MAY 6, 2015 - NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Monday, July 27, 2015

Week #12 - Car Wreck, New Gators, and Vanessa's Baptism!

Hey! 

Soo . . . literally one of the most craziest weeks of my life! 

Monday, a car hit us.  Well, they actually T-boned us.  The lady that was driving didn't even look before she pulled out and totally hit the right side of our car!  And I was driving.  Super scary buuuuuut everything happens for a reason, right?  Well, it turns out her family are former investigators!  She hit us and took all the fault, then invited us over this week to come teach her family!  Weird, right?  We had to call the police and it was just a very fun adventure! We are all okay and no one was hurt, thank goodness. :)

Car was hit by an investigator . . .  Hastening the Work!
OUCH!
That was on Monday.  And on Tuesday, it was a typical missionary day besides the fact that we had to go to the mission office to get a new car.  Now we have a gold car...her name is Felisha.  She is kind of ghetto, but we love her!  Haha  

We also got two new investigators that are soo prepared!  Their names are Angel and Elizabeth!  A son and Mom, and we are still working on getting the whole family. 

Buuuuut on Saturday I had my first baptism!!!  We have been teaching Vanessa, she's 9 and has a part-member family, and on Saturday she was able to get baptized!  Yay! :)  It was such a great experience and the spirit was sooo strong!  I loved every minute of it.

This is Vanessa on her baptism day!  Whoop! :) 

Sister Peterson, Vanessa, Lily, Sister Pinster & Sister Evans

Missionary work is not easy, but it's worth it. To know that you have helped another person receive the blessings of being a part of this gospel is beyond describable!  I love this gospel and I love being able to share that with others!

I love y'all and have a great week! :) 

Love, 
Sister Pinster


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Week #11 - Hey Y'all!

July 20, 2015

Hey!

I'm not even sure what week this is for me, but today marks 2 months since I have been in Texas!  And it's officially summer!  The heat is here and we feel it every day, but thank goodness for AC!  

8 Week Follow Up Training
As for this week, it's been fun!  On Wednesday it was my 8 week follow-up, which is basically just a time for all of the missionaries who have been out for 8 weeks to come and roleplay with President, have lunch with him and his wife, as well as learn more about how to become "Master Teachers."  And oh my goodness, it was the best day!  I learned soooo much on how I can do better and improve.  I wish I could have a meeting with President every week!  I am so lucky to have him as my Mission President because he is so knowledgeable, kind, and bold.  He knows what we need to be doing to hasten the work of the Lord!  At 8 week, he kept telling me how awesome and how much he loves me.  For real.  Who could not love a Mission President who is so loving?  He also told me lots of ways to improve and better my teaching and I am so grateful for his feedback as well!




Anyways, enough about that, this week we found Jackie.  I say "found" because actually she has been looking for us.  She literally told us the moment we walked into her house, "I know God has sent you here to me and I am ready to learn" and she basically told us she has been waiting for us.  What?  It was so awesome!  We taught her the Restoration and the spirit was so strong!  She has had a rough past and is still trying to overcome some things, but we are doing all we can to help her!  I love it!  Next time we are going to teach her whole family the Plan of Salvation and focus on Our Life on Earth!  We are super excited!

Oh, and I love being in a Trio.  It is the best thing ever.  I love both of my sisters soooo much and we work extremely well together.  We all basically bounce off each other and teach with the Spirit.  Sister Evans, our trainee, is the most sassy and cutest person ever.  I just loveeee her!  But yeah so life is so great and I love being in Texas!  Still getting use to the heat and humidity, but hey the people here are so amazing.  The food here is also very good, especially the Mexican food shacks.  With real Mexican food.  We love it so much. :) 

Life is good. And I love being a missionary. :) 

Hope everyone else's week was great! 

Love you all and have a fantastic week! 

Love, 
Sister Pinster 

Monday, July 20, 2015

Week #10 - Trio Training Begins

Hey Y'all!


This week has been a week full adventures and new experiences!  We finally got our new sister straight from the MTC - Sister Evans!  She is also a redhead and I just love her so much already! :)  

Sister Evans, Sister Pinster & Sister Peterson

I don't even know where to start for this week.  My testimony has been strengthen sooo much this week as we have found new investigators and people to teach, our less actives are coming back to church, and we were dropped by a couple of our investigators.  Fun stuff!  I love being a missionary because I am truly starting to understand how the Gospel is the only way to live in this life.  The world is very black and white. Satan tries to convince us that some things can be gray, but this is not so.  God's way is the only way! 

We had a "drop" lesson with our investigator, Kristyn, who is the Baptist minister.  I love her sooo much and we will always be friends, but wow what an experience.  She was trying to convince us that "her gospel" is so much easier than "our gospel."  Super sad because all I wanted to do was tell her that yes it is, but "Salvation is not a cheap experience!"  (That's an Elder Holland talk--go look it up.)  But we just let her talk a little and then bore our testimonies on this Gospel, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith.  I felt the Spirit so strong and it really hit me that this gospel is true; there is no other way to live and be happy.  

I want everyone to know that I know this Gospel is true and even though it's not the easiest at times, it is the only way we can return back to our Heavenly Father's presence.  

We had a lot of great things happen this week as well!  One miracle was since we started planning the Lord's way, and letting Him lead us and guide us even more, we were able to achieve all of our goals for this week!  One night it is late--like 8:30, and we still needed to get one more lesson and a new investigator.  We prayed and felt prompted to go visit a former investigator.  When we got there, Christiana (a different person) answered the door and let us in.  We taught her about the Book of Mormon and about Christ's Earthly Ministry and she wants us to come back and teach her more!  She committed to read the Book of Mormon and we are going back tomorrow to teach her the full Restoration!  So excited! :)  Miracles!! 

I love being a missionary!  It's the best!  We also got to go to the Temple Grounds Tour with an investigator and it was great! :)  The Church is true and I love this Gospel! 

Here is a picture of the beautiful Houston Temple!
I am so lucky to be living so close to it right now and I had the opportunity
to do service (yard work) on the Temple Grounds this week.  What a blessing!
Love y'all and have a great week! :)

Sister Pinster

Monday, July 6, 2015

Week #9 - Miracles!

Hello!

Well this week has been one to remember!  So many wonderful blessings and miracles have happened and I don't even know where to start! 

I guess first off, we were suppose to get our new sister on Thursday, but it turns out she's stuck in Provo at the MTC!  (There was a bat in their dorm room and they have to get rabies shots to make sure they weren't bitten).  The four of them in their room are coming to Houston, Texas and are known as the "Bat Sisters."  Super funny.  We will be getting her on Friday and we are soooo excited!

On Thursday, we went to a training meeting and learned what it means to truly plan and make goals.  Wow!  Eye-opening stuff!  As we have made our goals more about the people, we have been seeing so many miracles already!  This week, we were able to get to 5 new investigators!  That means 5 more people we are able to teach!!! Yay!  We stay busy, working in two wards, but now we are even more excited to bring more people unto Christ and to receive the fullness of the Gospel.

At our training meeting, we were challenged to invite someone to be baptized every since day.  And guess what?  My companion and I are totally going to win the challenge because we are both competitive and willing to do whatever our Mission President asks of us.  So far we haven't missed a day and we are seeing so many blessings!

I just want to bear my testimony on being exactly obedient!!  It works!  Heavenly Father has so many blessings in store for us, we just need to do our part to receive them.  I love being a missionary and sharing the Gospel every single day!  It's not easy, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  This is the Lord's work and we are just instruments in His hands! :)

Y'all are so amazing and I love you so much!  The Lord's work is hasting and the time is coming to step out of our comfort zones and get to work!

I would encourage all of you to watch the Mormon Messages by Elder Bednar, "Patterns of Light."  They are so great and perfect to share with friends and family members.

This week we have talked to some funny people, but real quick, I have to tell y'all about our investigator, Rick.  Oh my, I love this guy so much.  He is Hilarious!  He goes to a Mega-Church, like the biggest one in the country, and he's been really hard to get ahold of since he goes out of town a lot.  BUT!  One of his friends is actually a member in our Ward!  Say What!  Anyways, after dinner yesterday we went by his house and caught him as he was packing for his next trip.  He always jokes about how we are trying to save his soul and are very persistent.  Haha well, yes, we are, but we had the chance to bear our testimonies of this Gospel and the Book of Mormon and wow the Spirit was strong!  He told us he is going to continue to read the BOM while on his trip and somehow after we invited him to be baptized, he "pinky-promised" us he would!  Hahaha seriously that happened.  He wants to get sealed to his wife and we want to help him get there!  I just love him and he is just so prepared!  He loves us and we love teaching him.  I can't wait to see him progress even more! 

Anyways, so our week was sooo amazing and full of many miracles and blessings!  I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary!  Sister Peterson is the best trainer and I can't wait to get our new "baby" sister! Haha  Sister Peterson is also the STL (Sister Training Leader) and she's going to be training in a trio... no big deal.  She's the best and I love her sooo much! 


I hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Love you all!! :) 

Love, 
Sister Pinster