October 14th, 2013

Familia!
     Wow.. a great week again in Austin. It's finally cooled off and has been raining the past 2 days straight. It's nice to have a little change.
     Speaking of change, we received transfer calls last night from President Slaughter. He told us that Hermana Rodriguez is being transferred and I will be receiving a new missionary, and training. I am thankful for the opportunity to train again and pray that I will be able to do all that the Lord wants me to. I am a little nervous for the fact that Riverside, (my area) is puro espanol, but I know that the Lord will help me and my new companion. I'm sad to see Hermana Rodriguez go, but I have learned so much from working with her and I know that she needs to go help someone else with their Spanish now :)
     Saturday, we had a baptism in the ward, unfortunately it wasn't Jose. Erica will be moving out this week so we're looking towards the 26th of october now. However, the family that was baptized Saturday is incredible. The baptismal service was so sweet and the spirit was so strong. It's a single mom and her two kids. She's been coming to church for 2 years and felt that now was the time to be baptized. What a testimony to me that the Lord really does things in His own time. I thought of Dylan and her baptism as the little boy sang "Cuando me bautice".. the spirit filled the room. I am so thankful for baptism and the importance of our covenants. 
     We had an incredible week with lots of great lessons.. However there's one that I really want to share...
     La Familia Molina is the family with three girls and the dad is out of work.. Luis, Rosie (15), Lizzy (13), Jessica (8). Remember them? We got permission to go to Rosie's volleyball game Friday night. She was so happy we were there! Luis doesn't have a car so he hardly ever gets to go to her games. We were happy to be able to support her. We went over for a lesson on Saturday and only Rosie and Jessica were there. When we walked in, Jessica said "I want to be baptized!" Sunday morning I called to remind them of church and all of them were sleeping, but Jessica, the 8 year old answered the phone and said "sisters! i'm ready for church! when are you picking me up?" Wow. We arranged for a family in our ward to give her a ride. Unfortunately Luis, Rosie and Lizzy didn't come to church, but the fact that the youngest of them all is ready and wants to be baptized? What a great example to the rest of the family.. Our lesson fell through last night with a new investigator, so we called the Molina's and asked if we could come over. Rosie said her sisters (she has 2 older sisters that dont live with them) were at the house and it probably wasn't a good time.. so i said "Okay great we'll be there in 10 minutes!" We went by with the intention of sharing a scripture and setting up a return appointment. As we walked in, we met Ashley and Sandy. The two older daughters. We invited them to join us. As the lesson went on.. Ashley and Sandy were asking incredible questions! The spirit was so strong. Before we knew it, 45 minutes had passed and we were able to close with a kneeling prayer. Luis was so happy to see all 5 of his daughters, kneeling in prayer together as a family. 
     I love this work. I know it is true. God has a plan for each one of us. I pray that we can all be instruments in His hands and help assist Him in His work. I know this church is true and that through the Priesthood power we can live with our family for eternity. I love you all and am so grateful for your examples and prayers. Tengan una buena semana!

Con amor,
Hermana Egbert

Sister Legge and I after Lunch with the Zone

Hermana Osorio - mi abuela de la mision. she made us dinner this week.. estuvo bien rica la comida!

we have been working with a less active family.. La familia Nunez. They have two kids who haven't been baptized (our investigators) These two little girls live with them. We stopped by for a lesson and they asked us to help with their art activity :) seashells from Galveston beach..

A funny story...
we had two sessions of conference on sunday. in between, the bishop brought us sandwiches and chips and apples, etc. so i'm like great, i feel healthy. so after conference we had a dinner planned with some members that cook sooo good! always mexican food and its delicious. that was at 5. but beforehand , a less active called and said they wanted to feed us and they had already cooked the food! we had an appointment at 7 so we're like... um 6? okay back to back dinners. i didn't eat too much at the Martinez's (the first house) but i was full. We went to the Meza's.. she goes "do you like seafood?"  oh crap..  i sat down at the table and all i could see was shrimp and oil blobs floating on the top of the soup. i took one sip.. not too bad. but still. then i started mixing my spoon around.... she started telling us what was in it.. camarrones (shrimp).. not too bad....  WHALE.. okay. don't want to eat anymore..  just then, i picked something up with my spoon... OCTOPUS!!!!!!!!!!! whaaaaat?    At that point i was gagging. i feel like a brat telling this story but it was hilarious hahaha and i literally was DYING.. i took out the baby octopus and put it in a napkin. I somehow managed to eat everything else. we stopped asking what was in the soup hahah hermana rodriguez was dying laughing cause only I had the octopus.. anyway.. i felt so gross. they offered us ice cream after and even though i was STUFFED, i said yes. i had to get the taste out of my mouth!