I'm Still 20! Just Barely!

Hello from Oregon!! So technically I live in Washington still, a town called White Salmon. But my area is in both Washington and Oregon, and the church where I am currently sitting in, emailing is in Oregon. So hello from Oregon!

Hello, The Dalles!

GAH! Our Area! Is this real life?!

 On the way to our house

The view from our front yard. (You're jealous, I know!)

My area is seriously SO GORGEOUS. I can't get over it! I thought Royal was pretty, it was like an armpit compared to this place!! This week has been so seriously awesome, too. My new companion, Hna. Marble is the best! She is really nice and really funny. We already have way too much fun talking like Miranda all the time (shout out to Hannie) She looks like Camryn Lovett and sounds just like Candi Brundage! It's kind of funny when she talks in the other room because it sounds like there's a Brundage in there! 

Hermanas Knight and Marble

My adorable companion!

So almost everyone in our ward is old retired couples. Or people with young families. There's not a lot in between. Also our ward covers a HUGE area, so a lot of people are less-active, simply because they don't have the desire/means to drive an hour to get to church. It's kind of sad. We actually used to have two smaller branches here, but the stake decided to just combine them into a ward. But now no one can come, so I’m not sure how long that will last. The area is mostly English, which is seriously weird to adjust to! We only have about 5 Spanish members in our entire area and the other sisters’ area, so it's not even enough to have a group, let alone a branch. It's kind of hard, because there are a lot of Hispanics here, and we have a few Hispanic investigators, but we invite them to church and it's like, yeah... so we want you to come, but it's in English... but we can translate for you! And they're like Whaaaat? I've been praying that maybe we could get a couple of Spanish families to move in here that are already members that could bolster it enough to have a separate Spanish group, then the investigators and less actives would have a reason to go , and someone to greet them when they get here. 

There is actually a lot of drama that has gone down in this area in the last year. I'm starting to feel like that's one of the reasons Heavenly Father needs me here right now, to kind of clear out all the junk and re-focus this area on what is important. A lot of the past missionaries have been really homey-ish with some of the investigators, so that's something that's probably going to be a little hard to change, but I know we can do it. Hna. M and I are just so ready to hit it hard this week and light this place on fire! (figuratively of course--I guess that's a little insensitive considering last summer...) But seriously I'm so ready to just gut this place! We took a little extra time out during our weekly planning on Friday to clean out the area book. It was so unorganized and messy! (There used to be elders here...) We organized everything and made an awesome plan of how to visit everyone this week. We are going to be so busy, but I am so excited! 

 Doing service--pruning shrubs for an elderly lady

Something else cool and random is that we get to drive a jeep in our area, since we are up in the mountains and it is sometimes a pretty rough terrain, especially in the winter. It's really fun having a jeep. His name is Juan Carlos. I didn't name him.

Oh I almost forgot something weird! Yesterday I met the twin sister of a member in Royal!! I saw her in church and was so confused, I was like "I know her from somewhere, but I can't figure out where!" It was driving me crazy for like 2 hours, and then I realized who it was--a sister from Royal. So then I walked closer to the lady to see if it was actually her, and I realized that it looked way similar to her but not exactly the same. Then it dawned on me that once when we were having dinner at their house, she told us she had a twin sister that lives in The Dalles! So anyway, that was weird and kind of cool! I didn't have a chance to talk to her or introduce myself or anything, but hopefully soon. We also have a gospel doctrine teacher who is from NYC, his accent is really fun to listen to. It’s also interesting going to church in English again. I just felt like "this is too easy to understand everyone!" ha ha! But we have to translate things from English to Spanish a lot, so that's hard and challenging, and a great Spanish practice!

 Wild Turkeys!

These cute VW vans are everywhere--

usually with wind-surfing supplies strapped to the top!!

We had a funny dinner experience on Friday and Saturday. There is a family in the ward, the Lensons, and their mom is from Venezuela, and the husband served in Argentina on his mission so the whole family speaks Spanish and English. They are one of our top go-to fellowshippers for Spanish investigators, so we planned this appointment for an investigator, Anastine, to have dinner with us and the Lensons. But then the investigator just made  a bunch of food and gave it to us to take to their house, but wouldn't come with us... it was really awkward! We kept asking him why he wouldn't come, but he just kept saying "Nope! Nope!" He wouldn't say why... so we just took the food and went. He said, "I hope you love the food!" and he seemed really happy to give it to us, but just for some reason wouldn't come. So... that lesson and fellowshipping opportunity was a flop! I guess he didn't get the point...

It's my birthday tomorrow! Woo hoo! And guess what my favorite present is:

ANA GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!!!! My first baptism!! And I couldn't go :( I was so sad about that, because I really wanted to go and also visit Royal! But I'm glad that at least Hermana Luevano could go! She is still serving in Moses Lake, so she easily went. I asked for her to save me a program too, so that will be good :) 

Hopefully I can see some pictures as well :) 

Congratulations, Ana!

(Photo posted to Washington Yakima Mission FB Page)

Well I think that is it for this week. I love you all! My last email as a 20 year old missionary.

Some last pictures from Yakima:

Last zone pictures with these goofballs.

It's been fun, Yak Valley Spanish Zone!

 Goodbye to la familia Martinez-Farias

Goodbye to the Gomez Family! Les quiero!

Oregon Here I Come!

I made a cute cover for my planner!

Transfers are here again! And I'm moving! I'm going to The Dalles, Oregon. It's the very most southern point of the mission! I was pretty surprised when we got the call to be leaving after just one transfer, but I know it will be for the best. To be honest, being here in Yakima has been pretty hard for me, because the town looks super similar to Rockwall! So it's really easy to get homesick here. I've been told The Dalles Zone is a lot like the Othello Zone, which I was in when I served in Royal, and that the "White Salmon" area (my new area) is a lot of farm country too, just like Royal. So I am really excited! Of course, the stresses and anxieties of moving and packing, and just change in general have not been fun, but it's not nearly as bad as it was last transfer! I'm the only one in my apartment who is leaving, and I'm not doubling in or doubling out of an area, so it will be a lot smoother transition! Plus, I found out I already know three people in my new zone: Hna. Juarez, Hna. Clark, and Elder Mercado!

False Prophecies about transfers!

Everyone kept saying I was going to Wenatchee,  NOPE!

 Finally made it to Miner's. Very famous local restaurant that has giant hamburgers.

Just in the nick of time too, since I'm moving now.

Something that's kind of funny/sad though, is that now that I am leaving the Yakima Valley Spanish Zone, three of my friends are coming here! Elder Harman, Elder Buchanan, and Elder Najarian are coming to this zone! Sad... I guess I'll just have to leave some notes! My new companion's name is Hna. Marble. I've only met her once, briefly at zone conference a couple of weeks ago, but she was so cute! And it's kind of funny too, because she was Hna. Aldrich's trainer! So once again, I'm going to be companions with a previous companion's trainer. (Hna Dee trained Hna. Luevano). So anyway, that is my major exciting news for this week! 

In other news, the elders that live behind us (our back yards back up against each other and we share a fence) and we have been having a sticky note war! It all started with the elders putting a sticky note on our car one day that said "GO BACK TO ALASKA!" (Hna. Dee is from Alaska) and it just snowballed from there. Then the other day we didn't have a dinner appointment, so we used our free 1/2 hour to sticky note there entire back patio.... it was actually really fun. 

Post-it War!!! They all have funny quotes or sayings on them 

but they are facing inside so they read them when they open the window

Let's see, what else, I got a haircut this morning! I kind of went crazy and chopped like 3 1/2 inches off, so it's quite a bit shorter, but probably only I can tell. It was nice to just get it cleaned up and a lot less weight for summer!

My haircut!

I almost forgot something amazing that happened this week! Our branch had a baptism!! Maria has been investigating for YEARS and went through like ten sets of missionaries, but now she finally got baptized on Saturday! It was seriously a beautiful service. And like, the whole branch came, plus a bunch of the mission office staff, and Pres. and Sister Lewis! 

 Congratulations, Maria!!!

We had a zone training meeting this week too, focused on becoming better teachers. Something super awesome that I loved is they came up with these sheets for each of the 42 main principles laid out in Preach My Gospel, and pretty much we fill them out and can have a solid conversation about any gospel topic, with scripture references, points, possible questions, etc. It's really helpful when preparing for lessons! Plus, it's a great thing to practice for language study, because I'm filling mine out in English and Spanish. I'm really a nerd but I love it. It reminds me of homework! I miss school.

Yakima Valley Spanish Zone 

April 6, 2016

Top: Fordham, Aguilar, Aguirre, Jimenez, Haws, Oliver, Christensen, 

Middle: Pres. Lewis, Nelson, Cataldo, Allsop, Kiser, Wilde, Johnson, Baker,

Bottom: Clark, Aldrich, Garcia, Parry, Knight, Streuling, Hawkins, Dee

Shout out to Grandma and Grandpa for the awesome sweet birthday card! Fortunately I got it before leaving Yakima, so I can use the gift card! 

Well, this was kind of a random email, but that's everything I can think of. I love you all! Next time I email it will be from Oregon! Woo hoo! 

 Learning how to make Chile Rellenos!!!

I got stung by a bee! On my lip! 

Now it just looks like a large zit, but before it was swollen and nasty.

Happy April!

So this week was really good. Kind of flew by though! I'm so excited it is April. April is the best month of the year :) 

I love April!

Pink trees!

Spring time at the mission home 

Tulips outside our door

Something funny and nasty that started out my week is at a member dinner, we ate this ground up fish paste. IT was NASTY. Like a meat sponge. SO GROSS. Eww, just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. Hna. H and I both felt really sick after that... So I am totally counting that as my new food of the month for April. Also I may count it for May too, it was that bad! So far this year I have tried one new food every month. Most of them were gross but at least I can say I tried them! 

Another fun thing this week was on Wednesday. Hna. S and D had Mission Leadership Conference, so Hna. H and I drove them there and picked up Hna. Juarez to work with us for the day (her comp is an STL too). It was fun for 2 reasons, #1 because Hna. J and H were best best, best friends in the MTC and they got to work together for the day. It was so cute to see them reunite! #2 I got to see Hna. Luevano! Except, she actually hurt herself...twice! She fell off a bike and hurt her wrist, so now she has a wrist brace, and then at p-day last week she and Elder Cordon collided playing volleyball! So now she hurt her ankle as well and is using a crutch. (She can't use both crutches, because she hurt her wrist!) It was sad but kind of funny too, she was cracking up when she saw me. I walked in the room and just gave her this look like, "What did you do?" and she started cracking up and said, "Hi Hermana!" then she and Sis. Hirsche started explaining everything. 

 Hermanas Hawkins and Juarez

 Hermanas Hawkins, Knight & Juarez

 I got to see Hermana Luevano!

Hermana L's injuries!

Another funny thing at MLC was that it was on April Fool's day. So Hna. S and Hna. D decided to play a prank with the zone Leaders, E. Oliver and Johnson, and they all switched name tags. It was funny to hear about how long it took people to notice.

April Fools joke

Wearing elders' nametags!

AWESOME THING ELDER SHUGART TOLD ME: ANA IS ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!!!!!! This is soooooooooo exciting, because first of all it is literally a miracle, and second of all that means I will probably be going up to visit Royal soon! His goal is for April 23, so keep your fingers crossed. He has been investigating for over 10 years, and it wasn’t' until the last few months that he has actually made significant progress. Go ANA!! Woo hoo!!! 

On Wednesday night we had an AWESOME lesson with our new investigator, Ismael. He is Daisy’s (one of our recent converts) cousin. He’s only 12, but he is SO smart and so ready for the gospel. Sis. Lewis came with us to the lesson. It was so fun! We watched “Meet the Mormons”, and Ismael said he wants to go on a mission when he is older. 

Speaking of the Lewises, we actually got to have dinner with them the other night!  Well, actually, it ended up only being Sis. Lewis, because it was Saturday night and President was going to the priesthood session of General Conference. (which was SO GOOD btw) It was fun having a "girls night". She showed us a bunch of awesome pictures she's taken lately, and we got to see some of the new things that have been on the blog lately. If you haven't, you should check out the blog, SIs. Lewis takes a ton of pictures!!

 Cool bracelets Sister Lewis got in Africa.

The village girls make these and sell them to support themselves and their families. 

The mission home is so pretty. I love this picture of the Sacred Grove above the fireplace.

Thursday I made Enchiladas for lunch. THEY WERE DELICIOUS and pretty much the taste of my childhood.

Last night Emma dropped us :( It was so sad. She's been one of the best investigators, so ready for the gospel in her life. She was so excited about what she has been learning, so she told her mom and sister in Mexico, about our lessons, and her mom flipped out. She got really mad, so now Emma is not talking with us anymore. We went over last night to see if there is a way we can work it out or help her feel more comfortable, and she just kept making up excuses. Then we would resolve her excuse and come up with a way around it, and she would make another excuse. It was really sad, but I guess it is just not her time right now. I will continue to pray for her family that they can soften their hearts and support her in whatever it is that SHE wants. 

Okay, last but not least, General Conference. I loved it! To answer your questions, as missionaries we go to the chapel to watch conference, they usually stream it in English at all the stake centers, and smaller churches stream it in Spanish. We didn't have any investigators who could make it :( so we just watched it in English for all four sessions. Some of my favorite talks were Elder Oaks, Kevin R. Duncan, Gerrit W. Gong, Pres. Uchtdorf, and, of course, Elder Holland. It was sad to see President Monson so sickly and sad that he could only address us the one time, but it was cool to see Elder Holland give the closing remarks. If someone wants to send me a picture of that meme, I would not even be opposed. Just the fact that he used a meme, and then that it was so hilarious on top of that!  Gah that was so good, Elder Holland! One of my favorite things he said: " Love God, is the 1st great commandment, God loves us, is the first great truth." so true and so powerful. 

 Gathering at the church to watch General Conference

Eating lunch with other missionaries between the sessions of Conference

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Conference:

Well, I gotta go check lds.org and see if the talks are up yet, Talk to you all next week! Love you!