July 22, 2013: First Week in da field wooo!

Hello my family! My goodness so much can happen in just 6 days. Well, I've arrived in hot, humid Houston! The Lord has greatly blessed me though because it really hasn't been too hot....even though the heat is supposed to really be cranked this week. So we arrived in Houston and we were greeted by my amazing mission president and his wife aka...my parents for the mish...They're the sweetest people ever! A couple of the sisters and I stayed and the mission home because we needed to be interviewed by President Pingree. As soon as I walked into his office I teared up because the Spirit was just so gosh dang strong! I felt like someone had put a warm blanket on me! He started off by asking me what Jesus Christ meant to me and I said, "Everything. Without Him, we would all be lost." He asked me a little bit about my spanish and I told him that I've been trying to keep up with it and whatnot. He told me that he's going to respect the Lord's calling for me but he'll always keep it in his thoughts and a situation arose..I told him about my family and I kept tearing up. Then he told me something that really touched my heart. He said, "Wow, you really have a beautiful countenance and I feel like you're one of the choice and noble spirits." Ok, this made me cry because the Spirit was just pouring out of me! By the end of the meeting, he was crying and I was bawling haha...Before I felt tired and worried...But now I feel like everything is going to be alright... (side note) President called me the other day and asked me again about spanish...There's a strong chance that I'm going to get switched! I'm excited and terrified and a little hesitant all at the same time! I love my companion and I love the people! But I'll do whatever the Lord asks of me! The next day...I met my companion and thank the Lord because she's awesome! She's super hard working and she just finished her training so she's only been out for three months!

She's 22 and her name is Sister Schellhous... Can you say german?...We are in the Parkway Ward which is located in Tomball...We're in the Klein Stake and the temple is like 20 minutes away...Speaking of which...we're going on thursday woooo....For payback about all of my crying baby comments with mom in airports, grocery stores, and churches, the Lord placed me in a ward where there are 160 primary children..yes..you read that correctly....they dominate the entire congregation..everyone has like 5 kids and everyone is preggers!!! So the ward is super young, I've gotten to meet with the Ward Mission Leader who actually has a huge role in missionary work. People have this misunderstanding about missionaries...They think we need to be knocking doors all day long when in reality, we need to be teaching! It's up to the members to find the people for us to teach! Our ward hasn't seen a baptism in like 14 months but that's going to change! Before I got here, the companionship really focused on finding people..They contacted tons and found a bunch of potential investigators. But the problem was that the investigators weren't getting the attention needed. So sister schellhous and I are picking our top 5 investigators and we're going to prepare them for baptism. But everyone who is anyone is on vacation right now so the summer isn't the best time to get the work done. We're not going to let that stop us though! We're also working with an inactive family that was baptized a couple of years ago..Our goal for them is to get them to the temple!! With the Lord's help, we can do it! The people are so very nice and I have yet to meet a rude person! Everyone here is Christian so that's a great conversation starter! Even if they don't want to learn more, they still turn you down nicely... Joel Olsteen??Heard of him??The guy grandpa seymour watches every sunday? yah..he's in houston..and his megachurch is just a few minutes away. When I say megachurch..I mean 20,000 attendees.. My comp and I always joke that we're going to convert him so his hoards of followers will come join the church! We've also just started working with a disabled woman...foot amputee and really bad knee on the other leg..Sis Schellhous and I think that it's a good idea to just serve her and help her in anyway that we can while slipping in little messages about the gospel. She is in need of serious spiritual and physical help and we can tell that the Lord has prepared her for the gospel! This work is hard but it's so great! We're always insanely busy and we're fed feasts EVERY night by the members. So don't worry about me going hungry! Our living situation...We are currently living with a widow from the ward with her two dogs..One big one and one little one :) Sister Schellhous hates dogs so I always make fun of her for that haha...Our room is so tiny that we have to have a bunk bed. and get this....We're living in the only home in Houston that doesn't have AC yayyyyyyyyy haha,,,,pray that I don't die of heat exhaustion...But it really isn't that bad so don't worry! Our best method for finding new investigators is contacting/tracting...But we haven't really done much of that lately because we've been meeting members so I can get a hang of the ward and we need to focus on our investigators! Before, the companionship was only seeing them once every other week, but now, we're going to be bold and meet with them at least every five days. I have faith that the Lord will help us! I love Texas and I love my companion! We work really well together and laugh a lot so that's good! I'm so grateful for her.. I'm so excited to be here and I feel like I can never get enough done in a day! This is where I'm meant to be! The Church is true erybodyyyy! Oh funny side note..On friday we had a stake dodgeball event haha...the youth are supposed to bring a nonmember friend and it turns into missionaries versus the youth..Lets just say that the Elders like to be ruthless haha....and I was the only sister that played haha To explain some terminology...A zone is made up of all the missionaries in the stake..And a district is made up of a few companionships in an area...So there are multiple districts in a zone.. There are two elders in my zone that were with me in the MTC so it was nice to see a familiar face at dodgeball. They're both hilarious! More about da weather...It always rains in the afternoon and the thunderstorms are awesome! We get some big ol fat rain with a little bit of sideways rain (forest gump anyone?) Well fam..I've gotta go! Vaya con Dios mis amigos! Love, Sister Seymour