Week 14

This week we taught Alejandra and Ramon and they have baptismal dates and they are superrrr cool. They are 16 and 13 and their parents got baptized like 8 months ago but the elders didn't teach the kids... so we are doing that now and they are awesome. They are a... bigger family... so we always eat a lot when we go there which is the best. I don't think I can count how many tortillas I eat in a day here haha. This week in weekly planning we dropped pretty much everyone we are teaching. This week we are gunna be doing a lot of knocking I reckon, its good though and overdue but Sister Kang is a little more patient with people than I am. I don't like feeling like I need to drag people, "here it is people, eternal life, take it or leave it" haha. Hermana Castillo and Jesus Avila are now considered 'active' on the new ward list we got, which is super cool since we have focused a lot of attention on them, really great to see them progressing. I forgot to mention that I gave a talk last Sunday in church,I think it went ok. Mine was deff more entertaining than the elders (we have pretty boring elders in our district now) so that's a plus.

We found out that one of our English referrals from knocking is getting baptized! Yay, we talked to this guy Christian on his door step and gave his info to English elders and look what happened! Hooray! I am still the last Spanish sister that has come to the mission and apparently next transfer they are all English sisters coming in too, so I guess I am destined to be junior comp forever haha, it's all good though, Heavenly Father knows what he's doing.

We recently had a lesson with Cecilia and we did a visual aid where we had this thing that you light on fire in their hand but then at the last minute it floats up into the air.. well she got nervous when the flame was getting closer to her skin and she yelled "S***!!!!" Like super loud and it was the funniest thing ever. We were like, "where's your faith!?" so that was classic.

Week 13

From the sounds of the emails everything is going good and you are all just adjusting to normal life again after so much excitement! I am so happy to hear that everything went so well. I loved the picture that mom sent- yay for my cute little sister getting married- you guys looked great.

We have NO time today because we didn't end up getting back from the temple till 4, and p-day ends at 6... its now 5:40 sooo we havent really had time to do anything. Temple was super awesome, I really loved it. The LA temple is a really cool temple and they just recently opened the new visitors center and of course they did a really good job on it. Really spiritual, lots to learn, I love it.

This week was really good, can't really remember anything too monumental. I have been very careful with my skin since I've got here cuz the sun is so strong you can like feel it giving you wrinkles so I am addicted to my sun block but I'm still getting burnt. This lady in our ward had these wrinkle creams she got free from her work and she gave me and Sister Kang some so I am using that every night haha, I have suddenly become very aware of aging- and Im only 21! yikes.

Sorry I dont have more time, I love and miss you guys tons, love to hear from you and eveything thats going on.. Hugs and kisses!

Week 12

Hey Family! Whats up!? Im sure this has been a very eventful and crazy weekend! Wow- Emily is married huh!? Like, she has a husband! what the heck! My computer crashed as I have been trying to transfer all my pix to a flash drive cuz I almost accidentally deleted all my pix this week so I really wanted to do that, but the comp couldnt handle it. I am veryyyyy excited to read these emails!!! I am sure everything was great so it makes me happy that you could have some good family time while celebrating this crazy new beginning in Emily's life. I loveddd the pix from the reception in baltimore, the patio is RADDD. Dad you are a miracle worker, it looks so awesome! I am really excited to relax there in October... oh shoot, it will probably be cold by then... oh well we can all squash on the hammock with a blanket! yay!


I dont have much time sadly because of technical difficulties but this week was super awesome. Juan got baptized yesterday!!!!!!! I cried like a little girl. I have never cried so much in my entire life in comparison to how much I cry here in the mission, haha not sad tears, dont worry. He bore his testimony and he was really complementary to Sister Kang and I and it was really touching for us, we sang a childs prayer and he was crying haha, it was a good emotional/happy event.

Highlights: last p-day all the sisters went and had lunch with Sister Pike at the mission home and it was pretty cool. It was pretty formal and quiet so it wasnt a blast or anything but the food was good.

We taught Cecilia and her family ten commandments this week and it was hilarious because Alberto, her husband, goes, "is it stealing to change the price tags on things so they are cheaper?" maybe you had to be there but we were like "uh, yeah, duhhh" haha they are such a cool family.


All of our new investigators dont speak spanish very well cuz they all speak their native dialect Chimenteco (I dont know how to spell it), we are trying to find ways to use more visual aids as they are struggling to grasp what we are trying to share. Transfer calls came saturday night and Sister Kang and I will be embarking on our third transfer together here in Covina. I am happy as I LOVE this area and dont ever want to leave.

Plus Sister Kang and I are tight so Im happy to spend another transfer with her as we have become good friends over these past few months. I am now driving as it is her second to last transfer so shes not allowed to drive, starting today, Im happy as her driving was a sources of my tested patience haha. Transfer calls were fun, we have coordination so we are all together as a district for calls (our district leader is the only one leaving and apparently the new guy coming is super strict so we are all a little anxious about what we've heard about him as we all get along really well).
I love and miss you guys tons. Take care. Laura.

Week 11

Hola Familia!

How is everyone? From the skimming I just did of the emails recieved it seems like everything is going good and you are all ready for the big event! wooowww. So this Saturday is almost here! I announced that Emily is getting married in good news minute in relief society and they were all like, "woww" then they were like, "oh no! you wont be there" haha, tragic. When I said it was my little sister they felt even worse for me hahaha, I told them "no hard feelings." So even though mom was falling asleep at the temple I am excited to read emilys email and hear how that went for her, hopefully it was awesome! Glad the bridal shower was fun, Im sure Ashley and Jenna did a great job, they know how to throw a party. Tell Sarah & Les and David & Jane that I say hello, Im excied to hear how your west coast vacation goes when you get internet access.

This week I learned to make empanadas, its such a long process, I now know why people dont like to make things from scracth, sooo time consuming. President Pike forgot about the baptisimal interview with Juan so we have to wait another week, its all good though. While we were waiting for him to come I called this number for a paper that Juan wanted me to translate but it was confusing cuz it was a legal document so I called the number thinking it was no big deal and accidentally got caught up in a criminal investigation of Juans cousin haha, who is one of our investigators, and President Pike was not very impressed when we called him asking what we should do haha, ooopppppss.

Sister Kang got into BYU so we celebrated by buying ice cream then that night Juans interview fell through so we were depressed so we bought ice cream, the next day we went to In-N-Out to celebrate my 3 months in the mission and sister kang's 3 months left in the mission. We were laughing because we were saying that we are gunna get fat if we keep using food as our reward.

We had comp exchanges on Thursday so I was with Sister Casperson in Chino and we had a super good time together, she is legit and we are a lot alike, deff a cool hermana. We stayed up way too later talking and I was struggling the next day. I got to drive so I liked it, next transfer if I stay with Sister Kang I get to drive so that will be good (she they arent allowed to drive their last 2 transfers of the mish). We are headed to Sister Pike's house today for a lunch with other sister missionaries, I will be on my best behavior, dont worry haha.

The work is deff coming along, people are progressing slowly but this week we gave 3 tours so we got 4 new investigators, which is good. I always quote that part from the movie 'the notebook' where he yells at the girl and says, "get in the water!"... thats what I want to yell at people when we show them the baptisimal font on the tour haha.

Gotta go, love and miss you guys tonssss. BESITOS. Laura.

Week 10!!

Wow- what a busy and exciting weekend! I'm glad to hear that the reception went well, I am extremely excited to get those pix in the mail and to receive pix in the future of the actual wedding day and reception in Oregon. Tomorrow Emily heads to the temple- whooaaa. I should have been more open minded when I went for the first time so that would probably be my advice. The second time I prayed while I was in there and asked, "is this legit?"... turns out it is! the spirit was really strong and it all makes sense from the small amount of temple attendance I have had thus far, it will be nice to go more after the mission, and like emily said- it's nice to go to temple and be able to come out without wet hair! That's cool that the house was so busy and that people wee helping out- . Dad sorry about your toe but it sounds like the patio has turned out awesome so it was totally worth it!

As for me, all is well here in Covina. I had my first companion exchange this week so it was me and Sister Beazer (she is from Cardston, Canada and knows Kayleigh Quinton- small world), so it was the 2 junior comps together in my area so I was senior for the day and it was pretty cool slash a little stressful. Every single appointment we had for the day fell through- even dinner and even our backup plans haha, soooo we said lots of prayers and it turned out to be a good day and a nice breather, I like being in charge so it was good. There are only 2 weeks left of this transfer so we will see what happens on the 16th. We had president interviews this week also and that will be the last one till 3 transfers from now which I guess is a new thing in all missions so it's not just here. It was good, brief, and we got our new DVD player that we haven't used yet.

This week was pretty slow but we had 6 people attend sacrament meeting this week which is good. We just had a very cool experience a few hours ago, we have been having a hard time getting hold of Cecilia this week then she called us this morning and said she wanted to meet with us so we met her at the church at 8am and she has a lot of family and life problems but she has been so wonderful and received an answer to her prayers that the Book of Mormon is true etc but she has had to make some changes and this morning after talking about her problems it went quiet and she goes, "I want to be baptized".... YAY! So we didn't even have to ask- she did it for us. So hopefully Juan will get baptized this Sunday and Cecilia on the 15th. Cecilia is a mother of 2 little kids and her husband Alberto is really cool but not as proactive- but he will get baptized too, just a little later. So yay! I really love them, they are one of my favorites. We are teaching a lot of people but a lot are not progressing very well so we were talking about how we may need to drop people to find other people that are ready- we will wait and see what feels right. I love the people though, I have become very close with quite a few people in the ward and they are so wonderful. I will probably always stay in Spanish wards in the future- they need the help and I like the feel better, no offense to you gringos haha. We went to a primary activity on Saturday to help out, we didn't end up helping at all but we did eat all the food haha. There are new eating rules too, you are only allowed to eat with you and your comp at a house, like 2 sets of missionaries can't eat together with members. We already weren't allowed to eat with Elders but now it has got more strict, so that's interesting.

We met a mind reader this week and she told me everything I have been thinking and worrying about so that was super crazy. Cool but weird. I have been writing poems because I have a lot of things (both good and bad) built up and I need a constructive way to get them out. Some are pretty funny, I'll show you after my mission, reminded me of those children's books I wrote haha, I am a loser.

I miss you guys but its good because I am pretty used to being away from home. The lack of communication is the real bummer buttt, everything has its purpose so it's all good. Sad to miss all of the exciting events in Emily's life right now but we've got a lifetime to catch up so no worries there. My skin smells like mom, that's random but for real, I noticed it when I was in Chile but I don't know if I ever told you- when I smell my skin it makes me think of mom haha, creepy maybe? I like it though. Everything is good here, today we are headed to Korean market and to run all the other errands that we need to get done on Pday. Take care and enjoy your time in Portland! Much love yoo. Laura

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.

Week 5

This was a very fast week :) Where to start? We had mission president interviews on Tuesday and I sat down thinking he was gunna ask me a bunch of stuff and he goes, "so what do you want to ask me?"... I was not prepared and I was like, "uhh... I dunno, what do you want to ask me!?" haha, oops, next time I'll be better prepared. We talked for a good 20 minutes though, I was positive but wish I would have talked about our investigators instead of talking about myself.

We had a very successful week, our numbers were the highest in the zone which I guess is good, I still think we could have done more but Sister Kang and I are working in unity and President Pike told me an inferior plan is better than a superior plan when you are united- and I totally agree obviously.

We did quite a lot of service as my favorite family moved out of our ward (in the pic I sent of all of us at church)- Angelica just got baptized 2 months ago and Jorge her husband is being stubborn and doesn't want to give up drinking, but they are the COOLEST. We spent a lot of time with them so that was sad to see them go. This Sunday they wrote in my journal thing and Jorge said I was the coolest missionary he has met- that made me feel good, then I thought, "that probably means I need to be more spiritual". I'm still trying to figure out how to be Laura and Sister Christian- it's kinda tricky. We ate at their house for the last time and they dared me to eat a chili and I took the smallest one thinking it would make it easier but they told me after when I was dying that the smaller ones are hotter. haha I had tears streaming down my face and they said I turned bright red... it was hardcore! The other foto is of us helping Manuela Silva getting her stuff out of storage- trying to get her fridge into her house was nearly impossible, I felt really bad for the elders because they were in their missionary clothes and sweating like crazy with all the stuff we had to carry. Service is fun though, I love it.

We have transfers this next Monday- wowwww, I'm anxious. I don't want to leave this area, I'll be fine if I stay with Sister Kang, I'm fine with whatever so it'll be exciting to see what happens.

The world cup is overtaking the earth. That's all everyone is talking about, so I have actually stayed really informed on what's going on with all that! A lot of investigators didn't come to church this Sunday cuz of the Mexico game haha- silly.

Gotta go, loveeeee you tons. XOXOX. take care, thanks for your emails, I print them and read them after my email time cuz we literally get zero time on here ... thanks for everything. LOVE YOU. Laura

Week 4

Wow- what a week. So Sunday the electricity went out in our apartment right before we were leaving for stake conference so that's why I sent a pic of me blow drying my hair in the church building (I realized I didn't explain that one haha). Tuesday Sister Kang broke her bike, Wednesday three of our potentials dropped us via phone call (tragic) and Edgar's girlfriend answered the door and said she wanted to get a restraining order on us and was yelling for like 5 minutes straight, "WE ARE CHRISTIAN" (couldn't help but think it was ironic that someone would yell at a total stranger that they are Christian, veryyyy Christ like haha),
Thursday we ran over a nail and learned how to change a tire and spent 3 hours in Pep Boys,


Friday I passed out on the curb, I was hanging out the open door cuz I wanted to throw up then next thing I knew I was bent over the curb bawling my eyes out hahaha, classy- I didn't have any energy and I just died, I slept for 2 hours then went back out and felt fine though so no worries, Saturday I got the biggest sore on my tongue (yeah its gross) and now my tongue is huge and I can't really talk without drooling (very attractive haha), and Sunday Juan our new investigator- we decided that he is probably gay. That's a little obstacle, it was actually really funny cuz I was like, "Do you think that Juan is..." and Sister Kang goes, "gay!?" haha then she goes, "I don't know how to teach gays!" It sounds rude but she is so innocent so it was actually just super funny. He is super nice so we are really excited about him and this other investigator named Eduardo (actually I'm mad at Eduardo because we have an appointment with him at 2 today so he is intruding on my Pday! haha oh well). So despite all of that, this week went by so fast! It was fun and I am starting to feel a lot more competent- yay!

Last Monday we went to a Korean market and that was super cool- bought pot stickers, Korean yogurts that I used to eat with Izzy all the time when I was in Taiwan , and some cute Korean stationary, oh and a wedding present for Emily and Don haha. . This week we went and taught English to a family from Nepal and they just have mattresses in their living room and we had given the cute old man a pass along card (the one with Jesus on it) a few weeks earlier and it was sitting there on the desk stood up next to his bed- it was really cute. They had nothing yet they were giving us snacks and soda- it was really touching.

I am feeling so good. I am in the most strict mission, haha we have rules that I've never even heard about, but it's cool, I'm not being a rebel don't worry. I am learning a lot and feeling so light, like without worries, it's a really good feeling. Also, we area pilot mission so they try different ideas out on our mission, like church tour, bilingual program, and the new one is that we are all receiving handheld DVD players to watch the Preach my Gospel DVDS in our apartments in our down time... kinda cool. I hate how much time we spend driving all over the place, I would have been good to walk through the jungle from house to house... but I'm here for a reason and that brings me comfort when this experience is different than I expected or wanted.

Love & miss you tons, take care
Laura.

Cali Week 3

Wow, I got a whole lot of emails this week which is so cool but then leaves me with little time haha, I need to figure out how to speed up the process. Sounds like everyone is doing good :) very glad to hear! So another week has passed by, I have noticed that they are long days but fast weeks- not really sure how that works but that's how I feel. All is well here, this week has been good and Sister Kang and are tearing it up in Covina Spanish area! Yesterday was Andreas baptism and that was deff a highlight thus far, it was really nice and she looked so pretty and her boys turn 8 soon so it's cool to see how this can change their lives for the better. The depressing stat they told us in the MTC is that only 30% of the people we baptize stay active in the church- I'm not sure why they told us that statistic- deff not my idea of a motivational speech! Also Edgar is my favvvvorite person ever and he had a baptismal date for this Sunday but then dropped off the face of the earth then we finally caught him at home yesterday then taught him last night and now has a new baptismal date- sadly its a month from now because he said he was feeling a little unsure about everything, but still!

Yesterday we had stake conference which was really good, the sister missionaries I met were not overly friendly but you can't judge a book by its cover so it's all good. I realized how big my zone is, there are so many missionaries here! whoa. Tomorrow we have my first zone conference so I am excited to find out what that's all about. Already picked out my outfit haha, I'm not joking. Clothes and shoes are still good, and my hair is looking more shiny then ever haha, I swear! We are biking a lot, we have super cool bikes from the mission home, they are the blue ones in the pic I attached. I love biking, I am really loving running in the morning too, I am dropping weight like crazy which is pretty cool. Maybe I would have gone on my mission sooner if I had realized that it's a great way to lose weight! We get fed by members maybe twice a week, so not much. Went to In-N-Out the other day, the food was great but I still feel a little self conscience in public as a missionary so I felt a little weird. I'll get used to it though. It was funny actually, as I was feeling extremely conservative in my clothing this 15 year old girl walked in with the smallest cheerleading costume I've ever seen and I thought "oh no, I wonder if her mom knows she goes out in public like that" then her mom entered in the door right after her then I decided that the second coming must be soon haha. I also decided I was better off in my missionary clothes just in case it comes faster than we think!

I am in the top bunk and have been ever since my first sleeping arrangements back in the MTC. It's cool, so cool that it deserves it's own paragraph haha.

I am feeling really good and grateful to have such a wonderful loving family & friends. I've met quite a few people that don't have that support so it makes me really glad to have you guys.

Cali Week 2

My comp, Sister Kang cracks me up; every morning she yells “turtles” when we walk to our car and I figured she was just being weird or something but it turns out she was always pointing at snails and calling them turtles, so now every time I see a snail I call it a turtle. It's classic. She crashes a lot on our bikes, we bike a lot and I love it. We run every morning and I've already lost 5 pounds in the 2 weeks I've been here (that's after the 8 I put on in the MTC haha oppps!). We get fed a lot so no worries there.

Missionary work: Andrea is getting baptized this Sunday so that's my first baptism I get to be a part of in the mish! She is sooo awesome, mother of 4, they've been teaching her for a while I guess but we read 3 Nephi 11 then watched the end of the testament and we were all crying and I asked her what was stopping her from being baptized and before you know it we had a baptismal date for this Sunday. Something nearer and dearer to my heart is her mother in law Hermana Castillo hasn't come to church in 20 years and said she didn't want the missionaries to teach her etc (to my comp last transfer) and I didn't know that and Andrea and her kids live with them and we went to teach Andrea and I got talking to Hermana Castillo and totally hit it off with her and my comp was like " that is so weird, she normally hates missionaries" soooo... then she came to church the following Sunday and she came yesterday too and requested the Bishop to get her transcripts in the ward and stuff... then it gets more complicated because Andrea wasn't getting baptized because Hermana Castillo said she shouldn't but now Andrea is ok to get baptized because Castillo is now coming back to church. Hopefully that made sense. So this work is great, learning a lot. Realizing how crazy it is that we all have such different lives, my life has been so easy in comparison to a lot of the lives of people I am meeting and I wonder why. Interesting. The people are great though.


So the highlight of my week (after missionary work) is nothing short of miraculous. So there's this recent convert named Angelica, 25, super cool and has the prettiest hair ever, so she shared her secret with me, she puts birth control pills in her shampoo and apparently the hormones or something makes it shiny and strong and grow faster haha, I didn't believe her but then she gave me some on Sunday so I put them in my shampoo and I swear I will do this for the rest of my life! haha, so just a heads up- Emily you need beautiful shiny hair for your wedding, so get on it!

Week 1 of Cali

hola de california! como estan? That’s just a sample of the hardcore Spanish that’s taking place down here in Arcadia haha. I arrived Tuesday- met President Pike, cool guy, suuuuper quiet- I didnt hear everything he said but he is very pleasant. There were 6 of us that arrived this transfer, apparently that is a very little group as most groups come in 16 or 20. We sat around for a lot of the day in orientation stuff where the APs sucked the life out of me. My interview went well and he said I was the first whitey in the mission that already spoke Spanish and he seemed really impressed. I was really stoked to meet my trainer, hahah, shes so nice BUT she does not speak Spanish very well as she is from Korea. Her name is Sis Kang, and even though she was called Spanish speaking, she just recently got put into a Spanish ward for the first time, soooo this has been the source of frustration. Its good though, I need to learn patience, we all know that is an attribute in which I am extremely lacking, so cool. We live in a members apartment, we have a car and a cell phone, I am in the Covina Spanish ward and they are great. Bore my testimony on Sunday and sang in church so Im basically a celebrity around these parts haha, just kidding, but for real, the members are great, we have quite a lot of progressing investigators which is the source of my happiness right now, I LOVE teaching, everything else is alright, but those are the moments where I really feel like this was the right choice to be here. They are wonderful people, even contacting we meet the coolest people, I havn’t really had a bad experience yet, oh except for this one lady that said “I I believe in Jesus because the letter J hadn’t even been invented then” and I was like “maam, they didnt speak English in Jerusalem back then, they spoke Hebrew so it is just a translation...” she closed the door. We have a max # of miles we are allowed to drive and I guess we were close to the max so we have been biking for the past 2 days BAHAHA, its been interesting. I feel like a tool wearing a helmet but whateverrr, I already feel weird in a skirt all the time so whats an extra piece of plastic on top of my head. Pix attached. We had a zone activity and I met some elders... everyone is nice enough. Its weird with sister/elder relationships though, I feel weird talking to them because I feel like they feel weird... in one word its just weird. Sister Kang and I are starting to become friends though so thats good, I am going to try harder this week to understand and get to know her. My mission is weird in that we cant count something as a lesson unless its taught at the church... so I feel like that makes something hard (getting into peoples houses) even harder because now we have to get them to the church building, A lot of ppl work all day because they are Latinos and many do not have cars or phones... so it makes it a lot trickier. I am learning the ways though, Sis Kang does not contact people (like talk to ppl on the street or whatever) so I have started doing it just to see how it goes and Im a natural bahah, not really, its hard because I still feel weird talking about religion 24 7, but its really cool, Im learning a lot and instead of calling mom and complaining, I have to turn to my Heavenly Father, should have done that before but I must admit it is a lot easier when you have no one else to turn to.

Thanks for your constant support and letters etc, I LOVE THEM! I LOVE YOU!

-Laura. (but my friends call me Hermana Christian)

Leaving MTC!

We did not receive a letter this week as Laura left at 5am on “P-Day” and so did not have access to the MTC computers. However, we did get a phone call and it was wonderful to speak with her. (When missionaries leave the MTC and are at the airport leaving to fly out to their mission area they are allowed to phone home.) We were impressed with her strong desire to serve and, in true Laura style, she was excited and happy to be starting a new and wonderful adventure. For us as her parents it was a bitter-sweet moment as we knew that our next conversation would not be until Christmas.
The Mission President (President Pike) phoned us that night to say tell us how impressed both he and his wife were with her preparation. They also informed us that her Spanish speaking ability was way beyond what they would normally expect and that she would be helping her more senior companions to improve their Spanish!
Laura’s first area where she is now serving is the city of Covina (About 22 miles (35 km) east of downtown Los Angeles and with a population of about 50,000.) Having not heard from her since her arrival in California we do not know much about her companion; the Mission President, during his phone call to us, told us that she was Korean. We look forward to updating you when we hear from her this week.

MTC Week 2

I loveeee the "dear elders.org" letters!!

All is well here at the MTC! I cant believe I have already been a missionary for 2 weeks- haha ok thats not very much but still! One more week till I head to Cali- got my flight plans, may 25th 8:30am, we have to be at the front desk at 5am- ouch. The schedule here is study, breakfast, study, class, lunch, class, personal study, gym, dinner, study. haha, its cool though I like it. Sometimes we have devotionals and stuff and Tuesdays are our p-days which I really enjoy. gym is awesome because I play hardcore vball with all the elders and its super fun. sometimes other sisters play and the intensity goes down so I never invite them to play haha, christlike? anyways, we have had all sorts of Mormon celebrities come through here since Ive been here, Sheri Dew, Elder Holland, Mary Cook and Ann Dibb (President Monson's daughter)- that has been pretty cool.

This week has went by a lotttt quicker! My body isnt hating the early mornings as much and the food is going down better and all that fun stuff. Classes are really good. My companion Sister Curlee is awesome and I love her! We are a lot alike so we get along great and work together really well. We just got back from the temple which was good.

MTC

Thank you so much for all the letters! I love them, I feel kinda bad because I have got a whole lot of mail from family and friends and no one else in my district really gets any. I just got a new companion yesterday, Im with Hermana Curlee, she is adorable (she looks 12 years old) and so nice and was moved up from intermediate to advanced. Her Spanish isn’t very good. We even get to leave the MTC today (me and my comp) because she has something wrong with her legs and has to have specially made shoes so we are going to get them from the outside world- wowwww haha, my first real missionary outing- Im excited, even though it means I cant wear P-day clothes for that hour that we are gone.

Oh, so the other day I really didnt want to iron a shirt that had ruffles on the front (yeah I know- Ive been ironing things- its crazy!) and they were sticking out so I got tape and taped them down hahah, mom you would have loved it.

I feel like Ive been forced to become a fully functioning human being- someone that irons their clothes and wakes up at 6:30, I am still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Im not tired and the days are starting to speed up- those first few days were the longest days of my life- without a doubt. But I am starting to get the hang of things and its exciting that this new chapter has started in my life and who knows what its gunna be like... Im assuming hard but rewarding... lets hope so. I still keep calling people "guys" which is a no-no. I already miss being called Laura. Hermana Christian will grow on me though, Im sure. We are only aloud to email family- TRAGIC!! Oh by the way, Ive only met one other person going to my mission and his name is Elder Martinez from Rigby and he is super cool, and we leave on the same day, he is my district leader so thats legit. Yay for friends!

Leaving Baltimore

March.5.2010. BWI to SLC and then to Provo MTC.

Mission Farewell

Temple Trip

Temple trip for Laura to recieve her endowments on April.20th.