Fun Week!

This has been a good week. Let me start with last P-day...

So, the Zone Leaders didn't have anything planned for the Zone to get together, and the Watsonville Sisters invited us to come down and play games. So, we went and played games with them and the Watsonville elders after they showed up. It was really fun. After that we came back and had dinner before working on the area book and finding.

On Tuesday, Sister Kelly and I did some training at the Church when Elder Staker (my District Leader) and Elder Lund (being trained by Elder Staker) showed up. Elder Staker asked if we could train together and we did. It was fun. Sister Kelly really enjoyed it, so we have plans to train together again this week. Anything to make training a little more exciting. I remember doing group training with Sister Hill and Sister Lytle and Elder Ball and Elder Methvin. :) After that, we had lunch and tried to see Nicole. She was home, but asked us to come on Friday instead. We then went and saw Renee. I had the idea to give her one of my French copies of The Book of Mormon to help her with her reading. She loved it! :) After Renee, we had dinner with Phillip, Rhonda, and Joseph. We shared a message with them about families. They really enjoyed it. After that, we tried to see someone, but they weren't home. We then did some training and worked on the area book (transferring it to the iPad app). 

On Wednesday, we did some training before working some more on the area book. Oh, and Sister Kelly taught me to sew a button and helped me fix one of my shirts. :) We then met up with Courtney and went out to lunch with her and her family on the wharf. It was so fun! We then had an appointment with a recent convert named Nicolette. She came up to us last Sunday and explained that she still needed to do her new member lessons. And of course we agreed to do them! So, we went over to her house and taught her The Plan of Salvation again. It was great. :) Later that evening, we had dinner with the Kings. I love the Kings! It was so much fun! :) After dinner, we were going to see Brenda but she was busy. So, we went and finished transferring the area book! Yay! 

On Thursday, we  went to Monterey for a training meeting (we were all calling it "Mini Zone Conference"). It was so much fun to go back down to Monterey! :D For the meeting, we talked about an article called "Why is Jesus Christ Important in My Life?" and Ezra Taft Benson's Talk "A Mighty Change of Heart". Then, the APs went over some things with the iPads and about elders and sisters. Sister Mella then did a presentation about stress and managing your stress as a missionary. It was really good! :) After that, we went back to Santa Cruz for lunch. We then went and saw Glenna. We shared with her a message about the talk "The Lord is My Light" by Quentin L Cook. I also met one of her dogs that I haven't met. It is an enormous sheep dog named Happy. She is so cute!!!! After that, we went and visited the Torres family. After that, we got to meet with Tina. I haven't seen her in a long time, so it was great! We talked more with her about the temple. She really wants to go to the Visitor's Center again. After that, we went to see Adelaide, and had a member (Ella) with us. We shared with her the story of Saul (acts 9) and showed her a video by Dieter F Uchtdorf about how we all are on the road to Damascus. She really liked it! Having Ella there was a huge blessing too! Afterwards, we went with Ella to the park and talked to people. We didn't get anyone who was super interested, but you never know until you try. :) Ella then took us to dinner and we met up with her friend Ruby who just got back from her mission in Mexico. Ruby is going with us tomorrow to see Juana. :) After dinner, we went home and did training. 

On Friday, we had the Soup Kitchen. Boy, was that the day to be there! Little Caesar's came and made a TON of pizza for all the homeless people! In fact, there was so much left, that Sister Kelly and I took a box home. :) After that, we weekly planned and set some good goals. I also found out that my referral for a sleep study was never sent and that I need to check back this week. Ugh! We were going to go see Nicole after that, but she texted us earlier saying that she wasn't feeling well. So, we cleaned our apartment. After that, we went to the church to work on some things when we got a phone call from a member in the Santa Cruz ward. The person who was supposed to speak cancelled and this member wanted to know if we would speak! I volunteered, since Sister Kelly was going to be speaking in the YSA Branch.

On Saturday, we went to the Food Bank in Watsonville to do some more service. It was really fun. We made an assembly line and filled bags with food for people. We did about 2800 bags! :D I am excited to go back there. Almost the whole zone was there, too. After the service, we all got lunch at a little Mexican place in Watsonville. After that, we went back to Santa Cruz to get ready for the rest of the day. We then had studies (I worked on my talk) and then left for SLV. We went and saw Dottie and shared Elder Holland's "Good Things to Come". She enjoyed it. We then tried to see Alice, but she wasn't home. So, we went to see Sister Dallenbach. I think her dog, Gigi finally likes me! :D After Sister Dallenbach, we had dinner with a member of the SLV ward. It was fun. We then went out with our YSAs for a bit before going back home to prepare for Sunday meetings. 

On Sunday, we had ward council in Santa Cruz and then Santa Cruz sacrament meeting. I spoke in Sacrament and everyone told me that I did really well! I will have to send you a copy of the talk. In fact, a man stopped me and told me that he was a mission president years ago and that my talk was one of the best ones he had heard. And he worked with over 500 missionaries! We then had Capitola ward and then our YSA branch. Sister Kelly gave a good talk in the Branch about Fellowshipping. :) After Church, we had dinner at home (Sister Kelly made something from home) and training. It was a good night. :) 

Well, that be about all for here. I hope you are all having a great day and that you will have a great week. Love you lots and lots! *hugs*

Love, 

Sara