Halloween

Hi everyone hope y'all had a good week!  This week was pretty much the same as every week.  We did do quite a bit of service again!

Monday night we had a family home evening with some less actives in the ward and that went really good! They didn't come to church but it still went really good!  Tuesday we where biking all day trying to find some people and we found a couple that could be pretty good.  A man by the name of Gustavo.  He is from Nicaragua and he liked what we talked about.  We are going to talk to him again tomorrow.  Wednesday we did some service in the morning and then the English ward had a Halloween party and we went to that.  They had some pretty good chili there not gonna lie!  Then Thursday we had to help out some people with their yard because they where having a little league football party in their backyard on Saturday.  That took quite a bit of time.

We where going to have a lesson with Tony Delacruz but he has a really weird work schedule so it is really hard to meet with him.  We are going to keep trying with him every day.  Friday we helped some inactive cat lady move out of her house and it was the most disgusting house that I have ever been too! There was cat hair everywhere and it smelled like cat pee so bad!! Me and Elder Lesa were moving this couch and like 3 cats bolted out from under the couch and it scared the crap out of me!. We got that done and then we went and talked with some people. Saturday we knocked a couple houses and we got some people we are going to talk to This week!  Then Sunday we went to church ate with some members and I got to show off my billiards skills on Sunday night! We had a pool tournament and I won! 

Thats all I did this week! I love you all and hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Stringfellow 

P.S. Sorry if my grammar stinks haha!

The Biggest Gas Station Ever

Hi everyone hope y'all had a good week! We had a very quite but good week, with lots of service again!

Tuesday we went on exchanges.  I got to go with Elder Tapusorus and we just went and visited some people in the English ward.  It was a pretty boring day for missionary work, but me and Tapusorus got along pretty well! Wednesday we went to The soup kitchen as usual, but then after we got called to move another person and that took the rest of the day.  I am staying in shape thats for sure.  Thursday was Zone Conference and that was pretty good.  We talked about how we can build our faith.  What I got out of it was that I just need to keep doing what I am doing right now.  Just the small simple things like reading the scriptures, praying, going to church, and living the commandments of god.  Really that is what I do every day but I know I can do better, and same with all y'all.  So if you wanna build your faith just do the small simple things....

Then on Friday we had another meeting, which took up a big chunk of our day, and then we talked with a member in our ward about preparing to enter the temple.  She is a really cool lady and her husband was a missionary and he is awesome.  They are the Ortiz family and they are probably my favorite family out here.  She can't say my name so they call me Elder Springfield haha!

Saturday was probably the most exciting day.  We had the opportunity to go to the temple with the whole branch pretty much and Hermana Ortiz! she was able to do baptisms for the first time and her husband got to baptize her and that was really cool to see!  After that we went and ate at Cici's pizza and that was pretty good! Then after that we went to the probably the biggest gas station in the world! its called Buc-ees and it is crazy! They have over 100 gas pumps and the store is a place where I could get my weekly shopping done.  It is probably the same size as Dicks Market in Bountiful and it is a cool place.  

Then Sunday we got to celebrate Elder Barrett's birthday!  Our branch had a surprise party for him, and then a family from the English ward had a dinner party for him that night.  They made him a shirt that is pretty funny! Ill send a pic.

Thats all I got this week! love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love, 

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK 

Buc-ees - Inside the Store

Buc-ees 100 gas pumps

Stevie, Paul, Brandon, Elder Barrett, and Elder Lesa. I told everyone to make a straight face and no one did it haha!

With Ruben Ortiz and his son Diego

Still in Port Arthur for Another Transfer

Hello everyone hope y'all had a good week!  We had transfers this past week and we got some new elders.  We got some new English and Spanish elders!  They are really cool, and lets just say we got some pretty big boys in our district... We have a Samoan as our district leader.  His name is Elder Tapusoa, but we call him Tapusoarus. No sure if that is how you spell it but you get the point haha! I don't have any pics but we will take some and I will send them later.

Anyways since we got new Spanish Elders they split our area.   It is a good thing they did that because that means we don't have to ride our bikes that much, but its also a bad thing because some of our solid investigators lived there and that means we don't get to teach them any more... I am kind of bummed but I still know there is someone out there for me!

This week we where pretty much helping the new Spanish elders figure out there area so we showed them around a little bit and showed them where things where.  There is a new elder here and that means that I am no longer the greenie haha! But yeah we where with them pretty much the entire week so we really do anything until Saturday when me and Elder Barrett rode our bikes all day.  We mapped it out and we rode about 35 miles.  My legs where burning pretty bad Sunday when we where teaching gospel principles.  

This week we are going to go after it and try and find some new people to teach.  Thankfully we still have Jazel in our area, and her and her sister are getting pretty close to baptism.  just need to keep working with them.  

Thats all I got this week. Love y'all and hope you have a good week! 

Love, 

Elder Stringfellow

Transfer 1 Down.....Still in Port Arthur, TX

Man I can't believe it is the end of my first transfer! Time really does fly by while you are out here! This week was very good because of General Conference!  I really liked how it talked a lot about Joy!  We are all down here to experience joy, and in my opinion the only way we can experience that constant joy in our lives is through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!  One of those ways we can experience joy is by following the example of Jesus Christ.  As I have been out here every day trying to follow his example I have never been more happy in my entire life.  So if there is anything that I ask of you this week is to try and follow the example of Jesus Christ in your life.  I already know most of you try to do that but it really does bring joy.

So on Monday after we got done writing we decided to go to the beach.  It was not the beaches of California that's for sure, but we still had a good time.  

  

Tuesday through Thursday was pretty much the same.  We knocked on some doors and we talked with our investigators.  Our main focus right now is on a family from Cuba.  One of the daughters in that family was recently baptized.  We have taught them twice and it has gone really good.  The only problem is that Cubans talk in a really low voice and they talk super fast and I can't even understand them.  But I do know that they know that this church is true and we just need to teach them a couple more times, and answer some questions.  There names are, Ana, Eiva, and Amarury Ruiloba.  They are super cool and I have a good feeling about them.  We are still working with Jazel, Roberto, and Linda.  Just need to patient

Friday is where it got a little bit crazy.  Some elders in our area asked us if we could help them with a baptism.  We thought we where going to put up chairs and clean up a little bit but we where not going to do any of that.  They told us that morning that the man that was going to be baptized could not walk and had some disease and that we needed to carry him into the pool so that he could be baptized.  We where excited to see how this was going to go.  That baptism was at 6:00 and we had a dinner appointment at 5:00.  Our plan was to eat for about 30 minutes and then leave.  We we're on track to leave at that time but then we ran out of tortillas.  So they decided to go to the store and get more.  They lived about 2 miles away but the lady took forever.  So we hurry and ate more tacos and we got there like 10 minutes late.  We got their and we where able to help lift him into the pool.  We had to do it at a pool because it took about 8 elders to lift him in and hold him up.  Even though it wasn't my own baptism it was by far the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission.   After we got to stand in the circle and help confirm him a member of the church.  It was honestly the coolest thing ever.  

That is all I got this week! I love you all and hope you all have an awesome week!​

 

Love, 

Elder Stringfellow

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

The Baptism...One of the Coolest Experiences So Far

The District

At the Beach...on the Gulf of Mexico

Their Future Album Cover