Knock and Ye Shall Find?

Hello! Well another week is gone. We had a pretty good week. Not too many new things happened. No new investigators. But we're trying really hard!

For one of Raven's appointments this week we tried something different. We want him to get to know people in the branch so he feels comfortable here, but he works at night and can't go to any of the activities or anything. So we invited about of YSAs to our teaching appointment. We basically reviewed with them the Restoration, and then we played a little made up game of charades/pictionary/catch phrase using all words/phrases from the Restoration lesson. I think they really liked it. And it was good because we were able to see that Raven is getting a lot of the things we teach. More than we realize. He was pretty into the game. There are still things he doesn't understand-especially about the plan of salvation. But that's because he asks pretty deep questions and sometimes complicates things. He has time to learn though. And last week President Watrous told us that if we have an investigator on probation who has gone to church for 6 months and paid tithing for 3, then he's willing to write to the first presidency and see if that person can get permission to be baptized. I definitely think Raven could potentially get to that point. Hopefully! It would be nice if he doesn't end up having to wait over a year. We'll see.

The Luceros are still planning on getting baptized Nov. 14. We're still a little afraid that this past elders are going to end up not being able to come out that weekend to baptize the girls, and mom is going to want to push the date back again. But, this is the first time they've actually set a date, and had us tell the bishopric, so hopefully it's really happening! It's just one of those situations that's lame, because the girls have been going to church like they're members for over a year anyway. They just need the benefits of being baptized!

We had a really good visit with Serena, the YSA who was at church last week who is inactive. She's really nice and has been really active in the past, but just hasn't done it yet here. After talking to her we could tell she'd really be a benefit to the branch. And she said she'd be at church. But then she didn't come! AHHHHHH! It's amazing. No matter what, every week people say they'll come to church, and I always believe them. And I'm always surprised when they're not there. Good excuse or not. It's the same thing with this other inactive YSA we've been visiting. Lisa. She was a member for 2 years, really super active, and then I guess she fell off the face of the planet. Nobody heard from her or saw her. When I got here, we made contact with her and have been visiting her and everyone's amazed. She's never committed to coming to church, though she wants to come. But last week we brought another YSA with us, and in front of all of us she said she would come. But she didn't. It really is frustrating. You can't give up on these people, but I don't see why they can't make any efforts! They say they want to, but there's always some little thing that they let be their excuse.

We did get to see the Relief Society Broadcast. Which was great. I was excited because last year we were never told we could go, so we didn't. And I thought it was a really great broadcast! And now I'm even more excited for general conference this weekend!

What else? Nicole is as crazy and frustrating as ever to teach. She really has a lot of problems, and she only hears/listens to what is already familiar to her, and she holds onto that. Sometimes she seems to get it, and other times, absolutely not. We don't know what to do with her. Because stopping teaching her is going to be hard, she'll still be coming to church, and still be depending on us. We really aren't teaching Shakira anymore. Somebody else always answers her phone, and she's never home. Too bad. This is why we're looking really hard for more people to teach! The ward is trying to get us more people to teach too, but it's a slow process.

That was the week! Hopefully this week more interesting/new things will happen! I hope everyone had a wonderful week and will have an even better week! I love you all!

Love,
Emily

Avocados

This week it felt like everyone that we normally see was canceling their appointments with us. I'm not sure what that was about. Right up until last night it was a different week. But I figure that will just make us appreciate even more this week and being able to visit everyone again. We even have some new people that we can visit.

As I've mentioned in the past, our standard is to get the 20 lessons/week. I think that's a basic standard everywhere. So we are supposed to get those through referrals, our own efforts to find, and through visiting less actives/recent converts. And that's where this plan proposed by Elder Perry to have ward councils provide missionaries with 15 names of people to visit comes in. You might not know of it in your ward, but I'm sure it's happening there.

Ward councils are to pray about names of members of the ward or people they know who would accept being taught by the missionaries. Typically it is just people in the ward. These can be part member families, less actives/inactives, or families with kids preparing to go on missions. It is basically people who need that extra boost where we can help. And through those 15 names we should definitely be able to get our 20 lesson/week. But it takes awhile to get it all going, to help ward councils understand how it should happen.

So we have a couple of people we're working with in the Anaheim 2 Ward. And there is a new girl we're going to start teaching this week; that's exciting! In the A 7 YSA branch, it's different; they barely have 30 active members so we're aiming for 15 names, but only have 1 so far. I met a girl at church though who said she's come like 4 times to church and is inactive. We don't have her records, and she said I was only the fourth person to ever talk to her here. Sad! It makes me realize how much just saying hi to someone is a big deal. It's not like the kids in the branch are rude. They're actually really nice. But sometimes we're in our own little worlds and forget. So I hope that's something I can remember post-mission. It's so easy as a missionary to talk to everyone.

I really don't think there's any excuse for a missionary to not be friendly to everyone. Off the mission though, I can see how easy it would be to slip back into just taking care of myself and not looking around at what I can do to help someone else. And especially the YSA age: it's a pretty selfish time. It's also a time though where you can make a big difference for someone else. So anyway, those are my thoughts. We should have a pretty busy week ahead of us. Time is marching on!

Sisters Sanders & Moore, December 2008

It was Mexico's Independence Day last week. Did anyone else realize that? If not, go ahead and celebrate late with some salsa and carne asada.

Oh yeah, tomatillos. Is it too late for me to give a recipe for salsa? Take about 5-8 tomatillos and take off the shell stuff. Then boil them in water until they become pretty much transparent. Then drain the water. Get 2 or 3 Serrano chiles (you can either roast them in a pan, or use them fresh). In a blender put a quarter to half an onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. Then put in the serrano and tomatillos. Blend! Don't add any extra water until the end. The tomatillos hold a lot of water themselves. And that's it! That's your salsa! Some people add a little olive oil. But not much more. Pretty basic. Delicioso! There's the recipe for the week.

We probably have the opportunity at least once a week to sort of teach a lesson in Spanish but not always. Last week we taught the restoration and I was a little rusty. Ah! It's so hard though in an English area where you say hi to people in Spanish and give out cards, but that's about it. But then this is a pretty diverse area. In Anaheim I've met Jamaicans, Laotians, Germans, Indians (from India), Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Hungarians, Romanians, Brits, Danes, and probably more I'm not thinking of. That's beside all the Hispanics. It's pretty interesting!

Hermanas Lewis, Sanders and Yeom

The Torres Family

May 2009

Here are our investigators who are progressing: the Lucero girls sort of have a baptismal date for November 14th. Hooray! And we're still teaching Raven. He's doing really good, still coming to church and everything. We're teaching Nicole, too, the slightly crazy lady. I'm not sure what's going to happen there yet. We don't know what her problems are: if they're emotional, psychological, or just learning problems. But we're taking it slow until we can tell what to do. And we're still out knocking doors constantly looking for new people! Yeah!

So everything is going fantastically! It still is amazing to be a missionary! I love it! It's crazy to think of ever having thought of not going on a mission. This was exactly where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing at this time of my life! I'm not sure that I've changed so much; I can't see it anyway. But I know that I've learned tons! I wanted to thank you my family for always being so supportive of me and being amazing examples for me! I love you all and hope all is going well!

Love,
Emily

A Day in the Life

July 2009
La Habra District Transfer Day

Hello all! Everyday this week seemed to just blaze by. But by last night, I realized that somehow the week still seemed long and I was worn out! We had a very full week. Monday we pretty much just got our basic p-day things done really fast then spend the day cleaning our apartment. A couple of girls from the singles ward and Sister Chriswell and Sister Nekesi came and helped us clean. We found out this apartment had missionaries living in it for 5 years. I did almost a year in it myself! We got everything packed up and thrown away and organized and we moved on Thursday. We have elders who are also the "mechanics." They drive a truck so they can help missionaries move and drive around all the luggage when missionaries come/go.

And now we are in our new apartment. I will have to take some pictures. I think we live in the best deal in the mission aside from living with members. We have a washer/dryer in our apartment, granite countertops, all new appliances, very beautiful pool (oh wait, that doesn't effect us) and computers/internet to use on the main floor. They also have a nice little gym here, but we're not allowed to use the gyms as missionaries. Anyway, living here is definitely a perk. We'll see if I end up finishing my mission here! Moving took up a large chunk of our time on Thursday, but we actually were able to visit more people and teach more people this week than our first two weeks. Yeah! It was a very busy week! And we got a bunch of referrals from missionaries, members and other random sources. Even though not all of those are really going anywhere, it's still a blessing to receive referrals! I will try to share some of the highlights from the week.

We continue to teach Raven. He is doing so well! We had to explain to him that his baptismal date will be on hold until he's off probation. But he's reading everything we give him, and more. He came to stake conference on Sunday, and really, he is progressing. I've already seen the changes in him. He was a little more unkempt when we first met him, but he's cleaned up, got a haircut, wears the closest thing he has to a suit to church. I only pray that the branch will really just continue to fellowship him because he's on probation for at least a year, so this is a long term thing. But so far so good!

Right before I got to this area, the sisters received a media referral. A guy was referring his girlfriend to have the lessons. He even called the sisters. But other than that little contact, we had never been able to meet him or her or get in any more contact. After multiple calls this week, we finally talked to him, and he's down in Irvine, but her official home is here in Anaheim so he thought we could teach her.

Sisters Sanders, Patten, and Fatkin
July 2009
Ward Mission Leader's Home

We met with Raichel on Saturday. Her boyfriend couldn't come, but it all worked out. I have never in my mission met anyone who was sooooo incredibly prepared to just be baptized. She's 27, has always lived in Orange County, is really smart and has her own skin care/waxing business. She was raised Christian/Pentecostal; but she always felt something was missing. After ending a 2 year sort of destructive relationship she just wanted to do her own thing for a while. Lots of people kept saying she would meet someone soon who would change everything for her. A couple of days later she went to a club with a friend and saw this guy in line and told her friend "that's my husband." She knew it sounded crazy, but she just felt it. Later that night she finally saw him again and she was just thrilled to have met a "nice Christian boy." When he told her he was a Mormon it was no problem.

They've been dating 6 months and she says he's a little less active actually, but she's gone to church with him a couple of times and has a Book of Mormon and has read various chapters and she just knows it all makes sense. She had a couple of doubts/questions about the trinity, Satan, why we focus on the Book of Mormon, etc., and we talked about them, but after she said her questions were completely answered. She really really wanted to be baptized, but she just wasn't sure. And her dad's a little anti. It was amazing because I feel like we only had to be there to officially invite her to be baptized. As we taught her the Restoration she said she knew it was all true and she cried as we shared the first vision. I don't know that I've ever taught the Restoration where the spirit has been so strong or when the other person has made me want to cry too! Raichel is just incredible. She says she knows it sounds lame but all she really wants is to be a mom and have kids and she feels like that will fulfill her. Yeah! She went to some type of fireside where Elder Scott spoke and she just knew he was an apostle and she's so impressed with everything. She accepted the invitation to be baptized and is so excited and thrilled with everything. She's just so driven by a desire to do what is right. So that's my really long story about Raichel.

The only downside to the story is that we feel like because her boyfriend is in Irvine, and she'd really be going to church there, that the best thing for her would be to be taught by the elders there. Sad! But I'm so excited for her. I have no doubt that she'll be baptized and as long as this Cody, her boyfriend, is right for her, then they will be married in the temple. In fact she'll probably be the driving force for him to become fully active. That's my best story of the week!

Another interesting teaching experience was one we had yesterday. One of the counselors in our branch presidency has 2 Danish exchange students living with him. One is the daughter of a mission companion he had and the other girl isn't a member. And they've come to church together the last couple of weeks. So we thought, “Hey, why not go visit them?” They're both around 21ish: Pia (non member) and Sarah (member).

We talked with them for a little while about all their plans while they're here, and talked about Denmark (now I have someone to go stay with there!) and they had us try black Danish licorice. And I asked them about Ebbleskivers. We asked Pia a little about her religious background. She doesn't really have one. Kind of believes in God, but just figures people believe in whatever makes them feel good and she just doesn't have a belief in much. We asked if we could share a message. Pia was a little surprised, because obviously she doesn't know too much about missionaries. But Sarah wasn't surprised! We watched that video "Finding Happiness" and put it in Danish because though Pia speaks very good English, we figured it would be easier. It seemed perfect because it just talks about the basics, talks about there being a God.

Afterwards she really didn't have much to say. We all bore our testimonies on God and prayer. I invited her to try praying. Her response was kind of like "not to be rude, but is this what you do?" Wondering if that's what we do as missionaries. Yes. It was interesting. She really didn't respond much to the idea of praying or anything. But it's okay. We thought we'd try. Plus now she knows us so maybe if she gets a desire to learn more, she won't be afraid to ask. And I know the family they're staying with does FHE and family prayer together and everything. And they're really good to these girls, so that's a good impression. It was different though to teach someone who really was kind of ambivalent to the idea of God and though she said she's prayed before she never really felt like someone was listening. Hmmm. That was our Danish experience!

We had a really great week! Everything is going really well! We still aren't sure who is going to be baptized this transfer, but it will happen! The weather has been pretty nice, and I'm getting used to the ward/branch. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and love and support!

Love,
Emily

Newport Temple

Cosmopolitan

Sisters Sanders & Jeung
Zone Conference
June 10, 1009

Hello familia! It is September. Weird, huh? Well, California recognizes the fall by heating up. So we've been enjoying warmer weather lately! Let's see. Well, for my birthday we didn't do too much. Not much to do here. We went and got frozen yogurt. At our Zone Conference I did get a couple of packages from home (my favorite part is the digital frame with the pictures of my cute family!) and everyone sang to us August birthdays, so I did get that!
We had a really good week. We didn't get quite as many lessons as the week before, but that's alright. We are still teaching Raven in the singles branch. He does his reading and comes to church and seems to get it. Though we're not sure that he REALLY gets it, and that he really has a testimony of the restored gospel. But luckily (I guess?) he will probably have some time to continue learning, because of the probation and not being able to get baptized yet. And there are a couple of girls in the branch who are really great about coming to the appointments with us; so we definitely appreciate that!
As I mentioned, we had zone conference, and that was really good. More training is always good! It's so weird; everyone started asking me when I'm going home-not yet! So we talked about being obedient and diligent and how to find people to teach. Later that day we were able to go teach our Jamaican family. Well, it's a dad, his grown daughter, and her two daughters. It was sort of odd because they were sitting/standing in their little kitchen, and we stood in the doorway of the kitchen as we taught the restoration. But it went really well! The dad, Antony, was a little more reluctant. But Shakira seemed really excited. When we talked about the first vision you could tell she liked it and when we asked her if she felt it was possible to Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet, she definitely believed it. They didn't want to commit to baptism, but they want to keep learning. Yeah! It was a really good lesson. We're going back to teach them tonight. There are a couple of guys in our ward who served their missions in Jamaica, so we have some built-in fellow shippers already that at least will get their culture.
We taught a couple of really good lessons on tithing and fasting this week to some less active-ish members in the ward. That's one lesson I really enjoy teaching because most people struggle with those things and don't seem to get the blessings that come through obeying the commandments. I've just always known that there's so much power in following those commandments, and I've been blessed and seen people on the mission blessed by being obedient to them. We actually like to teach these people by having them teach us. We tell them they have to explain tithing/fasting/fast offerings to us as if we didn't understand, and we basically ask them prompting questions the entire time. They end up realizing they know more than they thought, and it helps them see what they need to understand better.

There's this family, the Lucero’s, that are part members. The mom is a member; the husband and two daughters are not members. The mom's sister was in Santa Ana 10 and I knew them well. And I actually did exchanges once and met this family back in December and she remembered me, which was good. The sisters really haven't been able to get in and teach them for months. But apparently she likes Spanish speakers. So she likes me which is good, but awkward; I don't really like people playing favorites. Her husband is American and she is Mexican. The girls aren't baptized because Dad had never given permission, but they have permission now and are apparently waiting for some old elders to come back and baptize them. It's very lame. Anyway, it was a breakthrough that we were even able to visit them this week and it went really well. So that's great!
Oh, and there was a baptism! Cheryl Baldridge was baptized Saturday. It was an amazing baptism; the spirit was so strong. Cheryl actually was excommunicated years and years ago, so this wasn't a convert baptism, but that's alright; it's still exciting. The sisters were still teaching her. She's in her 50's and was once married and has some kids, but they weren't raised in the church. Cheryl met this English guy online about 2 years ago on some LDS link thing, and they've basically been dating for a while. He's a very active member, also divorced, and he'd been out to visit her, and she went to England this summer. Basically because of him, she decided she needed to come back to church and figure things out again. So she did, and he flew out from England to baptize her and she had all kinds of friends and family there too, and after the baptism he proposed. No surprise for us. But she was surprised! He is very hilarious, which I think he has to be; he's an undertaker. So now she's a member and engaged and it was a wonderful day!
Next time you talk to the missionaries in your ward, ask them if they have the video "Finding Happiness." It's probably one of my top top top favorites of the mission. It's like 5 minutes long and was originally made to introduce the idea of God to people who didn't have religious backgrounds. But it's amazing. I love showing it to members at dinner appointments and talking to them about how they've been blessed through the gospel. Then we give them the SLC temple pass along cards with the web site on the back. Every single time we watch that movie, at least for me, the spirit just comes right in. And I notice something new every time. It talks about there being a "designer" and how we can communicate with the designer. It's so good and you should ask your missionaries to show it to you!

Hermana Sanders & Lewis
Elders Cruz, Hall, Parker, & Staheli
Santa Ana April 19, 2009

Well, I guess a bunch of other things happened last week too, but those are some of the highlights. So this week we are moving. Our apartment lease is up and I am grateful! New apartment! I don't know why, but they've actually chosen for us a very very brand new apartment to live in that is very expensive and very nice. Washer and dryer in the unit! Crazy! So last week we had a lot of our extra furniture removed from our apartment and we will be cleaning all day today and then moving in on Thursday to our "high-end, cosmopolitan" apartment. It's too bad though that it will take up quite a bit of our time to actually go out and work this week. There's no time to lose!
Okay, family! I love you all! I hope the move to Philadelphia goes well for the Sanders when that happens, and that the sisters are feeling all better and that the babies are good and jobs are good and everyone is happy happy happy! Thank you for everything!
Love!
Emily

Hermana Lews, Sanders & Fatkin with Jung at her baptism
March 14, 2009

No Se Porque

Newport Temple

Sunset over Santa Ana, March 2009

Hi family! Well here I am, 25 years old. And probably no wiser! Oh well. I am trying to be more grown up. So Anaheim! Well it has been an excellent week! S. Cooprider and I get along really well. A little background on her: she's from Boston, went to BYU-I, is a social studies education major, has been out almost a year and has been in Anaheim since April. She's pretty easy going and not moody, so I appreciate that! And as she's expressed to me several times, "I'm really excited not to be the senior companion." She's really willing to try whatever and do different things and just learn. And I love that! Not that I want to make all the decisions either, but sometimes when someone's been in an area for a couple of months and someone new comes in, they don't want to change what they've been doing.

Abel, Sisters Sanders, Fatkin and Evan and Yesmia
February 2009, Santa Ana

So first off, we went knocking doors several times this week. And she seemed amazed at the success that we had. And by success, I mean that people were nice, said we could come back and we could take their names and phone numbers and everything. The very first day after a couple of hours she was like "Wow, this is a miracle; in the four months we've been here we got like 2 numbers." We visited lots of less actives and just tried to talk to every single person we saw. And I feel like the Lord really blessed us all week. We have a new investigator in the singles branch. His name is Raven. He lives in a “sober house” and is getting over all sorts of substance issues. He readily accepted the baptismal invitation and we've seen him 3 times already; he came to all three hours of church! Yeah! We taught one Indian (from India) woman who said we could come back another time and last night just met a Jamaican man who let us set up a time to come teach him. One thing I've definitely learned on the mission is that if you do what you're asked to do such as to talk to everyone and just get out there and work hard all day long, the Lord ALWAYS blesses you. You may knock on lots of doors and no one lets you in, but when you show that you're willing to be obedient and work and have the faith, and then the person you're supposed to find will be put in your path. I love how that works! We have had multiple times this past week when we were just in the right place at the right time to meet the right person. It was amazing!

Sisters Carranza, Sanders, Lewis, Dutson in their free "fix a car" T shirts

And yes, there are “crazies” here. One lady was a media referral and the sisters met her before. We went to her door to visit her and she was all crazy and started saying "What do you want from me? I've heard all about you and your church and I don't hate anyone but what you do is wrong" and blah blah blah. She was definitely agitated and went on and on. We got out of there. But then she called us and asked us to come back so she could apologize. So we hesitantly did. She admitted that she has lots of problem. She just paced and talked and talked; it was weird. I think she definitely has some mental issues. And now she really wants to meet with us again and neither Sister Cooprider nor I really want to do that. We'll see!

Church was different and interesting. Every ward has a different dynamic. The Anaheim 2nd ward is pretty small; I'll get used to it. The gospel essentials class was a little sad. Maybe it would be better if they knew they had to “step it up” with investigators there. Hopefully we'll have some soon! And the branch. Well it has about 17 active members. Normally I guess about 30 are there in sacrament. Yesterday they had a change in the branch presidency so there were lots of visitors. Even some of the Young Single Adults were there from the Spanish branch, so I was very excited to see some people I know. Leticia Lopez's son Luiz was there with some friends that I had met of his, and Luiz said his mom had received a card I sent to her a while back and she was so excited about it and has it sitting out for all to see. I'm so glad she's still active!

So it's odd that last week I heard two missionaries give their "homecoming" talks and this week in A2 someone gave their "farewell" talk. It's given me an interesting perspective of missions from beginning to end. Last week when the one elder gave his talk it really hit me that I'm at the end of the mission, and it was scary. Sister Patten looked at me and said "That's you in a couple of months." And then I guess my face must have been a little too readable because she said "Don't start crying!" It made me start thinking that I hope I've made some of the changes in me that needed to be made (need to be made?) and I hope that I'm doing all that I can while I'm a full time missionary. The time is soo short! It was a good little wake up call to have. And then to hear this elder that is leaving, and I realize how much you can grow up on a mission. There are so many amazing things about a mission such as just the ability to love random, weird people so fast, to have that desire to talk to everyone, to have a reason to talk to them.

When we talk to people at the door, we try to be excited and tell them that we're there because what we have to share has made us so happy and we want everyone to have it. I realize that not everyone is ready right now, but you just hope that they got a good feeling or impression from meeting you. That's one thing I try to do with everyone: make sure that they at least they think we're nice, polite people and that we're happy. Even if someone rejects us, if we've done our part, then it doesn't matter. Hopefully they will hear the message later and remember some nice girls knocked on their door once.

Sisters Sanders and Fatkin
Bike Ride in Fullerton "P" Day
June 29, 2009

Well that's it. This weekend we have a baptism of a lady who was excommunicated year ago. She's really excited and we're really excited for her! Thank you all for the birthday e-mail and the prayers and your love! I love you all so much!

Love,
Hermana Emily!