It Really Is Life Changing

At a Ward Party

Hola familia!!

This has been such a crazy day and week. I do not have much time to email but I will try to get everything in. We moved into our new apt this Friday and it is in a different complex as before. I feel really spoiled as a missionary because it is very nice. I am happy to be away from the cockroaches! 

We have a gym but are still waiting on permission from the president to see if we can use it. It would be really nice though. They have a computer room, so now we dont have to drive half way accross our area to email.. and they let us print for free! woo! So dad I didnt have time to read your email but I printed it out so that I can read it today! 

We also have a washer and dryer in our appartment which saves us so much time. I love it. But who knows I could easily get transfered soon and have to move again. Haha. 

The first night that we moved into our apt. the fire alarm went off in the compex and we went outside with about 100 other people and just waited and watched firemen run around the building to make sure everything was ok. I think someone might have just pulled the alarm though cause there wasnt a fire. We were thankful that our apt didn't burn down the first day we got there! This Sunday we taught Relief Society. It went well, but it was a very different lesson than the ones we are used to teaching. We talked about missonary work. :) 

Our investigators are doing well but it is so hard getting them to church. We are trying to find out more ways to help them. This week I have started reading Jesus el Cristo. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

Sister Layton with kids in the Ward

He knows absolutely everything we are going through and understands us. It is amazing that we can be forgiven when we make mistakes. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be out here serving my Heavenly Father. There is nothing else I would rather be doing. I am so excited for Eric and all of the cousins who are preparing to go soon, it really is life changing and I love every single minute of it. 

I wish I had time to write more today but we have to go. Next week I should have more time but it might be early in the day. Oh, and tell Curtis that when we went over for a dinner appointment there were a few little kids there and I saw a rubix cube on the couch. I did it and the girl freaked out. I thought of Curtis cause he has been asking me if I have been able to do it to any kids yet. :) I love you all! :) :):) :) :)

~Hermana Layton

Six Month Mark - Already!

Sisters Breitenstein & Layton at a Ward Activity - apparently held in Texas

Hello my dearest family!

We have had a great week. We have been trying to figure out new ideas for finding people so we decided to start teaching English classes. We are planning on doing them 2 days a week starting on the 18th. 

We will start the classes with a prayer and spiritual thought, and then end with a prayer. This Sunday we started inviting the members and asking them to bring friends and we've also been puting flyers all around our area. A couple people have called asking about them, and we have seen people pull our flyers down and take them, or read them and put the number in their phone. Missionaries have done this before and lots of them have had success stories, but others have tried it and it hasn't worked out in their area. We are going to see how many people come for the first few times and see if it is worth our time. We will see what happens though. The sisters from another area sent us their lesson plans that we are planning on using. :) 

My 4th of July was great! It was just like every other day and our exchanges got changed so I wasn't by the Disneyland fireworks for the 4th... but guess what.. the 4th of July was my 6 month mark! Woah, time flies! I really think the time needs to slow down. I just love being out here so much. 

This Saturday I went on exchanges with the sign language sisters. It was so cool watching them communicate. I learned how to pray in sign language, but thats about it. It was a fun day. 

Sister Breitenstein and I get to be companions again this transfer. I am so excited! She is the driver this time though. They made a new Spanish zone, so we have 3 zones now instead of 2. Ours is really small now. Our President asked for some more Spanish speaking missionaries so it will grow eventually. 

The other good news is that we have 2 more sisters in out zone now! Wooo! Growing up with all brothers, I always wanted sisters... and being around so many Elders all the time, has really made me want sisters even more! Haha! 

We are changing apartments this Friday. I am so happy. The Cockroaches are nasty. I was sitting on the couch and a big one crawled accross me. I screamed so loud and think I really scared my companion. Haha! But lets just say I am so grateful that we are moving. We are going to have washers and dryers in the new apt! Wahoo! :) Anyways, thanks everyone for the letters. Love you all. Thank you Nennemans for the cookies! :)

Also, dad I just have to tell you, everyone loved that "Biggest piece of Sacrament bread" pic that you sent me. Too funny. :) Oh, and just one question... How is Ginger? :) Haha... Love you all so much! :)

The Gospel Can Change Lives For the Better



Sister Layton at a Ward Party

Hola familia!

The sisters activity this week was a lot of fun. It is nice to hang out with sisters sometimes since our zone and distrect is all Elders.

We did a lot of tracting this week because so many of our appointments fell through. We had 17 set appointments this week with some pretty awesome people, and all of them fell through except for two. It makes me sad because these people don't know what they are missing out on.

The gospel can change lives for the better and so many people dont understand how great is is until they try living it. We changed the appointments for some of them and the others just weren't home when we went. Mom, you asked about the lady who had a dream about us. We went back this week to visit her but she was walking out as we got there. We are planning on going back soon but we haven't taught her again since then. 

Sisters Activity

We were planing on going by Sunday to try to get her to come to church but we got a phone call of an old lady who wanted us to come talk to her friend. She said that her friend was asking her about the Book of Mormon and wanted to know more about it. We happened to be right around the corner when she called so we told her we could stop by right then. We thought it was going to be a house and that she was talking about her neighbor but it was a rehabilitation center, and this elderly lady was talking about her nurse. The nurse had asked her about the Book of Mormon when she was reading it so she wanted to call us. When we got there we gave her nurse a Book of Mormon but she didn't really want anything to do with it so she walked out and the old lady started talking to us. We couldn't get out because she was talking so much and we didn't want to be rude. I have to figure out how to just tell people when we have to go though because we ended up not having time to get any of our investigators before church which was really sad.

My companion and I have like 4 old ladies in their 80's that we are teaching right now and we dont really know what do do about it because they just agree with everything that we say but I dont think they really understand much at all. I think they just like having people there to talk to them.

Sister Layton With Local Children

This week I am going on exchanges with the sign language sisters. They cover the entire mission, and I have heard that it is a completely different experience than working in the spanish areas. I'm excited for that. I wont be with my companion for the 4th of July, but I will be pretty close to the Disneyland fireworks which will be fun.

Mom to answer your questions, it is really hot here but I am not complaining. You know how I love the heat. :) You asked if you think I will be with Hermana Breitenstein for a while.. we have no idea whats going to happen but hopefully we will be together for a while. We have one week until transfers so we will find out soon if we are going to be together for another one. Hopefully we will though. And yes, training has been over for a while now. It is nice just having one hour of companion study instead of two.

It sounds like Curtis had a great birthday. Mom, way to beat the guys at bowling. We did that for our zone activity a couple of weeks ago, it was pretty fun. We usually still play soccer for the activities. I love it so much!

I heard that that Olympics are starting soon. Are you going to watch them? Oh and also, there are cockroaches all over my appartment. It's nasty. Haha. We have had the bug guys come spray our appartment but both times the cockroaches doubles in amount and trippled in size. Ewww! Haha! Oh and mom, I made banana bread this week. Yum. Good bye my dearest family. :)

Love, Hermana Tarde Sobre

She Had a Dream of Two White Girls...

Hola familia. It was another busy week. We were knocking doors one day this week and this lady came out. She didn't seem interested at all but she listened to what we had to say. We came back the next morning to talk to her again and she said she had just woke up and didn't really have time to listen. Right when we were about to leave she said we could sit down for a little bit.

Sisters Breitenstien and Layton at the Newport Beach Temple

We taught her lesson one and towards the end she stopped us and said that the night we knocked on her door and this whole time we were teaching she thought we looked so familar but she couldnt figure out from where. But then she said that she just figured it out. As we were teaching she was facing the road and she saw a firetruck and two police cars drive by.

Then she said that she remembered where she saw us. She said that the night before we came she had a dream that two white girls, one a little bit taller and one just a little bit shorter, came to her door and were talking to her. In her dream she remembered  sitting outside with them and watching a firetruck and two police cars drive by. It was kinda weird, but hey, she was way more open after that. We wants us to come back now and teach her more. We will see what happens with it all.

We also had another great lesson with a friend of one of our recent converts. She wants go get baptized but still won't commit to a date. She wants to talk to her husband and see if he wants to learn too. They have four kids and she got excited when we told her about the different classes that we have at church for the kids. I am looking forward to teaching them more.

Zone at the Temple

This week we were able to go to the temple with our zone. It was so great.

Tomorrow we have another sisters meeting, so I am looking forward to that.

My companion is so awesome and I am learning so much from her. I love the people we are working with and I love being out here. I know that the church is true and I feel so blessed to be able to share this knowledge with others.

Bowling Zone Activity

I am so glad that Eric is loving BYU. Mom, hopefully you can go out with the missionaries soon. I love and miss you! Sounds like Sean is doing good. Dad and Curty, you two are Gems. :) Haha.. I love and miss you all so much. Have a great week!

Setting and Meeting Goals

Dad! Happy late fathers day! I hope it was a great one. I wish I could have call home like we did on mothers day.

We have had a very busy week. We had zone conference and they focused a lot on finding new people and sharing the messege of the restoration. I learned a lot and it got me excited to go find more people. One of my teachers in the MTC taught us the importance of setting goals and writing them down and then doing all that you can to accomplish them.

We made a goal this week to share 10 Books of Mormon and figured out what we needed to do each day so that we could meet our goal. I know that when we set goals and work hard, Heavenly Father helps us accomplish them.

Each day in our prayers we have been asking for help with our goal. This week we were able to find 7 new investigators, and shared 18 Books of Mormon. I know that Heavenly Father led us to these people that were willing to listen. We found some families to teach, and I am so excited!

My companion is the best. She helps me out a lot, especially with Spanish. It has been hard because we speak english most of the time except for when we are in lessons. She is so great though and she's always looking for ways to help me!

This week we get to go to the temple with our zone. I can't wait. I loved being able to go every week when I was in Provo. I love the spirit there. Well sorry this is short. That is about everything that happened this week. Love you all. :)

He Answers Our Prayers

Hola familia,

Like always, it has been another great week! I love working with Hermana Breitenstein.

Mom to answer your question, yes we do have some new investigators that we found this week, but they are not progressing yet because we have only met with them once. We have appointments with them this week.

We only have one right now who is progressing. We had an awesome lesson this week with him. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and loves it when we come over but he works on Sundays and he can never come to church. We have invited him to talk to his boss a few times to try and get work off but he kept telling us that when God wanted him to come to church he would give him Sundays off. Well this last week we talked about acting on his faith. We talked about how faith without works is dead and he couldn't just wait for something to happen but he needed to act. He said that he had heard that before. You could tell that everything just clicked when we started talking about it. He got a smile on his face and said he knows that he needs to act on his faith.

This week he talked to his boss. He wasn't able to get off this Sunday but his boss told him that next Sunday he can. He called us and told us that he will be at church next Sunday. We are so excited! I will be praying that he will be able to make it. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

Last week my companion and I made a goal that we would hand out 7 Book of Mormons each week. We prayed each day to have his help to find people who were ready for the message of the restoration and who would be interested in the Book of Mormon. When we had dinner with the members we invited them to pray that as we went out that night to tract that we would find someone we could share this message with. The first night we did that we handed out 4 Book of Mormons, taught two lessons and found two new investigators. We continued doing this each night and were led to people who wanted to listen. By the end of the week we had handed out 14 Book of Mormons and have return appointments with many of them! I know that it was because of the faith and they prayers of the members, and I know that it was only through the help of our Heavenly Father. :)

Dad you asked about the food. We almost always eat Mexican food, but this week we were able to have Salmon at the stake presidents house! It was the best. I really like Mexican food but they always try to feed me way more then I can eat!

I am looking forward to this week. We have zone conference again for my second time. The last one was a lot of fun and the talks were great! Anyway, I need to go write to the President. I love you all sooo soo much!

Hope you have a great week.

Love Hermana Tarde Sobre

Excited For Eric

Hermana Layton in SoCal

Woah Eric I never thought you would go to Guatemala. That is so awesome! Holy cow, I am so excited for you!!!!! You are going to love it so much. I am pretty sure that is where one of my companions from the MTC went. That is seriously so cool!!! :) :)

Eric I am so proud of you and the example you are to our family. The mission will change your life! All of the missionaries around me know where you are going too cause I just got super excited when I read it. :) I know that is exactly where the Lord needs you, and there are people there waiting for you.

That is pretty awesome that you will go to the CCM there. My companion said that when she was in the CCM in Guatemala she couldn't understand anything but learned way faster there then the Provo one becauseshe didn't really have another choice. You should take mission prep at BYU. :)

Anyway, this week has been probably the busiest week of my mission. My new district is awesome! Three of our Elders left and we got three different ones. Two of them are on bikes. :/ I feel bad because the areas are pretty big.

I am so blessed to have Sister Breitenstein back. She is such an amazing companion and is teaching me so much every day. I love working with her.

At Balboa Island

This week we had something pretty cool happen. There was a guy that we were teaching right when I got to the mission and he was wanting to make changes in his life but he had to move because of his job. We'll just this last week we had an appointment with a lady but she wasn't home so we started walking down the street and this same guy rode by on his bike. When he saw us he stopped and was so happy to see us. He had just moved back here because the job hadn't worked out and asked us if we could set up an appointment with him. He wants us to teach him again! We are so excited!

We had baptism date last week for one of our investigators but she can never get to church so we had to move it back. She always tells us that she will come but sadly hasn't been able to yet.

The sister that just got baptized in our ward has been helping us out a lot. She always is giving us names of her friends to teach. She is a great member missionary!

Well, thats about all for this week, not a lot new. I am so excited for Eric's news and know that he is going to be a great missionary!! :D Love you all so much!