Solid Gold

February 16, 2015

So my week was grand. 

You know that one investigator that your just day dream of all the time? Ya know, the ones who just accept everything you say and already love reading in the Book of Mormon and praying and going to church every week? Yeah. We found her. 

Her name is Irma. I think I talked about her a week or two ago. She's the one who just drove past the Catholic Church she used to go to every week and came to our church and decided that was what she wanted. She's the one with a daughter who is on a mission right now. She is the coolest most prepared person ever. Solid gold. Fíjense family- she got a gospel principles book and she is already half way through it. We asked her to read the first chapter of Nephi and when we came back three days later she gave us a detailed description of what happens in the first ten chapters. She accepted baptism for the 8th of March and it just makes perfect sense to her why she should be baptized again, even Christ was baptized as an adult. She is awesome! We love her to death already. I'm so grateful I got to be part of her experience in accepting the gospel, because she is ready and would have accepted it anywhere by anyone, but I'm glad it got to be me and sister Johnson. 

Um so it was my YEAR mark this week! Woot woot. I didn't really do anything to celebrate . . . Well I took a selfie so I guess that's celebration enough, right? The next day sister Johnson had her six month mark so it's been a pretty monumental week in our books. 

And it was Valentine's Day. What did we do? Well I ate the chocolates you sent me, mom. Thank you! And we had the adult session of stake conference that we went to so that was fun. Shook up the routine a bit. Elder Packer of the seventy was there. He was nice. 

Oh and guess what? Nothing huge and incredible, but it made me feel good about myself. So last Monday we went to the swap meet and then we went to this yummy Italian ice shack place, so we were sitting outside eating and whatnot and there was like cute little 3 or 4 yr old girl that points to me and says "look mommy! It's Ana from Frozen!" And then she stared and smiled at me for the next twenty minutes. I felt famous. 

So there ha have it. My week. How exciting, right? Today we are biking with our zone so we just have an adventurous day ahead of us. We cool. Oh and pray that I won't get sick, because I think it's trying to come on. 

Okay, well I love you guys! Hope February is fantastic still and all that good stuff. 

Love Hermana May 

Spring Fever

February 9, 2015

Any whoo this week was just swell. Kidney stones gone. Thank heavens. 

This week the weather has been wonderful. I feel like I have spring fever ... Which I'm not sure how that works since technically it's already spring here. Sun shining, seventies, light breeze, flowers in bloom. It's quite lovely. 

This week it was an elder in our districts birthday. I decided if I had a little brother he would probably be like this elder. We all went out to Cafe Rio and then to a Red Cross meeting so we can volunteer! Woot woot. Happy birthday to him. 

At one of our dinner appointments this week the member told us she was going to bring out dessert. She said she was going to feed us jam. We were confused, but not too worried. I was expecting her to just slab some jelly on my plate or something but then she brought out some sort of vegetable. I was so confused and then Sister Johnson goes "oooohhhh it's yams!" They pronounce their y's like j's here so that was confusing. We spent the next ten minutes trying to teach her how to say jam and yam. Good times. 

We had an appointment with Irma. She is golden. She reads the gospel principle book just for the heck of it and she already knows sooo much. And yes! She wants to be baptized but she wants to wait til her daughter comes home from her mission...in November. ay. We told her to talk to her daughter about it, so hopefully her daughter will tell her not to wait. Guess we will find out tomorrow. 

There was a baptism yesterday that I got to play the piano for because they couldn't find anyone else. It was good though. The lady who fed us for Christmas was there. She ran up to me and gave a me a burrito with lobster in it. It was actually just beans and cheese but ya just play along. Then she goes all excited. "Voy a casarme! Voy a casarme!" (Im getting married) (she was the one 63 yr old lady that was Dating the 27 yr old guy and kept calling him her precioso) so I was like "really when?" And she's like "oh. I don't know" and walks away. Haha she is kinda crazy but hey, at least she's getting married so she can get baptized. 

 This next week should be fun. Why? I'll tell you why! Tomorrow is zone conference and Thursday is my year mark and Friday we are going on exchanges and Saturday and Sunday are Stake Conference. I like it when weeks are busy.  It's a lot more fun. Not that it's boring other wise l . . . Well sometimes but that's the game of missionary work I suppose. Anyways. I'm looking forward to the next week. Oh! And it's Valentine's Day. Woot woot. Ps I got your package mom. The pink box made me happy. You da best. 

Okay well not much else to report. But I love you all! Thanks for helping me get through my first year as a missionary! Have a supercalifragalisticexpialadocious week. I probably spelled that right. 

Love hermana may

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!