Elotada

Okay my week wasn't too exciting.
We went to help Sister Bowen write missionary names on the back of
photos. Wasn't any help. I don't know any missionaries since I'm still
pretty new haha. Oh well president bought us yummy sandwiches and
there were Sees succors. So ya know, couldn't complain.

We had referrals from church headquarters this week so they had an
appointment all set up so we switched around our other appointments.
And guess what? False address. Lame. That's okay we met a cool lady
who let us in. Not sure if she will go anywhere yet but she is letting
us come back so that's neat.

Yesterday we went to a baptism of one of sister Budges old
investigators. We got permission to steal the Elders car to go. So I
drove for the first time in like four months. Woot woot. It was
exciting at first but got old real quick. I let sister Budge drive on
the way back home. But the baptism was cool. Some white guy spoke and
man he looked so so familiar to a ton of us missionaries. Probably in
a Mormon movie, or one of the three nephites. One or the other . . .

Today for Pday we are going to an Elotada party thing our stake is
doing. It's like a corn on the Cobb thing. Don't ask me. I've never
been. But apparently they smother their corn on the cobs with mayo and
chilly and other toppings. Apparently it is good. I will let you know.
Pretty stoked though. Oh speaking of which- I ate cow tongue this
week. Not too bad. Not too bad. Luckily they cut off the taste bud
part of the tongue. It tasted like shredded beef that was just a touch
too mushy.

We only got two flat tires this week so we are really improving in that
area. They are pulling cars from our mission because we've been having
too many accidents. So I'm going to guess that they add to the three
sister missionary biking areas they currently have. Biking for life.

Tell Shannon congrats for graduating. If it's anyone's birthday this
week tell them happy birthday. Hey, it's dad birthday soon! I'll send
a card don't you worry.

Anyways have a good week! Love you all! Thank you for all your support!

Love Hermana May

Scripture Power

Okay so my week was a bit crazy. And I mean it was a really good week
but it was also a really hard week.

First off, whoever said that southern California had perfect weather
was a big fat LIAR. I've been bamboozled! Lied to! Deceive! "go" they
said, "it has perfect weather" they said. Psh. It's so stinking hot!
I'm 84% sure I'm melting. Slowly but surely. I used to think my
destiny was to be thrown into a volcano. Now? Now I'm not so sure. I
have a sinking feeling I will melt before that happens. I just don't
see the appeal. It's hot in the summer, super windy in the fall,
chilly and rainy in the winter (or so my companion says). Sure it
might be perfect in the spring but is that enough people?

Anywhoo . . .  we went to a members house for breakfast,
like we do now days, and we had decided to share the Because of a Him
video which I love so I was all pumped for it, I gave the few second
explanation before and started the video and I was sitting watching it
, feeling the spirit and feeling grateful for my savior and everything
and then it ended. I drew in a breath to start baring testimony, but
no. I was cut off at the pass. This lady just starts tearing me apart.
 "You shouldn't be sharing that with members, only with investigators.
I already know all that stuff, you need to be reading from the
scriptures or singing, yadah, yadah, yadah. - you should be speaking
more Spanish. You're not going to learn Spanish because you don't
speak it enough. You need to try to speak it . . .

It went on at least for a solid 5 minutes.

Her husband and Sister Budge tried to defend me. I was doing good, I'd
only been here for a Little while, she didn't even give me the chance
to testify.
My heart was pounding like I was being chased by a gorilla. I felt so
frustrated. I wanted to be like "Lady! You have NO IDEA how hard I'm
trying to learn your language. You have no idea how much I study
everyday, how hard I try to understand what you people are saying and
talk back, and how often in plead with Heavenly Father to help me be
able to communicate. I'm trying so hard, you cannot tell me I'm not
trying.
But i didn't.  Instead in bore the best testimony I could muster.

So after we got home I felt pretty upset. I started personal study
trying so hard not to cry because it shouldn't be a big deal. So I
started flipping through my scriptures and I thought "I just want my
Heavenly Father to comfort me". Okay. No joke. As soon as I finished
forming that thought I looked down and read the first line of 2 Nephi
8:12 "I am he; I am he that that comforteth you."
Um . . . What?
Man I just sat back in my chair. I never find scriptures that perfect.
Holy moly! God is so mindful of us. He listens to all of our prayers,
He knows all of our thoughts. He wants to be there to give us comfort
and the support and strength that we need. It just proves my favorite
scripture John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfort less, I will come
to you."
He totally did come to me and gave me comfort.
Man, I sure love my Heavenly Father and my savior. I know that they
love me and you guys too.
Scripture power people.

So aside from that cool experiment my week was still good but hard. We
got 3 flat tires on 3 different bikes in just 2 days. Yes. Sadly, even
Ronda was subject to this disaster. I was stuck riding Bill the
Broken, Blue, Boy, Back up, Bike. Bill loves alliteration.  I just
call him Bill for short. Who woulda thunken that Bill was the chosen
one. The only bike our of the four currently in our apartment that
would last the week. Needless to say we did a lot of walking this
week.
But we found a new investigator who accepted a baptismal date while
walking! That's three for us this week! We go three baptismal dates in
an hour! GET ON OUR LEVEL!

Guess what? Some nice person bought us churro at Pollo Loco this week.
Anonymous of course. Perks of being a missionary. It made Hermana
Budge's and my day.

Went hiking last P-day. Not that you can really go hiking in Southern
California, or at least where I am. Just some dirt hills in the back
yard of lots of rich people. It was torture having to look at their
swimming pools. Pretty sure I get dehydrated everyday haha. Oh well.

Yeep. That was my week. I miss you guys but I'm glad I'm here, I hope
that you have a good week and are safe and all that stuff. I love
you!!!

Love Hermana May

Mother's Day

Another week

Hay-o family

Alrighty so this week has been good. You know, since last Thursday.
You would call the mission office mom haha. Probably a lot of parents
did.

Um . .  . Oh so sad! Our investigator Geraldo, who was talking about
the Angel Moroni moved! So sad. He was coming to church and our ward
loved him. Sigh. Oh well. We will refer him to the other missionaries.
I will miss him and his Christian dog.  Oh well sister Budge found us
new investigators while we were in exchanges.

Speaking of exchanges, I went on exchanges. I went up to Anaheim with
sister Byon. She is from Korea and is super nice. Yep. While I was
there I watched the Disneyland fireworks from my window and even saw
the top of the roller coaster and Ferris wheel in California
Adventures as we drove by. Too bad we can't tract in Disneyland.
It was a cool day though. I got to see a ton of my small mission
because sister Byon is a YSA missionary so they live all over the
place. And I got to experience a axe for the the first time on my
mission. And it was in the 90's that day so I kinda lucked out.

Santa Ana MUST have missed me a ton that day because when we drove
home there was all sorts if carnival stuff set up and street vendors and
mariachi bands and stuff. They celebrated my arrival back home well
into the evening. I'm mean yeah, I guess it's nice to be missed and
all but it was kind of over kill if you ask me.

When I came home sister Budge had bought me flowers! How sweet is she?

Accomplishment of the week? I can understand the Spanish gospel
principles book pretty darn well.

Raise the Roof

The language is coming though. Slowly. But surely. I can recognize how
much God is blessing me and will continue to bless me until I have it
down pat.

Well that's all for this week. Sorry not much to report on. I'll
probably have more to talk about next week. But then again maybe not
since I'll have just talked to you the day before...

Have. Great week! Love you all!

Love Hermana May

My pirate medallion

Santa Ana Winds

Hola family!

 I AM ALIVE!  Narrowly. But alive nonetheless. Our Pday got switched
to Thursday because Monday we had some training thing to help
people apply for citizenship. Turns out we can't actually do it though
because of legal liabilities. Whoops.

My week has been pretty good though. We don't have a ton of
investigators. And we only have probably four that are really
interested. Hopefully. We have been having a hard time finding people
lately. Not sure what to do there.

It's getting hot over here. And windy. Darn Santa Ana winds. They're
hot winds too. It's very strange I'm not used to it.
Want to experience Santa Ana winds from the comfort of your own home?!
Here's how in just two short steps!
Step 1: make sure your home temperature is at a toasty 85 degrees or higher
Step 2: plug in your hair dryer and proceed to blow hot air on your face.

It's even more fun riding your bike in it. Sunglasses are necessary
now if you don't want dirt in your eyes. And let me tell ya, it's 10x
harder in the wind. Flat ground suddenly feels like nasty hills and
the hills we do go over? Ha psh. Yeah walked up em like a champ. And
now I've joined the family allergy club.  Let's just say riding a bike
with strong wind blows (pun 100% intended).

I'll stop complaining. It's not all bad.

One of our investigators got married!! So now he can get baptized!!
Woot woot. We were invited to the wedding so that was nifty it was at
the church and we helped decorate and everything. And I had to play
the piano for it. Didn't know that until it started but that's
alright. Happens in sacrament meeting too.

In other exciting news we found the only dog in Santa Ana that likes
him.  Probably has fleas but we don't judge. Dogs really don't like
missionaries. I've already been chased about three times since I've
been here.

Speaking of which it's already the last week of the transfer. Say
what? Crazy Crazy stuff. I know.

Well that's about as eventful as my week and half gets. Sorry for the
let down folks. Miss you guys though but hey I'll talk to you soon
because it's Mother's Day in a few weeks! Love you!

Love Hermana May

decorating for the wedding