I love Corpus

October 20, 2014

Hey family,

Transfers are this week......I am staying in Corpus Christi with Sister Haynes another transfer! I am so, so happy!! We have a lot of work still to do here, and we're super excited to have another transfer together. :)

Nothing too crazy or exciting happened this week, except I made contact with one of Nate's recent converts! She's not a recent convert anymore obviously, but she is still going strong in the gospel and loves her calling as the librarian. She was super excited to hear about Nate.

Well, this letter was short and sweet. I'm doing great and I am really excited to be in Corpus Christi for a 3rd transfer. I love the people here and I feel so blessed to watch our investigators and members come closer to Christ. The church is true, mis amigos!

Love,

Hermana Angus

Multicultural Experience

October 13, 2014

Hey peeps,

We have one more week until transfers, and Sister Haynes and I are crossing our fingers that we stay together another transfer!
Life is great here in Corpus Christi. We are working hard and seeing lots of miracles! Fun fact: We will be getting iPads in December.
Another fun fact: We saw the movie, "Meet the Mormons" on Thursday! All the missionaries in Laredo and Corpus Christi came together and watched it in the chapel here in Corpus. There were about 100 missionaries together and it was like a great big family reunion! Anyways, "Meet the Mormons" is a great movie that does a lot of myth-busting about who people think Mormons are. It's definitely worth seeing and the stories are so great! I loved it.

I'm having a hard time believing that I'm serving a Spanish mission right now. Only one of our investigators speak Spanish! Our main investigators that we are teaching are: a family from Ghana, another family from Nigeria, and a Hindu family from India!!! When we taught the Indian family, it was the most basic lesson ever. Their house is covered in pictures of Hindu gods and they know nothing about Christianity. When we started teaching the Restoration, we held up a picture of Jesus Christ and the mom said, "Is that your God?" Everyone I've taught so far has been Catholic or atleast familiar with Christianity, so I had to think, "Ok, how do I describe the life of Jesus Christ in super basic terms? How do I explain prophets and apostles?" It was hard! But super duper cool. Corpus Christi is full of different people from different backgrounds. It's great.

I hope you guys have a fantastic week! There are countless blessings from missionary service, and I know that every sacrifice we make for the Lord is worth it. As my MTC teacher would say, "The Lord is a great employer; he pays you in what you need."

Love,
Hermana Angus

The Proposal

October 6, 2014

Dear family,

I loved General Conference! I don't think I've ever loved it more! I just kept thinking, "I can't wait to reread that talk in the Ensign next month." haha. Talk about a geeky missionary... Our recent convert John loved Conference, too. He watched all the sessions and said afterwards, "Those speakers answered all of my questions I've been having in my heart. That was cool."

This was a very interesting. Sister Haynes and I found a new investigator named, Dean. He is 43-year-old, an alcoholic, single, and has had three strokes. I have not seen him sober yet. A few days ago he proposed to me. He told me to leave the mission so we could get married...#nope
We are thinking of handing him over to the Elders because he won't stop flirting. We actually brought John to a lesson (as a member!) and he talked to Dean about joining Alcoholics Anonymous. John made him promise to not drink until noon the next day, when they would go to a 12:00 meeting of AA. And Dean kept his promise! :)
Sister Haynes and I are super impressed with how quickly John has started doing missionary work! We are convinced he will be the Gospel Doctrine teacher one day. Man, we have to come prepared to his lessons!! He asks questions sometimes that Sister Haynes and I just have to say, "We don't know the answer to that question, John. We'll ask around and get back to you." haha.

Sometime I feel like we as members of the church take this gospel for granted. I sure do. There are people out there who just soak it up like a sponge when they are introduced to new things like General Conference, the Ensign, and the church websites. The church has so much to offer and there is so much to learn. I love it, and I love that John loves it. :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,
Hermana Angus

General Conference Time!

September 29, 2014
Hey y'all!

Life is good here in Corpus Christi, TX. Sister Haynes and I are doing well and love working together. Some companionships just click, and we are one of those. :)

On Thursday we had Zone Conference! For those of you who don't know the mission lingo, that means the mission president came up from McAllen and held a meeting with about 40 missionaries serving in Corpus. It was about 8 hours long but really great. Because I have been in an English-speaking area for 2 months, I was super nervous that I wouldn't understand my Chilean mission president's Spanish.  But I understood a lot! The gift of tongues is real. My ability to understand Spanish is still improving, even though I don't hear much Spanish right now. Woohoo!

I'm super excited for General Conference this weekend. I loved the General Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday night. It was fun to think that my family was watching the exact same Broadcast at that moment. I loved that the theme was temples! I can't wait for the day when there is a McAllen, Texas Temple. The closest temple is in San Antonio, but there are so many members in McAllen who can't go to the San Antonio because of immigration problems. Maybe there will be a temple announced this weekend....Man, that would be cool!

Anyways, never ever take General Conference for granted. Watch it this weekend!

Les quiero muchisimo.

Con carino,

Hermana Angus

John the Baptized

September 22, 2014
Hey y'all!

This week was EPIC. John was baptized yesterday! Wooooo! This was my first every baptism, and I feel so honored to have been the one to teach John. He was so prepared and the ward absolutely loves him. The service was great and John told us afterwards, "I feel so at peace with my decision. It feel nice." Yay John!

Believe it or not, this week we were pretty worried about whether or not this baptism was going to happen. John is retired, but he hasn't made good financial decisions in the past, so  tithing has always been a sore point for him. In our final visit before the baptismal interview, we were really worried he wouldn't be willing to keep the Law of Tithing. But while we were talking to him, he told us, "I've been thinking about how I'm going to pay my tithing. I don't have a lot of money, so I'm trying to figure out where I can cut back in my expenses. My monthly payment for my truck is the same amount as I would pay toward tithing, so I might sell my truck. I can drive a clunker." Sister Haynes and I just about cried. He then went on to say, "There are bigger sacrifices people make in order to pay their tithing." I just love John. He has taught me so much. :)

In other news, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes on Friday! We had a lesson at 8 o'clock at night in a park, right after it rained..... We were scratching our legs the entire hour we were in the park. I woke up the next morning and my feet looked like I had a disease. People kept pointing them out to me throughout the day, and freaking out.Now I will be wearing tights until my feet don't gross people out. Don't worry Mom, they are on the mend!

Thank you for all of your prayers and sacrifices on my behalf! I love you all so much.
Love

Hermana Angus

Priesthood Power!

September 15, 2014

Dear family,

This week was full of craziness. Sister Haynes and I have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. One of our members has just been diagnosed with cancer (Lymphoma) and her family is trying to get packed to move back to Idaho this Thursday. The ward has helped a ton by bringing meals over and taking the kids to school and coming over to help pack. Sister Haynes and I have been cleaning the house and doing what we can to help with the move. I can't imagine trying to pack up your home and move your whole family while doing chemotherapy treatments....This woman is amazing. She and her family are a great support to us missionaries, and we are really going to miss them. They have taught us a lot about faith in the Lord and being positive in any circumstance!

Yesterday, one of our recent converts received the priesthood. His name is Andrew and he was baptized in May, but he never felt ready to hold the priesthood before now. He thought it was too big of a responsibility and he honestly didn't want to have to attend church more faithfully. We had been visiting him weekly and we set a goal for him to receive the priesthood last week. Unfortunately he showed up to church wearing basketball shorts, and the branch president told him he would have to wait until next Sunday and look more presentable. We were worried that Andrew would take this as a way out of getting the priesthood, but yesterday he showed up to church in a nice shirt and tie! He said, "I even meant to get a haircut, but I ran out of time." Sister Haynes and I were so happy to see his attitude about the priesthood change. We are excited for him keep progressing!

Random note: I have turned into a total wimp about the weather. It was 71 degrees the other day and I put on a jacket because I was freezing. That's just sick and wrong....

I love y'all! Don't be afraid to share the gospel with people! The world needs this message!

Love,

Hermana Angus

Small World!

September 8, 2014
Hello y'all,

I am not training this transfer (phew!), but I do have a new companion! Her name is Sister Haynes and she is from La Grande, Oregon. Finally someone not from Los Angeles! haha. We actually were in the MTC together and lived in the same house in Mexico City!! We were freaking out when we found out we were going to be companions. But wait, there's more! Crazy connection: Sister Haynes used to live in Boulder, Colorado and is cousins with Denica Hill. We discovered that we knew each other back then and that I actually attended Sister Hayne's 7th birthday party! SMALL WORLD. And now we are companions and it is so fun! We are having a blast together. :)

I really do love this area. John is back in town and has decided to be baptized on September 21! That's in two weeks! Wooooo! This will be my first baptism and Sister Hayne's first baptism ever in the mission. We are super happy and grateful for the opportunity to teach John. I know that this miracle came through prayers and fasting. I'm so grateful for all of you who fasted on the behalf of John. Heavenly Father really does hear our prayers. I love you all! Best family ever :)
Love

Hermana Angus

Estoy entrenando . . . . quisas?

September 1, 2014
Hey everyone!

This week is transfers!! I am staying here in Corpus Christi and Sister Nail is going down to Brownsville! I am super excited to be here another transfer. We are working with some really good investigators and I would have been heartbroken to leave. 

On P-day last week, we went to the Texas State Aquarium! I pet a shark, saw some awesome jelly fish, and watched a dolphin show! We went with our whole district and it was lots of fun. 

I got a call late Thursday night saying that I have been called to train a new missionary!! I didn't sleep a wink that night. I'm just a greenie myself!! Anyways, I drove down to McAllen to attend a trainer's meeting on Friday, and I felt a lot more excited. But then this morning we heard about transfers, and I might not be training this transfer after all.... So I don't quite know what is happening, but tomorrow I will have a new companion, nonetheless. We are going to take Corpus Christi by storm!! 

Also, our boss investigator John comes back this week! He has been gone so long that we worried he would lose interest in the gospel. But we have been keeping in contact with him, and he is excited to keep learning and meeting with the missionaries. Woohoo!

I can't believe it's Labor Day already! Crazy, crazy, crazy. I hope everyone has a good week and enjoys the day off from school! I love y'all. Don't forget to feed your local missionaries. :)

Love,

Hermana Angus

Last Week of the Transfer!

August 25, 2014
Hey family!

This week was a good! Our mission president has to go to Salt Lake for a mission president conference (or something like that) and so this transfer is only five weeks long, instead of six. This will be the last week of the transfer!! Sister Nail has been in Corpus Christi since February, so people keep telling her she's probably leaving. But I hope she stays another transfer so she can continue teaching John and see him be baptized. He's won't be back until after transfers, and it would break everyone's hearts if she left!

I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday! Hooray for on-the-spot talks!! When I bore my testimony about missionary work and how important it is, I realized just how much my mission is changing me. My testimony just keeps growing and I am learning so much as a missionary. I already love the people here and I appreciate all that the members do to help the work go forward.

Sister Nail and I are working hard in our area! I'm sorry this letter is super short and boring (kind of like last week), but I promise I will have lots to report on next week! Stay tuned! I love y'all!
Love

Hermana Angus