Boca Chica Baby

 Hola!!!

A week FULL of change

GOOD:

- I am loving Brownsville so far! I get the opportunity to work in downtown Brownsville which is a dense little city full of apartment complexes, one way streets and houses that have been around forever. When I asked one of the members what I should know about Brownsville he said "Just stay away from downtown and you should be safe." ...awesome. I actually love the area though and have only driven the wrong way down a one way street 2 times so far.

- I am adjusting to my new companion. I realized this week how much I LOVED Hidalgo and the missionaries I was serving around over there! Change is good though. My companion is a reassigned missionary who is originally assigned to Perú. We are not sure when he will leave but I am sure it will be just as sudden as it was last time I sent a companion off to Perú. 

- It is nice to be back in a car after my time in Hidalgo. Bikes are fun, but this is a good little break from being outside on the bikes all day.

BETTER:

- The people in this area are so elect. I want to start by telling you about my friend Josh! Josh is 16 years old and his mom is an inactive member who is just starting to return. We went over this week and got to know them and they are so awesome. Even though Josh is a Hufflepuff I guess he is still pretty cool. They came to our Gospel Principles class at the church on Thursday and on Sunday evening he accepted a Baptismal Date for April! They are so fun to teach because they have good questions and learn very fast. We are super excited for them.

- Another lesson I loved teaching was to our friend Celeste. Celeste recognizes that as she learns about Jesus Christ, Satan works even harder on her to discourage her from learning. She loves the Book of Mormon and has been studying very diligently. The thing that stood out about Celeste was her refreshing answers to our questions. So many of my friends in South TX will respond with very surface level answers about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Celeste however, seems to be truly learning the character of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and can articulate answers that show her relationship with them. It is very cool to see.

- We also have some VERY prepared friends named Danielle and Nathan. Nathan is 9 years old and the oldest of Danielle's three children. These humans want nothing more than to be baptized. We had the pleasure of teaching them the plan of salvation this week and they loved it. By the end, Nathan could recite the whole plan to us (smartest 9 year old I have ever met). They joined us for church and Danielle told us that she felt such an overwhelming sense of love the moment that she walked in that she felt like crying because she could feel God's love for her. I think the gospel is so amazing when you can see people change. This family is working so hard to find greater peace and direction in their life and I know they will find it through the gospel.

BEST:

I have been thinking a lot about the concept of Light.

When a room is full of darkness... there is only one way to remove the darkness - by adding light. 

We cannot simply remove darkness from our lives, we have to replace the darkness with light. 

Jesus Christ is the light of the world and He will replace any darkness in our life with His love, joy and comfort. I know that Jesus Christ lives and I know that He is truly our light. 

💡💡💡

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

- Elder Stringham