Week 94 - Finishing strong!

What up guys!

Well this week hasn't been to big, on Tuesday, we had interviews with da pres and they went super good! He keeps talking about how good my Spanish has gotten, especially since I was last in this area and he's super proud of that! When I first came in, he just hammered me with speaking the language, I never understood why...Until one meeting I had with him way later on in my mission, he asked how's the Spanish ? I told him that I think I'm finally starting to be myself with it, like I can put my personality in it when I'm talking in Spanish. Don't know if that makes any sense hahah. After I had told him that, he just got this big smile on his face and was like this is what I've wanted for you all along Elder Tidwell, you have an amazing personality and are an awesome guy to be around, I just wanted all Hispanics to see that too. And for some you can't do that unless you know jokes in Spanish and all that jazz, bottom line he said I'm doing great and he can't wait for the next interview!

      Wednesday, we saw Froylan and he gave us some bad news, he has a date for the 23rd of December and when we went over he said he has to go to Mexico the 22nd to help his cousin out or something and so we were pretty bummed :/ But...then he said he could do the 21st and we were like heck yeah you can! Hahah So now he's getting baptized in a little more then a week! His wife and daughters are already members so whole fam under that cov now! Hahah we're having to see him every day this week to make it happen so we've seen a lot of him lately and he loves having us over so it's aight. Friday, we had district meeting and it was on repentance and wow, I was really able to hit home on this one. I've gained such a strong testimony about the atonement, like it's amazing the things it can do and not everyone knows that or well truly understands it. It's something I really wish everyone knew, they don't have to hold onto that garbage anymore, do what you got to do and get it over with. We're not on this earth to feel like garbage all the time, so use the thing our Savior sacrificed himself for. 

   It was also Hermana Gracias 9 month mark so we had a little party for that hahah but that's really the highlights of the week! Let me know if you got questions! :) 

Love Elder Tidwell 

I still can do a flip...and in dress pants! haha

Awesome food!

A letter from home!

Week 93 - Another day in the life of Elder Tidwell...CSE Clique!

What up y'all?! Well this week was pretty chill nothing too big happened. We went on a exchange with Elder Toolson in Huntsville which was fun except when I got there I found out they don't have a car anymore :p hahah! I was like I thought I was done with bikes, but pretty funny what happens next. Elder Toolson is like "Hey we got to get going to the church" and we were just kind of like okay, but then he asked "Where are your bikes?" And in my head I'm like come on Toolson how in the world would we fit a bike in our car....but I just answered nicely and said sorry dude, didn't think about it. So we started to run to the church and like half way there Elder Self is like, could we take a quick break the room is really spinning and we said yeah of course and then Elder Self was like "I think I'm ganna throw up" and I'm kind of sitting there like you're not ganna do that and well he did :p But he felt totally fine after and we got there, met this super cool guy named Cory and played ultimate frisbee with him...it was a blast! So we get back and do studies and everything, this all happened at like 8 in the morning by the way hahah and as we were about to leave I hear this buzzing noise and we look at the lamp by the desks and there's this huge freaking wasp!! And the wasps in Texas are different then they are in Oregon (for my home buddy's on the email) these suckers are orange!! Freaking orange and it's like a dark orange too...super weird so we spent what felt like a hour trying to kill it and then it ended up just flying out the door. After all that, we did some contacting and then went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. While there a super less active member walks up to us and is like, "My family and I need to go to church, we just don't know where it's at and I was hoping I'd find some elders somewhere, we've been putting it off for so long but today's the day" I'm in my chair like...it's freaking inspired we came here!! Hahah but I found out a ton of super cool stuff about Elder Toolson, ate a crawfish whole Hahahah and over all a sweet exchange 

   Then later in the week we saw Santa!!!! So excited hahah! We did some intense contacting while we were there, saw a ton of old investigators and stuff, but we also found a lot of really cool people! Speaking of cool people, we found this family while trying to look for some of my old investigators and seriously this family we found is so prepared! Taught them the restoration and the mom was like I know it's true...I know it happened and the dad as he was reading parts of the Book of Mormon was just like, it's legit. The kids are still a work in progress but I bet they'll have seen something cool by the next time I see them. 

    Friday, best zone meeting of my mission by far, it was so good! Just everyone in there is so chill and we don't got any chismosos or basura, so that's good :) Also I formed the CSE Clique by the way, once I left the west south squad I knew I had to do the same to College Station East hahah

    Sunday, we got volunteered to sing for Christmas in the ward, so spent a little bit of time doing that after church and that's pretty much it for the week! Christmas is coming so quick!! It's crazy! Hope y'all have a great week and remember dios le bendiga ;)

Love Elder Tidwell 

What the junk???

Santa!!!!!!

I know him!!

Zone Meeting

Mr. Hamburger!

Helping Sister Farnsworth put up Nutcrackers!!

Week 92 - The Three Amigos...and Speak Out!!

Dowtown Bryan...

Well recap on the week!

   Monday, night was really hard I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite families and converts. I think the worst was when I was on the phone with Yessica and Carlos and when I heard Yessica get choked up, I lost it hahah, I've been with them from the beginning and to see the growth they've gone through has been amazing and then when Yessica got baptized it was the best day ever! I'm really going to miss them and their kids hah but they said they wanna take a trip to Mexico with me sometime so definitely not the last adventure with them ;)  Then I also said goodbye to Marvin and his family, I love them sooooo much hahah, they were like my second family here in Bear Creek! They were always so willing to get me anything if I needed it and were always just there for me. Saying goodbye is the part that sucks the most about transfers, you get so attached to these families and then you have to leave them. hah But because of it, I've really been able to hold that precious thing close and really enjoy the moments I have, because it could be the last one I have. 

  Tuesday, man it only gets crazier from here! I got told I was going back to College Station! Which is where I started my mission and then I heard who I was ganna be with...and that's what got me!!! hahah I'm with Elder Williams and Elder Self and this week we're killing it! First thing I think we did was took that one video which you should get with this email and then we just had a freaking blast! Then Wednesday night we had to stop by the store and we saw this game and it had these weird mouth things in it and well we got it and let's just say I've never laughed so hard on my mission it was great! Hahah 

   Thursday, was thanksgiving!! The night before me and Elder Williams couldn't go to sleep so we stayed up and told all the things we were thankful for. It just really made me think how thankful I am for my family and how important they are to me and #friendsarefam so I'm just really greatfull for everyone that's been in my life because I probably wouldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for all of you. So back to Thursday, that morning we played in a turkey bowl with the English wards and the English Elders, Elder Baker and Elder Sobotka. We played for a solid 2 or 3 hours...totally lost track of time :p Hahahah but it was a ton of fun! Then we ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Faz family...super bomb dinner so good! And then visited some of our investigators and ended that night off with some more funny moments with the boys. 

    Saturday was a killer day it was Elder William's bday and he turned 20 todavía es un joven hahah but the Faz had a surprise bday party for him that night so we had to stall for a little bit haha. I got a call from my recent convert Luis Antonio and he was like I want to see you! So we were able to meet up he also told me his wife is going to be coming back the week before Christmas and she says she wants to get baptized so I'm super pumped! Hah Then did some contacting and after that went to the surprise party and we had a bomb time but I've realized I'm not to much of a fan of cake anymore :p hahah 

     SundayI got to see so many of my favorite members from the Brazos ward, it was amazing and it feels so bomb when members come up to you and like hug you and are just like you came back!! Ah nothing ever better then that hahah it makes you kind of realize the impact you can have on people. :) 

Well thanks so much for checking in! Hope you guys have a bomb week! 

Lover Elder Tidwell 

Saying goodbye to the Galeanos family!

Later to Sister P...I'll see you soon though!

Turkey Bowl!!

Me and Sobotka!

Good ol' Luis!!

Selfie with the Birthday boy!

Sunday with the floral ties!!

Week 91 - The Frozen Tundra...

Okay, well first off, I know I haven't written one of these in a couple
weeks! So...my bad, I don't really have a good excuse. Well, as some of
y'all already know, transfer calls happened last night and I got the
news that I was out of Bearcreek. I was really bummed to hear that, not
just because this next transfer covers Thanksgiving, my birthday,
Christmas and New Years, but I got really close to the members in the
Bearcreek ward. I'd probably say more then any other ward I've been in, and that 
is saying a lot because I have gotten close with a few members and families along 
the way so it's gonna be a little hard, I can't wait to come back and visit them all!

This week got a little chilly for Houston, hence the title hahah...So we had
to break out the sweaters and beanies! I mean, I say that, but it wasn't
that cold actually, but if you ask any native from here they were
freezing!!! Also, on Tuesday, we had zone conference and they had brought up
that it was going be chilly hah! The conference was interesting, the
thing we talked about was The Commandments, but how president Mortensen
did it was very interesting because we didn't even really talk about
them, we really talked about why we have them. It was really, really
cool and opened my eyes a lot on the why.

Later on during the week after district meeting, we went on exchanges
with Elder Phister and Guzman. Well me and Elder Phister taught a bomb
lesson with the Juarez family, the first thing we talked about though, was they
already had all of their Christmas decorations up and everything! I just
got so excited, I was like if you ever need help putting more lights up
just let us know hahah! Then we started talking about family traditions
and stuff we do. After that lesson we went to see Erick and Suien
which is always a blast, but first thing they did was plug in Suiens
phone and start jamming out to Ms. Jackson by Outkast and on the inside
I was jammin! Hahah Also, later that day while we were walking in some
store parking lot someone was blasting, Bow Down by Ice Cube and I
started rapping to it and Elder Phister was like, you listen to this
music? Hahah...I was like man where's Blackford when you need him?!

Okay then on, Saturday, we played soccer with the ward! Took us 2
transfers to get it going but man it was a blast! Me and Elder Blackford
got the balls kicked in our faces and bloody noses and all but we're all good
hahah. I'm sad to leave it after we just got it goin! Shout out to
Mark, Marvin, Edger Chewy, Adrian, Kevin, Yojan, Damian oh and
Pacquiao for balling out with us! We also had our ward Thanksgiving
dinner which was so crazy awesome! Ate tons of food and then a DJ
showed up and we danced...not like white people dancing but
like Hispanic party dancig... idk you have to be there to understand. But crazy
awesome night and a bunch of our investigators went to it. Then on Sunday,
I went and gave a talk to a bunch of 11 year olds about the priesthood.
In the talk I was like "when I was 11, I had no idea what the
priesthood was" and everyone agreed with the kids I was teaching hahah.
But it went good, I compared it to a super power and what would Jesus
do and I hope it sticks with them Hahahah.
Well that's it for the week! Thanks for checking in!

~Elder Tidwell

The Juarez house!!

Bienvenidos nativity set!

My man Bienvenido himslef!!

The soccer crew (top to bottom)...Pacquiao, Marvin, Edgar, Me, Kevin, Blackford,
Mark, Yojan, Damian, Chewy and Danny.

Yessica and Carlos!

One of my favs...The Lucas family!!

Hermano Baranachea!

The Rodriguez family, they are so awesome!

Week 89 & 90 - 12 weeks to go!!

A note from mom...

These past two Mondays, Elder Tidwell has not had enough time to do a group email to update you all...but he has shared quite a few pictures!! He is doing great and is down to his last 12 weeks!! His release date is, February 15th!! Thank you all so much for checking in on him!! 💕

Love seeing license plates from home!!

Laser tag on a pday!!

Fun times!!

At the Mena's!!

Yes...these are out!! One of my favs!

Temple trip!!

Fuddruckers with the Florez!!

So good!!

Just hangin at Bobas...

Hermano Valerio!!

Blast from the past!!! Vargas(was my brother), Murdoc(was an AP), and Barlow(also was an AP) came back for a visit.

Me with Sergio

We had a Spanish fireside...that's why we are all together!

Elder Murdoc...

Us Pacific Northwesterners!!

And...us with the other Elder Tidwell. haha

Elder Fitt!

Suamy!!!

Hermano Barrera! I always hear so much about him but have never gotten to serve in his area!!

Julio!!...Man I miss his family!! And Alex in the back haha!