Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 43

Hey!!!
Just so you know, I didnt get washed away in all the flooding here yesterday, the library was closed so we couldn't email till today. So, last time I think I talked about Chenille  (I think that's how its spelled not sure) and Tyler, well we met with them last Monday night, Tyler wasn't home but she was, we had a amazing lesson with her! And we set up another time to come back which was last night!!!!!!!!!! It was one, if not the best lesson, Elder Santamaria and I have ever had!!!! So they were both home so we got to talk to them both, Tyler is a dog trainer in the airforce, training Malawians and German Sheppard's, so I though that was really cool. It reminded me of the animal rescue back home. So we taught them the restoration, and watched the short restoration DVD, everything went amazing, the spirit was so strong, and we set a Baptismal Date with both of them! They had so many good questions- how do I know who has the correct authority? How does the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together? -and many others like that. One of my favorite was Tyler asked us what our Church thought of tattoos, so we told him about how our bodies are like a temple, then he said "Well, I guess I better stop then with what I have." That whole family is awesome! And we set a return appointment for later this week and they are feeding us dinner! So you were talking about the storms here, yep your right, flooding was becoming a real concern for many here and the city evacuated many on the east side of town (we are safe, where we live, it could never flood into our home). So this week we really got to see all of Wichita and even some surrounding areas come together and help us out. We filled many sandbags this week, companies donated tons and tons of sand and bags, while other donated food and drinks for those who were working. There were so many people that showed up to help fill sandbags for others, and at one point about 40 airmen, showed up in there uniforms and started helping. One of the many cool things that I saw while there was a older lady showed up to the site needing sand bags for her home, so we filled as many as she needed, loaded them onto her truck for her, and then a few people jumped in the back of her truck so that when she got to her house, they could unload and set them up for her. We got to meet with Grace, Mary and Dorcas again! They are doing good, they told us that even though we haven't been there in a while, they have still been reading a little in the Book of Mormon! Luckily this weekend the storms went around us, sparing us from further flooding, so it was not as bad as everyone thought it might have been. I love you all and hope everyone is haveing a great week! 
Also, did i tell you about the three guys that moved into the ward for the summer? They all returned from their missions 6 months ago. I call them the 3 Nephites- one served in Cambodia, one was in Peru, and I forget where the other one served, but they are so cool!  

Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 42

Hey!
It was soo good to see everyone yesterday! Not sure what to put in my email now :) seems like I told you everything yesterday. There have been lots of storms this week, it all started on Wednesday after Book of Mormon Class, we got warnings on our phones about tornados, so we look out side and it starting to look a little scary out there. So we go to a members house who has a shelter. We stayed there till this storm passed over us, it seems like we were there for ever. I think we left around 11pm, so we got home late, and that is how it was for all the days after that. Around 4 or so, the storm would come in and we got to shelter. So far for this week the weather looks good till Wednesday again, after that it looks stormy. We are still doing the community service, Tuesday and Wednesday are the last two days, so ready for that to be over. With all of that going on, weather and service, we literally have done nothing else, so that has been hard, next week after all this service is done things should be picking up again, so that's why this email is shorter, but dont worry I have plently of pictures. And it is funny that you sent me that EMS stuff, because yesterday while Elder Santamaria was Skyping, Steven, the member we were with was studying for that and 911 dispacher stuff, and I was helping him study for a test, and I actually did pretty well on the test, got most of them right, he had a practice test with him and he would read me the questions and I would answer them, so that is funny that you brought it up. Have a great week!

The Storm Is Coming!

Weather Watching! Lightning!

Sister Ellis`s "Funeral"

Me with Mike and Steve

Rainbow After The Storm

Another Storm Coming

Witchita Falls, Texas- Week 41

Hey! 

This has been a long week, we had a training meeting on Monday, it was about our motivation for teaching, it was really good, and I was able to learn a lot from that, trying to apply that now in our lessons now. So about a week ago, Elder Santamaria got a speeding ticket, so now he is paying it off with community service at the food bank, so that means I have to go with him while he does that. 8-12 everyday. Except, Mondays, Fridays, and the weekend, so it's a long morning. Wednesday was the first day of service, that went ok, nothing too bad, we are just there forever! Thursday was the worst though, we had to go through bad carrots, picking out the good ones, they smelled so bad! Finally, we and another person who was working with us, got the person in charge of that area and showed him the carrots, to ask him if we could please throw the whole pallet out.... there was steam coming from a few of the bags...... he saw that and he is like, yep, get that out of here. So no more carrots! :) we had exchanges this week, I went with Elder Schwartz to his area and Elder Stailhi was here with Elder Santamaria. It was a good exchange for everyone. Us and the sisters had dinner with a member and while we are waiting, the kids are bringing out lots of foam swords and shields, so we thought that was funny as they are fighting around us. Then they brought out two metal helmets, that's when we joined in..... it was so much fun. We are working with a few members, helping them prepare for the temple, they are doing great! One of them is working on quitting smoking, and doing great! We went over to their house, and told us that in 4 days they went from 2 1/2 packs a day to 6 cigarettes a day! It is amazing to see the power of prayer and the gospel change someone's life!

Fight Week!