Elder Trujillo and I just scheduled our day pretty poorly, and a visit for a half-hour haircut at a member's house turned into dinner. But things have been great! I stayed put for transfers, which means I'll probably be here in Seagoville for at least another 3 months. but we'll see what happens!
Well the most exciting news here was the ice storm two weeks ago that more or less shut down Dallas for the week. everything froze over with about half an inch of ice--trees (as in every single leaf and branch), cars, the stairs outside our apartment... haha just about everything. The Friday before last there were power-outages all over the Dallas area (including us for a couple of hours in the morning) and we were told to stay in our apartment, and the next day we weren't allowed to use bikes or our car.
The last two week really have been great. For some reason a ton of people here are willing to listen to us, and we always find ourselves with more investigators than we can handle! It's actually been one of our biggest problems, but I've learned a lot about how to set priorities and focus on the most important things and people.
Last Saturday I had an incredible experience while on exchanges with Elder Broadbent. Someone requested a visit from Mormon.org (which is like manna from the heavens for a missionary), which we called up immediately. The man told us he was actually an less-active member that had been trying to get in contact with the church, and he asked if we could visit him that day. When we came, he told us his story--about the day he decided he didn't believe in God, how he ended up in jail, lost the trust of his wife and family, and how he finally came back to the Lord during his month in jail and afterwards. He was crying he was done with his story, and told how he wanted nothing more than to get his family back and come back to church for good. I felt completely at a loss for words, but somehow Elder Broadbent knew exactly what to say. With tears in his eyes, he bore testimony to the man of the Savior and Heavenly Father's love for him, thanked him for his courage and willingness to share his story with us, and invited him to keep praying for his family.
I knew as I watched that happen that the Lord had sent Elder Broadbent to our area to testify to that man. I don't know if I've ever seen a missionary express such sincere, pure love as he did that night. If we're worthy and follow the Spirit, the Lord really will use us as His angels to answer the prayers of others and bring about His divine purposes. I know that's true.
I need to get going, but thank you for all the prayers and support!! I love it here. I love being missionary!!
Love,
Elder Gaughan
More Pictures!
1. Elder Trujillo and I at a dinner for the volunteers for the food bank we do service at every week (mom, you would have loved this woman's house)
2. Elder Trujillo and I with Elder Douthit and Elder Evans (some of the funniest missionaries in our zone).
3. This is Brian Quintero, one of our investigators. He comes from a pretty rough home, but we've been teaching him, his brother, and his dad. We set a baptismal date with him last week for January 11!
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