Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Juncos!

Hey Everyone! So I just got transferred. I'm in Juncos. I am still not even exactly sure where that is on the map. Haha. It's on the east side of the mission. My first time venturing to what was formerly the east mission. Once again I am in campo or country. My companion is named Hermana Palmer, she's from Arizona. She's tall and blond and she has only one transfer before she is going home. It was a huge surprise that I was getting transferred. I thought for sure that I would stay in Adjuntas since I just had one transfer there and since Hermana Angel has been there so long. But we got the call last night so I threw everything in the suitcases and here I am. It's super weird but I am excited to see what this next transfer will bring.


Erin! Wow, 3 writing awards. I am so excited for you. Really, as I read the emails from you and mom and I was super excited I can't wait to read your stories. After working so hard this last semester and with being so sick, you deserve it. I'm really excited for you. Sounds like everything is going well at home. Hope everything works out, Dad, with the new office. Rach, thanks for the short email. haha. I hope you had a great birthday. What did you do? How's the new semester going at BYU. Wow, I can't believe the time is going by so fast. Tell everyone hi for me. I got a letter from Jennie Lloyd. You'll have to tell everyone their family hi for me and all the cousins too. It's weird to see the christmas cards, everyone is so grownup.

This last week has been super stressful, crazy and great. First, Juan will be getting baptized this friday. Wow, that was an adventure. At first we were a little stressed because I didn't not feel comfortable teaching someone that fast. I've never liked or wanted to be the kind of missionary that teaches and baptizes someone so quickly that they really don't have a testimony and they go inactive afterwards. It's still quite funny that a member that isn't even from our ward extended a baptism date for us and we didn't even know! Trust me we spent a lot of time, thinking and praying. Praying so much to know what to do. But we went ahead and taught him almost every day for the last week and a half. We moved the baptism date a few days later but we feel good about it. He really is ready. He knows everything and he is living all the commandments. He has prayed and he knows it's true after years of being interested about the church and reading about it he knows that its true. Members had already invited him to stop drinking coffee and when we taught him for the first time he had already stopped. He just knows that its true, he's prayed about it and knows that this is what he wants to do. And since he's been to church already a lot he has the support of the members. It's been quite the humbling experience for me to say, okay it's true, maybe he really is ready. Miguel and Natalie got married thurdsay. Wow, it was really stressful and great. But now there are problems with the paperwork. The process here is super crazy. They are missing some birthdates of his children and a few signatures of the witnesses. Including one of our members spending three hours in the office trying to figure it out and if they don't get it all worked out the blood tests will expire and they'll have to start the process over again! So we are praying really hard that it all works out so they can get the paperwork turned in and can have their baptism interview tomorrow. If not it will have to cancelled again. I'm sure none of that makes sense, sorry. But if you could keep Miguel and Natalie in your prayers that would be great. I hope it works out. It was sad to leave just before they were all getting baptized but I'm glad that Hermana Angel will get to stay. She's been working with them for so long, so I'm glad she'll get to be there to finally see them get baptized.

Well I guess we'll see how this new area is. President is starting a new thing where the elders are not allowed to teach single woman. So we are going to be covering the entire stake, teaching whatever investigators that the elders have that are single women or single moms. It will be interesting teaching many investigators all over the place that don't go to our ward. We will be covering very large areas including working in our own area. I'm really excited to work with Sister Palmer. I've always thought it would be really fun to be her companion. Even last night, Hermana Angel asked me who I would like to be my new companion and I said Hermana Palmer and look here I am. So we'll see how this new transfer works out.

Just so you know, I'm feeling a lot better. I think the thyroid medication is working because I don't notice anymore and I don't even notice me back or my neck hurting anymore. Every once in awhile they feel tight or I'll wake up and feel a little sore but really I forget it even happened. So don't worry about me. Life is good! Love you all a ton. Tell everyone hi for me.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Whooaaaa......slow down

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for the emails.

I appologize for not being able to write last week. You might remember the similar problem last year. Puerto Rico has so many holidays in January and February. But I'm glad you got my letter so it was a little short becuase everything was closed for 3 kings day p-day was a little stressful and I wasn't able to write as much as I would like.

Wow, it's so crazy that it's been so cold lately! Well I guess January is always cold but... It's actually warming up here at least this week. Thanks for the worrying about sending clothes and shoes, but don't stress too much whatever you send will be great and really I don't want a ton because by the time it gets here I'll only have a few months left. So yes, it's official I will be coming home May 26th! President wasn't able to make arrangements to come home on the transfer to give me one more week to prepare before school starts. That's cool that Sam Skanchy came home. Tell their family high for me. Oh by the way tell grandma thanks for the christmas package. I did get it. I feel so bad I just don't have time to write letters very often but I will write her one today. But tell her thank you from me and from my companion.


Sounds like things have been crazy at home with the weather and dad having to move offices. Well it has been equally crazy here. Wow! What a week. I don't even know where to start. First, we have a couple that we are teaching that has had a baptism date since November. Becuase of many complications it has been moved several times. Well they have to get married first but the process here is very complicated and they don't really understand how it works and sadly neither do we. Basically they have to get a medical exam and blood tests and they have to go pick up these forms and then take it back to get a marriage license and they have a limited time to do it. Well they were going to get married on Christmas but we couldn't find someone who had a marriage license. Then they were going to do it on the first but they didn't go get the blood tests done until the day before and it takes a week for the results to come back so we cancelled the wedding. Well finally the results came back for the blood tests so he calls the relief society president and said I have the paper. So she called us and we made arrangements for a branch president to come and marry them and then he calls one day before the wedding and said that he was at the demographic registers office to get the marriage license and they were closed for the holidays. Turns out the relief society president thought that he had the marriage papers but he just had the results for the blood work. So once again, no wedding. So we changed it for this saturday. Well we got a phone call yesterday saying that they have to do everything before friday becuase they had a certain amount of time to do all this and since its been so long they have to be married by friday or they have to start the process all over again! So we had to move the wedding to thursday morning and we have about a three hour window that the branch president can drive out there and marry them, turn in the paperwork and then drive an hour and a half away to get to work on time. Wow, talk about stress. This morning we got a phone call telling us that we have to be in Ponce at 6:30 in the morning for an all day training meeting! Talk about stress. But I know that it will all work out.

So another funny story. Well as I said last time we have been struggling with investigators. We really have. But this week we have seen some small miracles. We've been trying to work with the members encouraging them to pray for missionary opportunities and we have received quite a few references and new families to teach which is great. Well we have been praying and fasting so that we can find people to teach. Well answers to prayers come quickly and in the most unexpected ways. Really, really unexpected. We have an investigator who has been coming to church every once in a while with his girlfriend that is less active. He was taught by the sisters only once before I got there and then went on vacation for a long time. They didn't even teach him a lesson they mostly just answered some questions. He has read every pamphlet the church has from front to back and is reading the Book of Mormon. But we could never seem to get  hold of him to teach. Well he showed up at church the week before last and this sunday. So we were excited because we were hoping to finally be able to teach him. Well while we are in a meeting on sunday, the ward mission leader announces that Juan will be getting baptized next monday. We were talking to other people and before we know it the whole branch is congratulating us and we were totally lost. We were like "what? how? when was this decided?". Turns out that after priesthood a high councilmen from another ward asked him when we was getting baptized and Juan just picked his own baptism date. The man had never even met him before and he extended a baptism date right then and there. Monday at 4:00. 8 days from then. We were in complete shock, because he hadn't received any lessons, we barely know him. It's been a little difficult because we've received a little bit of pressure from the leaders to teach him quickly so that he can be baptized that day but from the beginning I was really uneasy about it. We've been praying about it becuase really we want to do the right thing. But we went ahead and planned how it would be possible to prepare him for baptism in one week. We thought, well after praying and fasting maybe this is the answer to our prayers, maybe he really is ready, but these last three days we have felt that he really isn't ready. We want to make sure that he knows the doctrine and is actually living all the commandments and has a strong testimony. I don't want the people I teach to be inactive in a few months or years. It happens way too often here and I really want him to stay strong in the gospel. So we'll see what happens, we are going to teach him tonight and see then we will move the baptism date to the end of January. Wow, we were praying for investigators we never thought that suddenly we would have to teach someone to be baptized in a few days. haha.

Well that's whats been going on here. Lots of things to plan; lots of stress. Haha...from some really slow days to too much to do all at once. But that's the mission. Hope things are going well at home.

Love you all a ton.