Tuesday, February 24, 2015

More Miracles!


Okay, so this week went by way too fast! I am starting to forget everything that happens because there is so much going on each week and the time seriously just goes too fast!

On Wednesday, we were able to go over and see Bill and Kathryn and she had read 1 Nephi Chapter 3, so we just reviewed what happened and then she said that she would read chapter 4 before we come next time. That was all we had time for because Kathryn was not feeling well.  : (

Wednesday night, we received a call from a companionship in the zone and they asked us if we would be willing to come over in the morning to attend their companionship study and we were like, "YES!"  We usually have to ask missionaries if they are okay with us coming to participate in their planning or study, so we were pumped when they asked us. When we got there on Thursday morning we read through some things in Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel with them and then we all role played different finding ideas. It was really funny! I started out in the bathroom and they knocked on the door and I pretended to be someone they tracted into and then they just started talking to me about how our families can be together forever. We all took turns knocking doors and inviting people to learn more. It was a really successful companionship study! 

The neatest part about our time spent with these Elders was we were able to use what we practiced that night. All day, we were praying that we would be led to someone who was being prepared to meet us and after dinner we felt like we should go to this one particular street in the neighborhood where we ate dinner, so we drove over there and said one more prayer before heading out. It's GO TIME! So we knocked the first door and this lady was not having it with us! She was not super rude, but needless to say she didn't want to talk to us. So I was like, "Well, she isn't prepared so lets keep going!" Elder Christensen knocked that first door, so I knocked the next. There was no answer so I then rang the doorbell and then a girl came to the door a few seconds later. I could tell that this girl seemed very sad and it looked as if she had been recently crying. The first thing I said to her was, "Hello we are missionaries from our church and we are just going around sharing a message with your neighbors about how our families can live together forever and it is through God's power that makes this possible....." This girl then said to me, "Well it is crazy that you say that because my boyfriend's dad just passed away less than an hour ago." I knew at that very moment that we were supposed to meet this girl that night and that Heavenly Father lead us to her. Her parents were not home so we did not go inside, but she wanted to talk to us so we ended up standing on her front porch for an hour and we talked briefly about the Restoration and then we shared the Plan of Salvation lesson with her. This message brought her so much comfort and she said that she was going to talk to her boyfriend about it. We gave her a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon as well as one for her boyfriend. We are waiting to see if she calls us back, but if not then we are going to go back over there to see if she still wants to meet with us. 

That same night, we received a referral from the missionaries in Waller and they said that there was a lady named Lois at the Tomball Regional Hospital who wanted a blessing, so we went there after we talked to Brook out front. When we got to the hospital, we talked to Lois for a while and she explained how her sister was a member in Washington and that she completely changed her life around and it was because of her husband, and our church. She said, "I want to know what it is that you guys have that changed my sister!" We gave her a blessing and talked to her a little bit about the restoration and then we had to go because it was getting late! 

Friday, we went back to visit Lois and we brought Paul Kendrick with us! We talked about the Book of Mormon and we started reading it with her and we just had a big circle and we all took turns and stopped to discuss what was going on. As we read about Joseph Smith's testimony, she was so interested about angel Moroni. It was sweet! We are actually supposed to be going back over there tonight with some other members because she was not feeling well the past few days. 

So on Sunday, we were able to meet with Morgan and Brenda at our Bishop's house. Morgan was baptized like 5 years ago but he has just recently been coming pack to church and his wife is not a member. They have been wanting to meet with us, but they have been super busy but we finally got it all worked out yesterday! We had a powerful first lesson yesterday and Brenda wants to continue meeting with us! It was way better than I am making it sound, but I am running out of time so I will let you know how the next lesson goes! :) 

I love you guys and I want you all to know that I am so grateful to be out here in Texas! It is amazing to me how engaged the Lord is in His marvelous work. He is directing us and we are just tools in His hands. I love it! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca 



Sorry I didn't take that many pictures this week so here I am.. haha : )
 I love you guys! 


Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy President's Day!


Okay this week was sweet! Im just going to throw it down. 

Monday, we were out finding and we talked to a guy named Ishmael, and we taught him most of the restoration lesson as we talked with him out front! We scheduled to come back on Sunday but we had a Mission President's Fireside last night so we weren't able to go back and talk with him. Speaking of the fireside, it was so sweet! All of the missionaries in our Stake were in the choir and for once, I actually entertained the idea of joining a ward choir someday. :) We sounded pretty good up there but that was only because
the spirit was present! 

Tuesday, after dinner, we weren't quite sure where to go and I felt like we should go back to see a lady named Nancy we met back in January that we haven't been able to see since. We went over and we taught her part of the restoration lesson out front until her husband came home and then wanted dinner! Bummer! It was neat to talk to on Tuesday because that was my Mom's Birthday! Happy Birthday Mamma! 

After we talked to Nancy, we were walking back to the truck and right as Elder Christensen got in the truck, I had a thought that we should go and talk to her neighbor. He was getting in the truck and I was backing him, so it was hard to tell him what I felt like we should do and then all of the sudden, he got out of the truck and was like we need to go talk to him and I was like, "NO WAY! I just had the same thought!" You guys, I want to promise you all that the Lord is directing us to the people He has prepared. He leads and guides us everyday and that is why it is so crucial for us to be worthy of the 'gift' of the Holy Ghost. We talked to Paul about his family and asked him how he would feel to know that he could live with his family forever and he said it would be incredible. It was the neatest thing ever! He told us that we could come back and we exchanged information to contact each other. He also had a really sweet dog! It is called a Presa Canario I think. Have you ever heard of them? They are sweet! 

Wednesday, we had dinner with the Giffords in our ward and I was with Elder Young on exchanges. They are a sweet family and they referred us over to visit some of their neighbors, but the neighbors said we could come back another time. It was so sweet to know that they trusted us enough to send us over there. We tracted out their entire street after that! It was so sweet. They were telling us to basically go to every door! 

Thursday, we met with Julie and her daughter Madison. They were meeting with missionaries in the past and one of Julie's daughters was baptized and she is now at BYU. We shared the restoration with them as well and we are planning on going over there tomorrow! The Lord is blessing us with people to teach! 

Friday, we met with Bobby and we had Paul with us! Another great lesson. We focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and really focused on the importance of every principle in that lesson. Through Christ, we can be cleansed from sin through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It was a good lesson but, as we were teaching, I noticed two girls eaves dropping on our conversation because we were at Panera Bread. I felt like I should ask them if they had any questions on what we were discussing. So after our lesson, we got up and then the girls got up as well and started to walk outside so I hurried over there and I asked them and it was super funny because one girl was like, "Yeah, we were totally listening to your conversation." And I was like, "Yeah, I know."  Haha! So it turns out that they did have some questions and we were able to answer them and now we are meeting with them this Friday. Teach when you find, and find when you teach! 

Well, I have to go for now, but I wanted to let you all know that we are doing good here! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca





​I told Brother Bikman that he needed to get a CAT! 


​I saw Elder Weaver last night. Selfies for dayzz! 


Do you remember Elder Neville from France?? 

Monday, February 9, 2015

I'm From the Country and I Like It That Way!




Texas is awesome!! We had a great week. We were able to go over to Bill and Kathryn's house and we read more from the Book of Mormon with them. They still aren't reading on their own so we have just been reading with them the past couple visits. 

We had a lesson with Bobby and, again, he is still waiting to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true until after he finishes it so we have just been reading with him as well. Bobby said that he wants to be baptized, but he doesn't want to commit to Mormonism. We explained to him that he is being baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and not to the "Mormon" church. He still said that he wants to classify himself as a non-denominational Christian. We are going to meet with him again tonight so I will let you know how it goes. Please keep these people in your prayers. That would really help! 

On Thursday, we had interviews with President Mortensen and Elder Christensen and I and the Sister training leaders in our zone had to cover the specialized training with the assistants while President was interviewing missionaries. We had some people from the stake high council there as well and they talked with us after President told us about how we can best help our ward councils. After that, we had a huge role play with the missionaries. Elder Christensen and I and the two sister training leaders all went into the kitchen and the room next to it and we all had a separate doors and each companionship has to come knock the doors as if they were tracting and they practiced what they would say when they were out finding. We all had to be nice to some and mean to some to change it up and when I was mean to them, I felt so bad!! My heart sunk after I slammed the door on them! Obviously, they knew it was just a role play, but still. I felt a glimpse of what people feel like when they are rude to us. They must feel miserable inside even though they don't show it.  

The coolest part about specialized training was that they had asked a recent convert to come and we had Paul Kendrick come! The assistants asked him to come up and he was asked different questions about his conversion process and what it was like the first time coming to church and how the missionaries used members in their teaching and what not. He was rockin' it up there. He seriously had so many great things to say and that is not because he was talking highly of me, but that didn't hurt(; Brother Kendrick is a stud, and our zone was like, "Wow, that was sweet to have him here." after he left. He done good! 

Okay, so one of the best parts of my week was I got to baptize Niki Gessner! Niki and Pamela were both baptized this past Saturday and we had a great turnout there. Many non-members and less-actives were there. When we were over there earlier this week, we asked the girls who they wanted to do the baptisms and Niki smiled and pointed to me and was like, "I want you to baptize me!" She seriously made me feel like a million bucks. Elder Christensen baptized Pamela and Brother Schulmire and Brother Ure did the confirmations on Sunday morning. We weren't able to be there for the confirmations because we had a stake high council meeting, but we heard they went well! It has been a privilege to be able to work with these two little girls and they have made so much progress since we met them when I first came to Tomball. 

All is well here is the small state of Texas! I hope all of you are doing well and know that I love you!

Love, 

Elder DeLuca




Niki is the one next to me!


We love dressing in white at the church. :)

Monday, February 2, 2015

Another Great Week in Tomball!!



Howdy everyone! This week flew by! On Monday evening, we were able to have Bobby come over to Paul's house and we read Alma chapter 8 with them and we really dove in to Lehi's dream and likened the scriptures to them. It was neat to see Bobby realize that he needs to hold to the rod of iron and be in the scriptures every day. Paul was throwing it down too! He was bearing his testimony of how he was reading the Book of Mormon every day when we were meeting with him and how that was what he turned to in order to receive the strength he needed. It was the coolest thing ever to have Paul teaching with us. Solid lesson! 

On Wednesday, we came to the college campus to try to invite people to the club and something really cool happened. As we were coming out of the library, Elder Christensen went out the door and I was following but I felt like I should hold the door for this guy that was coming and it was one of those awkward times when the person is like borderline too far away to wait and hold it, but I did it anyways. I waited there for a few seconds (felt like 5 minutes) and held the door for this guy and he said, "Thanks." and went in. We started walking back to the truck and he came running after us and he was like "You guys talked to me about a month ago and gave me a card and asked me to watch the video, and I did! What information do you have? I want to learn more." Turns out I talked to this guy and told him about the "He Is The Gift" video and invited him to watch it! He remembered it was me because I told him that he had a sick watch! Everyone loves compliments.  (; haha! So, we walked back to the truck with him and gave him a restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and he said he wants to meet with us!! We weren't able to meet this past week, but we are going to try and see him this week. His name is Ryan and he is a stud! 

We received a referral this week for someone named Susan so we called her and it turns out that she is a member but her daughter, Taylor, is not and she wants to start meeting with us because she wants to be baptized! We were able to go over there this past week and, on the way over, I had to turn around and I got the truck stuck! There are a lot of ditches here for the rainfall and usually they are dry but this one had some hidden water under the grass! So we were totally stuck and even four wheel drive didn't do anything so we just started walking to Susan and Taylor's house. We couldn't find the house, but I saw a big Dodge Cummins at this house and I b-lined it over to this guy. I was like "Hey sir, how are you doing?" and this guy was like "You don't wanna talk to me."  And then I said "No, we just need your help! We are stuck right at the end of your road!" He then said okay hold on let me go get a strap. It was cool to see how even though some people don't want to hear what what we have to say, most people like to help when they can. By the way, this truck had a bunch of motor work done to it so it was super fast! He pulled us right out .:)

We also met with Bill and Kathryn this week and we were able to read the Book of Mormon with them. We wanted to teach the plan of salvation lesson, but they hadn't been reading so we read with them to show them the importance if it! We don't just blow through the lessons if people aren't keeping commitments because they aren't going to progress unless they feel the spirit testify to them personally. Keeping commitments prepares people to make and keep covenants. 

Friday, we went into the Windrose Elders area with Elder Meyers and Elder Mikesell and we went finding with them. I went with Elder Mikesell and the other elders went together. In the two hours that we were all out finding, Elder Mikesell and I found a new investigator as well as Elder Christensen and Meyers found one too! It was sweet! 

Saturday, we had dinner at the Gieseke's house and they invited two non-member friends over and we were able to have a discussion about the spirit world and what happens after we pass through our life on earth. It was a good discussion, but one of the friends was not picking up what we were laying down so we just left it at that. The other friend actually came to church yesterday and he really liked it! he was visiting from out of town so we will have to have Brother Gieseke follow up with him. 

Speaking of Sunday, after ward council we went into the chapel and I was going around to say hi to people and one of the young women came over to me to let me know that she invited her friend to the new beginnings program but she couldn't make it. I told her that she was still being successful by making the invitation! It was sweet to have her come report that to me before I asked. Whenever I commit a member to do missionary work, I write it down in my planner so I won't forget and then I follow up with them! It was cool to see that she remembered that I wrote it down and she beat me to it! The members here are so sweet and anxious to do missionary work! 

We also met with Niki and Pamela last night and they had their baptismal interviews and they are planning on being baptized this Saturday

Work is happening here! I love you all and thank you for all of your prayers and the support you show. I feel it! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca




We were planning on riding our bikes one day this week, but we didn't have time! 


This is Brother Mason. He is a stud! We visit him every week :)


See how she just sunk?? hahah!!