M. O. M.s (Moms of Missionaries)

Howdy!

So I am going to go ahead and say that this has been a pretty tough week. We have been working so hard to find people to teach and to see investigators but we have had very little success. But The Lord will provide always and He will lead us to people who need to hear His message!

Monday was the usual fun P-Day stuff; basketball and grocery shopping. We helped Robin and his family set up a fence around his chicken coop so that the birds can be out and the Siberian husky he has won't kill 'em!

Tuesday we did an exchange with the Corvallis 4th Ward Elders. I took over my area and Elder Flora went to Corvallis. Me and Elder Hansen went and talked to a less-active member's wife who isn't a member and tried to see some other people but nothing came from it. I did get to drive the car! Oh man it felt good to be behind the wheel again! We did get yelled at multiple times too! One guy pulled up next to us and asked if we were LDS (note: it's about 90 degrees at the time) and we said yes. Well he told us we were going to someplace hotter than Corvallis and I assume he was talking about Texas! Man people can spot the Texan in me from a mile away!

Wednesday we exchanged back and we again tried to see people but came up with nothing. We did see Charlie and we read scriptures with him. We also helped out Robin with the chicken coop again, this time moving the rabbit hutch that contained the chickens outside to the fenced off part. We are doing something really cool with Robin. He is so active about sharing the gospel and so we are going to do missionary role plays with him! It's going to be sweeeet.

Thursday we tracted through three different sets of triplexes (you know, like a duplex but with a third door at the end) and we pulled up empty. Again. We did however manage to see Stan and his daughters! His daughter Molly read some Bible stories to us from her children's Bible and we talked to Stan about how having faith in Jesus Christ can help us overcome our struggles. It was pretty cool. That night around midnight a HUGE thunderstorm rolled through and when I mean huge it was huge. A few years ago when Hurricane Ike hit Houston, I slept like a baby. The storm that night woke me up and kept me up for a little while, mainly because it would shake our apartment so much. It was so loud!

Friday we had new missionary training (yay...) and I got to teach the Law of Chastity for my training haha! We had an awesome district meeting and after we went to go help a guy and his family move. One of the best moves I've seen (sorry Brother McCarthy but I think his was better!). He even bought everyone pizza after! I left for Corvallis with Elder Barton from the Spanish Ward. We did language studies before heading out to seeing a lot of potentials. We knocked on a door who we thought belonged to a potential but it turned out to be a woman who converted to Muslim three years ago. After we left her a chapter to read (she already had a Book of Mormon), she gave us a Quran! That evening we went and saw another potential and she told us she didn't like the footnotes because "they didn't link correctly with the Bible". I don't know what Bible she's using but I'm 100% positive that it does!

Saturday I was part of a conference call conducted by President Russell for missionaries being trained and their trainers before we exchanged back. We helped out a recent convert renovate her home in preparation to sell. We painted a room and then did some yard work outside. We tried OYMing but we got shut down hard core every time. We taught Mel and Holly about the commandments and such and Mel gave us some pears to eat from his garden.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Brother Lewis gave an awesome analogy about hunting and Satan. He said that hunters lure deer in with mating calls and they are up above the eyesight of the deer so the deer can't see the hunters until it's too late. That's how Satan works. He lures us in and gets us at our most vulnerable. So that was awesome. We saw RJ and talked about Alma and his conversion story. We had an unbirthday at the Clements and he smoked brisket and Sister Clements made Elder Flora's favorite dish! It was SO good! We gave a Book of Mormon to a drunk guy afterwards haha! We tried seeing some potentials but no one was home.

So the subject name comes from a song The Nashville Tribute Band has on their "The Work" album. It talks about the moms of missionaries (obviously!) and the how grateful missionaries are for their moms. I am so grateful not only for my mom but also for my dad. They raised me and my siblings in a Christ-centered home and instilled principles of the gospel in us. They are definite examples of the parents of the Stripling Warriors. I love them so much and I miss my family a ton!

Remember, THERE IS NO DOUBT!

Elder Tonini