Matters of Inspiration

Matters of Inspiration

Yesterday we went to McAllen, Mission, and COSTCO. We had prayed to have an influence on someone by our words, actions, or appearance. Of course, we were mostly riding in the car, but when we got to COSTCO. . . We walked in and the young man who was there selling DirectTV stopped us. I went on and on about why we did not have DirectTV, but he really wanted to talk to us for a different reason. Finally he said, "I used to be a Mormon!" He said he was baptized--kind of doing a little cheer. He said that he loves Mormons because they are so happy. I said, "Come back! Come back!" and he said "Maybe I will!" I have a feeling he is still on the records somewhere. He would be YSA, and seemed like a very nice young man. I just was not thinking, or I would have gotten his name and contact information. We tried to call the mission office, but no one answered. I contacted Bro. Salmond, who is our CES supervisor and a stake president there, and asked if he or someone from his stake YSA could follow up by trying to find this young “Mormon” again. If not, maybe we planted a seed anyway, and the Lord's ways are not our ways.

Today we had a flu-shot clinic before Zone Conference. Well, it was supposed to be zone conference, but we found that the conference had been canceled because of our visit from two members of the First Quorum of Seventy a couple of weeks ago. That gave us an opportunity to take Elder and Sister Shaw (from Zapata) and go Laredo sightseeing. Unfortunately, for some reason, the museums were closed, but we wandered around “downtown” and saw some interesting and historical sights. I will post some pictures. We loved the central square and St. Augustine church (1755). The temperatures are dropping—at least temporarily—into the 70s this week. Last time we were downtown it was 114 degrees, so we didn’t do much walking around. It was a very quiet morning today, so we saw the historic Kress and Woolworth buildings, perfumerias, souvenir shops, and all kinds of “tiendas” only a block and a Rio Grande from Mexico.

On our trip back from McAllen yesterday, we had to pull off to let the rain ease up, but what beautiful rainbows! The way the sunlight hit the trees and lit them up with rainbows was breathtaking. In Rio Grande City we stopped at the HEB plus to get Zevia (stevia-sweetened soda pop), Heinz ketsup with no sugar added, and some mayo to add to the delicious, bunless Whataburger! We drove on looking for a park where we could “picnic.” Miles and miles of Texas mesquite and wild grass, but we could find no place to eat. We finally saw a campus of public schools and a sign that pointed down the road to the College of Southern Texas. So there in La Joya we pulled off the Main Street to explore and found an LDS chapel. That felt like home, so we just stopped there to eat our keto lunch. This really is an interesting part of the country! South Texas is full of history, wildlife, and sights just made for exploring and discovering.

General conference was powerful! Is it always that wonderful? Is the music always that beautiful? Is the spirit always that strong? How blessed we are with technology. How blessed we are with living prophets and apostles! How blessed we are to be part of the gathering of Israel! How blessed we are to be teaching the young people of the Church and to begin every day with life-changing lessons and experiences! We love you all! Please pray for us, as we do for you.