Week #25 - Happy Fall Y'all!

Hey!

I just love Texas!  Especially the small towns I am currently serving in--Caldwell and Hearne.  The two branches are amazing and the members are so strong and getting motivated to do missionary work!  It's been such a change in the culture from the beginning of us opening this area and now!  I just feel so blessed to be a part of this!  I was able to go on exchanges this week with the YSA sisters covering Texas A&M.  Wow, what a difference.  Being on campus is a lot different than the small towns. I definitely live in A&M country! I loved being on campus and it was such a great experience!  I also got to ride a bike the whole time and WOW--I was not prepared for that.  Haha, but it was super fun!

We have started teaching the Mayor of Hearne!  Let me just say we are truly trying to convert the whole town!  Hahaha  His name is Ruben and his wife is Kathy.  They are progressing and wow, when we taught them the Restoration, they were so humble and accepting!  After the First Vision lesson, both of them said, "Wow" and we sat in silence and let the spirit take over.  When we invited them to be baptized, both of them said "Yes" with no hesitation or concerns.  That never happens!  Miracles!  We were just suppose to meet them, and I literally got emotional when they said yes.

The message we share is true.  Everyone needs to hear it and it's our turn to share it! The Restoration is such a powerful message!  Ruben and Kathy were so ready to read the Book of Mormon, it was inspiring.  Kathy even asked if there was a Bible Study she could go to and Ruben said, "You got one right here with these wonderful ladies!" It's crazy to think there really are people who have been waiting for this gospel.

Brother Love was our member who came with us, and he is a convert from the Baptist church, and Kathy was a Baptist as well!  Connection!  The best part was when Brother Love was explaining how his glass felt half full with the Baptist religion and when he found the Book of Mormon and the LDS Church, his cup is now overflowing.  Members are so amazing and if any of you have the chance, please go out with the missionaries! :)

So yeah, last week on P-day we went to a Safari that is in our area, super fun!  And yesterday at church it was suppose to be the primary program, but half of the branch was stuck at home because of the flooding from the hurricane, so they called us up to speak like two minutes before the meeting started.  Relying on the spirit was all we could do and it was a great experience!  I love giving talks now and being prepared is truly a blessing.  We also taught Relief Society so we hope no one was too tired of us talking :)

Oh and ... Brother Floyd Hafley is getting baptized on Sunday!  We moved his baptism date up because he is so ready and prepared! :)

There is just so much to do here!  We found 9 new investigators last week and we even had to teach a lesson this morning on P-Day to fit everything in! :)  The Lord is blessing us in so many ways and I can't thank Him enough.

I love being out here and I love this gospel so much!  It truly changes lives and brings so much happiness!

I hope everyone has a "blessed" week!

Love,

Sister Pinster

Misc Pictures from Taylor

P-DAY ADVENTURE AT A TEXAS DRIVE-THRU SAFARI

(ALMOST AS GOOD AS OREGON'S WILDLIFE SAFARI)

LOTS OF RECENT CAR ISSUES (FLAT TIRE & DEER DAMAGE):

"All of a sudden, there was a deer running beside our car . . . and then it ran into us ... BUMP, BUMP!"

CAR DAMAGE FROM HITTING A DEER
(. . . NOT AT THE SAFARI)

MARY'S FIRST TIME AT THE HOUSTON TEMPLE TOUR

Week #24 - A Week Full of Adventures!

October 19, 2015

What a week!  I don't even know where to start!

 

I guess the first thing that happened was on Wednesday... a deer hit us. Literally ran into the side of our car!  We had to go to Houston to go to the mission office and get a new car, but all is well and no one was hurt, besides the deer.

 

Then we had a crazy day of planning and since we went to Houston, we had to reschedule all of our appointments. We also went on exchanges this week, which was super fun! We had interviews with our mission president and wow, he's so amazing. We have been tracting a lot and found 5 new investigators this week! Now we have to work on getting them to progress! :)

Our investigator Brother Floyd Hafley is getting baptized on Nov. 7! I wanted to share his story today:

We found him tracting on August 15 (my birthday!). He slammed the door in our faces...Then when we were walking by back to our car, he wanted to talk to us and apologize and introduce us to his brother!  Weird, right?  Well, he had just recently lost his wife and was still grieving and didn't want to listen to missionaries, but then he felt like the message we had to share would help him...little did he know how much it truly would!  We lost contact with him for about a couple months and were unable to track him down, but then one day when we were in the neighborhood we saw his car and stopped by!  We scheduled an appointment, taught him the plan of salvation, and committed him to
start reading the Book of Mormon.  He came to church, went to a fireside held by the mission president, and last week we were able to go to the temple of grounds tours.  We invited him to be baptized but he was resistant.  This week we had him read 2 Nephi 31 and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we invited him at the end of the lesson, the Spirit was so powerful and he said yes!  It's been a journey but now he's on board and wants to do everything he can to prepare for baptism!  It's amazing!  

 

Sometimes, we need to be patient with others and with the Lord, and then the miracles come.  Our family we were teaching dropped us, but in return we found another family and more people who are interested!  There is seriously just not enough time out here! :)

Fun story, so we don't have a place to stay in Hearne, and this weekend we have been staying in a tent in the backyard of our Branch President.  Good thing we love camping!  Haha it's been such an
adventure and I love being able to help hasten the Lord's work! :)

Today we are going to a drive thru Safari and we are so excited!  Hope everyone has a great week and can't wait to hear from y'all!  Love you!

Love,
Sister Pinster

 

 

Week #23 - "Keep Your Eye on the Temple!"

October 12, 2015

"Always start with the ending in mind."  President Mortensen, my mission president, is such an inspired man.

THE HOUSTON TEXAS TEMPLE

This past week has flown by and I can't believe we are almost half way through October.  Crazy!  Last night we were able to drive to the Temple Tours with our investigator Floyd and our recent convert Mary!  WOW!  What a powerful and spiritual experience!  The spirit is always so strong at the temple and I encourage everyone to go as often as they can.  I am not just here to baptize people.  We are all here to help bring others unto Christ and help them to be in the safety of covenants with God.  Getting baptized is just the beginning, and going to the Temple and being sealed as families is the goal for everyone!

SISTER PINSTER, MARY, SISTER SELEE & FLOYD ON THE WAY TO THE TEMPLE TOUR

This week, we have been a little sick but the work is still progressing!  Our branches are wonderful and Floyd came to church as well as another investigator!  Yay!  It is such a great experience!  We also sang "How Great Thou Art" in church and let me tell you, the spirit was there and I have such a strong testimony of music and the power it has to bring the spirit.  Even though there were 16 people in church, there were many tears and it was incredible. 

Being on a mission is the best.  Bringing people closer to Christ full-time is the only way I want to spend my time! :)

I hope everyone is still doing the pondering challenge.  Send me some good scriptures when you find them! :)  Conference was the best and one of my favorite quotes was from Pres. Uchtdorf, "Exaltation is our goal; Discipleship is our journey."

Hope everyone has a great week! Love y'all!

Love,
Sister Pinster

GREAT HOUSES

A TYPICAL COUNTRY ROAD

WE LOVE TEXAS!

STOPPED FOR AN ARMADILLO CROSSING

YEAH! MOD PIZZA!

Week #22 - "Conferizing"

October 5, 2015

Hey! How did everyone enjoy conference? It was the best, right? Soooo many great talks and President Monson is the cutest.  Send me your favorite talks or quotes! 

We were able to get some of our investigators to listen to conference and wow!  The Spirit filled the room!  Brother Floyd, our most progressing investigator, loved the talk by Elder Foster, the convert, and really related to him!  We are setting a baptismal date with him this week hopefully! So that is a miracle! :)

FLOYD     (Check out the message on the window!)

We have some of the best members in these two branches, they do so much for us and I can't thank them enough!  Since the numbers are so few, we see them often and we truly feel part of the family!  It's so great! 

We have started teaching two new families this week!  Kenneth, Neshena and Courtney are new and they are a great family. They have such strong testimonies in Christ and are willing to do whatever Christ asks of them.  We love them so much.  I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for them and for us this week!

Also, I love the whole idea of ponderizing as well!  Send me some good scriptures if you can!  Hope everyone is having a great week and are pondering the messages we heard this weekend.  Remember, no one is perfect, but we can be made perfect through the Atonement of Christ.  

Keep the commandments, search the scriptures, and pray for help and strength.  Heavenly Father loves each of you so so much, and being a missionary is one of the best calling to have in life!

3 Nephi 27:20 is one of my favorite scriptures this week, as well as Proverbs 3:5-6!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Pinster

Week #21 - Texas Miracles!

September 27, 2015

Hey y'all!

One miracle that happened this week happened last night.  Our investigator, Brother Floyd, is a super nice older man who recently lost his wife.  We found him tracting and he loves us and the messages we shared, the Plan of Salvation and Restoration.  We are setting a baptismal date with him this week as well!  

He came to the "Why I Believe" Mission fireside last night and loved it.  He felt the spirit and when we introducted him to some of the people from the Branch, he told them, "I am one of the perspective converts for the church!"  WHAT!  Haha, we were so excited!  It was quite funny, but at the same time we know it's true!  He is already being fellowshipped very well and we have been able to use facetime so that we can make contact with him more often!  Technology these days ... but seriously, these firesides happen every month and this month it was in my stake, College Station!  AND MARY, MY RECENT CONVERT, WAS CHOSEN TO SPEAK! Talk about exciting news! She did amazing and her testimony is so strong in this gospel already. I can't believe how wonderful this gospel is and how much it can truly change lives.

And on top of that, one of our eternigators (she's been investigating the church for almost 2 years now), has committed to baptism!  yay!  We are so excited for her!  Her name is Marsha. :)  She's a veterinarian and we teach her at her vet office, talk about heaven for an animal lover like me!!!  Haha

But we are truly seeing miracles in Caldwell and Hearne, and this week has been great!  I can't wait to see what else the future holds for these little towns in Texas! :)

Also, Women's Conference was amazing, and I am so so excited for General Conference this weekend!  We are getting all of our investigators to at least one session! :)

Let me know what some of y'all favorites talks are next week!

Love you all and have a great week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Pinster

Week #20 - Another Week in Paradise

Hey Y'all!

Well, this week was full of some wonderful adventures and moments!  It was so great, besides the fact that both of us were sick for the first half the week and were told to stay home and get rest.  But, besides that little hiccup, this week has been amazing!  Also, last week was great as well.  I totally ran out of time last week and forgot to send my group email, my bad.  

Last week we were able to find 11 new investigators, including a family!  Let me just say miracles are happening here in the small towns of Caldwell and Hearne.  This week we were able to teach the Stickles family the Restoration and they came to church!  Even though the branch in Hearne is small in numbers, the members are amazing.  We had about 20 people at church and the spirit there was so strong.  I am so excited for this family!

Our recent convert Mary still seems to amaze me every single day.  We were able to take her to the Temple Tours at the Houston Temple last night and she was unbelievably happy.  She even shed a couple tears when we pulled up because she had never seen anything more beautiful.  We are so excited to teach her to do baptisms in the next week or so!  

Another miracle that happened this week was we were able to go on splits for church to both of our Branches!  One of the members picked me up and took me to Hearne and Mary took Sister Selee to Caldwell.  We had investigators going to church for the first time in both Branches and wanted to be there for all of them.  We prayed and fasted to find a way to make it to both, and the members here were the answers to our prayers!  They also brought us chicken noodle soup while we were sick and were constantly checking up on us. I love them so much.

Oh, and our car died for the second time this month and we had to have our neighbor jump it; the joys of car trouble.  But, everything happens for a reason, right? :)

I love being out here in the country and even though we do spend a lot of the time in the car, the people here are wonderful and we are ready to harvest because the field is white.

I hope everyone is having a great week and I can't wait to hear from all of you!

Some of my favorite scriptures this week are Mosiah 24:14 and Mosiah 2:14. The Book of Mormon is the best and I love being able to spend the time to study it each and every day.  Being on a mission has blessed my life so much!  I can't wait to be able to find and teach our investigators and get them to the waters of baptism as well as the Temple.  It is such a great experience! Being a missionary is literally paradise and I can't imagine being anywhere else right now.  :) 

Love y'all and keep the Lord's work moving! 

Love, 

Sister Pinster