Texas: Week 10

Hey everyone!

So this week has probably been one of the craziest. The weather is absolutely disgusting. Something funny about that: I was reading my MTC journal and there was one entry where I talked about the fact that I couldnt sleep because it was so hot in the room: it was 75 degrees. Bah! What I wouldnt give to be in 75 degree weather again! Saturday it was 106 and that was the day we decided to paint the church railing at 2 o'clock so bueno! I just lost 60 lbs in water weight! (I wish). It doesnt get below 82 or so in our apartment even during the night: I'm looking forward to Argentina. I thought it was a little ironic that I wouldnt have a summer when I first started my mission since the seasons are switched over there, but now I think that I wont get a winter for a year seeing as by the time I get over there, their summer will be starting. Because of the hot weather they are crazy about melons here so thats a bonus! At one point we had three watermelons given to us by an investigator and Sister Monsen doesnt like watermelon so I ate one by myself, gave one away, and am slowly eating another one that is the size of two. Good times! It is a good thing that we had the watermelon though because we ran out of money for the month almost two weeks ago and the fruits of that have been very evident in our meals.

Last Monday I mentioned the fact that we were going to the pediatrist to check out my foot which meant that we got to see the beach! That was probably the most exciting thing that happened (not really but I will be getting to THAT story in a second). I have never wanted to swim so much in my life! One of the bonus's of hot weather: swimming! Anyway we took some pictures when we got the chance but because of that trip I didnt write all the letters I have been meaning to. I will try to get them all done today, but I doubt that since they are really wracking up. I have almost 10 I think. So if you are one of those ten then I'm sorry it has been so long! Anyway, what happened at the pediatrist is that he told me the reason my foot was hurting so bad was because the bone on the top of my foot doesnt have as much padding as most peoples. It is more sensitive and the nerves get easily irritated so he told me how to fix that when it happens again.

Moving on to more exciting things. We had 5 (almost 6) new investigators this week! A lot of them were found in one day which was crazy, but super exciting. I'm not sure if any of them are actually ready to join the church yet, but each one of them needed us in one way or another. The almost 6th investigator is a super sad story actually. His name is Robert and he was someone we actually could see going somewhere. He has been looking for the true church for a long time and has been praying for Heavenly Father to help him find it. He felt the spirit like crazy in our lesson and he was saying how that is a feeling that he wants in his life. He was super golden and we were pretty excited about it. The lesson went super well and at the end when we pulled out the Book of Mormon he immediately started talking about someone he grew up with that was Mormon. He didnt know that Mormon's were Christians and this man was someone he seriously admired. That man happened to be the Branch President's son who is the 2nd counselor in the Young Single Adult's Branch. Robert is married and has two kids by the way. His wife never joined us for the lesson and he said they were having problems. We have no idea what happened but after texting him all weekend and never getting a response we called him on Sunday to see if he was coming to church. His wife answered and said that he didnt want to meet with us anymore and that we should stop calling and texting him. Sister Monsen asked if we had done something wrong and his wife just said that he found some information about our church and he isnt interested now. That is probably the most devastating thing that has happened so far. I couldnt believe that Satan could lead someone away so far that would have them deny all that they knew and felt from only one lesson.

SO moving on to more joyous things: our apartment almost got broken into. It was actually pretty exciting after the fact. We came home Saturday night and it was super dark so we could barely see anything, but our screen on the window next to our door was almost completely pried off. My companion was trying to open our door but couldnt because they had broken the door so that we couldnt unlock the dead-bolt from outside. It was an unsuccessful attempt at breaking in, which could have been successful because we broke into our own apartment through the bathroom window: it was unlocked. I was the one who climbed through it and let me just tell you that is no easy feat in a skirt: good thing I had worn my stretchy one that day. The bottom of the window is a good 6 feet from the ground so Sister Monsen gave me a boost. It isnt that big of a window and I couldnt get my feet in first so I went in face first which is why it was so hard. The sink is right below the window and almost 4 feet down which was the highest thing for me to use for support. When I was half in, half out of the apartment I was at a loss of what to do, so I just kind of laughed at my predicament and asked Sister Monsen what to do. She was pretty worried, but meh it was fine. At that point all that was really going through my head was that I wished she had her camera on her. The funniest thing about the fact that people tried to break into OUR apartment is that it is the absolute worst apartment you could try to break into. We have no electronics, no valuable jewelry, we were out of food, and no cash or credit cards anywhere. The mini dvd player we do have is broken so HAH jokes on them!

Anyway, this transfer has two more weeks and Hermana Canada (MTC companion that is in Neuquen) said that 20 Hermanas are coming in this next transfer. I have no idea if one of those will be me, but the Mission President said that most likely I will be leaving. This is the last thing I want to mention: we got a new mission president! I havent met him yet but he arrived on Friday last week. He has some young kids and he is from Chili. That is pretty exciting :). Anyway, I love you all!!!!! Thank you for your emails!

And also: will someone please try to find me a pocket Bible in spanish? I really want to have one for Argentina and I'm not in an area where I can get one. If you could find a pocket spanish Book of Mormon that would be awesome too, but I dont know if that exists. Anyway, I LOVE YOU ALL LIKE CRAZY!!!

Hermana Allen