The Sierra's Accept the Invite for Baptism!

Me giving CPR

The famous Lakewood Church

This week I became certified to teach English and to do CPR!  So on Wednesday, this lady from the stake came to teach us about the Daily Dose program.  It’s a program that consists of 50 mini lessons to help small groups learn English.  Supposedly, missionaries are having a lot of success with it.  And it’s crazy because you aren't really allowed to talk about the gospel if you teach in a public place, but I guess people just come up afterward and just want to learn about the church we represent. Well, get ready for unexpected success over here in Htown.

Also, on Saturday we went up to Rice University to help the American Heart Association.  BTW, being on a college campus can make one super trunky, haha.  Especially when right next to the field house, people are playing intermural soccer and rugby.  But we got there and they had us take the 20 minute class to be certified.  Pictures will be included.  We learned how to #1 Tap and Shout to see if they need CPR, #2 Tell someone to call 911, and #3 perform CPR hard and fast.  Plus we got to keep the little, blow-up, mini-Anne dolls.  Then after the class we got some free t-shirts and then helped others sign up and take the class.  It was super fun! …and broke up the week a little bit.

Other fun things that happened: I gave a Peruvian named Misselle a sour warhead.  It was the funniest thing ever!  I guess they don't have sour there and she wasn't used to it.  She looked exactly like the person on the package.  Like a cartoon person tasting something sour and their whole face shrinks together, haha.  Also, we went to knock a door and a crazed white little dog flew around the corner and started attacking the gate.  She was chewing holes straight through it!  So Elder Tate manned up and started to open the gate.  But right when we stepped inside, the dog ran away.  So we thought we were good... until I tried to touch a brick wall with my foot.  Man, that thing jumped like 4 feet!  And then just latched on to my shoe.  So the only thing I could think of was just to kick it in the mouth. Well then it ran away.  But it left some big teeth marks on my shoe, haha.

As far as investigators go, the Sierras are progressing along really nicely. This week they had interviews with President Ashton and passed!  They can get baptized now on April 25!  And Jose has to stop smoking so we brought him a lot of cinnamon gum, grapefruit juice, vitamin C, and things to keep him busy.  He should be set.  He has already gone 3 days and still strong.  And they have to be baptized on the 25th because the have told the whole ward and Elder Johnson is coming back for it.  So they can’t really back out now.  And to help them live the law of chastity, Jose is going to sleep every night at his mom’s house down the street.  This is because they can't get married yet.  Supposedly he is going to get residency in 4 months, and until then he has to stay single or else he loses his spot in line.  We tried so many legal things this week to make it work another way but this is still his best option to quick residency.  And if he doesn’t get it in 4 months then he is just going to get married and start the process over again.  It’s going to be a big test of their faith but we all know that God will bless them greatly for making the decision to be baptized.

We also are teaching Jasmine.  She is the grand daughter of our 2nd Counselor.  She loves learning and wants to come to church and be baptized!  Just one little hiccup.  On the weekends she goes to her parent’s house and they live outside the mission up in the Woodlands...  So pretty much she can never come to church or get baptized here.  But we see her all the time during the week when she stays here so we are the only ones that can teach her.  So we are not quite sure what we are going to do, but we talked to some people and they are currently figuring out all the technicalities of how and where she can be baptized so I'll get back to y'all later. 

We also met a cool new kid named Jose Bonilla.  He is a friend of Gisselle Sierra and 20 years old.  We have taught him a few times and he is super legit.  He wouldn't accept a baptismal date, but he is searching.  We left him to read in the BOM and pray and he said he has felt something, so he’s getting there.  We just need to get him to church and he should be solid!

Thanks for your support, hope you have a good week!

Elder Lund