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!

The Mission is Changing My Life

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

Newport Beach Temple

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

It's been a crazy week, but so good. We changed the dates for our investigators baptisms. One of them just got married this weekend and is getting baptized tomorrow night! We are so excited for her. Her husband and boys are going to come. The husband hasn't wanted anything to do with the missionaries, but has opened up a lot lately. He has been talking to us now and even coming to some of the ward activities.

Our other investigator still hasn't been able to come to church and is not keeping all of her commitments so we need to move her date back. We are meeting with her today, and hopefully she will be able to come to the baptism tomorrow. We had another temple tour this last week.

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

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

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

We Give Them a Chance to Exercise Agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Gospel Has Changed His Life and He is So Happy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to Jail

Hola familia! We had exchanges on Saturday. One of the girls from Anaheim came with me for the day and my companion went there. She speaks Spanish so that helped a lot.
Guess what I did for the first time ever... I went to jail!! We had an investigator we were teaching and when she was coming back from Mexico she didn't have her passport. She was about to get baptized before she left for Mexico. They have this place where you can visit them through the wall with a little phone. We taught her a lesson and sang a hymn for her. She has changed so much and said that she is getting baptized once she is out. I think she just has about a month left.

Sister Layton in Front of the Newport Beach Temple

Mom you asked what a typical day is here for me. Usually we wake up and get ready for the day and then do personal study for an hour. Then we have two hours of companionship study. When my training is over it will just be an hour. After that we have an hour of language study and then lunch. The rest of the day we go out and either teach people or try to find more people to teach. We are working with the members in the ward and trying to get as many contacts from them as we can.

Dad in your last letter you talked about working with the members. The best way to find people to teach is definitely through them. We do go tracting a lot as well. We met this guy while we were knocking doors who was baptized when he was eight and remembered passing the sacrament when he was twelve but he said he lived at least three hours away from a church so he never went. He started singing the hymns that he remembered and we are trying to get him to come back to church.

I am excited for this week. We have some families that we found street contacting who seemed like they really wanted to know more. We have appointments with them this week. I love the people here. I am so grateful to be serving in this mission!

Sister Layton and an Elder from the District

Mom, you also asked how often I speak Spanish (with her companions). I need to speak it more with my companion. Usually we speak English. It has been a goal that I have had lately to speak more.

Oh also there was a little earthquake today. I was wondering if I would ever feel one while I was here. I was just standing in our living room getting ready to leave and we just started shaking. At first I thought that someone was jumping on the roof. It was funny.

Well, I hope you know how grateful I am for all of your examples. I know that this church is true. The Gospel is so amazing and I feel so blessed for the knowledge that I have. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through Him we can change and be better. I love being a missionary!!!

Sister Layton and District Elder

I sent Kelsey a Birthday card to BYU but if she is in London then she probably didn't get it. Could you wish her a happy birthday for me? Even though it was a while ago now. Eric you are going to love college. Make sure you work hard though. It might be fun, but it's not always easy. Good job with your talk. Curtis that is so cool that you are doing a survivor challenge!! You should tell me more about it. Stop growing. Mom you ROCK! Dad I am writing you today!! You all are the best. LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH! :) Mothers day is coming up woo! Then we can talk on the phone.

OK. byeeeee.

An Amazing Weekend

Hermanas Layton, Vilches and Breitenstein at Temple

Holy cow, this was an amazing weekend!!! We had mission conference on Friday. Our mission president told some of us that this would be a life changing experience but he wouldn't tell us why. Well, it definitely was!

Before the conference our mission president had us all read the talks  Ask in Faith and  Seek Learning by Faith by Elder Bednar and said that we would be using the talks during the conference. They always have the sisters sit in the front of the chapel.

We were in the very front row, and guess what! Elder Bednar was the speaker!!! It was so amazing. He talked for a while about the two talks that they had us read and then had a lot of time for questions and answers. It was about three hours long and the spirit was very strong. Towards the end he told us that most of us would never have an opportunity like this again to be with an apostle with so few people in the room. That was sad to think about.

Orange Mission District Missionaries at Temple

Well we were very lucky because when we came to church on Easter Sunday Elder Bednar was there in our ward!!! I feel so blessed that I was able to listen to him again. He is such a powerful speaker. He gave the talk in English but had someone translating it to Spanish. I know that I will never forget this experience. I feel so blessed to have been able to listen to an apostle of the Lord this weekend.

He shook all of the missionaries hands before the conference of Friday which was cool. Elder Bednar's wife and my Mission President's wife are cousins, so I think that had something to do with him coming here. I know that he is an Apostle of the Lord because I could feel it when he spoke.

I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet on the earth today and I am so grateful that we have a living prophet. I know that Joseph Smith restored the Church again  to the earth and what a blessing that is.

Hermana Layton at Newport Beach Temple

That is sweet that Eric is starting his mission papers! He is going to be an awesome missionary. I can't wait to hear where he is going. When can he turn the papers in? Also I can't believe that he is going to be in Anaheim! Most likely I wont be able to see him. There would be a better chance that I could if I was serving in that area, but we are not allowed to leave our area unless we are going on exchanges.

I'm glad that Sister Rush email you the pictures. She is pretty awesome. :) Dad, I miss you. I am looking forward to your next letter. You are the best! :)

Random facts.. there are random wild parrots everywhere here and also wild bunnys. Haha.

Love you all.

Preach to me!



Outside the Apartment

Hola!!! It's been another awesome week! Last week for the zone activity we got to play soccer, and we get to play again today. Sooo fun! Before I forget, I want to tell you that my p day next week is on Thursday because we have a temple trip. I will email you then.

I love the people we are teaching! There was one night when we went to teach, but the man wasn't home. There was a guy right outside his house that said "He's not home? Preach to me!" So we found out a little bit about him and started teaching.

He spoke English which was nice because I could actually understand everything. He agreed with everything that we were saying and just kept saying he wants to make a change in his life. He kept talking about how he had made so many mistakes and felt so guilty. Then I asked how he would feel to be free from all that guilt and clean from his sins. He said that would be the most amazing feeling and he wanted that more than anything. We talked about the Atonement and how he could become clean. I asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! Then he just kept asking what he needs to do to change and get ready to be baptized. It was awesome! 

Great weather and good food

Since he speaks English we have to pass him to the English missionaries so we won't actually get to continue teaching him but it was an awesome experience.

This week we have a sisters conference with all of the sisters in the mission. I will get to meet the other spanish speaking sisters. I will most likely be companions with some of them because I guess there are only 7 of us who are spanish speaking in this mission.

Mom, you asked where my companions are from. Hermana Breitenstein is from San Fransisco (Her dad is in the military so she has moved all around. That was just the last place she lived.) She has been out here 6ish months. and Hermana Vilches is from Dayton Ohio, kind of where Uncle Steve is from. Hermana V has been out for a little over a year.

Dinner from the bar-b

Please tell the Pullans that I loved the package! I got it right after I sent my email last week and it totally made my day! Too bad I didn't get to see them and they were right here!! Yes mom, I saw Hermana Christensen when she was leaving. And thank you for emailing Alta's mom. That will be perfect.

Eric... What the!... You can put your papers in so soon! (Eric is getting ready to start his mission papers.) I am soooo excited for you!!! You will be such a great missionary and you will absolutely love it! Sorry about the wisdom teeth. Good luck!

Love you so much! Have a great week!!! Anyways, I am running out of time. Love you all!Adios! :) :)

Getting Out of Her Comfort Zone

I am over half way done in the MTC. I fly to California on March 6th.
 

I cannot believe how fast time goes by here! It has been another great week. I need to figure out how to get the time to slow down. I will definitely miss the MTC when I leave.

I think Heavenly Father has been teaching me to go out of my comfort zone. Last Sunday there was a missionary conference, and the MTC President spoke. He said that he wanted to invite a few missionaries up to bear their testimonies. He made a list of a few people that he had met and called a couple of them up to bear their testimonies. He said that if there was extra time he would call another missionary. Luckily they ran out of time, because later that day I was walking by and President Brown said "Sister Layton, you were next on my list." Then he said, "next time!"

Great...I was thinking of how nervous I would be to speak in from of all the missionaries in the MTC. I thought I got out of it, but that same night the Branch President asked if I would say the prayer at the missionary fireside on Sunday. I guess I didn't get out of it... :) I haven't said a prayer in English in over a month. Hopefully I can remember how. Hahaa!

On Saturday our zone leaders asked the Hermanas to do a musical number in Sacrament Meeeting. Hermana Newton and I played the piano and the other two hermanas sang. Since neither of us actually play the piano, we both just learned one hand and then played it together. It was funny. I dont have any musical talent but for some reason they have been having me conduct the music in Sacrament Meeting. Im used to it now though.

Next Sunday I am also giving the prayer in Sacrament Meeting in Spanish. I'm not really nervous for that though after everything else. It has been good for me to have so many opportunities to get out of my comfort zone because I know as a missionary I will have to do it all of the time. I can't believe how much I learn every single day here. I love it!

Thank you everyone for the letters. I am trying to write everyone back soon.

I don't think Brad is in this MTC... I'm pretty sure he went to the one in Brazil. I could be wrong though (Brad Marley is in the Provo MTC). Curtis is in trouble for officially passing me up!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the package. I got it today. :) My companion said thank you and that it made her day.

 

I have learned to be so patient!

 

I loved Erics letter and Curtis's Valentines card! :)

 

That is so nice of Brother Bone! :) (Brother Bone creates the ward bulletins and put a huge plug in the bulletin for members to remember their missionary. He's too good.) What is his address? I want to send him a thank you card. I was wondering why Sister Bonkosky sent me a package full of cookies, but now that makes sense. That was so nice of her! Please tell her thank you. I will send her a thank you card too.

 

Well familia, miss you!! Eric and Curtis, MISSIONS ROCK! :) Paz. Love you all! :)