temple, floods, and MIRACLES

FINALLY!!!! i apologize for the tardiness of this email but this week and a half have been NUTS!!! our P-day was originally moved due to the mission temple trip..and then got moved AGAIN due to some tornado/flooding here in houston.....but let's start at the beginning shall we?? 

first things first. let me tell you a little story about Alvaro Lopez!

so remember how we just barley started teaching an english class at the church? one day we were hanging up a flyer for the class outside of a dollar store..when this big teddy bear looking gentleman walked up and i turned to him and asked if he would like to learn how to speak in english for free...the obvious answer was yes, so we gave him an extra little flyer and wished him on his way....he showed up at the class! and offered to say the closing prayer! STUD! but then he was missing at the next class...we called/left a voicemail letting him know we missed him at class and hope to see him soon...he called us back the next morning and invited us to come to his house! when we told him we would love to help him get caught up for english class he goes..yeah yeah that would be great, but what i really want to know is more about your church and how i can be apart of it!..............WHAT?!?!?! YES!!!!!!!! so we went and taught him and this guy was just looovviiinggg it!! accepted a baptismal date right on the spot!!! he is THE MAN!! we are super excited for him :) 

okay then....I LEFT MY AREA! what?! i got to go on an exchange in Pearland, Tx! it's an englsih area..and guys, ill be honest...i think white people intimidate me these days because i had to give myself a little pep talk in my mind before going to talk to these few sitting at a bench in the park..i was like "what the heck? you LOVE talking to people! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" but honestly i have MAD RESPECT for english missionaries. Sister Campbell (the enlgish sister from canada..what? i love her. canada sounds nuts. i destroyed her with questions. if you wanna know what a hutterite is gimme a holler.) anyway she asked this guy how God had blessed his life that day and his response BLEW my mind..he goes "BY STAYING OUT OF IT!! I STAY AWAY FROM GOD AND HE STAYS AWAY FROM ME AND EVERYTHING IS BETTER THAT WAY!" holy tolido..like what do you say to that? ..but really..i was taken aback! 

after the exchange, filled with mansions, little lakes with fountains, and nicely paved sidewalks...we spent the night in Sunnyside!! g h e t t o doesnt even begin to describe this place!! a little boy saw a couple missionaries walking around their once and goes, "mama! why are there white people in the hood?" hahaha LOVE IT! i get to go on exchanges there next week..so ill let yall know more about it then! but i will say that while we were there the sky opened and dumped more water than i thought possible!!! and it looked almost like daytime because of the constant lightning...and the thunder rocked us to sleep...haha jk we didnt sleep. but we did hop in the car at about 4:45am to get on the road to the TEMPLE! it was a good thing we left so early because we had to turn around and re-route AT LEAST 6 times due to flooding...im talking water up to the windows or worst. cars abandoned. speedboats. etc....but our car was fine and we made it safely to the temple!!

at the temple we had the privilege of doing a session and then going to a special room in the temple to discuss amazing temple stuff with the temple president and matron, as well as president and sister ashton for an extra three hours!! IT WAS UNREAL!! if you want to know what was discussed, take me to the temple ;) id love to share the beautiful truths we discovered!! 

so the temple trip was on tuesday right? which means p-day was supposed to be on wednesday...but tuesdaynight we come home to find our zone leader standing on the curb waiting for us...(he had to come because our phone may or may not have gotten dropped in a huge puddle...but rice works so no worries. all has been taken care of!) he assigned us to a service project and then later asked us to join them with another one...so we ended up serving from 8am to 5pm!!! fortunately, not too much damage was done in our area...but some other neighboring areas got hit pretty hard by the storm...so we were handing out food for the first service project...and then for the second one we helped coordinate getting people housing and food and essentials! we were needed because we speak spanish and english and therefore can communicate with everyone. I LOVE IT!! im sure the service projects will keep rolling the next week or so, so ill be sure to keep yall posted ;)

LOVE YOU BIG TIME!!! HAVE THE BEST WEEK! PRAY FOR RAIN WHEREVER YOU ARE AT SO IT RAINS THERE AND GIVES US A BREAK!!! please and thank you ;)

xoxo

hermana hull

had an opportunity to go to "the tunnels" in downtown last pday...like underground paths...not as cool as i had hoped, but still a fun time!

this is my district. they are pretty cool 

live version and also chalk edition

we got to cook with this little colombian lady!! she has been a member for 40 something years, and blind for 12...but this lady has the memory of an elephant!! 

on exchange with sister campbell <3

sleepover in sunnyside!

and temple the next day :D