Week #64 - OUT IN THE BOONIES ROUND #2

Hey Y'all!!

Holy cow this week has been so amazing!!

First off, I am officially opening up the Madisonville and Crockett Branches for missionary work since neither of them have had missionaries for over a year!  AND I am opening it up with my "sister" in the mission, SISTER HARRIS!  (Also trained by Sister Peterson).  She is super great!  She is so organized and truly an inspiration.  She is a convert of about 2 years and her testimony is so powerful! :) 

So about the area ... it's HUGE!!!! It's about 1/4 of the mission, no joke!  We are traveling about 150+ miles each day trying to get from town to town.  It's what you call "rural" Texas for sure.  Lots of dirt roads and hills! 

We were able to go to the Madisonville Branch yesterday for church and I have never felt so loved as a missionary.  The people have been praying and fasting for missionaries to come back and they were sooo happy to have us!  And on top of that, they have already been doing lots of missionary work!  We were able to receive 4 referrals this week and we have started teaching a Part-member family!  Bill, the non-member husband, called himself a "Dry Mormon" and he is a character.  Haha  We spent a lot of the week trying to get to know the members more since we are both new to the area! :) 

I loveeee the country life and I couldn't imagine serving anywhere else.  The people are super humble and ready for the gospel and we are excited to bring it to them!

I will attach some pictures from the week in another email but I just love being missionary!

I hope all of y'all have a fantastic week and summer!

Love, 

Sister Pinster 

Last Monday Night for Family Home Evening with the Schilds and Kristy

Kristy is getting baptized on Saturday and we are so excited for her!

Here is the Crocket Branch building.  It's soooooo cute!

One of the many SMALL towns in our Area.  I love it here and being able to be with Sister Harris!

VISITORS WELCOME!

From the top of one of our member's house in Madisonville
TEXAS IS BEAUTIFUL!

Week #63 - BITTERSWEET Goodbyes with a Miracle-Filled Future

Hey Y'all!

Okay seriously soooooo much has happened this week!  For one, I am being transferred from Waller! Sad day BUT I am going to a place even more country than Waller!  I'll be opening up a new area for missionaries and covering two branches! :) Madisonville and Crockett! Super excited for some new adventures and miracles to happen!!

But for this week, I have a lot of pictures! So get ready . . . haha

We went to Chick-Fil-A:  MOO!  Cow Appreciation Day was Tuesday and one of the members took us.  So much fun!  Then, this week there was a Watermelon Festival in one of the towns we cover and it was super fun!  We did some contacting there and met some pretty interesting people!  

Kristy and Jacob just got home from visiting Rexburg and Salt Lake and are so excited to get baptized in two weeks so they can go to the Temple here in Houston!

We had interviews with President on Wednesday and he is my favorite.  I feel so energized after talking with him and he gets us so pumped to do work!  Transfer week is always craaaaazy but we have been able to see miracles!

Also, yesterday we were able to sing in church and had everyone crying . . . the spirit was so strong and I will try to send some of the song today. It's a medley of "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" and "Called to Serve." :)

I'm definitely going to miss Waller, especially the awesome members and investigators. But I'm so excited for new adventures! 

Please enjoy the pics and I will have more time next week hopefully to write about my new area! :)

Love y'all so much!

Ready for some FREE FOOD FROM CHICK-FIL-A
(if you dress like a cow on Cow Appreciation Day!)

One of my favorite members - Bro. Young
He is a convert and has the STRONGEST testimony!

Sister B's first funnel cake from the festival!  YUM!

Animal picture of the week--SSSSSSSS
(Sister B was too scared to hold the snake, but I was LOVIN IT!)

We have the BEST MEMBERS!

I'M GOING TO MISS THIS PLACE . . .

 GOODBYE WALLER COUNTY, TEXAS

Week #62 - Happy 7-11! (Free slurpees @ 7-11)

Hey Everyone!

Too bad they don't have 7-11's in Texas . . . everyone in PDX please get a free slurpee for me :)

So this week has been so great!  The 4th was super fun and we were able to help out at the Waller Freedom Festival!  I have pictures I will send later.  And we have been super busy this week, as always!  Kristy and Jacob Hernandez, our investigators who are getting baptized on the 30th, decided to take a trip with one of the members from here to REXBURG IDAHO of all places!!  Haha  They wanted to tour the school and GO SEE THE TEMPLE annnnd they are also going to go to Salt Lake City to see the Temple there toooo!!!  So obviously we are a little sad they aren't here with us, BUT they are surrounded by wonderful people up there for sure!  We are going to finish her lessons through Skype lessons.  Thank goodness for Ipads, right?  If any of y'all see Kristy walking around campus with her son and daughter, please say hi!  I will include a picture of her so be on the look out! :)

But yeah, on the other hand, we also ran over 2 WILD HOGS this week!  And a possum and snake!  #countryprobs  I love it here in Waller and I am super sad because it's the last week of the transfer and President basically told me I'm going to be transferred . . . I have been able to spend 6 months of my mission here in Waller and I have loved every minute of it! :)

Sorry it's short this week but we are also doing a lot of finding because we need to build up our teaching pool! :)

I love this gospel soooo much and I love being able to share it with people every single day. I love wearing Christ's name on my heart every day and I hope to be able to do all I can to bring others unto Him!

I love y'all soooo much and since it's transfers you can use the mission office address for any letters:)

Sister Taylor Pinster
Texas Houston Mission
16623 Hafer Rd

Houston, TX  77090

Love,

Sister Pinster

Loveeee Cypress Zone . . . and the APs came for a visit! :)

Chicken Fried Steak Texas Style.
YUMMM!  And my cute companion Sister B!

Waller Freedom Festival with our painted red/white/blue nails, matching shirts and bows
and SHADES!  Cool!

Doing Family History with our investigator, Fred!

MY TWIN!  Elder Atkinson and I are actually 6th cousins!  Can you tell?  haha

Week #61 - HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Hey!

Wow I can't believe it's already JULY! Where is the time going? I feel like it's going by so fast!

This week has been soooo great! Miracles are happening with the Hernandez family! They came to church AND Kristy texted us this morning letting us know she has some friends coming over for the BBQ who want to investigate the church too! We are so excited! Kristy is already in Jacob in the Book of Mormon!  Jacob, the son, had a great time at High Adventure with the boys and we are still working on getting the Dad more involved. But it's been so great! :) We also found another family this week as well.

Today we are planning on volunteering at the Waller Freedom Festival!  It should be super fun!  This week has been super busy with MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Tuesday and then Zone Meeting on Friday!  It was super great though and I was able to train the missionaries how to become more Observant in our work here! We also went on exchanges and I got to go with Sister Dennett! Super fun! I don't miss the city though...hahah I love serving in the country! :)

Don't have much time because we are heading to the BBQ ( I have had BBQ almost every day this past week and Texas has the BEST) soooo hopefully talk to y'all more next week!

Enjoy the 4th and be safe!

Love y'all! :)

Love,
Sister Pinster

CYPRESS ZONE FOR LIFE!

Yes, he has a taser -- we are all crazy!

Cute Sister Dennett!

At church yesterday in our RED, WHITE & BLUE!
Everyone loved my RED BOOTS! haha  It was great fun!

Week #60 - Families are FOREVER!

Howdy Everyone!

Well, this week we set two baptismal dates!  One with Kristy Hernandez and also her son!!! Her daughter is a recent convert and next we are working on the dad! We went to the Temple to walk around before one of the Mission President's fireside and Kristy felt the spirit so strong there! She told us this was the best feeling she has had since her kids were born!  We have raised the whole family's vision to be sealed in the Temple!  And on top of that, Sacrament meeting yesterday was all on the blessings of the Temple and Kristy was soaking it all in! And the night before we taught her about Temples and Family History!  It was so amazing and she thought we had planned the whole thing at church but we just testified that the Lord wanted her to hear the things spoken. It was so amazing! The Temple is such a blessing and I know it is were we truly can be sealed to our families! :)

THE TEMPLE TRULY MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE WITH OUR FAMILIES FOREVER!

My testimony has truly been strengthened this week in the Temple. Teaching the simple doctrines of how we can be with our families forever to people who have never heard of how it happens has changed me.  Sometimes I feel as members we don't understand what we truly have until we met someone who doesn't have the same knowledge.  AND that's why I love being a missionary!  Sharing the plain and simple truths we have BECAUSE of the Restoration of the Gospel! :)

So that was yesterday - Oh and I also saw my "friend" yesterday! Don't worry, we have pictures. Hahaha :)

Let me just tell y'all, serving a mission is the Bomb. I can't imagine spending my time doing anything else at this moment in life. :)

We were able to visit Washington On-The-Brazos which is the town where Texas signed their independence! One of the members took us and it was super cool to learn more about Texas History. I love Texas so much. :)

Love y'all and hope y'all had a great week!

Love,
Sister Pinster

These twins are the cutest 3-year-old kids EVER!

My comp, Sister B, passed her 8-week checkup!  Yahoo!!!

The RS Pres took us to a boat restaurant and it was super "interesting" haha -- we had to take pictures!
It was great! And that is HER truck -- you should see her husband's!
Everything is bigger and better here for sure!

Dog Pile of recent converts and missionaries!

#TexasprideisaREALthing

My weekly animal picture!

Old school checkers at the historical sight we visited today

Temple with Kristy!

Oh, and look who it is!  :)

We both got our hair cut last Monday

Week #59 - 13 Months and GOING STRONG ... Bring on the heat Houston!

Hey y'all!

So this week has been super great!! :)

One of the highlights has to do with meeting the MAYOR of Hempstead!  Don't worry, I got A PICTURE with him!  I feel like we have been sooo busy this week but I do have to tell y'all about one of the miracles!

The miracle would have to be with this former, Spoudie.  We literally accidentally knocked into him and he just moved back to the area!  We were teaching him a couple months ago and then he moved to Austin for a job but NOW he is back!  We also were able to meet his two daughters who want to learn and go to church with us as well!  We have been doing a lot of flood service this week as well and it's crazy to think it's been about a month and we are still tearing apart houses to get rid of mold ...

We also got to go back to the Bible Study we went to last week and the Pastor asked us to bear our testimonies!  We shared some scriptures and then sang, "If the Savior Stood Besides Me" and the Spirit instantly hit us all.  It was truly amazing!  They all thanked us for the wonderful sweet spirit we brought and then we were able to teach the Pastor the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon the next night! He received it very well actually! . . . and miracles are continuing to happen! :)

Overall, it has been a great week!  And it is officially summer and super hot and humid!   Bring it on Houston!

Love y'all so much!  Have a great week! :)

Love,

Sister Taylor Pinster

Our meeting with THE MAYOR of Hempstead (in the blue shirt) 

Love these Sisters!  (Elder Toolson just being Elder Toolson)

Love her!

The Cypress Zone

Photo Bombed by EL PRESIDENTE! 

This was from the flooding a couple weeks ago when we were stranded
with one of the members! Super fun stuff!

Week #57 - One CRAZY Week!

Hello! 

I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer weather!  Texas is starting to actually get a little more warm with less flooding! :) Yeah!

For real, this week was one of THE best and craziest weeks of my life!  Let me just give y'all a run down of what happened ...

MONDAY - We had a very chill P-day and picked our new Mini Missionary for the week, Kylie! :)  Super fun! 

TUESDAY - I had MLC (Mission Leaders Conf.) so I was in Houston for most of the day. It was such a great MLC and I love being able to serve in the THM. I love the Zone Leaders I work with (Elder Backstein and Elder Lives), and President Mortensen truly is such an inspiring leader! :)

We also were able to teach the Hernandez family the Restoration as well as true recent converts ALL in the same lesson!  There was about 12 of us all gathered around bearing testimony of this wonderful gospel and learning from each other as well!  It was sooo amazing!

WEDNESDAY - Okay. We had 13 wasps in our apartment that we had to kill!  It finally stopped raining and all of them decided to come in ... Thank goodness for Sister Breinholt! She is a killin machine! :) 

Also, we got chased by a pack of wolves!!  JK, the neighbor's 4 German Shepards got out and we were able to play with them. :) 

We also had our Family History class and we had a room full of non-members and members working together to find out more about their family.  I loveeee doing Family History!

THURSDAY - TEMPLE DAY!!!  It was such an amazing experience being able to do all of the work for one of my ancestors! In the Temple, I was able to see soooo many of my favorite missionaries!!  Sister Bates! Hermana Sheirbon! and even Elder Tidwell!!  Seriously the Temple is a place of refuge and peace. 

FRIDAY - Zone Meeting! Super inspiring and I love being able to help in motivating the missionaries and teach with the Zone Leaders.  It's the best! :) 

ZONE MEETING WITH THE BEST!

SATURDAY - I was able to go to a TRI-Mission (All three of the Houston Missions) MLC in Houston with Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy and Elder Jones as well!  I was able to shake their hands and talk with them!  What an incredible experience!! 

SUNDAY - We had 5 investigators at church!!!  And it was sooo awesome!!! 

SERIOUSLY THE BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION! 

This week is the McCorkles' baptism and I am so excited for the new transfer to start as well! :)  Change is always good, and I get to stay another transfer in Waller to finish training Sister Breinholt!  I will be here for 6 months!!!  WHoop!! 

Sorry this is SUPER long but this week is one to remember! I will send pictures a little later today!

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Sister Pinster

Saying goodbye to Sister Bates
... till we meet again!

Houston Temple - with Elder Tidwell and his comps

Houston Temple and my cute comps!

Sister Breinholt and Kylie--our little mini-missionary
So sad saying goodbye!