Semana 16- Interviews y la Grand Ciudad

We had exchanges on Monday evening and it lasted two nights but the STLs and ZLs sprung it on us so we didn't know this was happening until two hours before p-day ended and they didn't tell us we would be staying there for two nights and would switch back Wednesday morning. Thus, i didnt bring all my stuff because i was the one going to Corpus. It was still super fun to go to the bourgeois land of Corpus and crash the zone leadership conference. There are also just SO many people in that city. There's even two malls! And instead of the 11,000 people in Alice there are like 230,000! I also got to try Raising Canes the restaurant place for the first time. Which was actually pretty good. We also talked to a couple of part member families in Corpus and had a fuego restoration lesson with one of the cousins. The one thing about going to Corpus is that it is super coastal and it felt like i was drinking water from the air. Martinez and I had also been planning on going to this tiny town called Premont with only two stop lights for the past week and I wasn't able to go because I went to Corpus but it was cool. I got to spend more time with Hna Mendez and there was a member from the Philippines who fed us dinner and we ate delicious rice and stir fry.
This week we put 5 new people on date for baptism and we had interviews with Presidente Larreal. Which is super inspiring and we have our first person yet on date for baptism who doesn't speak any English. Most of our friends are Bilingual or speak Tex-Mex and we can pretty easily talk to each other but this family knows no ingleis. . .  el don de lengua is real because somehow we are teaching them even though we are both newer and half stuttering over our Spanish. If you have been reading these emails you might know about our friend Brianna on date for baptism. Who was supposed to get baptized on Saturday. But, long story short her twin was in labor for 2 days so we couldn't have the baptismal interview until Wednesday and her husband didn't want her to get baptized because he doesn't understand it. He speaks solo Español and we needed the interview to happen so we had the Elders tag along with us because mini DL Elder Hobbs has been out for 22 months and did all the hard talking and explaining in Spanish to the husband Louis. And, she is getting baptized on the 24th. Because he wants to be there to watch and his work schedule is insane and their daughter Lea had an ear infection so pushing back the baptism was for the best. It just kinda was a fiasco and loooooottts of prayers. Mainly to soften his heart. But Brianna is so ready. She even found Come Follow Me a week ago on her own and has been studying the Book of Mormon through that.
Talked to this new guy who named Saul and the funny thing is he said he had been smoke free since 4/20 and Martinez and I didn't realize what date it was and thought this was a week or so back until we realized it was that Saturday and we definitely were cracking up about it. We also went to a sketchy dirt road in the middle of nowhere to find some friends and there were so many dogs!! We had to make a game plan and bribe these 10 dogs with the only thing on had, chocolate chip cookies. We also had to walk backwards and hit a couple of these dogs with our bags so we wouldn't be bit... I promise that there are no dog bites this week!!
We also had 4 member meals this week which is probably a record for the Alice mission area because just 3 months ago it was only ever really 1 until the Lewandowski Family was baptized and now it's been fairly consistent with 2. So, muchos gracias para la comida!! We also didn't have any of our friends come to church yesterday just because it was raining. (Well, a LOT) and people in Texas are cowards when it comes to cold weather and rain. So, only 20 people were there at church. We were able to go to Spanish Sunday School which was good but a little faster than I would like. 😅 I also got to play piano for primary which was super fun!! It's like a blast to the past with all of the music but i have been loving it.

Pensamiento Espirtual: Swallowed up in the Joy of Christ by Elder Brian Taylor this past conference talk.
"I believe that the challenge of overcoming and growing from adversity appealed to us when God presented His plan of redemption in the premortal world. We should approach that challenge now knowing that our Heavenly Father will sustain us. But it is crucial that we turn to Him. Without God, the dark experiences of suffering and adversity tend to despondency, despair, and even bitterness. To avoid the darkness of discontent and instead find greater peace, hope, and even joy during life’s difficult challenges."

Fotos!!!!
- just your regular catholic home
- out knocking
- comps
- cooking fried eggs
- el viento (the wind)
- comps
- me looking super smole 
- intercambios con Hna Mendez
- Compañeras spreading love
- writing down miles and price after fueling up












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