Warning: Baptisms Ahead ;-)

Hello family! 

How is everyone? I hope you are doing well! *hugs* Can you believe we are halfway through April? I know I can't! It is scaring me how fast time is going now! Anyways, let me tell you about our incredibly fast and busy week. It was a great one! 

On Monday, we met up with the zone at one of the church buildings and played games. It was fun. Then, Sister Harvey and I went to dinner before going to an appointment. It was a good day. 

On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Mella (and Sister Mella). It was good. We were then going to go to the Livermore Zone ZTM, but President Mella was behind schedule on interviews so we couldn't make it. So, we had lunch before going to visit people. Later that afternoon, we had an appointment with a couple of kids who are getting baptized soon. We taught them chastity (we kept it super vague). We then dropped by another family before going to dinner. That night, we had a lesson with Piyush. We taught him about Family History. He was so excited! 

On Wednesday, we were going to go to service but this week was national volunteer week and they had more people than they could handle. So, we visited people instead. Later that afternoon, we met with the Livermore sisters to give them some materials they had asked for. We then went to the church to finish planning ZTM with the Zone Leaders. We then had an appointment with a family before going to dinner. Our dinner was with a non-member Hindi family. Basically, there is an agreement that the Hindis can use our church building for some of their events if they feed the missionaries. It was really fun! I learned a lot about their culture. Plus, one of their daughters was taking French, so I got to talk to her. :)

On Thursday, we did our weekly planning. We then had some appointments and visited people. We taught a couple of kids The Plan of Salvation and drew it on the iPad. That was fun. :) We also met with this family that hasn't been coming to church and they invited us to come back this week for dinner. After that, we then had dinner before going to the visiting teaching conference that our relief society was having (so I could get to know the members). While there, I met a woman from the Tri-Cities! Her parents are in the Richland Stake! :) We stayed for the whole conference and met some non-member friends that the women had brought. 

On Friday, we had ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). It was my first one as a STL. During it, Sister Harvey and I taught the zone about The Holy Ghost. It went well. Unfortunately, we had to leave early, but it was because we had an appointment with an investigator. Her name is Linda. We went to her home and reviewed The Restoration and then taught The Plan of Salvation. She really likes her church, but she is open. We will see where it goes. She is one amazing lady. :) We then had lunch before going out and inviting as many people as we could to Piyush's baptism the next day. That night, we went to see the Wendletons (they are the kids we taught last week when the Mom fell asleep). This time, the mom was awake and we reviewed the lessons with the kids. We also covered the ones we weren't able to teach the time before. Then, WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH THE KIDS! May 8th! Pray for the Wendletons!!!! :D

On Saturday, we had Piyush's baptism! So many people came, and it was awesome. He is so great. I will send pictures from it when I get them! After the baptism, we had lunch and then tried to visit some people. We then gave a church tour to a bunch of Hindi people who wanted to use the building for one of their events. We took them through and they looked around. We then used the pictures on the wall (of Joseph Smith, the First Vision, etc.) to teach them The Restoration! It was so cool! :D We then went to part of an activity/fundraiser the ward was having before rushing off to dinner. We then heart-attacked a couple of people in the ward. It was a great day! 

On Sunday, we were super busy. We had our two ward councils and then in the first sacrament meeting, Piyush was confirmed. It was great. :) We then went to Sunday School and then left before Relief Society to see if we could catch the Wendletons (because they weren't at church). They weren't home, so we went to our YSA ward. We stayed for sacrament and sunday school again and had to leave early to go to a meeting with the ward mission leader in another ward. We then went to an appointment and then dinner. After dinner, we had FHE with the bishop in one of our wards. It was really fun. We then heart-attacked some more people before going home. It was a busy day! 

Today has been good so far. We ran our errands and soon we will be off to spend time with the zone. Tonight, we have dinner and fhe with someone in the ward. Love you!

Love, 

Hello from Pleasanton!

Hi family!

How are you doing? :) I hope things are going well. Did you have a good Spring Break? It was Spring Break here, too. Made it tricky to meet with people (I am so glad I am not in Santa Cruz! That is where all the Spring Break people go! There and Monterey!). It was still hectic though with transfers and everything. Let me tell you all about it!

On Monday, Sister Doig and I mainly packed for transfers the next day. We then went to the church to be with the zone one last time. While we were there, our dinner called and said that they were out of town and couldn't feed us, but they asked for our address and ordered us pizza. It was so nice of them! After dinner, we went to see Betty and read scriptures with her. It was fun. :) That night, the hermanas came over to say goodbye and we finished packing.

On Tuesday, Sister Doig and I loaded everything into the car and drove to San Jose. I then found my new companion, Sister Harvey, and we left. We went home and had lunch and I unpacked. We then went to an appointment with a family. One of the things that the missionaries have been doing here is teaching the seven year olds who are about to be baptized and then inviting them to invite friends to their baptisms. My jaw dropped when Sister Harvey told me that the family we were headed to see is French! I got to speak French with them! We taught their daughter The Restoration. It was really fun. :) After that, we stopped by a part member family and asked if we could practice the lessons on their kids. We have an appointment for this week. The rest of the day was mainly going around so I could meet the members of the ward councils (I am in two family wards and a YSA). That night, we had a correlation with the ward mission leader in the YSA. It was a good, busy day. 

On Wednesday, we went to service at a community center and helped in the kitchen. It was fun. I got soaked doing dishes! We left early because we had an appointment. Unfortunately, our appointment wasn't home, so we tried to visit someone else. After that, we had lunch and then went to District Meeting. I really like our district! Afterwards, we tried to see some people and visited a family who has a son about to be baptized. His name is Chance. We asked if we could teach him the lessons before his baptism and we taught him a couple of them that day. Later that night, we had dinner and then taught an investigator who is getting baptized this weekend. His name is Piyush. He is actually meeting with the Elders and us, so we work together with them. He is so awesome! We taught him Tithing and Fasting. It was a good day. 

On Thursday, Sister Harvey had a doctor's appointment, so we were there most of the morning. Then, on our way back home, we decided to have lunch with one of the companionships of Sisters that we work with. One of them was my former child/companion, Sister Kelly. We had a fun lunch with them. We then went back home and started our weekly planning. We then went to see Chance and do more of the lessons with him. It was fun. We then did some more visits and had dinner before going to see the Stake President (so I could meet him). I really like him! It was a good day. 

On Friday, we went to a big leadership meeting in San Jose (MLC; it was my first time). It was good. After that, we were stuck in traffic and it took a while for us to get home. We then had dinner and then had a lesson with Piyush. We taught him about the priesthood. It was great! We then stayed and played volleyball (here, the YSA gets together and plays games and they are supposed to invite friends). It ended up being us, the elders, the zone leaders, and Piyush. We had fun. :) 

On Saturday, we finished our weekly planning and had lunch before seeing a recent convert named Amity. She is super nice! We then did some more visits, and stopped by to see a part member family. Missionaries have been trying to teach the kids for ages (only one is baptized), but it is hard to get in and to sit down and have a lesson. So, we weren't expecting much when we knocked on the door. To our surprise, the mom let us in. She wasn't feeling good from a medical procedure and quickly fell asleep after we came in. We decided that this was probably divine intervention, and asked the daughter if we could teach her the lessons. She said yes, and we started. Then her brothers came out and we started teaching the one who isn't baptized, too. We made it through all of the lessons except chastity! And the mom stayed asleep the whole time! It was a miracle! We invited the kids to be baptized, and they said yes. We told them to read The Book of Mormon and pray that their parents would let them get baptized. It was one of the craziest teaching moments I have ever had! :D We then zipped down to the church for Chance's baptism. After that, we had dinner and then tried to see people. 

On Sunday, we had church. I am back to having long Sundays. At 8h00 we had ward council and then the other ward council at 9h00. (Ward council was funny. One of the members of the bishopric was like "Don't fall in love with [the new sister missionary]! She is leaving in a month!". Haha!) We then had the whole three-hour block with one ward and then we went through it again with our other ward. Sister Harvey and I also taught Young Womens. The lesson was about The Restoration (specifically The First Vision). It was great! After church, dropped by the part member family we were teaching on Saturday and gave them copies of The Book of Mormon. We then tried to visit some people before going to dinner (my favorite part of Fast Sunday!). We then did some more visits. We had one that was really powerful. We then met with the zone leaders to plan ZTM (where we share the things we learned in MLC). It was really good.

Today has been good so far. We have some errands to run and then we may hang out with the zone (I haven't met everyone yet). Or... I may take a nap. I haven't been sleeping very well. Anyways, have an awesome week! I love you so much!

Love, 

Lot's of Curve Balls - New Sister Training Leader - Moving to Pleasanton

Hello family!

How are you doing? I hope things are going great for you. Did you enjoy Conference? We did. I really liked the talks by Elder Duncan, Elder Stevenson, Elder Bednar, President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and more! :D It was all just really good! Plus, the women's session talks are on Gospel Library now, so I got to read them this week before General Conference. Anyways, let me tell you about this week. A lot happened! 

On Monday, we had P-day. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the Zone. We then had dinner with the Leprêtres. It was so much fun. Brother Leprêtre asked me to pray again, and I got to do it in French (this time we did speak more English!). I love spending time with them. Brother Leprêtre always encourages me with my French. :) That night, we got to see Betty and read scriptures with her. We read 2 Nephi 25, which was awesome. 

On Tuesday, we had District Meeting. It was good. We then had lunch and did training. This week, we went over Preach My Gospel chapter 5 (The Book of Mormon) and The Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3). She is doing so well with it all! We then went to service at Sunrise and helped out with their social. We then dropped by Tifanie, because we hadn't heard from her very much. We were able to catch her and have a lesson. She is going through a lot right now, poor thing. We taught her The Restoration again (you have to review all the lessons after baptism). We also gave her the information about General Conference. Later that night, we went to dinner with the Spanish missionaries (because no one signed up to feed us). We went to the family that feeds them every Tuesday (I have been there a few times). It was so fun! It was a little bittersweet though because one of the Spanish Elders was pretty sure he was getting transferred so he said goodbye to them. It was a good day. 

On Wednesday, we tried to see Joann, but she wasn't home. So we tried some other people. We then had lunch and did training before going contacting. We didn't go to the horse ranch because we had a lesson with Crystal. She is having a hard time adjusting to having sister missionaries, so we did a combined lesson with her and the elders. It was all right. We all taught The Plan of Salvation. After that, we had dinner. We then went to the church and met with the Bishop and the Relief Society President to go over the ward list and see who we could go visit. It was great. 

On Thursday, we got to see Joann. She is doing better (she was sick last time). We had a lesson with her about missionary work. We then did some visits before going to lunch with the hermanas. We went and got tortas (they are super yummy!). We then went to service at Ivy League. After that, we did some contacting before having dinner with the Makasinis and doing more visits. It was a good night. That night, I called the Nelsons (senior couple from my first area) because I found out that they were going home. I talked to them for a little bit and then when I got off the phone, I realized that we had missed a call from the Coordinating Sister Training Leaders. So, I called them back and they told me that I would be serving as a Sister Training Leader this transfer! I was shocked, but said yes. 

On Friday, I had to go to the leadership meeting in San Jose (for the third time). I went with Sister Iloa, because she got called to be finishing someone's training, and she had to go to the meeting too. It was all right. Like I said, I have been there a few times so the only thing new was the instructions for Sister Training Leaders. We then went back to our areas and our companions. Sister Doig and I then weekly planned and had dinner. We then tried to visit a referral, but she wasn't home, so we did some more visits before calling it a night. It was a busy day. 

On Saturday, we had General Conference. It was super good! We went to watch it at the Stake Center and almost all of the missionaries were there (haha)! We then grabbed lunch and all ate in the gym at the Stake Center before watching the next session. The talks were awesome! We then tried to visit people and went contacting. After that, we had dinner and did training. We were then waiting by the phone to hear from other missionaries who was getting transferred, where they would be, and who they would be with. The Spanish sisters came over and waited with us and we talked. We were having fun listening to other missionaries call and give us the news, when I looked down and saw that the Zone Leaders were calling us! I answered the phone, thinking maybe it was about something other than transfers, when they told me that I was being transferred! I was shocked! They also told Sister Doig that she was going to be with the Palo Alto Sisters (Sister Iloa will be finishing her training)! I didn't sleep well that night, either.

On Sunday, we were back at the Stake Center for Conference. Again, we loved it. After Conference, we had lunch and packed. I also called some of the members of the ward and told them that I was leaving. Some of them wanted to see me before I left, so we visited them the rest of the night. It was soooo sad! I feel like my heart is going to break.

Today has been eventful. President  Mella had a conference call with all the new leaders, so I was on that this morning. We also did our laundry and packed some more. Once we are done here, we are going to do errands, pack more, and be with the zone one last time before people get transferred (there are four of us leaving). We then have dinner and an appointment. 

Love you lots. Have an awesome week. Next time I write you, I will be in my new area!

Love, 

Temple Week

Hello family! 

How are you? Did you have a good Easter? I hope things are going well for you. We had an eventful week...good and bad. Let me tell you about it.

On Monday, we had an exciting P-day. The Spanish missionaries decided that they wanted to do their own habanero challenge, so we all met at the church with a big bag of habaneros. None of the elders would do it, and I said no because we had an appointment with Sam that night. In the end, Sister Doig and two other sisters did it. They beat the record for the Elders! D: That night, we had our lesson with Sam and his wife. We taught The Restoration. The members that we brought with us to help/fellowship them were great! They are both returned missionaries and were so helpful in the lesson! It was a good day. 

On Tuesday, Sister Doig wasn't sick after her habaneros! Yay! That morning, we had District Meeting. It went well. We then had lunch and did training. This week in training, I taught Sister Doing how to teach The Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson three). We then went to Sunrise. We had fun playing games with everyone. We then had dinner with the McKees. That was nice. After that, we had MCM (missionary coordination meeting) with John Henry. It was a good day.

On Wednesday, we tried to see Joann, but she wasn't home. So, we tried to talk to people before lunch. We then did lunch and training before going to the horse ranch. We helped out with lessons again. I worked with one of the students that I usually work with and it was fun. It is really tiring though! We then went to dinner. After dinner, we had an appointment with Crystal, but she forgot and we rescheduled for the next day. So, we went home and did some planning. 

On Thursday, we saw Joann, but she was sick so we kept it short. We then went home and made some phone calls before having lunch. We were then going to see Crystal, but she called and cancelled. So we did training. We then went to Ivy League. This time, for Ivy League, we were pulling weeds. It was fun to see everyone in the zone there. We then had dinner. We then tried to see Tifanie and Xiomara, but they weren't home. 

On Friday, we  had service at the food bank. It was good. We then went out to lunch again, and this guy was kind of rude to us. He walked up to where we were all eating and asked us what we were doing. He then said that it may be just an ordinary Friday to us, but for everyone else it was "good" (basically, him saying that we aren't Christian and believe in "Good Friday"). Only Sister Doig, me, and one of the Spanish Elders got it. Ouch! We then went home and weekly planned. After weekly planning, we went contacting and met a really interesting guy. He wasn't interested, but he told us a story about when he met missionaries when he was in Europe. So, he at least had a good opinion of the church and missionaries. :) We then had dinner and then went to see Betty because we didn't see her on Monday. We read scriptures with her. 

On Saturday, we went to the temple. It was soo good! The elders also came with us because they couldn't get a ride. We woke up really early because we went to a very early session. After the session, our ride took us out to breakfast. While we were out, John Henry took Phillip to a baptism that was going on and he even met President Mella. :) After we got back, we made up our studies (because we were at the temple) and then went to a baptism with Crystal. After that, we went to our dinner. That was fun. We then came home and were going to do training when the elders called us. Apparently, they had lost their gas card and asked us to meet them at a gas station so they could use our card! So, we went and they used our card. Afterwards, we talked to them for a little bit about some things going on and then went back home to do a little bit of training. It was an eventful day!

On Sunday, it was Easter! Yay! The ward had a great Easter program for sacrament meeting and a "linger longer" / "munch and mingle" after all the meetings. Sacrament Meeting was all about Jesus Christ and one woman shared how she came to have a testimony of Him (I liked it a lot). Relief Society was all about Easter, too. :) After that, we talked to people and then left. On our way out of Church, we got a text from Sam. He dropped us. He is happy with his church. We were so sad! We then went home for lunch and training. We then had dinner with the Bishop in Menlo Park ward, his family, and some friends they had over. A couple of them were from Switzerland and spoke French, so I had fun with that! After that, we tried to see Tifanie and Xiomara again, but they weren't home. So, we saw Kathy. We had a great time with her.

Today has been a good day so far. We have some errands to run and then we will probably meet up with the zone at the church. Hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Exchanges, Investigators, and More

Hi Family! 

How are you? I hope things are going well. I can't believe it is almost Easter time! And General Conference is coming too! The Zone Leaders texted us earlier this week and told us that our Zone gets to go to the temple this weekend (like we do every time it is General Conference). Anyways, let me tell you about this week! 

Monday was P-day and Pi-day. We did our errands and spent time with the zone, before going to have dinner with a family in the ward. They have a family tradition of having pie for dinner on Pi-day, so we got to eat pie with them. It was so fun! We then went and read scriptures with Betty. It was a good day. 

On Tuesday, we were on exchanges. They have a really odd way of doing exchanges now. Instead of us splitting with the Sister Training Leaders and one companionship is in their area while the other is in our area, we split and both worked in their area. I don't really get it. Anyways, I was with Sister Iloa. We had so much fun! We visited some people, had lunch, and then went to service at the horse ranch. We took the horses out to graze again. This time, I didn't fall over (haha). The elders were there too, and I made them take one of the really big horses (I am too short for them). We left early and decided to head back to the apartment to change and then see if they needed any help at Sunrise. They didn't need us at Sunrise, so we decided to go back to the apartment because I had a headache. When we got there, Sister Iloa realized that she lost the key. We retraced our steps, but didn't find it. So, we called the other sisters and asked them to look for it for us while we went to dinner. On our way to dinner, they called us and said that they found it. Dinner was in our area, because the family feeding us had never fed us before and the husband is Tifanie's home teacher. On the way to dinner, though, something really funny happened: 

Just so you know, we have pepper spray in our car. Just in case. So, we were going along and all of the sudden Sister Iloa starts coughing. I look over at her and she shows me pepper spray on her hand. I asked her what happened and she told me that she saw the can of pepper spray an ddin't know what it was. She thought it was perfume! She was going to spray herself with it, but the Spirit said "just spray it on your hand". Thank goodness! So, she was a little uncomfortable driving to our dinner, but at least she could see and breathe!

Our dinner was great. They are such an awesome family. They were really excited to meet Sister Iloa too. After that, we went back home and exchanged back. Sister Doig had a great time on exchanges, too.

On Wednesday, we had ZTM. It was really good. Something that stuck out to me was a game that we played. The whole zone did a scripture chase game and talked about ways to find people to teach. We then did a relay race against each other. Afterwards, the Sister Training Leaders asked us how we felt and how badly we wanted to win the games. We told them that we really wanted to win. They then asked us if we wanted to find people as badly as we wanted to win. That sure got us fired up! :D After that, we had lunch and went to the horse ranch again. This time we got to help with lessons. I loved it. It is one of those services where you can really see how your service helps people. We then had dinner with a fun family in the ward. That night, we did training. 

On Thursday, we saw Joann and talked to her about the temple. She loved it. I haven't had a lesson with her where she asked so many questions! :) We then had lunch and did training before having a lesson with Phillip. It was awesome! We met at John Henry's house and taught him The Restoration. He said that he enjoys coming to church, and when we invited him to be baptized he said YES!!!!! He wouldn't set a date yet, but we will work on that! Pray for Phillip! :D After that, we had dinner with our Relief Society president and her family. It was great. We then dropped by to see Eddie and see if he got the French materials that we left for him the previous week. He was actually home! So, we talked to him. He saw the stuff and looked at it. He told us that he wouldn't be able to come to church on Sunday but that he would try on Easter. We then asked him if we could show him an Easter video. I had downloaded the #Hallelujah video in French right before we came, and showed it to them. Eddie, his wife, and one of their kids watched it. They all really liked it! 

On Friday, we had service at the food bank. We then went out to lunch with the other missionaries who were there. While I was standing in line to order my food, I saw Eddie's wife behind the counter! I was so excited! I'll bet the elders were so confused. One minute I am in line, and the next I am spazzing out in French! She and I chatted for a minute and then I ordered my food. Sister Doig and I waved at her every time we saw her, too. :) We will have to go back there soon! We then did a few hours of weekly planning (we had a lot to do!). We then went over to Tifanie's because it was Ron's birthday. Ron is always trying to offer us wine or alcohol (in a joking way), so we bought him a six pack of root beer and gave it to him for his birthday. He loved it! He was like "Hey, you guys are all right!" :D We then had dinner at someone else's house. It was so fun! 

On Saturday, we helped at the primary Easter party. We got there early to help hide eggs and stayed for the party. They had a little breakfast and then did some games and the Easter bunny came. During the games, Sister Doig and I ran the "tattoo station". You read that right. The sister missionaries were giving tattoos! (haha) We left after the kids all ran outside to hunt for eggs. We then finished our studies and then had lunch and training. We then went to sunrise and helped with art and jeopardy. It was fun. After that, we had dinner with a member in the ward and then went and saw Kathy. It had been a few weeks.

On Sunday, we had church. It was really good. In Gospel Principles, we talked about baptism. How convenient, given our lesson with Phillip! :) After church, we had lunch and then did training. We also had dinner with some people in the ward. It was fun. We then went over the ward list that the Bishop gave us and tried to figure out who we could go see. All in all, it was a good day. 

Well, that is about all for here. Tonight, we have an appointment with Sam and his wife. We are hoping it goes well! Also looking forward to going to the temple on Saturday. The member taking us asked if we could go to an early morning session, so we have to get up really early to get there on time! We will see how it goes! :) 

Love you lots. Have an awesome week. Have a great Easter. #Hallelujah

Love, 

#Hallelujah

Hi Family! 

This email is coming to you live from the suddenly sunny Redwood City! Why is this a big deal, you ask? Because it has been raining ALL week and it was predicted to rain this week, too! Who knew the sky could hold so much water? Looks like all of our fasting for rain has been paying off! :D Anyways, let me tell you about the rest of the week. We had more than just rain!

On Monday, during P-day, we went to the church and played games with the rest of the zone. Sister Doig and I played Uno with the hermanas and one of the spanish elders. It was so fun. After that, we had a dinner appointment, and they asked us to stay for part of their family home evening. So, we did. We gave a spiritual thought and played mafia with them. So fun. :) We were then going to see Betty, but she had to cancel.

On Tuesday morning, we cleaned our car (to prepare for Zone Conference on Friday). We then had lunch and did training. This week for training, I taught Sister Doig how to teach the Plan of Salvation and went over some chapters in Preach My Gospel. We then went to service at Sunrise. We played games with them. :) We then had dinner with our apartment manager and her husband (they are in our ward). After that, we decided to stop by Eddie's and give him some french materials (French Book of Mormon, pamphlets, etc.). He wasn't home, but his wife answered the door and had us come in. She doesn't speak English, so Sister Doig watched as I explained what everything was to her in French. (Thank goodness I had practiced how to explain everything in French!) She said she would tell him that we came by. He is working a lot, though, and it is going to be hard to catch him. 

On Wednesday, we tried to visit some people, but they weren't home. After lunch, we went to the service at the horse ranch. This time, we were helping with the lessons. I got to help with a student I had never worked with before. It was fun. I am still a little nervous around the horses, though. After the service, we were supposed to have dinner with Tifanie, but she forgot (we confirmed the day before!), so we ended up just eating a pizza with her. Oh well. It isn't really about the food. :) That night, we did more training.

On Thursday, we went with someone in the ward to see Sandy (a less-active). We had a good time. We then had lunch and tried to see Katherine (turns out, she moved). We then didn't have anyone to see, so we went contacting. In the rain. After about an hour and a half of being soaked and having no one to talk to (and our service being cancelled because of the rain), we went back home and worked on things from the apartment.We then had dinner and then went home and did training. It was an okay day. 

On Friday, we had Zone Conference. Thankfully, our zone was hosting, so we didn't have to travel as far this time. They also cancelled car inspections because of the rain (I had mixed feelings about that!). Zone Conference, though, was really good. President Mella, Sister Mella, and the Assistants all taught us. I left feeling super motivated! We then had a really good dinner. A couple in the ward fed us and invited another couple over. We taught all four of them The Restoration for our dinner message and invited them to give a Restoration pamphlet to someone. They were already trying to think of someone they could give it to! :D That night, we did more training. 

On Saturday, we went to a baptism. There is a family in the ward where the mom is a member and the dad has been investigating the church for a very long time, and their daughter was getting baptized. So, we went because the mom asked us to speak and to support them. It was a very good baptism! We then had lunch before going to sunrise. We helped out with the art activity and games and then the elders ran their big Jeopardy game. It was fun. After that, we were on our own for dinner (well, a member gave us money because she lives outside our boundaries) so I took Sister Doig to a yummy pizza place. We then had training and went home to weekly plan. 

When we got home, we realized that one of the elders' investigators (who they gave to us and we have been trying to contact) called us! So, we called her back and she asked if we could meet in an hour! So, we got about halfway through our planning and went to her apartment. She was going through a rough time, so we shared a message about Jesus Christ and got to know her a little better. We then set up an appointment for the next day. I think I have mentioned her before. Her name is Crystal. We have a new investigator now! :D We then went home and finished weekly planning.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference (so many conferences!). It was really good too! The speakers all spoke about being kind to one another and helping each other. I really enjoyed it and took notes. We then met with our ward mission leader (John Henry) and had a quick conversation with him because we weren't able to have MCM on Tuesday. We then had lunch and did training. We then worked on a list of people the bishop gave us after the baptism the day before. After that, we had our appointment with Crystal. We taught her The Restoration. It was pretty funny teaching her, because we were teaching in the lobby of her apartment building, and there were people walking by a lot. Heck, there were about ten people there when I was sharing the first vision! :) She liked it though and we are going to meet again next week! We then had dinner with a woman in the ward and then tried to see Eddie, but we couldn't find parking (the curse of living in California). 

Today has been a good day so far. We had Sister's P-day. Meaning, the Sisters in our zone and two other zones got together and had breakfast and talked with Sister Mella. I got to see Sister Hall and talk with her. :) We got most of our errands done too, so I think now we are going to play games with the zone and I have some letters to write. 

Have a great week.

#Hallelujah

Love, 

Better Week!

Hello family! 

How is everyone? I hope things are going well for you. We had an eventful week this week. Definitely better than last week! :D Here goes!

On Monday, we had our regular P-day errands and activities. We then had dinner with a woman in the ward, whose grandson we used to teach. We then saw Betty and read scriptures with her. All in all, it was a good night. 

On Tuesday, we got a referral of sorts. We were early to District Meeting, and another set of Elders were already there. We talked with them, and they told us that they were probably going to give us one of their investigators! :) District Meeting was good, too. After District Meeting, we had lunch and then had training. Sister Doig and I were studying finding this week (hmm that is relevant!) and finishing The Restoration. We then went to service at Sunrise. We played this really fun game called Triominoes (like dominoes, but with three sides) and then played Jeopardy with them. After Sunrise, we tried to go to dinner, but there was a huge tow truck in the way. Apparently, this huge semi was going down the hill and lost control, slamming into a house. They were just getting the semi onto the tow truck when we came. So, we waited for a little bit, and then we were able to get to dinner. We had dinner with a family in the ward that I really like. We then met with our ward mission leader to talk about the work in the area. 

On Wednesday, we tried to see some people, but they weren't available. So, we tried contacting our potentials and talking to people on the street. We then had lunch and training before going to service at the horse ranch. This time, we took the horses that weren't in lessons out to graze. It was an adventure trying to get them away from all that yummy grass when their time was up! (I pulled really one one of the horses' ropes and fell over!) :) We then had dinner with a family in the ward. After that, we saw Tifanie and Xiomara and had a lesson with them. It went really well. We talked about temples and work for the dead. They had great questions!

On Thursday, we went to the church to get directions to the homes of people we were going to go visit. We also called our potentials and one of our referrals (a man named Sam) called us back! We ended up setting up an appointment with him for Saturday morning. :) We then saw Joann and had a lesson with her about following the prophet (can you believe it is almost Conference time again?!). After that, we had lunch and training before going contacting. After some time on the street, we then tried to see some less actives and a referral from Tifanie and Xiomara. We then had dinner with the McKees. They are so awesome. We then tried to see the investigator the Elders are going to give us, but she didn't answer our calls/texts. 

On Friday, we had service at the food bank. It was fun. We then had lunch and did our weekly planning. After that, we tried to see Katherine, but she wasn't home, so we went contacting. We then realized that we were near the place where the Elders' investigator work, so we decided to do a little "creative stalking". So, we went in and looked at all the employees, trying to find out which one was her! We even bought something in the aisle that we thought was hers! We also texted the Elders, asking what she looked like, but they didn't reply till later (dang it!). We then did some more contacting. It has been raining a lot though (gasp!), so not many people were out. We then had dinner and tried to see more people. 

On Saturday, we had our lesson with Sam and his wife. We met at a coffee shop and talked. I am not sure how I feel about our lesson. We tried to get to know them and their religious background, and they asked us a lot of questions about what makes our church different. Then Sam was asking some deep doctrine questions, and those were really tricky to answer. I don't know how I feel about how we handled it. He wasn't antagonistic at all. There were very good feelings the entire time, but there wee just a lot of hard questions. I am not a theologian! We have done some research on his questions, and are giving him some materials to read before our next appointment. Hopefully this time we can teach the Restoration. We then had lunch before going to service at Sunrise. We drew pictures with them and then played Jeopardy. They seemed to enjoy it. We then tried to see some people before having dinner and going out again. We then did training that night. 

On Sunday, we had church. It was really good! Tifanie bore her testimony in Fast and Testimony Meeting, and she did well. In Gospel Principles, we talked all about repentance. Then, in Relief Society, the lesson was about kindness and not being offended. I really enjoyed it. We also got to talk to Phillip. We asked him if we could come see him and he said next week! :D I am SO excited to finally start teaching him! After church, we went to see Marta and then did training. We then did contacting before going to dinner. After dinner, we tried to see Eddie (we have some church materials in French that we want to give him) but he wasn't home. We then called a member in the ward who asked us to call him when we could. He is Tifanie's home teacher and asked if we could do her "new member lessons" at his house! We said yes! :D 

We are having a good day so far. It is raining, again. We are going to get our errands done and then spend some time with the zone. We also have to clean our car. We just found out that we have Zone Conference this week. 

Love you! Have an awesome week!

Love,