Group E-mail 9/15/14

Just the normal missionary stuff to report for this week. Visiting less-actives and recent converts. Teaching investigators. Finding new people to teach. I practiced some of my Spanish with Sis. Diaz. I can understand it pretty well, I just can't speak it. We got to know some more members in the ward. They are all awesome and hilarious. 

Highlights for this week include, but are not limited to:

• Eating a fish. One of those fishes that is cooked, but it looks like a real, live fish with the scales and the tail and the head, including the eyes. It was really good. I love fish. I ate the fish's eyes. They were pretty good, but the thought of eating eyes kind of threw me off. It was weird.
• We visited a member couple in our ward and talked about all sorts of stuff like how much we love Idaho, floating the Boise River, cool spiritual experiences, wayward children, and prophets. And during this whole conversations, I definitely had the coolest seat in the house -- a horse saddle set up on stand. The closest thing I have to riding a horse on my mission. And I felt like a true Texan -- sitting on a horse saddle in the living room.
• We had dinner with a family and some of their friends on Friday. Delicious food. Delicious. At the end we shared a message on following the prophet, after which the husband said, "Oh we were just with the prophet 5 weeks ago." What?! Yeah he has known President Monson his whole life and they are good friends. That is so cool!
• We are teaching two siblings of a recent convert. And they all came to church yesterday. The two kids love the Book of Mormon stories book and keep it in their backpacks so they can read it at school.
• Met an Irish guy and gave him a Book of Mormon. I love how diverse Houston is. So many people from everywhere.
• One of our investigators moved -- that isn't really a good highlight, but thought I would mention it. She moved to Cut 'N Shoot. And yes there is really a town in Texas called Cut 'N Shoot. It is kind of sketchy.
• We got a new investigator. Guadalupe. We started teaching her about the Restoration -- correction, Sis. Diaz taught. It was all in Spanish. I tried to use my not-very-existant gift of tongues to understand what they are saying. Sis. Diaz taught me how to bear my testimony in Spanish. So I can now bear my testimony in 3 languages -- english, spanish, and texan.
• Officially met and got to know the ward mission leader and his wife. They are awesome. 
• This weekend the weather was really nice and it was cool and so great. I even wore my red jacket Saturday night just because I could without getting super hot and sticky with sweat.

This week I'm especially grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that allows and helps us overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings. Through it we can change and become the sons and daughters that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. Without the Atonement trying to change or become better would be so much more difficult and pointless. And I can't imagine a world where change and improvement weren't possible or worth it. I''m grateful for how much I have learned and grown on my mission because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His beautiful teachings that we can find in the scriptures. And I look forward to continuing to learn and grow during the rest of my mission and life. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.I know that His Priesthood, Gospel, and Church have been restored to the earth. I know He lives. And I know that he speaks to us today. 

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail 9/8/14

A ton of stuff has happened in the last couple of weeks, but I don't have much time, so this will be pretty short. 

I got transferred. I am now serving in Montgomery with Sis. Diaz who is from Honduras and has been out for 9 months. Montgomery is absolutely beautiful. I am head over heals in love with it. It is the country and Heavenly Father is so kind to let me serve in the country before I go home. 

To wrap up stuff in Bear Creek:

Leila got her patriarchal blessing and loved it. 

A less-active, Sis. Smith, who had been starting to have a stronger desire to come back to church and finally came a couple of weeks ago, decided she wants to go to the temple. We went over to her house on Thursday and she told us she was meeting with the Bishop that night to see what she needs to do to get to the temple. It was so out of the blue, but it was awesome! We were so excited for her. She has never been to the temple before and said that she feels like it is time. She has been doing so great and she is going to prepare to go the temple in November. 

I loved serving in Bear Creek! Everyone there was so awesome and I love them all! We had a lot of success and I feel like we did well in carrying out the Lord's will in the area. 

Things here in Montgomery are great. The ward is awesome! Everyone is really welcoming and hilarious and loves the missionaries. We have quite a few investigators to work with and one of them is supposed to get baptized in a couple of weeks. And we are trying to start working with some less-actives, since the ward has a ton of them. Things are going well.

I hope you all have a great week and I love all of you!!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail 8/18/14

This was the week of exchanges. I got to serve with four different sisters, all at different times, this week. 

On Tuesday night we swapped companions with Katy 2nd sisters. Sis. Hassell stayed in Bear Creek with Sis. Peterson, and I went to Katy 2nd with Sis. Lusk. However, I ended up spending most of the day with Sis. Williams. I shall explain in the least confusing way I can. So I was in Katy 2nd for the day with Sis. Lusk. Over in Nottingham Country, they were also doing exchanges. Sis. Williams, who usually serves in Katy 1st, was there on exchanges with Sis. Colton. During companion study on Wednesday morning, Nottingham sisters called us. Sis. Colton needed to go to the mission office to do some stuff, and they don't have a car, so she needed Sis. Lusk to drive her. Which means that while Sis. Lusk and Sis. Colton went to the mission office, Sis. Williams and I were left to cover two areas, Katy 2nd and Nottingham -- two areas neither of us new anything about. So we hopped on the bikes they left us and made it up as we went. We went tracting in the morning. Ate some lunch. Then went to an appointment that Katy 2nd, had to paint nails at a senior assisted living place. Just in case any of you didn't know, I don't paint my nails, and I stink at it. I'm really. bad. at it. Sis. Williams is a pro (she paints old ladies nails every week in her area) and did 4 ladies faster than I did 1. The lady I was helping, Jane, was so cute and she had some good stories. She was wearing red nail polish. So I cleaned it off, and cut and filed her nails. And then what color did she pick to get her nails repainted? Red. Okay. That's fine. Why did I take it off in the first place? So I started painting one hand and it didn't look very good, so Sis. Williams finished it. I don't do nails.

Then we decided to go contact some potential investigators that Nottingham was going to check in on today. We plugged the first address into the gps. It took us in circles and kept telling us to turn around and go back the other way, no matter what we did. It was ridiculous. So we gave up on that one and tried another one. They weren't interested. Sis. Lusk and Sis. Colton got back at around 4 pm, so we rode back and Sis. Lusk and I spent the rest of the night together. We visited one of their investigators and went to a meeting. And then we switched back. It was fun. Sis. Williams and I both enjoyed white washing an area for a day. And it was fun to get to know Sis. Williams and Sis. Lusk.

I came home Wednesday night. Sis. Hassell hasn't been feeling well for the past week or so. When I got back she was feeling worse, and then Thursday morning she woke up and was really sick. So we were out of commission for a couple of days. Thursday and Friday we spent in the apartment. Sis. Hassell slept and I read Jesus the Christ. I love that book. Saturday, she still needed to rest, but we were so sick of the apartment so visited a couple of people and went to the library to do mormon.org time. That night, the Katy 2nd sisters (the ones we just went on exchanges with) called. They had heard that sis. Hassell was sick, so they wanted to do exchanges again. So I stayed in Bear Creek with Sis. Peterson, and Sis. Hassell went with Sis. Lusk to Katy 2nd. Exchanges on Sundays are a little weird, but fun. We just spent most of the day in meetings and at church and then visited a couple of people at night before switching back companions. It was fun. Everyone at church thought we had a new sister. 

Church was really great though. One of the members that is being reactivate, Sis. Armstrong, spoke. She is awesome. The Sapps have been teaching her, preparing her to go to the temple. And we have visited with her a couple of times, but mainly left it to the Sapps. She is going through the Temple on Saturday. We are going with the Sapps and we are all very excited. Another one of the less-actives we meet with, got pulled aside by a member of the bishopric to talk about receiving a calling. Woohoo! And Leila came to church, which is great since she hasn't come in a couple of weeks. And she met with the Bishop. She is doing so great. Things are going really well with all of the less-actives in the ward -- ours, the elders', and the Sapps'.

I am so grateful for Jesus Christ -- for all that He suffered so that we can repent, and be forgiven, and live with Him and Heavenly Father again; for the example He gave us in the life that He lived; for the love He has for each of us; and for the relationship that I have with Him. I love Him so much. I am so grateful that His church and the fullness of His gospel have been restored to the earth. And I know that He will one day return to earth, and what an amazing and blessed day that will be. 

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail 8/11/14

Sis. Hassell wasn't feeling well all week, so we had a pretty chill week, but it was still awesome. 

Tuesday we both had a first on our missions. We got to meet with a Muslim family! It was pretty cool. There are a lot of Muslims in Houston and there is even a mosque in our area. We knock into a lot of Muslims and they are usually pretty nice. But on Tuesday we were tracting before going out with the Sapp's, and a Muslim lady answered and immediately invited us inside. She made us icees to cool down with. We had some small talk when she was in the kitchen making the icee, but it was kind of awkward because she was far away. She told us she was from Pakistan, etc. When she sat down the first thing out of her mouth was, "So we're Muslim." So we started talking about what she believed. Pretty much we believe a lot of the same things except they believe Jesus Christ is just an awesome prophet and A son of God, and not THE Son of God. She told us a lot of things that would take forever to explain, but she was so nice. Then she started showing us a video of guy who used to be Catholic and converted to Islam and he was giving a lecture about what Muslims believe about Jesus Christ. We had to go, though, but then her husband and kids came home and her husband started telling us a bunch of stuff. They talked a lot so we couldn't get much out. We evenutally were able to say "We have very similar beliefs." He said "Kind of. We are the same until Jesus Christ and then we go in different directions." And then we told him we were Mormon and then he liked us more and agreed that we had paralleled beliefs. In the end they gave us a Qur'an. And Sis. Hassell loves those Indian outfits and has always wanted one, so she asked the lady where she bought her clothes, and the lady ended up giving Sis. Hassell one of her outfits. She was so excited. 

The visit was cool and unique. But it was interesting to notice the Holy Ghost and when it was there and when it wasn't. When we first walked in, I had a thought that I should pay attention to when the Spirit was and wasn't there. And that the beginning the Spirit was there, and we were just having a nice conversation. But once they started talking about what they really believe and about how Christ isn't the Son of God, the Spirit fled. It was gone. And then at one point we were able to tell them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (we left them with a copy in exchange for the Qur'an), and instantly the Spirit came back. It was pretty awesome. And the whole experience definitely strengthened my testimony that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Savior. And He is the Only Begotten of the Father. And it makes me so sad to think of all of those people who don't know that and don't know and understand His love for them. 

We started reteaching a lady named Stephanie. She started meeting with the missionaries 1 1/2 years ago. We would go over every now and then, but now missionaries and really taught her in awhile. We asked if we could reteach her and she agreed. She originally had referred herself on mormon.org, so we asked her why. For a few years she had been really depressed and just in a slump, and somehow she stumbled onto mormon.org and started watching all of the "I'm a Mormon" videos. They made her happy and helped her feel at peace (the Spirit!) and she was impressed at how happy and peaceful all of the people in the videos were and wanted to be like them. She asked us some questions about different things. We showed her some more videos and she loves them. She said the thing she struggles the most with is Joseph Smith. We can definitely try to fix that. She reminds me a lot of Megan when we first started teaching her. We just need to help her realize that what she is feeling is the Spirit and what that means for her.

This weekend we had stake conference. It was legit! An Area Seventy, Elder J. Romeo Villarreal, was there. He is hilarious and awesome. The Spirit was strong the whole time. The Sunday session was really cool. All of the missionaries in our zone sang "The Spirit of God" and President and Sister Mortensen both spoke. They are so awesome! I love them so much! It was great to be able to see all of the missionaries. We got to see our zone everyday this weekend (zone meeting on Friday, and stake conference on Saturday and Sunday). I love being with other missionaries. The Spirit is always so strong and I just always feel so uplifted and reenergized. And they are all just so awesome and fun and hilarious. It's the best. I love being a missionary. And I love this special missionary spirit that I get to feel all of the time. It is the best feeling in the world. Nothing can beat it. I am so grateful for this wonderful chance that I have to serve the Lord and be edified by this missionary spirit; for everything that I have learned; for all of the experiences that I've had; all the people I have met; how much I have grown; and most importantly my strengthened relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail 7/14/14

This week went by really fast, but at the same time was forever long. We were totaling up numbers last night, and kept saying "that happened this week?!". But it was a great week.

Monday, we went to dinner and then were going to go have family home evening with a less-active family. It was pouring rain! Pouring! There were huge puddles on the sides of the streets and puddles in the grass. We ran to the car after dinner, and Sis. Hassell, in an attempt to step over the giant puddle on the street, she did a little hop into the car, and slipped and ended up biffing it into the car. Slamming into the side and then falling into the seat. It was hilarious! We died laughing! And now she has a big bruise on her arm. Anyway, we went to family home evening with this less-active family. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how ridiculously important it is to read it and to read the scriptures everyday. The lesson started out a little slow, but it ended up going really well. The Spirit was so strong, and I think it hit them that they need to read the Book of Mormon. One of the things we talked about is if Christ came tomorrow or next week, how embarrassed and disappointed would we be, if we hadn't done those things we know we need to be doing -- reading the scriptures every. day; praying every. day; going to church every. week. And what would our excuse be when He asked us why we didn't read the Book of Mormon yesterday. I don't think any excuse we could come up with would be a good enough excuse. Christ suffered everything for us. Can't we sacrifice at least a little bit of time everyday for Him? To do what He has asked us to do.

We had a lot of really powerful lessons this week. Started teaching girl named Katie, who is a friend of a former investigator. 

Thursday morning we had interviews with President Mortensen. We were excited for them. And then we were at our gym Thursday morning, and one of the hermanas who lives in our complex, and who I love (we decided we are the same person and therefore "besties"), said that another hermana called her last night and said that President Mortensen was going to rip your soul out during interviews. Well isn't that comforting. So then we were pretty nervous. My poor companion was a wreck. So we pulled into to interviews at 8:15. They were supposed to start at 8:30. The other missionaries were all there, sitting in the parking lot because the building was locked and nobody had a key. Pres. Mortensen pulled up and didn't have a key either. It was at our  church building, but Sis. Hassell and I were not with our district, but with a spanish district. So it was up to us to get a key. We called our elders at least a million times as we were driving to their apartments, but they never answered. We ended up borrowing the Relief Society president's. Anyway, we were going as fast as we possibly could. Sis. Hassell was so stressed. Then we were heading back to the church with the key, and the assistants, texted us asking where we were. They had found the key, and didn't tell us. It was quite the adventure. But, it was all better once we had our interviews with President. He is so awesome. I'm really excited to be able to serve with him over the next little bit. He challenged each of us in our interviews to extend 25 invitations to learn (ITL's) everyday for the rest of our missions. It has not been easy, but we've been doing well so far. We pretty much run around everyday trying to get the 25 and visit everybody we need to. Eventually we will get the hang of it. But we have definitely seen blessings coming from it and we are grateful for this challenge. 

One more thing quickly. So on Friday night we got a text message from the Sam Houston 2nd YSA ward sisters saying that they were having a baptism at our church building on Saturday night, if any of us had investigators that we wanted to bring. I served in that ward for 6 months last summer, so I momentarily entertained the thought of going so I could see everybody, but quickly decided it wasn't a good idea. Then Friday night, those sisters called us and asked us to come because they were going to have a potential investigator in our area, there. Their ward mission leader, James, who I served with when he was first called and who is awesome, ran into a lady, Jennifer, in our area while he was selling pest control. The two of them had a long talk about the church and gospel, particularly the Plan of Salvation - that wonderful plan that God has created for each of us that maps out our eternal life. They were both crying the whole time, and Jennifer finally felt like she was home. Anyway she came to the baptism and we went to meet her. She is amazing and so prepared! She couldn't come to church yesterday because she had a previous commitment, but she is coming next Sunday. She loves everything she has learned and the Spirit she has felt so far. She felt the Spirit very strongly at the baptism. Sis. Hassell was the one mainly talking to her because I was talking to all of the old friends from the YSA ward. But Sis. Hassell told me about their conversation, and the whole thing was excellent. Anyway, we are extremely excited to start teaching her. And it was great to be able to see some people from my old area. They are awesome.

And actually one more quick thing. I don't know how many of you have heard about the family of 7 that was murdered in Spring, Texas. The family were members of our church. Only one of them survived -- the 15 year old daughter. As members of our church their family has been sealed -- or "glued -- together by somebody holding the priesthood authority of God. Because of that, they are an eternal family and will live together forever. This situation is a good example of the strength and hope that the doctrine of eternal families can give to us. Although what the daughter is going through the unimaginable, she takes strength and hope from the knowledge and testimony that she has that she will one day, not only see, but live with her family again -- and they will remain a family for all of eternity. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony that I have of eternal families. I know that they are real, and I am eternally grateful for that blessing that God has given us. Just another testament of His everlasting love for each of us, His children.

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Pictures from June/July 2014

Just a few pictures from Texas June to July 2014

Downtown Houston
                                     
Sister H and Sister S having a good time

Sister Sylvester scores!

Texas burgers for the 4th of July

Group E-mail 7/7/14

I hope everybody had an awesome 4th of July! What a huge blessing it is to live in a free country that is blessed and guided by God's hand. 

On Wednesday we had a mini zone conference to meet our new mission president, President Mortensen and his family. They are awesome! We love them so much! They are like the perfect family -- funny, nice, loving, talented, beautiful, and most importantly strong in the gospel and their love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We are very excited to get to serve with them. We have interviews on Thursday so we will be able to get to know President a little better. 

For the 4th of July we spent the night with 3 less-actives and a nonmember. It was really fun and simple! We had texas shaped hamburgers because is there any better way to celebrate America than have Texas-shaped stuff? They were really good burgers. And we had s'mores. The two guys that were there had never had s'mores before! Crazy. One of them liked it, and the other one thought they were weird. I don't know how somebody could not like s'mores. It's just ridiculous. Then we did a few fireworks and sparklers that they had bought and just watched all of the other fireworks in the sky all around us. It was awesome! 4th of July is so much fun!

We meet with a less-active lady every Thursday evening. She hasn't come to church in forever because she has anxiety issues and stuff. Anyway, two weeks ago we took a laurel in the ward with us and taught her the Restoration and this week we talked about the importance of prophets. They were both powerful lessons, and she is now talking about how she needs to come to church and is going to try harder to come. She didn't come yesterday, but we are praying for next week.

And we have had some other success in getting less-active members to church or at least them starting to have that desire to come. It is going well. And we are starting to use family history more in helping reactivate people and focusing on using the Book of Mormon more in finding people to teach. I love the Book of Mormon. It is just so pure and powerful. There is an article in this month's Ensign about the gathering of Israel, the Second Coming, and the Book of Mormon by one of our apostles, Elder Russell M. Nelson. There is a line in there that has been going through my head all week. It says "It (The Book of Mormon) is the only book the Lord has testified to be true." This testimony can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 17:6. Now this isn't putting the Bible down. I love the Bible and it is truly irreplacable and invaluable since it contains a record of Christ's earth life. However, we all know that there are errors in the Bible because of mistranslations and things that have been taken out or changed over the thousands of years. The Book of Mormon is pure in that it doesn't have those errors. It's purity allows you to feel the Spirit of God so strongly and it's simplicity allows us to better our understanding of Christ and His role as our Savior and Redeemer. 

I hope you all have a great week!! 

Love,

Sister Sylvester