Mi familia! Como esta todos? Estoy muy bien! This is the last week of the transfer-I don't like that. The prayers are starting again that we can all stay another transfer! Mostly I'm worried about being transferred because that means a little decrease in my Spanish learning. Oh yeah, plus all of the investigators we're teaching! Last week was great and we were exhausted the entire time.
We taught Araceli and got her husband to sit in with us. Mostly we were teaching him the restoration to see if he'd maybe come to church, and maybe marry Araceli. It's funny, as we've found out this "problem" we've realized that this is probably why teaching her in the beginning was a little slow, and why she was stubborn. She is absolutely ready to be baptized and wants it so much. She wants to get married. But she has this lazy stubborn husband. He's nice, but he's not doing the best things for his daughter and wife. After he basically said he didn't want to be pressured to get married, he left and Araceli actually broke down a little and cried. It's sort of refreshing because she's a tough person, and it was good for us to see how much she really wanted to be baptized. Sooo, for now, we're going to teach her this week and basically tell her she needs to make some hard decisions.
And then we have Lupe. We got Lupe to actually verbally commit to being baptized Nov. 15 last week. But then I was talking to her on the phone on Saturday and we were a little worried about whether or not she was married (we never asked) and after confirming some appointments, I asked her how long she'd been married. But then her daughter Lulu (8) wanted to talk on the phone and told me they'd been reading the BOM together (we just gave her her own) and then her little brother "big boy" who is 4 decided to get on the phone and chat too (I felt like I was talking to Ashleigh and Braden and it was very fun!). Lupe got back on the phone and told me she's not married. It was actually pretty funny this time. Maybe because we were all tired so everything gets funny like that. So we have some more work to do. She doesn't seem opposed to marriage, so hopefully....!
So officially we have one Maria Tellez being baptized Nov. 30, Cleotilde Curachura on Nov. 22, Eulalio (if he stops being lame and comes to church) on Nov. 30, and possibly Lupe and Lulu sometime in November. And we're just going to keep praying for Araceli and Cibelly.
I don't know what else we did last week. We definitely taught some people and talked to a lot of people but I just remember it flew by and we were tired and it never seemed like we did very much by the end of the day. But somehow we met all of our goals-so that's good!
A little more mission info. So I live in Anaheim in an apartment with my companionship and another companionship-those girls are serving in Anaheim, not officially Spanish. There is one comp of girls who just got moved to a new area last transfer (they used to be in a Spanish area) and they are in a very nice area apparently, living with members. I don't know that there are elders living with members. I actually work in Orange, but our ward is Santa Ana, and when there are people who need to be taught by sisters in Spanish, then we can go to other areas. Otherwise our area is verrry small. I haven't seen the ocean yet, but I think if I climbed some hills I probably could. And yes, there are hills here to the east of it and I love it because when we drive towards them they seem like mountains!
It's still very warm here-no snow. But a couple of mornings it has been foggy and chilly. I like that a lot. But mostly sun and hot/warm. My ankle is pretty much better, I don't notice it anymore, but I think it's still a little swollen.
So Friday is Halloween and we have to be in by 6. To avoid all of the crazies I suppose. We're really excited to be inside so we can have a little time. We're just hoping that we don't have to do our planning at night. Once a week on Friday mornings we do weekly planning and lately it takes us 3 hours to do. We're afraid they're going to have us do it Friday night instead this week. Oh well, I'm still buying a pumpkin today and eating candy corn on Friday.
The prop 8 thing is really getting crazy around here. With how much we here about it in our little sheltered world, it must be really big. Every week in sacrament and in relief society they talk about it. They even cancelled the ward Halloween fiesta so people could go out and hold signs-which they do a couple of times a week. I hear that members who have signs in their yards are getting harassed too. Spray paint on their side walks and things thrown in windows. And in the Orange circle one day we saw all of these college students (there's an artsy school in Orange-Chapman U) holding anti prop 8 signs. It's crazy! Thanks so much mom for the absentee thing-it is a miracle that you got that, hopefully it gets here in time! I need to uphold my civic duty, even if I'm on a mission, right?
I got an e-mail from my friend Kathleen and she's in Brazil and has been for almost two weeks now. It seems so crazy that here I am in California just being a missionary, and she's in the MTC in Brazil. It's interesting where you're called to-where is the right place for you with people that you can touch and help. California girl, huh?
Not much else going on-even though I'm sure there is and I'm just not thinking about it. We're doing some exchanges again tonight and H. Chriswell will be our temp comp tomorrow so I think that will be pretty fun to be back together. And the elders have some baptisms this Sunday so we're hoping that our investigators with fechas bautismales (baptismal dates, not failed baptisms) can come see them. We're also eating with la familia Mendez on Sunday for Dia de los muertos as a little anniversary of the death of Hermana Mendez's mom. Weird? Oh no, fun. Her husband isn't a member, but pretty much is. They both remind me of my own little parents!
I've been thinking and realizing a lot lately that I am pretty lucky to have the family that I do. It's just amazing how solid everyone is in the gospel-that's a miracle. And I love it! So I wanted to say thank you to my parents for being amazing parents and doing such a good job with everyone! I hope that I can be just like you some day! I love all of you my little family! Thanks for everything and "talk" to you in a week!
Love,
Hermana Emily
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