Scenes of San Antonio: October 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

Beth's Mission Oct 30 Round Rock 6

This week was a great week!!

Transfers are this week!! So crazy!! We got the call this morning and both Sister Watt and I are staying in the Walsh Ranch area!! So excited!!! Sister Watt will be a Sister Training Leader as well! Hermana Rueda heads for home today! She is so amazing! And Hermana Ferrell will be training a new missionary! So we will get a new missionary in the house and Sister Watt and Hermana Ferrell will be the Sister Training Leaders over the area!! So exciting!!

Sadly we had three lessons that cancelled this week, but they all have been rescheduled and we are looking forward to them! We have a lesson with Abraham tonight and we are excited to teach him again! We also have a lesson set with Hailian on Thursday that will be great! We are praying that both of them will be able to attend church soon! They weren't able to come yesterday and they can't come next week because the area is doing a broadcast thing at the Stake Center, but we will count on the next week!!

It has been so great to involve the members in our lessons! We call it a "ministering visit" when we teach a lesson and have members teach with us. With Hailian it has been so great to have the Williams there! Brother Williams bore his testimony about it yesterday and mentioned how much it has brought back the strength that he felt on his mission and how much it has strengthened his testimony! So awesome! I love being able to help strengthen the members as well as invite others to come join us in the happiness and joy that we have!! The gospel is so amazing!!

Most of our time this week was spent finding and contacting Less actives in our ward! It was so great! Last week in Ward Coordination with our Ward Mission Leader Brother Raica we talked about those that we needed to go by and give our ward newsletter to! He made this ward newsletter of upcoming events, a spiritual thought, and ward contact information to hand out and it has been so great! The biggest reason we were doing this this past week was to invite people to our ward Fall Festival that was on Saturday!! It went so great!!! There were so many people there! Four of the less active familes that we invited came!! It was awesome! And the ward completely welcomed them and talked to them and it was awesome! One of the families is a part-member family that we are working with- The Powers. The mom is a less active member who we have been visiting with and she has been working so hard to come back to church and is wanting to come back with her family! Her youngest daughter Meghan and her husband Dominic aren't members. I don't think that he even knew that she was a member, but he knows now! And all of them had such a great time at the festival! They were able to talk to quite a few people and hopefully made some friends and we are excited to see what comes of it! We might have two new investigators soon!

And yes it got cold!!! That night of the festival We were freezing!! We didn't know it would be outside so we didn't bring our coats with us- big mistake haha. Sister Watt was especially cold because she is from St. George and hates the cold and has poor circulation so she was basically an icicle. I was enjoying the cool until the sun went down and then I also froze. But, they had a chili cook-off that was so good! Members have been feeding us a lot of chili lately and it is all so yummy!

For the temperature, Basically, During the day it feels super nice, the perfect temperature with a slight chill in the breeze so that's been great, but as soon as it gets darker or hits about 6:00 pm, it gets freezing!! Okay it only got down to the mid to lower 50s... but compared to 85+ it was freezing!! We pulled out all of our coats and scarves and tights and everything haha. But we've been told that the cold comes in waves between the hot so it will be fun!!

This week I have been studying my Patriarchal Blessing and one of the Talks by President Uchtdorf from this past General Conference "A Yearning for Home." It is such a great talk! I have realized more and more that that is what we are all yearning for deep inside! Looking forward to the day when we can be reunited with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother and continue to grow and progress on this great Plan of Happiness! How great is the Plan of our God!

I loved what President Uchtdorf ended with "As we embrace the gospel in faith and deed, each day and every hour, we will draw a little closer to our God. Our lives will be better, and the Lord will use us in remarkable ways to bless those around us and bring about His eternal purposes."

What a blessing it is to have the knowledge of the gospel and to be able to strive to be our best and do our best so that our Heavenly Father can use us to help others on this journey Home!

Omni 1:26

"And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved."

I am so grateful for the opportunity each of us has every single day to start fresh, to repent and to decide again that we will give our whole souls, that we will give everything to Him and to His glorious work! I know that as we do this and continue to come unto Him little by little, each day doing a little better than we did the day before, we will be blessed now and for the rest of our lives and into eternity! God is Good! I know He lives!

I love you all so much!!! Thank you for e-mailing me! I love getting mail and e-mails and seeing how everyone is doing! I apologize in advance if I don't reply right away, but I'll do my best!

Thank you for your prayers and love that you give! I am truly grateful!!!

I hope that y'all have an absolutely wonderful week! Happy Halloween!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

Pictures:

1. Happy Halloween from Walsh Ranch and Palm Valley!!

2. District Meeting this past week!

3. The Famous Texas Sized Round Rock Donuts!!! It was HUGE! We got this last week and we are still working on it haha but it was pretty good!

4. Yes it was freezing!

5. Featuring Purple tights haha- I'll have to invest in some new tights

6. Sister Watt and I!! Love her!!!

Beth's Mission Oct 23 Round Rock 5

This week has been such a great week! Not too much happened, but at the same time a lot happened haha I'll try to remember the important things.

A Few Funny bits:

Thursday Hermana Ferrell wanted to order something from dominoes because (long story short) Sister Watt's parents had ordered Pizza for us a couple of weeks ago and they had seen the pizza guy around and Hermana Ferrell wanted to give him a card. So a member offered to order lava cakes or something for us and then he delivered them and she said, "We have something for you." Then gave him a card with our number on it. It probably wasn't the best way to go about it, but who knows! Maybe one day good will come from it!

Saturday we saw a dead deer on the trail we were biking on- we almost hit it haha! And then when we were biking back someone had pulled it over onto the grass (picture)

Spiritual + Good bits:

Tuesday we had Exchanges! I went with Hermana Rueda and it was so great! We had dinner with one of their recent converts and she is so sweet! So excited about life and everything and the food she made us was so amazing!!! It was so great to be with Hermana Rueda! She goes home next week! So crazy!

Wednesday we had New Missionary Follow-Up in San Antonio! It was so great to see my Sister's from the MTC and the other Elders and Sisters that I came out with! It was great!! Then for lunch we went to Buc-ee's! SO good!! It's a HUGE gas station that is basically a grocery store, tourist shopping, home decor, and the best BBQ, and the cleanest and biggest bathrooms!! It was awesome!! Apparently Texas is known for thier gas station BBQ- it didn't disappoint!!

Thursday night we had a lesson with Hailian! She is so amazing!! The language barrier is a bit of a struggle at times, but it is wonderful that we have a member Brother Williams who speaks Chinese! She asked so many incredible questions about what we have been teaching and it is clear that she really wants to understand and follow Jesus Christ! She is so sweet and I am so excited to continue teaching her! We're praying that she'll come to church next week!!

Friday night we had another lesson with Abraham! We had our recent convert Bill come with us as well as a laurel from the ward! It was so good to have both of them there testifying and sharing their experiences!! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was so good! Abraham asked a lot of great questions and liked the viewpoint on Agency. He also really wants to understand everything and right now we're praying that he will increase his faith and really seek to know if the church is true. He is a firefighter and doesn't have a lot of time, but he is willing to learn! We are also praying that he will come to church next week!

Friday was also my Month in the Mission mark!! So crazy! Time flies! Next week we will get transfer calls!! So crazy! We'll see what happens!

Saturday our Zone had breakfast with President Woodfield! (The Stake President of the Round Rock Stake) We talked about each of our wards and how they are doing with helping us with Friend Sundays, Cottage Meetings, and ministering visits- We definitely have some work to do, but the ward is so great and so willing to help us and we are excited to continue the work with them!

Sunday it was the Ward Primary Program!! It was the best!! I love kids so much! They are so adorable and I love how simply they know that the gospel is true! They have such sweet and powerful spirits! Their message was Choosing the Right and it was perfect! They are so sweet and we had smiles on our faces the whole time!!

It was such a great week!! Sister Watt and I have been getting along so great and I love her so much! We have so much fun together as we're biking and walking around contacting and living the best life! I am so grateful to be serving my Heavenly Father!

I've been reading "The Fourth Missionary" and it is so amazing!! Thank you Josh and Mary for recommending it! It changed my week and has definitely changed how I do things! It talks about aligning our will with God's will and truly giving all to him- every desire, every want, everything. We have to completely give ourselves. I know that if we truly give our whole selves, we will truly be able to do His will and become who he wants and needs us to become. We will be blessed beyond measure! I know He loves us and truly wants us to one day return to live with Him!

Mosiah 5:7 "And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."

I love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! Thank you for your kindness and love!! Try a little harder to be a little better!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

Pictures:

1. This dog is blind and deaf and the cat came over to get some love too haha.

2. Hermana Rueda and I

3. The TSAM Sisters reunited!

4. A beautiful trail we bike on!

5. Nametags!

6. Another Beautiful trail we bike on!! It is so beautiful here!!

7. A Beautiful Texas House with the Beautiful Texas sky!!

1. Companionship Study Outside!

2. Buc-ee's!!

3. It is seriously the biggest gas station I have ever seen! We figured it has over 250 gas pumps!! So crazy!

4. The dead deer

5. Sister Watt and I!

Beth's Mission Round Oct 16 Rock 4

This week was such a great and fast week!!

The Subject line is because I keep forgetting to tell you! There are these "Crunchies"- we're not entirely sure what they are-they look kind of like acorns or some kind of nut or something. But they are everywhere! And they are the funnest thing to crunch when we're walking and biking around! Haha, so fun!

Tuesday we had Zone Conference!! The Austin Zone is so great! We went down to stay the night before with the Sisters in the Austin Capital Area which was so fun! Then we had Zone Conference! It was so amazing! The trainings and inspired teachings were exactly what I needed! President and Sister Polley talked about the Prophet's invitation to read the Book of Mormon as well as what President Eyring and President Nelson talked about in the most recent conference and then they invited us to start reading a clean copy of the Book of Mormon and mark the Doctrine of Christ (Faith in Christ, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) as well as any verses that stick out to us. I'm excited to continue doing that! I actually started doing that along with marking when it talks about God and Jesus Christ at the beginning of the Transfer! It has already blessed my life so much! Quoting President Nelson, "My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind-numbing addictions."

I know that the Book of Mormon is true! There is true power and strength that comes when we read it every day!

Tuesday was Quite the day!! After we got home from Zone Conference we received a phone call from a man whose wife we tried to contact earlier. We were excited that someone actually called us back! But sadly, he called only to bash us- first bashing over the phone! It was quite the experience!

We taught and found quite a few people this week!!

We found Cynthia and Jose on Tuesday who agreed to have us come back! We went back and they weren't home, but we aren't giving up yet!

On Wednesday we were finally able to teach Abraham! He is so awesome! He truly wants to know the truth for himself and wants to be sincere in building his relationship with God. The Restoration lesson went so great and we are going back on Friday!

Thursday we did mini exchanges because Hermana Ferrell was sick, but both companionships had appointments. So I stayed with Hermana Ferrell and Sister Watt went with Hermana Rueda. But then Sister Watt and I were able to go to our lesson with our investigator Hailian! We met at a member's house and it worked out perfect because she speaks Chinese and Brother Williams speaks Chinese! It was such a great lesson! We taught her about Jesus Christ and watched the Findng Faith in Christ Video in Chinese. Afterwards she asked what she could do to follow Jesus Christ! So we told her!!

On Friday we found Susan and Antonio who agreed to have us come back tomorrow!

Then on Saturday we did "Blitz Exchanges." Sister Watt and I only have one apartment complex in our area and it is also in the Spanish Sister's area so we decided to split up and contact and go through our areabooks! I was with Hermana Ferrell and we talked to so many people! All of them spoke Spanish which was so fun! Even though I couldn't hardly speak a word haha- But we found Rigoberto!! They taught him yesterday and he is really interested and has previously been to Church 9 times!! The Lord prepares his people!!

Then on Sunday we had Caesar come to church!!

It was such a great week!!!

We are praying for each and everyone of the people that I have mentioned and more!! I know that Heavenly Father truly cares about each and every one of His children!! He knows us! Personally and Individually!!!

It is such a blessing to teach and help others to feel of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for them! My question for each of you is: What can you do to better follow Jesus Christ? There is always room for improvement and what a blessing it is to have the Atonement of Jesus Christ that allows us to repent daily and do our best to become a little better each and every day!! Heavenly Father has blessed us so much!! All we have to do is choose to follow Him everyday!

I love you all!! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers!! I am so grateful for you!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week!! God is good!! He knows you and He loves you!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

1. Sister Watt and I!! Love her so much!!

2. Some vultures we saw getting ready to attack ;)

3. Beautiful area!!!

4. We found Chip and Dale's home!!!

Beth's Mission Oct 9 Round Rock 3

This week was a pretty great week! I'm not sure what to say though!

We were able to do quite a bit of service this week which was so great!! We got to go paint the ladies nails at the Old Folks home on Tuesday- They are so sweet!! (we were on exchanges- I was with Hermana Ferrell and it was so great! And it rained all day too!)- So great!! On Wednesday we were able to get together with the Elders in our District and go help clean a member's house and cut down her overgrown bamboo in her Backyard- it was so great! She is so sweet and was so grateful for our service! She is getting over a bad case of bronchitis and was very grateful that we came to vacuum the dust and give her carpet a good cleaning. On Thursday we were able to go help a less active clean out her garage and break down boxes and then on Saturday we came back at 6 a.m. to set up most of the things in her garage for a garage sale and help get the rest organized, and then we came back later that day to put away the things that didn't sell- all in all we helped her about 6 hrs of time and it was great! She was very grateful and it was such a blessing to serve her! Service brings so much joy! Mosiah 2:17- "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I probably share this scripture more than others, but know it is true!

This Thursday we got to have interviews with President Polley and it was so great! I know that he is called of God! In his e-mail this week he said,

"In light of our missionary service, remember that our loving Heavenly Father does not want us to simply “survive” this week, our mission, or our mortal journey on earth. He wants us to have the “abundant” life. He wants us to thrive. That requires that we serve Him “with all our heart, might, mind, and strength”. Here is a little rhyme that I hope helps us remember these truths: Strive to thrive, not just survive."

He invited us to increase our finding and our ministering visits (which is when we have a member with us at the lesson who participates in the teaching). The Members here are so great! It is such a blessing! Member missionary work is so important!

This week was kind of full of ups and downs, but Sister Watt and I have been working hard to find people and help the members to teach their friends and neighbors. On Wednesday we were able to have dinner with and teach a member family who are so great! The lesson was so great! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we are strengthened as we continue to endure to the end. the Spirit was so strong and it was incredible! On Friday we were finding and contacting people and we knocked on a door of a potential investigator named Joe. He was home this time and he agreed to have us come back and teach him!! We are so excited!!

This upcoming week is going to be great! We have Zone Conference tomorrow which will be awesome! and We have lessons set up with three of our investigators and it is going to be great! God is good!!

One thing that I studied this week from Preach my Gospel really stuck out to me:

"Remember that your confidence and faith should be in Christ not yourself. Rely on the spirit rather than on your own talents and abilities. Trust the spirit to guide you in every aspect of your work."

It is such a blessing to have the Spirit with us! He is the true comforter and testifies of truth! I know that as I and as we continue to fully rely on the Spirit and truly "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" we will truly be able to do our Heavenly Father's will and we will be strengthen and blessed in everything we do.

I am so grateful for this gospel! I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the strength and peace He gives me! I know He lives! I know that as we come unto Him, by His grace we will become as He is.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Know that God loves you and knows you!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

1. Beautiful Sky!!

2. After painting the sweet ladies nails at the Old Folks home

3. Sister Ferrell and I on exchanges!

4. Sister Watt and I out contacting

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Beth's Mission Oct 2 2017 Round Rock Week 2

This week has been such a great week! So many things happened but It went by so fast!! Oh and I hit my month mark since leaving home! I can't believe it's already October! So crazy!! Time literally flies!!

It rained quite a bit this week actually! No infamous Texas rain pours yet, but it was a pretty constant rain/sprinkle for a few days! The temperatures stayed pretty cool too! It was so nice! Nice to bike in and also nice to get rides from members in- especially to the farthest places in our area- the members are so kind!

Some of the best things that we got to spend our time doing this week was service!! We do a lot of service which is so awesome!! I love it! We get to meet and talk to so many incredible people! Last Tuesday we got to help out a less active with her Etsy business- so fun! That same day we got to go to an old folks home and paint the ladies nails!! They are so sweet! They all got in line and patiently waited their turn and then were so excited when they came up to us with their color of choice! So cute!! We even got to share a little bit of a gospel message with them and clarify some things about the church! It was great! Every Friday we volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center organizing items and putting things on the shelves for people to buy- it's so great! I truly believe the scripture in Mosiah 2:17- "When ye are in the Service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Also on Tuesday we go out with a recent convert in the YSA ward- her name is Jasmine and she is so awesome! She loves the gospel and talked about how it has completely changed her life for the better! We went by quite a few people's houses that night and then we all went to our weekly Book of Mormon/Bible study that we do- we invite recent converts and investigators and anyone else who wants to come- it is so great!!

On Friday we got to teach Bill- our recent convert. He is so amazing! We got to video chat with Sister Jensen who was Sister Watt's trainer and now is home from her mission! Facebook is such a blessing! We were able to video chat with her and surprise Bill! He was so excited and almost cried when we saw her! The lesson went so great too! We talked about the importance of everyday memeber missionary work and all of the service opportunites that are everywhere- It was awesome!

And last but certainly not least for this week- General Conference!!!! It was so amazing!!! Every talk was so powerful and pertinent to life and I just felt so uplifted! On Saturday we watched it with Bill and the Stansels (Sister Stansel is a ward missionary) and then on Saturday we watched the first session with the Switzers and the second session with the Raica's (Brother Raica is the Ward Mission Leader)

I love General Conference so much! I felt so much strength from the words that were spoken and the spirit that I felt! Over and Over again I just felt so strongly that Thomas S. Monson truly is called of God as his prophet, seer, and revelator on the earth today!! Even though he wasn't able to be at conference this time- He is still a prophet and it is still so important to follow him along with the 12 apostles and the other men and women who are all called of God! We are so blessed!!

I've been trying to think of a talk that stood out to me the most as a "favorite" but they all were so so good!! President Uchtdorf's, Elder Rasbands, President Eyring, and Elder Ellis's are particualrly standing out in my mind at the moment.

There were a lot of talks that stood out to me speaking of Heavenly Father's plan and how we have to allow the Lord to make more of us than we ever could. If we are living righteously, focusing on others, seeking to do as the Savior did, exercising faith, repenting, remembering Him always, He will use us for his purposes- we will be, as Mother Theresa said, pencils in His hands. "Do we have enough faith to trust Him?" I know that He truly does lead and guide each of us- He truly will be on your right hand and on your left, to bear you up!

I also really loved Elder Anderson's talk at the very end! I have never heard a talk quite like that! It was amazing to hear the words of those he quoted including those of our beloved prophet and to hear the words of dear Elder Hales' talk that he wrote! He was such a great man and I know he is doing great things now on the other side of the veil!

This gospel is so amazing!! I can't to go back and reread and study each of the talks again and again!! It is such a blessing to have those recorded to be able to study and feel the spirit and strength and continue to learn and grow from them!!

I invite each of you to follow our prophet's counsel to read from the Book of Mormon daily- I know it will bless your life!! I have made reading from the Book of Mormon a part of my daily personal study and it is amazing how the spirit testifies to me and brings new things every time I read it to learn and grow from!! The Book of Mormon is true!!

I am so grateful for the peace and power the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought into my life! It is such a privilage to represent Him!

I am terribly sorry for the long letter!! There was just so much to say!! Hopefully it all makes sense!!

I am so grateful for each of you and the support, prayers, and love you give!! Thank you for everything!! I hope y'all have a wonderful week!!

I love you!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent