Monday, December 23, 2013

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!

FAMILY!!!! MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!

holy canoli this week was a good one. 

So on thursday we had our christmas conference! we had to wake up at 4:30 to drive down to San Antonio but it was totes worth it. We drove with the other hermanas in our house and one other elder (who knew that was ok? but apparently it is. approved by all the higher-ups.cuz apparently they'd rather stick one elder with us than send another car down for his and his comp.) we stopped at this gas station called buc-ee's. its famous. they had ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY GAS PUMPS. smh. #texans. the store was like the size of a small walmart. we bought some beaver nuggets, which tasted like waffle crisp #thebest. there were like INFINDIDDY TIMES INFINDIDDY missionaries at the church. I got to see the few elders who came with me to the TSAM. we all filled the chapel and the overflow, packed in like sardines. we had some awesome talks, including one by President Slaughter about Angels. it was bomb. Then they fed us a huge Texas bbq lunch. Then we had a talent show. it was awesome. One elder sang Blue Christmas, and he sounded JUST LIKE elvis.... it was kinda scary actually, to hear that voice coming out of a skinny little white boy. My zone sang ye Elders of Israel. It was awesome, we stomped and clapped and it was great. Also, check out The Lower Lights band. The have a folksy country sound similar to Mumford & Sons, but they sing hymns :) I feel like someone in the family might like them. Also two senior missionaries did an Abbot and Costello comedy routine. hilarious, cute old people :) We finished with more talks and President Slaughter telling us that we would have the privilege of hearing from....... (pause for dramatic effect)\


ELDER BEDNAR!!!!!

he's coming in January! #bejealous. #stoked. We finally headed home and totally crashed from exhaustion. We were woken up half an hour later by elders pounding on our door because we forgot to text the DLs that we were home and safe.  gave me a heart attack. Member how I hate being woken up by phone calls in the morning? -_- yeah, it was like that. lol anyway...

then the next day we had Miguel's baptism! WOOOOOO! it went great even though it was 30 minutes late (but Mexican standard time we were on time). He said he felt the spirit really strongly and he really appreciated all the work we put in, not that we cared, but we were glad that he saw and realized just how important this step was in his life! Me and Hna Clark and the Elders who split the branch with us sang a musical number. Oh yeah.

The next day, We had a Pastorela (Christmas Program). Originally, we were going to sit out front and take down names of everyone who came in #newinvestigators. But in the end, only like one nonmenber showed up (BOO) and we passed out 200 flyers lol. oh well. so last minute they pinned me down and wrestled me into a shepherd's costume, while Hna Clark took pictures and I screamed for mercy. It was great. It was the funniest xmas program I had ever seen, since they had never practiced anything or memorized any lines. And in the Palm Valley branch version, King Herod follows the wise men to Jesus and somehow along the way got converted I guess because instead of strangling baby Jesus he just knelt down and worshipped him. #howitshouldhaveended.HAHAHAHA.... then we had a bunch of good food so that rocked.

yesterday we had church and it was awesome. I had to play for sacrament. And for the special musical number. wooooo....

So Juanita went to Mexico so we wont see her until January.... dang it... there goes that baptism this month. NEXT MONTH! and we still havent heard from Freddy.... his mom is keeping us away I think.

BUT we did lots of finding this week while passing out flyers and we have like 4 new investigators! They seem really promising!

Anway, I hope you guys are loving your time together!

Wanna know a secret? *whispers* nobody has invited us over for xmas dinner. But we're really happy about it cuz that means we get to stay home in our Jammies all day and make whatever we want to eat hehehehehehehehe. dont tell anyone!

Also I will be calling at 11 am texas time, which I think is 9 am cali time......

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

hermana feigel

Monday, December 9, 2013

What's this? What's this? There's water in the air!

FAMILYYYYY!!!!

how are YOU ALL (not y'all. I refuse. to. use. that. word.)?  i'm great! Let's see what happened this week...The biggest news this week? They changed our assignments so we are no longer over the singles ward (sad face) but that means we are now PURO ESPANOL!!! WOOOOO!!!!! We got to finish teaching Kendell even though he is in the YSA and we had his baptism on Saturday. It was so sweet. He talked about how hard it was for him to come to church because of work, and how he kept praying for help, and that is when the stake and ward boundaries all changed so the ward was closer to his house and his boss moved his schedule around. The church is true! I have loved teaching  Kendell even though we basically just helped him prep for baptism.  He is such a good guy. The elders who started teaching him were able to attend and one of them, Elder Olsen, performed the ordinance.  But he was really nice about it. Afterwards he told us that we must have been called to the area so that we could plan such a nice baptism for Kendell.

As of this week we now have 2 fechas flojas (lazy dates) and one fecha firma (sure date) for baptism. It's pretty great though because with one investigator, Juanita, she has had all the discussion but she refuses to be baptized because she goes to Mexico to visit family every other weekend and she doesnt want to be baptized if she knows she wont keep attend church regularly -_- but we had a lesson with her about the Family: a Proclamation to the world, and how parents have the responsibility to raise their children in righteousness, especially when they have the knowledge to choose between good and evil. And then she committed to baptism on the 28th! YAY! BUT this week was her first in church so we have to fix that... but I think she loved church, she brought her daughter, and we're planning on baptizing her once Juanita has been dunked :P

What else happened.... OH! we got to go to church for the first time in Spanish! It was great. I LOVE OUR BRANCH. they are small but mighty. The members make me laugh and smile and feel like I am home. We also had our first ward council which was kind of scary to report on our work to a bunch of serious-looking adults in leadership roles who (I imagined in my head) were totally judging my Spanish. But it went fine.

Ok now for your questions... let's see. I got the bike! It was waiting for me the second day I arrived in Texas at the transfer meeting. It is currently sitting in my room since we are a driving area (thank goodness). My comp drives since she is senior. We have a red toyota corolla. #classic. I can now recognize missionary cars from a mile away. They are corollas with cheap bike racks on the back LOL. 

MOM: I cant find the receipt you sent! Its not in the hymn book! Not sure what to do.... But thank you for sending all that stuff! BTW the water polo shirts turned out GREAT! they are my favorite workout shirts!

Basic run down of our day?

6:30 wake up, go on a run or go to the gym in our apartment complex (its awesome cuz no on is ever there at 6:30 am)
7 eat breakfast, get ready
8 personal study!!! (its the best)
9 comp study! -we (us and the other companerisma in our casa) usually read out of the white handbook, sing a hymn, and pray, then we split up and comp study
10 training (my trainer and I do work out of a handbook for newbies)
11 lunch
12 language study
1 get to work
9 go home
10:30 get in bed

Although it varies because sometimes we have stuff in the morning so we have to sacrifice some studies. And usually the game plan is to visit one city all day (teaching investigators in the area, having spiritual thoughts with less actives and members, obtaining referrals everywhere, etc.). Half the time our plans fall through but the zone leaders gave us their GPS which has all the ward list in it so we just look up who lives close by that we can visit. Or, like yesterday, we show up and the family we were trying to contact had moved, but we gave some cookies to the girl living there and made an appointment to come back and teach her family #newinvestigator. We are only allowed like (actually we dont know the exact number) 1100-1600 miles per month which is tough because we cover half the stake. We actually LIVE in Cedar Park TX. But we cover Cedar park, Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill, part of Austin, and Round Rock. a trio of elders covers the other half.

also, fun fact, the TSAM has like the highest number of converts through part member families. 

Also they said they fixed our heat but they didnt. But its ok. we figured out where the breaker is so we just flip it on and off as needed lol.

What else can I share? Oh we had some time this week and we went mattress surfing down our stairs. It was really fun and I'm sure it didn't bother our downstairs neighbors at all....... 

I'm doing good though. The other day Hna Clark just started gushing to me how great I am doing. She said it's like having a normal companion, not a greenie. That really boosted my confidence. Most people are surprised when I tell them I'm only in my second week. Then they ask me where I learned spanish. I'm still not really sure where either.... #giftoftongues #thankful. But I'm still learning so much as a teacher, how to tailor to people's needs and resolve concerns. But its such a great feeling when you teach in unity with your comp and the spirit is there so strongly.... its the best. Its funny because the elders keep telling us to watch out for so and so, they're really mean or don't like Mormons, etc., but everyone we talk to cant help but be polite to us and smile and say, sure come on in. This truly is the Lord's work. Also, sister chambers (lives in our apartment) told me, you cant say the wrong thing to the right person. How true.

Also I just want to exhort you all to be better missionaries! It's not hard. Make a family mission plan, of how you can help the missionaries, ward missionaries, and be missionaries yourselves. Have family home evening! Invite people! Invite the missionaries! I know you guys have such great potential to be missionaries at home, and there's so many people who need this gospel. We have to BOLDLY declare the word. We cant "just live it" anymore. Go and do. Lift where you stand.

you guys are awesome.

love,

hermana feigel





Monday, December 2, 2013

DEEP IN THE HEARRRRRRT OF TEXAAAAAASSSSSSS!!!!!

Estoy aqui in AUSTIN TEXAS!!!!! 

I am currently serving in the Palm Valley Area which is BRAND SPANKIN NEW. Things are a little crazy right now because they just changed a bunch of stake and ward boundary lines, but yeah. We are over the Palm Valley branch (espanol branch) and Chisolm Trail ward (singles ward). How lucky right?? My companions name is Hermana Clark. She is the best. I love her.  She is a little Georgia Peach from south of Atlanta and she has been out for 6 months already. Her spanish is great and I'm learning so much from her. The day of transfers, literally 5 people came up to me and told me I had the best trainer. LOL. She really is though. She is really nice, and sweet, and funny, but bold at the same time.

I somehow made it her with my luggage intact. Another wheel broke on my other suitcase. Awesome. But I made it. I didnt see grandma at the airport.... She said I might run into her but I didnt. We ate lunch at the Slaughter's and then went to the Alamo! It was awesome! then we had to hand out blue books! It was terrifying and awesome. The were 2 other sisters who came in from Provo. We placed 5 books in an hour. Then we went back adn had dinner with the Slaughters. We stayed in some random apartment that night and then had transfer meetings the next day. Everyone got their new comps except for those of us going to Austin. So then we got in a car and drove 2 hours to Austin and had another transfer meeting with the missionaries there. And I got my comp! 

This week has been insane! What with new branches and wards and boundaries... We came in with NO information, no ward lists, not even a MAP of our area. which we still dont have btw... the bishop of the spanish branch has been out of town and the singles ward bishop just wouldnt answer us. So the first day was a lot of working with the previous missionaries to get some info. We eventually met up with the spanish branch ward mish leader. He has a fire for missionary work! and we set a goal of 3 baptisms this month! We eventually met with the singles ward WML too and got some info from him. The previous missionaries also did some pass off lessons with us so we got to meet our new investigators and such. One of them, Kendell, reminds me of Aidan! He plays volleyball for a community college here even though he wanted to play for Golden West (the huntington CC right?) He is super nice. He is getting baptized this weekend which is super awesome! Although the missionaries who worked with him and taught him everything are a little bummed that we get to be there and not them... LOL. They also passed off a new investigator Christian. He is already ready for baptism and has a testimony of the gospel, but he is reluctant to set a date because he hasn't even told his devoutly catholic parents yet.,.... pero esta bien.

Thanksgiving was fun. We had dinner with the Elders Quorum Pres's family. Typical thanksgiving. Except in Spanish. 

We had some fun lessons yesterday. We met up with another investigator, Freddy, and his member uncle and aunt. The dinner was AWESOME (#realmexicanfood) but the lesson was SUPER awkward. I invited Freddy to be baptized (he has already taken ALL the discussions and has a testimony and has already had 3 baptismal dates) and he said yes so we were really excited but then his aunt and uncle got really weird and were like are you sure, this is important... etc. and started lecturing him on how important it was to have the protection of the holy ghost and Freddy's mom (pentecostal) started getting really upset because she doesnt want Freddy to get baptized.... Needless to say there was a solid 20 minutes where they just argued back and forth and me and my comp just kind of sat there like deer in the headlights LOL. eventually Hna Clark managed to interrupt them and point out the spirit was totally gone and we decided to have another lesson with Freddy and WITHOUT his aunt and uncle. Who knew members could be a hindrance? Awkward...., We also had a funny lesson with some less actives. The wife worked on sundays and her husband took refused to listen to the missionaries or go to church anymore. Hna got up and went into the kitchen where he was and asked him why he wouldnt come listen with us. He said there were too many hypocrites in the church and that everybody is a hypocrite. My companion then proceeded to call him a hypocrite (which had his wife laughing and my eyes bugging out of my head). He then thanked her for her frankness and came and listened to and participated in the lesson! He continues to refuse our invitation to church, saying he felt offended by some discrimination that he once felt in the church and he kept telling us he refused to come to church unless a specific person came and talked to him and that he wouldnt tell us who it was so we couldnt get him to church (his wife later whispered to us that it was the bishop- haha). When we got up to leave he bore his testimony of the power of prayer and gave us 10 oranges. It was a weird day. It's been pretty great. What else? Our apartment is BOMB. brand new. its great. Except the heater broke yesterday. we came home and it was SO HOT that the thermometer didnt even give a reading!!! After an hour it cooled down enough to tell us it was 95 degrees in our apartment!!!! It was pretty awful. We didnt get much sleep. But we have managed to keep it down to 85 somehow and we're hoping they can fix it soon. Its the worst. Oh and our phone broke. This all happened yesterday. It was a rough day. Satan is a bum. But we managed to laugh about it and take some silly pics in our stairwell while we retreated from the heat for a bit (our apartment is all upstairs except for the front door. We tried to all fit down there on the landing to sleep where it was cooler but couldnt lol)

I got your package! didnt know the receipt was there so I might need another week before I can return it... but yeah. We are going grocery shopping today! #stoked. Also I had my first dessert tamale this week. SO GOOD. I love the food here. Except I still dont know what tex mex is. Food here is either authentic Mexican or the white people serve Mexican food and like... italian food. The other day we had lunch with some members. They served tamales and lasagna. We have been served that twice actually... weird.

What else... Sorry no pics this week apparently i never brought my camera cord. I have been using my comps card reader. Ill probs buy one soon. I dont really need anything... other than those 2 things I asked for last week :) 

Everything is so good! We are working so hard And the spanish branch especially is really open to missionary work and excited to have sisters! I am learning so much from Hna Clark and my testimony is growing everyday! I wish I could share everything with you but there just isnt time! AHHHHHH missionary work is the best! Its so hard but so rewarding!

My spanish is pretty good! I am kinda quiet in peoples homes but I understand almost everything and input my fair share in lessons. My vice is calling people in spanish. spanish over the phone is SO HARD!!! working on it though!

Oh also, Hna Clark likes to run (in your face mom :P)

I love you all so much!

go be member missionaries! give the missionaries some referrals! Invite people to FHE!

love

hermana f