Gator hunting and the CS Police

Hello All!

This week in College Station...

Rudy accepted a baptismal date! And fed us dessert at a fancy restaurant! Win-Win!

Karla has been AWOL forso long that we’re dropping her date :(

Some members in our ward sent us on a wild goose-chase to find a family of North-Korean defectors with rock solid testimonies of Christ that they met at A&M. Unfortunately, though we tracked out the entire complex that they purportedly lived in over the course of a week, we did not find them. However! We  did find a wonderful Chinese family to teach. They speak very little english (though they’re proud of what they know) but we used google translate and the new mobile internet hotspot that the church gave us to set a return appointment to teach their family! And here’s the cool part: The member couple that asked us to look for the North Korean family both served Chinese speaking missions. They came to the first lesson and now the family (the Wong family) is coming along just beautifully.

So the adventures with the apartment continue...

Last night was a flipping nightmare. Our loud neighbors finally had the cops called on them for some violent situations. I don’t think anybody ended up getting arrested for assault but at least there was a citation for marijuana! I’m really hoping we can push the leasing office to evict them now, because that’s grounds to terminate their lease. 🙃

Somehow Elder Pinster has a spiritual gift (not kidding) where he can tune it all out and sleep straight through it. Lucky.

We also went gator hunting where we were supposed to be able to find some. We saw a water-moccasin and a big (2+ ft) fish but no gators.

Have a great week Y’all!

Elder Derek Troy

"Grimes County white trash KEEP OUT!" (Grimes is a neighboring county to Brazos County, where they live) 

Houston oil fields

Showing off his cool cowboy boots.

It's tough, but at least I haven't been stoned...

Hello all!

We’re doing well here. 

We have two baptismal dates (the Naha family) that should have been baptized last week, but they just aren’t ‘getting it’ and don’t feel ready. They’ve declined to set a new date for the future thus far.

We also still have one date named Karla. We’re trying hard with her but her family has been very busy lately.

We did get back in with a new investigator named Kim who we’re excited to work with. She investigated the church a few years ago in California or Oklahoma. In the last 10 years she’s been divorced, had one infant die in a car accident, one child have a traumatic brain injury that left him paralyzed (he’s in a care facility) and her last child while healthy is struggling with her Mom.

Elder Pinster is growing all the time. His studies, finding, and teaching are all improving constantly.

As for myself, I’ll be honest, I hate College Station. This city is a nightmare. There are many nice people here but many rude ones too. All of the challenges here are compounded to make this the toughest area of my mission, though we’ve also been pretty successful here so far.

Our neighbors may be the worst part of this area, but that’s a whole other story, haha.

I guess Stephen didn’t enjoy getting stoned though either haha, so I’ll just keep my head up and do the job I’m assigned! I’m here for a reason.

Be safe and have fun y’all!

Elder Derek Troy

Helping at a Houston food bank.

Hammock Tricks

Hello all!

Elder Pinster and I are keeping our heads up and plowing through. These last six weeks have FLOWN by (for me at least!)

We had a cool experience this week. I like to surprise Elder Pinster with responsibility (keeps him on his toes! Not that he needs it) and this week he chose where we went finding and was in charge of . After 20 or so doors and no answers, we knocked into De’Andre.

We knocked into De’Andre on a Wednesday, and his sister had just died on Saturday. He had been crying and praying for three days, waiting for a sign.

I couldn’t be prouder of Elder Pinster. He did a great job. He taught him the doctrine and shared scriptures to help De’Andre feel peace.

Elder Pinster is super excited about him. I’ve seen so many miracles like this that didn’t turn out… My expectations just aren’t super high. But my green companion has never been disappointed, and he has tons of faith! So we’re going to keep on working hard.

This P-Day I tried an idea from a friend (Shout-Out to Kelleen!) That I used to tease her for: home-made bedsheets hammocking! See the attached video for hammock tricks.

I hope everyone at home is having a great week and stayed warmer than we did. Our weather dropped 40 degrees into the mid 40’s this week! It’s better now though.

Be safe! Have fun!

Elder Derek Troy

Lunch with Mission President Peterson

Short Message from Elder Troy

We actually didn’t have a family for Easter. It was the only day this
month we didn’t have a family signed up. But somebody (not a member)
gave us some chicken and steaks so we marinated and grilled those. It
was pretty good!

Love y’all! Hope you’re having a great week.

Elder Derek Troy

Couple of NW born and raised boys in the heart of Texas now. (his companion is from the Portland area as well)

Washing machine woes...

Hello All!

No time to email today, my washing machine destroyed every piece of white clothing I own. About to run out and buy it all. That’s what P-day is for, I guess! Have a great week, love Y’all!

Talk to you next week!

Look at this lady we met! She paints like crazy! Thousands of them! We’re going back to help her organize them.

Elder Troy

Hail and Thunder! Oh, my!...

Hello All!

Our apartment is driving us nuts. Our upstairs neighbors smoke weed constantly (who smokes weed at 7 in the morning?) our AC just broke, and our next door neighbors get into some colorful, heated arguments about their relationship quite frequently haha. I’ll let y’all read between the lines on that one.

We got news that more missionaries will probably be filling in College Station next transfer. The good news is that we won’t have to double cover! The bad news is that Elder Pinster and I may get split up just halfway through his training. That would be twice! :(

We still have three baptismal dates:

Karla

Morgan

And Morgan’s son, Logan.

We’re gearing up for conference here in a couple of weeks, and we’re going to be entering a Chili-Cook-Off this weekend!

We did have one noteworthy event this week: A massive hail/thunder storm. We picked up hail 2 inches across! It was crazy, but brief.

We also finally got to go fishing on P-Day. It was a nice break from College Station’s traffic and noise!

Here’s a bunch of pictures.

Love Y’all!

Elder Troy

The hardest three months

Hey Y’all! It’s been a great month, full of new challenges and big surprises.

Before I left Brenham, my companion and I were able to get Kaylyn baptized, finally! I was even able to confirm her as a member, give her the Holy Ghost, and bless her, which was amazing.

Now I have a new companion, and I’m serving in enemy territory: Temptation Station. (College Station) I was really hoping to never serve here, but at least I’m in a family ward instead of being on campus!

My new companion is fresh out of the MTC. I’m training again! His name is Elder Pinster. He grew up about 45 minutes South of me, in Portland OR. But since he’s in a different state, stake, and 5 years younger than me, we never met. He’s great! President knew we would have a pretty challenging area, so he gave me the most solid trainee, I’m convinced.

In addition to my original responsibilities, and aside from the challenges of all the pretty girls and partying, we’re whitewashing two wards together (we’re replacing both missionaries in those wards)

However, we inherited a baptismal date and set another one last week. We plan on setting four more this week or next. It should be a successful and busy transfer!

Hope y’all are having a great week back home. Thank you for your prayers and support. Here are some pics and a video of our war on the roaches in Brenham.