Keepin It Real In McAllen: May 16

first off today is May 16 if you havent already. listen to May 16 by Lagwagon for me.

this week were in a trio with E.Anderson cause elder herrin went to mcallen for a few days for a meeting. on tuesday it was about 105 and i wanted to die haha it was soooo hot oh my gosh! i was sweating so much it was like someone left the faucet on over my head. we got anderson to do a handstand pushup in a members house just on the spot it was awesome. Elder anderson is very shy so we always try and help him get out of his comfort zone. we passed by a couple people this week that it was pretty sad. this one lady we were talking to everything was going great she was in a rush so we made sure that next time we go she wouldnt bail. Birrell said lots of people go to church out of tradition cause thats where their parents went and thats not what god wants..and then the lady went on to say that she just goes to church out of tradition. Then we asked her if god had something else planned for her would she follow it. She said nope and thats she is fine where she is at. super unprepared but crazy and triste. she has kids and ahh its just always a bummer. so after we played HORSE with the kids in the street haha. something about being with the kids always touches my heart whenever they ask us when we are gong to come back.. its like dang man id hangout all day if i could.. the last day that we were in a trio with anderson was pretty good. started the day off by visiting the Jimenez family they are super dope and we got the primary vision and just lots of good info. then we were riding to visit hmna Aseves. she lives in the nursing home. on the way we passed a candy and soda shop. I was like wow that place seems awesome. we should go there. then farther down the street birrell was like we should go to it right now. in my mind i was like nah lets just visit the member but then randomly i was like eh whhy not i guess. So we turned around and went to it and we checked out everything inside. it was super awesome and one of the workers was helping us out and we were there for a little while come to find out the worker was a member and hadnt been to church in over a year. Its crazy how things workout. so we go visit hmna Aseves and we always go and sing to her well while we were talking to her at the end there was this other old lady from across the hall that was calling us. She was laying in her bed and looked very old and in spanish said please come over and help me, i feel very sick, please come. So after we walked over there and it honestly looked like she was about to die. so we sang Mas Cerca Dios De Ti and during it she fell asleep. for some reason it was a little funny and birrell and i werent able to finish the song so anderson finished by himself. it was a cloudy day gracias a dios so it wasnt so hot. later we visited blanca and oh my gosh we just want to help people its hard when they dont listen!! ahh!! haha but we still love them. later we were contacting a referral and i heard a familiar sound while we were contacting it. It was a skateboard hitting the concrete. so quickly after we set up a return appointment we went and found this 13 yr old kid skating. Im like dude lets play a game of SKATE it was super rad. and we just taught the gospel as we skated. " have you ever skated with the missionaries before?" at the end of the night this less active we have really been working with told us a parabol.." theres a monkey at a lake and he sees a fish and has compassion for it cause he sees it is struggling to breath and feels bad so he takes it out of the water and then the fish starts flopping around and dies, the monkey didnt understand the world that the fish was in.
on Friday the 13 a stray black cat ran passed us ahh! haha that day we met Alma, she has one leg and is super awesome and nice. on saturday we had a blitz in el centro's area. i was with anderson and it was pretty fun. it was puro espanol and in the blitz i realized how much i dont know haha it was kinda crazy but a good learning experience. id much rather talk in spanish. we met up with one of our investigators. Omar, he is going to rehab in a couple weeks. its crazy. he is a good kid just stuck in a rut. bums me out but i try and help them as much as i can. Lately we've talked to a ton of addicts or alcoholics its weird but i hope i am helping them in some way. I remember my senior year in highschool during spring break after a couple crazy days with my friends i decided to leave them and take a bus and train to meet my brother at his work to go to a family get together in Heber. On the way to my brothers work i was on the train and this service missionary got on all by himself and in my ming was like oh my gosh you better not sit by me.. ha and sure enough he came and sat by me "frick" i said in my mind.. he started talking to me about the gospel as if i wasnt a member and i dont really remember all of it but it was kinda cool now that i think about it. I was like mean to him and kept trying to push him away. If only the guy could know im on a mission right now. Him talking to me did help me in a time where i wasnt so sure. The lord helped me remember who i am and what i know is true in a time i really need to remember. i share this experience cause its what i think of everytime I talk to someone that isnt ready. Dont be discouraged. Youre such a blessing and you might not ever know . So say hi to someone and compliment them. Met this guy named kerry last night. super cool dude totally laid out his problems infront of us and that he wants help. we were like yes! we can help you. he had a crazy life his siblings are in cartels and hes the only good one. We always found Diana and Jose last night, they are a super dope couple and have 2 kids that are also super cool. we first met their kids when we played basketball with them. Pumped to see them progress! I think that is all. our lava lamp is still doing good. We went digging for ties this morning.