some ward mission follow up papers before heading down to Kilgore to visit some people down there. We visited Josh who was playing Borderlands 2 and so we just talked and then got out of there. We did some tracting and ran into some very interesting people. We taught 2 Hispanic ladies and also a Lady that said she had been praying to find a new church because hers was terrible and was asking for more money and being more commercialized. So sad it is like that today. I'm grateful to know that ALL funds of Christ's true church go to helping us have buildings to meet in, copies of scriptures for people to read and help the Lord's kingdom grow. Not for a new Ferrari for the Prophet. Not a single person payed. That's how it should be in the Lord's church, and that's how it is. She said she knew what we shared was true. It was a miracle of the day. We then had to run home, we grabbed some food on the way back and then headed to the church to meet the Gilmer elders. Elder Wirth and I drove to meet Hno Flores to go to the interview of Marlene and Elder Chappell and Taylor stayed to teach English classes. The interview went well and she passed. We talked about her baptism and she asked me to baptize her. How grateful I am that when I raise my arm to the square and say I'm commissioned of Jesus Christ, the Son of God that it will be true. How grateful I am to know that when she comes out of the water her sins will be as white as snow. I love this church. I love this work. It! Is! True! We ended our night on that note heading into conference.

 

SATURDAY - Exciting day! Conference! Spiritual feast today! I took lots of notes and loved it! I'm grateful for living Apostles and Prophets in our days. We had some fajitas with the Marshall elders and other Longview elders in between sessions and then also burgers before Priesthood session. WHAT A DAY!

 

SUNDAY - We did the same thing we have done 3 times before... looked down (remember its the sabbath day) to see the light on for our fuel. WHAT DO WE DO!! We watched the sessions and then went and ate with the Rossows. We came back to the apartment wondering what to do. We went contacting at the Monterrey. We did that till 7 and then Andy came and got us to visit some people. We taught the Aleman family and then went and finished numbers quickly! What a week. Another good one here in the TDM! Loved conference and took tons of notes. I love this work. I love my ETERNAL family and I love all of you.

Elder Aaron Jackson