T1W2 Working Hard!

Dear Family,

How is everyone?! Too bad there's no free DearElder out here--but I would still love mail! 1415 Greens Parkway Houston, TX. This week has been full of teaching. The mission goal is 20 lessons a week and we were so close but only were able to get 19. Which is still impressive.

We found 3 families that we have been teaching and 2 individuals. Their circumstances are all so humble. This one trailor has a trailor that is bare, but they have great faith and the children all sit down for the lessons. My madre(Hna. Draney) had her 1 year mark this week so we went out with the elders in our district to TGI Fridays to celebrate. The elders in my district are a lot of fun. All 6 of us are in the same ward- Louetta Ward. We all work together though we have different areas because the elders had our area before we arrived so they know the recent converts and less actives and investigators really well.

The Louetta Ward is amazing in their missionary efforts. They have a ward mission plan for each family to prayerfully think of one referral by a certain date. They also have split night every week where all of the men that are available meet at the church and take the 4 elders out to their appointments. What they also do is ask for one sister or brother to accompany us each day. They call out in Relief Society "Ok who is available Tuesday evening?" This is important because we really want lessons taught to investigators with a member present. The bigger this number is the more people make it to and feel fellowshipped at church on Sunday. Investigators or "gators" have to go to church to be "progressing" which leads to baptism.

We are so excited because everyone we talk to is interested in our message. Everyday is just packed with "citas" or appointments and by the end of the night we both just come back to the apt. plan for the next day and pass out. We are working really hard.

Saturday we were assigned to work one of the pulgas. Pulga means flea in Spanish and is a "flea market"- not really because it is just a bunch of people selling junk--but there are a lot of people that pass by and we have a booth. We were there for 3.5 hours and did so well! All of the elders couldn't believe how many referrals we got. You have to pretty much jump out in front of the person and get your message out and ask them questions before they can lose interest. Hna. Draney loves it and she got me really pumped so we went in with a good attitude. It helped my Spanish a lot because I was just talking non-stop for the whole time--really fast.

We were fed by a less active sister last week names Hna. Espinoza. She had everything setup and taught us how to make pupusas. They were delicious! They are kind of a ball of masa, or dough, with a pork mixture inside then pressed flat. You put chile sauce on top with a cabbage mixture. The sauce was bien picante or reallllly spicy. I am slowly getting accustomed to hot food. Pupusas are an El Salvadorian thing and another El Salvadorian sister invited us over this week for more pupusas, so we are excited.

I hope all is well back home. As I testify to these people, especially the ones who are inactive members, I realize more and more how much I believe this message I share to be true. Our belief that this is the true church should begin with the Restoration. If that happened- then God speaks to us today through a prophet who gives us commandments out of pure love and concern. Though is may be hard, our obedience is the only thing we have to show our love to our Father in Heaven.

I love each of you. Ciao!

Camille