The One with Chills

Dear Family y Friends,

Hola otra vez de Texas!

There are two main stories I wanted to share from this week: The Keys and E. Those are the names of my two stories. I’m considering writing short stories, not really, I’m just trying to be funny. Okay, ready?

The Keys:

So we live in a pretty sketchy part of Houston, right? You've heard the stories. And there are also many more that I choose not to share of scary things that have happened to us. So, as soon as we come in our house we double bolt lock the door and then go into our room and lock the door to our room as well. Well, this is difficult to describe over email, but my bed is right next to the window of our bedroom (as in, my face hits the blinds all during the night) and that window is right next to the front door – but not "next to" as in on the same wall. The door leads into the living room, but you walk down the hall and do a little turny turn and then the window is on the right wall and the door is in the left wall (divided by some more wall and water heaters and such).  Okay, so now that you are all thoroughly confused, I will proceed with my story.

One night we come home, plan, go to bed and go to sleep. Well, they go to sleep; I never sleep haha. So, at about one in the morning, Hna Koch woke up to go to the bathroom.  I was still awake and Hna Parry is out like a rock, when all of the sudden there is a knock at the door. I hear it, but choose not to talk nor move because the window, even though covered by blinds, is still right next to where whomever is knocking on our door is standing. Hna Koch then says in a loud whisper, and for anyone who has ever been in dangerous situations whispering seems to always be louder than talking, "Someone just knocked on our door."  This comment wakes Hna Parry up.  By this time, I have concluded that there are two men standing outside our door . . . at 1 am. They are talking about the stuff on our door [a picture of Jesus and a sign that says no smoking . . . I was really tired of 1) always smelling like smoke; and, 2) feeling like I was developing lung cancer]. They proceed to knock 2 more times, and that is a total of 3 knocks for anyone counting, each knock growing louder and louder. By this time, I am plotting ways to save us. These ways included throwing the girls into the closet, arming them with various make-shift weapons as I go to conquer the enemy by hitting them over the head, after being cleverly hid, clearly, with my "Bubba Gump" cup – that really is more of a weapon than it is a cup. All of the sudden they start banging on the window. Let me remind you, I am laying RIGHT NEXT TO the window. If the window wasn't dividing us, they would be touching my face in that moment. So, needless to say, I think I am about to have a heart attack when they well: "YO!!! YO KEYS A AHN DA MAT!"

That's right folks. Our keys, to our home, car, etc., had been IN OUR DOOR all night long and these kind people, whom we thought were there to kill us, found it a pressing enough . . . I don't know how to speak in English [editor’s note:  Brian, just for you, I am sure] . . . matter to violently bang on our window and wake us up and let us know that 1) our keys were NOT in our house, and 2) they had placed them on the mat.

The Lord protects us.

P.S.  After waiting to make sure they were gone and no one was waiting for us outside our house, we retrieved the keys. 

E:

Does everyone remember M and F?  They are/were our golden investigators that got ignored at church and decided not to get baptized? Well after a long, painful 6 weeks we FINALLY got to see them again yesterday. :) AHHHHHHH, it was a joyous reunion. It was sad to see that so much of their progress had been regressed, but so good to see that some of the things were still holding strong. (F IS STILL READING THE BOOK OF MORMON <3)  However last night, we got to meet E. E is their granddaughter’s boyfriend who just got out of jail. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He is genuine and kind and a good, good man. He is 24 years old. He is under house arrest right now and is living with M and F. His son was born a week after he was locked up (is that not the saddest thing you have ever heard in your entire life) and is now 8 years old. We started talking to him about religion. He talked to us about how he found God while he was in jail and decided to change his life. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and so forth. We read one passage at one point and asked him what he thought and he says: "You know, to be honest, I usually say a prayer before I read the Bible or anything to ask for understanding, but we didn't pray so I didn't really understand very much." All of us Hermanas just looked at each other like, "WE ARE THE WORST MISSIONARIES IN THE WORLD. WHY DIDNT WE START WITH A PRAYER LIKE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO?"  Lesson learned. So we prayed. After our lesson we ran to the car to get a Book of Mormon for him. When we came back he was standing on the lawn and he said that as we walked away F told him about when we first met him and then pointed to us and said, "Those are my angels; don't forget it. They are angels" (*crying break* -- I love F so much).  Then E said, "You know I hope this isn't weird to say, but every time I feel the Holy Spirit I get chills like, on my arms right here. And it was weird today. I was actually sleeping and then I felt those chills and it woke me up. Then the next thing I heard was your voices in the dining room."   I think that is pretty self-explanatory. I LOVE being a missionary. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  The Church is TRUE people!

Whelp that's all folks! (*best bugs bunny voice*)

Love you!

PPS: Transfers are this week and if I or Hna Parry leave I am going to cry my little eyes out. How did I get so lucky to have the BEST companions in the world thus far? Hna Howard? Awesome. Hna Parry? Best friends. Hna Koch? She got added to the mix and now President refers to us as the "Celestial Kingdom." They say you make your best friends on the mission. They say correctly. I LOVE HERMANA PARRY AND KOCH SO MUCH. I can’t wait for you all to meet them. You’ll love them.