Week 37 - A new area...It's hard to say goodbye...

Saying goodybe....

 Well, I'm officially moved into Louetta! Haha it was pretty hard leaving Sealy. I grew really close with all of the families down there and it's different not to have them all around anymore. I haven't really been able to meet the ward officially yet since we just had Stake Conference but I've meet a few families and it seems like it's going to be an awesome ward :) My first few days here were pretty rough it was weird getting used to a new city all over again but I've been able to have fun here… it's super nice to have everything so close to us! For example there's a Costco right across the street from our apartment and y'all know how I love my Costco pizza hahah. Me and my companion… I can tell we're going to get along just great because when I first got in the car and looked in the CD player I found a Christmas cd and I was like this is perfect! Hahah Man I can't believe it's already November, time goes by so fast here it's unreal! I hope you all are doing good and that all is well!

Thanks for checking in! Until next time!
Love Elder Tidwell

"Look mom, I found glasses that give me eyebrows that you can actually see!" Haha

My companion makes this every day!

Week 36 - Halloween...Zone Conference...and a Fun Exchange!

Howdy!

Well this week was great! We weren’t able to do Halloween…Super lame. Y'all know I love to get me some free candy! Hahah! But…we did get to celebrate a little… This week we had our trunk or treat with the ward and thanks to a family that helped us out with some sweet costumes we showed up ready to roll! Hahah! If you can't tell from the pic Elder Pigott is a native and I'm the tourist to the island. We were able to meet a lot of members and less actives as well! The day after the trunk or treat, we tried to visit one of the members that didn't show up just to see like, "hey what's up everything okay?" And then when we got there he said that he couldn't go to church because he was grounded. It took me a moment to take that all in; it made me realize how important church was to this member. It makes me think on how important church is to me and how I should treat it I guess more of a privilege to go.

Friday was filled with stuff! In the morning we had a zone meeting which was a blast like always! Then after that me and Elder Bullinger went on a companion exchange this past weekend and well it was a blast! We were able to meet some awesome people but we also had a really good time filled with a trip to Walmart for some dranks and some awesome Bing Crosby Christmas classics hahah! And to top it all off we played some pretty sweet board games! Then that night we played volleyball like every Friday and that was fun too. So when we got back home we did our usual get ready for bed things and me and Elder Bullinger were talking when all of a sudden I heard something say…"say a command", I like kind of freaked out and was like what the crap was that?? And Elder B gets up and says, "Oh that's my alarm clock… it talks!" I just said, pretty much that's like the coolest thing ever hahah. Saturday we exchanged back and then we went out with Deroy! We stopped by Chic-fil-a, which seriously was soooo good! And then did some mall contacting and then had to be in by 6 because of Halloween. :/ But that's pretty much how my week has gone guys! If you got any questions let me know!

~Love Elder Tidwell

So good!

Board games!!

Zone Conference!

Our costumes for the ward Trunk or Treat!!

A little pumpkin carving for some Halloween fun!

The finished project!

Week 35 - Rain...rain and more rain!

This wasn't the worst of it,this was just a ditch...Wishing I would have taken a picture of some of the other roads...they were covered in water!!

Hey guys!

This week has been pretty dull again hahah. I guess the big highlight we had was because of the hurricane that was going around Mexico we got some pretty crazy rain! To say the least I loved it! Things got wet and there was some high water in ditches and on some roads but we didn’t float away and it didn’t get to bad!

We were able to meet with some of our investigators this week and schedule their baptismal dates which is always awesome! We ate some crazy food at a member’s house that looked…not going to lie pretty interesting but actually was super good! Oh and for this one family me and Elder Pigott cooked for them, he made some Hawaiian dish and I made potato wedges. Let's just say the family has dubbed me the official King of cooking potato wedges in their home hahah. Something that I learned this week is that everyone is different; you can't expect everyone to be just like you, or have the same ideas on how you want things to be. From this exchange I had, I learned also that sometimes you get put into a position so it can better you. I realized that the times that are most difficult for you are there to help you in the long run. I’m really grateful for all of the experiences I've had on my mission and even before my mission. I'm grateful for my family and friends!! I have no clue where I'd be without them!

Thanks for checking in guys! Love ya lots!

~Elder Tidwell

Week 34 - Costco and Cars!!

Hey!

This week has been crazy to say the least!! To start off, on Tuesday we met up with two other elders in our zone and went to Costco to eat at the food court for lunch. While we were there, this lady looked at two of the elders as they were eating their hot dogs and said, "SAM’s club dogs are better." We all kind of laughed a little not knowing who she was and then she asked one of the elders if he had a brother. He said yes and said the names of them but it wasn't who she thought it was. Long story short… we found out she's a less active member of the church from one of the wards in another stake from where we are serving. We asked her a few questions like why she wasn't going to church or if there was anything we could do for her and she said no but as she was leaving one of the other elders asked what her name was and her last name was Tidwell! And I like showed my tag and was like… this Tidwell?? Hahah! Super funny. We also had this lady that worked at Costco come up and tell us a quick story about how her brother found and baptized an investigator that they met at Costco hahah, so totally testified to me that I need to go to Costco more hahah!! Well and that the
lord has a time and a place for everything. :)

On Wednesday we met up with another set of elders and went mall contacting! I've never done it before but it was super fun!! We met a lot of people and got to look at a ton of the new stuff that was coming out! Thursday we had a little activity with the youth! They were cutting down a couple trees at a member’s house and needed help hauling the wood and all that stuff so that was awesome even though we got a phone call from a member who wasn't doing so good and insisted on us coming to visit her to keep her company ;) On Saturday we went to the mall again…we had no dinner that night and were super super hungry! As we were walking this lady and her husband walked in front of us and said they were from a ward in the stake and they had a daughter on a mission and all that good stuff and then asked if we had eaten yet. We said no and then they took us to the food court and got all of us something and then just left without us knowing! It was such a blessing I wish I could have thanked them! Then here we are on Sunday! We had a dinner with two families tonight and it was crazy trying to get to another member’s house whose power got shut off about 15 min before we got there! But we had a good time getting to know the two families!:) Thanks for checking in guys love ya’ll lots!

~Elder Tidwell

We visited a shop that one of the members works out. These cars were crazy!

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This guy works at this awesome shop!

This is Steven Tyler's car! It's like the fastest car in the world.

Week 33

Hey guys!

Well…This week was kind of just uneventful to be honest hahah. We spent our last pday playing basketball with some of the elders in our zone which was a blast let me tell ya! We had a few times this week to really get to know some of our less active families in the ward and the crazy thing is, they just needed a good visit from someone that showed them that they actually care about them. It seems like something so simple doesn't it? But it's something that people can read off of you, you could put on a fake smile or laugh a little bit but these people can actually feel when you care or if you don't. Also this week we were going to one of our member’s taco truck in Katy and on our way there we noticed the ward mission leader’s car for Elder Jorquera and his comp driving behind us. Upon looking closer I noticed 2 white shirts in the car too! So it was pretty safe to assume they were going to the taco truck too!  That was pretty fun hahah. Then on Sunday to finish it off we went to the O’hara home for dinner and had an awesome time! Hah well sorry if this one was kind of short guys I'll try to make sure the next one has a lot more!

~Elder Tidwell

Got some festive Halloween cereal!!

A little bit of home sent in a package from Mom!

Letters from home!!

Goodies from home!

Taco truck time!