Jasmine gave me a shoutout over the pulpit

 Hola, ¿cómo estás?

One of the best weeks of my mission so far. 🙂

GOOD:
- TMM had MLC this week and as always, it was amazing. I love Presidente Larreal. He is just such a happy little snowman from Venezuela. He has so much energy and excitement that he has been sharing with our mission and I really appreciate his commitment to helping the TMM grow and improve. Before we left McAllen we ended up eating dinner with some of the most amazing members from my old ward and swinging by the temple super quick because Elder Steen had only seen it one time before. Let me tell you, it is as beautiful as ever. #atempleiscoming #facebookbaptizes

- Jasmine is a member of our ward that we visit occasionally and during her testimony she says "Elder Stringham has really helped me to stay on the path and read my scriptures, I hope I said his name right, it is pretty hard but he has helped me alot." I guess my work here is done. 

- Weslaco has been blessed by God these past few weeks. We have been finding, teaching and preparing people for baptism. Elder Steen and I are constantly in awe of the blessings which we are receiving and we are SO GRATEFUL to be doing the Lord's work. So many mini miracles and some very big ones too this week. 

- TA-CO-MADRE in Mercedes TX is pretty lit. Rene took us there for dinner this week and it was real nice w it.

- Use your resources! We have a former friend who lives in a trailer park and also owns and manages the entire park. Now, he is not interested in learning the gospel but he does like the missionaries and this really came in our favor this week. We got a referral for a man named Joey who lives in that same trailer park but didn't give us his lot number. We visited the former and he said "Oh yeah Joey, he lives on lot 48" we said okay bet. Minutes later we were discussing baptism with Joey and yes he does want to be baptized and yes he does have a family of 7. Just have to make sure he is willing to keep commitments and live all the commandments before we get too ahead of ourselves.

BETTER:
- Here is an awesome miracle that didn't really go anywhere but definitely shows that the spirit guides us. We may not know why but we do know that we were led by the spirit for this find. During planning one morning Elder Steen felt impressed to visit a "Lisa" the only issue is we didn't really have any Lisa's in our area book except a member and one lady we had just stopped teaching. So we went on with our day and found ourselves in the very north of our area. As we drive down this road in the middle of nowhere... I see a rusty old sign that says "Lisa Mobile Park" I literally am not joking. So I tell Elder Steen we have to turn around and we start looking there for people who would listen to us. Eventually we found a girl named Abigail who had gone to our church a few years back and during the contact totally looked at me, pointed at my Book of Mormon and said "will you read that to me?" I quickly opened up the book and shared some scriptures. She was so so cool on first contact! Unfortunately, we have since lost contact with her but I feel as though she needed the missionaries to come to her door when we did. The spirit guides and it is so cool.

- We have found some absolutely amazing friends. Wow. Remember a few weeks back when I said I found an amazing family, yes this is them. Their names are Maricruz, Leslie and Carlos. Maricruz is the mother and Leslie (17) and Carlos (15) are her children. They are extremely prepared. We found them through a string of following promptings, going the extra mile and having faith. During every lesson with them... the spirit affirms the necessity that I have to be there teaching them the gospel. THEY ARE JUST INCREDIBLE. We went by for a lesson and brought Sister Leal and her daughter Julissa on Saturday evening. They were all ready for us and just sitting waiting with chairs set and everything. We shared an amazing Plan of Salvation lesson with them (they had awesome questions) and at the end of the lesson ALL 3 OF THEM COMMITTED TO A BAPTISMAL DATE for the end of October. Nothing can explain the joy I felt as they accepted a date to follow the example of their Savior Jesus Christ. To top things off as we were leaving Maricruz asks "you will still come over after we are baptized right?" I LOVE THEM.

- Now it gets better... the entire family came to church on Sunday!!! Maricruz, Leslie and Carlos all came to both hours of church and brought with them their dad, Luis, and their niñita, Mary Lou. It brought me such joy to help them understand how the hymn books work, how to take the sacrament and where to go for Sunday school classes. Before they left Leslie asked me "so you gave me a Book of Mormon but can you send me a list of the best parts to read so I can be prepared for my baptism?" FORRRRRSUREEEEEE FORSURE. She is elect and so is the rest of the family. Can you feel my love for them? They are just so awesome.

BEST:
Literally go watch the new Book of Mormon videos that depict when Christ visits the Americas. I definitely felt the spirit watching these clips. 

Watch them and then send me a message about what you think. 

I testify to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ and that His priesthood power has been restored to the earth by a living prophet. I want nothing more than to be a disciple of Christ and help others become one as well.

"Work Hard, Keep the Commandments, Have a Positive Attitude and Show Gratitude."

- Elder Spoonie