Friday, June 21, 2013

I've never sweat so much in my life haha

Hi!

Elder Golden from the First Quorum of the 70 came this week! It was great! We had a fireside that he spoke at for investigators. One of our investigators (David - the one that came to church last week) came, so that was cool! And yesterday we had zone conference with Elder Golden. It was long, but great! He taught mainly about faith, which is always a wonderful topic.

We didn't have any fun storms this week..but we did get chased by dogs. It was so scary. We were out biking and three dogs like attacked us. I don't think I've ever biked so fast. We made it out alive though!

Also, what everyone told me is true. I've never sweat so much in my life haha. Sorry, thats gross. But really. Almost no point to shower because you walk outside and you're all sweaty again. I'll keep showering though..no worries.

I have my first comp exchange tonight! That should be exciting!

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Tessa

Friday, June 14, 2013

Monday, June 10, 2013 11:29 AM
 
Hi!!

Another great week! And - another investigator wants to get baptized! It was such an amazing experience. So his name is Ignazio and his wife and daughter are members. We shared a lesson with him about the gospel of Christ and the Spirit was so strong. When we were about to ask him if he would be baptized, his wife stepped out to take care of a child. So we like lingered for a min and waited for her to come back and then talked with him about baptism - and he is going to prepare for baptism! The wife was like "what did I miss" haha. After the lesson she walked out with us and told us she has never seen her husband show any interest in baptism. She was way excited. 

One of our investigators, David, came to church yesterday! And he wants to come back next Sunday!

When we were out talking to this one potential that we found when we were tracting, she told us that the Jehovah Witnesses had talked to her about the Book of Mormon, and then she was thinking we were like the same as the JWs?? Oh geez that was confusing. We've had some weird experiences with the JWs.. haha. On the positive side, we left her house and found a cute young family that was outside and the mom seemed very interested in the church. We shared with her the restoration, and she showed a lot of interest. Hopefully that goes somewhere! She was a sweet heart.

The mission is going well! I love the people out here! And- I love the storms! We had a CRAZY one yesterday. I attached some pictures of it! It was a bit scary to drive in - at one point the water was like half way up the door..but we made it:) Also - I didn't really want to get in the water..but my comp did haha. ew. Another pic - the one with the crowns - we won the zone's competition for the week! We were the companionship that best met our goals!!

Love you all! Email me back! I'd love to hear from you!

Love,
Sister Walton

Monday, June 03, 2013 10:26 AM

Hi!
It's been a great week! We committed someone to baptism, found quite a few new investigators and potentials! We have a TON of less actives around here, which is sad, so we try to meet with a couple every day. They're all so sweet and welcoming to us and want to talk and hear a lesson, but they have like every excuse in the book to not go to church haha. Idk how to get them in the door. Also, our area covers a very diverse group of people with some large homes to many trailor parks. So it keeps it exciting for us! When we were tracting one day, I ran into a guy that went to the same mission as my bro, so that was fun (thats who is in my pic below).
The ward is wonderful! It's not too big, but I heard a lot of people didn't come because of the crazy storm that was going on yesterday morning. It was crazy. I loved it though. I hope we get more thunder storms like that, just not on Sundays so people will come to church:)

I love sharing the gospel and focusing on bringing others to Christ all day! My testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith continues to grow daily as I share the first lesson! Its so great!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Walton


Tuesday, May 28, 2013 2:11 PM

Hi friends and fam!

I made it to Houston! I love it here! Its totally true what everyone was saying about the humidity! Gross. Anyways, I love it! Its way pretty! And, the MTC was great, but I'm so happy to be out of there.

My mission pres and his wife are AMAZING! I love them!

I was just assigned to my companion today - Sister Smith. She's cute. Goes to Utah State and is from West Valley, UT or something like that.. 20 min west of SLC? She is young and has only been out here 3 months. In my interview with the pres yesterday he told me he will probs put me w someone who is young and still fresh out here.. So I guess we'll be learning together:) She's really sweet. We are going to be serving in Kingwood, near the mission home.

So those of us who came out from the MTC to this mission yesterday (there were 24 of us, 17 are sisters!) were all pretty worried about talking to people down here in the Bible Belt as we heard stories of their dislike for Mormons, how they know the bible better, etc, but I'm really not too scared anymore! Yesterday on the flight, I was sitting next to this guy who just finished grad school at A&M and is a Baptist. I was talking to him about Houston (he's lived here his whole life), and I asked about the religion down here. He said ppl down here are all pretty religious, etc; then we talked about his religion. And then...he asked about Mormons! I didn't even need to do anything:) I pretty much told the first lesson - the restoration - and he read the intro to the book of Mormon. He was way nice and like genuinely interested. Wasn't too scary at all! It was sorta fun.

I am so happy that I chose to come out here. I know Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is truly God's word. I'm excited to get out there and serve.

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Walton