Family and Friends,
After three long weeks, we have a letter from Elder Troy! He’s been sending short messages home, but didn’t have time to write a group email until this week. Like many missions, the Texas Houston Mission has begun using Facebook for missionary work. Therefore, Elder Troy had to resurrect his account and leave it open for people who would like to find him online. He definitely did NOT want to be online because he was worried it would make him homesick. Plus, it’s always a temptation to surf the web a bit. Luckily, he’s obedient to the mission rules and it hasn’t been as hard as he worried it would be. If you do go on Facebook and his account, please remember that he is only able to directly communicate with those who have questions about the Church or want to make contact with him as a missionary. He won’t be able to message you back.
November 2nd is Elder Troy’s halfway mark or “Missionary Hump Day”! He has been out a whole year already!!! Can you believe that?! We are celebrating it with him by sending a package full of things cut in half. Haha. I had some cookies made for him by a talented baker and he’ll get those in a separate package. If you think about it, will you please send him an email or letter to celebrate his “Hump Day?” I know that it would mean so much to him!
Here is his information again:
Elder Derek Allen Troy
2931 Barker Cypress Drive
Apt. 1212
Houston, TX 77084
Thank you for your love and support of our son. We appreciate you all so much!
Much love,
JD & Terri
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Hey Y’all!
It has been a great week in Houston!
The weather is FINALLY letting up. A cold front has moved in and it feels fantastic.
Elder Simmons and I are seeing great miracles as rewards for our efforts. We've been doing a Book of Mormon reading challenge; finishing the Book of Mormon in a transfer (six weeks) which is about 14 pages per day. It has been great for me to see the themes and movements rather than poring over details.
We’ve also seen tons of success with our investigators reading at the same time. “Bob" took a month to read 2 chapters, then suddenly read up to Enos in a week - which is about 125 pages difference! Same story with “Jane” - she took a month and a half to read 6 chapters, then in a week read to chapter 16! She's wonderful - she loves to feed us and is always so appreciative. I can't wait for her baptism in December!
This week our volunteering was with the local methodist church. We handed out flyers to remind people of the upcoming FEMA application deadline. We gave out 195 fliers in two hours and they've left us messages daily asking for more help since then - haha!
The pictures are from our service.
These neighborhoods that got flooded the worst are just wastelands now. 90% of the garbage is gone, but there are also fridges that still haven't been emptied on the curb. The smell of sewage still lingers. A woman in a neighborhood we tracked out sold her two story house with attached garage and fenced backyard in a suburban neighborhood for $50k - which is about what FEMA is offering to people in that neighborhood to help them rebuild. Most of these houses haven't been visited by the homeowners in weeks. Whole streets are empty, with people planning on just leaving everything behind and moving. What a strange time for the Texas Houston Mission!
(Notice the lack of grass in people’s yards - they were underwater too long)
Elder Derek Troy
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| Elder Troy and his companion Elder Simmons |
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| New Facebook profile pic. |
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| Mormon “Helping Hands” service group. |
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| Group mission picture. |
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| Elder Simmons next to debris in the trees at the food waterline |
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| An appliance left to rot. |
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