My third area

As you know from my last email I have been transfered. To be honest the area I am at is the last place I thought that I would be. I am in an area just south west of Friendswood named Angleton. This area is HUGE and it is very country. Alot more like what I thought Texas was like before my mission is what this place is like. the coolest thing about this area is that Elder Robertson whitewashed this area long ago and was here for 7 1/2 months. When he was with me he had left this area. One of the reasons that I thought this would be the last place I would go. So I knew alot about the area before I even got here. I had already met some of the members and seen many pictures of the area. And I must say that I love this area already a whole lot. We have a car because of how big our area is. Our area covers Angleton, Danbury, Holiday Lakes, and past of Lake Jackson. Most of our investigators are in Lake Jackson near the church. From our apartment to there and back takes a good 30 miles. It is a collection of towns that are very spread apart. I love it though. It is so open and there was one day when we went to dinner that I could look out over the flat land and see for miles and miles and miles of just flat. It is really cool. The sky seems so much bigger because there is nothing in the way.

Going to church on sunday the ward is very different to the Friendswood ward but the people are great. Everyone seems very down to earth and very Texan. We have had serveral things of real BBQ this week already. The food is soooo good. I love it a ton.

My new companion is Elder Jensen. he has been on his mission for 20 months and is a spanish missionary. He is a really hard worker and is on top of everything while still being relaxed about everthing. He is a great teacher and I lvoe teaching with him. Teaching with your companion usually takes a few weeks to get into how to connect with your companion on teaching but we teach very similarly and everything seems to flow well. He is a good man and I look forward to serving with him. rumor has it that I will be taking over the area and staying here for a while. Since Elder Robertson left this area they have only kept missionaries here for 2 transfers at a time. So alot of switching around. But who knows what the Lord has in store.

Apart from all of that info on my new area and new companion this past week has by far been the busiest I have ever had. More stuff going on, transfers, people to see, and more lessons than I have ever taught in one week. I love it. But today it is a little nice to take a deep breath and prepare for this coming week with a hope that things work out as well as they did this week. It feels good when you stay busy and you always have important things to do. This area is just doing amazing. I love it soooo much.

Let's see what should I include in my email. There have been alot of interesting events this past week that I would love to talk about but if I can tell at least once of the stories acuratly then I will be happy. That's terrible english. Anyways, I do want to mention a little about my past Bishop. He is a great man and he is a spiritual giant. I will miss him as a Bishop and a friend. He has helped me alot just by his example and his willingness to do the Lord's work. I don't see a single bad part about him and that is a great example to me of what I want to be. He is a great man and leader and I am so thankful that i was able to be a missionary in sercive of him as Bishop. I don't mean to boast too much about him but he is a good man and I will miss him very much.

Now I will tell you jsut one story from this week.

We had just gotten done with a lesson when Elder Jensen and I were driving back toward Angleton. We are driving and Elder Jensen pulls the car over to the side of the road and pulls out the map. He makes a few calls just incase there is anyone we can see in Lake Jackson before we leave that town. He makes a few calls and gets a hold of a less active member who tells us to come over.

We arive at the the house and notice a group of people gathered at a table in the front lawn. The driveway is covered in American flags and such. We get out of our car and walk up to this member and what turns out to be here neices and nephews and sisters. She then tells us to go get some food. While we are eating we start to talk with those that are there. None of them are members but they are great people who are open to talking with us. As it turns out this party was for one of the neices who had just gotten back from Iraq after her first tour. So we talk some more and get there information to send missionaries over. Then we start to leave seeing how we had already been there for a while. When walking across the yard we hear a firetruck.

This firetruck drives slowly past this house we are at and stops a few houses down. It is followed by about 30 motorcycles than stop right after it. It is in these moments that the member shoves a camera into Elder Jensen's hands and tells him to take pictures. Everyone on the bikes and in the firetruck come out with a speaker and microphone and place it on the table at the party. These are all veterans who are here to welcome home the neice from Iraq. It was pretty cool. They gave her different gifts and such. It was awkward with us there but we couldn't leave because of all the bikes and all the neighbors seemed to come over to this event that everyone was listening to. So we took pictures for them and eventually left. Everything just seemed to come out of nowhere and it was suprising to Elder Jensen and I.

There have been several strange o suprising things that have happened this week and this is just one of them. But this is my favorite to tell. Anyways this has been my week and I am very happy to be here. I love my mission very ,much and this week I hit my year mark. That is so crazy. I feel like I just saw many of you yesturday.

love,

Elder Marr

P.S.

My new adress for letters and packages and such is;

1100 Buchta Rd. # 911

Angleton, TX 77515