Elder Kachuchi Visits ...

What a thrill! Elder Kakuchi, of the Seventies, and his wife were here visiting the mission. He came out to train and teach the missionaries here in the Texas Houston Mission. The senior missionaries were really privileged to have dinner with them at the Mission Home with our Mission President and his wife. Elder Kakuchi sat next to me at dinner and we talked at great length about Arizona and the new temples their. He is such a delightful person and I really enjoyed our conversation. The next day at our training he walked up to me and said "Hi Sister Billingsley from Arizona" and then smiled. He is a great man and has the spirit of the Lord with him. He taught us a lot about calling upon the spirit to teach us.

A New Companion

The mission goes on and we are all replaceable. I have a new companion in the Employment Center. Sister Peggy Jo Young has come to replace Sister Lish. I miss Sister Lish so much, but Sister Young is just a delight. She has the energy of a new missionary and she's bubbly and happy, so she is a great addition to the Employment Center. She's great and will be a great missionary.

Preparedness Fair...

We were invited to participate in a preparedness fair. It was everything from employment to being prepared for hurricanes. It was great and we talked to a lot of people. The opportunities for us as missionaries are limitless.

Boy's came to visit...

Brian and Alan came for a few days. It was great seeing them. Matt was tied up with work and school, so we missed him. I took them to Galveston and Nasa. On Friday evening we jumped in the van with all the senior missionaries and went to the Astro and Cubs game at the Minute Maid stadium. It was great having the boys here.

Makin' Peanut Butter...

Next door to the Employment Center is the cannery. They make all the peanut butter for the church as well as the Houston food bank. I wanted to work a shift there and so I went over after I finished at the center to put in a four hour shift. That's right a 13 hour day. It was great and I'm so glad I got the opportunity while I was here.

Sister Lish's Texas Quilt

We work lots of hours, but when we get a chance we get together as senior missionaries and have some fun. The senior sisters get together and quilt on Tuesday nights at our apartment. We do some service projects, like heart pillows for the hospital here in Houston. Women who have gone thru breast cancer surgeries get these pillows. We sew them and a young womens group stuffs them and delivers them. It's been great. We also started a big project about 4 months ago. We made Sister Lish a Texas quilt. It took a long time, but it turned out beautifully.

It's time for me to get caught up again. The last three months have been busy. There has been lots going on at the Employment Center and, of course, we've been having lots of fun. April came to visit me and it was so good to see her. It's hard for me to believe it's been almost a year since I came out. I took her to see Galveston and Nasa. The first day we drove up to Brenham, Texas to see the original Blue Bell ice cream factory. We got to visit and shop a little, so it was great having my girl with me for a few days.

Mission experiences...

It's been busy in the Employment Center. Since the holidays we've been busy learning about the new church employment site. It's a great new job site and it's going to be another great resource the church has made. The church is always ready and prepared for what we need.
I've been having some wonderful experiences lately. A few months ago a man came into the center looking for work. It wasn't long before we found out he was homeless and in need of a lot more than a job. We've worked with him for a few months now. He hangs around the Bishop's Storehouse and the peanut butter factory and helps out whenever he is needed. He gets a few free meals. Randy Ellis, in the peanut butter factory, found him a bicycle to ride and given him a few jobs here and there to keep him going.
He started taking the missionary lessons a few months back. He came in the other day and Sister Lish and I helped him find his parents birth dates and death dates on the church website. When we found this information and gave it to him he cried and thanked us over and over again. He needed this information for his baptismal paper work. Earl Jefferys was baptized Saturday. He came into the office and asked if Sister Lish and I would come to his baptism and say the prayers for him. Of course, I was honored. It is such a wonderful experience to see people accept the gospel and to see what a blessing it is in their lives. It has already changed him so much. He seems to have more joy in his life and he smiles so much more.

Christmas in Houston...

It was a nice Christmas. I missed all my kids, especially the grandkids, but this has been one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I am enjoying my mission and there are good and bad days, but serving others is really the true meaning of the season. I have had wonderful experiences and met a lot of really wonderful people. I love my Heavenly Father and I know this is where I should be at this time of my life. I have missed my eternal sweetheart a lot, and I know this is something that he would want me to do as well. I know that my savior lives and I know this church is true. I hope that I can make a difference in someones life here in Houston.

A Trip to San Antonio...

The missionaries from the Employment Center all went to San Antonio. We went to move the office to a new location. It was in the same building, just a quick move upstairs. We really didn't do much since the trip from Houston was almost three hours and by the time we got there they were almost finished. The manager wanted us to have the opportunity to see San Antonio, so we stayed two days and went sight seeing and shopping, fuuuunnn. We got to see the Alamo, the San Antonio temple, and we had the best BBQ I think I have ever eaten, the original Rudy's BBQ. It was a real hole in the wall, but realllly good. We went shopping at the river walk, which is a river running thru downtown where you can shop and eat for hours, fuuuunn, again. I had a great time and it was such a nice break from the normal.

Out with the old and in with the new...

It was a sad time to see my companion,Marilyn Higham,go home. I got a new companion, Betty Jo Young. Life is a little different in the mission field, you make friends, they complete their mission, and you never know if you will see them again. I have enjoyed living with Sister Higham. She is a wonderful lady and become a wonderful friend.

Thanksgiving...

I had a great Thanksgiving. The senior missionaries all got together for a Thanksgiving feast. It was a little strange not cooking, I did miss my family, but I enjoyed the dinner and the great friends.

Catching up...

I am really getting behind. This is going to be an attempt to catch up on my blog. It's been a busy few months. We're really busy at the Employment Center, but we still find our weekends to go out and see the area. We made a little trip up to Huntsville. It's north of Houston and besides the college town they have lots of memorials there for Sam Houston and, of course, it is known for the prisons there. We made a stop at a prison museum (really strange place)

Quilt Festival...

I went to the quilt festival....

Sister Chestnut and I went to the International Quilt Festival here in Houston. It was so much fun. We saw such wonderful quilts and the latest quilting methods. It was such great fun and I just love Sister Chestnut, she's a great lady. She and her husband are serving in the mission office. They are from Spanish Fork, Utah.
The Quilt Festival was at the Brown Conference Center downtown Houston. It was huge and we walked from 10 in the morning until 3. I got my picture taken with Alex Anderson. She hosted the show "Simply Quilts" on the hgtv channel for years. She was really nice. We saw wonderful antique quilts, these are pictures of a few of my favorites.

Two months into my mission...

It was a great week. Monday all the missionaries in our area had the opportunity to spend time with Paul V. Johnson of the Seventies. He met each one of us individually and then we listened to him, President Hansen, and Sister Hansen for four hours. I can't believe I actually sat through a four hour meeting. Afterwards, all the senior missionaries prepared dinner for him, so then we were able to have dinner with him and his wife at President Hansen's home. It was a great experience for me. He and his wife were such warm and down to earth people. I've been in the mission field for two months already. I'm enjoying every minute of it and making some wonderful friends.

My roommate is Sister Higham, she's a very sweet lady. She's from Logan, Utah, she's about 72 and this is her second mission. She works in the Mission Home. Then Sister Lish works in the Employment Center with me. She's lots of fun. She's from Idaho. She's about 56 years old. Then Steve Stott is the Employment Resource Center manager and Alex Lamar is the Assistant manager. The couple is Bro and Sister Walker. They were in the MTC with me. They will be working at different locations as need throughout Houston. I just love them, they are the nicest people, they're from Delaware. They will be here for 23 months.

My first week in the mission field. I've been really busy and trying to get settled in. When I arrived last weekend I met everyone in the mission home and the employment center. I got a tour of the bishop's storehouse and the cannery. They will be canning peanut butter here in a few weeks when the crops come in. I can hardly wait. Our apartment is very nice, it's called Cypress Lakes. We live on the bottom floor.

My companion and I