A Pain-filled Week

February 2, 2015

So my week was a little painful.

So last Monday as you already know, mom, my stomach and my back were
hurting. And it wasn't just a tummy ache kinda hurt, it was an intense
kinda hurt on my insides. So I took some meds and tried to lay down,
but the pain didn't go away no matter which position I was in and
standing around sure didn't help either. But after about forty minutes
it went away and I was just like "huh, that was weird" and we went
shopping! But afterwards as soon as we got to the zone activity I
started hurting yet again and it was worse this time. So my companion
and the zone leaders made me call the nurse. She was afraid it was my
appendix (it wasn't) but the pain went away again.

Then on Tuesday, we were in pep boys for  f o r e v e r  and a day so
they could fix our tires, sheesh. And then the pain came back. So they
sent me to the doctors and what did the doctor say? Kidney stones. And
I don't know if kidney stones are hereditary or whatnot but if they
are, Dad, you're in so much trouble! Kidney stones hurt!

Wednesday was fine and then Thursday it hurt like a Harry Potter scar.
Good thing they gave me pain killers. Man I was soooo relaxed during
district meeting (on a side note Sister Johnson and I wore black to
our district meeting, because we are mourning our old district leader)
Afterwards I took a nap for two hours, which was nice. Anyways since
then I haven't hurt too much. Only hurts sometimes when I walk and
sometimes when I turn in a weird way... So I just don't turn in weird
ways anymore and I'm good.

Yesterday we met the coolest lady named Irma. She said every Sunday at
One she goes to her Catholic Church on the same street as our church
but today for some reason she just drove straight past it and wound up
at our church so she decided this is where she should be and she asked
to meet with the missionaries. Another cool fact, her daughter is a
convert and is serving a mission right now in DC! We have an
appointment with her on Tuesday. We are super excited.

Nothing too else too exciting. We taught a lesson to a drunk guy...so
you know that was odd as usual. Other than that it's been a pretty
quiet week because we haven't been able to do a ton due to stupid
kidney stones. Psh. Dumb.

Well I love you all! You're the bestest best family ever!

Love hermana May

It's a real place!!!

Round 4

January 26, 2015

Okay so my week here was just peachy.

So transfers today. Woot woot. What happened. You wonder? I'm staying
in Garden Grove with sister Johnson! We are happy and oh so excited to
take a nap today. This will be our fourth transfer together. That's
six months. A whole 1/3 of our mission. Crazy, right? She is cool
though so I'm happy with it.

In fact, all of our whole zone is the same again, except for our
district leader left and we get the only black Spanish missionary in
the other district. We are stoked.

Let's see, what happened this week?

Well we taught tithing to two of our investigators that really didn't
like churches asking for money. It went fairly well, I thought. The
wife gets it and is already planning on donating fast offerings. The
husband was a little less thrilled, but he doesn't hate us.  AND they
came to ALL of church this week! Which is a drastic improvement. And
our ward had cake afterwards, so I'm sure that just added to the sure
fun they had.

Not a lot of exciting things happened this week. I played the piano at
an old folks home thing this week. Didn't have anything to play out of
really, so you just kind of went with it. Comforting to know that most
of them won't remember a thing a minute after I'm gone.

We also cleaned a fish tank this week. That was gross. I don't like
fish. Never again will I own a fish.

We met a cool lady this week who is interested in temples. She has
some mormon friends so I think they're going to take her to go see the
San Diego temple soon. But we are excited to keep teaching her, she is
super cool.

Oh and Kyler sent me light sabers for my birthday. Weekly planning is
so much more fun now. He's a true friend.

January is almost over. How crazy is that? It just started, didn't it?
Ay ay ay. But I guess it's better that time goes by real quick than
painfully slow. Right?

Any who that's about it for this week. I hope all your dreams came
true this January.
Love hermana May
Picture of elder Dehlin (DL) and elder Esplin. Thought we'd take a pic
since one of them is leaving and all...

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Worth of Souls

January 19, 2015

Okay so this week was just fine and dandy. Maybe even a little hunky dory.

It's the last week of the transfer! No one knows anything yet but I'm
guessing next week will be crazy, so if you don't get an email until
later and it's super short and whimpy, I'm sorry. Such is life on the
day of transfers.

We are guessing there will be a lot of changes this next week. Our
district leader has been here for a year, another elder for seven
months, Sister Johnson and I have been kickin it for three transfers.
So we just don't know. However, I am going to miss my district lots.
They make me laugh. I decided to write down a few things that were
said during our district meeting. Keep in mind this is very normal
kind of conversation for us.

*elder Colbert starts whistling*
Elder Dehlin- hey that's the Jurassic park theme song!
Elder Colbert- ...I was trying to whistle 'I belong to the church of
Jesus Christ' ...

Elder Dehlin- So what do you think that quote means?
Elder Montgomery- I just figured out what the first communion is!

Elder Watson- being a missionary isn't always killing orks, sometimes
you just have to ride through Rohan for a while.

Elder Dehlin- so what are some goals we can set as a district for the
last 11 days of the transfer?
Sister Johnson- hiking Angels landing in Zion
Me- yeah! All we'd need to do is take the money out of our mission
cards and take a car. We'll be back before the transfer and no one
will ever know!
Elder Watson- not a bad idea
Elder Dehlin- okay . . . Any goals for missionary work for the next 11
days together?

Ima miss us.

Here's a cool story! So one day this week two of the elders were
telling us his story where they called and confirmed dinner the night
before with the familia T. So the next day they went over to the familia
T's house and they welcomed them in, asked if they wanted banana bread
and then asked what brought them over to their neck of the woods. So
the elders were like "uhh...dinner?" Turns out there are TWO familia
T's in our ward, but one is less active so none of us are familiar
with her. So Sister Johnson and I laughed, how silly, right? So that
morning while we were looking for a member to come out with us to an
appointment we thought of hermana T! We didn't think she would say
yes, due to the fact that she has little children but to our surprise
she said yes! So then that night, after the story, we were waiting for
Hna T to come and we got a call from her, asking for directions. So
after we hung up, sister Johnson goes, "that didn't sound like hermana T"
... We accidentally called the other less active hermana T to come out
with us. We rolled with it and had a member present and then at the
end hermana T told us how grateful she was that we called her and she
felt like it was what she needed and she is going to try to start
coming back to church and again how happy she was that we thought to
call her.
God works in mysterious ways. So we didn't know that she needed to
come out with us, we didn't even know who she was, but God did. I
think it just proves that God is mindful of each and everyone of his
children. He knows what we need and what we want and he wants us to be
happy, so he'll do what he can to get us there. The worth of souls is
great in the sight of God!

We had a temple tour this week! We were so excited when three of our
investigators said they would come! Only problem was they needed a
ride. And it was our ward camp out that day, so most of the ward was
gone. We prayed so hard and nothing. But like always, the miracle came
and we found someone to take them. It was awesome. They really enjoyed
getting to walk around the temple and learn more about it. And it was
a nice change of pace in the missionary life. Miracles happen. Now I
have that "Princess Diaries" song stuck in my head.

Anyways. I love you all. Thanks for the love and support and
everything. You guys are awesome ! Have a fantabulous week.
Love Hermana May

Birthday!

January 13, 2015

So this week was perdy dern uneventful. Except for today! Because...
It's my birthday! Woot woot. Teenage days behind. Ima need a cane and
some hair dye to dye my grays in my next package.

And we went to the temple. It was wonderful! I love the temple. Go to
the temple. It's nice. It feels nice.  So go. All the people at the
temple are nice too. More reason to go. Any who that is what we did
this morning.

My zone leaders gave me an Oreo with a candle in the cream. They lit
it and sang to me but then my district leader blew out my candle
before I could. How rude.

And after the temple we went to Olive Garden! I'm still sooo full. I'm
not eating again until I turn 21. So yeah. It was good though. The
people at Olive Garden gave me a delicious free piece of cheesecake
and sang to me. And I got to blow out my own candle this time. It was
nice.

Yep so that's my birthday. I expect that tonight we will just teach
people....since that's what we planned and all.

Okay so something cool is this one inactive finally decided to go to
church and after he did he got a job! Go to church it gets ya
miracles. Good stuff. We also had a good lesson with some of our
investigators. They still didn't accept a baptismal date though.
Sheesh. I dunno what it's going to take for these guys.

Anyways I can't really remember what else has happened this week...
Maybe next week I'll bring my journal so I can remember what the heck
went on. We will see. Maybe not. That's a Lot of work to remember all
that, and on pdays before six, I kinda lose all inhibition. So don't
get you're hopes up.

But thanks again for all the birthday wishes! I love you Guys. You da
bomb digady. Have a wonderful week!

Love Hermana May

Happy Birthday Hermana May!!!

Happy New Year!

January 5, 2015

This week was good though. Pretty sure nothing spectacular happened, just life like normal. 

It was New Years...so that was fun. I mean we went to bed at 10:30 like good missionaries but we woke up again at midnight to drink some sparkling cider and wish each other a happy New Years before going to bed. 

I really like New Years Eve. One is reason is because I can say "______ until next year"

For example: I won't see you until next year!

Or, I won't wake up again until next year. 

I'm not talking to you until next year. 

I refuse to nightly plan until next year. 

It's a grand old time. Not sure why it's still so much fun even after all of these years, but it is. 

We are semi teaching this lady who is absolutely golden. Only semi teaching because she is moving back to Mexico in two weeks. But she gave us her address so the Mormons could come find her. And she'll be on the look out for them. She told us this week that the bible said we should read the Book of Mormon.  Show me that scripture please. We figured out a minute later she meant the references at the bottom of the page (we had given her a large bible so she could see the words) we hadn't really even talked hardly about the Book of Mormon, so we decided to talk about it more and gave her one and she just loves it. And she loves us so much haha. Why can't everyone be like that? And why is she moving back to Mexico? 

Fingers crossed that one day we will get to teach someone like her. 

So one thing I've noticed about our ward is that No ONE fasts. Not a one. Sister Johnson and I sat in relief society yesterday and watched everyone eating something, not to mention all of the candy they had sitting on the table for people to come grab when they wanted during the lesson and the bag of oranges one hermana brought to share. Then after the lesson our relief society president goes "hermanas, hay pastel en la cocina!" (Sisters, there's cake in the kitchen!) I feel like sometimes they eat more on fast Sunday's than on any other Sunday . . . Or maybe it's just because I'm hungry. 

We had 11 Less active/recent convert lessons this week. I don't know if that's a good number for most missions buts it's awesome for our mission! Our other lessons and member present lessons were a little lacking, but it wasn't for lack of trying. 

Any who. Nothing much else happened. Hopefully this week is awesome! Hope it is for you too! Love ya'll and miss you too! Have a great week!

Love hermana May

Happy New Year Cider

Some of the cutest girls in Garden Grove!

Personal Mormons

December 29, 2014

So this week was perdy good.
We went on exchanges this week. I went up to the singles ward with
Sister Bingham. She is a good sister training leader, I like her.
Anyways so we had this one lesson with this guy...and you know the
lesson is going to be super awkward when he first walks out in a
towel. Don't worry, he changed. Then he comes and we start teaching
about prayer and he gets sooo distracted every few seconds and in mid
sentence just decides to tell us how beautiful we are. Then he asks us
what is the difference between us and Mormons. So we tell him that we
are Mormons and he goes "man, I hate those guys! They tried to
brainwash me." Guess he had a bad experience before with Elders and
now seems to think that's what missionaries do - brainwash people. I
must have fallen asleep during that portion in the MTC. Anywhoo, he
doesn't seem to mind again after a minute and after almost forty
minutes we finish teaching him how to pray. So we get him to pray and,
I'll tell ya family, I have never had anyone be so grateful to God for
my beauty. "Thank you For these beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful ladies..."
So after we established a little bit about our rules and how we can't
go off and just do what we please he asked us when we were going to
come back after our missions were over. Then when we would come back
to teach us again. Not especially eager to set a return appointment,
we told him that we could whenever he had time, just to text us and
let us know. Then he goes "so you're my own personal Mormons?"
... "No, we teach a lot of people."
"Oh,"
Awkward.

Good exchange though haha

On Christmas Eve we had district meeting. Afterwards we had a potluck
and a white elephant exchange. Elders don't understand potluck I
think. Sister Johnson made home made noodles for us to bring, and some
of the elders brought left over Mac and cheese... All was well though.
Since most Hispanics don't really celebrate Christmas on Christmas
Day, but on Christmas Eve we were super happy that Cecilia, our recent
convert invited us all over again to eat at her house. She fed us
American food plus tamales so it was a good night. Afterwards we went
caroling! It was a lot of fun.

On Christmas Day after I talked to all ya'll, we did some Facebook
like good missionaries and then drove to Buena Park to eat with the
other elders in their district. It was good. We ate outside and that
was a little cold, but the food was pretty good. The lady that fed us
was 65 years old and had a 37 year old boyfriend.  Haha sooo funny.
She kept calling him "mi precioso." Don't even know the guy's name.
They were very nice though.

Later that night, we went caroling again with two of the elders in our
district and with a member. It was way fun.  Definitely one of my
favorite parts of the day. Everyone was happy to see and it was cool to
just look around and see that all of these people (minus the member)
were sacrificing spending Christmas with their family to do what I was
doing, to share the gospel. So while Christmas on a mission wasn't the
funnest I've ever done, I'm glad I got to experience it and I don't
think I would trade it for any a different Christmas.

Other That our week wasn't super eventful. We ate at Denny's one
night. Unlimited hot chocolate. We taught a ton of lessons and
hopefully found some good people to teach. I will let you know how
that plays out. Oh and I bought a new purse and made a new year
resolution to keep it looking nice the entire year.

Okay well I hope you all have a wonderful new year! Goodbye 2014!
That's crazy huh?
Love Hermana May

Caroling

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Selfie

It's Almost Christmas!

December 22, 2014

This week was good!

It's almost Christmas!!!!

We got to hang out with sister Galicia in Monday and Tuesday. She is a
lot of fun. I miss seeing her all the time. But her new companion
seems cool.

Yesterday at church there was this white guy (an English ward also
meets in our building) and he usually tries to talk to us for about a
half hour and he saw us and stopped us and looked at my feet and was
like "you need new shoes!" Then he pulls out a card from his pocket
and tells me all about this guy who sells $100 leather shoes in
Huntington Beach.  I'm sure they're nice shoes, but man they're ugly.
Not to mention way outside of my mission. If he only knew how many
shoes I have currently in my closet.

Sometime last month we stopped by a lady who has been less active for
several years and now she is coming to church again every week! We
stopped by yesterday to share a Christmas message and the spirit was
so strong and she bore such a powerful testimony and then thanked us
for bringing her back. It was really cool. We all felt the spirit so
strong and I could feel how much love Heavenly Father has for her. I'm
so grateful the Lord uses us as instruments to find and re-find his
children.

We had our Christmas party on Friday for the ward. It was sick (in a
good way) people were decorating all day long. We had a Christmas tree
and a balloon arch, piñata, bounce house, crazy amounts of food, all
sorts of stuff. Ain't nobody throws a party like garden grove 10. Some
of our investigators came too! And random people we invited! It was
awesome! Kind of felt like a chicken with its head cut off running
around all night trying to make sure all was good with them...but it
was still fun.

We went over to another less actives house this week because they fed
us dinner and it was delicious. The little girls named it "lasagnaroni
pizza" it was sooo good. Afterwards we helped decorate their Christmas
tree and set up a train around it. It was a lot of fun. I love those
little girls they're adorable.

We are excited for Christmas here! We have plans to go caroling and
not too much else since most of our investigators "can't meet until
after New Years" sheesh. That's okay, I'm sure we will find something
to do, right? Fingers crossed.

Nothing else too exciting happened this week...but I'm super excited
to talk to you all on Christmas!! See you Thursday!
Love Hermana May

Hat she finger crocheted.

Ward Christmas Party

Ward Christmas Party Pinata

Santa Cake one of our recent converts made

found this while out tracting