Leaving Arecibo

Thanks for the emails. I'm sorry to hear that you are still not feeling well, Erin. That's no fun at all. Good luck with finals coming up. I'm sure you will all do great. Thanks for sending the package Mom. I haven't seen it yet but I will be going to the office tonight I'm sure it is on the way. I never did get the Zyrtec but don't worry about albuterol inhaler I'm fine with those I haven't used them at all on the mission. Christmas time is near again in Puerto Rico. It's getting a little bit colder, I actually sleep with a blanket at night, imagine that. Everyone decorates their houses a ton here. Like the states but with more inflatable santas and cartoon caracters.

So it's official I am leaving Arecibo. New area, new companion but I don't know any details yet. We have a training for all the sisters in the mission tonight and they will tell us there. It's always really hard to say goodbye to people each time there is a transfer. It will be weird to be with a different companion, it's been so long that I've been with Hermana Rodriguez. But I'm excited to see what will happen. I have been meaning to send photos these last few weeks but I kept forgeting to bring the cord. Well this last week we went to print off photos at the machine at Walmart and now my card and Hermana Rodriguez' can't be recognize in the computer. It won't let me send. I don't know why. I'll try next week if not I'll send some prints that I printed off by mail. Sorry.

So anyway it's been a pretty good week. We've been trying to find families. To be honest we really haven't had a ton of investigators but we found quite a few families that we are pretty excited about. This last week we decided to fast so that we would be able to find families to teach. Hermana Rodriguez had to make change so that she could pay her fast offering so saturday night just before heading home we went to a grocery store to contact people and so she could buy something small to make change. As we were standing in line we started talking a man and his little girl. Hermana Rodriquez asked him where he was from becuase she could tell that he didn't have a Puerto Rican accent. He said that he was from Mexico and his family had just moved here three weeks ago from New York. As he left I quickly gave him a card and stood by the door of the store talking to him. We talked with him as we left the store and we left him a card. He said he would call us. Well we were a little dissapointed because they were a really great family and usually when they say we'll call you it means no. Well half an hour later we received a phone call from a new york cell phone. We picked it up but couldn't hear anything and tried to call back but the call wouldn't go through. We thought could it be the man we just met in the store? Well yesterday I received a phone call. He said that he had been trying to call for several days but we never picked up (we are waiting on a new phone from the office because ours has some problems). Anyway he wanted to hear more. I am super excited about this family. It just goes to show that Heavenly Father will put people in our path we should never lose the opportunity to talk with someone.

Leaving Arecibo was hard. It's hard to say goodbye to everyone. One of the hardest was Nicole. Wow, she's amazing. She has decided to go on a mission! She still has a few years but she decided that she is going and is starting a mission fund. She prayed for the longest time to know how to tell her parents that she was going to be putting money aside for a mission. To her surprise they were somewhat okay with it as long as she paid and as long as she promises to finish her Bachelor's degree and do her master's when she gets back. She was so excited to tell us. She is studying Preach My Gospel and came to teach with us again this week. She has started to have Family Home Evenings at her house. This is a huge deal because her parents were seperated for awhile and are back together but she told us that she has seen a big change in her home and in the attitude of her parents. Right now her parents don't want the missionaries to come by, they say their not ready for that but said yes to family night. Well, Nicole decided that the lessons each week will be from Preach My Gospel! Haha she's going to teach the doctrine from the mission lessons to them. We'll see how that goes but it's so great to see how excited she is to share the gospel with her family. She's so great. And to hear her talk about how much she wants to serve a mission put almost to the point of tears.

Well sorry I can't send pictures. I'll try next week and I'll send some printed out ones in the mail.

Love you all a ton!