First things first. West Texas has been in a draught for who knows how long and most things here are browning or dead. Plant-wise.
All over town there are church, restaurant and gas station signs that say things like "PRAY FOR RAIN" and "RAIN PRAYER SERVICE HELD ON...." Wards and branches have been fasting for the wet stuff as well. Tuesday, the skies were full of ominous looking clouds and the wind was picking up. We've had this several times, so I (....unfaithfully, now that I think about it) didn't get my hopes up for a change in weather. Boy was I in the wrong.By 7 pm, we were in the BIGGEST most DAUNTING
and TERRIFFIC storm I have ever experienced!!!!!!! There isn't much here in the ways of gutters so the roads were flooding. Sister T and I were at a branch activity. Just from running to our car out of the church we were drenched. Without mountains here we were able to witness the magnitude of this storm. The skies weren't still for longer than 5 seconds at a time; either HUGE bolts of lighting or foundation shaking thunder encompassed our drive home. I am sitting here in the library trying to find words to describe this..... I'm not exaggerating at all. When people tell you about how majestic the storms are in Texas, they tell no lie. I loved it. Sister Tall was in a fit on our drive home because of the driving conditions and I was in hysterics loving every bit of it. Picked up the mail on the way home, and underestimated how deep the water was just out of the car. Stepping on my toes didn't save my feet from being engulfed in 6 inches of water. We have a tin roof over our carport next to our bedroom, and all night long we could hear the rain pounding on it. I will send pictures. We got some good ones. :)
This week last week has been most eventful. We set 2 baptism dates just yesterday! Our good appointments have turned into amazing spiritual teaching experiences and our bad appointments have turned into.... Hiroshima. We have been meeting with a man who we came across while looking at some old teaching records. We have record of him meeting with the missionaries back in '07, again in '09, and with different ones in the beginning of '10. So, naturally, sister tall and i decided we should pay him a visit. Since then, 2 weeks ago, we were able to meet with him 3 times and set a baptism date.
Apparently his biggest hold up was that he didn't like additional scripture (the book of Mormon) on top of The Bible. We get that a lot here. What was amazing, and i KNOW it was Divine intervention, is that a few days prior to teaching him about that, I got a letter from Dad in the mail where he explained how that is something that I may come across. And how when the Bibles mentions not adding anything onto His word (sorry for the paraphrase, i don't have my scripts with me), it means interpretation wise. Don't shoot beyond the mark. Exact obedience.
A lot of Christians interpret it to mean that no additional scriptures after that was written. Funny thing, it says that in the Old Testament. If that were the correct interpretation, it would mean that the Book of Mormon ANNND the New Testament weren't valid because it was an addition. I hope I expressed that in a way that you all understand. I was able to explain to Jimmy and to pray about it. He's been reading all of the chapters we assign him and he's preparing to get dunked on July 16th! YAAY! SO excited.
I taught false doctrine yesterday. That went over really well.... Sometimes when I get so excited to teach (like a little kid), i scramble and replace words. Important words. I was teaching a man at his door about the Godhead and kept saying "When the scriptures say One God, they mean that Christ and our Heavenly Father are in one person..." instead of one PURPOSE. One purpose. separate persons. Sister Tall's eyes got HUGE and she stepped in to correct me. Both times. All times. It happened more than once. Snap. I didn't even think anything of it when he kept agreeing with me....
We went to go visit another investigator and ran into one of his buddies with a puppy instead. We taught him in the front yard as this lil pooch ran around sniffing things. I love dogs, but sometimes they are so distracting. This dog started to sniff a dead baby bird in the gutter and in order to let his owner focus on what sister T was sharing, I took care of it. RIGHT before i picked the dog up he SNARFED the WHOLE BIRRRD!!! I don't know how long it had been there but the stench was raaank. Its a good thing that my companion was talking because I got the gags and was trying not to lose my lunch. Super Nast. Hopefully we will teach this guy again soon... but without his overly curious carnivore of a pet. gag.
Thankfully we don't have cockroaches in our apartment, but unfortunately we have ants. And when i say ANTS I don't mean little black things that tickle your feet when they crawl on you. These little beasts are red and vindictive, out to pinch you right when your feeling the spirit. I don't get attacked too often but poor sister tall is pretty much ant food. When we are teaching outside, we move around a lot in order to keep them from crawling up our legs and attacking. A few days ago, i was sitting on the floor in our study doing some research for a lesson and in the corner of my eye i saw something on the carpet moving. When i focused, I was disgusted to find TONS of ants crawling over what resembled a fallen piece of my breakfast on the carpet. Out of instinct, i grabbed the "Ant/Roach Dead on Contact Spray" and unleashed anger for their whole species (sounds so un-missionary like, but its better that a whole slew of them suffer than have my legs peppered with their bites). They died on contact and i went back to my studies. Later than evening, i grabbed the vacuum to clean up the crime scene only to find them all GONE! Sister T claimed she hadn't vacuumed. Sooo.... the only conclusion we have come to is that A) they carry off their own dead or B) they have been resurrected. My thoughts? Gross on both parts. If they are smart enough to carry off their dead, they are smart enough to create simple stratagem against us. If they have been resurrected, than i have to deal with them for eternity. Can't win for losing. Be grateful that Utah ants are so..... benign.
In lil Mexico, dogs AND chickens take themselves for walks. Its really quite entertaining. They don't like to be messed with, though. This had been the week of dogs. They are so distracting and in some cases... scary. There have been times where it takes us 10 minutes to get to a door because we are trying to interpret a mutts body language. Luckily we have the spirit, and MACE! Dog treats is on the shopping list. After more ant spray.
Dad!! I made Thai coconut curry on Tuesday without a recipe! Enough to feed the branch sisters (about 15?). Everyone loved it. It was vegan, so zero meat. But it was still really good. I threw some minced jalapenos in with the onions and it gave it a nice kick.You ought to try it. Squash is in season, so members from the other Branch like to give it to the missionaries.
My studies have been getting really good lately.
Its fun to have a full hour in the morning to study on my own and then another hour to study with sister tall. We have study journals, so right now i am taking one principle a day from Preach My Gospel and doing an hour study on just that topic. Its really cool to see how my study journal (3 ring binder full of notes) is getting bigger. In august they are giving us an additional hour to study with our companions. so 2 hours! so cool.Well, out of time. I love you all!!! thank you for your letters, prayers, pictures etc.
Will someone call Brandon to repentance? He hasn't written me ONCE! And i wrote him almost every week of his mission. i wanna know how his little family is doing.
I've been praying for mom and dad and their youth conference extravaganza. Let me know how it goes!!!
sister orr
