It is transfers again! I can hardly believe it.. Just as I expected I am staying in the same place, which I am actually super happy about. I love Pearland and the Silverlake ward is seriously filled with the best people. We get dinner pretty much every night and they are always giving us people to go and visit or inviting us over to there house to meet their friends! It is the greatest.

Funny/awkward moment of the day

The first happened the other day when we were going to contact a referral we received from a member. We knock on the door at about 6 o clock in the evening and a short blonde lady comes to the door. We start off by talking about her children who also came running to the door and eventually got the the part when we introduce ourselves as missionaries. Now at this point people usually completely stop wanting to talk to us, they are friendly, or they don't react at all. However, more often than not we get the people who are super busy all of a sudden. haha This time the lady was actually completely calm and so we talk about what we do as missionaries and the entire time she is smiling and looking super calm. We asked her a question and then she just says, "We are not religious" Now let me remind you, we are in Texas and EVERYONE (including pets, apparently) is religious! Sister Bearnson and I had no idea what to say at that point! haha We were completely taken off guard with that statement because that is seriously the first time I have heard it. Luckily after a couple seconds of pure awkwardness we figured out what to say and had a good conversation, but looking back I am sure that was really super funny for the lady we were talking to.

 Other than that experience we had plenty of awkward moments on our bikes during the day. Wipeouts are the best though. (at least when it is Sister Bearnson) I am proud to say that I have never crashed on my bike... (knock on wood) but she has!! The other day we were coming down a hill and she needed to stop but she used the front brakes instead of the back ones first and so the bike flipped over her! haha From my point of view it looked like the bike suddenly decided it wanted to fly or something because out of nowhere it just flips up and Sister Bearnson somehow got off of it in time. hahaha It was so funny!! We could not figure out how she managed to get off the bike! It hit her leg a little bit but other than that it didn't touch her! Crazy right?

I wish I had time to record every single miracle I see on a daily basis, but unfortunately I don't. Just always remember that God is a God of miracles! He always has been and He always will be! If you really look God will always give you things to be grateful for. Some days I'll admit I do have to look a little harder, but He always comes through because He loves me. 

Take the time to think of the miracles you see in your life. Write them down and feel the joy that comes from being grateful. 

One of the things on my grateful list today is that my jeans still fit! haha Sister Bearnson and I tried on our jeans for the first time in a looooong time, but we were sure that they were not going to fit. Yes, I will admit they were a little tight, but both of us got them up, buttoned, and zipped! Happy day!! 

We have some really cool people that we are teaching right now. I love how God can help us to understand really how people feel and what they need. The other day we were teaching a lady and she said that she didn't think we should come over anymore because her children were really against the church and she didn't want to cause any problems. We talked about it for a little bit and we felt impressed to ask her if her children would be interested in talking to us just to get some of their questions out. She said that she wasn't sure, but she hoped they would. She went on to bear her testimony about the Book of Mormon and how she knows it is from God. She expressed so much love for the gospel and for her children. I just know that everything will work out because God will help her and her family. 

Well have a great day everyone! Oh and write me!!

9900 Broadway

Pearland TX

77584

-Sister Earl

Hello again, its me.

This week has once again gone by in a couple minutes. I vaguely remember eating a couple meals and I guess I must have slept at one point too, but it doesn't really feel like it. hahaha. Luckily we have some great people to keep my spirits up, plus being down never helps anyone anyway. 

This week for numbers wasn't the greatest week. We did get 10 referrals though which was a big improvement! We are doing our best to talk to everyone and help them see just how much their Father in Heaven loves them. This entire mission is motivated by the love of our Savior and it is an incredible blessing to be able to feel that for all the people around me. I am hoping to have an even better week this coming week and I know God will help me and Sister Bearnson. (It is the last week of the transfer! Weird right?)

Just to start off I learned something very new and interesting to me this week. I was talking to a member of our ward early last week and I learned something new about a certain insect that lives here in Texas. There is this bug here that stays high in the trees that makes this very loud noise. At first it always sorta scared me when it would make noises, but lately it has been more easy to ignore.  Anyway these bugs are called Secadas. (Might be spelled wrong, sorry I don't have google.) These bugs incubate underground for 17 years!! and then live for about a week or so above ground. I was completely baffled by that news! These very loud and obnoxious things only get to live for a week! 

As I was biking about this past week it seems like there are a ton of new secadas all around and so as they screamed at me while I rode past I made a couple of observations. Sorry if these observations seem silly to you, but it made sense in my close to heat stroke mind. :)

Observation One: You never know what people are going through around you.

 

Before I learned about the pathetic plight of a young secadas life I will admit the things really annoyed me. They make these very loud noises that fill up all the empty space around you. As I thought about these bugs and the fact that they only have so long to live I thought about all the other people in my life that sometimes I judge way to soon. 

Often we feel like we understand exactly what is going on in others lives. We think that we know exactly how we would behave if we were in someone elses shoes and we judge the way others act. As silly as it might sound I gained a new respect for Secadas this week. Those annoying things only live for a week! So in a way I can see how they would feel the need to live life to the fullest no matter how much it might annoy the people passing by. People are even more complicated than secadas as crazy as that might sound. haha People have so many things that can affect them every day and I for one need to be more understanding of how others deal with the trials they face. Everyone has hard things, some people just handle it differently than you would. Everyone makes mistakes, some peoples mistakes are just more visible than others. It happens. 

Observation Two: There is always something harder that you could be going through, so be thankful.

Secadas are quite disgusting looking. I don't know if you have ever seen one, but they are not the most glamorous bug (if there is such a thing). I will admit at times when I felt quite disgusting myself this week I would think about those bugs and think, "Well at least you don't look like one of those things." haha Even though we have been told not to compare ourselves to others sometimes it can be done it an uplifting way. If you can think of yourself and your trials and think, "Well it could always be worse, I might as well deal with it and move on." Then you will be a lot happier with the things you have been given. If it helps you can just think, "At least I am not a disgusting bug that only lives for a week." It helps me, it can help you too. Whatever your tactic, choose to be happy and not be down on yourself. God has given you so much to be grateful for and just to help you out the first thing on your list could be. 1. I was created in the image of God. We have the blessing of being created in the manner of the most wonderful being in the entire universe! He loves us a lot and he wants us to be grateful for the blessings He has already given us. So smile and show off your beautiful self. :)

Observation Three: Prepare now for your future.

I know I already mentioned it, but these bugs live underground doing absolutely nothing for 17 years besides grow. That is all they do! As I was thinking about that I realized that sometimes we do that too. How often to we look forward to a certain event in our lives that we feel will make everything else in our life better, but all we do to get to that point is wait? This life on earth is a time to prepare to meet God. There is nothing I want more than to make it back to see my Father in Heaven, but I want to be sure that when I get there I have something to say to my 17+ years I have been "growing" on the earth. I want that glorious day to be glorious for many reasons. 1. I want to remember the face of my Savior. 2. I want to have Him be proud of what I did while I was on the earth. and 3. I want to be proud of what I did! I want to feel like I did the best preparation that I could do while I had the blessing of being on the earth. I want to have helped everyone that I could, and gotten as close to my Savior as I possibly could. 

So even though these little bugs really don't have that much of an impact on the world as a whole, they made me think about a couple things this week. And you might say that I was thinking a little too hard about an insignificant bug, but who knows maybe God wanted me to learn that lesson and this was the only way it was going to stick. I testify that God knows you as well. He knows how you learn and how He can help you understand. No matter how small you may feel your Father in Heaven loves you with an infinite love. He wants more than anything to help guide you through this life so that you can live with Him again someday. Turn to Him! Pray to Him and let Him help you to become what He knows you can be. 

I love all of you. Have a great week!!

-Sister Earl

PS  Keep doing the wonderful things you are doing and let me know what exciting things are going on in your life! I would love to know. 

Email me at mckayla.earl@myldsmail.net 

Hello my friends,

 

Today I realized that there are only like 2 weeks left in this transfer.. That is just insane to me!! I feel like the first transfer was like 50 times longer than this one.. People keep telling me it just gets faster from here so I am trying to hold on to each moment and make the best of it.

 

There is always multiple ways to look at a situation and in many situations the counsel from Sister Hinckley is needed. "To get through this life to need to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh, crying gives me a headache." That is so true!

 

This week has been a much smoother week so we were able to work many miracles in our little ward. One of the recently baptized members Haley Aikens was able to get her family to church on Sunday! Her mom, dad, and sister all came to church! Haley is 15 and has some of the strongest faith I have ever seen in anyone. She gets herself to church and mutual by finding rides and even has been working on her family history.

 

Last week we were able to go with her to the temple so she could get baptized for her Grandmother who never got a chance to while she was alive. Haley was absolutely beaming the entire time. She felt so overwhelmingly happy that she could help her Grandmother out in heaven. In the temple we are able to perform saving ordinances for those who have already gone to the other side. The great thing about this is that we know everyone still has their agency. Or in other words they still have the power to choose up in the Spirit World. Even though Haley was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost for her Grandmother she still can choose whether or not to accept those ordinances.

 

It was a very special experience for everyone who was at the temple that day. Just realizing that our families are still ours even after this life is wonderful. We have the knowledge that we can be with those we love for all of eternity by the sealing power found in the temple. A lot of people believe that they will see their families again after this life, but the difference is we know how it all works. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the answers to how everything works out after this mortal life. It is such a blessing to know that through the sealing power we can be families forever, not just this short time we have on earth.

 

If you want to know more about this wonderful plan God has for us I would encourage you to go to Mormon.org and look up the Plan of Salvation. This plan is what God set up from the foundation of the world. We all understood this plan before we came to the earth and it gives us so many answers as we go throughout this life.

 

I love this gospel. I love that I can have the answer to so many of the pressing questions in my life.

 

Have a great week everyone. :)

Remember to smile.

-Sister Earl

Hello all you wonderful people,

 

If anyone out there was doubting that there truly is opposition in every single thing, well let me tell you that there is. I have a personal witness of this principle. So I am going to share a couple of key experiences this week that I believe explain opposition with the upmost clarity. (hah.. )

 

Don't get me wrong this week has been an awesome week, but that is because the ups and downs have been so completely opposite that I really really appreciate the Up moments.

 

So lets start out with Tuesday. We are riding around on of bikes and it is actually probably only 94 degrees or so. I was feeling pretty good and we had a wonderful lesson with a lady named Maddie. We are riding away and out of NOWHERE a huge cloud comes billowing across the sun. At first I was like "WOO! That feels great".. but then it started to rain. Many of you are probably thinking "Wow I bet that rain felt pretty good since it was so hot" and it did feel good, but EVERYthing is bigger in Texas. Yes that includes the rain storms. hah So picture a couple of girls on bikes in rain so hard and thick that you can hardly see each other. The rain was coming in sheets not just drops. We laughed for a couple minutes straight at the pathetic situation we were in. We had rain ponchos so we put them on, but we were already soaked completely through by the time we got them out and on anyway. I have never witnessed rain like that before and I honestly had no idea what to do about it. After a couple mins the rain let up a little so we could at least see.. so we got back on our bikes and rode slowly through the flooding water to our next house.... Yes we still had work to do. We ended up just asking when we could come back instead of getting everything inside wet. Tuesday was the worst rain storm.. but every single day this week it has rained for a little while.. but I guess I would rather be wet from rain than from sweat so its alright. (The worst thing is when it rains after you have been sweating  for a little while so all the sweat is burning your eyes..) Can't you just picture our pathetic frames trudging through water in ridiculous rain ponchos?! hah Man, I wish I had a picture honestly! I am sure we at least gave some of the drivers a good laugh as they went by us. I know I would have laughed. :P

 

The other key moment this week happened on Friday. In the morning for studies we went to the computers to do some work with family history studies. We returned to our apartment around 12 and immediately realized that the air conditioning was not working... also the fridge was off.. the microwave was not working... and all the lights were out too. The power was off! Assuming that it was just something to do with the incessant rain and the breakers we called Apartment Matenience and they said they would have someone up there soon. By the time we were done eating lunch the guy still wasn't there, but we need to get out and start working so we left and went about our activities of the day. Around 7 that night we recieved a text message from the elders saying that someone had informed them that the power to our apartment had somehow been turned off... No knowing what to do and having another appointment we disreguarded the text for a minute and when to our lesson. (which by the way wasn't the greatest decision) After that we decided to go home a little early a figure out what was going on. We discovered our power to still be off with a note on our door saying that we needed to call the power company...

 

At this point we decided to call the housing coordinator who called the power company for us. He called us back asking why we didn't ask earlier, but we informed him that we had no idea what was even going on until 7. Anyway after a bunch of phone calls we found out that someone had ordered a shut off order for our power. At first I was worried it was some bill that we forgot to turn in to the office.. but we only get the ones for rent in our mail so it couldn't be that. Anyway long story short.. our power was off and there was no way to contact the power company until MONDAY MORNING. (THis is Friday night remember?)

 

We were then evacuated from our apartment with our clothing and missionary stuff. We emptied the fridge and freezer of all perishable items and brought them with us. We will given refuge with the Spanish sisters who live in the apartments on the very edge of our area. We were so grateful that we were at least not suuuper far away, but it did add a lot to our biking during the day. Plus, of course the sky still was having leakage problems...

 

We are currently still at the other apartment.. but our power should be back on soon.
The weirdest thing about all this was that the power company had no idea who ordered the shut off call. We are convinced it was Satan or something.. but guess what? We are still working!!! We are still pushing! and we have seen miracles this week!

 

We met a lady who accepted a visit from us and then accepted a baptisimal date for August 11th. We had a member call us up and say that they had a lady coming over to their house who wanted to have the missionary discussions. We were given so much love and support from our ward that we had meals every single night without fail. We met a ton of people on the street who we normally do not run into since we usually live in a different part of town. We had so much pity shown to us this week because we were almost always soaking wet. People were listening to us because we were so determined.

 

That is just a short list!

 

I also showed myself how strong I am. Nothing is going to come in between me and what God wants me to do. So many times this week I could have stopped. I could have quit, but that is what Satan wants from us! If he can push us to the point where we feel like we can't do one more thing then we will do his best to get us there. Sometimes all I could do was sing a hymn to myself while the rain came down. I prayed hard that my legs would just go numb already so I wouldn't feel them burning. I smiled. I forced myself to smile when we met new people even though the only thing I really wanted to do was get dry and take a nap. I tried to stay positive and never for a second forget how much I love my Savior.

 

Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes we have to endure instead of enjoy. The good news is your Savior is always there. In the garden He felt exactly what you are going through. He knows how helpless and weak I felt in the rain on my bike. He knows exactly how I feel because He felt that! He did the same for you!! This life is going to be hard, because that is the only way we will learn. One of my favorite quotes from Elder Holland is something like "Why should it be so easy for you, when it was so hard for Him?" He suffered more than any mortal frame could ever endure. He felt more pain then anyone before or since. The fact that we get to feel a little piece of that pain and sadness is a blessing! We can now appreciate all that He did for us! Without that taste we would never understand the enormous blessing that the Atonement is!

 

Without the hard times we would never know the good times. Without the pain we could never have happiness. God gives us trials to make us better and help us learn.

 

I'll admit that parts of this week were really hard, but parts of this week were my very favorite memories so far in my mission. If you can turn to God when the trials come then everything will work out in the end. My legs still hurt, my aparment is still without power, but that ok. Life goes on and God is still there. He is my Father and He is looking out for His little missionary. :) He has his angels all around me. My companion, my mission president, the Spanish Sisters, plus all the unseen angels holding me up at the end of the day when I don't feel like I can stay awake any longer.

 

I testify that the only way we can make it through the things that come up in our lives is if we turn to God and Jesus Christ. If all you can do is offer up a desperate prayer asking for some sort of peace I promise you will recieve it. Your Father in Heaven loves you more than you can possibly imagine. He understands your trials and knows how to get out of them. Turn to your Savior and let that Atonement take affect in our life.

 

I testify that God lives and that His Son Jesus Christ is the only hope that we have of returning to heaven one day. Let him help you in the big things and the small things.

 

This gospel is true and it changes lives.

 

Have a great week!

Sister Earl

Another wonderful week!

I swear time just is flying faster and faster everyday!

 

This week has been quite interesting. The reason for that is Sister Bearnson and I decided that we needed to be talking to more of the people we see everyday on our bikes. Sometimes it is just hard to see people because there is so much sweat in my eyes I can hardly see where I am going... haha Just kidding.. sorta.

 

Anyway, we made that goal and we have been following through! We have talked to all sorts of people and have gotten a ton of new investigators as a result.

 

One of my favorites was this lady who was walking her dogs. Apparently the young puppy had never seen a bike before so when we came up to her she spent a couple mins "explaining" to her puppy what a bike was. At this point we were not sure if we should stay there.. or just leave her with a card, but we ended up talking about the gospel a little. She made a couple other comments to her dogs.. explaining that she was just going to talk to the nice ladies on bikes for a couple minutes and then they could resume their walk. After a few comments it was apparent that she was not really interested in our message. So we talked to her about mormon. org and then asked if she knew of anyone in the area who would benefit from our message. She goes on to explain who lives at each house on the street! She explained who lived there and all kinds of things that they do. It was slightly creepy, but as a missionary trying to get to know everyone is was wonderful! From that conversation we got 3 awesome referrals who we are working with now. :) You never know how you will find more people. It might just be through a crazy dog-loving street roamer. hah

 

The thing that I always hear here in Houston is that "Oh, I have already been saved." What? Who told you that you were already saved! So many people believe that if you accept Jesus Christ then you are automatically saved. I almost wish I could just believe that, but that is not how it works! Accepting Jesus Christ is important, but that is just the beginning. Our Heavenly Father wants us to become LIKE him. He wants us to learn how to be kind, selfless, charitable, thoughtful, a hard worker, faithful, and all the other attributes of Christ. The only way we can attain those things is if we work on them. At the end of our lives when we die we will be the same person we were before we died. We will not all of a sudden be perfect. It is a process. That is why we are here on earth! To learn, to grow, and to be tested. This week I talked to a lady who exclaimed with a huge smile on her face that "We are absolutely saved in this house." Does anyone really have the right to say that? Is anyone "absolutely" saved?

 

Well that question is up to each and every one of us. What we get depents on what we DO with the things we have been given. If we were already perfect I promise you that God would just take us up to heaven right now. If there was nothing else on earth that I could improve on I imagine I would just show up in heaven right? The thing is, I am not perfect. The only person on this earth that was perfect was our Savior.

 

What made our Savior so perfect? He helped people, He never thought of himself before others, He kept all the commandments with exactness, he never judged or made anyone feel down on themselves. He was perfect because He lived the things He was teaching and he was the Son of God.

 

Our goal is to try to improve ourselves.

 

"God is more concerned with growth than geography"

 

All He wants is your best. Pick something to work on and remember that your Heavenly Father is always there. He will never leave you alone.

 

I testify that God lives. That Jesus Christ, his son, is our Savior. God knows what he wants us to become and Jesus Christ is who makes it possible. We can be better. We can be closer to Him. He loves you.

 

The most magnificent being in the universe asks that we individually pray to Him so that He can bless us individually. He is aware of you, I promise. I have never been more sure of anything else in my life.

 

-Sister Earl

 

 Me and Sister Bearnson

 

 

 

Remember when I told you about the greatest thing in the world called Kolaches? Well here is what the little pieces of heaven look like.