Irvine Here I Come!

Well, well, well. Guess who's getting transferred. I'm pretty sure that all of the sisters-all 13 of us thought that none of us were getting transferred this time, since 3 sisters are leaving in December, so we're basically all going to have to change then anyway. Wrong. H. Chriswell is getting transferred and will now be in a threesome, in the Tongan program! Ha. We have a Samoan companionship, a Tongan companionship, a Spanish companionship, and 3 English companionships. And so we basically knew that I would have to leave, before I even got the official call. So I will be leaving in 2 hours to go down and be with Sister Moore. She is one of the sisters leaving in December, so I will have another new comp in 6 weeks. Crazy. So much for trying to keep people in their areas for 8-9 months! I don't know. I knew I would go down to Irvine at some point, I just didn't expect it to come so soon. Probably I will be down there for a while, but then, who knows? Sister Moore is sometimes a little intense, but honestly, from what I hear, we're probably a lot alike and I actually thought it was too bad that I wouldn't ever get to be her comp. Down to Irvine I go, to Pleasantville and superficial people and lots of middle easterners and organic food stores. Definitely will be a much different world than my little area of Orange and Santa Ana. I'm excited, but definitely sad. I loved my ward here. The elders had some baptisms here yesterday, and President Watrous came. So I just told him I'm fine, as long as I leave the mission fluent. Sometimes people need to be reminded. But he told me that 2 months should've been enough time. Ha! I feel like it's the MTC again, I've only been here 1 week more than the MTC and I'm in a threesome and I'm the one going solo! Sister Moore is pretty much fluent though in Spanish, so I'm sure I'll continue to improve.This week has been SLOW and no one has been answering their phones and they've been canceling their appointments. And all of our baptismal people-well, we just don't know what's happening. Araceli hasn't been to church in two weeks, and we couldn't see her last week, and it feels like she's slipping. We finally saw Eulalio Saturday night, after just about "dropping" him, but then he still didn't come to church. We couldn't see Maria Tellez this week and she has this dumb, not friendly husband who we think is causing trouble, and she didn't come to church. Cleotilde we saw once, but then he wasn't home all day Saturday even though we had an appointment, and he wasn't at church. What's the deal! It's amazing how much if you don't see these people all the time, how they just seem to lose it. And all of the people we thought we were teaching pretty solidly are also not so solid now. I think H. Ochoa and Fatkin will see LOTS of changes in who they are teaching this transfer. They will have to work hard to make these baptismal dates happen.
And then there's Lupe. We LOVE Lupe. She and Lulu have been reading the BOM together and Lulu loves it-always has lots of questions and has been highlighting things. She asked us what the rock is that we are supposed to build on. She is so smart! We talked to Lupe about getting married and she knows she needs to and we committed her to doing it this month. She has since talked to her "boyfriend" and it sounded like it would happen. We also were over there Thursday night because it was her bro's b-day and he fed us and the elders (who are teaching him) ribs. A little pre-Halloween party. Then we saw Lupe Friday and everything was really progressing. Saturday night I talked to her and she said she got work off so they could all come to church. Then apparently yesterday she and the "boyfriend" had a little fight over him not wanting her to go to church. The elders tell us that she tried to kick him out. We haven't talked to her ourselves so we're worried about her. I'm really sad because I won't be able to see her now to say goodbye. Hopefully the sisters can help her out.

I'm glad that Erin's eye surgery went wonderfully and that she will be able to get rid of the crazy eye! By the way Erin, there is a store down here called Sprouts and it is an organic grocery store-local farmers market type products and it's cheap. And it's nice and it's big. I think it's your store. Come down here and check it out.
Remember, if you write me, I only speak Spanish! Same goes for the Sprouts, if you want, you're welcome to write in Spanish, it makes me happy and it's good for me! I'm not sure why the Mendezes remind me of you, Mom and Dad. Hermano Mendez is just this really smart guy and his mannerisms are like Dad, and when he reads, he wears these glasses and looks like you. He asks the type of questions to us that I can see you asking us at the dinner table. Good discussion questions. They're just really nice people. They're home just feels comfortable I guess. We ate with them yesterday-so it was my last dinner in the ward, and it was appropriate. Probably they, and the bishop's family and another family in the ward are my favorites. They're just all such friendly and happy people and it's so fun. Now on to Irvine where the sisters haven't yet eaten with the same family twice! Wow!So there's my 5-page e-mail for the week! I hope everyone is happy and having fun (important!) and receiving blessings from having a daughter and sister on a mission! Ha ha ha! Thanks for everything family! Love you all muchisimo!
Love,Emily