One last week

October 27, 2014

Sister Vargas stayed! Woot woot. Prayers are answered. Did I already
tell you that? We still haven't taken down our fort. Probably won't
until Sunday.  We even had apartment checks this week and the senior
couple just loved it. It's Sister Vargas's last week in the mission.
Then she goes home next Tuesday. One last week with her.  Why have I
killed every companion I've been assigned to? Where's the justice? I
just hope they don't stick me with anyone else going home for the rest
of my mission.

The work has been slow this week. Real slow. But really, it's not all
of our fault because we've just had crazy random things to do all week
and probably more meetings than the president so it's been hard.

On Saturday we were out and about trying to find some new
investigator, knocking doors and all that jazz and all of us were
trying hard not to get discouraged because we couldn't find anyone!
No one wanted to talk to us. We were all praying so hard. Seriously,
the whole time we were finding I was just praying in my heart to
Heavenly Father to please just let us find one person who will talk to
us. I kept waiting for it to happen because you hear those sort of
stories all the time on your mission, so really it was bound to happen
right? Wrong. Nothing.  I was so discouraged going to bed. I don't
know what Heavenly Father is trying to teach us but my fingers are
crossed that its not patience, because I'm sick of that lesson.

Anyways, Sunday was good though, we had a few of our investigators
show up to church and it was the primary program. AND Elvia is back on
date for her upcoming baptism! Yay! Once again family, pray your guts
out that it'll happen.  Por favor!

Our mission president wants us to work a lot more with less active
members. I guess we haven't been doing it as much as they want us to
because we all got chastised. So that's going to be our focus this
week. Which means our other numbers are going to go down. Sigh. They
never know what they want.

I have the hiccups right now. I've had them for a half hour already.
My life is so hard.

In other news, Sister Johnson made choco-flan.

Today for zone activity we are having a pumpkin Palooza (how do you
spell that?) we are going to eat all sorts of pumpkin things and carve
pumpkins. How exciting.
This week is going to be CrAzY. We have a ward Halloween party, sister
Vargas's departing interview and dinner, a driving test for sister
Johnson, tons of service activities, a training follow up meeting,
other normals meetings, plus everything else we gotta do. Ay ay ay.
But at least it'll make the week go by fast. Which might be a bad
thing, since it's sister Vargas's last week.
Oh, hey mom. Sister Vargas is going to come see you maybe in two or
three weeks. She is going to bring a little box of stuff I don't want
here anymore. She is cool. She is excited to meet you. I expect a
picture.

Okay Pues I think that's about it for this week. Stay cool. I love you guys!!
Love Hermana May

Sorry no pictures this week. :(

Italiano

October 20, 2014

We ate at the bishops house for lunch this week and his four year old
daughter is sooo energetic. I was wearing the locket you gave me mom
and she just loved it. The whole time we were sharing a message, she
just kept opening and closing it and playing with it and kept asking
who the people were in the pictures and what your names were. Then
finally she was like "did you make this?" And I said "no, my mom made
it" and she goes "can she make me one too? So flowers on the inside."
Lockets are a big hit with kids.

We found this nice lady this week and she told us we could come back on
Friday. So we did, but she was cleaning so we talked to some other guy
in her house a blonde guy with blue eyes and pretty white skin.  When
we first started talking to him he was like "are you guys Mexican?"
And we thought: Do we sound at all like we are from Mexico? His
Spanish was good, but is accent sounded weird and it was super hard to
understand. That's because he is from Italy, on vacation here.  And he
speaks Spanish with an Italian accent and occasionally likes to slip
in Italian words. He was cool to talk to, not interested at all, but
had some good stories and gave us some life advice and told us all
about how much better Europe is than America. After a while he stopped
with Spanish and started talking in English, which was almost as hard to
understand. He said I look German. I've gotten that a lot out here.
I'm not really sure what Germans look like. Normal is my guess, based
on Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf...

So Elvia did not get baptized this week. Why? Because all baptismal
fonts were booked. Too many people receiving salvation this weekend. :)
But that's okay because we don't think she is one hundred percent
ready yet. But hopefully in the next few weeks we can make it happen.
I'll keep praying.

We went on exchanges this week. I went up to the singles ward in
Anaheim with sister Pratt all by my lonesome. It was a good time
though. She is super sweet. Loves people like crazy and has more
charity than pretty much anyone I've ever known.

We made a fort this week! We probably won't take it down until we have
apartment checks. It's so sweet. We all sleep in it and eat in it and
do everything we can in it because life is 34 times better when you
have a fort.

The assistants called us last night and said they were emergency
transferring Hermana Varags for a week and half. The last week and
half of her mission. We all cried a lot last night and a little bit
today. It's not until Wednesday so we are all praying that something
changes and she gets to stay. I guess we will see.

Well I love you guys. I hope all is going well at home. I miss you and
love you!!
Love Hermana May

The Fort

DISNEYLAND!

October 13, 2014

Wow a lot has happened since Thursday. 

 My companions made pancakes with Apple cider syrup. 

Sunday was good though. We finally got four investigators to church. Woot woot. And one of them is getting baptized next Sunday!!! Yay! Pray your guts out family that nothing happens and that she will be baptized. 

We actually had a really good lesson with her this week. We, after many trials and tribulations, got a member to take our investigator to the church to have a church tour. And it went so so well. We ended in the chapel and the spirit was like a wall. It was soooo strong and we were all feeling it. It was like the district two or something. 

This week we also went to a funeral. It was for one of the members in our wards dad. They had it in this nice catholic chapel/funeral home thing. It was a beautiful building but the funeral was so glumly and sad. The ones in our church are better I think, more happy and peaceful. 

On Saturday the skies were super grey in the morning. If it hadn't been 75 degrees, you woulda thought they were snow clouds. It made us so exited we had to listen to Christmas music all morning. It was magical. 

Other than that . . . I went to DISNEYLAND today!!! Well, down town Disney where you don't have to pay and get in the park and stuff, but it was still a whole bucket full of fun. Also I bought myself a souvenir. I hope you don't mind. It was an elephant stuffed animal because I left Jeffry at home and I need something... Most of our zone came. But not our district leader. He went golfing instead. We took a lot of pictures so bare with me. 

Alrighty, I think that's about it. I love you guys  have a great week. 

Love Hermana May 

Stood Up

October 9, 2014

This past week and a half have been good. Really busy. And I'm sure
I'll forget to write abut half of it because I kind of haven't written
in my journal for that amount of time so there's not a great way of
remembering what went down.

Let's see, let's see. So we had President interviews last week. That
was fun getting to talk to both president and Hermana Taggart. They're
cool and nice and like us. They brought cookies too. So yeah  . . .

Oh, general conference was great! I loved it. Conference on the
mission is the best. I get more out of conference than I ever have. I
liked all the talks, so I couldn't tell you which was my favorite. I'm
excited to be able to read through them all again. We went down to
watch it at the Greenville chapel which is fun because we get to see
more an half the Spanish missionaries so it's like a party. And my
whole old district was there. We took reunion pictures.

So sad thing: Reymond Hijo? I told ya'll about him, yeah? 12 year old
cool boy? Well we were supposed to have a lesson with him on Monday
night. We were almost there when we looked at our phone and had like
20 texts from him, "don't come" "don't come, not home" "don't come"
Over and over again. So we were sad. He said he was buying shoes or
something. But our back up plans were in his same neighborhood. So we
decided as we passed by we would just drop off the baptismal calendar
thing we had made on his door. So we get up to the apartment and his
four yr old little sister runs up to us to gives us hugs. "will you
give this to your brother?" "Yeah, one second!" And she ran in and
gave it to him. Sheesh. Stood up by a 12 year. Guess he isn't getting
baptized next week after all. We ate ice cream that night.

Also that night we show up to another complex to find some people.
Gate was locked. But that can't stop you right? So I start climbing
the fence. Right as I got to the top some guy comes and opens the gate
for my companions. Then on our way out we discovered that the other
gate was wide open. All that work for nothing. Ay.

The temple today was awesome! I l-o-v-e love the temple. I didn't see
the new temple video though but whatever. Still good. I could just sit
in the celestial room all day long, but times always a ticking as a
missionary . . . Probably as a persona really.

So Sister Johnson speaks sign language. And that's really neat. I've
been making her teach me. So far I can say "a long time ago there was
a woman named Mary. She had a baby named Jesus." And I can sing jingle
bells. At first my district was super impressed. They get less and
less impressed every time I do it.  On a side note, my district leader
is pretty much Bryan Regan. Haha sooo funny.

Okay, that's all I remember. So I hope ya'll have a Great week and
stuff and stay cool in all senses of word. It's still hot here.
Gross.

Love Hermana May

Old District

Temple

My Companions and me at the Temple

A Week in Garden Grove

September 29, 2014

This week was really good. It was super hectic with all the meetings
and and other little things we had to do, but it was good.

So on Tuesday we picked up our trainee from the mission home. Her name
is Hermana Johnson. She is from Utah, she is blonde, and she is cute!
I quite like her. And one of the best things about her is that she is
pretty much pre-trained. And that really makes my and Sister Vargas's
job very easy.

Garden grove is cool. I like it here. It's nice to finally have a
change. Although driving out here in the west part of our district
kinda feels like driving out to Wendover. Not that I've actually done
that,but I can imagine. It's a little sad though because I went from
only having sisters in my district to being the only sisters in my
zone. Oh well.

Tuesday was a day full of long meetings that are kind of the same
every transfer. So they get a little boring, but the new missionaries
have never heard them before, so I guess it's necessary. Then on
Wednesday we had to drive up to Fullerton for an eye appointment for
one of my companions. And right across the street was a little place
called the Curry Hut. Indian food for lunch! That made the day a whole
lot better.

And this week we got to watch Meet the Mormons. Pre showing. We cool!
It was good, kinda like a long Mormon message, but it was heart
warming and entertaining. Y'all should go see it when it comes to
theaters. Support the church and whatnot.

So we went to visit this lady who just got baptized because we needed
to finish filling out her baptismal record in time for the
confirmation. She didn't like Sister Johnson and I much. So she
wouldn't look or talk to us haha silly lady. But that's okay because she
had a grandson and he was adorable and kept bringing us all sorts of
toys, candy, and hand sanitizer haha then he brought me that book "Are
you my Mother?" And I got to read it to him. I like little kid books.
Anywhoo and then on Sunday they asked us to go in nursery for a minute
and this poor little boy was just so tired and just wanted to be held.
But of course we can't hold little kids because it's against the rules
and whatnot. So I just sat in the ground and he wrapped his arms
around me and cried into my shoulder, feet off to the side. It was so
sad. Thankfully the nursery teacher can hold them.

Speaking of holding things, I held a snake this week. Yep. I python.
It wasn't too big though and the owners said he was nice. I didn't
mind holding him until he started moving. Then I wasn't too pleased.

Oh p.s. We are going to the temple next week so you won't get another
email from me until next Thursday.

Missionary life is good though. Our investigators seem really cool
except for they won't come to church. Sheesh! You'd think we were
trying to pull teeth or something. But we will keep bothering them
until they start coming and decide that they like it. We are teaching
this family right now though, and they have a 12 yr old boy who is so
ready to be baptized. We were teaching the plan of salvation and were
on the part about Adam and Eve. And he goes "correct me if I'm wrong,
or maybe I'm just crazy but I remember reading this in the bible and
isn't there a snake that talks to Eve?"
"Sure is"
Man he is so smart and loves the scriptures and asked us when he could
be baptized. If only his family felt the same.

Okay well I think that is it for this week. I love you guys!
Love Hermana May

My Companions Hermana Vargas and Hermana Johnson

Nursary

"Hurry and take the picture PLEASE! Python, Don't move!"

Round Two

September 21, 2014

This week was. . .a little bit unexpected.

I mean, at first it was a pretty normal week. You know find, teach,
testify and all that sort of jazz. Throw in a district meeting and
it's mission life on the regs.

Thursday though, it got a little crazy. In a good a way at first.
Sister Jones had an appointment with the chiropractor  so we walked in
there and the nice receptionist is like, "do you girls want to role while
you wait for the appointment?" I wasn't exactly sure what that meant
but I had an idea. I immediately started to nod my head. Luckily, my
instincts were spot on. She took us to a room where we laid in these
beds and this amazing thing rolled up and down our backs for at least
25 minutes. It was wonderful.

Then on our way home we saw an Italian market, and really, what kind
of people would we be if we didn't stop to at least check it out for
our lunch break. It was legit family. I bought a pizza and it didn't
even taste like normal pizza I've had before. The crust was really
thick and there was only a little bit of sauce and cheese and stuff.
Pretty good if you ask me.
Oh, I also got the package you sent me mom! And thank you Whiteside
family for dropping it off for me. Woot woot. Anywhoo- I loved it.
Especially the card. Thank you guys! I think I'm still your favorite
child. I won't tell the others. But I think they know. Awkward.

Oh oh and Mandy sent me a package this week too, which I loved! Best
sister ever award!

Anyways so then the day was as usual, once again. Until planning time.
You see there were leadership calls that night. Not that we were
worried, I had just sent my trainee home, sister Galicia had just
finished training, and sister Jones had just finished being trained.
And there are only two new sisters coming. All week our district
leader had been teasing us about calls, so every time we had to call
him that night he would ask if we got any calls and we would tell him
we got called to be the next Assistants to the President.  So 9:30
rolls around and we get a call from the real Assistants calling in
behalf of President Taggart. Sister Galicia, you have been called to
be a trainer. She accepted. Then he goes, Sister May you have been
called to be a trainer.

.....what?

Ay ay ay.

Round two.

So we show up to the trainers meeting the next morning at 10:30, just
like our zone leaders instructed us... It was at 10:00. awkward walk
of shame. Luckily no one seemed to care.
Anyways so sister Vargas was also at the training meeting. Remember
sister Vargas? She was my companion for a week once and I loved her?
So the whole meeting I was like "please, please, please let me trio
train with sister Vargas. Please please please."
After the meeting, president came up to me to tell me he felt I needed
to train again and I'd be great and it and then he started to say some
stuff he wasn't supposed to, but then stopped and was like "you don't
know who you're going to be with next transfer, right?"
And I was like "nope, but you can tell me." So then he looks at me and
then at sister Vargas for a few seconds and then he says "you're going
to train with sister Vargas next transfer and then when she goes home
you'll get to do the last six weeks alone since you didn't get to with
your other companion."
I smiled super big. I love sister Vargas. Except for now I'm killing
sister Vargas in six weeks. Companion number four. Sheesh that's
almost one a transfer. I really am a serial killer.

And my new area is in the wonderful land of Garden Grove. Woot woot.
It's full of Asians. Half of the building signs are in Korean or
Vietnamese. I'll send pictures next week if that stuff.

This weekend was stake conference. So that was neat. We got to see all
the Spanish missionaries in the mission. And with only two hours of
church and no extra meetings, we had a ton more time in the day, which
sadly was spent packing.

We got some good lessons in with Patricia though. Hopefully we can get
her and her now boyfriend to stop living together. I think we are
really close. I hope she makes that decision. She is soooo ready to be
baptized. I've never met anyone who loves this gospel and has the
testimony she does.  She knows it's all true. She defends our church
to her family and friends and clarifies their skewed views of our
beliefs. I'm going to miss her.  I just want her to be baptized so
badly. Pray for her.

Oh mom. For Christmas I want banana bread. That's all.

So this morning our zone went to I-hop like we did last end of
transfer. Elder Pace didn't know what he started. Boy oh boy.
Delicious.

 Today has been soooo crazy trying to get everything done, so sorry this
late! I love you guys! HAve a great week.

Love Hermana May

Language study not always as effective as it should be :)

Our I-Hop group

Fruit is very refreshing on a HOT day!!

Spanish Market in Santa Ana

My Zone