Otro semana en El Cliff

Subject:	Otro semana en El Cliff
Date:	Mon, 16 Oct 2017 13:21:18 -0500
From:	Brett Hogg

Hola Familia

A good week here. Probably the biggest highlight was Thursday. We had a guy from Salt Lake follow us/drive us around. He's a higher up guy at the MTC (Missionary Training Center/Provo), and goes around visiting missions to see how they're doing and to help give the Mission President feedback. 

He followed a different set of missionaries around every day for 4 days, and we were one of them! He had a rental car, a 2017 Dodge Charger, that he got to drive us in (we only have so many miles we can put on our car, so we take every opportunity we can to get a ride. Also I would like a 2017 Charger when I get home please). His name was Bro Nelson, he's 33 and joined the church when he was a senior in high school, the only member of his family, hes a really cool guy. 

That was also the same day that we had interviews with President Dalton. When we have interviews we also have District Meeting, you just step out when its your turn, so that was good. He's not supposed to really interfere and just kind of observe mostly, but wound up teaching us a lot about how we can better take advantage of the technology we have here in the mission. He told us that every mission in the United States and Canada will be getting smartphones and Facebook here eventually. 

The Texas Dallas Mission, because it's the best, is basically a pilot mission, meaning we got Facebook like a year and a half ago, and Fort Worth is just getting it now. He also alluded to something else happening in January for us and a couple other special missions, not sure what exactly, but it has something to do with advertising? 

Anyway, he also took us to lunch. We went to Lockhearts BBQ. It was super good. When you order (you order by the 1/2 pound) they pull a giant slab of brisket out of their big smoker, and slice it off for you, and wrap it in paper. I also got habanero mac and cheese, which I regretted. 

We did eventually  get him to a lesson. We had a lesson with an awesome family, the mom is already a member, but the dad is not. The dad has been taught in the past, but we've started teaching him again, and the one son just turned eight. So we teach them both, even though the eight year old technically isn't an investigator, its really more for the dad. But the eight year old accepted to be baptized, the dad said he'd like his son to go first and then we'll talk about a date for him. So Thursday was a pretty good day. 

On Fridays we go do service at the Food Bank here usually, so we did that with the other Elders here close. Afterwards we were hungry so we called and asked how much unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks were, at the Olive Garden here close. The answer was 7.49, so we went. 

Then for a dinner an older lady here in the ward took us out to a diner place, but we were still full from lunch, but we ate anyway, and it was really good (I had chicken fried steak). So by this time we are so full we want to die, let alone do missionary work. But we pressed forward, nothing wavering, in the service of our God.  

(Haha - a quote from a scripture in the Book of Mormon - 2 Nephi 31:20)

We had some names from the bishop we had to stop by, so we started going by them and not much was happening, until we stopped by this one member, who we hadn't really met before. I had shaken his hand at church once but that was about it. Well we knocked on his house and his wife answered! We assumed he was a single guy because he always came by himself. And she answered in spanish! We assumed she would be english because he comes to the english ward. 

But anyway, they invited us in and we started talking to them and they were super friendly. The wife didn't really know anything about the church, they had married when  he was inactive, and they had gone a couple times in the last 15 years but that's about it. She was super cool and wasn't really into Catholicism (which is a huge barrier for hispanics usually), started going baptist, but really just wants her family to all be on the same page spiritually. Elder Rodriguez was able to share his conversion story (he grew up going Catholic, but after his parents divorced he started going baptist with his mom), and they connected on that. Anyway, they said they would come to church and that we could come back and teach her more. They didn't make it out to church, but we're super stoked about them.

Then on Saturday we helped out at Ceder Hill Country Day on the Hill. A little festival the city of Ceder Hill does every year. The stake had got a booth to show off family history/familysearch.org, and they asked all the missionaries to help. That was fun, there was a parade, and just cool fair things. 

Then Sunday/Yesterday. After church we stopped by a couple Book of Mormon referrals (which are more rare). They were both really cool. They both said they work looking for something that's missing, filling a void. One guy hesitantly told us he was dealing with anxiety and depression stuff and so that was cool to see him seek God, to help him out. Bright futures here in The Cliff.

Con Amor,

Elder Hogg