Week 9 in California

All is well here, this week we had that sisters conference which was so awesome. Spiritual high for sure- I was crying like the whole time,not sure if it was because I was super in tune with the spirit or because I was on my period haha, either way it was good. The elders had the same trainings the week prior and they were fed In-N-Out and Panda Express etc and they got us these salad rolls and healthy food, needless to say I was NOT impressed haha. They talked a lot about marriage and how lucky our future husbands were and stuff- it was cool but kind of weird. Made me feel like I was in a marriage prep class instead of a mission conference, but whatever. We learnt a lot though, the rest of the week has been pretty slow. I worry that we are busy about a small work. There are the key indicators that we are supposed to focus on (numbers for lessons taught etc) and I feel like we just run around sharing scriptures sporadically and doing service, which are good things but I feel like we aren't working how I would like. But I'm not in charge and I am trying to stay happy and positive but when you aren't working hard, the time passes slowly- sooo thats not cool because I don't know how to fix the situation. But it's all good.

Juans baptism is on hold till further notice, President said 2 weeks so hopefully that will all work out sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed! We are being fed a lot more, I figured out you need to charm them then they will want to feed you- so I've had the charm on hardcore cuz I was hungry for a while there haha. But yeah all is fine in the eating department. I laughed out loud when mom asked me what we do for fun on pday... we... uhh... wash the car... and email... and if we are feeling super crazy we go to Ikea and walk around. haha, yeah... no theres not much to do here haha, or maybe there is and I haven't discovered them, I don't even like going to Ikea any more cuz it just makes me want my own house, which is currently out of the question.

This week at the conference they announced that sister missionaries dress standards have changed- we no longer have to wear nylons ever, the skirts don't have to be mid calf and we are encouraged to wear more colors. We burnt our nylons the next day hahahah, it made me happy because nylons are a ridiculous invention.

My favorite quote of the week was by Jesus, one of our less actives, super cool middle aged blind guy, ex thug, he goes, "Hermana, I don't know what to do, I owe the tamale lady $240" bahaha, it was pretty funny.

So yeah all is well here, hoping that this week will pick up. I am excited to hear about all the exciting events going on back home. xoxox. Laura

Week 8

This week has been pretty interesting. Character building would probably be a good way of summing it up, haha. Its fine though- by the time P Day comes around my mood normally lifts haha. It's been insanely hot- it's hard to have motivation to leave the comforts of our lovely air conditioned car! Juan wasn't able to get baptized yesterday as he needs an interview with President- so I am praying that it goes well. We were at his house last night and the tamale guy came to their door selling tamales and they bought a bunch and sister Kang was like "oh no, didn't we teach him not to buy stuff on Sunday?" and I was like "yeah we did" then like 2 minutes later Sister Kang was like, "Juan you forgot, its dia de reposo" and he was like, "OHHH NOOOO!" haha, maybe you had to be there but it was pretty funny. So we ate a bunch of tamales and chatted with them for a while, love them.

Our apartment doesn't have air conditioning and I've been dying of heat on the top bunk then the other night I got sooo mad cuz I couldn't sleep and got out of bed and pulled the mattress off the top bunk onto the floor. The next morning I rearranged the room so that all the stuff that was under the bed is now on the top bunk and I slide the mattress out from under the bottom bunk at night time. I think you can see it in one of the pix I am sending.

I am learning to cook! I have learnt quite a lot in the short period of time I've been here. It's fun, I don't know why people make it seem like it's so hard!? It's all Mexican and Korean food- so Im getting culturally enriched at the same time- yay! My favorite thing to eat thus far is Elote!!!! They sell it in the street, it's just corn on the cob with mayo, parmesan cheese and chile- delicioussss.

I got a spider bite on my lip- pretty awesome, it's all anyone can look at when they see me because it's been big and red all week- yuck. It's starting to get better so I am happy.

This week should be interesting as we are having something called 'sisters conference' to get us up to speed with all the changes they are making in the mission. Its gunna be with all 17 sister missionaries in the mission- haha didnt realize how outnumbered we are! wow.

I better go, hopefully this week will go better and hopefully Juan will be able to get baptized on Sunday. The work is coming along and I loveeee these people. Love and miss you guys tons. Laura.

Pix- foot spray-love it, not sure if it works but it made me laugh. sunset- gorgeous. mountain view- the rich part of our area where we never go but it's a pretty view so we decided to check it out (only wearing sunglasses cuz I just hopped out of the car for the foto). and FHE with the elders and investigators and they were forcing me to fulfill my domestic role haha.

Week 7

Thanks for writing, I love the emails- yay!

Juan is getting baptized this Sunday and he is the coolest person I have ever met. We taught him the word of wisdom and his jaw dropped as he drinks multiple cups of coffee a day, but he hasnt drank any since that day. The other day we reviewed the baptisimal interview questions and his answers were awesome and after he told us that he really wants to serve a mission!!! what the heck, he is too cool! So we have been talking about that because he keeps asking us about serving a mission and still, he is in the States illegally though so I dont know how that would work as he came into the States on foot over the border- yikes! He was telling me about it and I was fascinated and decided I want to do that some time with a big group of Mexicans- that would be crazy! I want to buy him a white shirt and tie today because he doesnt have one and he is excited about passing the sacrament so I want to give it to him for his baptism present.

We recieved the most random phone call this week for someone that overheard us contacting his uncle on the doorstep a few weeks ago and goes, "you are the mormons? Id like to find out more about your religion" so that was cool since thats not common haha. Since we found Edgar we have been teaching him again and enjoying his company, he is from Guatemala and on Saturday we ate lunch at his house and he gave me this sweeeet Guatemala shirt and this cool bag- I wore it to chruch yesterday and he was so happy! Yay for awesome nice people that we get to teach!

The mission changed some things around, we are now only have zone conference once and president interviews once every 3 transfers, so thats interesting.

On saturday this other sister missionary called us and asked if we wanted to join them in a creative contacting experience. We said yes and it was an ultimate faillll hahah. We went to the park and tried to sing to people, in theory it sounds kinda cool maybe, but it was really intrusive and I havent felt that awkward ever, in my life. haha. So that didnt work but props to them for trying to be creative- better luck next time haha.

I am doing good, the weeks are speading up, this week was super fast! This is a very good thing as I sometimes feel like I may be a missionary forever and that makes me a little scared. I am enjoying it so much, but more than 18 months might be a little too much haha. I miss and love you guys tons, Im excited to go read these emails you sent me! Much love yooo. Laura.

Week 6

So yesterday was holiday so we didn't have access to a computer but Sister Kang and I are still here in Covina so we are about to embark on another 6 week adventure together! So everything is going great here! I'm happy to be staying in this area- its awesome.

We discovered that Juan is straight and he is such a golden investigator! We are hoping that he will be able to get baptized either this Sunday or next and we just started teaching his cousin too, they are awesome. Edgar disappeared then randomly we decided to bike to his area and he passed us in his truck so we are going to start teaching him again! yay!!! Nothing is coincidence! We have had awesome reactivation success here in the short time I've been here. Hermana Castillo has come every Sunday (except for when Mexico played in the World Cup last Sunday haha), Jesus is the crazy funny blind guy and he's coming back to church- he has a lot of changes to make though as he needs to head off to rehab, and Hermana Silva who is a little out there but she's 63 and all alone so she loves our visits. Such cool people. Everardo was another golden investigator we had, we taught him first second and third and he is getting baptized 2 Sundays from now andddd... he moved, so we had to hand him off to other elders, shucks, but it all works out in the end if we get him in the water!

Wow- crazy event happened. So there's this 25 year old Guatemalan investigator named Marvin who keeps coming to out ward each Sunday even though he is supposed to go to a different building and we didn't know why, Then this Sunday after church he came up to me and handed me a note all folded up so I said I'd look at it later and off I went. I took it out of my bag and it was a hard core love note- yikes…I called the President and I was so scared that I would get transferred or something but all is well and he said that he will take care of it.
4th of July was pretty fun, everyone was lighting off fireworks in the street and we all got together as a district and ate dinner because it was the last night before transfers. This past week went by really fast, I am excited for this month. There are still many moments of frustration but I am having fun and loving the work.

There are a lot of changes being made in our mission and I think I have mentioned this before but me and Elder Martinez were the first Spanish only missionaries and now the only people going Spanish speaking here for a while are going to be Latinos because there are already so many people here (bilingual missionaries) that have been trained at the MTC for Spanish so that means that I will be junior for a while probably cuz there aren't going to call more people Spanish speaking for a while. So that's interesting.

Guess what!? I read the Book of Mormon in one transfer! wow! I am shocked, we have 15 mins of personal study time to read but then I would always read during lunch and dinner so I got it done in 6 weeks- it's so cool! It makes way more sense when you read more than one chapter at a time cuz the events make more sense as a story, I love it.