N's email 11/30/2015

area: Pine Trails Ward (Houston, Texas)

zone: Pine Trails

companion: Elder Lee

Hello! I love being a missionary! First off, Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had dinner with a Philopino family who didn't make us a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but they did make a bunch of Philopino food: roast pork, baked fish, angel hair pasta mixed with a bunch of kinds of meat, rice, pineapple, cantaloupe, and roasted chicken. SO GOOD! They also sent us home with practically all the leftovers. That was a wonderful day!

Sister River's daughter is a member and wants to be here for the baptism super bad so she's waiting to be baptized until Christmas time when her daughter will be here. She's progressing like crazy though and we're so excited for her.

I'd like to share what I learned/taught at District Meeting. We learned about sheep... We drew a pendulum on the board and on one side we wrote “numbers” and on the other we wrote “mindful” and in the middle we wrote “Christlike.” See, there's people who are so focused on numbers that they forget they're working with people. Then there's other people who are so focused on making sure the people they are working with are comfortable that they never invite or help them to progress. Then there's Jesus Christ who knows His people by name and loves them so much and helps them progress and repent. We compared the numbers mindset to a sheep herder, the mindful mindset to a pet owner, and theChristlike mindset to a "Good Shepherd". It was really great!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where he wants me. So this is where I want to be.

Happy Thanksgiving

N's email 11/23/2015

area: Pine Trails Ward (Houston, Texas)

zone: Pine Trails

companion: Elder Lee

Hello! This week was interesting. We're doing good though.

I have a quick story. So there's all of these taco trucks in Houston. And there's one that's called the "Pupusaria" and it makes pupusas. Pupusas are celestial! They are 2 handmade corn tortillas with cheese and pork in between all fried together into a little bundle of greatness. We got a few of them this week!

That's all!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

N's email 11/16/2015

area: Pine Trails Ward (Houston, Texas)

zone: Pine Trails

companion: Elder Lee

So I have some horrible news... Missionaries speaking their native language will be spending 3 weeks in the MTC starting in March. This causes our mission to change our transfer dates. The transfer after next will only be 4 weeks rather than 6 weeks. This means all missionaries going home after next transfer will be returning 2 weeks earlier than originally expected... including me... They already took away 5 days from "24 months" and now they took another 14 days off… I'm quite sad about this. So I've decided that I'll get picked up at the airport by my mom and then she will drive me to the Sacramento Mission Office where I will serve as an office missionary until November 12, 2016 in order to fulfill my call.

We have an awesome investigator, Dorothy. She's been so prepared throughout her life to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad I get to teach her and help her progress to baptism.

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be

N's email 11/9/2015

area: Pine Trails Ward (Houston, Texas)

zone: Pine Trails

companion: Elder Lee

How has time gone so fast? I distinctly remember writing in my journal at my 1 month mark and how surprised I was about how fast time was going... now 11 months later it still only feels like 1 day. Life

sometimes...

This week was good. We've had a couple people really progress! One is Sister Rivers, her daughter has been a member of the Church for years, and Sister Rivers has attended often but never joined. This week she decided to be baptized on December 6!

We also had a couple interesting lessons where the people we were teaching presented a few complex questions and I didn't seem to be explaining the answers clearly. I didn't really know how to answer

their questions in a way they would understand and it was racking my brain for the last few days. Then yesterday all of the answers came when we had a regional conference and some General Authorities spoke.

One of the questions was about how we discern truth. And Elder Corbridge, who came and visited our mission in August, spoke in the Conference Sunday about finding out what is true and what is false and

answered the question so exactly and in a way I know this investigator will understand. Elder Corbridge was over 1500 miles away and had no idea what I was going through, yet he answered my questions with

exactness. I know that's a miracle.

Let me tell you a little about my companion, Elder Lee. He was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand when he was about 12. Lived there a few months and then moved to Arizona. Then back to South Korea for a little while, then to Provo, UT. He lived there until he left on his mission. He spent 2 semesters at BYU between high school and his mission. He speaks Korean, English, and enough Mandarin and Spanish to carry a conversation. He loves food! When we go to Walmart to shop he skips and hops around the food section with a huge smile on his face. He's been a member his whole life. He's super awesome!

In case anybody is wondering, I'm doing well. I love being a missionary, especially in T.H.E. Mission of the Church!

Please keep sending letters and emails!

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

N's email 11/2/2015

area: Pine Trails Ward (Houston, Texas)

zone: Pine Trails

companion: Elder Lee

Hello!

I'm so grateful to be in the city again! I will never want to live in the city after my mission but it's much easier to be a missionary in the city. There's never ending people to talk to and you have 4 Spanish missionary companionships covering our same area so we get referrals all day every day! I love being a missionary!

I don't have too much to say this week. Just that I know God lives. He's our Father. He loves us. He's given us His Son so we can live, and breathe, and work, and have hope. He's given us His Gospel so we can know what we need to do to be happy. This Gospel is revealed through prophets. Men like Adam, Noah, and Moses. Unfortunately, the people in their day rejected the prophets. Jesus Christ came Himself to teach the Gospel and perform the Atonement. However the people rejected Him too. His 12 Apostles continued to teach the fullness of the Gospel, but they were also murdered, imprisoned, or exiled. The Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness was lost for nearly 2000 years.

Our Loving Heavenly Father and our Savior have again reached out to their children in love and called another prophet in the year 1820. His name was Joseph Smith. I have evidence of this. You can hold it in your hand, read it, ponder its message, and then pray, asking God if what you've read is true. I have received my answer. It is true. I know it. And God knows it.

I love this message. I love the hope and understanding it brings to the people I get to talk to everyday.

I love all of you. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.