The First Group of Nineteen Year Old Sisters

My dearest family,

We have had a great week! Sister Rollins is my new companion and she is from Washington DC. We picked her up on Tuesday from the mission home. She turned 19 in September! So crazy!... There were four Spanish sisters that came out early and two of them are already fluent in Spanish  Anyway, sister Rollins took a lot of Spanish in school and so she knows quite a bit and was in the advanced class in the MTC. She loves to play soccer and we have a lot in common. She also likes to run so we get good work outs in the mornings. I have really enjoyed working with her this week. Tonight I am going on exchanges with another one of the new sisters (Sister Corona) so that should be fun. She is from Texas and is fluent in Spanish  and she's 22 years old.

Well, the first night that sister Rollins was here we found a man to teach. He accepted a date to be baptized and said that he was going to come to church, but he wouldn't answer the phone Sunday morning and we still don't know why he didn't come. We are hoping to be able to find him again soon and hope that he is not avoiding us. We also found this guy on the street the other night who was in a rush and didn't seem interested but before he left, we asked him if he knew of anyone who was going through a hard time. 

He told us to go visit his mom and said that she would want to listen to us. Well we did and she was awesome! Her name is _________ and her two little grandkids sat in on the lesson. They were so excited to learn and really want to come to church. We are hopefully going to be able to teach their mom too because it sounded like she was interested as well. We have only met with them once though so we will see how things go. 

We have been doing a lot of finding this week because it is a pretty new area for both of us. I love it though and am so happy to be here!! The other day the assistants told us that they almost put us on bikes but they found a elders car that we could use... well, we decided that we really want to be on bike anyways and so they told us that it would be good because it saves a lot of miles on the car. My district leader and his companion said that we can borrow their bikes which will be awesome! We have been pretty much walking everywhere anyways so now we will be able to get around a lot faster! I'm excited!

That is cool that they are opening so many new missions. They are opening a new mission in Irvine California and we are not sure what will happen with our mission. I'm sure there will have to be some changes but we just don't know what yet. I think that all of these changes with missionaries right now is really cool. 

I am so grateful to be out here at this time and be part of this amazing work. I love it soooooo much!! I have seen so many blessings in my life for being here and wouldn't change this experience for anything! The gospel is true and I know it without a doubt. Love you all so much! :)

I Will Go Before Your Face

Hello family!

A lot has happened this week. Sister Minert and I got a call Thursday night from the assistants to train. I guess they had some sisters coming in early and so sister Minert is taking the west Anaheim area and I am taking the south. We haven't spent a ton of time over there and so I still have to get to know the area. It is actually a big area too. They said the sisters might already be fluent in Spanish and that's why they came out early, or they at least were in the intermediate or advanced class in the MTC. They are already in the mission home and we are supposed to pick them up today at four. 

I am changing apartments to an Elders apartment. I started moving some stuff in there today. Lets just say I will have to do a lot of cleaning... haha. I still will be in the same ward. Disneyland is in my area still and so I will get to see the fireworks every night. I am looking forward to all of the changes but am also a little bit nervous. 

Being the coordinating sister has been fun. So far I am just doing exchanges with the Spanish sisters and luckily there aren't a lot of problems so it has been nice. I actually think I learn more from the sisters I go on exchanges with than they learn from me. It's good to be able to be in different areas and get to see how different missionaries work. 

This week we had stake conference. I don't remember their names, but there were two members from the 70 there that spoke and it was really good. We also had zone conference this week and I learned so much there! It was all about having the faith to find and also working with members. I am excited to use what I learned there in the work. 

A few nights ago we were knocking doors and  had a lesson with a lady at the door and as we were praying another lady walked my and went into her apartment. About 10 seconds later she came back out and told us that she couldn't walk away from us because she knew that God sent us there. She said that when she walked by she saw a light over us and it wasn't the light that was in the hall. She said that it felt like there was someone else there with us and that she wanted to know more about our message. It was a really cool experience. 

We talked to her the other night though and she said that she cant talk to us anymore because her husband was really mad and was not happy that she wanted to talk to us. She seemed like she still really wanted to but couldn't. It was really sad when she told us that we can't come back. I was excited to teach her too.. maybe some time down the road she will find the missionaries again. 

Let see what else... I got separated from my companion today which was really weird but funny. We were trying to go up the elevator and for some reason the door wouldn't open all the way so we decided to just squeeze in. Well I went in first and as I turned around my companion was starting to come through but the door closed and I started going up. It was funny... but I guess it might not sound as funny unless you are a missionary... but hey we got a good laugh out of it. 

Well that's about all I can think of for the week. Have a great week! Love you all! :)

I Love Being in Lessons When the Spirit is So Strong

Hola familia!

Well it's been another great week here in Anaheim! Disneyland is right in the middle of our area now and when we drive home sometimes we get to drive right under the Disneyland fireworks. It's pretty cool. 

On the way to church this week right when we left our area I saw a street and realized that it is the street that uncle Harold lives on. He lives so close to my borders!! I am so tempted to go knock on his door! That would be awesome  He probably wouldn't know who I was though and might now want to talk when he sees the missionaries. Maybe I can go with the English missionaries and introduce them to him.. That's the only excuse I can think of to go over there. Haha. :) 

Anyways, things are going good here. I set up my exchanges this week so I will be starting those soon. We had a zone meeting again and they talked a lot about the exchanges we will be going on. I excited for them! Right now we are still teaching la familia _______. They are doing so well! The mom has opened up so much and the dad has always been really open.

They have the best questions and have a sincere desire to know the truth. This week we taught two guys named _______ and _______. They both accepted baptism dates, but when we came back Jesus didn't want to listen anymore. ________ was open to listening still but it seems like he is having a lot of doubts now. Hopefully he will read and pray so he can get rid of those doubts. There was a baptism picture on his table. We asked him about it, and I guess his son was baptized into the church a couple of years ago which was pretty awesome. We also are teaching a lady names ______. She is amazing. She really wants to be baptized but cant right now because she is married to someone from Mexico and is living with another guy here. She has been trying to get a divorce so that she can get married to the guy she is with now but her husband wont sign papers. She has a very strong testimony and we are praying that she will be able to get everything figured out soon.

We also met a lady named ______ this week. We went in to teach but didn't really have much time at all so we were just going to share a scripture with her. We said the opening prayer, and before the end she was bawling. She opened up a lot to us and the spirit was really strong in the lesson.  I love being in lessons when the spirit is so strong and you know they are feeling it too! It's the best! 

Lets see... OK crazy story... We were teaching this guy named _______ and he was acting really interested (yeah, he was interested all right). He would always give us referrals and so it was really good. Well this week when we went to teach him he shook my hand and then tried kissing me!! I squealed and was like NOOO! But then he did it anyways... it was kinda on my hair because I was turning away trying to avoid it... I couldn't do anything about it. I never want to go back to that area! Uhh... so awkward! Well that's about it for the week. Love you all!!!! Have a great week! :)

Drive By Shooting

My dearest family,

So today we had transfers. I really thought that I was going to be staying in Anaheim with sister Longoria but she got transfered out.

Sister Minert is my new companion  and she came out the same time as hermana Longoria. Eric did you ever meet her in the MTC? Sister Henrie got her visa on Wednesday and is on her way to Spain right now. 

This week was great and super busy. Our area just grew a lot because the borders changed and I guess we have many of the Elders investigators now. We have been teaching the _______ family and they are doing really well. The dad really wants his whole family to listen to us and always has them come in when we come over. We have been very blessed to be able to teach a lot of families recently. 

This week we had zone meeting which was so good!  The assistants basically just talked about how we can help the missionaries and this mission. They also focused a lot on teaching families and working with the members in the ward. I am excited for this transfer and for the exchanges that I will get to go on with the sisters. We didn't have any new Spanish sisters come in this transfer but there were a bunch of English ones. It is so cool that so many sisters are coming out now! 

Well this week we had a ward activity that the missionaries were in charge of. The Elders did the lesson and we did the activity. We couldn't think of anything to do and didn't have much time at all and somehow we decided to play balloon volleyball with the families. I was worried that it wouldn't turn out, but they ended up loving it. It was sooo funny to watch! We had about 10 balloons and all of the members were really getting into it. I wish I got it on video because it was so funny!! 

Last night we went to a street that most of our investigators live on, and I guess right before we got there, someone drove by and was shooting at the apartments. There were a bunch of kids and teens outside, but luckily I don't think anyone ended up getting hurt. There were police everywhere and everyone told us to get out of there because they thought the guys might come back. As we were driving away we heard some more shots which was scary but I really hope everyone was OK  That's the street that all the interesting crazy stuff happens on... too bad we are teaching so many people there...haha! But no worries we are safe!  I love being here and know that this is the Lords work. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and am so grateful for the Atonement in my life. Thanks for everything, love you all! :)

That is soooo amazing to hear that Kelsey is going on a mission!!!!! I can't stop smiling because I am so happy for her. It is such a life changing experience and she is absolutely going to love it! She will make an amazing missionary too. I can't wait to hear where she is going!! :) Also, Christina and Erica Marley are going too!! That is so awesome!!!! That's pretty cool that Christy and her husband are moving into our ward. They are going to love Bend! :) Mom, fast tract sounds good. I think that would be smart to do. I bet I could get a little job there too and work before I go. Also that's funny that you got Just Dance. We are totally doing that together when I get home. :) You are going to be my companion and I am going to follow you everywhere. I hope that's OK with you. :) Sister Poulson is staying with us tonight and she leaves the mission to go home tomorrow morning. Sister Breitenstein is here on more transfer and she is companions with a 65 year old lady this transfer who only speaks Spanish  Cool huh? They didn't want to close the area because there are so many sisters coming next transfer so they just had her come in for a little bit. Well, that's about all the news this week! Love you! :)

On Member-Missionaries

Hola familia!

So luckily we were able to come email today. I didn't know if we would be able to because my companion has been really sick. The last couple of weeks have been slow because both of my companions have both been sick on and off. I feel really bad for them. 

Also, I heard some sad news last night. Sister Budge, is going home from her mission because she need surgery on her knee. She hurt it while we were playing soccer last transfer with our zone and I guess it was worse than they thought it was. She says that she wants to come back to the mission after it is all taken care of though which is really good.

So the news from Orange... Jorge was able to baptize his friend about a week ago! I guess he was really nervous but it was such a great experience for him. He is still such a great missionary and always telling his friends about the Gospel. I wish everyone could be that kind of member missionary. He knows the amazing blessing he has in his life of being a member of the church and he wants everyone he knows to have the same happiness.

I went on exchanges with sister Poulson this week. We both wanted to try out a two day exchange instead of one and it was the best! We have so much fun together and got a lot done. This is the last week before transfers (Next Monday) and sister Poulson is going home then.  Sister Breitenstein has one transfer left and then I will be the oldest Spanish sister. Not this transfer, but the one after it, we have 8 new Spanish speaking sisters coming in. We only have three of us here not counting the visa waiters. I have no idea what President is planning on doing but he said that we will all most likely be training two. We will probably have to open new areas as well. There are a couple sisters who got called to English but are native Spanish speakers. They might have to come help out so that we have enough trainers.

Anyway, other than having sick companions, this week was great! We have been finding a lot of families. I don't think I have taught so many families my entire mission and I love it. Sadly no one came to church on Sunday and we had several people say that they were going to be there, but hopefully next week. Our ward is really small right now and because they started this half Spanish half English group because a lot of the kids can't speak Spanish, but their parents can't speak English. It's really weird. They can understand each other though.

Anyways, the ward needs some more families right now. I am grateful that we have been finding some. Well I don't have much more time, but one last thing... this week when we were on exchanges, sister Poulson and I had dinner with some members and it was really good. We asked at the end of dinner how she made her drink. I had tasted it before from other members but I didn't know what it was... Basically, we are going to have to have a sacrament meeting on the word or wisdom because they obviously don't know that we are not allowed to drink green tea! Ohhh man... Well, now I know what that is... Anyways, that's about it for this week. Miss and love you all! Have a great week! :)

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 :)