We were so blessed this week. We had zone conference this week and President Hall made some changes in the way he wants us to record the work. No more numbers for a standard of excellence! I am a happy camper. Numbers have always driven me nuts because they don't really reflect the work we are doing. Instead he took our 5 step "Full purpose missionary" and expanded it into goals we can set and work towards. It is really great. It was something I personally needed to change my perspective and set bigger goals as I start my last few months here in Texas. I met with him one on one later and he helped me with the ominous college questions. It was super helpful and he gave me permission to do a bit more digging online than we are normally allowed to so I was grateful to him for that. I seriously love that man.
And Sister Hall came out teaching with us this week! We were sitting in our car waiting for her to come. As we were doing so we watched a storm roll in. I knew as soon as we got out of the car that it would come down on us. And sure enough it did. We got 5 feet and we saw the rain bands racing towards us so we ran. Within 30 seconds it was a full on storm...hurricane force winds and all. Luckily Nene was home...she just didn't have power. So we read in the dark with a flashlight. The storm raged on until we had to go. Power was out and there were down trees and branches everywhere. It took us 30 mins to get to our next appointment down the road. It was awesome. I am going to miss these random Texas storms.
On Wednesday we went on a Zone Blitz..which means all the missionaries in the zone go to one area and talk to everyone we can see. It was the hottest day of the week but we did some good work. We met this young man, D. He is about our age and we talked to him a bit about his background. He has not really been religious in his life but he is interested in learning more. Booyah. The elders have already taught him the first 2 lessons and he is really prepared from what they have said!
Also on Wednesday I got a surprise phone call from the last person I expected. HANNAH MARTIN...now Martinez. Turns out she has been in Houston all summer for an internship and her dad reminded her that I was here to. She has an Aunt that lives in Mission Bend ward and was there a few weeks ago. We share a building with that ward! So it wasn't hard for her to find my info. We met up for a bit and she came to the Alief ward last Sunday. It was so weird to see her! But it was also super cool!
We had a miracle referral this week. We decided to drop by the mission office and pick up some supplies and while doing so Sister G asked us to drop a letter and DVD up at the front for someone to mail. I saw the address and said that it was in our area and we could just deliver it.
We stopped by the house but we had no luck contacting for days. So we left our number and she called us the next day. We got to meet her yesterday and she is totally ready to hear the gospel. To think that her request would have just been mailed off and we never would have gotten to meet her if we hadn't stopped in at the office exactly when we did.
Oh! and when we got into her home I saw her dog and it looked so familiar. So I asked where she got it and she told me she rescued it from the next neighborhood over.
I freaked out (in my head) because it was the dog I saw walking one day and I remember that I actually said a quick prayer in my heart for that dog because it was all skinny and ratty and probably dying in the heat. God is so GOOD!
We were blessed with good contacts and good lessons! Overall a great week. And to top it off we got to go to the temple today as a District. I love being a missionary. Most of the time it is no glamorous thing and minute to minute it is not spectacular. But when you stand and look back you see the marvelous things that have unfolded over the day or week. Nothing that I have left behind would have ever resulted in these joys and successes. I am so blessed to have these experiences.
Have so much fun in Minnesota. Hopefully the humidity isn't as bad there and it is here. But we don't have like any mosquitoes this year which I am grateful for.
I love you so much!
Sister Greaves