Buzzy B

 Hey everyone!

Hidalgo is such an amazing place.

GOOD:

- I am so grateful for my transfer with Elder Wankier. I love him so much. We had the best week working together and it is pretty sad that I am going to have a new companion this week. Also birthday shoutout to him TODAY, feliz cumple.

- This week we have transfers in the TMM which is super exciting. I will be leaving Hidalgo and headed to Brownsville! My new area is practically in Matamoros, so I am pretty down for that. I am looking forward to this new chapter of my mission and very grateful for the good people of Hidalgo and all the things that I learned here. I will definitely be missing the ward here and all my friends I have met.

- So many wild things happened this week. I won't go into much detail but for the sake of recording memories... this week included the following. A 6 foot long dead snake, throwing up behind a members house (don't ask), a few too many monsters, a street cat doing a 360 spin and scratching me on the way down and a bike crash that sent both Elder Wankier and I rolling across the street.

BETTER:

- This week we had an awesome zone meeting! It is always good to get together with other missionaries, talk about our efforts and set goals to improve. Grateful for Hidalgo zone and my good friends I have here.

- On Tuesday evening we were out working and both felt not super excited about our plans. We stopped in our tracks and decided to pray that we could know WHERE God needed us and WHAT He needed us to do. We then followed the spirit and found 2 very cool families! It was so cool to see that through faith and prayer God was able to lead us to those that needed us. Definitely strengthened my testimony that prayer is powerful and God does want to bless us, He just needs to see us act in faith first. 

- Another night Elder Wankier and I were feeling like we had been falling short with teaching boldly on first contact. We once again asked God to help us and that night we met Jorge! We started talking with him and found out he had been wanting to get Baptized. We were able to teach him about the Baptism of Jesus Christ and set a date for him that he can be baptized! Yet another testament that this IS God's work and when you involve Him - it becomes substantially easier.

BEST:

As I leave Hidalgo I feel such a gratitude for the time I have spent here. The ward has become my family and this tiny little town has become a place that I can call home. I will always love Hidalgo.

That being said... this area has been difficult and taught me some very good lessons. I am grateful for the missionary abilities I have developed here and the Christlike attributes I have found within myself. 

More than anything Hidalgo has taught me the type of person I want to be. I have truly seen the difference that diligence and having goals makes in missionaries and humans in general. Complacency is a tool of the adversary. It is good to appreciate what you have but what is dangerous is when you are content with no vision of growing and improving. 

As I close this chapter of my life I am ready to give Brownsville everything I have. I am very excited to see what God can do through me in this next part of my life. 

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

- Elder Stringham