Yesterday was our one-year anniversary of entering the MTC and starting our mission experience. My, how time flies! We use the lessons we learned in the MTC every day. We practiced finding and writing gospel principles from blocks of scripture, and that is what we have taught our students to do. As the year has gone on, I have developed journaling pages for every lesson to engage students and re-enforce basic gospel principles. Every day is a golden learning experience for us and hopefully a blessing for those students who have made the effort to get out of bed and come to build their testimonies. They take the counsel of the Prophet very seriously and plan for missions and families, firmly rooted in a foundation of faith. They are the gatherers.
Last week Sister Yanez called and invited her companion and herself to Saturday breakfast, promising us a big surprise. We always love feeding the young missionaries and have told them never to go without a meal—we are here to rescue them whenever they need us. Friday morning after the big storm, she called again to see if we could do Friday lunch instead. We explained that we were at HEB-Plus (favorite grocery store) picking up some things for a salad because our electricity had been off since the huge morning storm. They were happy to join us for an early lunch, and we met them back at our apartment. Big surprise! Sister Chelsey Drury, who is assigned as a Sister-Leader-Trainer, was visiting Laredo for the day and wanted to surprise us. Sister Drury was one of Jim’s students/track kids at Summit Academy HS. She is also one of Dani’s friends and favorite people. Sister Drury had served for six months in Ecuador where she was injured and returned home for treatment. When she was ready to resume her mission, they kept her in the country and sent her to the Texas-McAllen Mission. It was a great surprise to have lunch with her and Sister Yanez on Friday!
Friday’s STORM was like nothing we had ever seen, even in South Texas’ sub-tropics. As we readied ourselves to leave for seminary about 5:45 A.M., lightning flashed on all sides, encircling Laredo with electricity and booming thunder. In seconds the rain was gushing through the parking lots, over the sidewalks, and up to our doorstep. In the 6-foot rush to our car, despite umbrellas, we were soaked to the skin. We have a 5-minute drive to the church with a low area and pond in-between. We drove slowly through the deluge with water spraying up over our car like ocean waves. By the time we got safely to the church, we had some texts from students who knew not to go out in the storm. One family drove up as we waited for a half-hour (without leaving the safety of our car), turned in some make-up work, and went back home. Saturday was stormy, but not quite so bad when we could stay in bed with the covers up to our chins. (Not that it was cold—it was in the 80s—but we keep the AC on at all times here.)
We love teaching the gospel every day. We love our students. We love the scriptures. We love each other. We love our family. We are grateful for each day and its experiences. We are blessed in the TMM!
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