Marine Layers

Good afternoon (evening to some of you) my family! How is everyone? Well, everything is just grand here in Anaheim! I've heard all about the Philadelphia visit. Sounds like it was a fantastic time! Baby Yoda, cleaning carpets, doctor's appointments, and autumn back east. I'm jealous. Some of the trees here change colors. Not too much though. We're still having pretty amazing weather and I know I will miss it!

Well for Halloween we didn't do anything different. Just worked! And then we had chili with some Young Single Adults before they had a party. Hey mom, I remember how you made chili one year at Halloween, and you wouldn't let me go out until I ate some. In WA I think. Remember? Anyway

Friday night was interesting. We had an appointment to see Cesar. Now Cesar, he's a little different. He's not 100% there. He is, but he isn't. He gets everything we teach him, he understands the reading, and he speaks normal. But something's different. So when we get there, he's in a really bad mood. Apparently he had dropped his cell phone and cracked the screen and so he can't call anyone, and he wasn't able to receive calls, and felt cut off from the world. He wasn't in the mood to pray or to read or do anything. And no amount of our being patient and helping him think through his options would help. We had brought a Young Single Adult with us (Tracy), who is awesome and always comes with us, and she is so relaxed, very CA. She finally somehow distracted him by planning to meet him the next day and talking him to the stake center to do family history. He doesn't know who his parents are and doesn't even know if they're alive, so he wants to look them up. Oh, I was so grateful. I was getting so frustrated. I think I hide it well though. But seriously, he was just so upset that he wasn't seeing how it could be better, and he was just difficult. And I could only think that I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to be a mother if I have children that are stubborn like that. Huh mom? I just wanted to drop him right there! We all laughed about it though when we got out of the car.

On Sunday, our branch mission leader went to pick him up for church, and decided to have a little chat with him. Or in his own words he "interrogated" Cesar. And he decided Cesar wasn't ready to be baptized and told our branch president. We were so upset about it. It's all alright now, we've talked to Cesar again, and we'll just have to talk to our lame branch mission leader and reset the date. We're thinking November 15. He's accountable, he understands, and he wants to be baptized and is worthy. Who are we to not let him be baptized?

Nicole is doing really well. Her baptism is tonight at 7:00pm. The ward kept asking us why we are doing it during the week, and we said because we hoped it would deter some people from coming. Odd reason, we know. But Nicole's a nervous personality. And as it is, we know that a lot of people will still come, and she'll be happy with it. It will work. We're really excited for her.

Yesterday when we met with her she had a little breakdown because she's so stressed. Her mom has been driving her crazy, and she's sad that her husband smokes;-she fasted on Sunday for him to be able to stop-plus, they don't always get along. And it's hard, because she just feels alone, and even S. Cooprider is not always the most sensitive to Nicole. She's not very good at controlling facial expressions, and people notice. So Nicole was crying yesterday and I felt so bad for her. Sometimes there's only so much you can do. Unfortunately she's pretty attached to me, and I'm just hoping she doesn't have another breakdown when I leave. Ah! But all will be perfect with the baptism tonight!

And Saturday we have the baptism of the Lopez kids-Cathy, Kiara and Michael. Yeah! They're the best behaved little kids and just excited. So that's that! And the Lucero's are still a go for Nov. 14.

Last week we also did a couple of splits. It was so interesting because the last time I did splits, I was in a threesome, and I was with the other companion. It's so odd to not be with your companion for a while. It just feels wrong. But the appointments went really well. We visited a Hispanic family in the ward. The parents are from Mexico, and speak English, and the boys (should) go to the YSA branch. But they don't. One's an RM, and one needs to go on a mission. so we're trying to activate the boys, Bethuel and Yobel Montanez. And I went with a girl from the ward that’s going on a mission in a couple of months, and we visited this other less active family, the Chutes. They always cancel our appointments, so they frustrate us. But Jenny, the member, knows them really well, so it was a really good appointment. That's another reason why members are so invaluable in appointments-they give you another connection to the less actives you visit. It really helps! Also last week, we had a Hungarian dinner cooked by the Hungarian roommate of one of our less actives. He's a funny guy. And then another day we had Danish food cooked by the 2 Danish girls staying with one of the counselors in the branch presidency. But the funny thing was their Danish dinner was Mexican food. They said it's the way they do Mexican food in Denmark. Pretty much the same as we do it here. Also, we had our president's interviews last week. It was wonderful!

And that was the week! Pretty busy and amazing week! I love it! Everything is just fantastic and I'm still sprinting! I hope everyone is staying healthy. No swine flu! I love you all so much! Thanks for being my family!

Love,
Emily