October 18, 2011
Buenos Dias!!
Wow, this has been a wonderful time here in Houston 2 West! I've been very blessed to work in the best ward in the mission...and by that, the best ward in the world! The members are amazing, the Bishopric wonderful, and the work moving forward very well, led and guided by the Lord. We've been seeing some great success, especially over the past couple of weeks. I love this area, and I know it's in good hands.
We met someone named Michael (18 yrs.) this past week. We were looking for his roommate, Daniel (14 yrs.), but found him instead. He's had a rough life, but fortunately, has a wonderful mom. Michael is from here in Houston, but speaks Spanish with his mom at home. He was born in Dallas, moved to the Los Angeles area for a little while, moved to Louisiana for a summer, and now lives here. Michael came to Church this week, too!!! That just made my week, and another thing that made this the best ward in the world! Oh, and I guess right before we went to see Michael last night, just to see if they needed help moving (but they'll be moving on Wednesday), he said that right before we got there, riding up all calm and everything, there were gunshots right in their courtyard. It's great to be home!!
Michael really enjoyed Church, even though he was a little uncomfortable at first, being in a new place with a bunch of people he didn't know. But by the end, he knew most of the ward - basically everyone who was there went and talked to him, if only to introduce themselves and give him a warm smile. He said he'll come back next week, and I'm so excited to see his progress in the Gospel!
I've had a great opportunity and a great blessing to serve with Elder Burbank. I'm pretty sure, just as this is the best ward in the world, that he's one of the best missionaries in this mission. He's taught me so much! I hope he was able to have the experience he needed to start off his mission right, because I know I'm not perfect and still have A LOT to work on. But it's been a wonderful opportunity to make a new friend for life. He's awesome!!!
We've had a good run here, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens during transfers. The entire mission is having a meeting at 1:00, just before Transfer Meeting at 3. We also received a text during the week that said we shouldn't answer political questions, but to refer all questions to mormon.org, so we're thinking that the meeting might be about that. We'll see!!
For this month, we have a goal that every companionship in the mission baptize. We've been working, and we've had a good focus on member present lessons, but I think that's kind of got us unfocused on baptizing this month. We definitely have people who can be baptized this month, we just need to find the person that the Lord wants us to baptize, who has been prepared, and then to exercise our faith and go and do. This is a great time in Houston 2 West!
We've also been working with a pretty cool part-member family. It really is better when investigators are taught in the home of their member friend!! We've been teaching to the children, but making our lessons focused on the grown-up investigators. I really like it! The kids can get into it (like being blindfolded and following the still, small Voice), and it's what we need to teach!
I think it's that time. I love you all SOOO MUCH!!! Keep up the great work, and I'm looking forward to hearing all about how this coming week goes!! Have a great one!!
Con mucho amor, a infinidad, y mas alla!!
Elder Devin Collins
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