Seatbelts and Miracles

Hermana Sanders with Leticia Lopez in Santa Ana, May 2009

Familia! How is everyone this lovely week? How am I? I am doing fantastically! Claro que si!

This week was great as we were able to really reach some of our goals. Again, not that numbers matter to be successful, but they sure make you feel good if you can achieve them! We were able to begin teaching some different people in the North Hills wards-some less active types. And we've just been going through the ward lists and checking on everyone that we don't already know and had some "success" with that. We're still knocking doors all over the place, and every once in a while someone lets us in. In general I would still say people are very nice. Or maybe I just don't get offended by them. One old man said when we asked if we could come in and share a message with him "not right now," we asked, "when can we come back" "Wednesday" and by the time we asked what time would be best, he had the door closed. People are funny.

Oh other random info. We had our ward correlation meeting with our mission leader in north hills-Bro. Mummert (yes, funny name). He and his wife were on the way the next day to pick up their son from his mission in Cambodia. And guess who his mission president was (it changed this summer)...President Winegar from Layton! Crazy world, huh? And our other ward mission leader in the other ward, his daughter and son-in-law has been visiting for a couple of weeks from Philadelphia where he goes to dental school at Temple. And their stake president, or maybe it's bishop, I don't remember, is Pres. Storm! Random little connections.

Que mas? Oh yeah, mom and dad, you've both asked about meals here. The members pretty much do feed us everyday. Sometimes there are weeks were hardly anybody signs up. Summer has been less full because I think people just don't know if they'll be around, and they don't want to commit. We're always fed on Sundays though, that's for sure. And for breakfast/lunch, we all just do our own thing. I usually have oatmeal, grapefruit, or eggs. Today I bought cereal for the first time on the mission. I figured I'd treat myself. S. Lewis is mostly a cereal/sandwich eater, and S. Patten mostly eats ice cream. Seriously.

Sisters Sanders and Patten

July 4, 2009 in La Habra, California

(Sister Patten is a sister from the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission)

Funny story. David M. keeps getting pulled over by the cops when he's driving. We don't get it. But this last one, he was driving without his seat belt (not sure if that's why he got pulled over) and when the cop comes over and said, "Where's your seat belt?" David answers "Jesus is my seat belt." Oh man, only David could get away with that. Because he didn't mean it all smart alecky, but honestly meant it. It’s probably not what the cop expected. So then he asks him what else he believes and David basically says he's Mormon and that we believe in Christ but also in Joseph Smith and that he translated the Book of Mormon. The cop said he "gave the right answer." Speaking of David, he still won't be baptized yet. But he was definitely happier this week. We're not sure how to keep helping him; he's learned everything we teach to someone pre-baptism. But we're going to keep trying and praying for him!

Also, Vanessa's best friend, Leslie, and her two sons finally came to church! Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! She has been in on the lessons on and off ever since we started teaching Vanessa. And her kids are ALWAYS at Vanessa's house and they listen to the lessons. Louis who is 9, is really smart and gets it all. He's ready to be baptized. So when mom is ready, the two can get baptized together.

Other little exciting things for us: we've been teaching this inactive man for the past two weeks, and his son has been there too and they both came to church on Sunday! Yeah! A member in one of our wards told us they have friends from another stake moving into our other ward (and this couple are recent converts) and she gave them our phone number. And she, the recent convert, actually called us! That's a miracle! They want to stay in their old stake, but want missionaries to keep visiting them, and since the old stake is out of the mission, well, we will visit them, and they probably will end up going to our ward. And there was another miracle this weekend. I don't remember if I mentioned her before, but last transfer we met this woman Kerry, and basically taught her the Restoration at her front door because she didn't let us come in but wanted to listen. Halfway through she just started crying and said she didn't understand. She didn't understand God she said. She said we could come back, but we were never able to see her again, despite knocking on her door lots and calling her (missionaries are sort of stalkers I think). Friday night we get this call from some member in the Long Beach mission. Long story short. He is a guy who is working and who is inactive but whose girlfriend is Kerry. She's mentioned things we taught her and he noticed the card on her fridge with our numbers that we left behind. They've wanted to call us, but didn't have the nerve. So this member friend took our number and decided to call us hoping it really was the missionaries and tell us his connection and tells us we needed to stop by her house again and try again. So we went by Saturday night and no one was home. And then randomly on Sunday we got a message from her just stating her name and number. Okay, not random... miracle! So we're hoping that we can be able to see her soon and baptize her! Yeah!

And one more. We were knocking this one street and the very last house (always the last house, right?) this young kid answers the door. He looked pretty eighties: the hair and video game shirt. He said he was going to Bible classes recently and asked us what church we were from. When we told him, he said "Interesting." A couple of years ago he was "trying to become Mormon" but he was 17 and his mom wouldn't let him. And just recently he "found God again" and was talking to a friend about maybe "trying to become Mormon again." Yeah! His name is Jimmy Carter. The president! Actually, we won't be teaching him ourselves, because he should go to the singles ward, so we passed him to the elders in that ward. But he is a pretty solid potential and it just showed us that good things that come of knocking!

That reminds me of another story. I don't know if I ever told it. Back with S. Lewis is Santa Ana in like March we were knocking this complex and NO ONE was home. We felt like stopping, but decided to go do the last floor. The last door again, was open. And this lady let us in. She had a long history of jail and different kids and drugs, but was working on getting her life in order. We taught her the Restoration and taught about the BOM and she said she already had one. Her daughter, who was now living with her grandma, had become Mormon and given her mom the book. She cried when she prayed and we set up our next appointment. She was English speaking though, so we had the English ward elders go with us to the next appointment and they continued to teach her. The elders kept us up to date on her progress, and about two months ago I got a call from one of the elders saying that Holly Stawali (her name) had just married her boyfriend and they both were getting baptized. Yeah! And now she's Holly Stawali Sanderson! Yeah miracles!

That's all I've got for now! It was a really great week! We are looking forward for this last of the transfer to be even better! I love you all and hope all is wonderful for everyone!

Love,
Emily

Read your Conference issue of the Ensign

Sisters Fatkin, Jeung, and Sanders, a multilingual companionship

Aye Yaway!

Mi familia! Gracias por los e-mails y todo lo que hacen para mi!Yo les amo muchisimo! Well we had a pretty good week! As always, right? Of course! Not too many appointments fell through, so that's always good.

We saw David a couple of times, and he still isn't reading. Hmmm. I'm not sure how to help people get it. He himself admitted that when he reads everyday, that he's happier. Things are better. And when he stops those little things, everything goes downhill pretty fast. So...we'll see. Neither he nor Vanessa was able to come to church on Sunday. But on Saturday he seemed a little happier, a little less down. He even told us a story where he referred to himself as a Mormon. That was something he always used to do, but we hadn't heard for a long time. We like it. As long as he understands he still has to be baptized for it to count! Hay un poquito progresso. Pero hay progresso!

We also have a new family we're teaching. The Spanish elders knocked into them and passed them to us: the Gonzalez family, a mom and three girls. Mom was busy last week with work, but we taught the girls twice and invited the two oldest to be baptized, and they said yes. August 30. I thought it would be a good b-day present for me, if I'm still here then. This week we'll invite their mom to be baptized too. It's great because they actually have family who are members in the mission next to us and the teenage daughter, Jordan, has gone to mutual there, and years ago they went to church. We're excited!

It was just a good week because we were able to get in contact with a lot of people and set appointments that haven't happened for a while. The La Habra ward is really good with doing the ward mission process that Elder Perry has set out. North Hills is starting to catch on. They tried in the past to get us some names, but they didn't work, but now they've given us a bunch of new ones. And now we're really excited about the potential of working some more in that area. We're still knocking in the North Hills area a lot, and I know that success will come out of that somehow. It's all about that faith! It's exciting because our mission continues to do really well. A couple of weeks ago we had more baptisms than they had all of 2008. Yeah!

On Saturday we did exchanges. S. Lewis went to Yorba Linda/Placentia with S. Chriswell, and one of the new sisters, S. Peterson, came here with us. It went really well! And this week we ate tongue. Mmmm! We were eating with some recent converts, the Reyes. And they made us tacos. I've heard lots about tacos de lengua, but somehow I never had the pleasure of having them while I was in Santa Ana. I looked down at the tacos and thought the meat was an interesting gray color. Then I almost immediately saw the taste buds! Mmm! I looked at my companeras and they didn't seem to know. They said, "Oh, its beef." So I let them think that, because really, there was no choice. We had to eat them. Funny though, because the kids at one point mentioned "Oh, she wants to eat more lengua," and I looked at Sister Lewis and she had finally realized it. Ha ha ha! Then we told S. Patten later. Honestly though, other that some sinew type stuff, tongue is the weirdest thing I've eaten. It's not bad. All mental. Just weird to see taste buds. What else? Oh yeah. A couple of times I've been told that I have an accent. A couple of times people think I'm European, and the others they think I'm Midwestern. Just yesterday a ward member guessed I was from Minnesota. Interesting. Who knew! Oh yes, also exciting news to me. Another recent convert, Alex, who is 25, mentioned one time that her grandma "abuelita" used to be a housekeeper for one of the Beatles who had a home in LA. Crazy! But she couldn't remember for which Beatle, even when I told her it was important for her to remember. Oh well. That's the closest I've ever gotten to a Beatle! We played badminton today, and I think I should join a professional league. Oh yeah, and we gave talks yesterday in sacrament. I talked about the joys of being a missionary and talked about Ammon. He was a funny guy; he was always fainting when he got excited.

This week we have a lot planned and scheduled and we're all excited to work hard and find more people to teach and improve our numbers. Not that they completely show success, but high numbers are encouraging!

I love love love you all so much! It's wonderful to be a missionary and I pray for you all and know that you're praying for me! I hope everything is going well! Thanks for everything!

Chicharron!

Here I am California dreamin' on a Monday Monday. I can't believe it's August! Summer almost over? Nah! Well, no new baptismal news.

David M. is, well, I don't know what's up there. He's just going through some hard times. It's interesting because in the very beginning, his progress was fast and you could see it. But now what we were afraid of happening is happening. He got a little content I think, and then he was vulnerable to all kinds of doubts and problems coming his way. School is stressing him out and so reading is coming in last place. He basically said he's never been truly happy. We explained that everything we're trying to share with him is about being happy. What is the gospel if not about bringing us joy? So we challenged him to read at least 2 verses every single day, no matter what. And in a week, take an evaluation of how his week went in comparison to other weeks. I really hope he does it because there's no doubt that no matter what actually happens, he will be more at peace. I'm just afraid that he'll get too caught up in school again, and just not do it. It's crazy how something simple, like 2 verses (basically 1 minute at most, right?) could be a challenge. But he's an extremist and I can see that he will feel like 2 isn't enough, so he'll try for a couple of chapters and when he can't do that, he won't do anything. So the prayers continue!

We continue to go knocking and try to talk to everyone. But where are all the people? I'm not sure. But we're looking for them. It will be nice when it isn't summer though. Because then we can assume that people should be home. Every time some of the people we regularly teach are back from vacation, somebody else leaves. Our numbers are a little lower and not very stable right now. So we're really pushing ourselves to just find new people.

We haven't seen the Inman family again since last week, but we're hoping to see them tonight. We pray that she has read in the Book of Mormon and when we teach her tonight about the Plan of Salvation that she will feel it's right and will accept a baptismal invitation!

Let's see...not much else new to tell. We went to a Hispanic grocery today-that's always a treat. Makes me feel right at home! When possible, take a trip to your local Hispanic market and buy some cheap produce. Oh yeah, Minnesotans that care, a lady in the ward here told me that there is a Spanish market right downtown in Minneapolis-a good one. That's all I know.

How are the babies doing? And the babies' mammas? I hope they are great! Ryan and Melanie thank you so much for the package! It was a very unexpected and a delightful surprise! It was so exciting to meet Jordan! He is very adorable! Is everyone doing well? I hope so! I think of you all often and want to let you know that I love you all so much! You're my favorite family!

Limonada

Well family! I bet you didn't think you were getting an e-mail from me this week. But here I am! Our p-day got changed because we went to the temple today-and that turns into p-day. In answer to your question mom, we used to go to the temple every transfer, but the change is that we now go every other transfer, and yes, you also go the weekend before you leave. It was wonderful to go, as always!

Let's see, what new and exciting things happened this last week? People seem to still be "vacationing" a lot so appointments sometimes happen. That's alright. We're not really teaching anybody new. We did quite a bit of tracting last week. I realize that sometimes you knock doors just to show the Lord that you're willing to work hard, and then you end up being blessed indirectly from that. But nothing seems to be happening yet. Luckily I actually enjoy knocking on doors (you never know what kind of person is behind the door) so we will still be knocking as much as possible.

David M is kind of in the same place currently. Not progressing as much. Something's holding him up. I guess when it comes down to it, he might not have a testimony or belief in Joseph Smith or the restored gospel. Hopefully we can help him out a little with that. We were able to teach the Inman family again well that is Dana, the non member wife. We gave her a Book of Mormon and I truly believe she'll read it. We have great hopes with that family. And we have some others who have potential.

I don't remember if I ever mentioned Priscilla. The Spanish elders had found her and passed her to us. After we met with her the first time and committed her to be baptized, she disappeared. But we went to her house the other day and she was there. She said she's been meaning to call us and even her “delinquent” son told her she should "call the Mormons" but she never did. She's just going to be a looooong process. She feels its right, but doesn't seem to be willing to keep her commitments and do her part. We'll see. If she's not progressing, well there are others that will!

Last week we got a hold of this kid of whom we had received a referral that his dad has requested a Book of Mormon for him. He's probably like 17. When we went to his backyard to talk to him, he was sitting there with his two buddies. One kid goes, "Hey, do you want to “blaze” it with us?" because that's what they were doing: "Just kickin’ it and blazin’." I think that's the first time I've been offered weed on my mission. Kind of funny. But although they were a little stoned, the referral kid did have some potential. Hopefully...

Zone Conference was good last week. Elder Cordova shared lots of funny stories about experiences he's had with the general authorities. He's an animated story teller. The President and the APs talked to us a lot about how knocking at night is effective and how knocking doors is something that is never going to go away. True. It was a combined zone conference so the majority of the sisters were there; It was really fun to see the sisters, since we're kind of up here alone mostly.

Hmmm, mostly that was my week. Everything is going great! Is everyone still enjoying their summer? Only about a month left of it! Love you all!

 
Ciao famiglia! Come sta? Alright, I'm just testing out whether I remember Italian or not. I don't. Spanish is better!

Well, this was another great week! It was really weird and sad to say goodbye to Sister Fatkin. During the week I kept randomly thinking "I wondering what she's doing at this moment"...I think I would be swimming. It's hot all over the place!
I don't know if I'm surprised/not surprised, but things are going really super well in the companionship.

So this week we saw David Martinez twice. He still doesn't sleep much. He works from like 10pm-6am then has classes from 8-12pm and then usually meets with us right at 12 and I think maybe he sleeps a little before he goes back to work. Yikes! But he's told us he wants to make seeing us a priority. He really wants to do what is right, but I think he's just stressed right now and really really hard on himself. We talked about repentance and I think he doesn't feel like he should be making any mistakes, and that he should understand more about the gospel. He told us he's stopped going to the gym and he's stopped shaving (he's pretty hairy now) because he's basically avoiding temptations "of the flesh" as he said. Pretty much he thinks he's repelling women and he thinks that will help him out. Interesting. But he's doing good and went to church again. He is currently praying to find out when he should be baptized. Yeah! Our mission goal is to have the 2 baptisms a transfer, and even though we have a couple of dates set, I don't know if those ones will happen. I'm not sure who our baptisms will be. I know David is ready; he just needs to lighten up on himself. He will be baptized. I hope it's soon though, he needs the extra blessings! Well, everyone does!

 

So this week we saw David Martinez twice. He still doesn't sleep much. He works from like 10pm-6am then has classes from 8-12pm and then usually meets with us right at 12 and I think maybe he sleeps a little before he goes back to work. Yikes! But he's told us he wants to make seeing us a priority. He really wants to do what is right, but I think he's just stressed right now and really really hard on himself. We talked about repentance and I think he doesn't feel like he should be making any mistakes, and that he should understand more about the gospel. He told us he's stopped going to the gym and he's stopped shaving (he's pretty hairy now) because he's basically avoiding temptations "of the flesh" as he said. Pretty much he thinks he's repelling women and he thinks that will help him out. Interesting. But he's doing good and went to church again. He is currently praying to find out when he should be baptized. Yeah!
Our mission goal is to have the 2 baptisms a transfer, and even though we have a couple of dates set, I don't know if those ones will happen. I'm not sure who our baptisms will be. I know David is ready; he just needs to lighten up on himself. He will be baptized. I hope it's soon though, he needs the extra blessings! Well, everyone does!
Today for our district activity, we played a little sand volleyball. The sand was sooo hot and it reminded me of playing in the burning sand every day in the MTC. A year ago! It's an odd point to be at when you can say, "What was I doing a year ago?" and you were on your mission. Pioneer day this week. Anyone doing anything to celebrate? I don't think they'll have fireworks here. Maybe we'll watch "Legacy" with someone! Oh yeah, today is Moon day. Forty years ago we landed on the moon! One of our less actives told us that. She's quirky and tells us what the day is. Last time we saw her it was national pecan pie day so she had some for us. Someday I hope to be like that. Zone Conference is this week and that's exciting! Elder Cordova is speaking to us. I think maybe he's an area authority or something like. Not sure. And I think we get to go to the temple this transfer, yes!

Soooo, things are fantastic! I've also been reading in the Old Testament lately. Well, really, on and off my whole mission. I just think people are scared of that book. And there is some gooood stuff in there. Funny stuff! I'm trying to read in all of the standard works, though I'm pretty sure I won't finish them all before I'm done here. Sometimes I get all confused by the chronology of the Book of Mormon, but I think I'm starting to get it more. I'm pretty sure I always took the Book of Mormon for granted. But I love it now!

I hope everyone is happy and dandy! Enjoy your weather and your gardens and your families and your dogs and your books and everything (in no specific order)! Thank you all for everything you do for me! Love you all!

Love,
Emily

P.S. Random fact. We all know that I love to sleep. But as far as I can recollect, I have never woken up past 6:30 and I believe I've taken maybe 3 naps on my mission. And really I'm not too tired. Just proof that miracles still happen!

Sisters on Bikes?

 

Hello familia! How is everyone? From what I hear, you all sound like you're doing great! Things are great here too!

Well last week we set a couple of baptismal dates. One was with a woman that some elders in the Spanish ward up here found. I'm not sure if I mentioned Priscilla last week. Well she was baptized RLDS years ago and remembers some stuff, so that sort of helps. And she's excited and knows this is all true and we set a date for July 26. She kept saying "Wow, wow, wow" and how this is all just an answer to her prayers; she used to see missionaries and wonder why they didn't knock on her door. She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday because of some family stuff. So that's Priscilla Diaz.

Also, on the 4 of July we were contacting out on the streets and talked to a family and went over to teach their daughter last week and taught her and her other 9 year old friend. They are two Hispanic families that live together. The girls want to get baptized. So we set a date. But we have to teach the families and they would need to get baptized in order for the girls to get baptized. Our bishop won't allow us to baptize children (without their parents) in our ward. I can understand that. So that is Maria and Destiny.



David Martinez (Vanessa's brother) is still doing really well. He still isn't ready to be baptized yet, but he's progressing. Just last week in school he started talking a little to this girl who someone mentioned she was Mormon, but inactive; he told her that he was "preparing to be a Mormon" and in the end, she said that he had motivated/inspired her to go back to church. Wow! He's really doing amazing.

Yes, Vanessa Delgado is Hispanic but grew up here. Everything did seem really quick with Vanessa. It only took two weeks for her to be baptized. The sisters met her the day before I came back from Yorba Linda for that one week. So I was in on the whole thing. Basically she works at this care facility and there are members there that have fellowshipped her and she went a couple of times to their ward. Then the elders (Spanish ward) showed up at her work place to do some service and the lady, who is the manager there and a member, she said "Elders, I have a referral for you." But because she would go to an English ward, we were the ones who taught her. Vanessa is 27 and has three kids. Andrew is 9 and the oldest. He got baptized. Ruby is 5 and Carina is 3.

Friday Sister Fatkin went to the temple (the departing missionaries all go right before leaving) and Sister Brown's companion was also at the temple, so she was on exchanges with Sister Patten and me for the day. Sister Brown is still in the Samoan ward and I guess the President asked her and her companion who they thought would do well in that program and they both said my name. And he said that's what he had been thinking too. But he wasn't sure because I only just got up here. So until transfer calls came in, I wondered if I'd be ending my mission with Sister Brown in Samoan. But no! Sister Patten and I are staying here and Sister Lewis is now coming up to join us. Crazy! I'm a little nervous about that, just because we had some interesting transfers together. But it will work out; it will be great. Sister Patten and I get along really well together, so I think it will all be fine.
My Sister Fatkin leaves today! Ah! I can't believe it. She had only been out a couple of months when I first got here! I'm not sure where time is going!

This morning I got a call from our vehicle coordinator, and he asked if we were going to be on bikes. Because apparently the President told them I wanted to be on bikes; he said that's fine and we just need to be careful. It was random. As much as I'd like to ride bikes, it doesn't make sense for me and Sister Patten to buy bikes at this point of our missions, and I'm not going to do it just for fun. If I was told to, then fine. But weird. I guess I could've done bikes if I had really wanted to! Maybe he heard about our bike ride!
Well, that's about all I guess! Mom, I did get the package. It was wonderful. Perfect! I shared the beef jerky and some of the other stuff. The elders all say thank you (especially Elder Lee from Korea) as do my companions! I've got an amazing family!

Love you all family! I hope you all have a wonderful, fantastic week! Thank you for everything!

Love,
Emily

Hallelujah!!

Well we have had a fantastic week! We taught a LOT of recent convert/less active lessons in the La Habra ward like always. Honestly, our whole area is about 3.5, maaaybe 4 miles long (we measured the other day) and about 2 miles the other way. And 3/4 of that is the La Habra ward and the other 1/4 is the North Hills ward. So naturally, and unfortunately, most of our work is in the La Habra ward. Anyway.
We continued to teach Vanessa and Andrew almost every day, especially because they still were to be confirmed (which happened yesterday). And, Vanessa's brother David was there for all of the lessons. He came to the baptism and then seriously seems to have a lot of interest. He's “golden,” like his sister but in a different way though. We extended the baptismal invitation to him twice, and he said no both times. But, he just is afraid to put that date on it. But he's reading and praying. The second time we taught him, he started trying to justify the sins he likes to commit: basically drinking, smoking, etc. He was like "Well, we're all children of God, and I think, that really, in the end God's going to be like, “It's okay. Because really, it's, it's…” (and then he put down his head and then said) “No, no, it's still a sin!" It was so funny to hear him not be able to rationalize it, and he had to be honest with himself. And then a couple of days later he told us that he hadn't smoked or drank anything. That he was already changing. And he is. A lot.
And then on day Vanessa's other brother was there for the end of the lesson. And two of the times her best friend was there (who wouldn't even come to her baptism) and she seems interested too. Both of the brothers came to church on Sunday. Yeah! It's a miracle.
Seriously. Vanessa bore her testimony yesterday too. She was the first one to get up. She's on fire! David will be baptized. We taught about fasting and tithing one day, and the next day he asked us if that's something he should do, so he can get his answer. Wow! I'm not sure if he did, but the fact that he recognized he could do that now, not being a member, is amazing. So that made the week great!



And this Brazilian family fed us Brazilian food one night that was delicioso.
For the fourth of July we didn't do much different. Our stake 4th activity was in the morning and we weren't allowed to go. We walked a lot all day trying to talk to everyone while they were all out barbecuing and getting ready to watch fireworks. Then we ate a Mexican meal (carne asada) for our patriotic meal with some recent converts that we love: the Reyes family.
That night when we got home we actually got to see some fireworks from our balcony. Hooray!
Yesterday we were able to finally see this family that we've been trying to get in contact with all transfer long. He's been a very inactive member; his wife is not a member. They are the Inman family. He was raised in the church, but by the time he was 18 he says he was just “burned out.” His testimony must not have been strong enough, but he says there was just so much pressure to do things right and go on a mission, and have a calling, etc. He came back to church for a little while, but now hasn't been back for 20 years....the time he's been married. So she's never been to church and thinks our church is a really great one. They're such good people and great parents.
And it's interesting: with his business, he visits welfare square in Salt Lake like once a month. So he talked to Sister Patten a little about that. Anyway, we just hope we can keep visiting them and help him be able to come to church. Because when he does, she'll be baptized. What I think is interesting is that on my mission I've heard multiple inactives say that they are inactive is because they were just overwhelmed and the church just expects too much of people. It makes me realize how much you really do have to have a strong testimony, truly founded in Jesus Christ, because if not, you let all kinds of things be your excuses. The church does expect a lot, but because we have been blessed with a lot. And we're all required to help one another. It's not a church you just show up at and listen to a nice sermon and hear the band play with its guitars and everything, and maybe you give $10 to the collection plate, and go home. And I'm glad!



Yesterday this black man got up and bore his testimony and apparently he used to be a Baptist minister. He sure knew how to project his voice! Hallelujah, hallelujah, I KNOW the church is true. Hallelujah, hallelujah! The spirit SPEAKS to me and I am so blessed to have a beautiful woman, and strong black sons. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God, there is a black president. My mother told me it would happen, but I thought only my children would live to see it. Hallelujah. And he's a HANDSOME black man. And intelligent. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And he has a beautiful strong woman. Hallelujah!
I got a little taste of what it might have been if I had served my mission in the south! It was great. I love how people are so different, and I love being somewhere that you interact with a lot of different people. It makes it so fun and interesting. I love it! I love the crazy perspective on the world that comes through being a missionary! It's wonderful being a missionary! I'm pretty blessed! I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL week! I love you all!