Break from our regularly scheduled program..

Eliza is getting married! To Florencio Lozoya!

Tomorrow, July 22nd, Eliza and Florencio are being sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple. There will be an open house in their honor that day from 7pm-9pm at the residence of Bob and Pag Watkins (1588 N Lewis&Clark Drive) in Centerville, UT. In case of inclement weather, the open house will be moved to 1928 S Campus Drive in Salt Lake City.

They will also be having a reception on September 2nd in Mesa, AZ at a church there (1050 S Hobson) from 5pm - 8pm. A ring ceremony will be held on September 3rd at the Rodeo grounds in Eager, AZ (7 South Hwy 180 #2) afterwards a dance will be held.

Jim and Roslyn have expressed that all are welcome, so please come to celebrate the union of Eliza and Florencio! We're so excited for them!

From Eliza

Dear Mom,
I’m doing really well, actually. I’m excited to come home. But I’ve done really well this last week at staying focused on the work. This last week was so good. We met with a lot of active and less active members. We’ve been sharing the first vision with all the members and giving them the challenge to share the first vision with someone else. Elaine Wood, who got baptized last May, took the challenge. She was thinking of sharing the message with the brother, who is in jail, but then the Lord gave her a different opportunity to share it. The very next day after we met with her she was walking her dog in the park and met a girl, named Sky. They got talking and she shared the first vision with her and she was really interested. Elaine said that She started baring her testimony and all these words started coming out that she didn’t intend to say, and all these scripture verses started coming to her mind that she didn’t know she had. It’s true, that promise in the Doctrine and Covenants, that if we are prepared and open our mouths, God will give us what to say. It was an amazing experience for her. She called us and she was so excited. The next day she went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, and she had been praying about going on a mission, and she said she got a strong feeling that she needs to go on a mission. We, Sister Lieber, Sister Christensen, and I, knew the Lord had great plans for her. Her conversion story is pretty amazing. We are way excited for her to go on a mission. It’s amazing how the Lord really does have a plan for each of His children, and when the time is right, He will guide us to know what we need to do, or give us what we need.
A lot of other good things happened this week, but that is the most exciting. And although this week was good and we taught a lot of people on campus, we didn’t find any new investigators. We are really trying to find new people to teach right now, because all of our investigators dropped us. We are determined to find someone this next week. This next week is going to go by so fast. I’m not looking forward to packing. I’m still not quite sure how early I should start packing. I want to make sure I have time to get everything done that I need to before I leave.
Well, I’m glad you all are doing well. Isaiah, I’m so proud of you for doing so well with cross country. I can’t wait to see all of you. And don’t worry mom, I’ll make sure to make your home chaotic again. lol. Always, Sister Eliza Boren

From Eliza

Dear Family,
It’s nice to hear how you all are doing. That is way cool that Isaiah is so involved in things. And I’m glad Nephi was able to get the camera for his birthday. I can imagine how much fun he is having with it. I hope you all had a fun Halloween. Normally we, the missionaries of the Texas Houston Mission are given rules for each holiday, like be in your apartment by dark, etc. But this time we were not given any rules. We even asked Elder Beck, the assistant to the president, if there are any rules for us, and he said “no.” So we worked all day like normal on Saturday, and then at night when everyone was trick-or-treating we met up with the elders in our district and played games all night. The CS sister came and hung out with us as well. And then we went home by 9pm like normal, and went to bed early. So Halloween was fun for us.
This week as a pretty sad week for Sister Christensen and I, though. We only taught 1 member this week and were not able to get in with any of our investigators. We spent the whole week tracting and talking to people on campus. We also had a zone meeting this week and went to the temple. And the temple trip took most of the day. Saturday night and Sunday morning I was feeling pretty down about the sad week we had had, but then church was really good, and we got a lot of things set up for this next week, so I’m feeling much better now. Yesterday was a really good day.
Last week was also hard for me because I started thinking about the fact that I am going home and I started getting nervous and scared about it. Every now and then I’ll realize how close it is, and usually I just don’t think about it, instead of dealing with it. But this week I really started thinking about it and, according to Elder Wilcox, started “freaking out.” On Thursday when we went out to eat with our Zone, after we went to the temple, we were talking about it, that we are going home, because Elder Wilcox goes home the same time I do. And Sister Ireland said “I would feel nervous and excited and scared and not ready and sad and excited and confident and trunky, all at the same time.” Then Elder Wilcox said “yeah, they have a term for that------it’s called Freaking out.” And that is how I have been feeling all week.
But this week is over and This next week is going to make up for it-----we are going to teach all our investigators, find new people to teach, teach lots of members, baptize thousands, and be focused and work hard. I’m not going to “freak out” about going home this week...hopefully.
Anyway, I’m glad you all are doing well. Thanks mom for the info on my home coming talk. And thanks dad for the info on Free Masons. I actually have another question for you about that. One of the elders in my district, Elder Lemly, has been wanting to become a Free Mason for a long time, and he is wondering if you will invite him, or hook him up, to become a Free Mason? He’s pretty new out on him mission, I think about 3 months out.
Well, take care. I miss all of you and can’t wait to see you. Always, Sister Eliza Boren.

From Eliza

Dear Family,
Sister Christensen and I are doing great. We had a great week, even despite the fact that a lot of our investigators have dropped us. It seems like we don’t have any investigators left, but we did find a new investigator, and still were able to teach a lot. Over all it’s been a good week. We do service for this woman named Jutta (Uda). She has a used clothing shop called “Resale Trends.” But she can’t say her “R’s,” so according to her it is “Wesale Twents.” I love helping her out. We inventory the clothes, and put them out on the racks, and organize the racks. I just love her. We help her out once a week. We are starting to do service at the Brazos Food Bank, which I think is a soup kitchen. We also are trying to get in with the American Cancer Society. Hopefully we can start helping them.
Today we are going to carve pumpkins with our zone. We were going to do it for district meeting this Friday, but the zone leaders said that district meeting is for spiritual renewal and uplifting, not for carving pumpkins. So it’ll be fun to do it today.
Well, I hope you all are doing well. Have a fun Halloween. Always, Sister Eliza Boren

From Eliza

Dear Family,
Sister Christensen and I are doing great. We did a lot this week. We were not able to get in with our best investigators that I was looking forward to teaching. But we will meet with them this week and hopefully they will start progressing. We were, however, able to get in with a lot of members this last week, and a few less active members, and their non-member friends. We started teaching Cameron, this less active member, and his girl friend, Faith. And we taught Candice and her non-member roommate, Rachel. Both of which we are way excited about. And Seth Gibbs, also a less active member, came to church with his non member girl friend. I was filled with joy when I was Seth walk into church. We’ve been trying to visit him and get him to church for a little while. Heavenly Father is just so good. I feel like all the little things that we are doing, that the leaders in this ward are doing, and that peoples families are doing are not wasted. There are many people, who are lost, but God knows what they need, and little by little he is bringing them back into his fold. I don’t know if Seth is ever going to come to church again. But he came, on his own. It’s so true that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. God takes the little things that we do, and makes amazing things happen. I hope that all these less active members will start to feel of God’s love and come back into His fold.
I also heard some great news about Yuki, from the College Station 1st ward, that made me happier than anything. But I’ll tell you about that later. It is a long story.
Dad, I have a question for you. We were talking about the Free Masons, and I remembered you are part of a group, and I was thinking that is the group you are a part of. Are you a Free Mason? And what do they do? And why are you a Free Mason.
Mom, you talked to me a little about my home-coming talk earlier, and when you wanted me to give it. When again do you want me to give my talk? And I don’t know what the topic is. If you want me to give my talk right when I get home, I want to know ahead of time what my topic is, so that I can be prepared.
I got my trunky papers. Those are the papers about my flight home. I fly home on Nov. 18th.
Well, I’m glad you all are doing great. Thank you so much for writing my and keeping me informed. Thanks for being so awesome.
Take care. Always, Sister Eliza Boren

From Eliza

Dear Family,
Sister Lieber and I have had a good week. As you know it was a little different this week. We had p-day in the middle of the week, and we went on exchanges twice this week with the CS 1st sisters. We also listened to a cd the elders gave us galled “the conversion of a Lutheran Minister.” It was so good. He told his conversion story, and it was very doctrinal and analytical, because that is how he is. A few weeks ago we listened to “the conversion of a Catholic Priest,” which we also got from the elders. His story was more personal stories, and promptings from the Spirit, because that is how he got converted. Well, both got converted by the Spirit, but the Lutheran was more of an analytical guy. Anyway, both cd’s were so good.
This week we also went tracting a lot. But it has been a really good week. Alex, one of our investigators, is getting baptized this Conference weekend. She was interviewed by Elder Porter last Friday, and is good to go. And church yesterday was just for her. The talks in sacrament meeting and the lesson in Sunday school were on eternal families. And that is the thing that Alex was interested in in the first place. It meant a lot to her because after church she told us that it is so cool how God is so involved in the little details of our lives. She was so ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love serving in Texas. We have found so many people that are just ready for the gospel. She is getting baptized and confirmed this Friday, and then hopefully is going to have an extra spiritual weekend watching Conference on Saturday and Sunday.
I’m so excited for General Conference. I can’t wait. I hope you all are doing well. Take care. Always, Sister Eliza Boren