It Takes All Kinds

Hola familia!

So we couldn't email this Monday because the library was closed. We have had a busy week and haven't found time to email until now, and it is going to have to be quick because we have a lot to do tonight.

Anyways, we've had a good week and things are starting to pick up again. We are teaching a couple of families right now and both of them committed to coming to church on Sunday. The lessons seemed to go well and I am looking forward to teaching them again. 

We met some crazy people this week... there was this drunk guy who was convinced I was Mexican... I've never heard that one before! My companions were laughing pretty hard. The guy started talking about crazy stuff after that and wouldn't let us leave. I told him that we had to go a few different times but he kept talking and was getting super intense so we had to just walk away. We met this other lady told us that we are aliens from another planet and that the world already ended and we are just here to leave a mark. She said that she was going to pray that angels would come share a message with us, and then we shared a quick messege with her, and then she was going on about how we were the angels... she also said that one time she turned into a light and saved people... and a lot of other stuff. It was interesting.. I hear some weird things out here! Haha!

Tonight we are going on Exchanges. Sister Poulson is coming here with me and both of my companions are going to Orange. I'm excited to spend a little bit of time with her before she goes home from the mission in a couple of weeks. This week we had the sisters meeting which was all about training. There are so many sisters coming in soon that most of the sisters in the mission will be training, and President wants to get everyone as prepared as possible. I am excited for all of the new sisters. 

That is so awesome that Alexa got her mission call to Peru! She is going to love the mission and will be a great missonary! :)

Sorry I didn't have a lot of time. Thanks for your emails. Love you all so much! Keep up the good work Eric! :)

Miracles and Blessings

Hello my dearest family!

First of all, happy birthday mom! I hope it was great! I love you!!!

Can you believe that I have been out on my mission for over a year now!? Ugh the time is going by too fast. 

We have had such a  great week and have seen so many miracles. Last night I was able to go back to my old ward for a baptism of someone I taught there and it was so amazing! Her name is Sr. Gonzalez. Next week _______'s friend who we taught all last transfer is getting baptized and so I am planning on going back again for that. He has been coming to church and doing everything that he needs to to prepare. Also, _____ is still being the best missionary and always giving the sisters more people to teach. I am so proud of him and his desire to share what he knows with everyone. They have been teaching one of his friends and their family and they all came to church on Sunday! I am glad that all is going well back in Orange. 

We have also had great things happen here in Anaheim this week. We had a lot of appointments set up because we have been doing a lot of finding. We taught _________ the restoration at the beginning of the week. She was tearing up throughout the lesson and after she said the prayer at the end she was bawling. She said that she could really feel the spirit, and it was an amazing experience. She accepted a baptism date for the 3rd of Feb. 

We also had a lesson with another man. He is an atheist but wanted to learn more about what we believed. We went back for the appointment and he wasn't home, but his younger sister invited us in to teach her. She loved the lesson but was started telling us about stuff her older brother would tell her about religion. I shared my personal experience and testimony because it was so similar to what she is going though. She said that she is going to read in the Book of Mormon and and pray to know if it was true. She has so much faith so I know that she is going to recieve an answer. She accepted a baptism date for the 3rd of feb, and I feel very blessed to be able to teach her. She also said that her mom and her brother would probably want to learn too so I am excited for that. 

Lets see what else... We knocked into a lady that asked us to come back when her husband could listen too, and so we did, and it went really well. The husband accepted the baptism invitation but not a date because the wife was a little more hesitant.  I think she was surprised that he was so open to it. They both said that they are going to read and pray every day and we are seeing them again on Wednesday. They have the cutest little baby!

Since I've been out here it has been really hard to find and teach a family so I am very excited to work with them. We had a drop lesson with a family that the sisters have been teaching for a while but they weren't progressing. It was hard because they were really close to the family, but one day down the road when missionaries come back I think they will be ready. They just need a little time. 

Lets see there are some random things that happened this week. I got attacked by a crazy cat. It ran into me like five times and then crawled up me then kept running into me. It was weird. Also we got locked into a car garage and realized that we didn't have the button to open the door so that was fun... We got a new ward mission leader. They other one was amazing but I guess he has been in there for forever. They new one seems good too. 

Well, that's about it for this week. Love you all tons! Have a great week! :)

PS the cheese ball was amazing. :)

Love, 

Hermana Layton :)

Wasn't Conference Awesome?

Jericho Road

I'm so glad you got the pictures! I was worried that you might not get them. And dad that's funny about the Jericho Rd. sign! :) (FYI, Jericho Road is the name of an LDS musical group. Briana sent us this picture last week.)

Wasn't conference awesome?! I hope Eric was able to watch it in English. I was able to, and I think I was able to enjoy it more that way. I can't believe that sisters can go out at 19 now! That is so crazy!! 

Right when he said that, I thought of Brooklyn.  I was thinking about her all day since she told me that she's been thinking about a mission. Brook, I think you should do it! I couldn't imagine my life without these experiences. I think that so many more sisters will serve now, and I think the missionary work is going to grow a lot. 

I loved the talk by Elder Holland, and how bold he is. I thought the whole conference was really good and I really enjoyed the music. I wish I could go back and watch it all again. :) 

Hermanas Layton y Schofield with a local sister

We've had a good and busy week. I love working with sister Poulson. It's always sad when my companions get transferred out of the area, but every time a different companion comes, there is always so much to learn from her. It's been weird since they split the area but it's good too. We are finding more people and spending less time driving across that area to appointments. 

Mom, you asked about the sisters areas. Well, we have three. They had spanish sisters in Garden Grove, Anaheim, and here in Orange. When our area got split into two they gave the Garden Grove area to the Elders and so now the only Spanish sister areas are both halfs of the city of Orange and Anaheim. Maybe one of these days I will go to Anaheim, but if not, I won't be disappointed. I love it here! :) 

Las Hermanas

Anyway, there is not a lot to say this week. We found a lot of people, we had a lot of really embarrassing and awkward moments (that's just part of being a missionary), and got a lot done. I got to meet Hermana Breitenstein's new trainee. There is a good chance that I will be companions with her someday. She came out already knowing quite a bit of Spanish because she took Spanish classes before her mission. She is going to be a really good missionary. Sister Schofield is also training a new missionary right now in Anaheim. I can't wait to meet her. It's weird not being the youngest Spanish sister now.

Anyway, hope all is well back home. Love you all so much!! :)