Preaching and Pepper Drool

Area: Converse
Companion: Sister Sarah Felix

Good morning!

This week Sister Felix and I decided to ride bikes because we reached our mile limitation on the car. It was the perfect day to do it. The weather was beautiful. It's technically fall here, but it's still very summer-like. The leaves don't change color or fall off unless the tree is dead. It's nice that it's still fairly warm. We've really been doing a lot of "preaching by the way" this week. It was fun to apply that as we rode bikes and tried to talk to everyone we saw. In one neighborhood we rode down, a woman on the other side of the street waved us down and called out, are you Mormon's? Sister Felix and I went over and talked to her. She said she was on her way out, but wanted to learn more about our religion. She said she was thinking about "converting". We were pretty excited, got her phone number and set up a time to come back. It is so interesting how the Lord places people in our path. I am truly coming to understand on a deeper level the importance of trusting God's promises.

This weekend our stake had stake conference. The theme was hastening the work. All the missionaries were invited to the adult session on Saturday. It was amazing. The youth were involved, and the spirit of missionary work was so strong. President and Sister Slaughter were there and spoke. Elder Greer, of the seventy spoke. Sunday was amazing as well. I took a lot of notes. One of the impressions that sunk deep into my heart was to trust in God's promises. The spirit reminded me of words from the Father's blessing I received just before leaving for the MTC. That is that there are people waiting specifically for me and the love that I have, and that as I am exactly obedient, I will see miracles. Those promises apply to all missionaries, but the Lord promised those things to me through a priesthood blessing. Elder Hamula of the seventy came to our mission a couple weeks ago. One of the things he talked about is the faith to succeed. We all have the faith to serve. Now we need to let go of our pride, and have the faith to succeed. It has been such a blessing to follow this counsel, and see the fruits that come as a result. He also talked about complete consecration. I've been focusing my studies lately on what complete consecration is, and how I obtain it.

On Wednesday, we met a woman outside her house who only spoke Spanish. Sister Felix knows enough Spanish to introduce ourselves and give out pass along cards.We met this woman and she invited us to sit on her lawn chairs. She then went on and on talking in Spanish. We did our best to understand some of what she was saying and be interested. Somehow she thought we could understand her. We had un Libro de Mormon with us. I didn't really know how to help her understand who we were and that we wanted to give her one. The only thing I know in Spanish is 3 Nephi 5:13. I don't know how to spell it in Spanish, so here's the English: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life."

Sister Fleix and I did the best we could, and offered her a Book of Mormon in Espanol. She accepted it. She was very interested in the pass-along card that had a picture of the Salt Lake City temple on it. I hope that she reads the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more. I really want to learn Spanish now! Someday, maybe I will. I also want to learn ASL. That way an can communicate with most people.

Earlier in the week we ate dinner with the [C] family, who is part Thai. Sister [C] is from Thailand, and Brother [C] is pure white. :) They fed us some delicious Thai food! She toned down on the spice for us. None of it was really spicy. There were these garnish peppers that looked really interesting. We weren't expected to eat them, they were just there. I asked Sister [C] what it was. She simply said, "a pepper". I asked if it was spicy. She got a mischievous grin on her face and said, "try it". Sister Felix chanted, "eat it, eat it!" I already told her jokingly that I don't give into peer pressure. Ha ha. But I was curious about the pepper. I knew it was going to be spicy by the look Sister [C] gave me, but took a bite. I probably took a bigger bite than I should have. I didn't feel anything at first, but pretty soon my face heated up and my eyes started to water. It was HOT! Really hot! The hottest thing I have ever eaten. I tried to contain myself. I couldn't even hold still. Sister Felix saw my eyes watering and died laughing. It was really funny. Eventually I couldn't stand it and asked, "Can I use your bathroom?" I drooled in the sink for about 5 minutes. Ha ha! Dad, I thought you would appreciate this story. And mom, you're probably rolling your eyes. :)

I'm so grateful to be on a mission. I love being a missionary! All in.

Sincerely,

Sister Record