Bienvenidos Y'all!

 This sign pretty much sums up what it's like to live in Southeast Texas! It is a great blend of cultures, flavors and faiths. People are very friendly, but we do see some panicked looks on some as they read our name tags! The only people that want to start a conversation with us are members of the church that we bump into running errands, but that's ok. We are very dressed up for Texas!

Like many of you we have been wild swings in temperature while Fall decides whether to stay or not. But we have enjoyed the cooler temperatures and a chance to wear our jackets. 

The city of Kingwood where we live seems to take great pride in keeping things looking nice - and we have seen a lot of dead tree removal along with the continued removal of debris from recent flooding. It must be hard to keep up with it all!

We have been so happy to see a hint of the leaves changing color!

I signed up to feed the missionaries in Relief Society last week, but since we live outside their area we just take them out for lunch or dinner - and they seemed quite happy about it! This day it was Hermana Litchfield and Hermana Gutierrez. We had a great time getting to know them better and we sent a photo with a little note to their mother's - always appreciated I know!

                                         

The next evening it was Elders Bartschi and Casell - We told them their names together sound like a law firm! I am always amazed that these young people are willing to put their lives on hold and go to a strange place and work hard bringing people this message. These four seemed like exceptionally good missionaries and we loved spending time with them.

On Friday evening we got to go to the Houston Temple. Once a month the missionaries invite their new converts to come and be baptized for their ancestors - an event they call "Faith Meets Family". 

It was a great experience for us - I got to be a witness for the baptisms for the first time and John helped with the confirmations. The first two that arrived to be baptized were teenaged sisters from Beaumont - about a two hour drive. Someone from their ward drove them along with the sister missionaries, and they each did about five names. After they had been baptized and confirmed, the younger sister realized that her phone was missing. She was very upset and crying as they searched the locker room. A few of us started to help in the search, and when we had looked all over - including in the laundry hamper, I said "Has anyone said a prayer yet? They hadn't, so we all gathered together, and talked to them about how Heavenly Father knows where the phone is and he will help us find it. The sister missionaries asked the older sister to offer a prayer, and she gave the sweetest prayer! She thanked her Father in Heaven for leading them to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and for the blessing of being able to come to the temple. She asked him to please help her sister find her phone. We were all in tears! After the prayer they had the thought to go back and look in the room where they had been confirmed. Again, they didn't see it anywhere, but asked if anyone had seen a phone. John looked down and could see the edge of the phone under the desk where he was sitting! This experience reminded us that the Lord does watch over us and that he even cares about the small things in our lives!

This is how the temple looked when we came outside - so beautiful! I thought of how sad it would have been to see the temple flooded like it was during Hurricane Harvey and I am grateful that it is clean and beautiful again!

On Monday we attended a Health Council for the Houston Mission, and while we were there we had lunch at one of our favorite places - Goode & Co. Kitchen and Cantina. The food is so delicious!

This is a photo John took inside along with the Bienvenidos Y'all sign! 

The Heat of Mexico, The Heart of Texas!

                                                              Mmmm - Mmmm Good!

On our walk this morning we saw some fish in the river along with our lone white crane.

When we get back we usually walk by this apartment and we love to have these two beautiful cats (and usually two big dogs) greet us. Our apartment complex is very pet friendly.

Unfortunately this is also a common sight -  even spider webs seem to come big in Texas!

Until next week, know that we miss you and love y'all!