Making Progress

Great week! My new companion is a really good missionary and I am learning so much from her. She has been out for a while now and goes home on Christmas or the day before. What a great Christmas present for her family! :) 

A lot has happened this week. Four different investigators accepted a baptismal date which was a miracle. Our investigator Tomas who has been working on the word of wisdom didn't drink coffee last week at all! He still wouldn't accept a baptism date yet though. Well, we were walking to our car after a long day and there was a door open to a little house. I remembered talking to someone in the street a few weeks ago who said she lived there so we stopped by to see if she was home. The man said that she didn't live there and so we just started talking to him instead. We taught him the restoration and then randomly our investigator Tomas came out from the hallway. He got excited and started telling the man about the Book of Mormon. We invited the man to be baptized and he said he wanted to learn more first. And then we looked at Tomas and invited him again. He never accepts a date, but this time he said, "Claro que si!" (Of course!) What!? We were so happy! Hopefully he can find a way to get to church soon.

He has talked to his boss and is looking for another job. We are praying for him, and I know that Heavenly Father will help him get there if he really has the desire to come. 

There weren't anymore earthquakes this week but we had a little excitement last night. The fire alarm went off again. It has gone off so many times since I have been here that I didn't think it was anything. We stayed inside for a little bit but it kept going for a while so we finally decided to go outside. When we got to the bottom of the stairs there was a ton of smoke and firefighters running around. The garbage room was on fire. I don't know how that happened. We sat outside for an hour and just did planning for the next day until the alarm went off. We went to bed and then in the middle of the night the fire alarm went of again. I just put my pillow over my head though so that I could go back to sleep.

Anyway, that's about all that happened this week. I love being out here! My companion is the best and I am so grateful for all that I am learning from her. :)

New Companion

I loved hearing about your trip to Las Vegas. Sounds like a lot of fun! 

Today is transfer day. We thought that we were going to stay together because that is what President said he was planning on doing, but they made some last minute changes and sister Breitenstein got moved to a ward in Anaheim. I am still here in my first area and I love it, so I'm glad I don't have to leave yet. I already miss my companion so much but I am sure my new companion will be great too.

Her name is sister Schofield and she is from Utah. She goes to Utah State  and is going into music. I have been on exchanges with her a couple of times so I have gotten to know her a little bit. She is a very good missionary and I am excited to work with her. 

That is so cool that Eric went through the temple this week. I loved the picture with all of the family in white. We are going to the temple again this transfer and I can't wait! When does Eric leave for his mission again?

I can't wait until we are both missionaries at the same time. Have him send all of his emails when he gets out, and I will do the same when I get his email address. He is going to do so great and help so many people. Tell him to look for Hermana Andreason when he gets to Guatemala, even though there are a ton of missionaries out there.

Anyway, the other day we were tracting and there were about 30 Jehovah Witness missionaries in the same area. As we were walking we tried talking to the JW's because we talk to everyone, but they didn't like us very much. They had already knocked on a bunch of the houses so every time we went to the door people thought we were Jehovah Witnesses. We didn't end up staying in that area for too long. 

Our investigators are doing well but we are still having a hard time getting them to come to church. I am so blessed to be out here and grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary. I know that this church is true and love seeing the gospel change lives for the better.

Nicole that is so awesome that your sister get called to Lima Peru North mission. My brother went to that same mission. I am so happy for her. She is going to be such a great missionary!

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

Sister Layton :)

Shaking Things Up

My dearest family,

I bet you are loving the Las Vegas heat right now. This week in California it has been in the high 90s and in the 100s. Good thing I love the heat right?

We spent a lot of time outside. Tuesday in the middle of the night my companion and I woke up to an earthquake which we found out the next day was a 4.4. That was fun. The next morning there was another small one and little while after that we were in our living room doing our studies and there was another one that was a 4.5. That was a fun start to our week. :)

This week we taught a friend of one of our members. She has been to church a lot with her friend and had really good questions for us. She accepted a baptism date for the 26th of this month! Right now the hardest thing for her is her job. She works a lot on Sundays and can only make it to church about half of the time. She is looking for another job so we hope that she can find something where she can have Sundays off.

This week while we were tracting we found a lady who said she had tried just about every church there is, but she hasn't found one that feels right for her. We taught her the restoration on the doorstep and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She said that she was really looking forward to coming to church with us on Sunday. We went by her apartment Sunday Morning and she was leaving with a bunch of cleaning supplies. She said that she is going to clean a house right now because she hasn't had work all week. She said that when someone asked her to clean, she had to take it so that she could make a little bit of money for her family. She couldn't come to church this Sunday, but she still wants to come hopefully next time.

Last night my companion and I had an appointment with a family that we had just met a couple of days before. They are really nice and welcoming but there was this one lady there (We think it was their neighbor) who was a evangelical Christan preacher. She had gone to school and been trained to speak over people. Every time we started talking she would stand up and start preaching. I tried distracting her while my companion talked to the family and it worked for a little bit but but then
she started talking even louder. We decided that we would come back when we could teach with the spirit there. We made another appointment with them for this week so hopefully they wont invite any preachers this time. It was definitely a funny experience though.
Well I have to get going. We are going on a hike today with our zone! Love you all and you are in my prayers. :)
great time in Vegas!

Abusing the Zone

Hola familia,

This week was great. Monday we were playing soccer with a huge exercise ball and I kicked it and accidentally hit my companion in the face. She was wearing her sunglasses so there was a bruise across her forehead where her sunglasses were. It's almost gone now though. I felt so bad!!! Then I accidentally hit two elders in the face too. Oops. Then one of the Elders hit me in the face,  and it was just really  funny. Besides my companion, no one got hurt cause the ball was really soft. I'm just glad that presidents interviews are next week instead of last week. He would have wondered what I was doing to my companion. 

My companion is doing great! I am hoping we will be together again next transfer in this area. We will see what happens though. It is her birthday on Thursday! 

Our investigators are doing great. The guy who had a problem with the Word of Wisdom is doing so well. We had another appointment with him this week and he went from drinking two cups of coffee a day to just one. He says he feels a lot better too. He also talked to his wife in Mexico and she is going to stop drinking coffee too. We are trying to see if we can send missionaries to his wife so that they can be learning at the same time. 

He loves reading in the Book of Mormon and read all the way through Alma the first time, but then wanted to start over so that he could understand it better. He is already almost through 2 Nefi. He is so great! He asked us if it is okay that he is reading the Book of Mormon with his friends and telling them about what we teach. Of course it's okay!! Haha! He such a good missionary and has a very strong testimony. He is the one that can't come to church until he finds another job. 

We didn't have anyone come to church this week which was really sad because we had a group of people say that they were going to. Hopefully next week. Mom, to answer your question, there are two companionship's of elders in our ward and then my companion and I. It is our whole district. They are all so awesome!

Today we are having a BBQ for the zone activity. Something a little less dangerous. :) And for your question about the Spanish, I can understand almost everything when we are teaching the lessons or when we are talking about church topics, but when people start talking about other things it is hard for me to understand. I can speak but I have to say everything very simply and it is still hard because I don't always feel like I can say everything I want to. I am so grateful to be learning another language though even when it's hard. I definitely  wouldn't know what I do without the help of my Heavenly Father. 

I don't have much time left. Thanks to everyone for the letters it means a lot as a missionary. I love being out here. I love the people. I love my companion. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Please give the Vegas family hugs for me. :) Dad I wrote you a letter in Spanish. It's on its way to you! :)

Anyways love you fam muchisimo!