From the Great Brown South to the Great White North!

How is Canada?? Can't be nearly as fun as teaching people in 110 degrees here in beautiful dusty Texas, eh? hahah. Take pictures please :)

Last week was the cleansing week all in preparation for this week.

We have found several people who have been looking for something more AND our progressing investigators are moving a mile a minute. The guy i mentioned last week, who basically read the whole Book of Mormon in 2 weeks, is still a joy to work with. Sometimes I have to refrain from throwing too much on him. "This talk I just read! He needs to read it!!!!!" "Great ah-ha moment, we should tell him about it!!!!" "Think he would read Jesus the Christ if we gave it to him??" The gospel is true and the spirit drives us to share it with others... within reason. Trying not to smother the poor guy. We did watch Elder Holland's "Safety for the Soul" talk online with him. THAT was powerful. I am convinced Elder Holland shook the powers of Hell with that majestic address. Simple, bold and ever so determined. The spirit is key.

While knocking we met a devout catholic woman who majors in history. As we spoke with her about her beliefs, we discovered that she has never read the bible (she hasn't even OPENED IT to read a passage) nor ever plans to.

This was unreal. How can you claim to be devout if you refuse to read God's word? And she was a history major...

Not only is the Bible the most influential book known to the human race, but NATIONS are founded on this ancient script!!! Come on, if not for religious purposes, at least make it part of your curriculum in the name of your major! Baaaaaah! People have so much within their reach that they wont take advantage of. We tried to teach her the importance of scriptures. Sometimes it is hit and miss.

I was part of my first Bible bash the other day. My thoughts? Counterproductive and wrong. Nick was a nice guy, majoring in Music, who we found while knocking and invited us to come back the next day. Luckily we didn't go on splits and brought the great wise sister tall with us. He asked us to sit down and offered us drinks, which we kindly refused. It looked as if we has walked into a great teaching setting. FALSE. He pulled out the Book of Mormon we gave him and proceeded to tell us why Joseph smith was this and that, and all the fallacies in the Book of Mormon that he came across while reading it. It was obvious that he didn't read it, he just looked up the references he came across on an anti site. Growl. He even went to the extent to create a false history major degree and frame it. It was obviously printed and we all laugh about it now. It wasn't 15 minutes before sister tall interrupted and told him kindly that we would not teach someone who insists on attacking rather than asking and we left. He kept talking and telling us to come back and watch some video of his until the moment i closed the door behind us. It was flustering.

I love this work. I really do.

One of our new investigators asked us if he could have his own Book of Mormon during the first lesson and is excited to come to church with us this Sunday. He has been studying to become a youth minister and knows the bible really well. Those lessons are the BEST, because everything we believe is in the bible also.

I have never loved the good book as much as I do now. Its awesome to see how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together so well.

out of time!!!

love you all. I look forward to the mailed letters :)

Sister rachel

Quotes of the week:

"This here state is fixin' to burn up right quick!!"

"I would never smoke. I can't stand things around met hat smell... Heck, I can't even paint my own toenails!!"

Boys and girls, Scouts and scouters.....

Family mail... famil e-mail. Famile-mail?

Okay. so.... i left myself 10 minutes to write this email after writing personal emails. hahaha. So its gonna be SHORT and SWEET!!

This has been the week of cleansing, which is a positive way to say that we have had to drop some investigators and... we have been dropped by a few also. The few that we are really progressing continue to, but those who are on the fence quickly dissipate. High turn over in student communities.

We stopped in on our favorite investigator to see how his reading has been going.

The previous week we challenged him to start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon. When we asked how far he had read he said, "I'm almost done with Ether..." WHAAAT??? I sang the song... "first and second books of nephi, Jacob Enos Jarom omni..... ALL of those??" Yupp. I wasn't sure if I should be astounded or set that as the new expectation. It just didn't seem fit to say "Great. Thats what we expected..." because it was miles farther. So exciting.

I learned yesterday what a "do-rag" is. And got severely made fun of for it. So what if I grew up as a majority???? SO much to learn.....

Sister Wilson is awesome.

She is SO powerful in her teaching. She has a thick laugh that keeps the rest of us happy. Its not very common to have a missionary be able to teach that boldly when they are greenie. Its been really fun. We do splits sometimes and let sister tall take a member so she and I can knock doors together.

We have been growing avocado pits. Well, we think they are growing. Apparently it takes a while? Their names are Mrs. Renfro and Verde, named after the salsa jars in which they currently reside. Endearing, really. Mr. Butterworths, our pinapple, got tossed this morning. Instead of sprouting it molded. Nast. Super nast.

Being in a trio is cool, but it has its challenges. It really forces you to choose your words wisely because you don't get a whole lot of time to talk. hahah. I am learning to testify simply and powerfully; and sometimes just keep my mouth shut.

We got to make the sacrament bread a few weeks ago! Its a cool way to serve.

There is a new trend here in Texas that is...... interesting.

Please tell me it isn't flooding Utah also. Hair feathers? Like, goin' to a salon to get an actually shower-washable, 6 weeks lasting FEATHER weaved into your hair? Don't partake. Puleeeze.

anways, i love you all. I have more stories. We have become really good Friends with an antique store owner and bake for her often. Warren Jeffs is going to stand trial in our fair city, San Ang! Something happened to the waterlines so we cant even brush our teeth in city water. Spend Saturday night in the E.R. unexpectedly; its a good story and i have scars to prove it. How are those cliffhangers???

until next week!

rachel

Walked way from transfers with a treat and a little Sister.

Olah kids.

I didn't really keep a running list of what to write about this week... so it may be shorter and less entertaining than the norm.

Last Thursday we had a zone conference in Abilene.

Prior to traveling there, we were notified that we would be trading our clean low mileage sister car for a dirty high mileage elder car. Gross. Don't get me wrong, Elders are great and not all created equal, but nevertheless they are still young men with better things to do than keep their vehicle clean. When we told our district elders the arrangement, they all started laughing and proceeded to tell us how bad our future car smelled. Needless to say, Sister T and I almost wrote our own Riot Act. There is a gas card assigned to each mission car. Instead of putting it in its proper place, we decided to hide it and make a scavenger hunt for the Elders we traded cars with. It was pretty much an innocent knee jerk reaction to bad news that we found more humorous than guilt provoking. Each place they looked, there was a clue for them to check a different location in the car. When all was said and done, it lead them back to where the card was kept but taped near it. We threw in a coupon from Albertans as a consolation prize.

The car didn't smell that bad. Keeping the windows cracked kept us from being asphyxiated by the "Brand new car" scent they used to cover up..... whatever it smelled like.

Before we left, Sister Tall and I tried to get "transfer doctrine" our of the zone leaders. They refused, until one of them had a classic 20-year-old-elder idea; if one of us ate a cricket, he would tell us if either of us were being transfered and where to.

My comp is a vegetarian. I guess that includes bugs? My curiosity trumped my sense of ethics and propriety, and I ate the cricket. It was dead, thank goodness. But had to chew it; it didn't taste like much. I wouldn't recommend it. And the news? Sister T and I are still in San Ang! Relieving. I am not ready to leave this place yet!

They gypped us and left out part of transfer doctrine, which justified our gas card scavenger hunt. Saturday night we got a call from President Augustin (who we met and is really great, BTW) and this transfer we got another SISTER!!!!! That's right folks, we are a tri-panionship (i really hate that phrase. It sounds treky). Her name is Sister Wilson and she is from Escondido, Cali! Where Christian served!!!!!!! She said he looked familiar when i showed her his picture. Funny, eh? She is awesome. Super athletic and personable. Right from the bat she started talking with us and comes across as a go getter. I am really excited for the change. Tonight we are going on splits. Sister T and Wilson will go teach someone and I will go teach with one of the pre-missionaries from the branch. Kinda scary! But i am excited to learn from it. It's all about getting out of the comfort zone.

Our lessons have been going really well with our progressing investigators. It's so fun to see how the gospel is already blessing the lives of those that are living it as an experiment.

Lately I have loved teaching the Word of Wisdom.

Initially, it was the one that scared me the most.

"What if they ask about caffeine??"

"Will they really give up partying??" But I have such a testimony of it that its easy to teach. Interestingly enough, everyone that we have taught it to already kinda knows that these substances are bad for the bod, so the WofW is not a complete shock to them. As soon as they kick the habits, they will be able to feel the spirit even stronger when we teach. Your body is a temple. Keep it healthy and clean or the spirit can't reside there. Dey ya go.

We have been tons knocking doors lately and yesterday I had an ah-ha moment. Often, we meet people who really don't like us from the start. Before we even talk, they say "No thank you, I have a religion." Sister Tall is the QUEEEN of this situation. Naturally I want to give them a card and keep going. But no, she replies with "Thanks so great!!! How has your faith in Jesus Christ helped you in your life already?" and then she testifies of Him.

Even the hardest hearts can be softened by the gospel. We had this same experience yesterday. Sharon was not interested and really didn't want to talk to us PERIOD. But after 5 minutes, a forced conversation became a sincere discussion about Christ.

Her whole disposition changed from a rough, course woman to a sweet woman who adored Jesus Christ. People aren't comfortable with us as missionaries until they see that we know Him.

The work is awesome. that's all for today. :)

heart you mucho

SISTER ORR

Quotes of the week: "Me, Christian?? No way, girl. I am CATHOLIC! What's ya'lls believe of UFOs?"

"Today I have seen a cat eat a bird and a bird eat a squirrel. We live in such a terrestrial world." - Sister T.

"I know dat Joseph Smith seen what he said he seen he saw!"

"...is that a tan line... or a dirt line?"

This week has been really good!!!

I don't even know where to start. I don't remember if i told ya'll if today was P-day or not. We have a zone mtg in Abeline tomorrow alll day lonnng so they moved our p-day to today.

Our investigator turnover is really high here. We have come to the conclusion it is because we work with students. Flakey students.

They love to set up appointments and forget to be home when we show up. hmmm..... BUT! We have a few people that are REALLY progressing. It makes the work so much more exciting when we have people to teach who are keeping commitments and actually WANT to know.

I told you about that guy that always has long lists of questions when we meet with him. We will give him a chapter or two to read and then by the time we return, he has read more than expected. Last week he read the assigned 2 Nephi 7 ANND the book of Moroni. And studied some of the Doctrine and Covenants online. And Doctrines of Salvation. Whoa nelly. It's amazing how much time he spends studying. We used to answer all of his questions in our lessons, but lately we have tried answering them with an assignment. Between reading that and praying, he figures out his the answers on his OWN! it's amazing. His faith in Jesus Christ was already so firm which has helped us teach. Ultimately, we don't want those we teach to have a testimony in US but rather in the Lord. They can only figure that out through "ponder, ask, receive" revelation; not "ask missionaries, get answer" revelation. :) The other day Sister T wrote up a study guide for him on a topic he was curious about. After she made an apologetic comment about her handwriting, he looked at it and mumbled "I feel like Joseph Smith trying to translate...." It was. SO. FUNNY. Not what we would have expected from him. It's been fun to teach him.

Our 4th of July was good! Sister Tall and I started out the day with a 6:30 a.m. bake off. hahaha. We make tons of cookies and cupcakes to bring to various people and activities for the day. Needless to say, half way through the day we were dragging due to our balanced frosting and cookie dough breakfast. Sugar buzz. Bad idea. We volunteered at the stake pancake breakfast, visited and taught people all morning; went to a branch activity in the afternoon and taught until 6:30. Missionaries have an early curfew on holidays, so we played games with the elders until 8:30. Fed them the desserts we made. They were pretty happy about it. I could hear fireworks from my bed! And we even sang a few patriotic hymns.... I wore a red shirt. so....... not exciting, but different from the normal missionary routine.

Yesterday I had a "this is why i am a missionary" moment that was altering. We went to track down a former investigator but she wasn't home. On our way back to our car, i saw a lady smoking on her doorstep in the same apartment complex. I hate the smell of smoke so I breathed shallow and kept walking. As I was fixed on the idea of getting to our car I had the thought "Turn around. You need to talk to her." come to my head TWICE. yeah.... twice. I hesitated. First of all, i could feel her watching us and i knew i would look like an idiot stopping in my tracks and making a 180* to talk to her. Buuuut, alas. I am a missionary. Who should have NO SHAME! So I turned around and walked up to her, shook her hand and introduced myself as Sister Orr. I didn't even get as far as telling her we were missionaries when SHE started asking questions about the weather, the neighbors, where we were from and before I knew it, we were in a deep conversation about her past drug addictions, custody battles, deaths in the family and everything she had struggled with.

She told us about how in jail she had nothing better to do than read the Bible. "I had no excuse! I had to read it." The transformation she had through reading the word of God was ....amazing. "I started to change. And other inmates started coming to ME for answers and when I talked to them i could feel truth coming out of me." "My cravings and desires started to melt away. I even stopped cussin'!!!!" We were able to tell her a little bit about the spirit and how the study of doctrine changes behavior better than the study of behavior changes behavior. (i think it was Elder Scott that said that in conference once?) The spirit she had while telling us about how she found Jesus was magnetic. We could have talked to her for hours; we talked and talked and talked about.... everything. Because of the word, she has her kids back, has a job and her own apartment. That crazy chapter of her life is CLOSED.

We asked her if she has ever heard of the Book of Mormon.

Apparently sister missionaries years ago tried to teach her about it but she was rude and told them off. "Afterwards, I said to myself, THAT was the devil in you! And i have felt horrible ever since!!" Naturally, we handed her one and gave her a challenge to read it everyday. I told her she already KNOWS what it feels like to read God's words and to put this book to the test. She was EXCITED!! I never would have thought. "You girls are great. This is EXACTLY what I needed today." That feeling I had while walking away KNOWING it was the spirit that had prompted me to turn around was enthralling. I could barely stay in my own skin, i was so happy.

There is so much I miss about home. I miss family events, dating, music, sleeping in, my passat, hilarious roommates, jeans, dancing and everything else. But that FEELING makes up for ALL the sacrifices. Its pure joy that i had never felt on that level before. It pales in comparison to any other satisfaction.

Its still hotter than hot here. The buzzards are out more than the norm. Sometimes on the front lawns in neighborhoods. I wish i had something funny to write. But I don't. heh. Transfers are next week. I don't think they will move either of us but am still nervous just the same. I am not ready to be pried from my trainer-mom!!! BAH! We'll see how it goes. p-day will be back on Thursday.

gotta bolt.

keep on keepin' on!

Sister Orr

Hello Again!

Hello again. This is Sister Orr reporting from the hottest place on earth....

This week has been... humbling. I feel like I have dropped the ball a lot. But I'm learning from it! So i guess it's not all in vain.

We have a plethora of summer sales guys in our branch temporarily. A bunch are from home, going to BYU. It was cool to talk UTAH.

I was talking to the wife of one and accidentally introduced myself as Rachel instead of Sister Orr. It was actually.... really embarrassing. Not because it's a secret or anything, but because when I did all of the security guys started laughing and calling me Rachel really loud in the lobby at church. It ticks me off when they get so humorous that they forget that we are missionaries. BLAH! They ought to know better, most of them served missions.

The downside to working with younger branches is that they do get too friendly sometimes and forget our purpose. There's a fine line, I guess. Though the benefits do make up for that silly stuff. We have 9 members of our branch that are preparing to serve missions!! Its been really fun to rotate and take them all teaching with us. First of all, they are really good fellowship for investigators and also we can give them assignments. hahaha. And they DO THEM! One sister we use frequently is getting ready to send in her papers pretty soon here. She comes with us all the time and always has great insights. I feel bad sometimes that we take so much of her time, but remind myself that she will probably be blessed with the same when she serves.

There are no secrets or shame in Texas. Sister T and I will often find ourselves parked in front of homes trying to plan or figure out where we are. I guess it's normal for people here to walk out, seconds after we have parked, and knock on our windows wanting to know what we want. hahahahaha. It's..... odd. Last week it was almost daily that that happened. Like I said in other letters, people seem to be comfortable talking about religion here. Even to two strangers knocking on their door. It's been interesting. We'll ask about their background and regularly ask what role prayer has played in their lives. People pray here and I love hearing all about it.

When we ask what kind of stuff they include in their prayers, a common reply is that they "just thank God for letting me wake up to another day" or "thank the Lord for granting me another breath." Their replies direct my thoughts to the small things. We are told not to sweat the small things, but how often do we thank God for them? Gratitude is amazing. Sister T and I have gratitude journals that we write a few things in every morning. Mine is full of things like "moccasins to wear in the a.m., bug spray, a dishwasher, investigators who already love Jesus, avocados, hidden treats in our car, vegan cake mixes...." Elder Eyring once gave a speech about recognizing the hand of the Lord in your life daily and mentioned that HE had a gratitude journal. Try it out!!!! It's one of those small things that can, over time, change your thoughts and very nature.

We have been meeting with some realllllly cool people lately. One guy even has lists of questions for us before we get there!! Those visits are by far my favorite. I don't answer a whole lot of them, but Sister Tall is on top of it. She knows. so. much. its INSANITY!!!!! But it gives me more direction in what to study in the morning. Yesterday, we were talking about original sin with him. (the idea that because of Adam, we are all born into sin.) I have always believed the opposite, but have never been too eloquent in explaining it. Simple testimony of it. We were having a hard time teaching it, when a thought came to my mind that I had never heard nor considered before: If all man is born into sin, then the very Son of God, who was born of a mortal mother, would have been born into sin because Christ's mother was human. We know that Jesus was perfect from the get-go, so that must not be so. I threw in that thought, just not as verbose. I don't know if it meant anything, helped, or changed his perspective, but I KNOW that that thought was not mine. It was faith building. I cannot imagine sharing the gospel without the spirit to guide our words. We are excited to go teach him again. He's so.... curious. And not threatening. It's awesome.

Take 4th of July pictures!!!! Its my favorite holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will miss you all on the day. We will be doing something for Canada day, though. Oh the life of a half-breed....

almost out of time!

I melted my curling iron cord the other day with... itself. Hahahah. Its alright, though. Takes too much time in the morning anyways.

We have geckos that crawl up our windows at night!

Dad!! I saw you the other day. But you painted your car and grew a mustache.

Quote of the week, "SISTER ORR!!! With your gold tooth collection and my barbie collection, we could sell out and GO TO MEXICO!!!!!"

peace out girl scouts

Sister Rachel

Olah Fam

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

I belong to the church of Jesus Christo of latter day Santos...!!

This week has been a good one.

Sista T and I are still rocking Snang (snan-j. like San Ange but less syllables). According to the Walgreen's sign, yesterday was 114 degrees outside. It felt pretty close to that. Living in an oven.

We have been knocking a lot of doors and I am still trying to learn everything at an accelerated pace. Sister Tall has given me more weight to pull in teaching, and as of yesterday she is training me to teach by doing all of the talking at our door approaches. It's hard, but it helps me learn faster to be thrown in the fire. She is a rad teacher, so naturally it's a completely different experience when I am solo. I pretty much bomb it. Not always, but enough. ahahhahaha. The best thing i can compare it to is learning how to swim. When things start to go south she thinks to herself "I'll let her swallow a little bit more water... then jump in." Luckily she does before things get too confusing. Poor investigators. Once again, i feel like the salvation of others is being sacrificed at the expense of my learning experiences. But all in all, its comforting to know that even if I bomb it, the spirit can still testify. Faith?

We've had some cool door conversations and first appointments, but lately its been hard to get a second appointment. They'll be set up but we'll get no-showed or they will cancel. Not sure why. We need to trouble shoot and figure out what we can work on better. Followups? perhaps? We are still finding investigators (gators, we call 'em) regularly.

I am finally fluent in the language!!!!! Heh. People here love to say "I'm fixin' to...." It cracks me up. Perfectly normal for Texas. I may need help when I get home learning how to speak again.

We don't feel so lost in the city anymore. Getting a grip on where things are. I look forward to the day when my mission feels like LIFE rather than a lonnnng trip to Texas. Time will flow better when my mind is always on the mission. I do love it here, but we are definitely foreigners.

Last week, sister tall and i were knocking when we met a guy Stan. We talked a little bit, then i asked him what role religion played in his life. He shut me down faaast. For the first time, i was told that it was none of my beeswax. Which i totally understand, but it was different. Texans love to talk about God and religion! Then we found out he wasn't from Texas. Crazy. Never be afraid to talk about God, k? Within reason, naturally. It shouldn't be something you keep to yourself.

Saw lots of new critters this week!! Saw my first possum, a cardinal, and some HUGE vultures (eating squirrels at the end of our street. Sister Tall couldn't quite focus on them and thought they were chickens. hahaha.) And I am up to catching 5 flies with my hands. I always wash them afterwards, no worries.

Dad, they have delivery steak here. No joke. Like the pizza man in his pizza car, but STEAK. I forget what its called but it's catchy. I laughed and thought of you. Are you all going to have a BBQ for fathers day?? I am craving madre's potato salad with dad's grilled chicken. (love the ribs too, but chicken is the fave. kind of a purist.) Take pictures for me if you do? How is miss Jenni and my soon-to-be niece? Did Brandon and J get to see that picture i mailed? of the balloons?

We had dinner last night with the Spanish speaking elders in a Hispanic family's home. It was really cool. They spoke English about half the time, but we could kind of pick out words when they spoke. I am bound and determined to pick this language up. I am still working on reading the SP BofM. Whats really cool is they have 6 kids. One of them, Dillon, is adopted and is white as the rest of us. But he speaks fluent English, Spanish AND french. (french from school) Smart kid. They made real Mexican fajitas that were to die for. Their salsa and pico were amazing. When Sister T and i sing hymns in the morning, we will replace words here and there with spanish words. Wakes things up a little.

Three days a week we go play volleyball at the church at 6 am with the Elders. We are reallly bad.... and the elders are really good. But we bring treats and they let us serve multiple times, so its a good trade. We have really good elders in our area.

So a dog peed on Sister Tall's foot the other week. Apparently it happens often. She compared herself to a walking fire hydrant? hahaha. Sister Doxy (sp?) of the General RS board told us in the MTC that when you have the light of Christ with you you not only attract people but sometimes animals too. needless to say, Sister T fits the description. :)

Some of you have been wanting to know more about my comp. She's a 5'0'' blondie from Sacramento, vegetarian, loves water sports and is super smart. She and i get along really well. She's super social and loves to teach. Lots of energy.... like a cricket. or Tinkerbell, if you will. heh. There is nothing boring about her, and is excited for the work allll the tiiiiime. I pray everyday that God will continue to bless her with patience for me and my flukes. its working so far. Some days i feel so.... green. But I'm lucky to have a trainer that's aware of that. :)

I got the letters from the ward!!! It was so fun to hear from so many people. I loved it :)

Anyways, i love you guys. sorry the letter is so short and .... stuff.

Quote of the week, "I don't care if we are Mormon or not, we are getting SEALED!!!"

Sister Orr

p.s. no joke. saw a squirrel the size of a cat. it was insanity.