Week #53 - TIME FLIES!!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Howdy!

So this week has been another great one!  Lots of miracles and I just LOVE my cute new companion.  She was made for the country as well. :)  We sure have a lot of fun together as well as we see lots of great things happening!

It is so weird for me to think the next time I see my family again will be at the airport ...Time truly is FLYING!

I don't have a whole bunch of time today but Mother's Day was so great and it was great skyping with the BEST MOM EVER! :)  And seeing the rest of my amazing family!  I have pictures to send but I will have to send them later on today. 

MLC AND Zone Meeting was this week!  Seriously being a missionary is the best and I love being able to be a part of the leadership counsel.  President Mortensen is such an inspired leader and I feel so blessed to be in this mission with him. 

The church is true and my testimony in trials has truly been strengthen these last couple of months but I know we got through them to learn!  I have learned so much and I am so grateful to know I have a Savior and Heavenly Father who truly love me and are ALWAYS on my side. :) 

I love the gospel and I LOVE teaching people about the joy of eternal families!  I love reading the Bible and Book of Mormon every day and serving with some of the best missionaries out there in the BEST MISSION!  THM for life. 

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

Love, 

Sister Pinster

NUTELLA from Oregon to celebrate!

I found my street!
Taylor Street
Waller, Texas

HAPPY 1-YEAR TO ME!
Dinner at Red Robin to Celebrate Texas Style!!!

Skyping with my cute family on Mother's Day!

MLC with my FAV Sister Soto!!!

Week #52 - TRAINING AND ONE YEAR MARK

HELLO! 

So this week has been CRAZY and the best!

First off, I am training again!  Her name is Sister Breinholt and she is so awesome!  We are already best friends!  

We have had lots of miracles happen and we have started teaching a couple new families this week!  My miracle is going to be with the Webster family because we found them last Sunday, taught the Mom and daughter briefly, but yesterday we were able to teach the whole family the Restoration and wow! It was super powerful! The husband is a very knowledgeable man about religion (especially the Bible) and in his closing prayer he said, "help us to know there is more knowledge for us to learn through the Book of Mormon" and he mentioned he wants to have eyes to see the new knowledge he has been searching for!  We took the member who lives two houses down with us and she was even more amazed after the lesson at how powerful the spirit was!  It was such an amazing lesson and this family truly is seeking!

We had transfers Tuesday morning and since I was waiting from my cute new trainee AKA baby, I was able to be in a trio with Sister Tabolt and Dennett!  Super fun!  I have some pictures of our not planned matching outfits. :)

Then, Thursday was training meeting!  Only two sisters came to Houston this transfer!  I am so excited for the next two transfers with Sister Breinholt!  Miracles are waiting to happen! 

I have A LOT of pictures this week -- 

Oh ... I HIT MY YEAR MARK ON MAY 6TH THIS WEEK!  CRAAAAZY! 

Hope Y'all have a great week and love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Pinster

Official 1-Year Picture

Companion Pic - Pinster and Breinholt

District Picture

Found this cute decor outside tracking this week

LOOK WHO I FOUND AT TRANSFERS!  My BFFs!
Sister Bates and Elder Seamons
LOVE THEM!

Last Family History Club of the semester with these wonderful
people.  LOVE THEM!

Found this AWESOME Jeffery R. Holland quote on a billboard on the way to Houston!

CTR RINGS
(Breinholt, Pinster, Tabolt and Dennett)

Week #51 - The Rains came down, and the Floods came up! ☔

Hey y'all!

Well, we survived the floods this week! I have some great pics to send out today!

But yeah so this week has been very different but full of miracles!

We have seen miracles because of our goals and faith!  We made it a  goal to get 7 days of 15 ITLS (Invitations to Learn) and we did it!  We  didn't know it was going to flood and throw off our schedule, but we made sure we went finding/tracting every night.  The Lord truly blessed us every night with new people to teach and we ended up having 10 new investigators this week!  What a miracle!  Our next plan is to get them  progressing and to church! :)

We have been doing LOTS of service this week with all the flood victims!  It's been super sad to see all of the houses being destroyed and has truly opened my eyes to make sure you always have a 72 hour kit.  The people here are truly being humbled and are turning to God for answers.  It's been amazing to see!

Well, that is about all for this week!

Love y'all and stay safe!

Love,
Sister Pinster

Houston Temple after the flooding.
The water stopped at the gates.  Pretty amazing!

A recent convert's house ... good thing they have flood insurance!

Boat ride during the flood!

A ward member going for a stroll!

Sister Tabolt and Sister Selee taking a break ...
Closest we will come to swimming on our missions!

Service with the Sisters (Tabolt, Pinster, Selee, Ray)
(Good thing I am a DUCK)

Sad day.  Sister Ray is being transferred ...

Serious faces
LOVE THE CY-FAIR DISTRICT

Favorite members!  Pri and Dr. Sam

Week #50 - Pray with Faith

Hey y'all!

So this week has been great!  We found 7 new people to teach and set a date with Skye! We have plans to start teaching her whole family this week as well! :)

Last night it was raining and storming and today, everywhere is flooded! All of Houston! School and work was canceled for lots of people and many homes have already been destroyed...it's so sad to see but it's amazing to see the Ward here work together! We are safe (we live with the RS Pres) and on a hill.  But lots of the members and people in this area are experiencing the effects of the flooding.

I don't have a lot of time today but I do have a cool experience I wanted to share ...

On the way to District Meeting, we said a prayer as we were heading out the door and I remember specifically asking for safety as we travel to our next destination.  Well, our on way to Cypress there was a car completely stopped on the freeway.  One of the cars didn't see us and tried to get over before hitting the stopped car and in turn, we had to slam on our brakes before we hit the car.  We were literally not even a foot away from the car. I remember feeling so much peace afterward immediately recognizing Heavenly Father had answers our specific prayer to keep us safe.  We said a prayer to thank Him and were off to District Meeting a little sore from the whiplash and still in shock.  It truly has strengthened my testimony in prayers and how we need to pray with faith specifically for Heavenly Father to answer. :)

Love Houston, Love the Rain (I'm from Oregon, remember) and love the Gospel!

Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Pinster

Panda for the first time in a year!
And the best fortune ever for a missionary!
"Success will come from your plans!"

Classic Texas with LOTS of crosses.
I love it HERE!

This was taken on Sunday before the rain really started to pour.
Classic rain pic!

EMAIL FROM PRES MORTENSEN - TEXAS HOUSTON MISSION STATUS

April 18, 2016

Dear Missionary Parents,

We are experiencing some bad weather here in many parts of Houston.  At present all missionaries are accounted for and well.  You may not receive an e-mail today because of the lack of power in some areas.  We will inform you if there is a change in status.

Thank you.

President Mortensen

HOUSTON TEMPLE FLOODED PARKING LOT
The Temple is our refuge from the storms of life

Photo by Robert A. Boyd

Week #49 - Howdy!

This week has been so much fun!  We were able to set two baptismal dates with the McCorkle boys for the end of this month!  We are so excited for them! :)

And yesterday at Church, we had 4 investigators at church and 3 of them were there for the first time! Skye, Erika, Tony and Spoudie. Skye brought her daughter and sister AND Spoudie even brought his mom!  We plan on beginning teaching them all this week!  It was so great!  We gave the Ward a heads up and made sure each investigator would have a friend and everyone did!  It was so cool! :)  I felt like a mother hen making sure all my new chicks knew what to do!  But yes, miracles are truly happening in the Waller Ward! :)

I have lots of pictures this week because as you know, pictures say a thousand words!

Conference was the best and remember to reread your notes and ponder the talks that were given!

I know the church is True and that Christ truly does lead it!  Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet today and I know Joseph was truly the prophet of the Restoration.  I'm grateful for the wonderful knowledge I have of this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it with others full-time for 18 months!  Missions are the best!

Love y'all and have a great week!

This is Crazy Sharen from last week's email.  She's hilarious!

This is our backyard ... :)

And this is our front yard!  :)

Oh, and can't forget about Paint, the mini donkey!

Pres. and Sister Mortensen came to our District Meeting this week.  LOVE THEM!

This is one of the members in our Ward, Dr. Sam.
He's going to be famous one day!

With Tia!  We volunteer at a women's pregnancy clinic every week and
she is the manager and took us out to lunch!

LOTS OF SISTAS!
We started teaching these two and their family.  SO CUTE!

Week #48 - General Conference and MLC Week! & LOTS OF PICTURES

Hey Everyone!

Conference and MLC this week!  Sooo many things to ponder now!

We had MLC (Mission Leaders Conference) this week and WOW!  I learned so much and I was able to teach about Faith to the Zone at Zone meeting.  You know when they say the teacher gets the most out of the lessons?  Well, definitely felt that way this week. It was so great studying and preparing for what to share and to see my faith grow as well. :)

Miracles are ALWAYS happening in Waller and it's amazing experiencing them!  One of them has to do with a woman we met this week,  Sharon.  She's honestly one of the typically "Southern Baptist Gmas" but she  was open to learning more about Christ! When we invited her to read the Book of Mormon, she was a little hesitant because all her life the Preacher has always told her to read ONLY the Bible, but once we taught the "Why" she wanted to read it!  It was so cool to feel the spirit testify of the Truths found in the Book of Mormon and to see her whole perspective change! :)

The PVAMU Family History class is such a success! We had 10 students this week who were all so excited for Family History!  Some even shed some tears when learning about their ancestors.  It was amazing!  A couple of our investigators no longer want to meet, BUT we also found Sharon, Terrie and her family!  We feel so good about both of them as well as Skye and her family!  We were able to teach Skye the Restoration and she is loving the Book of Mormon as well!  We have paired up members for each investigator to be their friends because the members are so good at it!  We are teaching lots of families right now and it's the best! :)

Conference was amazing and I know it's typical, but Elder Holland is such a power house! His talk was so good! :)

Well, it's been a great week and here are some pictures!

Love y'all!

Love,

Sister Pinster

MLC with the "original 3"
(Friends since the MTC  - Sister Packard, Sister Pinster & Sister Soto)

Found a cute caterpillar and named her Alejandra

PVAMU FAMILY HISTORY CLUB
with some Ward Family History consultants

ZONE MEETING with the best Zone EVER!
CYPRESS ZONE - April 2016

TRYING MY FIRST CRAWFISH

Went on exchanges with Sister Selee!!!

Living the Country (BEST) Life EVER!