Week 19 LaJoya, Texas

Hey Mom,

Don't have a lot of time so this will be a little short.

We had 54 people at church yesterday, one of the lowest in the 6 months I have been here. Not great, but all we can do is improve (I think?)

The week has been pretty usual, it was a lot of talking with my new comp Elder Barlow about the area and what is going on right now.

Not much has happened so on to the highlights:

Monday:

Shipley and I went and got haircuts in the morning before we got transferred on Tuesday. After haircuts we went to a zone activity where we played soccer and ate burgers at a members house in Sharyland. After that we had dinner with the Brother Hernandez and he made us some nice tacos. We had a ward family home evening and had some good discussions so it was good. Shipley and I took pictures with some members and we were getting ready to leave. Eloy the boy bought us Chapo Guzman hats and Chapo Guzman shirts, so we had to take some pictures with him and the hats. That about ended off mine and Shipley's last day together, he is off to Laredo. (I did make sure Jaden knew exactly who El Chapo is, he said they wouldn't wear the hats and shirts in public. He had previously told me that he will tell me what Eloy the boy does for work when he comes home. Hmmm.....)

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning we went to seminary so Shipley could say goodbye to Brother Guerrero and a few other people. We then drove to the mission office and had transfers. I met Elder Barlow, said hi and bye to some people and then I was off with Elder Barlow back to La Joya. We met with Guerrero right away to talk with him about the ward and stuff like that. Then we went and saw a less active in the ward and talked to her about needing to come to church. To finish off the night we visited Bishop and talked with him about a plan for the ward and for the next 6 weeks while I am still here, because I will probably leave after this transfer.

Wednesday:

We had a stake meeting with the stake President to talk about what we need to do as a stake to help the wards out and get things moving. We had lunch at Wendy's with some other missionaries and then came back to La Joya. We did some planning and then had dinner with the Buentello family, it was pork, beans and some noodles, pretty delicious. After that we had ward council and for 2 hours talked with the ward council about what to do, it was decently productive but some people just don't know what they are doing so sometimes it is difficult.

Thursday:

We had MLC which is like a training for all the leaders and since Barlow is a district leader he went to that. So me and Elder Porter who is up the road from us in Rio Grande City and Elder Matthews who is in Hidalgo were in a trio for the day. It was pretty fun, I had been to Hidalgo once before on an exchange during an MLC so I kind of new the area a little bit. What is funny is that we had a dinner appointment with the same family that I ate with last time I was in an exchange in Hidalgo, but last time only the dad was there and this time he wasn't there so nobody remembered me. I also got to drive during that exchange so it was pretty fun.

Friday:

We had MLC until like 1 so we were still in a trio until then. We just drove around and tried to find some less active members. That was really it for Friday, the rest of the day we were back in La Joya trying to figure out who to visit so we tried by some people.

Saturday:

We had a district leader video chat in the morning so Barlow did that and I tried updating some information we have on less active members. We did some planning for the ward and for our area. We had dinner with sister Covarrubia who is literally just an awesome Mexican grandma, she made us a delicious chicken with some beans and noodles. After that we met with some less actives and then visited Eloy the boy. We saw what he was up to and read some of the Book of Mormon with him and then visited his sister who is less active and read with her. Eloy gave us a ride back to our apartment and Elder Barlow lost his keys, I had a house key so we could still get in but he lost the car keys and the keys to the chapel. We called Eloy and luckily they were in his truck so he brought them back over to our apartment.

Sunday:

We had church and like I said only 54 people. It was fast and testimony meeting so it was good. 2nd and 3rd hour were the usual. After church we were talking with bishop and he was telling us about how he has to submit a name to the stake president for the new elders quorum president. So we talked with him about that and he asked us about some members and what we thought of them and how they were when we visited them. We did that and then had dinner with the Rivera family, it was chicken again and some salad, pretty delicious. We went and visited the Nieto family with the Hernandez's really quick and then went back to the church to practice singing for the ward conference that we are having on the 22. That was pretty good, there are only like 7 people singing but is should be okay.

That was the week, I know it was rushed but not much time, but there are plenty of pictures so here we go...

Love,

Elder Goodbaudy

Elder Shipley and Elder Goodbaudy with Brother Hernandez.

Elder shipley and Elder Goodbaudy with the Riveras family.

 Zone picture.

 Brother Hernandez's tacos.

Elder Shipley and Elder Goodbaudy with Eloy the boy.

Elder Shipley and Elder Goodbaudy wearing their El Chapo hats.