Making Progress

Great week! My new companion is a really good missionary and I am learning so much from her. She has been out for a while now and goes home on Christmas or the day before. What a great Christmas present for her family! :) 

A lot has happened this week. Four different investigators accepted a baptismal date which was a miracle. Our investigator Tomas who has been working on the word of wisdom didn't drink coffee last week at all! He still wouldn't accept a baptism date yet though. Well, we were walking to our car after a long day and there was a door open to a little house. I remembered talking to someone in the street a few weeks ago who said she lived there so we stopped by to see if she was home. The man said that she didn't live there and so we just started talking to him instead. We taught him the restoration and then randomly our investigator Tomas came out from the hallway. He got excited and started telling the man about the Book of Mormon. We invited the man to be baptized and he said he wanted to learn more first. And then we looked at Tomas and invited him again. He never accepts a date, but this time he said, "Claro que si!" (Of course!) What!? We were so happy! Hopefully he can find a way to get to church soon.

He has talked to his boss and is looking for another job. We are praying for him, and I know that Heavenly Father will help him get there if he really has the desire to come. 

There weren't anymore earthquakes this week but we had a little excitement last night. The fire alarm went off again. It has gone off so many times since I have been here that I didn't think it was anything. We stayed inside for a little bit but it kept going for a while so we finally decided to go outside. When we got to the bottom of the stairs there was a ton of smoke and firefighters running around. The garbage room was on fire. I don't know how that happened. We sat outside for an hour and just did planning for the next day until the alarm went off. We went to bed and then in the middle of the night the fire alarm went of again. I just put my pillow over my head though so that I could go back to sleep.

Anyway, that's about all that happened this week. I love being out here! My companion is the best and I am so grateful for all that I am learning from her. :)

New Companion

I loved hearing about your trip to Las Vegas. Sounds like a lot of fun! 

Today is transfer day. We thought that we were going to stay together because that is what President said he was planning on doing, but they made some last minute changes and sister Breitenstein got moved to a ward in Anaheim. I am still here in my first area and I love it, so I'm glad I don't have to leave yet. I already miss my companion so much but I am sure my new companion will be great too.

Her name is sister Schofield and she is from Utah. She goes to Utah State  and is going into music. I have been on exchanges with her a couple of times so I have gotten to know her a little bit. She is a very good missionary and I am excited to work with her. 

That is so cool that Eric went through the temple this week. I loved the picture with all of the family in white. We are going to the temple again this transfer and I can't wait! When does Eric leave for his mission again?

I can't wait until we are both missionaries at the same time. Have him send all of his emails when he gets out, and I will do the same when I get his email address. He is going to do so great and help so many people. Tell him to look for Hermana Andreason when he gets to Guatemala, even though there are a ton of missionaries out there.

Anyway, the other day we were tracting and there were about 30 Jehovah Witness missionaries in the same area. As we were walking we tried talking to the JW's because we talk to everyone, but they didn't like us very much. They had already knocked on a bunch of the houses so every time we went to the door people thought we were Jehovah Witnesses. We didn't end up staying in that area for too long. 

Our investigators are doing well but we are still having a hard time getting them to come to church. I am so blessed to be out here and grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary. I know that this church is true and love seeing the gospel change lives for the better.

Nicole that is so awesome that your sister get called to Lima Peru North mission. My brother went to that same mission. I am so happy for her. She is going to be such a great missionary!

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

Sister Layton :)

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!

Abusing the Zone

Hola familia,

This week was great. Monday we were playing soccer with a huge exercise ball and I kicked it and accidentally hit my companion in the face. She was wearing her sunglasses so there was a bruise across her forehead where her sunglasses were. It's almost gone now though. I felt so bad!!! Then I accidentally hit two elders in the face too. Oops. Then one of the Elders hit me in the face,  and it was just really  funny. Besides my companion, no one got hurt cause the ball was really soft. I'm just glad that presidents interviews are next week instead of last week. He would have wondered what I was doing to my companion. 

My companion is doing great! I am hoping we will be together again next transfer in this area. We will see what happens though. It is her birthday on Thursday! 

Our investigators are doing great. The guy who had a problem with the Word of Wisdom is doing so well. We had another appointment with him this week and he went from drinking two cups of coffee a day to just one. He says he feels a lot better too. He also talked to his wife in Mexico and she is going to stop drinking coffee too. We are trying to see if we can send missionaries to his wife so that they can be learning at the same time. 

He loves reading in the Book of Mormon and read all the way through Alma the first time, but then wanted to start over so that he could understand it better. He is already almost through 2 Nefi. He is so great! He asked us if it is okay that he is reading the Book of Mormon with his friends and telling them about what we teach. Of course it's okay!! Haha! He such a good missionary and has a very strong testimony. He is the one that can't come to church until he finds another job. 

We didn't have anyone come to church this week which was really sad because we had a group of people say that they were going to. Hopefully next week. Mom, to answer your question, there are two companionship's of elders in our ward and then my companion and I. It is our whole district. They are all so awesome!

Today we are having a BBQ for the zone activity. Something a little less dangerous. :) And for your question about the Spanish, I can understand almost everything when we are teaching the lessons or when we are talking about church topics, but when people start talking about other things it is hard for me to understand. I can speak but I have to say everything very simply and it is still hard because I don't always feel like I can say everything I want to. I am so grateful to be learning another language though even when it's hard. I definitely  wouldn't know what I do without the help of my Heavenly Father. 

I don't have much time left. Thanks to everyone for the letters it means a lot as a missionary. I love being out here. I love the people. I love my companion. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Please give the Vegas family hugs for me. :) Dad I wrote you a letter in Spanish. It's on its way to you! :)

Anyways love you fam muchisimo!

She Came!

Dearest family,

We had a another great week our here in California! :) We have started teaching a friend of one of our members this week. We love member missionaries! She has problems with depression right now and really wants to change her life around. The hardest commitment that we have with our investigators is getting them to church. We invited her, and she came! We were really excited. We have an appointment with her again tonight, so we will see if she has been keeping her other commitments like reading and praying. 

This weekend was pretty crazy, El Obispo called me Saturday night and asked me to give a talk the next morning since it was the 5th Sunday. Did you have a missionary Sunday in your ward too? Two of the Elders spoke as well. I was nervous when I was preparing because I didn't have a lot of time and it was in Spanish, but it actually went well. He asked me to speak about loving the people who I serve. I talked about the story in the Book of Mormon of Ammon serving the king and how the king had a change of heart. I also talked about our Savior who was the perfect example of loving and serving the people, and I shared some personal experiences. We also got to teach the young women too! We spoke about missionary work and hopefully got them excited to share the gospel with their friends. 

Last Monday night we were tracting and we found this guy who said he had been praying for someone to come tell him what to do with his life. We taught the first lesson about the restoration of the Gospel and he started to tear up. We explained to him that feelings that he was having were the spirit testifying that these things were true. He told us that he was going to read the Book of Mormon in one week and was so excited. He kept saying that this was an answer to his prayers. We are worried though because he doesn't have a lot of time to meet with us at all, and he told us that the people he's living with are very Catholic and do not want him looking into another church. He said he couldn't meet for our last appointment, but rescheduled for this Saturday. We are praying that he will remember this feelings that he had. I know that he felt the spirit, but at the same time I know that Satan is working on him too.  I know that the Gospel will change his life for the better if he lets it. I am so grateful to be out here doing this work. I am so blessed to have the knowledge I do about the Gospel. I love being a missionary!!

Eric, thats awesome that your going to the temple soon! It's the best! Curty, stop getting tan. I am trying to get tanner than you but I don't think its working. And that's sweet that you got to play the bugle, you're a stud. Mom, thanks for the package. I got it last Monday after we emailed so I couldn't thank you for it yet, but it was the best!!! Oh, and I haven't heard about the gang riots. Oh dad, you should get a www.mormon.org profile. It's a good way to share your testimony, help others with questions that they have about the church and be a missionary. Mom you can too if you want. 

Love you all so much! :) 

Bye bye.

New Apartment, No More Roaches

My dearest family,

This week I went on Exchanges again to La Habra. It's was an English speaking area but I was able to do quite a bit of contacting in Spanish which was fun. Spanish is still pretty hard for me but I really do love it. I love the people, and I love their culture. 

Kitchen in the new apartment

(Briana and her companion moved to a new apartment last week. She enjoys not having cockroaches running around everywhere.)

We have three investigators who are progressing right now but there is something that it stopping all of them from making the next step which has been hard. 

One of them has a very strong testimony and he loves it when we come over. He says that he can feel the spirit when he reads from the Book of Mormon and when we are there. He has almost read all the way through Alma! He wants to get baptized and knows that he needs to, but he only works three days a week and Sunday is one of them. We had a lesson with him about sacrifices this week. I know that he will be blessed if he comes to church and I think he is really scared to take Sunday off because it would be a huge sacrifice for his family in Mexico. We are going to see if he will look for another job, but right now he is just not making that next step. 

We are teaching another lady who is so awesome. She has changed her life around so much and really wants to be baptized. She knows that the church is true and is doing everything that she can to be the best she can. But... do you remember me telling you about the lady that we were teaching in jail? She is on probation for like 6 months so she cant get baptized until after she is off. So sad! 

We are teaching another lady who is a friend of one of our recent converts and she loves the lessons. She has four kids and wants them to be able to come to church. Her husband doesn't want anything to do with the church though. She thought he wouldn't let them come. He is the only one that drives in their family but when she talked to him he said that she could come. The problem is that he works during that time. 

We are doing to try and find a member who can take her. (Even though our ward mission leader and bishop tell us not to ask members because they said our investigators should make sacrifices to get there.) But that is the only way to get them to church because so many of them don't have a car and live so far away. We were going to get her a ride this week but she just had surgery and she cant leave the house for a month now because of it. She still lets us come in and teach but she cant get out. 

We have a list of other investigators that we have found but it is so hard to find them again. I think some of them hide from us. 

I am loving every minute of the mission. It's not always easy but it's the best! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! :) :) :)

Love, Me

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