Loving Brownsville

Dear Friends and Family,

Yeah, so this week, as many of you heard I got transferred to Brownsville!!! I am now with a Southern California sister missionary from my MTC group, We were already companions/best friends for three months of our missions and now we get to be together again.  Hopefully we can finish out our missions together! Also, another piece of good news is that I am in a Spanish area now.  This time, I hardly ever speak English during the day!! How crazy!  I can probably count the number of times I have spoken English to someone on my fingers.  It is awesome!!  It has been a little rough to get back into the groove of Spanish again, but I am glad that I am learning so much Spanish again.  I get to start off in a Spanish area and now end up in a Spanish area.  Also, it is a very humble branch.  My favorite member so far is a recent convert of a few months.  There is a picture of her and her daughter actually at her house for dinner with the other sisters we live with. 

Also, I get to live with Sister Villalobos again! I did my 2nd transfer (her 1st transfer) and we are pretty good friends.  I am sure you are probably wondering, "How did you get soo lucky?" And don't worry, I am wondering the exact same thing.  I think being with Sister Stanfill has helped me to work even harder because we worked REALLY hard when we were put together back in July and August and we know the potential of each other so it motivates us.

My last night in Edinburg with the Harding's (my favorite member family there).

My welcome to Brownsville room.  I'm not as spoiled here as I was in Edinburg.  I have to share a shower with the other 3 sisters and we have to go to a laundromat, but that's okay with me.

Our zone went out to lunch at Wendy's, but Sister Stanfill and I brought healthy food instead.

Part of that investigator family.  We told her the day before that we wanted a picture of her and her family and then she did her hair and make-up for it.  We aren't sure why the family of 7 didn't show up to church on Sunday though. However, we taught the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity this week, and even though Laura likes coffee, she is willing to trade it for herbal tea!

 A Pho Chinese restaurant we just ate at. There are such good food places here in Brownsville.

 An investigator of ours who just moved up here for work from Guatemala.  He gave Sister Stanfill and I that "bouquet" of flowers made out of beer cans.

 Paula and Pamela (the recent converts) at their house for dinner.

We bought two dozen doughnuts because we had a coupon for buy one get one free.  One dozen we gave to an investigator family of ours and we gave 6 to a really cool member family from Utah, but they know Spanish.

Last week in Edinburg

Favorite girls in the ward. They call me Sister Friendly.

Well, I found out last week that I will be leaving Edinburg after being here for six months.  I am going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff that I have accumulated here.  I haven't even started to pack haha.  I am excited to go to a new area, but at the same time, will be sad to leave one of my favorite companions.  I will keep you updated next week what my new area is.  

Also, today, for p-day, I got to play tennis.  I was at first just playing with my companion and roommates, but then this dad and son came.  He was actually pretty good, so I got to hit the ball around with him.  

As far as the work goes, it has been a little hard because we haven't been able to find a lot of solid people.  We thought we did find someone cool named Martha, but she said that she was sick of us calling her all the time...whoops.  The husband of a member came to church, though, so that was exciting!

Love you all!!

(Jan. 31)

I took a lot of pictures this week, so I will just summarize my pictures for my email today.

 Beautiful sunset.  We parked in the bike lane with the flashers on and a really sweet guy asked if we needed any help.

 Sister Adams and I found a stray dog on our exchange and then he just followed us everywhere.

Held a chicken at the Harding's (the family with the girls Lexi and Chelsey)

Sister Castro taught me how to LONGBOARD!! Sooo fun!! We went to a really pretty park for P-day last week and biked/longboarded.

Also, this week, we saw a broadcast for all the missionaries and we got some pretty exciting news. There are a lot less goals that we need to keep track of so we can just focus on the people instead of the numbers. It's awesome! Also, they gave us some more freedom as far as what times to eat lunch and study and stuff like that.  I am really excited for these new changes.  

Also, I got to teach seminary again! So fun!

Enjoying missionary work

Dear Friends and Family,

This week, we had two investigators at church! One is a guy that keeps coming but doesn't want to get baptized, but I still translate for him.  The other is Bridgette.  We have been working with her for a couple weeks, but this week, a member came with us to the lesson, and it was great because Bridgette was like who is going to give me a ride? Then, the member was like, "I will!" Bridgette is awesome! Hopefully she will get baptized.  

Also, speaking of baptism, a 16 year old got baptized in the ward.  He is the elder's investigator.  It was so cool though because most of the young men were there and they gave the talks.  The parents also showed some more interest as they felt the spirit at the baptism.

As far as my companionship goes. we are honestly great friends.  Sometimes we annoy each other like sisters now that we have been together so long. Her favorite thing to do is a John Scena or something where she throws me on the bed hahahha.

Also, we got to celebrate Sister Adam's birthday on Saturday at Chili's...I asked the server for some free chips and salsa as a result. At first, she didn't like the idea, but then changed her mind. 

On Saturday, it worked out perfectly that we had to take our car in to Firestone at our 11 o'clock appointment because we were able to get out of role plays where we practice teaching...Sometimes I'm not a big fan haha.

Also, a miracle happened right before coming to the library where this Spanish speaking lady asked us for a Book of Mormon and said her nephew served a mission.  Hopefully the elders can have success.

Love you!

-

favorite part of pday is to have the house spotless

I'm going to be popular on the mission

So the reason I put that heading is because this week, I got to work in the office on an exchange.  The sisters that work there just help all the senior missionaries out. 

Anyway, Sister Luque (the sister I was with) was working on a powerpoint to help the senior Elder that figures out bike safety.  Anyway, he wanted to find pictures of missionaries being disobedient on their bikes for examples on what not to do.  Since he couldn't find any pictures of disobedient sister missionaries, I said that we could take pictures during our lunch hour. 

I thought that the PowerPoint would just be at the mission leadership meeting that we have every week, but turns out that this powerpoint is going to be shown to everyone on the mission during zone conference.  Whoops haha.  Oh well, I already know a majority of the missionaries anyway. I had fun taking them too.

On Monday, Sister Castro and I spent out P-day making really yummy Dominican food.  We made tilapia, fried plantains, and okra.  SO SO good.  

Also, that other picture of food was at Sister Jorgenson's house.  She is an awesome member that made us all that food.  She asked us what we wanted and I just said I wanted a healthy meal.  It was definitely healthy, but so so delicious.  Best meal I have had on the mission yet.

Sorry, I feel like I am talking about food a lot, but food has a lot of good memories attached.  This week, also, our roomates and I went out to dinner at a place called wing stop.  We had a lot of fun just talking.  I have made so many good friends here, and it is awesome that they are all really good examples.  

One thing that I started studying about this week is about the previous prophets.  I was reading a book about President Howard W. Hunter. It was amazing to me how his dad wasn't strong in the church and wouldn't let him get baptized until he was 13.

 

 

Love you all! Have a great week.

Group Letter

Well this week, we had our monthly MLC again (the leadership meeting) and I loved a scripture that my mission president told us.  It's in Doctrine and Covenants 6:29-31 and it basically says that as we are rejected we are blessed.  

Also, it was extremely cold this weekend.  Even amidst the cold, we took a member out with us. She felt so bad for us, that she brought us inside for hot chocolate.  That was such a blessing. 

As far as the rest of the week, I feel like there is not a lot to say, but I got to translate for one of our investigators that comes to Texas every weekend, but he is from Mexico.  I was surprised that I could get the point across in the lesson.  You would think my native companion would translate, but she didn't want to and she doesn't feel like she is very good.

Happy New Year

Best thing ever happened yesterday!! 

We got to watch The Secret Life of Pets.  I was literally laughing the whole time.  Maybe it's because I haven't really seen any movies in about 14 months, but it was a real treat.  

As far as the work, this week, my companion, Sister Castro, was pretty sick, so we didn't get to work a whole lot, but we are trying to find those prepared people.  It's weird to be in a place for 5 months on the mission, but I like that I can actually help the people that I meet because I know them more on a personal level.

Unfortunately, Mary and her family didn't come to church this Sunday.  They are having a hard time acting.  We had some pretty good lessons with her this week too! She even said that she knows that this new year could be a fresh start, but she didn't come. We are going to try by next week and give her some time though.  

Our new roommate is awesome!!! She even tried my green smoothie this morning with aloe vera and cactus haha.

Also, I forgot to tell you about the day that we had a flat tire. 

We turned on the car, and as I pulled out of the driveway I saw that there was the low tire pressure sign.  We then went to Firestone.  In the meanwhile, we got a ride from a member to lunch and then to the library for family history.

 

Right as we finished, we were driving down the road with the other sisters because they had to get their brakes checked.  Then, the low tire pressure goes on again.  We get out and realize the tire was deflating pretty quickly.  We turn around and go back to Firestone.  Then, we had to wait another couple hours.  It was soo weird because back in September a similar thing happened.

As far as family history, I got to read a really cool story about my ancestor, who was a pilgram.  Now, I don't remember exactly what it was, but I know that through the examples of my family members, I can be supported no matter what trials I may face.

Love you!

Sister Findlay

Happy Holidays

This week was soooo great!! First off, I just want to tell you how awesome it was to see and talk to my whole family on Christmas day. That was such a blessing! Especially because the only way to communicate is through email.

Another cool thing that happened was that we had a big Christmas conference with everybody on the mission.  That picture of me in the red dress is of a three generation picture.

On the mission, the missionary you trained is your daughter, and now I have a granddaughter hahaha.

So good news!! We have transfers this week, and I am staying for another transfer with Sister Castro!! The zone leaders played a prank on a couple of us from the zone though, and said that I was leaving, but then I showed up at the P-day activity, and they announced that it was a lie!! I even started packing and texted almost all the members in my ward.  Oh well! It will be fun surprising them.

Also, at the P-day activity, we got to see Star Wars!

 

We get to see a movie every year.  It was just weird to watch a movie with the whole zone...on the mission. It was fun though! We got to get rid of all the junk we have in the house too.  We took almost all the cookies, candy, and popcorn we have to the activity.  I think the elders enjoyed it :P

That other picture of the couple is Dania (the one getting baptized) and her husband, Christian.

 

That was the miracle story that I was talking about before.  I started teaching Dania, but then lost contact.  Super cool because this past week, Dania had a dream that she got baptized and felt really good after.  The next day (Friday) she got baptized.  

Love Sister Findlay