A Post Labor Day Note

So being labor day yesterday we couldn't come to the library and e-mail. So we had to use this slim time before appointments to do some e-mailing. As a result, I have like 2 minutes to write. I haven't read most of the e-mails, I'll have to print them off and read them. Um, um, what's the most important to say. The mission is great!? It's all making more sense and I'm having more fun everyday. Definitely a lot to learn. Learning from the comps for sure-on both what to do and what not to do. They're definitely both really great. The ward here is really amazing too. Just really strong testimonies. Um, the people we're teaching-well it's interesting. They don't like to keep their commitments sometimes and come to church, but we're working on it. The spanish is coming along-though not as fast as the MTC. But it will happen mostly because I'm going to force it to. P-day yesterday was a lazy one and we ate some cake and our District leader and comp fed us chicken later and an investigator fed us Papusas later too. All a coincidence. A lucky one! It's hot here and people are crazy. We talk to a lot of people and contact a lot and it's not as hard as I would've thought. It's just fun to talk to different people. And we sang in church on my b-day and I played piano for sacrament. And what else. Um, we ate with the Peruvian fam again and it was their daughter's b-day too and the other daughter gave me some earrings she made. Very cute. I have pictures. You will see them someday. Anyway, I do have to run. Sorry this is so lame and short. It will be a great e-mail next week. ANyway, I love ALL and hope everything is going well. I know you all pray for me, but know that I pray for you all too! Love you, have a wonderful week and know that this work is great and I love it!

California Dreaming

Hola from the Anaheim public library! Well here is my first super official e-mail del mission. I suppose I have muchas cosas to say. And I have more time here to do it, so hopefully I will get it all out. I'll go day by day a little and yeah, here goes! So Thursday. As we talked about mom, a little bit frustrating and sudden, but I got here in CA after I think about a 15 minute flight. It was a very open flight, so that's probably why they booked me so fast.
When I got in it looked cloudy and President and Sister Watrous were right at the bottom of the escalator to pick me up. No problems there, drove to their house and started business. (oh yeah, I also wrote a letter the first day, like in the MTC, to let you know I'm here, but of course it didn't get finished until later, so I'm sending it today, ha ha!) President and Sister Watrous are still very sweet-like in the MTC-and they're grandparently and quieter. S. Watrous fixed me some breakfast at their home; picked me some avocadoes from their tree in the backyard (they're just getting ready to eat now) and soon the APs came over. Everyone likes to ask me if I'm okay and if I feel better. I always feel good, thank you very much. They took some pictures, gave me a notebook full of stuff and after talking to the President about various things, the APs drove me over to the mission office to meet me new companions. I basically had to jump into doing it all because they couldn't really give me a day of hanging around and learning new stuff. So I went back to the apt with the companeras, put my stuff down, and basically we took off. There is only one Spanish stake here-the Santa Ana. There are 120 or something missionaries here and I got lucky enough to be able to serve right off in the Spanish area. Apparently some people leave this mission not having learned Spanish so well because they didn't get to serve very much in these areas. That's really annoying. So I've pretty much decided that I will not leave the mission until I am fluent. I didn't realize that leaving and not knowing Spanish was an option, so I'm going to pretend like I don't know better, and I will know the language. Ummm, probably in like 3 months. That's the goal. We'll see. My two companeras are H. Ochoa from Vancouver (thought she's fluent in Spanish b/c her parents are from El Salvador) and H. Fatkin from Baltimore. H. Ochoa has been here a year and H. Fatkin for 6 months-and she's only been serving in English areas so far. They just got put together the week I would've come out, so I'm not too far behind them in terms of this area. Crazy, another threesome! It's the way I know how to work, so I really enjoy and I think they do to. So far they're not quite as crazy as H. Chriswell and Brown were-but then we had time to get to know each other and get comfortable. So that will probably happen again. I really really like them though. They're both pretty easy going, but at the same time they just do the work. The first day honestly was pretty hard. You have to remind yourself again why you're there and what you're doing because it's all brand new again. And here were my complaints for the day-I had a nasty sinus cold, one ear hadn't popped from the pressure on the plane and I pretty much felt nauseous (?) every time we were in the car and I was absolutely exhausted. We first went and visited an inactive woman who was crazy. Her house was dirty so we sat outside in the blazing sun. She talked and talked and gave us sees candy and I struggled sooo hard to stay awake. And I failed. I fell asleep and next thing I new they were all laughing at me. But they all understood and thought it was funny. Yeah, running on zero hours of sleep-except for the 15 minute plane nap. So there I am being a complainer. What else. Um, we went and visited some more people and went and taught a sort of progressing investigator with some recent converts and I bore my testimony in Spanish. It seemed like a long night. But eventually we got back and I did some unpacking and we went to bed. I'm on the top of a bunk bed again-so close to the ceiling that I can't sit up. I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember waking up 30 seconds later. We are in an apt with another companionship and they walk to a park every morning to go running. So that's good. Wake up a little. Companionship and personal study every morning and then we're off. The rest of the days got progressively better-as expected! Sleep always helps improve your perspective I think. Every day we contact people in parks and on streets and usually do door knocking as well. I'm slowly figuring out where we are (I need to study a map for a bit) and it's all making more sense. We've visited lots of potentials and some inactives and some progressers. Fun stuff! It feels like I've been here longer than 4 or 5 days. Crazy. Friday we knocked on the door of a really nice man who said that all his family are members, even had a sister who she and her husband were mission presidents somewhere in South A. But he just didn't know what he was looking for and wasn't finding it. A shirtless old 75 year old telling us that he really admired us for what we were doing and that he hoped that after we served our missions and got back home that we would find nice young men who had also served missions and we could have families. Yeah, he was really nice, even if he didn't want the message. Then later that night in a park, a cigar-smoking, frappucinno drinking man told us that he got a distinct feeling that we were from a cult and that the name of our church didn't mean that we believed in Christ. I guess he had a point, just using the name doesn't mean that we're serious. But uh, yeah. H. Fatkin was good and was just like, okay, sorry you feel that way, and we walked away. No point in dealing with that. Oh well. Que mas. We speak as much espanol to each other as possible, and then most of our contacting and lessons are in Spanish. It's fun! It's crazy. It really feels just like the MTC. Wow, they really prepare you there. I feel like everything I learned and everything I practiced there I've already used here. Good thing for my extra week! We've taught the first lesson a couple of times and the second lesson, and the third lesson, and taught a new member about missionary work. I've heard Peruvian and Guatemalan and Salvadorian and muchas Mexican accents. I'm a fan of the Salvadorian I think. We dropped in on some inactives on Saturday and ended up teaching 4 inactive women the first lesson. I got to do the part about the restoration and got to recite my memorized Santiago 1:5 and the vision! Hooray! One of the ladies was crying-I definitely consider that an accomplishment somehow. And they were all at church the next day. My companeras said that Sundays are usually hard because they're hectic. I really liked it. It was a nice change. We had our meeting with the ward mission leader in the morning with the two other companionships in our ward-both elders. And church was good too. I will be the relief society piano player I think. I'm happy about that. There's an elder who plays for sacrament, but we will probably switch off now. I saw H. Brown last night and she's actually in a new Samoan companionship. They're going to actual poly wards. That's fun for her-except that she'll lose her Spanish. H. Chriswell is in Irvine (H. Fatkin went there first too) and apparently that area is a little like a Pleasantville and it's all basically English except that you teach LOTS of middle easterners and Asians. Fun! I want to go there! But they say that you can't teach Muslims now. Too bad. E. Grange is apparently in my zone, also doing Spanish. And I don't know where the other two elders are. It was fun to see H. Brown last night, like a little piece of home (home is the MTC)? I do really miss everyone from the MTC. It's weird to think they're all still they're doing the normal stuff. But probably I won't see them again! It's all way different than what I expected here-even though I knew it would be different, you still can't help imagining everything being a certain way. But I love the Hispanic culture. I love that they're always out partying and barbecuing and playing handball and listening to their funky carnival music in and eating together with all their friends and neighbors. Its' great! We ate last night with a member family from Peru. It was good basic food-rice, beans and some piece of meat with Indian-like spices on it. And we had tacquitos and lentil soup the other night with another family. The sisters say they haven't had to worry about people feeding them too much so far, and it hasn't been weird food either. Though apparently the people don't usually eat with you. You eat and they watch you while you talk to them. The language is coming along. I understand a lot of it-but it also depends on the person too. But I can't always speak it. I think I've kind of come to depend on H. Ochoa, so that's too bad. But I'm trying to push myself and hey, it's only been a couple of days! Like I said, I'm not coming home until I'm fluent. We pass by the Angel stadium basically every day (though I hear we're not allowed to go to games. Sad) and Disneyland is just northwest of us. At night we either can see fireworks from the Angel stadium, or from Disneyland. They're both really close. That's crazy. And then there's Crystal Cathedral, or the abominable church as people call it. It's always looming from some point of the city.
Also, I mentioned this in the letter, but I'll say it here-I was told that you can still use dear elder, but you have to pay the price of the stamp. I don't know how that works.And you all might want to start e-mailing me because apparently no one wants to do that. But it will probably be easiest for some of you at this point. I think I can get e-mail pictures here, so send those too. I would love to one day open up the e-mail and actually have something here.

It's warm here. A little more humid than Provo, but mostly just consistently really warm-high 90s. It's always cloudy in the morning-the marine layer. Keeps it a little cooler. I always hope it will stay. And then it always burns off by noon and it's pretty warm all day long. Sweaty fun! Just trying to improve my watch and neck line. The hermanas have tans lines on their feet, even through the nylons, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm hoping that I can stay in this area a least a couple of transfers (it would be great to have Christmas with the Hispanics) to really get used to everything and also to just learn the language. But who knows! I could be out in 5 weeks! We have zone conference this week and we're doing some senior Olympics tomorrow, so lots of fun up in the future! We got our laundry done today right next door to Disneyland. Isn't that weird? You can hardly even tell it's there-you can just see the top of the Matterhorn and space mountain. Crazy. Someday. I hear we go there our last p-day on the mission. So for me it will be in December-just like the very first time we went! Things are going really well here. I'm expecting to like it more and more everyday and I'm sure I will fall in love with everything. For now it's still new and I'm adjusting, but hey, doesn't everyone love this? I'm sure I wont' be any different. So I love you all! E-mail me, write me, tell me lots of fun stuff and send me pictures! I'll be 24 the next time I write, so I'll try to sound different. Ha ha ha, yeah right. Thanks for the love and support and prayers and todo! "talk to you later!" Love Hermana Emily!

An Update

Well, well, well. Here I am again. Or still. Or whatever. Surprised? Mmm, well, don't be. Hello to all! Today is the official start of week 11 for me. Wonderful, yeah? Ha ha ha. No, no biggie. Though I still think doctor's are crazy.

The first day and a half here without my district and companions was super strange. But then I adjust fast and though it still is strange now, I'm good. We got a new district last week-with sisters in it. They are my official companions, but I really don't do anything with them or see them so much. I'm mostly with my "new" district of 11 elders and I make 12. Full class. They're all supposed to leave next week for Mexico, but unless visas come through this week-and they could-they will probably be here another week at least. It's kind of weird not having companion study or having a companion to teach lessons with or anything. I go everywhere with elders. last weekend my teacher Hermana Alexander (who I love) was subbing a couple of the other districts in our zone, so I just went to the classes she was teaching. I mostly do what my district does, but I also kind of do my own schedule-going to the class that I think I can learn something from. Because just about everyday you get what's called Missionary Directed Time, and usually you go do whatever is best for you and your companion. Well, having no companion, I often will just go to another class. So instead of class 2 times a day, I sometimes have it 3 times. All the teachers have told me that's what I should do, so I do. And it's been interesting because I've gotten to know all the elders in all the districts so much more than I ever would have. It's probably way different for them to have an hermana in their class, none of them even have an hermana teacher. Mostly I review spanish and when they practice teaching, sometimes I'm just the investigator, or if I'm in my normal district, they have a threesome of elders, and I teach with one of them. It's different. But it's good. On Friday we do our teaching appointments and I actually taught with my teacher. She told me to just pick whatever I'd like to teach and we'd just do that. So we taught the third lesson-the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was a bit intimidated at first because I was the "senior" companion in that I was in charge of teaching. But it went well. She said I did really well and apparently some of the elders in our zone taught in the same room after us, and they told me later that the people said I did well. Good to hear, because it's sooo hard to tell. Funny, I was thinking, well hey, at least I had another opportunity to teach and practice today (thinking about my absent district) and then I realized, duh, they're out there teaching too, they're just teaching real people. Ha ha. It was good to have my teacher around during the weekend though because it was a good transition. The elders are all very good and nice. When I came in on Monday after talking to the doctor they asked what was up and when I told them that now my blood is too thin, it was funny how they all reacted. They don't really get the blood thing, some think it's a blood pressure thing, but they knew that it needed to be thinner and I could go, so they understood the frustration of it now being too thin. Have I said it before? I have an AMAZING zone. Oh yeah, one day my zone leader and I were making connections, and he's from Lake Oswego and we realized we were baptized in the same font! Funny stuff. Another funny story for you. Last week we were joking with Hermana Chriswell about how there was going to be an apostle speaking at the devotional last week. She's pretty gullible and we didn't have to try hard before she believed us. Mostly it would have been fun, your last devotional being from an apostle, but we were still kidding. So now this week just yesterday the gym was closed yesterday afternoon and usually it isn't; so we were again joking around about an apostle coming, and we being at the MTC people all start thinking things really super fast and things developed and I think a lot of people were thinking it was happening too. And then we're at dinner, still joking about it, and someone says, no seriously, Elder Oaks is speaking. After a couple of minutes, we believed them, and we ran over and of course, we got in, I'm sure everyone did/ You just want the good floor seats. And indeed, Elder Oaks was speaking. Ha ha ha. One elder says to me, "So, are you glad you're here now?" Ho ho ho. Definitely! Funny thing life. It was a great talk about having and recognizing the spirit. Anyway, I just thought it was great. Yeah for being in the MTC. I definitely think that my being here an extra week has been the best thing for me. I feel luckier than my district at this point-and not just because I got to hear from another apostle. So life is great? Definitely. Also, I got a dearelder package of cookies from Aunt Elaine! It was sooo sweet! I shared them with my roommates and I sooo appreciated it! Thank you! Time is running out again. I don't know what my plans are, but I'm sure you'll get another call when I know what's up! Love you all mucho mucho and will talk to you later? Love! Hermana E!

PS Emily, er Hermana Emily is now in California having departed Thursday morning for "The Happiest Place on Earth." She was excited and anxious to begin the next part of this adventure. The next posting will be with a new address of her exact location and an update on the foreign country of California. And no, these are not current photos. But pictures nevertheless of Hermana Emily!

Hermana Emily is doing very well. She is on meds which is just the way it is. She won't be going with her district tomorrow to Anaheim which is a great disappointment to her. Emily will remain for an additional week. Funny thing: there are no other sisters right now for her to have a companion. Roommates, yes, but not a companion. So, she says that the elders will be her companions. I am sure that some would think that a very fun thing, but not in the situation! Thank you to everyone for keeping her in your prayers. We surely appreciate and love you for it!

El hospital, a blood clot, and your prayers

Blood clot for Hermana Emily

Sister Emily last night went into the hospital with a blood clot...as some of you know, this factor V (a blood clotting factor) runs in our family; several of us have tested positive for it. It increases the chances for a blood clot developing, and we're thankful so far that Emily has been the only who's had to deal with a clot. However, we also are not happy that she has to enjoy it, especially now.

Emily is scheduled to depart the MTC this coming Wednesday with her district; if her pulmonologist (blood doctor) thinks she's stable, she's good to go. If not, she'll have to stay behind while her companions leave and she'll be brought into another district entering the MTC. We're hoping the latter doesn't happen, though; she's a bit (!) bummed about being in the hospital now.

Blood clot blessings

We're grateful that Emily has been through this before and was wise to the symptoms and warning signs of a blood clot and acted on it before really serious things happened; as it is, there is some clotting in her lungs. So, no one is rejoicing at this, but we are counting are blessings that she's under excellent care and is not on a plane where her risks go up.

This is also a re-confirmation that Emily was called to the mission she was for a reason, and that Heavenly Father is aware of her--at this point, she'll need monthly checkups, and the chances she'd get the care she needs outside of the U.S. isn't fantastic.

Emily is waiting to see a doctor today to learn if she can be released (albeit cautiously) back into the MTC. Haha, makes it sound like tadpoles or something. Anyway, please keep Emily in your prayers, specifically asking Heavenly Father that He would help Emily to be comforted, stabilized, and able to leave the MTC for Anaheim on Wednesday as planned.

Tomorrow (Sunday), we'll be fasting and praying for Emily for this purpose. If you can, please join us. Personally, I love when I have the opportunity to fast for something beyond little silly me--it makes me feel like I'm needed and it's certainly powerful. It has the power to unite.

Fast story about fasting

A little side note: in our Provo ward last year, our ward family fasted for a young father who had a fairly progressed cancer and was heading into chemotherapy. The next fast and testimony meeting, he and his wife both bore their testimonies that fasting did work--another medical miracle had happened after only a very, very short time and beyond logical, human reasoning, and the cancer was gone. That was a testimony to me, too, that Heavenly Father waits to bless us and that joining together for something like this can expedite those blessings. We have faith that this will happen in Emily's case, too.

Edit: Emily is not dying

Word on the street is that maybe my post is a little dramatic. Well, to me, a blood clot is dramatic, and being in the hospital is dramatic, too. However, this is not life-threatening and as my mom said in an e-mail, it's just "a little speed bump." True. So, disregard any flair for the dramatic I may have demonstrated, and know that while it's not cool, Emily is not in any kind of critical condition. However, prayer is still good. Okay.

Last Week in the MTC

Hello all! This is my official last e-mail from el CCM! Crazy! Well, let's see. I'm not thinking of a lot to say right now. Ummm, well, this last week, things happened, but I wrote a letter, and I'd hate to repeat everything I said in the letter here because when you get it, it won't be new news. But we'll just say there are lots of torn ACLs, one miracle un-torn ACL and even a little amnesia in my zone. Um, it was fast Sunday this week so we had mission conference with everyone. This basically means that the first hour one of the counselors and his wife will talk and the second hour the mission president and wife speak. I usually stay awake for most of the first talk and then I nap during the next and then we sing a song and I wake up for the last hour. It's not so much on purpose but it has happened every time. The mission president, President Boone and his wife always give great talks. Sister Boone spoke about keeping a good record of your life for your own reference and for your family. And President Boone spoke about the Book of Mormon and reading it with a purpose. It sounds like he's read it about a bazillion times. I think he was in the army, plus they've served a bunch of missions, so they've been around the world, and he listed off all of these places that he's been when he finished the Book of Mormon. It was crazy. So I learned two main things from his talk one-that it would be really helpful to read the Book of Mormon with one purpose/one thing I'm looking for and focusing on throughout the entire things, and two-I want to travel a WHOLE lot more. I don't think that was his point, but that's what I heard.


The fireside that night was given by one of the MTC trainer/director guys. His name is George Taylor. He spoke about his mission in London in the late 60s/early 70s and his trainer that was super optimistic and hard working. This Brother Taylor has taught some of the weekly meetings we have here, and he's hilarious. He said once that a day without a nap is a wasted day. But anyway, I really enjoyed his talk. He said that his companion would stay up until 12 reading the Book of Mormon and wake up at 5 to read it again and in the morning would throw up the windows and shout "good morning world!" That's a little disgusting I think. Brother Taylor said he was one of those types that are high energy over achievers. And then he said he hated those types of people. Ha ha ha. But really, it was good to hear about this companion that just kept the rules and always had a good attitude. I'm aware that missions are hard and frustrating and can get you down, so really one of my goals is to be that cheerful/optimistic companion that you can't get down. But not the annoying kind; I don't think I could be that optimistic.


Here's my info. We leave Wednesday morning, and probably will be at the airport between 6:30ish to 8. My flight is at like 8:15, so I will probably be calling anywhere between 6:30 and 7:45. I don't know. I guess just be prepared and hopefully you'll hear from me! Gosh, it's only been two months! And then only another four months and Christmas. Yikes! It's like the mission is already over. But I'll just buy a calling card here and call from the typical payphone. Hooray! I won't be calling with a fun Spanish accent like Ryan though, and that probably won't ever happen. If it does, it will be a Mexican accent, but don't count on it.


Also, if you're going to send those letters/package, you might want to do it now/tomorrow/Friday, to ensure that I get it before I leave. They will forward mail on to my mission, but not anything else. I sent more pictures that you can put on the blog, and I'll probably send a bunch more home before I leave here, maybe at the beginning of the week. I just got the card from grandma today, that was fun! I know my individual writing hasn't been great while I've been here and probably it will go down even more once I'm outta here. Funny how priorities really do change. I got dearelders from Mom, Dad and Ryan the other day and I loved it! Hooray! Thanks always for the letters and love! Ryan, I really always love the Spanish, it's fun to realize I can read it all.

We finished up our progressive investigator last week and I think the whole experience was super helpful and it was good to see how we all teach. I'm definitely an info and application person. I've been told that multiple times. I'm not so much of a share experiences person because I can never think of any to really share. So it's testify and ask the person questions. I'm pretty sure that I'll be giving the Spanish talk this Sunday. They have to take advantage of the last time they can have a sister talk I suppose though I hear that they're getting a district in the day we leave that will have a couple of sisters in it. Good timing. Okay, my time is runnnnning out and I don't know what else to say. Okay, I' love you all mucho mucho and will talk to you in a week! Love love! Hermana Emily!

30 July 2008

Hola mi familia y amigas! Tengo solamente dos semanas mas aqui en el CCM. Hurrah!En exactamente dos semanas estare en Anaheim! Yeah! Only two more weeks use deareleders.com for free letter delivery! Yeah yeah, get them in while you can! So I must say that the entire time I've been here I've been pretty content with being here. It seems like almost everybody else is immediately all anxious and just doesn't want to be here and wants to be out in the field. I never really felt it I guess because for one, I knew that there was so much to learn, and I also was really enjoying being here. I'd actually been wondering when most people start getting antsy and ready to go. But I think it's hitting me this week. We finally had a district leave yesterday. We've only had one district leave the entire time I've been here-and it was a week after we were here, so we didn't know them anyway. So I've been kind of used to things as they are. With this district leaving I think it all sort of came to me that this isn't it, that we are really leaving the MTC eventually...soon! And it was weird because I actually had a hard time getting to know this district because they always seemed so quiet and kind of exclusive to themselves. I think some of them initially were shy, but they seemed to finally open up about two weeks before they left. Great. And the zone leaders were in that district, and one of them in the beginning was not exactly one of my favorite people because he was pretty aware of himself and then during our first week here he was quick to point out everybody's Spanish mistakes. I didn't exactly like it when he did that and I reacted in a way that he knew I didn't like it. I learned pretty quick that I couldn't afford to try to avoid him all the time and not like him, and really, I shouldn't be so defensive, regardless of his methods. We are supposed to focus on a Christ like attribute every week and I've been pretty much focusing on humility and patience while I've been here-they're good things to work on! Point is I ended up becoming good friend with that elder, so it's funny how that works out, you finally like someone/something/someplace and then things change. Does that sound familiar to anyone else? I guess it's a lesson that constantly needs to be learned, to enjoy something/someone/someplace while you can! So I'm trying to do that with the MTC. Time is flying. We don't have our flight plans yet-probably later this week, but we did all get letters from the mission president this week. I think they said there are 6 languages in our mission. One is actually Samoan, so maybe H. Brown will have the opportunity to speak some of that (she's not exactly fluent, but pretty good). Mother, I got the package today! Everybody was jealous at the large box I was carrying around. Thank you solo much! I'm mucho excited for the clothes and ooooooohhhhh, the Cheez Its. Such glorious wonders are contained in those crispy cheese crackers. My companeras are enjoying them as well. They almost said no to having some but they changed their minds fast. And I loved the letters and the talks and "LDS Gems." Those things will be good. Sunday night Bishop Edgely talked for the fireside. It was pretty good, kind of all over the place, but he sort of talked about hope as a missionary. Perseverance. I had another friend get to the MTC today. She was a secretary in the Engineering department that I knew from work the last semester. She's also going to Alaska. I saw her early today and it was really fun. Weird to think she'll be leaving only a week after we leave. Crazy! And our Mexico missionaries have apparently just about gotten their permavisas (or whatever they're called) so in the next couple of days or week or so they'll be off to get their visas in SLC and then to Mexico. Good for them because they've already been here two and a half weeks too long! So we are pretty much the oldest district. It's weird because we still feel like the babies, even though there are three districts after us. Those districts are mostly all quiet except for one that I really like. But it also makes it easier to leave! Ha-ha! Things are going great here. We are teaching the Plan of Salvation lesson in Spanish on Friday. Antes de vivimos en la tierra, vivimos en la vida preterrenal con Dios como Sus hijos espirituales. Dios presento un plan para nosotros para llegar a ser como Dios y volver y viver con El otro vez. Si. Spanish is still coming along. I'm just hoping that I get dumped into a companionship that is actually doing some Spanish teaching in the beginning. But it will all work out whatever happens. We have a progressive investigator-have a mentioned this? It's a teacher who acts like an investigator and you teach them multiple times. A couple of times ago he was committed to being baptized, but this last time he told he just didn't know and he hadn't been reading or praying and he didn't think it was for him. Yikes, it kind of threw us because he had been pretty willing all along. But I loved it because it got us out of our old routine; we couldn't use the same scriptures or the same rote testimonies or anything. We had to honestly testify and truly ask him questions to find out the real problem and rely on the spirit to find those scriptures that would help him. We have him once more tomorrow, and it should be great. I just love when we can't do what we're used to. I had been getting into habits in our teaching. Some people can teach by the spirit that way, but I just can't. If I know what analogy my companion is going to use next or I know what scripture is coming or what they expect me to say, I just don't feel like we're following the spirit. Sure, it's good to have habits, but not everyone's the same, so it's pretty hard to teach that way. So yeah, I love those opportunities. As for p-days, well, they're not my favorite because we do usually have a bunch of little things we want to get done, but I never feel like I really got done what I wanted and all of a sudden we have to get ready to go the temple and laundry takes up so much time. And lunch. It's great to have clean clothes, but man it's a waste of time. That's why it's nice to have enough clothes to go a long time. And I could go a long time! Thanks again mom! Que mas? Ummmm, we have new roommates today. We've been by ourselves for 5 weeks. Now we have new girls so that should be fun and interesting. Hooray! Okay, times ticking off, so I've got to go! Love you all! Mucho!