We made it to January

Hi family, 

We made it to January! We survived the holidays and the frustration of having no one around to work with! The new semester at SJSU doesn't start until the end of this month (22 Jan) but the people who we teach are going to be coming back or not so swamped in work that they can't even breathe, let alone see us. This week is going to be a crazy week for the mission! On the 6-8, we have people from the missionary department coming. They will be going out with our Zone Leaders! We also have Elder Cook speaking to us on the 10th, and Bishop Causse speaking to us on the 11th! Let's dive into last week though...

After I emailed you on P-day, we went to Golfland and played Lazer tag. It was my first time, and I had so much fun! We were also in charge of FHE again. We had a lesson about New Years and then played Apples to Apples because there were so few of us there.

On Tuesday, we went to breakfast with Alan. Alan also invited the elders, so they came too. It was really fun, but we always eat ourselves sick! We then had studies and took care of some things before going to lunch with other missionaries. We then met with Linda and taught her about the temple. She is doing really well! We then went out to eat with Carmina (and the elders) to a place called Sweet Tomatoes. It was fun. 

On Wednesday, we had our district meeting and then went to lunch. We went to the greek place and got gyros again (yuuuuuum!). We then met with Michelle. Michelle is a girl that Sister Bliss met before she became my companion and I have only met her once. She wasn't progressing and she didn't seem interested in the Church at all. We stopped trying to set up appointments with her, and she texted us! We invited her to come to Church on Sunday. She is a French major and she speaks multiple languages (she is currently studying Farsi). I offered to teach her how to pray in French. We then met with Ali (a recent convert) and spent some time with the Laytons before going to dinner with Carolyn (a member of the branch). We then had a lesson with Vivekk (a member of the branch). Afterwards, we went with a bunch of missionaries to Cream to get a treat to celebrate the New Year. For the New Year, President said that we could stay up untilmidnight and have sleepovers, but we had to still be up by 6:25. We stayed up till 10:45, watching a car accident outside our window. 

On Thursday, we went contacting and then did service. Contacting has been hard with everyone gone and we set a goal of ten people. We then prayed and told the Lord our goal. We ended up contacting twenty people! Miracle! :D All of our service has been closed for the holidays, so we have had to come up with ways to serve. Lately, it has been picking up trash in different areas. After that we had some training and saw Manny and Christina (less actives). We were talking with them when Chris (a less active who we have been struggling to reach) just showed up! It was a miracle! It was a whole day of miracles, really.

On Friday, we went to service at a place that was open and then to the mission office to pick up some things. We then went to my podiatrist appointment in Fremont. We then went to dinner with Shane to this awesome pizza place. They make super big pizzas and you can put almost anything you want on it! We got one that was one third pepperoni, one third hawaiin, and one third pepperoni and jalapenos (Elder Methvin and I were the only ones to touch that part of the pizza!). It was so good! We also met with Linda. She was having a hard day so we taught her about how the Lord is always with us. 

On Saturday. we did more trash cleaning. This time, we got most of the zone to come to downtown and pick up trash. We had a wind storm on Tuesday, so there was a lot to clean up. Sister Bliss then had a song practice. She and a couple of other sisters are singing at our missionary meeting with Elder Cook. We then had MCM and then went to dinner at the Packards'. She made Shepherd's Pie because Sister Bliss LOVES it. It was good! :D 

On Sunday, we had two investigators at Church! Linda and Michelle! :D Church went well and then I went on a split after church. Sister Bliss had a Leadership meeting, so one of the members of the branch (a sister who recently returned from her mission) was my companion until Sister Bliss came back. While Sister Bliss was gone, we taught Linda. We are almost done with her lessons, and her baptismal interview is later this week! After Sister Bliss got back, we went home because she wasn't feeling well. We ended up staying home the rest of the night and did Weekly Planning. We also had a miracle that night. The elders stopped by and Elder Methvin was holding my nametag! The one that landed in the dumpster! Apparently, they found it stuck to a pole. We think that Tin (the man who goes through our dumpster) found it and put it there so someone would find it! I was so excited! Miracle! :D

Here's the update on our investigators:

Jose: Still in Mexico. He is coming back this weekend, and we may have to move his date to the 24th. because we don't know if we can finish the lessons with him by the 17th. As far as we know, he is doing well. 

Kyle:We haven't heard from him in weeks. We are giving him the benefit of the doubt with the holidays but we will be getting in touch with him this week to see if he really wants to learn. His girlfriend went back to school so now we will see if he was really learning for himself or for her.

Linda: This week she has made so many changes to prepare herself for baptism. Sister Bliss and I are so proud of her! She is getting baptized on Sunday, the 11th at 11:30. Shane, one of the recent converts in the branch, is baptizing her. They have become good friends. She also got up and bore her testimony in Sacrament Mtg yesterday! It was so good! I love her so much!

Michelle: All of the sudden, we can count her. She has been enjoying learning, but she's not quite looking to convert. We will see. I enjoy nerding with her about languages. :D

Elsie: We haven't been able to meet with Elsie over the break. We hope to see her this week.

Well, I think that is all for here. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and an even better week. 

Love,