!El Poder de Su Mensaje!

There were a lot of changes this week. We have a new Ward Mission Leader. He seems really excited about the work and has a good plan to help the members be more involved in finding people for the missionaries to teach. He said that it is the members responsibility to find people, and the missionaries job to teach. When the members are finding people there is so much more success. I have seen that a lot so far in my mission. People are a lot more willing to listen when they have a friend who is a member. 

Our area has been picking up a lot, but we had a singles group in our ward for a while and just this last Sunday we found out that they are not doing it anymore. The five top progressing investigators right now are between the age of 18 and 25 which means that we might need to send them all to the singles ward missionaries. We will see what happens though. I guess it doesn't matter which missionaries are teaching them as long as they get to hear the Gospel from someone. We would definitely miss teaching them though. I haven't been able to work with very many young single adults so these last few weeks have been fun. 

This week we had dinner with all of the Elders in our district at a member in the wards house. One of the Elders in our distract was giving the message and he was having a really hard time with the Spanish and saying what he wanted to. He was super nervous. Right when he finished talking, the room started shaking (There was an earthquake) Everyone was silent so then I said, wow, el poder de su mensaje! (the power of his message!) Everyone started laughing because the timing of the earthquake was so perfect. 

This week we went on exchanges. Sister Barlow came with me to our area for the day. We taught a few lessons together early in the day but that night we were street contacting and knocking doors. We started talking to these two guys sitting outside, then shared the message of the restoration with them. Before we left I asked if we could leave them with a prayer.

They asked how long it would take and my companion thought that they asked how long we are missionaries for. She told them that we do it for a year and a half. Then the guys eyes got all big and they thought we wanted to pray for a year and a half so then they said no. It was so funny. Then I told them that it would just be a couple of minutes. They all started laughing. It was so funny! I love trying to learn Spanish. We make mistakes all of the time but definitely learn from them. It is still hard for me to speak but I still have half of my mission to work on it. :) 

This week we found a girl about 18 years old who invited us in her house. She loved the message and invited us to come back the next day. We went the next day and she invited us back again the day after. When we came the third day her mom and dad were there. Her mom was really open to the message but her dad was very Catholic and didn't want to listen to us. He sat in on the lesson with his Bible in his hand trying to convince us that there is no more scripture then the Bible. When we were talking he would listen which was good, but really only was there to prove us wrong. Then we invited them to pray at the end of the lesson and in the dads prayer he asked to bless my companion and I that everyone in the world would listen to our message. We were so confused. Haha. 

Anyway, I am so grateful to be a missionary. I am so excited for Eric to leave on his mission soon. Just remember that when it gets hard, it will always be so worth it!! :)

Shaking Things Up

My dearest family,

I bet you are loving the Las Vegas heat right now. This week in California it has been in the high 90s and in the 100s. Good thing I love the heat right?

We spent a lot of time outside. Tuesday in the middle of the night my companion and I woke up to an earthquake which we found out the next day was a 4.4. That was fun. The next morning there was another small one and little while after that we were in our living room doing our studies and there was another one that was a 4.5. That was a fun start to our week. :)

This week we taught a friend of one of our members. She has been to church a lot with her friend and had really good questions for us. She accepted a baptism date for the 26th of this month! Right now the hardest thing for her is her job. She works a lot on Sundays and can only make it to church about half of the time. She is looking for another job so we hope that she can find something where she can have Sundays off.

This week while we were tracting we found a lady who said she had tried just about every church there is, but she hasn't found one that feels right for her. We taught her the restoration on the doorstep and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She said that she was really looking forward to coming to church with us on Sunday. We went by her apartment Sunday Morning and she was leaving with a bunch of cleaning supplies. She said that she is going to clean a house right now because she hasn't had work all week. She said that when someone asked her to clean, she had to take it so that she could make a little bit of money for her family. She couldn't come to church this Sunday, but she still wants to come hopefully next time.

Last night my companion and I had an appointment with a family that we had just met a couple of days before. They are really nice and welcoming but there was this one lady there (We think it was their neighbor) who was a evangelical Christan preacher. She had gone to school and been trained to speak over people. Every time we started talking she would stand up and start preaching. I tried distracting her while my companion talked to the family and it worked for a little bit but but then
she started talking even louder. We decided that we would come back when we could teach with the spirit there. We made another appointment with them for this week so hopefully they wont invite any preachers this time. It was definitely a funny experience though.
Well I have to get going. We are going on a hike today with our zone! Love you all and you are in my prayers. :)
great time in Vegas!

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.