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