Monday, May 28, 2012

I Feel Him Helping Me Each Day of My Mission

Hermanas Layton y Breitenstein
Hola familia!

Today was transfers and has been a crazy day. Sorry if I don't have as much time to write. Hermana Vilches went back to English speaking and I am with Hermana Breitenstein again. I am so excited!
This week we had exchanges. For the first one I stayed in our area and another Spanish speaking sister came with me. I spent another day in Newport Beach in an English speaking area and was able to go to a baptism with her. I love the feeling of watching someone get baptized, it always reminds me of when I was baptized, and makes me want to be so much better. It was at the chapel right by the temple, so afterwards we were able to walk around the temple with one of her investigators. It has been fun to be able to see different areas in the mission, but I am glad that I won't need to do exchanges every week now. They are fun, but can be stressful.
Did you know that missionaries in Cali all drive Mercedes?
Last week our investigator was able to get baptized on Tuesday and confirmed on Sunday. She was the same one that just got married. She is so amazing and such a great example to her family and friends! Her husband still doesn't want anything to do with the missionaries but he likes to come to the ward activities. Their family always helps us out and always bring different friends to the ward activities. They are great!

I am happy to be staying in this area. I just love the people here. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that Heavenly Father knows each person that we are working with individually and He knows me individually as well. I feel Him helping me each day of my mission, and I know that I would not be getting very far without Him. I love the Gospel and love being a missionary! :)
When you're from Oregon, pumping gas is a new experience
That's so cool that Ariel got her mission call. She will do great! That is also awesome that she will be in the MTC with her brother. OK, I am not saying this to take your guess, but I was just telling my companion in the car ride over here that I was going to change my guess to Germany before I read that that is what you were thinking. That's where I think Eric will go. Haha... and for the states... Kentucky?

And to answer Grandma's question, we get letters on Mondays after we email, during our zone activity. And actually anytime we see our zone leaders they can give us our mail. They are in our district so we see them quite a bit. Wednesdays are district meetings so we get mail those days for sure too.
Mom and dad, thank you so much for the package. I got home from an exchange after a long week and when I saw it, it just made my day. Mom I love the outfit of course. :) Curtis always has the best letters. Love him so much. I pray for you always. Eric, the mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me and you are going to love it! :)

Monday, May 21, 2012

The Mission is Changing My Life

That is awesome that Eric's papers are going to be in. I am going to guess Brazil. Even though I kinda have a feeling he might go to some weird crazy place. I know he doesnt want to learn Spanish as much, but I'm kinda hoping he goes Spanish speaking. :) 
Newport Beach Temple

We have a new rule in the mission that temple days are no longer on P days! Wahoo! That means that I probably shouldn't ever have a problem emailing home on P days. At least I hope anyway. Transfers get crazy, but I will try to make sure that email is at the top of the list. :)
The Hallmans and the Adams sent me a package. I loved it, and the letters from the kids made me want to cry. They were so sweet! I miss them!

It's been a crazy week, but so good. We changed the dates for our investigators baptisms. One of them just got married this weekend and is getting baptized tomorrow night! We are so excited for her. Her husband and boys are going to come. The husband hasn't wanted anything to do with the missionaries, but has opened up a lot lately. He has been talking to us now and even coming to some of the ward activities.
Our other investigator still hasn't been able to come to church and is not keeping all of her commitments so we need to move her date back. We are meeting with her today, and hopefully she will be able to come to the baptism tomorrow. We had another temple tour this last week.

Our recent convert came with us and he loved it! We haven't had a lesson with him yet about temples so it was good for him to go on the tour.

Next Monday is the end of transfers so there is a chance that I will have a different companion then, and like I said before, I have heard rumors that Hna. Breitenstein is coming back! :)
Grandma and Grandpa Layton asked a question about our lessons... When we are teaching men, we have to have a member come with us unless there is a woman at home. We can teach women with just the two of us though. That's what was nice when I had two companions, we were able to teach anyone. It's always good to have members with us though because they can be friends with those we are teaching and it helps a lot and makes them feel more comfortable at church.

Well time is up, but I know that the church is true. The mission is changing my life. I love this gospel! :)

Monday, May 14, 2012

We Give Them a Chance to Exercise Agency

It was so great being able to talk to you yesterday! I wish the call could have been longer. Feliz dia de las madres to the best mom in the world! :)

I don't remember if I told you about the church tour that we did at the end of the ward activity. A member from our ward brought a family with them and we gave them a tour of the building. They really seemed to enjoy it and said that we can come teach them. It's the best when the members help with the missionary work. We started teaching member missionary lessons to help the members in our ward be more comfortable sharing the Gospel with their friends. Here is a quote from the lesson plan that I really like. "God did not give the free agency of other people to us, he gave it to them. When we decide not to share the Gospel with others, we are depriving them of their agency to choose. When we give them the opportunity to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ more deeply, we give them a chance to exercise the agency that God gave to them. It is our responsibility to invite, and their responsibility to accept." If we do our part by inviting them then we are a successful missionary. Then it is up to them to use their agency to accept the message or not.

This week on Tuesday we have the sisters meeting again with all of the sisters in the mission. My companion and I are in charge of it, so we have been planning the lesson and activities. It's hard to find time though so I hope it turns out OK. I will be going on more exchanges these next couple of weeks before transfers.

I am so excited for Hermana Breitenstein to come back to our area next transfer! We have two baptismal dates right before transfers are over, one on the 26th and one on the 27th. We are praying that they both will happen, but are not sure because we can't get one of them to come to church. She usually leaves Sundays to visit her mom.

I told you about the other one on the phone. We are so excited that her boyfriend finally agreed to get married! We have been fasting and praying for her every month and I know that fasting and prayer work. She has a son that is also at the age where he could get baptized and he likes to come to church every Sunday with his mom. :)

I know there were a lot of Vegas Birthdays this month. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF YOU! Love you all so much!

Eric, you are a stud for having two dates to prom. Mom... I don't think you sent an email... but I will check again. We emailed at the library today instead of the family history center so we started earlier. Maybe you just wrote one cause it says one in my inbox now.. sweet. LOVE YOU ALL! BYE!

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Gospel Has Changed His Life and He is So Happy

I'm glad you got my email from last week, I was getting worried when I read that you didn't get it. That is so weird that it sent out that night. Dad I am sorry sorry to hear that you were in the hospital. :( I will be praying for you and I am glad you are doing better.

For the phone call on Mothers Day, I can't call the day before to set up a time. We are not allowed to do a pre-call. And they just barely made a new rule that we can't skype anymore so it will be a phone call. Also I was sad when I heard this, but we are only allowed to talk for 30-40 min. That's what president said and also what it said in the white handbook. We have church at 11 and I think we will call sometime between 2 to 4ish depending on what we have going on. I hope that is ok for you guys.

Eric you are getting so close to turning in your papers. I can't wait! I am so excited for you!! That is just so awesome! I'm proud of you big lil bro.

Dad, where in Mexico did you serve your mission. about 98 percent of the people we work with or the people in our ward are from Mexico and when I tell them about my awesome dad who served in Mexico they always ask where... but saldy I forgot.. Love you familia!!

Hola mi familia! Este semana fue muy buena!! Tuvimos un bautismo! It has been amazing to teach this investigator and watch him learn and grow. He had a pretty hard life and was in depression before he found the gospel. The gospel has changed his life and he is so happy. He struggles a lot because they cut his hours at work to only two days a week. I was nervous to teach about tithing, but he has so much faith and didnt even worry about paying his tithing. He knows that he will be blessed for it. Also I taught the law of Chastity for my first time and invited him to live it. Awkward.. My companion made me do it.

Haha. We are working with another investigator who is so awesome! He told us that he wants to be baptized and he said that he knows God sent us to him. We found him knocking on doors. He felt the spirit so strong in our last lesson. He said "Me da mucho sentimiento". I love it when investigators feel the spirit for the first time. We invited him to pray about a date that he can get baptized. It's hard because he can't ever come to church because of his job. We also invited him to talk to his boss about getting off work and to pray for a way that he will be able to come to church.

Tonight and am going on exchanges in an English speaking area (East Bluff). I will be there all day tomorrow. It is one of the richest areas in our mission and I am kind of nervous because white people scare me. Haha... They are always the ones who get mad at us.

Last week I went to Anaheim with the spanish speaking sisters. Hermana Breitenstein comes back on the 15th so I wont have to leave our area as much. I can't wait for her to come back! Sorry I don't have a lot of time. I think I say this a lot, but I love being a missionary!! :) Adios!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Baptism This Saturday

It's been another great week here in Cali! The members in our ward are the best. A few weeks ago we had dinner with one of the memebrs and left her with a message about missionary work. We asked her to think about a few people and pray about someone that would be willing to listen to the missionaries. We went over again this week for dinner and followed up to see if she had thought of anyone. She pulled out a long list of people she wanted the missionaries to visit. It was awesome!

After dinner we asked her if there was anything that we could do to help her. She said yes and asked if we could go to her neighbors house right then to see if they will be willing to listen. She is such a great missionary! We went over and taught the first lesson. The man we taught seemed really interested and his wife said that he usually doesn't let people from another religion into his house. It was a great experience. They don't live in our area though so we passed them to the Elders. It's sad to teach a great family and them have to pass them but we get families passed to us as well.

This week we got a name passed to us and we went over that day to meet him. He already had a couple of the lessons with the missionaries in the other area. We have met with him a few times since, and he is awesome. He wants to get baptized! We asked him if he would be baptized on the 12th of May but he wanted to do it the week before instead so it's this Saturday.

Just before this happened we were having a hard time getting people to keep commitments and most of the people we were working with were not progressing. We decided to make a goal that we would work for at least one baptism this transfer and we would do everything we could to reach that goal. We talked about how we need to have faith that we can find the right person though Heavenly Fathers help and then act and do all we can to reach that goal. Then if we have done our part Heavenly Father will help us. I know that it is not possible without the Lords help, so we have been praying to be able to find the right person who is ready for this message. It's amazing how our Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and was just waiting for us to have a little more faith. I love this gospel, I love this work, and I absolutely love being a missionary!

The missionary in our ward had a cousin that got called to Anaheim? Was it spanish speaking? He is going to love this mission! And the president is amazing! That is so cool! Talk to you in a couple of weeks for mothers day!
WOOO!!! :D Adios