But I have an amazing new home now! I have been transferred to serve in the Sam Houston 2nd YSA ward!! Y'all should have seen my face when I found out I was going to the singles ward.. haha. It was the very last place I was expecting to go! Probably cause I said I never wanted to go there hahaha. A year in family wards then transitioning to a YSA ward is a huge adjustment. It really couldn't be any more different! But its so great! The AP's cover the Sam Houston 1st YSA ward which is the Klein, Houston North, and Spring stakes, and we cover the 2nd ward which is the Cypress and Katy stakes. Yes, we cover 2 WHOLE STAKES! Our area is sooooo big. We have 400 miles a week in our car, which is a huge struggle to stay under!
My companion is Sister Loo. She is the cutest ever. She is actually a visa waiter going to Brazil! She has been here in Texas for about 7 months, and is kinda just playing the waiting game! She is from the Portland area, and graduated from SUU before coming out here. My second Polynesian comp in a row! What can I say! Its a lot of fun with her :) We even have Portuguese language study in the mornings :)
The work here is absolutely insane!! YSA's are so awesome to teach. We like to call it the decade of decisions :) They are in that point in their life where they are going out on their own and making their own decisions and figuring out what they want in life. Most of them are actually SUPER open to the gospel. They aren't very established in life yet and so they aren't set in their ways like people can be in family areas!
Finding is also a little bit different here. We knock a lot of one bedroom apartments, and look for houses with cars that look like they would belong to a teenager or young adult, or cars with the LoneStar College sicker on them. Its surprisingly REALLY effective! Its cool too because since we cover 2 stakes, all of the areas that we go into are other missionaries areas, so when we go contacting if we find people who aren't YSA's, we refer them to the other missionaries whose area it is. And in return they give us referrals of YSA's that they find! We literally talk to EVERYONE that we see. Even if they aren't YSA's. And as we have been faithful in doing that, we have really gained a trust with The Lord and we have seen that he has been placing more and more YSA's in our path because he trusts that we will talk to them!
We have 6 investigators right now with baptism dates!!
--- A darling 22 year old girl who is getting baptized on May 31st. Her parents dont like that she is joining the church, and she told us that she is already preparing for the worst from them. Keep her in your prayers. She knows that this is right, and she is putting all of her faith in the lord and going through with it even without their support. She is a huge inspiration to me!
--- has a baptism date right now for the 31st as well! He was tracted into, and just soaked in the whole gospel. He has become really good friends with our ward mission leader, but has recently gotten a job that makes it a little more difficult for us to get in and teach him. He might need a little more time but we will see!
--- she was found one day walking her dogs at her apartment complex, and has a date for June 7th!
--- She is a senior in HS, and has been meeting with the missionaries since her boyfriend left on his mission to Honduras! She basically is a member. She knows everything about the gospel and is the sweetest thing ever. She is getting baptized on June 14 :)
--- she has met with missionaries for a long time now. she has been having a lot go on in her life recently, and we feel like she just might be one of those eternal investigators. She is reading the book of mormon and coming to church weekly! She will be out of town for the next 3 weeks though which will be really hard. She has a date set right now for sometime in August! She has to earn enough money to move out of her house since she is living with a bunch of guys before she can be baptized! She just needs prayers :)
We have a really good teaching pool right now. We are at about 20 total investigators, and more just keep coming! We found 3 new ones just in the past few days :) The Lord is pouring miracles out at us!!
We are almost to the point of baptizing weekly, which was one of the mission standards that President Pingree announced to us at the beginning of the year. It seemed almost impossible at first, being in Texas and all ;) and he even said that we weren't at that point yet! But its SO possible!! and so simple! Be exactly obedient, WORK HARD, talk to EVERYONE that you see, and RELY 100% ON THE SPIRIT! The Lord makes it all work out!!
A really cool miracle for the week- So I received a lot of amazing promises in my setting apart blessing and frequently I will read through the notes from it and receive strength and guidance in my missionary work. One of the promises that was given to me was that as long as I was doing what I am supposed to, the Lord would place me in situations where I would invite people on their doorsteps to read the book of mormon, go to church, and to be baptized. The first two we do a lot, but the whole inviting to be baptized on their doorstep seemed really out there for me. I was really wondering if I would ever do that on my mission, because I never have felt that it was the right time or place before! Well this past week we were teaching one of our investigators named ---. We teach him on his doorstep because his parents don't agree with him taking the discussions so they don't want it being done in their house. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him, and at the end of the lesson I felt really strongly that we needed to invite him to be baptized. We extended the invitation to him, and he has committed to be baptized on June 28!! He accepted without even a hesitation. It was really, really cool. Its crazy how powerful that lesson was, standing outside on his doorstep. He said the closing prayer, which was the very first prayer that he has EVER said, and goes "Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the most amazing teachers in the world!". Sister Loo and I both were just smiling so big haha. There is nothing more rewarding than being a missionary :)
Church yesterday was so different from anything I've ever experienced. Cause lets be honest, I don't think I ever once went to singles ward back at home haha. I liked being in primary too much :) It was weird not hearing screaming kids during the sacrament. I guess the ward used to be really small, like 30 boys and maybe 10 girls total. But last week they had a flood of guys come in and join the ward since they are here for summer sales. So now its a ton bigger from what it was before! There's like 100 guys and 10 girls now hahaha. Relief Society is so small!! Its a really great ward though. We have an amazing bishop, and a super great ward mission leader. His name is James. Its weird having a WML who is around your same age... But we are super blessed because he is super involved and is probably one of the best ward mission leaders out there!
Around 10 of the summer sales boys had us over for dinner last night and had 2 of their non member co workers there as well. One of them actually came to church yesterday! We had a barbecue outside and taught the restoration to them, and had an amazing testimony meeting. There is something really special about a group of RM's and priesthood holders bearing their testimonies about the restored gospel. It was so powerful. One of the non members, ---, was really touched by the spirit and he is super interested in joining the church. These summer sales boys are going to be great finding tools for us! They are getting referrals left and right!
I couldn't be more grateful for this new area that I have to serve in, and for The Lord blessing us with so many miracles in bringing His children closer to Him! We are just getting started! :)
I love each one of you so much and want you to know how much your support and encouragement means to me! I couldn't do any of this without you! :)
Lots of Love from Houston <3<3
xoxo sister huber
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| Leaving the Woodlands... |
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| Laura's Baptism... |
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| My little sisters... |
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| The Prince Girls (who she lived with in the Woodlands) |
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| Sister Huber and Sister Loo |
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