The weather has been amazing this last week. Each day as I ride to school with Jessie she comments, “It feels like Utah.” I would have to agree. We are enjoying a Utah fall minus the changing colors of the leaves. A cold front, as our local Houstonian friends call it, has brought temps into the low 40’s in the morning and mid 70’s during the day. We call it heaven and it will be with us for another week or so. When the locals come out with puffy coats in the morning we just smile.
This week for companionship studies, I met with the sisters serving H4 and the Friendswood wards. In one the emphasis was on how to begin teaching to assess the investigators needs to teach to their concerns and desires. The other study was similar in determining needs of less active members to help them to return to activity and receive blessings they have been missing in their lives. I enjoy seeing the a-ha moments of the sisters when they realize how a few simple questions can guide their efforts to be more effective with those they are helping increase their faith in Jesus Christ.
I also squeezed in getting my hair freshened up. Amazing what a hair appointment can do to brightened not only your hair but your spirits. Afterwards, I attended the district Council of the Chinese speaking and YSA elders. The council was on using the scriptures, testifying of the power of the Book of Mormon and inviting others to read it. I love the Book of Mormon and can get passionate about how it can bless our lives personally and those of our investigators. At the end of the meeting, the district leader commented that he loves when I come because I fire them up. I will take that as a compliment. ;)
We held our new missionary skills meeting on Thursday. We continue to mix these meetings up, but we always spend a good portion of our time helping the missionaries understand how to teach the Restoration in a powerful and simple way. As a mission, we have adopted the approach of trying to spend the first 15 minutes of our lesson getting to know the investigators better (how to begin teaching with questions to identify their needs), 15 minutes in the actual lesson, and 15 minutes focused on the invitations and follow up. We also stress how important it is for them set the environment at the beginning of their lessons so the Spirit can do the teaching. Aaron and I continue to learn how to do things more effectively, it’s a great reminder that we never stop learning. ;)
Our MLC was Friday and we continue to focus on accountability and teaching in our exchanges. Aaron has spent a lot of time as of late trying to help the missionaries focus on names vs. numbers and how to use the key indicators as a way to make plans to help their investigators progress. As a mission, we have set a goal to have the most baptisms in the history of the mission in a single month. The companionships have committed to a goal of 154 baptisms in the month of December, or what we’re calling MasQueNunca (more than ever). So we’re focused on increasing our faith, being exactly obedient, talking to everyone, and praying to be worthy of miracles. Aaron has invited the stakes to do a fast in November for the missionary work in our area and we will be fully engaged with the #LighttheWorld campaign. We are going to have as many baptisms as we can on Christmas Eve and we’re inviting our investigators to give themselves as a “Gift to the Lord”. The leadership is excited and we hope to see some great success before the end of the year.
Zac Made the decision this week to give up Basketball for golf. I will miss watching him play, unfortunately he never was able to capture the attention of the new coach and playing golf at the same time hasn’t helped. Although, I don’t think I have seen him happier during the school week after coming home from golfing. If he is happy, this mom is happy too.
Bode was asked to show the freshman team how to shoot jumpers as the coach really likes his form. No idea if he’ll play, but he’s happy. He doesn’t worry as much as Zac did about playing time. He definitely wants to play but his nature is to enjoy being part of a team while doing his best.
Jess is doing cheer practice, not sure who they’re cheering for, but it’s all good. She is excited to perform for the school at an assembly that keeps getting postponed. Cheer gives her an opportunity to make friends with more girls at school and be a part of a group. She is still loving dance. They got to learn a short routine for Halloween which she has loved showing us. She also reports she is getting much better at tennis. It was also Spirit Week at school with an Astros day, Pajama day, Crazy Hair and storybook character day.
Allie is enjoying living in Provo. She is meeting new people and making more friends. I love talking to her because I don’t realize how much she has grown and then she tells me about something with maturity I don’t expect. My eyes are opened to what she has learned from being on her own. It makes my mom heart happy.
We had a Halloween Party with our home ward Saturday night. I invited several of Jessie’s friends’ families and three were able to join us. We hope to see a desire in their families to learn more about the gospel. All is well in the great state of Texas especially since the Astros are in the World Series. It’s kind of a big deal around here. We have been blessed with amazing experiences by living and serving in Houston. Make it an amazing week!