Well Done Hermana Layton

Wow.. I cannot believe that I am writing my last email! It didn't really hit me that I was leaving until I packed up all of my stuff last night. Uhh... It's going to be hard to leave... but I am excited to see everyone back home. 

It has been an amazing last week here in the mission field. Our investigators are doing great. _______ got confirmed on Sunday and he looked so happy. :) Also, ________ got baptized on Sunday and will be getting confirmed next week! I was so happy that I was still here for it. We had such a powerful lesson with him last week. He had a few doubts, but the spirit was so strong in the lesson and he couldn't speak because he was going to cry. He told us later that he doesn't cry in front of people so thats why he couldn't talk. Anyways, he felt ready for baptism after that. I am very grateful for the spirit that guides the lessons we teach. Without that guidance we would not be able to meet their needs. Anyways, we are teaching a lot of other people too and should have some baptisms coming up soon. I know that my companions will take good care of this area and the people here. 

This week I had some of the most interesting food on my mission. For district lunch I had tacos de lengua y tacos de cabeza (tongue and brain tacos). I actually really liked it. Maybe when we visit the mission we can go there so mom and Curtis can have the experience. Yeah that sounds like a good idea. :) What do you think dad?  We also were at a members this week and and she was feeding us tacos. When she brought it out it looked a little funny so I asked her what kind of meat it was. She kept telling us it was chicken but then her daughter came out and said, "Umm... I don't think thats chicken..." Haha turns out it was pig neck. It was kinda weird but it wasn't too bad I guess. Dad I'm sure you had all kinds of food like that on your mission right? (Not to my knowledge, no -  but probably.)

I am sooooo excited that Alexa is coming to this mission!!! The companions that I have had are all spread out now and a couple of them just got training calls for this coming transfer. There is a good chance that she will be with one of them, or at least be able to meet them. Most likely she will be in my same zone because that's where most of the sisters who are coming in will be. She is absolutely going to love it!!!!! I really hope I get to see her in the airport! :) Sister Budge just took my place as the coordinating sister so she might be able to go on an exchange with Alexa.

Well,  Sorry I don't have a lot to say. If I forgot anything I will tell you tomorrow. :) Love you all! 

~Hermana Layton

I Love Them So Much & the Mission Has Changed My Life

Hey everyone!

It has been another great week! We just got back from the temple. I am so happy that we went before I came home, because some of the zones aren't going until next transfer. I know I say this every time, but I just love being there! It amazing how much you learn every time.

__________ got baptized on Sunday. He was so happy and it was amazing to see his whole family there. It was kinda a stressful baptism for a lot of reasons. It was combined with the elders baptisms and there were some confusions with who was making the program. ____________ and his family showed up almost 20 minutes late and everyone was waiting. Then [one of the recent converts] got scared because she was supposed to give that talk and she told us that she couldn't do it. Luckily we found a member that was willing to do it instead so we were happy about that. 

The elders asked us last minute to do the musical number and lets just say it didn't sound too good... Haha! Then during the baptism they said his name wrong and neither of the witnesses caught it so I jumped up there to tell them (I don't know if I was supposed to do that or not...) but I just wanted to make sure it was done right. And on top of all that, both the stake president and mission president decided to come.

The stake president pulled all of the missionaries aside after and wasn't too happy with how it went. We definitely made some mistakes but it's just too bad that that was the one baptism that he decided to come to. There were just a lot of miscommunications. Anyways, other than all of that it was great, and the important part is that he got baptized right? :) He has changed so much in the last couple of weeks, it really has been a miracle.

As for [another investigator], he is still planning on getting baptized but there were a few things that we are helping him work through. Hopefully it will be this coming weekend but if not then the next. He just started school and has been really busy with that and work. We didn't get to meet with him a lot this last week but we are seeing him tonight so we should know more then. 

I don't know if I already told you about [another investigator], but we have been teaching him for a while and he accepted a baptism date. His wife was not interested at all at first but now she has opened up a ton! We couldn't get him to come to church but his wife came with three of her kids. She is planning on coming again and said it was really interesting. 

Also, I don't know if I told you about la familia _________, but she is a member and her husband is not. A few of months ago he had an accident at work and was in a coma for almost two months. They didn't know if he would live or ever be the same but they have seen a miracle with him. He is back home and can talk again. He can even walk with a walker. Anyways after all of this happened he has been way more open to listening to us. He even came to church on Sunday and loved it! He wants to come again next week. 

Mom, to answer you question about the guy that we found a while back who we felt prompted to visit... We actually met with his wife this week and she seems amazing. We have another appointment to meet with both of them together. He has been really busy with work so we haven't met with them as much as we would like to, but I still have a very good feeling about them. :) I know we were led there. 

Lets see what else... We met a guy named [investigator] this week and he actually stopped us while we were on our way to an appointment. He said, "Why are your people always so happy? How can we be that happy?" We made an appointment to come back and teach him. He seemed really into learning more. We also are teaching [still another investigator] and [yet one more investigator]. [The gentleman] has cancer so the elders came to give him a blessing. They both felt the spirit very strong and he even said that he was feeling better after that. We invited them to get baptized and they both accepted! It was a special experience. There are so many other amazing people we have been blessed to meet and I am just so happy to be here and be a part of this work. It is not going to be easy for me to leave but I'm not going to worry about that yet. I still have some time to work! I love these people so much and the mission has changed my life. :)

The 4th of July was fun! It was hard to find people that day though. No one really wanted to listen, and there were parties everywhere. When we came home to plan we kept getting distracted because there were about 10 firework shows going around our apartment. It was fun to watch even though we get to see disneyland fireworks almost every night. Yesterday was also fun. The members think its really funny to feed us chiles.

Dad you know chiles de arbol? (Yes, I know about the chiles de arbol. Pretty hot, but only about 10% of the habanero. Weak stuff that! :) ) Our members gave them to us. My companions reactions were soooo funny!!! It was hot but I actually like chile so it wasn't too bad especially when I put it in my food... This week for district lunch they are making me eat tacos de lengua and cabeza (tongue tacos and brain tacos). Yeah gross. They are doing it with me though. Haha I have to have the experience before I go home right? :) 

Ok well nothing else exciting happened this week besides the fight I watched outside of our apartment window this morning and the homeless man that crawled out of the preschool... Haha! Ok, I have to go! Love you all! See you next week! :)

Love you all so much and I can't wait to see you. :)

~Sister Layton

The Mission is So Amazing and Life Changing

Hey everyone!

We have had a great week full of miracles and blessings. I just love being a missionary! 

The first miracle was with _______. When we first met him he didn't believe in God. He didn't want anything to do with us. Slowly he started opening up more and more. Well this week when we were teaching him we asked if he believed in God. He said yes because he has been feeling something different. Then we asked him if he believes that this church is true and he said, "Yes because everything you taught just confirmed the feelings that I have been having." He really understands what we are teaching and asks very good questions. This Sunday he came to church with his family for the first time. It has been such a miracle to see the change in him and in their entire family. 

Church has been a little hard for ___________ because she doesn't understand as much spanish, but her mom doesn't understand a lot in english. We hope she will start to like it more. Anyways, _______'s baptism date was for the 14th of July but his mom has to work that afternoon and so they asked if we could do it on the 7th! We are so excited for him. Also _______ is still doing really well. He was supposed to get baptized this last Sunday but we needed a little more time so he is planning on doing it this weekend on the 6th. He is going to be a great member! 

Lets see what else... We went over to our investigator _________'s house to drop him because he was not progressing at all but he pretty much asked us to keep coming and said that he is ready to act and start reading and coming to church. Hopefully he will start progressing now. We have been teaching __________ for a while now and he finally accepted a baptism date for the 21st of July, and we have started teaching his family as well. He is really trying to change bad habits in his life and come closer to his family. We know that the Gospel is going to help him a lot. :) 

Early this week we found another lady and she accepted a baptism date for the 21st of July as well. She wasn't home for our last appointment though so hopefully we will be able to find her again. Lately we have started working with a less active family. They are coming back to church but it is actually really sad. Their 8 year old son has cancer and tumors all over his body. He probably doesn't have much longer to live. He is the sweetest little boy and it has been a special experience to be able to teach him. Their family has been so strong and we are just praying that they will be ok. Well, I am definitely going to miss it out here when I have to go. The mission is so amazing and life changing. 

This week I went on exchanges with sister Morley and Rollins in Anaheim. It was fun to be back there and get to see some of the members again. It was also fun to be with my old companions. They are working so hard and definitely taking care of our area in Anaheim. :) Mom to answer your questions about Sister Nnah's hair, yes we had to take out all of the braids but we cut it so short because those were actually extensions. (That makes more sense.) Her hair is shorter so I wasn't actually cutting her real hair. It just makes it go a little faster doing it that way. It was definitely a project though! Haha. Under all of those pretty extensions she has a fro! It was pretty funny. She is from Boston, but her parents are from Nigeria. Cool huh?

Next week I might not email until Tuesday because we get to go on a temple trip. I was so happy that I get to go again before I go home! :)  Well thats it for the week. Love ya all!

Hermana Layton :)

So They Brought Their Little Children and Set Them Down Upon the Ground Round About Him (3 Nephi 17:12)

My dearest family,

Things here in the mission are great as always. It was kind of a slow week because we had so many meetings and random stuff come up. 

We had district meeting, presidents interviews, and also a 9 week follow up training meeting for sister Nnah and all of the missionaries that came in with her. We went to the broadcast as well. 

Sister Nnah Must Be a Trusting Soul

Also, every few months sister Nnah has to do redo the braids in her hair, which takes hours to take them all out, and then hours to get them done again. With that and our studies it almost took a day. It was quite the project but we had fun. 

Is Sister Nnah Under There Somewhere?

We went on a couple of exchanges this week which was so much fun! I went back to Santa Ana 10 with sister Budge and they happened to have a big service project with the ward that day so I was able to see a lot of the members. It was fun to be there and see everyone! We also went on another exchange, but this time I stayed in my area.

We were doing our language study outside and a little group of six or seven kids came up to me to get stickers. Then they sat across from us on the bench and asked what we were reading. 

We showed them the Book of Mormon and they were surprised that we were reading in spanish and so they asked us to read to them (See 3 Nephi 17:11-25). They were silent as we read about when Christ came to the Americas and blessed the little children. We showed them pictures and they asked us questions about Christ. No wonder we are supposed to humble ourselves as the little children. They were so cute! I just love the little kids here. :)

She Loves the Kids

Lets see what else... ___________ got a calling on Sunday so that was exciting. They just forgot to tell her so it was kinda a surprise. It will be really good for her though. Hopefully they will give one to __________ soon too. She really wants to serve and help out in any way that she can.

Well thats about all of the exciting news for the week other then the crazy drug bust that we watched right outside of our apartment this morning while we were doing companionship study. Haha. Well, sorry I didn't have much to write today. Have a great week! Love you all! :)

Hermana Layton

Beatboxing with Sister Nnah

Hey fam!

First of all HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! I hope you had a great one. I was thinking about you all day and how lucky I am to have the best dad in the world. I love you so soo much and am very grateful for your example. Thanks for all that you do. :)

Well, it's been another great week. I just love being a missionary! :) [The new convert] was confirmed yesterday in church and she looked very happy. [A current sister investigator] has been doing really well. She shared her testimony in gospel principles and was answering questions that investigators had. It is amazing to see how much she has changed already and how happy she is now. [Another investigator] also came to church again and he is still planning on getting baptized on the 30th of June. He is progressing really well. Its funny because he is already best friends with most of the ward since he talks so much. He is very social. We are hopefully having a family home evening with him and a family in our ward tonight so that should be good for him. 

Last night I was able to go back to Santa Ana 10 because one of sister Withams investigators was getting baptized. It was great to see everyone again! :) I miss that ward. I am grateful to be here in Fullerton though because I absolutely love the members here! It is probably my favorite ward out here on the mission. 

Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting which will probably be my last one on the mission. It was nice because they pretty much let my pick any topic I wanted. On Friday we had a Fathers day party and had a talent show. They asked us to do something and so we sang a hymn but added a little beatboxing thanks to sister Nnah. I will try to send the video, it was pretty funny. 

Anyways, sorry this is kind of short. I love you all so much! :) 

(With just over 3 weeks to go, the letters seem to be getting shorter. Next week we might get a paragraph, we'll see.)

~Hermana Layton

Referrals from Members Are So Powerful

Hello everyone!

It has been another great week here in Fullerton! __________ got baptized last night and the spirit was so strong. She had the biggest smile on her face the whole time. She said that she felt really good and she looked so happy. She was so nervous for her interview and the baptism but she did such a great job. _________ and her mom were wanting to wait to do the baptism until ________'s birthday in August but we had a very powerful lesson at the beginning of the week and they realized that she was ready now. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit and that ________ and her mom were both able to recognize it. She is so happy with the decision that she made. _______, came to the baptism but we have not been able to get him to come to church. He has opened up a lot since we started teaching him but when we talk about baptism he doesn't seem very excited. We will still be working with him though and praying that he will see the changes in _________ and ___________. They are great examples to him.

The members in this ward are so amazing. We have a member in the ward named Hermana Bautista and she is the most amazing member missionary I have ever met. She brings us around her neighborhood to everyone she knows so that we can share the gospel with them. When she doesn't know some of her neighbors she goes over there and gets to know them so that she can introduce us to them later. She doesn't have any fears at all about sharing the gospel. We have already gotten 12 member referrals from her and she said that she still has a lot of people that she wants to introduce us to. She is such a good missionary and an example to everyone. I know it's not always that easy to find friends to share the gospel with, but referrals from members are so powerful and I am just so grateful when the members understand that. Something that I have really learned out here is how to be a member missionary. Even though I might not be able to stay out here on the mission as long as I want, I know that I can still be a missionary once I get home. 

______ is still doing well. He came to church again on Sunday and loved it. He is still preparing to get baptized on the 30th of June and we are excited for him. He has been working on living the word of wisdom and said that he has felt a lot better as he has been doing it. He has already seen a difference and its been about a week. I am grateful to be teaching him. He was a referral from a member. I know they progress so much faster when they have that member support. We are also teaching a girl named _________. She is also a friend from a member in our ward (Thank you members!) and she's progressing really well. She has been coming to church for a couple of weeks now and really likes it. Her older sister is also talking lessons from the singles elders. Their parents are not really into it but are very willing to let their kids learn and choose what they want.

Well, thats about it for the week. I love the gospel so much! If everyone who reads this finds just one person to share the gospel with I know that there will be miracles. :) Have a great week everyone!

~Sister Layton

Staying in Fullerton

Hey fam!

This morning we had transfers. I will be staying here in Fullerton as my last area! I am super happy! Sister Budge went back to Santa Ana 10 (The city of Orange), and sister Witham came here with sister Nnah and I. Sister Witham is from Utah and she got out here a couple of transfers ago. I am excited for another great transfer!!!

Things here in Fullerton are great! __________ is doing really well and is very happy that her kids are both listening to us now. __________ came to church again. She loves the first meeting but not the second class as much because its hard for her to understand what's going on. She is more comfortable with english but her mom is way more comfortable with spanish. They want to go to the same ward so it makes it hard for her. We have also still been teaching __________ and he is actually really enjoying it. He still hasn't made it to church, but hopefully soon. He has opened up a lot and we are excited to keep working with him. We are also still teaching __________ and he is progressing really well. He finally committed to a baptism date For June 30th but seems a little bit nervous. He came to church again and loves it. He participates a lot in the classes. He also wanted to come see the baptism last night but his ride fell through and so he ended up getting there late. At least he was able to eat some food and talk with all of his new friends, so I think he had a good time. We also have just started teaching a lady named ________. She has loved the lessons so far and seems to be progressing really well. She came to church yesterday. She seemed to like it but said it was really long for her. She has visited a lot of different churches and likes learning about new ones. Hopefully all goes well with her.  

Lets see what else... I went on exchanges again this week with sister Rollins so that was fun. I am always learning so much from the sisters in the mission. I don't think I will be going on as many exchanges this transfer because they called a few more coordinating sisters since they are splitting the mission right when I leave. The few that got called will be moving to the Irvine mission next transfer. It is so crazy that the mission will be splitting! Anyways, I hope all is going well back home. Thanks for the emails and letters! Love you all! :)

Have a great week!!!!!!

~Hermana Layton

This Week's Letter is Like Her Time Left - Short

Hey fam!

Ok so I have a lot to say and not a lot of time at all. It has been an amazing week. We just got back from the Helotada which was a big stake activity. I was able to see everyone from my old wards and it was tons of fun. The best part was that I got to play soccer like all day today!! So fun!!! We wanted to stay longer but we are already running late with everything that we have to get done today. Anyways... we are standing in the apple store emailing. All of the libraries are closed but luckily the apple store is not.

____________'s baptism was so amazing and she was able to get confirmed on Sunday. Both of her kids came to the baptism. _________ loved it and now has a baptism date for the 9th of June. She is so cute and smiles so big every time we talk about her baptism. ___________'s son hasn't wanted anything to do with us but I think the baptism softened him up a lot. He usually gets up and leaves when we come over but last night he stayed out in the living room while we taught. We asked him if we could start teaching him and he said yes! We have an appointment to go back tomorrow so we are super excited. 

We have been teaching a man named __________ and he is progressing really well. He came to church yesterday and loved it, and he really wants to come again next week. The only problem is that he talks so much! It is really hard to teach him. We haven't been able to talk about baptism yet but we will soon! Its funny because when we go over to teach he always feels like he is supposed to feed us and always sends us home with lots of food. His friend (a recent convert from the ward) always brings food to the lessons too. He has seen the changes in his friends life from when he joined the church and he wants that too so its pretty cool.

This weekend our transfer calls again and it will be my last one. I hope I will stay in the area but who knows. There have been so many changes lately. Ill tell you about it next week! Hasta luego!

Me

A Week Full of Miracles

Hello everyone! :)

Well it was definitely a week full of miracles! I went on exchanges this week with sister Minert in Costa Mesa which was a lot of fun. This week I am going to La Habra and I think it might be my first english exchange. I am looking forward to that. We had zone conference on Wednesday which was great. It is an amazing experience every time we get to hear from President and sister Bowen. I have learned so much from them. The assistants to the president did some training and there were a couple of missionaries that spoke as well. I definitely learned a lot.

So __________ was planning on getting baptized this Sunday but her boss said she had to come into work after church. We met with her this week and she was talking about maybe doing her baptism next month when she knows for sure that she would have work off every Sunday. She has talked with the bishop to have him write a letter to her boss and explain that she is investigating the church and wants to have Sundays off so that she can live the sabbath day. She has also been looking for a new job and doing everything she can because she knows that it's important. She is such an example and has so much faith! 

In one of the lessons that we had this week she was trying to decide when to do her baptism. She was talking through it and we were just listening. She paused for five or ten seconds and said "Ok God just told me something. I am supposed to get baptized this week and be at church next week too." Then she said, "I wanted to wait until next month but God wants me to do it now. I am going to do what God wants, not what I want." She is amazing and so in tune with the spirit! We are so blessed to have this opportunity to teach her. I think she teaches us more than we ever could her. She has her baptism interview with president tonight and she is getting baptized tomorrow night at 6. I have never met anyone who was so excited and so ready for their baptism. 

___________ has really been trying to get her daughter ___________ to listen to us but she is so shy and never wants to come out when we are there. One day this week when we had a lesson with _________, we knocked on her door right as ___________'s friend walked up. We started talking to her and invited her to sit in on the lesson with us and have _________ come too. They both came and sat down and it was a very powerful lesson. This was the first time that she really opened up. At the end we were talking to her mom about her baptism and she looked to her friend and said, "I want to get baptized but I'm scared." My companion heard her and asked why she was scared. We talked all about baptism with her and once she understood it she felt a lot better. She wants to come to her moms baptism now. She also was nervous to come to church but she came on Sunday and loved it. The youth were so helpful and so nice to her. We are excited to work with her more.

We are also teaching a lady named _________. She is a friend of one of the members in our ward. She came to church with her daughter on Sunday and loved it. She is also coming to _______'s baptism tomorrow. She has a lot of really good questions and seems pretty interested so we are excited to work with her more. Hopefully we can start teaching her boyfriend too and get them married soon. A couple of the less active families we are teaching have came to church these last couple of weeks. The ward is kinda small, but with 10 missionaries it is growing fast. I am so happy to be in this ward! The members are the amazing and are really helping us out! I can't wait to introduce you all to them when we come back and visit. :)

I love this work, the area and ward. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I see miracles every single day. I am so happy and I know it is because it is Heavenly Father's work and there is nothing more amazing than seeing people accept the gospel in their lives. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and I love him so much. The church is so true and I know it! I am so grateful for this knowledge. Mom and dad I am so grateful for your examples and that you raised me in the church, it is the best thing you could have ever done for me. I look up to you both so much! Thank you! :) Have a great week!

It Was So Clear to Me Where We Needed to Go

Hey family! 

It was so great talking on the phone for mothers day. I just wish it could have been a little bit longer. I hope you had a good mothers day mom. I am so lucky to have the most amazing mom in the world!! :) You really are the best! 

Well, this week was great! For mothers day we had a ward party and __________ came. It was kinda funny because we got there at 6 when it was supposed to start and no one was there except the guy setting up the food. Ana Lilia came at like 6:10 and felt really bad that she came late, but then she walked in the gym and saw that no one was there. We had told her that it was going to be a really fun mothers day party and we felt so bad when she came in! 

People didn't really come until about 6:30 or 6:45 but when people actually came she had a ton of fun. She made a lot of new friends in the ward. She is still planning on getting baptized next weekend and she's so excited about it. We still have to teach her a few of the commandments this week so hopefully all goes well. We taught her about fasting for a purpose this week and she said that we was going to fast that her children would be open to listening to us. She really wants her family to accept the gospel.

We also are teaching a man named _________. He said he was only going to be here for a few weeks because he is here for work, but he just got asked to stay until October. That means that his wife is coming down too and we will be able to start teaching her. Anyways, he is super smart. He read the restoration pamphlet that we gave him when we met him at the door and remembered everything about it. He really seems to understand everything that we are teaching. 

I know for a fact that Heavenly Father led us to him. I had one of the most amazing experiences of my mission this week when we found him. It was a hard day because many of our appointments fell through and every person we talked to did not want to listen at all. We went to a complex to knock some doors and I was just praying to myself that we would know where we needed to be and who we needed to talk to. We started at one end and knocked a few, but none of them wanted to listen. 

Well after about the third house I had an experience that I will never forget. It was so clear to me where we needed to go. I looked to my companions and pointed to an apartment across the complex and said come on we need to go there. We walked down the stairs, and across the complex and knocked on the door.  That is when we met ________. He was very open and and really wanted to learn more. 

His family is away from him right now for work and he thought that is was amazing that we were away from our families to share this message. Anyways we went back to teach him and it went well. I know for a fact that we were led to him. Whether or not he accepts this message right now, I know that we were supposed to be there. I am so grateful for the guidance of our Heavenly Father in this work because we would not be able to do it without him. I know that Heavenly Father does answer our prayers and wants to lead us to those who are ready for the Gospel.

We had a sisters meeting this week and I am pretty sure it is my last one. President and sister Bowen spoke and also asked me to speak. It was so amazing looking down at all of the new sister missionaries. I am so grateful to have been here to be able to see so many changes in the mission with all of the new sisters coming in and with the age change. There are so many now that we couldn't do the meeting at president's house. We had to do it at a chapel. This work is amazing and is growing so fast! I'm loving it out here! It is such a blessing to share the gospel! :) Well I have to get going. Love you all!! :)

~Hermana Layton

A Woman of Great Faith

Hello everyone!

Things here in Fullerton are great! We are getting to know more of the members and starting to work with some of their friends. We had dinner with one of the members this week and she was so excited to have sisters. She told us that she is our mission mom and will do anything to help us out. I love it when members are so excited to work with the missionaries! Tonight we have an FHE with a family in the ward and they are bringing two non members. Member referrals are the best because then the investigators always have someone there to answer their questions and help them out even when the missionaries are gone. We also got a referral this week from the elders investigator, _______. She wanted us to visit her friend who was in the hospital. We went and sang and then shared a scripture. She started to cry and said that we can come back and share more with her. I am looking forward to teaching her again soon. 

Our investigators are doing well, especially __________. I have never met anyone as prepared as she is for the gospel. We had some great lessons with her this last week. The only problem is that she works on Sundays, so she wasn't able to make it to church this week. She already talked to her boss to change her schedule before we even invited her to. He wouldn't let her get Sundays off this month but said he will when he makes the schedule for next month. 

She is also looking for another job just in case. I think he made an exception for the 19th of May for her baptism day. She told us that her baptism day is very special to her and that if her boss didn't let her get work off she wouldn't go. She told us that God is the one that gave her the job in the first place and that she knows this is what he wants her to do. She is so amazing and has so much faith! She has visited many different churches throughout her life but they never felt right and now she says that she knows this is the church for her and she knows it's true. It is amazing how the spirit can teach our investigators what they need to learn. _________ told us that she has never understood a lot of what she learned in church but now everything is so clear now and feels so right. She has been reading the book of mormon a ton and in our last lesson she explained everything she read and was so excited about it. It has been a blessing to be able to teach her and see her progress. She has been trying to get her daughter listen but she is really shy and doesn't want to yet. Her daughter said she might come to the baptism though and I know that if she does she will be able to feel the spirit there. Also we want to bring someone her age so that she can have a friend in the church and feel more comfortable. 

We are also teaching _______ and _________. ________ accepted a baptism date but he has such a hard time understanding the lessons. We try to teach very simply but he still doesn't understand a lot. It is good to have Veronica there because she can help him. _______ said yes to the baptism invite but not a date because she wants more time to learn. We are also still teaching Judy and she accepted a baptism date but has lots of problems with the word of wisdom. She is also getting surgery soon and so won't be able to come to church for a while but hopefully all will go well after her surgery.

Lets see what else... We went on exchanges this week and I was able to go back to my first area in Anaheim so that was fun. I have to do more exchanges now because so many sisters came out. It's great though because I learn a lot from all of the different sisters in the mission. President said that the coordinating sisters responsibilities are changing a bit. I guess they are going to start putting the coordinating sisters in twos like the zone leaders. I kinda hope that happens after I leave because I love training! He said it might start next transfer though so we'll see. Either way will be fine. :)

That is so awesome to hear that Alexa is going into the MTC this week! She will love it! I am super excited for her and am a little jealous that she is just now starting the best year and a half of her life. She will be a great missionary!!! :)

Well thats about it for the week. Love you all so much! :) 

~Hermana Layton

I Am Grateful For the Miracles I Am Able to See Each Day

Anaheim District

Hello everyone!

This week has been great! I already love Fullerton. The ward is really small but the area is great and there are so many amazing people here.

We did a ton of finding and we are looking forward to teaching them this coming week and finding more people.

The elders just found a lady named ________ but she lives in our area so they passed her to us.

She is very ready for the gospel in her life right now. She came to church and loved it! She is super happy to have sisters teaching her because she thinks that her daughter will feel more comfortable now.

She wants her son to learn too. She accepted a baptism date for the 19th of May and seems really excited. Her family is very Catholic but she said that she knows this is where she needs to be. We still have to teach almost all of the lessons so we will be praying that all goes well. 

Well the new missionaries came in on Tuesday. Guess who my companion is! Sister Nnah! Katie Stevens friend. :) (P.S. could you get Katies address and email? Sister Nnah wants it and doesn't have it. Thanks!) She is so cute and fun! 

Sisters Layton, Nnah and Budge

Talking about the new missionaries... I had like three different sisters who are new come up to me and tell me that they read my whole blog because it was the first thing that came up when they typed in Anaheim California in google. How does that even happen!? I don't know whether to think its weird or cool. Haha. 

Anyways, I am loving it here. My companions are so great and this work is amazing. I am grateful for everything I am learning out here and the miracles I am able to see each day. I love my Savior and I love this Gospel. It really does change lives when people allow it to. Well, sorry, I don't have have a lot to say this week. Love you all!

Mom, sister Budges knee is ok now. She tore her ACL and meniscus but had surgery and now its healing. We can't run or anything but she is fine walking on it. She can start running towards the end of June.

Also, I haven't had like any time at all, but hopefully next week I will be able to go through the info that I need for my license. Thanks for everything! Love you :)

~Hermana Layton

Now Serving in Fullerton

Hello everyone!

I have a lot to tell you this week and not a lot of time so I will try to get it all in. Well, I don't know if I told you but transfers were today and there were a lot of changes. I got a call Thursday night to be a trainer again. I am super excited! Saturday we got our transfer calls and I am now in Fullerton! We get to open a new area! They have never had sisters in the ward and we are so excited to be here. Also, sister Budge came back to the mission and she is my companion again so we will be in a trio. 

It's so good to have her back here in the mission. :) It was hard leaving Anaheim because we had a lot of good things going on with our investigators but I know that sister Rollins and Morley will take care of them. They are great missionaries so I'm not worried. I said goodbye to the members on Sunday which was sad, but I am just happy that my mission is so close to home and I know that I will be able to visit. It definitely makes the goodbyes easier. I know Fullerton is where I am supposed to be now and I am so excited to meet the ward and people here!

We went on exchanges this week and I got to go to my old area in the city of Orange. It was so awesome to be back there! We had dinner with one of the members also were able to visit one of the less actives that I worked with while I was there. While we were knocking doors we found a girl who invited us in. She was super nice but is going through a lot of trials right now. We had a very powerful lesson and she is really looking for the gospel in her life right now. She is going to get baptized but we passed her to the singles ward Elders and they are teaching her now. They said that she is really progressing and doing well over there. It was a great experience to be able to teach her and see her desire to change. 

_______ is doing well. (Note: Section edited out due to personal content.)

When we went to see him we talked about what he needs to do to get ready for baptism and he seemed like he really wanted to do it this time. The sisters want to make sure he really has a testimony, and they still have a few things to teach but hopefully all goes well. 

They are also still teaching ________. We had a pretty cool lesson with her this week. We asked her how she felt when she came to church and she said that she felt an amazing peace and felt like she was out of this world. She said that she felt very calm. Well we also met her husband this week but he doesn't like us. He wasn't happy that _________ and the boys want to come to our church and he didn't want to listen to us. Hopefully ________ will still want to come with the boys but we'll see what happens.

Saturday we had a big service project and we did all kinds of things, We painted, dusted, raked, picked up leaves, and pulled a bunch of weeds. It was actually tons of fun! I was able to see a lot of members from Orange and other missionaries that I haven't seen in awhile  The mission is so great!! I love it!!! Ok, I have to go before the computer kicks me off. 

Love you all! BYE!

Progress

Hello fam!

This morning we got to go to the temple and it was amazing! Last night right before bed I realized that since I lost my wallet I didn't have my temple recommend  and our session was at 8:00 this morning. Well, I talked with President and we figured it all out so that I could go.

I learn so much each time I go, and I love the way it feels being inside the house of the Lord. I am grateful that we are able to go every once in awhile.  Afterward we went to the Calls for a zone lunch and it was so goood! I forgot what real food tastes like! Haha... I really like Mexican food but we just eat it every day so the change was nice.

This week was great. On Monday we went Lazer tagging and mini golfing with the zone. The Lazer tagging was really weird because we had to stay with our companions the whole time and since we were in a trio it was really easy for people to see us. We had a blast though and it was a great zone activity.

Our investigators are doing well. ________ came to church again but left early because he was so tired. He worked nights, but just got his schedule changed so he has earlier shifts now. Hopefully that will help him so that he won't be so tired during church. 

________ is doing really well. We were able to meet with her "husband" this week. We just found out that they are not married but they want to get married and have been trying to. I guess the problem is that _____________________. I don't really understand it completely but it has something to do with that. We have some ideas to try help them out but we will see what happens.

Their kids still love when we come over and are so cute! This Sunday they couldn't come to church because the baby has bronchitis and looked so sick. They wanted to come though and are planning on it once she is feeling better. They are progressing really well. We are going to have to move their baptism date, but hopefully their boy can still get baptized soon even if they have to wait a little bit. 

This week we went over to _________ to see if there was anything that we could do for her. She let us fold laundry and help the kids with homework which was awesome because the people here hardly ever let us serve them. Afterwards she taught us how to make tortillas which was way cool! She has opened up a lot since we've started teaching her. The members have really welcomed her into the ward. We love working with her and watching that changes in her life.

I know I say this all of the time, but, the mission is the best. There is nothing better than being out here doing the Lords work. I love being a missionary. I am just so grateful for the opportunities I've had and for the people I have met. I love this gospel more than anything. Well I hope y'all have a great week!

Sister Layton

Help From the Neighborhood Kids

Hello my dearest family,

This week has been so crazy. To start the week off we had our zone training which was great! Tuesday we had zone meeting where the zone leaders teach the same outline that was taught in the training.

Usually I just get to sit there both days and listen but they asked me to teach part of it this time since I was in the training. I still don't love to talk in front of big groups but hey it has definitely gotten easier since I've been out here. I just talked about the story of the brother of Jared and it turned out ok. 

Anyways, thursday night something sooo funny happened. We spend a lot of time in this complex and have made friends with a lot of the kids there. Every time we come to the area the kids  run up to us to get suckers or stickers and then they follow us around everywhere we go. Well, Thursday night we were talking to a lady at the door and talking about how important her family and her children are to our Heavenly Father. Right then about 20 kids ran up to us and surrounded us in the middle of our contact. They started hugging us and asking for stickers and candy. It was pretty funny but we were able to make a return appointment with her.

Some of the Neighborhood Kids

We have a few pics with all of the kids. If I have time I will try to send some today. They are so cute! 

Lets see what else... A few days ago we laid down for about 20 min during our lunch hour and set the alarm on the microwave to wake us up. Well the power went out when we were sleeping and the alarm didn't go off. Lets just say I got a nice nap... we woke up like an hour later. I felt bad that we slept so long but it was sooo nice!! Well the power came back on, but that night it went out again. This time we had our phone alarm so we woke up on time but our apartment was pitch black and so we got ready in the dark with a little flashlight. Then we realized that our food in the fridge was all warm cause it had been out all night. It was back on when we came home later though which was good. 

Fish Dinner With Eyeballs

Last night I ate one of the most interesting meals of my mission. It was fish and shrimp but they had eyes and our food was looking at us which was kinda weird. It tasted good though.Conferences were great but I missed a lot of it sadly. We went on Saturday and my companion ended up getting really sick and so we had to leave. She was feeling better the next day so we were able to go on Sunday but we still missed a lot of it.

Our investigator Edith and her cute little kids wanted to come and watch but when we went to their house in the morning they weren't answering the door and so we thought that they weren't going to come. Well they called us after the first talk and said that they were ready and that they were in the back room so they didn't hear us knock on their door. We grabbed a member to go pick them up and they came. We walked into conferences right as President Monson was speaking which was cool. 

They had a lunch with the ward between sessions and Edith fit in with a lot of the sisters really well. She felt really welcome. I was excited to watch the second session but her two little boys sat by us and were kinda distracting. That, and the fact that it was in spanish made it hard to pay attention but from what I did hear it was great! :) Her baptism date is for next week but we might move it a week back to have time to teach everything. Last night there was a baptism and we were inviting our investigators. Two of them, Aldo and Anastacio were able to make it and they definitely felt the spirit. Jorge is still doing well. It has just been really hard to meet with him because his schedule is crazy. Keep him in your prayers! Great things are happening in our area right now and like I have said before I am so grateful for the hand of the Lord in this work! We wouldn't be able to do it without his help.

Sister Layton Knocked on the Door of Aunt Elsie a Few Weeks Ago!!!

Dad, Saturday we went to McDonalds and there was a famous basketball player there but I don't know which one, but I'm convinced that he is one... I think he might have been from the lakers. Your favorite team.

Hehe. Just thought you might want to know.

Mom, no I didn't see Kelsey. And I have not had a lot of time to email friends because the library computers kick us off after an hour. But I try sometimes. :)

Hello there!

So much has happened this week, I don't even know where to start. On Tuesday we had the sisters meeting and it was great! President and sister Bowen said that the church is giving us some news about more changes with the sister missionaries. They didn't have all of the information from Salt lake yet but told us that it most likely has something to do with leadership positions for sisters. Well on Wednesday we had district meeting and the zone leaders asked all of the sisters to meet, and said that they had a letter from Salt Lake.

Since our mission is the smallest proselyting mission and since we had 9 different languages, they want us to be a test group of sisters to serve two year missions. They said that we have the option to stay two years or not, and I have thought about it a lot. Well, I have decided to stay here on the mission! I will be coming home the 7th of January 2014. It's crazy they sisters are able to do that now. 

Ok, april fools. I'm still coming home July 16th. Haha.. I had to do something for april fools day right? That would have been sweet though. Well, they did say that they have information for sisters but haven't told us what yet. We should be finding out soon. The sisters meeting was so much fun. I use to know all of the sister in the mission, but there are so many new ones now, and a bunch more coming in soon. It's pretty awesome to see how many new sister are coming out and how excited they are about the work.

This week was super busy. _______ is still doing alright with the word of wisdom. He isn't drinking at all anymore and he has gone from 1 pack of cigarettes every few days to just one a week. He has a desire to quit completely so hopefully soon he can stop. We found a lot of new people again this week and some more great potentials. We are still teaching _______ and she is doing well. She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday but she has been meeting with us almost every day and seems really interested. We talked more about her baptism and she seems to be looking forward to it. We had such an awkward moment with her though. She brought her little baby over and tried to have us hold her but we said we couldn't because we had rules. I guess we didn't explain ourselves very well because the next time we came back she asked us why our religion doesn't let us hold children when Jesus Christ brought all of the children to him and held them and loved them. We felt so bad. She thought that we didn't like kids or something. We explained it to her and the rules that we have as missionaries then told her how much we love children. She understood after that and was herself again. Her two little sons always sit in on the lessons and love reading the book of mormon with us. I love teaching them! :)

Lets see what else... a couple of nights ago our fire alarm went off. It has happened before and usually its nothing so we weren't to worried about it. Well we went outside and there was smoke so we hurried downstairs. It was super close to our apartment and we talked to a lady who was right under it and she said that there was a huge explosion. There were about 8 fire trucks and police cars everywhere.

We were outside for a while and finally we found out that the fire was out even though the alarms were going off. We asked if we could just go back to our room because it was getting pretty late. They made a fireman escort us to our room to make sure everything was ok. Well to make a long story short there was an explosion and then a drug bust. Yeah it was crazy but we are all alive and the fire didn't do anything to our apartment. The fire was on the top floor, and I guess the water went down to all of the apartments under it and it was a pretty big mess but luckily we were a couple over. Anyways, thats my exciting story for the week. 

Love you all! :)

~Sister Layton

Sr Breitenstein Heads Home

Hello my dearest family!

We had another great week! This week I was able to go on exchanges with sister Breitenstein. She goes home from the mission in a week even though it will be right in the middle of a transfer, because she got an extension. It was fun to be able to work with her again though, but so weird to think that she is leaving. I will be the oldest Spanish sister missionary in the mission now, and I'm training the two youngest! Haha. They are really the greatest though and I am so blessed to be able to work with both of them. We still haven't had any time to get bikes, but we have some time planned today to go find some, so hopefully this week we can leave the car at home. The weather has been so nice this week and I got my first little sunburn. Curtis, I will be tanner than you when I get home. That's my goal anyways. :)

Well our investigators have been doing great. There are so many different people being put in out path. It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord in this work every day. We found three families this week and they have the cutest little kids! Two of the families accepted baptism dates and we are still working with the other one. The hardest thing has been getting investigators to come to church, because they always tell us they are going to come and end up canceling last minute. We find them rides and talk with them about the blessing that come from attending church but it's still hard to get them there. Any ideas that might help? :) 

Well, _______ is still doing great. We taught him the word of wisdom, and he has a problem with everything except for tea. He was so willing to give it up though and when we met with him again he told us how he was about to smoke but then he thought of the word of wisdom and threw his cigarette away. We also talked about baptism again and he didn't understand why he had to wait. He wanted to get baptized yesterday but we have to wait a couple of weeks to make sure he is good with the word of wisdom. Also I don't remember if I already told you about ______, but we passed him to the singles ward because we thought that he would do a lot better there. He went to institute and they said he loved it. He still seemed like he wants to get baptized and I am so excited for him. Also we haven't been able to find _______. I think she is avoiding us, so she wont be getting baptized next week but hopefully we find her soon and see if she still wants to learn. Well, that's about it for the week. Love you all!

So I didn't find my wallet this week. :/ No big deal though. Yes, I am the driver but we have permission for one of my companions to drive until I get the temporary license. They actually just called me today and said that my new missionary card and temporary license came in so I will be getting it tomorrow. Wahoo! Thanks for taking care of all that mom, sorry it was probably such a pain. I still kinda hope my wallet will show us somewhere, but we'll see. Love you all so much!

have a great week!

He Knows Jesus Is Our Savior

My dearest family,

We have had such a great week! Sister Morley came in on Tuesday from the MTC and so now we are in a trio. She is from Utah and just turned 19 in December. It has been crazy, but I love working with both of my companions. 

We taught ______ more this week and he is doing really well. He came to church and even bore his testimony in priesthood about how he knows that Jesus is our Savior and that he is so grateful for this chance to learn about this church. I am so grateful to be able to teach him and for his desire to learn. We are teaching him the word of wisdom tonight and we will see how that goes, because we already know he has problems with it. He has a ton of faith though and I know that he can follow it with the help of Heavenly Father. 

We also are teaching a guy named ________. He is progressing really well and is very smart. In the lessons he always asks really good questions. He accepted a baptismal date this week for the 14th of April, but we are probably going to pass him to the singles ward because we think he will progress better there. He came to church though and really liked it. 

We are still teaching ________ but some of the appointments have fallen through and she can't come to church because she works on Sundays. She still says that she is going to try to get off and we are planning on teaching the Sabbath day soon. She is still planning on getting baptized on the 31st if all goes well. We tried talking with her daughter more and she is not interested at all, but her grandchildren love when we come over. 

Lets see who else... there is a less active in our ward and she is friends with _______'s family. They are having them over for dinner soon and invited us to come which is great! Hopefully we will be able to teach ________ again if her family is OK with it. 

Well, I don't even remember all that happened this week so sorry this is probably a lame email. Everything is great here though. I love my companions, love the area, and love the people so much!!! I am so blessed to be out here!

They are Reading the Book of Mormon and Praying Every Day!

Hello everyone!

So we've had a great week but it has been super crazy here. So today we had transfers. I am staying in my same area and am still training sister Rollins, but tomorrow a new sister comes in from the MTC and I will be training her too. I have no idea how I am going to do that especially since they will be at different spots in the training program, but I'm sure it will be great. I am looking forward to meeting her tomorrow! Also I have had a lot of questions in letters about being the coordinating sister. Basically I go to a few different meetings and then I go on a few exchanges to different areas each transfer. I pretty much just spend the day and night with a different sister and make sure everything is going well in their area. If they are having a hard time I can plan more exchanges to help them out. That's about it though. It's fun getting to know the sisters more and spend time in different areas.

The work has been going well for the most part. It was sad though because _______ was doing so well and then her parents got really mad. They said that she is not allowed to talk to us anymore because they are in a different religion. Her friend thinks that she just needs a little bit of time for her family to calm down and then hopefully we can come back and teach. I really want to teach her family because I think it would make things a lot easier for her, but for now we are going to have to take a break. 

I don't know if I have already told you about _________, but he is so amazing and accepted a baptism date but he has started to have a few doubts so we are a little bit worried about him, but are praying that we we be able to teach to his needs and help him out. We are also still teaching _________ but we changed her baptism date to the 31st of march because she needs a little bit more time. She is great and is progressing but the problem is that she has to work on Sundays, so she can never come to church. She is trying to get next Sunday off though so hopefully she will be able to! Her grandchildren are so cute!! They are reading the Book of Mormon and marking verses that they like. They are also praying every day and love to pray at the end of our lessons. I love being able to teach them and see how excited they are to learn. :)

Anyways, mom to answer your questions, we have not been on bikes yet. I have a bike that I am borrowing from one of the elders but we haven't had any time to get a bike for my companion yet because our days have been crazy. We are going to see if our new companion wants to get a bike too so hopefully we will be able to soon. :) Also, you asked about my companion. She is great! Yes we still have to do language study together every day. She learned how to write in Spanish but never really had to learn to speak in school. She is doing really well with the language though. We have so much in common and I love working with her. She is a hard worker which I love! 

About the weather, it has warmed up a lot! California weather is so great! :) Well I think that I answered all of your questions. Thanks for all of the letters and emails. By the way we are allowed to email friends now. The first presidency wrote a letter about it. They give us extra time to email though so that we still have the same amount of time to write our families. 

ERIC I GOT YOUR LETTER AND IT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK! THANKS FOR WRITING ME LIL BRO. l LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS. I WILL BE WRITING YOU BACK SOON. Also, Elder Brooks says hi. He is in my zone so I see him quite a bit. He thinks you are a really cool guy.

Must Be Teaching the Pope

Hola!!!

Well the computer room has been full all day and there was just one computer so my companion just finished but I only have a few min. So sorry but this is going to be a really short email this week.. 

Ahh so much happened this week though! We have had so many amazing people put in our path and this week. I was in one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. It is amazing to be able to see the hand of the Lord in this work and see the miracles each day! I am so grateful for these experiences. This week we taught a girl named ________ and the spirit was so strong in the lesson! At the end she was crying and said she wants to be a member of this church. She didn't accept a date because she is really worried about her family. They are very catholic and they weren't super happy when they found out that she was talking to us.

She really wants to share what she has learned and felt with her family and see if they will listen to us. Also her best friend is a member and she sat in the lesson with us. It was really powerful when she bore her testimony. I know that members are so important in this work and I am so grateful when they are willing to help. 

We have also been working more with __________. She accepted a baptism date for the 17th of March and is doing really well. I was able to go on a couple of exchanges this week. Some of the sisters have been pretty stressed out so I hope that the exchanges helped them a little bit. I love working with all of these sisters and learning from them! I really want the time to slow down out here. 

We had president interviews this week. I asked him if I could extend my mission and he said that it depends. If I do I will only be able to stay out three extra weeks, but it would be in the middle of a transfer and so it might be better if I didn't. Anyways I guess I just really have to make the best out of the time I have left! 

Anyways, funny story from this week... so we were teaching this guy but it was at his friends house. He accepted a baptism date and we were super excited for him. Well at the end out his lesson he gave us his address. A couple of days later we went to find him and when we were looking for his address we drove up to a huge catholic church. Yeah I think he was trying to tell us that he wasn't interested... that was just a really funny way to tell us.

Haha!! Anyways sorry this is so short. Love you all so much!!! Have a great week! :)

~Sister Layton

The First Group of Nineteen Year Old Sisters

My dearest family,

We have had a great week! Sister Rollins is my new companion and she is from Washington DC. We picked her up on Tuesday from the mission home. She turned 19 in September! So crazy!... There were four Spanish sisters that came out early and two of them are already fluent in Spanish  Anyway, sister Rollins took a lot of Spanish in school and so she knows quite a bit and was in the advanced class in the MTC. She loves to play soccer and we have a lot in common. She also likes to run so we get good work outs in the mornings. I have really enjoyed working with her this week. Tonight I am going on exchanges with another one of the new sisters (Sister Corona) so that should be fun. She is from Texas and is fluent in Spanish  and she's 22 years old.

Well, the first night that sister Rollins was here we found a man to teach. He accepted a date to be baptized and said that he was going to come to church, but he wouldn't answer the phone Sunday morning and we still don't know why he didn't come. We are hoping to be able to find him again soon and hope that he is not avoiding us. We also found this guy on the street the other night who was in a rush and didn't seem interested but before he left, we asked him if he knew of anyone who was going through a hard time. 

He told us to go visit his mom and said that she would want to listen to us. Well we did and she was awesome! Her name is _________ and her two little grandkids sat in on the lesson. They were so excited to learn and really want to come to church. We are hopefully going to be able to teach their mom too because it sounded like she was interested as well. We have only met with them once though so we will see how things go. 

We have been doing a lot of finding this week because it is a pretty new area for both of us. I love it though and am so happy to be here!! The other day the assistants told us that they almost put us on bikes but they found a elders car that we could use... well, we decided that we really want to be on bike anyways and so they told us that it would be good because it saves a lot of miles on the car. My district leader and his companion said that we can borrow their bikes which will be awesome! We have been pretty much walking everywhere anyways so now we will be able to get around a lot faster! I'm excited!

That is cool that they are opening so many new missions. They are opening a new mission in Irvine California and we are not sure what will happen with our mission. I'm sure there will have to be some changes but we just don't know what yet. I think that all of these changes with missionaries right now is really cool. 

I am so grateful to be out here at this time and be part of this amazing work. I love it soooooo much!! I have seen so many blessings in my life for being here and wouldn't change this experience for anything! The gospel is true and I know it without a doubt. Love you all so much! :)

I Will Go Before Your Face

Hello family!

A lot has happened this week. Sister Minert and I got a call Thursday night from the assistants to train. I guess they had some sisters coming in early and so sister Minert is taking the west Anaheim area and I am taking the south. We haven't spent a ton of time over there and so I still have to get to know the area. It is actually a big area too. They said the sisters might already be fluent in Spanish and that's why they came out early, or they at least were in the intermediate or advanced class in the MTC. They are already in the mission home and we are supposed to pick them up today at four. 

I am changing apartments to an Elders apartment. I started moving some stuff in there today. Lets just say I will have to do a lot of cleaning... haha. I still will be in the same ward. Disneyland is in my area still and so I will get to see the fireworks every night. I am looking forward to all of the changes but am also a little bit nervous. 

Being the coordinating sister has been fun. So far I am just doing exchanges with the Spanish sisters and luckily there aren't a lot of problems so it has been nice. I actually think I learn more from the sisters I go on exchanges with than they learn from me. It's good to be able to be in different areas and get to see how different missionaries work. 

This week we had stake conference. I don't remember their names, but there were two members from the 70 there that spoke and it was really good. We also had zone conference this week and I learned so much there! It was all about having the faith to find and also working with members. I am excited to use what I learned there in the work. 

A few nights ago we were knocking doors and  had a lesson with a lady at the door and as we were praying another lady walked my and went into her apartment. About 10 seconds later she came back out and told us that she couldn't walk away from us because she knew that God sent us there. She said that when she walked by she saw a light over us and it wasn't the light that was in the hall. She said that it felt like there was someone else there with us and that she wanted to know more about our message. It was a really cool experience. 

We talked to her the other night though and she said that she cant talk to us anymore because her husband was really mad and was not happy that she wanted to talk to us. She seemed like she still really wanted to but couldn't. It was really sad when she told us that we can't come back. I was excited to teach her too.. maybe some time down the road she will find the missionaries again. 

Let see what else... I got separated from my companion today which was really weird but funny. We were trying to go up the elevator and for some reason the door wouldn't open all the way so we decided to just squeeze in. Well I went in first and as I turned around my companion was starting to come through but the door closed and I started going up. It was funny... but I guess it might not sound as funny unless you are a missionary... but hey we got a good laugh out of it. 

Well that's about all I can think of for the week. Have a great week! Love you all! :)

I Love Being in Lessons When the Spirit is So Strong

Hola familia!

Well it's been another great week here in Anaheim! Disneyland is right in the middle of our area now and when we drive home sometimes we get to drive right under the Disneyland fireworks. It's pretty cool. 

On the way to church this week right when we left our area I saw a street and realized that it is the street that uncle Harold lives on. He lives so close to my borders!! I am so tempted to go knock on his door! That would be awesome  He probably wouldn't know who I was though and might now want to talk when he sees the missionaries. Maybe I can go with the English missionaries and introduce them to him.. That's the only excuse I can think of to go over there. Haha. :) 

Anyways, things are going good here. I set up my exchanges this week so I will be starting those soon. We had a zone meeting again and they talked a lot about the exchanges we will be going on. I excited for them! Right now we are still teaching la familia _______. They are doing so well! The mom has opened up so much and the dad has always been really open.

They have the best questions and have a sincere desire to know the truth. This week we taught two guys named _______ and _______. They both accepted baptism dates, but when we came back Jesus didn't want to listen anymore. ________ was open to listening still but it seems like he is having a lot of doubts now. Hopefully he will read and pray so he can get rid of those doubts. There was a baptism picture on his table. We asked him about it, and I guess his son was baptized into the church a couple of years ago which was pretty awesome. We also are teaching a lady names ______. She is amazing. She really wants to be baptized but cant right now because she is married to someone from Mexico and is living with another guy here. She has been trying to get a divorce so that she can get married to the guy she is with now but her husband wont sign papers. She has a very strong testimony and we are praying that she will be able to get everything figured out soon.

We also met a lady named ______ this week. We went in to teach but didn't really have much time at all so we were just going to share a scripture with her. We said the opening prayer, and before the end she was bawling. She opened up a lot to us and the spirit was really strong in the lesson.  I love being in lessons when the spirit is so strong and you know they are feeling it too! It's the best! 

Lets see... OK crazy story... We were teaching this guy named _______ and he was acting really interested (yeah, he was interested all right). He would always give us referrals and so it was really good. Well this week when we went to teach him he shook my hand and then tried kissing me!! I squealed and was like NOOO! But then he did it anyways... it was kinda on my hair because I was turning away trying to avoid it... I couldn't do anything about it. I never want to go back to that area! Uhh... so awkward! Well that's about it for the week. Love you all!!!! Have a great week! :)