It's me. In Texas. Having a blast.🤪

Hey pals!!! It's me! Hermana Emma Eastman. I'm still in Texas, still on a mission, still killing it you may say. 

Headlines of the week:

Knocking Doors Reaps Rewards 

We found some of the cutest little girls yesterday. They're 9 years old and absolutely awesome. I just love them already and want them to learn about Jesus and how much He loves them.🥲

Reunions Abound at Local Zone Conference

We had zoco and first of all it was awesome. Second of all, I got to see my houston south zone homies for a second!!! It was the best. The Houston south water tribe is my home💙 

Did the Hair Go Under?

Dorinda was baptized this week!!!!! Yayayayay! Another daughter of God entering into the fold. We were slightly concerned that the witnesses weren't watching her hair BUT don't worry it all worked out. I'm so happy for her! 

From Cambodia to Houston, Friendship Thrives

Okay guess what. I met my friend Paige when we went on an HEFY trip to Cambodia it was super awesome and we had a blast. And now guess what. We are in the same mission!!! In the same zone!!! And it is the coolest thing to me ever. So Hermana Sieverts and I obviously had to take a pic. 

Emma², the Adventure

Sister Nilson is the coolest ever. Her name is also Emma and we just have a blast together. Today we found the coolest playground and climbed to the top. So yeah we're having a blasttttttt🤪

Surprise: Jesus Loves You

I read a cool scripture this week. Ether 6:3 in the Book of Mormon. 

3 And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness

I think this is really true and applicable today. Sometimes life feels like we're crossing "great waters" and sometimes it feels dark. But ordinary things like stones can shine and bring light into our lives. Little tender mercies are everywhere, given by a loving God, to brighten our way. So what are the shining stones in your life right now? Is it the new friend you made? That magnificent chick fil a sandwich? The pretty mountains? The possibilities are endless!!

Love you guys!! Virtual hugs 🤗

Hermana Eastman

Knockin Doors and Takin Names

Guess what we did for hours this week?? Knocking on doors. Good ol tracting. It's so foreign to me because we haven't been able to go tracting because of covid. But Sister Nilson and I are trying our best to figure out how to do it😂 we always pray to not get discouraged and we take turns being the first one to talk. It's kinda fun to see what will be behind the door! The only sad part is that now I'm more scared of people because I'm scared they'll be mean. But you know what, everyone has their agency, and Heavenly Father is patient with all of us. 

My companion and I set some high goals this week and we met them!! Last night around 7:30 we still needed to find one more person to meet our finding goal. We were tired after a hot day but we decided to go stop by someone's house. They were pulling in their driveway when we got there and this 6 year old girl started talking to us. I talked to the little girl while my companion shared an awesome message with the dad (teamwork!) and we found him!!! With seriously 0 minutes to spare for the night. OH it was so awesome and we were freaking out we were so happy. Blessings! 

I'm grateful that the Lord knows what I need more than I do. He's helping me as I try to be helpful in this work. 

The church is true!!

Hermana Eastman

Wild Texas

Howdy folks it's me, Hermana Eastman, I'll be your guide today as we travel through the wild wilderness of Katy, Texas. Buckle your seatbelts and tie your shoes because we're going on an adventure!!!

My first week in Katy!! It was awesome. I'll organize this email by creatures.

Duck: 🦆

My companion caught a duck!! In our complex theres a family of ducks and after luring them in with some bread, Sister Nilson caught one!! Hahah Sister Nilson is the best and she makes me laugh all the time. We made a video for our zone which involved us smashing eggs on our faces. Most of them were boiled but one was raw.. so you know what that means. I smashed a raw egg all over my face🤣

Ant: 🐜

As we were walking around a neighborhood we saw a massive anthill and I said to myself "what would happen if I poked it?" And then I thought no that's dumb. So instead, of course, I picked up a rock and threw it at the anthill. Genius. To my horror but fascination, hundreds of ants came scurrying out. Awesome. It's been so fun to go tracting and street contacting here!! We just talk to strangers on the streets and go around looking for formerly taught people. That wasn't super possible in my past area so this has been fun. 

Frog: 🐸

Guys I caught a frog. We were walking around a neighborhood at night and I spotted him and then I snatched him up!! He was cute and I almost kissed him and then I remembered: I'm a missionary. Close one. 

Okay spiritual moment. Have you guys ever thought about how awesome the Book of Mormon is?? Mormon went into a massive cave filled with records and compiled like 1% of all those accounts into a single record, choosing what the Spirit told him would be most beneficial for OUR day. That's amazing. The whole Book of Mormon is a miracle. So deep but so clear. I'm grateful I know about the Book of Mormon and continue to learn about it!

Love yall!

Hermana Eastman

Transferred?? Again??

Hi everyone! I'm moving to Katy! I get to have some extra responsibilities! I'm happy! But I'm sad to leave some good friends and the zone where my mission started😪 but I'm happy! Be kind!

Hermana Eastman

(hna koopmans and I are sad😞)

Little Love Notes From Heaven

Well here we are, another week!! I thought I would just share a couple of tender mercies. Just to remind us all that Heavenly Father doesn't forget His children, even the ones in Texas;) 

#1 today I got a fortune at panda express that said something along the lines of "you display the wonderful traits of ... and ..." and those two traits were ones that I have been praying for so much🥺❤

#2 I have been looking for sunglasses for the past 10 months but I've been too lazy to buy some.. and guess what i found in our apartment this week? Some fabulous sunglasses for me to take. I feel like a fashion boss. As I should;)

#3 Our friend Lili and her daughter are preparing to be baptized😍

#4 I went to Krispy Kreme this week, the land of happiness, and it reminded me of home🥰

#5 I made myself food for lunch one day which is a big deal for me because i have no cooking ability. But I'm growing🌱

#6 I read this scripture this week. And it touched my heart. Heavenly Father loves us.

Okay thanks for reading. Remember to try your best and pray lots😊

Hermana Eastman

Chickens

Hi! Not sure how to describe this week but here's some moments.

We went to the Abarca family for dinner last Sunday and yesterday as well. I think I've decided that I love them😅 Last sunday they invited us out of the blue to come over and eat hamburgers (of all things) with them. They are big believers in making us eat as much as possible until we explode. We had hamburgers AND hotdogs AND tamales🤢🤮 then we found out they have almost 100 chickens so of course I HAD to investigate. It was pouring rain so we could only see some of them. But when we went back yesterday it was nice and sunny. We ate alambres which is basically a MOUNTAIN of cooked bell peppers and onions with a smaller mountain of greasy carne al pastor on top followed by mini mountains of sliced ham and queso fresco. Pretty good but I wanted to throw up by the end. They literally have sooo many chickens. Hna Abarca loves them. We got a whole chicken tour topped off with an unplanned chicken fight. My favorite thing was seeing Hno's mom, a very old little mexican lady, walking around everywhere (including in the house) with a big ol chicken under her arm. Oh man it killed me.

We had visitors in our mission! We learned tons of good stuff from Elder Pieper & Elder Giuffra of the 70. We had lots of zoom calls and an in person conference too. My favorite part of their teaching was that they always used the scriptures to teach. They would share scriptures with us and help us pull out principles that we apply to us! Such great examples. I got to interview with one of them which was super cool.

Wednesday was the real kicker for me. What an absolute mess of a day. Moral of the story: I'm back in Sienna. I have flipped back between Sienna and MoCity every couple of weeks for the past 4 months. Same zone same building same area pretty much, but english and spanish. Flip flop flip flop. So now we're in a trio with Hna koopmans! This isn't a permanent change though, just till the end of the transfer in 2 weeks.

That means we're covering 3 wards which also means we went to 3 church meetings this sunday. We were at the church for 7 hours😅 

Anyway yeah:)

Hermana Eastman 

John 12:26 was a scripture I liked this week

Surprise!

To whom it may concern,

Lol it's me. Surprise my pday is actually today! We have special guest stars coming to the great thsm next week so our pday got zapped. We get a pday today instead! Que interesante.

So I just thought I would say I'm still alive. Since it's only been a couple days since my last email... I have limited pictures. Heres me with a polaroid of Sister LaFleur (love you courtney:')♡), my breakfast yesterday, and some pictures of the sky aka my favorite creation

Spiritual crumb for yall:

"Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage, and our personal progress should be yet another way we witness to the wonder of it all!"

-Elder Neal A Maxwell

Hermana Eastman