Amberly's Mission

Semana 15- Una Boda Sin Mi (A Wedding Without Me)

This has honestly been such a busy week so please forgive me if it makes no sense and if the timeline in nonlinear. Basically I'll start with the events on Tuesday.

We were able to meet a bunch of new people and we did a mock baptismal interview with one of our friends. Her name is Brianna and she has a twin named Anna. Brianna is getting baptized on the 20th is bilingual, has a 1 and a half year old, and came to church yesterday. She also watched all of general conference, as in all 10 hours of it, and has such a strong testimony that Sister Martinez and I think that she is teaching us more than missionaries ever could. Her twin though is super pregnant and due on Tuesday so we just hope there isn't anything to postpone the baptism but they both came to church. We stopped by one of the Grey dots (person who has talked to missionaries in the past) and while he was not down this gentleman told us to go pray for one of his buddies. He followed after us to make sure we went and prayed for this guy. When we knocked this man shouted and said, "YO, these ladies are gunna pray for you, they're good!" The guy we prayed for is recovering from 3 gun shots because there was a drive by and he stepped in front of his sister and was shot. So, just typically Alice, TX stuff, and he was so interested in learning more. We were bible bashed by a guy who told us "mormon theology doesn't coexist with my bible". So, we thanked him for the verses he wanted us to read and headed on our ways.

On Wednesday we had a surprise in person conferencia de zona at the mission home in McAllen. Combined with 2 of the other zones. So we had 4 hours of driving and some really good discussions by presidente larreal and role plays. After wards we ate bomb Mexican style hamurguesas and played volleyball and baseball. This took up basically our entire day so we had 2 dias de preparacion this week. Which worried us about our work but everything has been fantastic. Presidente talked about giving it your all and going again and again no matter how many times you fail. We also day the prophets newest talk again and that was amazing!!

We talked to a sketchy old lady, Enrietta who really freaked out my comp. We met her and cheerfully skipped inside. When we went inside she locked the door with a deadbolt and then proceeded to use the second lock, kept us in the dark, and was swinging her cane around. She did feed us spicy guacamole with mayonnaise in it which I guess made up the difference. Martinez was ready to leave and kept kicking my foot to try to help us get out of there but the lady would not stop talking. Thankfully we survived it. We were also fed dinner by these lovely members who have a huge house and live by the Corpus lake. We drove on through the countryside to the richest part of south Texas I have ever seen. We were supposed to be fed by other members but the mom was bit by a tick and her foot had swollen up 3x too big and she couldn't move, but, she called us some other members and planned us dinner and everything. They are an older couple called the Ahrens and he was a firefighter and she was a policewoman. Both are super cool and had a lot of amazing things to share. They also have 8 vehicles and 2 boats and they gave us sooooo many snacks to take back that we just filled up our little baggies and drove on back to Alice. The stars were absolutely gorgeous and it's so cool to be somewhere with zero light pollution. We also gave them cookies at church to just day thank you and Brother Ahrens said they were so good he was going to give us a 5 on yelp 😎

Friday was less exciting we just talked to billions of people and got a couple names and people to teach. The greenie elder also broke his bike so we gave him the Sister Mendez purple princess bike that we have been borrowing because Martinez's bike is broken. He was NOT happy. Beggahs can't be choosahs.

Saturday we cleaned cars because the branch was doing a community auto service. So if you want a pro window cleaner just call up us sisters. Greenie burnt his fingers and the mini DL elder Hobbs almost got mauled by a dog and had to jump 2 fences. The LeBlanc family also fed all us missionaries dinner at Chick-fil-A and told us cool stories about the world travels and marathon runs. This is also one of the most special days ever... MY BROTHER GOT MARRIED ON THE 13TH!!! THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT IM SERVING A MISSION IN TEXAS, so I couldn't be there in person. They did have the while fam and extended family pull up. And I have a wonderful sister-in-law Kirsten who was sealed to mi hermano Isaac in the templo in Utah. Ans my family had a five foot cardboard of me so that way I could be there vicariously. I feel loved, but I have never felt so short in my life. I also worry a dress in their wedding colors and I hope they are having the bestest time right now. I love my family so much and I know that families are forever and that with the sealing power we can see each other again in heaven. Please know I'm having a great time and that while I'm sad I missed a wedding I'm not sad being here.

Sunday is fast Sunday. We have some powerful talks given and like half of them are in Spanish. One of the coolest things is that the people who are bilingual won't use the translators that we have because they say it in Spanish and then again in English. 2 of our friends came to church and one brought her twin. The Boucher ranch family feeds us lasagna and the typical dessert activity they have with the new missionaries in the area where they have to tell a missionary story and then it'd judged and if it is an average higher then 7 they get dessert. You might remember that I had to do this on my first Sunday in the field and I passed. It was funny seeing these missionaries try to come up with something while their ice cream slowly melts and melts and melts. And there was 3 missionaries to go because we had been whitewashed. The LeBlancs also dropped off Gumbo because they were born in Lousiana and because they are the bestest, so we had two dinners yesterday. (Don't worry we didn't eat the gumbo it's for today) We also baked cookies Saturday evening and dropped it off to our friends and members just to show love.

Escritura!! Mosiah 2:5-6

"And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another. And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words."

¡¡Fotos!!

- the mission gave each companionship glasses, featuring the aviators

- comps

- my parents at the wedding and me vicariously

- all the kids together... jajajaja 🤣, Taylor, me, isaac, Luke, and Sophie

- Compañeras

- the wedding with the groomsmen and bridesmaids

- out knocking

- MY BROTHER Isaac and HIS WIFE Kirsten

- when you see the size of Texan spiders

- mi padre and younger brother Taylor

- companions