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!

Anaheim Transfer

Andrew's & Vanessa's Baptism
Sisters Sanders, Fatkin, & Patten
June 28, 2009

Familia! Well it was another great week! We had lots of good appointments this week. teaching investigators and less actives as well. There was a lady a month of so ago, or more, Priscilla, who we went and checked on again. We recommitted her to be baptized and she accepted it and we saw her three times last week. That was good. But she flaked out for church. She's just a very distracted and extreme type. When we first see her at the door she's always all stressed out and anxious, but then once we start teaching, she gets all calm and happy. We explained to her it's the spirit and if she wants that all the time, then she needs to keep her commitments so she can be baptized. We'll see!
Leslie seems to be progressing more. We’ve always taught her at Vanessa’s, but now she would like us to come to her apartment to teach her and her sons (we’ve asked before, but she always just liked doing it at Vanessa’s) so I guess she has more interest. And we asked them to pray about being baptized, and to pray about a date. And her son Louis, who is 9, sort of sighed in exasperation, and she said he keeps bugging her about being baptized. Hopefully with Vanessa as a support, and with her son wanting to get baptized, she’ll truly try to learn more and have that desire to be baptized too. But Leslie didn’t come to church on Sunday, and David didn’t either. We were pretty disappointed.
Yesterday was a good Sunday. It was actually interesting because in both of our wards, there was a missionary “homecoming.” Our bishop’s son came home in one, and our ward mission leader’s in the other. The second talk was especially good. I was pretty impressed. We taught S. Arrington (the one with the very eclectic home) the 10 commandments with the signs, and she just loved it! She’s an elementary school teacher, and in she’s actually taught the commandments before as part of the curriculum, so now she has a new way to do it. And she gave us sponge cake, because yesterday was national sponge day or something.

Sisters Sanders, Fatkin & Dutson roasting huge marshmallows

February 2009

Anaheim Apartment

And I’ve been transferred. Somehow I really was hoping I’d stay in La Habra until the end, but with a threesome, things tend to change a lot. So Sister Patten is staying in La Habra and is senior sister to a sister that’s been in Anaheim for the first 4 months of her mission. And Sister Patten is very nervous about it. But she’ll be great! And Sister Lewis is moving over to Yorba Linda and Placentia and I am going down to Anaheim. Basically the other sister and I traded places. I’m pretty sad to leave the other sisters-we really had a great transfer together, one of those that fly by. I loved the people we taught and I really learned to love those wards too. Oh well!
My new companion is Sister Cooprider. She’s from Massachusetts, and came out in December. Except for her first transfer, she’s always been senior companion, so she said she’s really excited to not be the senior and to be able to learn from someone else. The President called me today to sort of tell me that even though she’s been in the area for awhile, that I am the senior and yeah, it was sort of a random call. Sister Cooprider’s a great missionary, but she really hasn’t had much training on her mission, so she has a few misguided ideas about things. I don’t know her very well, but I did live with her for a transfer, and she’s very nice. And now I’m moving back to the old, nasty apartment that I spent almost my entire mission in. I am in the Anaheim 2 ward, and the Anaheim 7 branch which is a YSA branch and not Spanish. It should be interesting. I’ve done exchanges in Anaheim before, and there are a lot of weirdos there!
Changes changes! Should be great! We’ll see what happens. Well I love you all and hope you have wonderful week!
Love,
Emily

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!