Keepin It Real In McAllen: Kashmir

another crazy week! stayed in portland with E. russell on exchanges and just went ham everywhere we went! we had mucho animo and just pumped about everything! hes like a step brother to me haha. i only see him on the weekends and thats enough and im okay with that hahaha. hes super goofy. tuesday night we wanted to visit with this potential from last week. well it was about 8 and hadnt eaten so we were like lets go pick up subway and come back and talk to angelica cause she lives in the apartments next to us. so we go to subway and the line is super long. so we decide to go teach angelica and come back and we go running out of subway and E.russell trips and totally belly flops in the drive thru lane and tore his pants and scraped his belt buckle.. ive never laughed so hard hahah E.russell is 6'6 so it was a far fall and he wasnt expecting it at all hahah. i still laugh about it now hahah it was hilarious. so we get in the car and race to angelica.. annndddd shes not home.. ha we were like dang.. really.. okay. so we go get our subway come back and try again and yay! she was home!! so we talked to her and asked her if she would be baptized and with no hesitation she said yes for her and her son! we were like sick!! it was a great way to end the night! we get back to the apartment and he was so sad about his pants hahah. also on monday we had an FHE with tracey and we were talking about the word of wisdom with her. and i dont know how but somehow bro thompson ended up talking about the BM of an african women and how we need to eat healthy and be healthy. it was super weird but really funny and tracey took the whole lesson very well hahaha. while i was on an exchange with E. russell we got a call from rockport with some referrals so we wrote them down and went on our way. the first house this boy answers the door and hes wearing a swimming shirt and so bam! him and i just start talking about swimming. turns out hes friends with a few members that also swim. he was a super nice kid said he is methodist but went to the stake dance the weekend before and really enjoyed it. we started teaching him the restoration on his porch cause he wouldnt let us into his house. all was well... and then his dad showed up... come outside and is nice to us. ask him if hed like to join and he says no.. and then immediately after. his son says that he will have to deny the lesson as well and that his mother is the pastor at the methodist church and has been for 20 years.. it was pretty strange.. and then they walked inside and we went on our way.. later that night we had a lesson with victor and marissa this couple that is just super awesome and really prepared.. well we taught them the gospel of jesus christ and at the end victor bears his testimony about how he's always felt like he has been guided through out his life but once he moved to dallas he stopped having those feelings.. and so he decided to move back to sinton with his wife. and then he started feeling those good guiding feelings again. and moved to portland and got an amazing job. we look at him and explain to him that, that is the spirit and explained that he was guided to us and victor says that he agrees and believes that he was guided to hear our message.. it was super touching.. like this man was about to cry he was so happy.. i love them so much! they are planning to get baptized at the end of the month. later this week we did some service in gregory cleaning a hoarders front yard. it was actually pretty fun and i got to keep some cool things haha. we tried to meet with this kid named Daron that we met playing prosball last weekend. we go to the basketball court and meet up and hes like guys theres something that ive been wanting to ask you guys all day. and it was kinda cool cause he was just looking for some advice on what to do in a situation when someone on his basketball team makes fun of him or wants to fight him... like dang we've only met you one time and you ask us for advice.. idk why but it made me feel good that he can look to us in need. hes only 15. we asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes. we had dinner at the Dements and they just started a diet so they told us to try and eat as much Blue Bell ice cream as would could.. i almost barfed they gave us so much ice cream.. and to be honest i hate ice cream.. hahah oh the dements are great. Met this guy named Blas! super cool vato and i hope to tell you guys more about him as time goes on. this other day man...im sorry im just jumping everywhere. but this other day we were on bikes. we had super rad plans to find and teach! so we started out good by visiting bro lane and reading a chapter with him. hes a very old man who doesnt get much company. so we ride and ride and ride and try and contact people and find and then all of a sudden our dinner plans with an investigator fall.. so we go to our back up and nothing.. no one answers so we go to our back up back up and go through all of our plans and seriously no one was home. so we now have 3 hours of just nothing cause everything fell through. we were a little frustrated but we kept going on. met this guy who is a long lost member and he is amazing at guitar! it was super cool to hear his story... so we did all we could and i was determined to find someone new this day. its about 8:30 and we just dont have a whole ton of time left. we go to visit a former and nothing came out of it but theres this man standing outside of his front door. smoking and playing xbox through the door. i go to him..not thinking much will come out of it and ask him for referrals.. idk how but we ended up talking about mattresses and how to sell them for the next 40 minutes. haha he works at mattress firm and is actually super chill and has been looking for something to take his family too. so we taught him the restoration and set up a time to come back. haha it was super rad !! and seriously its good to never assume how things will turn out cause you really dont know. but hes just an awesome nice guy his name is ryan. the next day we try to meet with this guy named AJ. we talk to him for a bit but he was fixing a neighborhood kids bike so he goes in the back to fix the rim.. so elder anderson and i wait out front... while we are waiting this guy comes out and tells us to leave.. and we were like oh we are waiting for AJ. and hes like welll you guys can leave..
then we ask.. well did AJ say that.. the guy said.. no, i said that, so leave... hahah things were started to get heated so we left.. aha yeah weird
we also met this lady named Lucy who was a pentecostal. after talking to her it made me so happy and just gave me such a good feeling in my heart that i know that there is hope for people who die and didnt recieve the gospel. her husband died a drunk and she believes that he is in a firery pit in hell burning.. im like wow that sounds terrible.. dont you wish your husband could be in a better place and she said no... i was shocked.. like someone you love.. wouldnt you want the best for them even if they did mess up in life.. we tried to teach and talk to here. but she was very firm in her beliefs. and it just made me sad that people actually think in that way.. we are so blessed to have the fullness of the gospel. not just part of it but all of it. we are able to live happily and know what we have to do in this life and what will happen after. prepare ourselves to be with Him now. dont wait.. do it now. i love you all.
hope you enjoy.

this is Gordon Muhammed. He was baptized in september. got this priesthood 2 weeks later and is already teaching the gospel principals class. he did baptisms for the dead this last weekend and also got his patriarchal blessing. this guy is amazing. him and his wife help us out so much. just want you guys to know.. thats all haha.

we were celebrating cause we met our zone goals of baptisms last month! yay!

goofy elder sanchez and stanley

we all love eachother and the van is the place to be

whataburger is alright.. everyone likes it hahha. I love how elder russell looks like a big foot picture haha.. and those glasses i found in the hoarders front yard. they are super rad!