The Nylon Diaries

photo from the VC - thanks Brother Crandell!

2010-12-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

LAST P-DAY!!

2010-12-14T01:19:00.001-07:00

Well this is a weird feeling... I don't even know where to begin. It doesn't feel any different than any other day and yet my brain is telling me how weird it should be to be writing the last email of my mission. I have been wondering what to write in this email and decided on this. The following is a list of people who have meant a lot to me on my mission and why. It is by no means a complete list. I have learned on my mission that the peopl you know and associate with really have a great impact on your life and so I hope that these people reflect the good change that I feel has come about in me over the past 18 months (Friday is my 18 month mark.)

The Crandells: They were the first family that welcomed me into the mission. Whenever we came home I really felt like it was home. They have a way of making people feel so loved. It was wonderful to have such Christlike examples for us. I spoke with them yesterday and the sisters recently had to move out, so I feel so blessed I was able to be one of the sisters who lived with them.

President Kleinman: As an American presiding over a Hispanic congregation I was able to see the influence of his love for those people. As I watched his example my love for the people I serve grew as well.

The Parras: I will never be able to repay this family for the kindness they showed me. Hermana Parra was like a mother to us, and even with the stresses of their own family life she never hesitated to serve us, especially when we never asked nor excpected it of her. There is a special place in heaven reserved for her and her family.

The Farnsworths: Working with there family was probably the first time in my life I was able to see the conversion of a willing heart to the Lord. I will be forever grateful that I was able to see the change the gospel brought on that family.

The Mestres: They helped me to understand the power of friendships and the fact that there are no need for barriers as I watched them fellowship families into the church even though they themselves haven't yet been baptized.

Yuri and Destiny: I was able to see the strength of an inner testimony and the different ways it is expressed as well as the example and the closeness to the Lord of a child.

Hermana Rodriguez: She showed her love for the gospel as she showed her love for us. She was a mentor to us and took every opportunity to strengthen us as sisters and give us advice for the future, advice which I will never forget.

Laura: I have never seen someone so converted to the gospel in such a short time. Her spiritual sensitivity is something that many of us should strive to attain and it is something that she naturally embraces.

Rogelio: Teaching him and seeing his experiences I learned the power of the atonement and the importance of dedication in this work. I saw him humble himself to show his love and gratitude for the Savior.

Juan Ortega: He taught me to stick to your commitments, and to be dedicated to the direction and guidance that the Lord gives you through His Spirit. He taught me never to doubt in the Lord's commands.

Romina and Marcelo: I learned the power of famillies in the face of adversity and the great trust the Lord has in the mothers and fathers he sends his children to. For them family comes first and always, and God is the most important part of our families.

The Francos: Another example of family love. In this family it doesn't matter who is an uncle and who is a father, all of the children look up to these four brothers. I have never heard a shout or insult but have seen the children grow and learn. I learned from Sister Franco how important it is to testify to your children.

Carlos and Myrna: I learned how to expand my family and how to become part of someone else's family. They taught me the importance of patience and love in missioanry work.

I am running out of time and there are so many more people who are so important to me here in Mesa, Arizona. My family has grown so much and a part of my heart will always be here in Mesa. I know that every day has just been a blessing from the Lord and that that is what He wanted for me, to be able to love His children. I feel like nothing that I write can do justice to this experience and that there is nothing that can appropriately close it. And at the same time I feel like that is important, that once a mission is 'opened' that it should never be closed but that the work of the Lord should always be a part of our lives. And I know that at least speaking for myself it always will be.

Desde Mesa, con amor.

December 7, 2010

2010-12-07T05:11:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

December is moving along rapidly, with all the business of the lights. It has been really great to be a part of this again. At the very beginning of Christmas lights I met a couple who brought their brother and sister-in-law in. I met them one day and talked with them. Then they came in a few days later and remembered me right off the bat, but I struggled remembering who they were. They remembered where I was from though and that I would be going home to Morocco. The one couple were members but their in-laws were not. I started the Joseph Smith movie for them. I had asked them periodically throughout our visits about whether or not they had filled out a referral card, but when they told me that they had been given the chance I didn't bother them again about it. I came in the next day however, and one of the other sisters handed me a referral card that had my name and a note on it. It said that because of the time I had spent with them that week that their family has decided to learn more about the church! And then it had all of their information on it so that I can call them and send the missionaries to go see them. I love little experiences like that because it shows why we really do missionary work. It is for the people. The time that we spend with them counts, maybe not immediately but it sure does in the long run. I hope to remember little (but big in my life) experiences like that throughout my life and to be able to apply it in all aspects of my future.

Carlos wasn't able to be baptized last week, because he had to work. We discussed all options with him, but weren't able to make it work so we changed it to this weekend. I am excited for that baptism and he is now too. He was really sad when he couldn't get baptized but had to work so that he could pay his rent last week. He even asked if he could be baptized on Sunday instead, but because of the Christmas devotional that wasn't possible either. We will continue praying that he will be able to be baptized this Saturday, because that will help his family so much.

Gabriel has also accepted to be baptized. He has always said that he has wanted to but that he didn't feel ready, so he hasn't commited to a date and worked towards it. However, we had a really powerful lesson with him and promised him that he was ready for baptism and just needed to show his faith and take the step so that he could learn more. He still was hesitant until Sis. Rodio reminded him that I am going home, and he almost immediately said that he would get baptized before I left. Normally I wouldn't feel comfortable with an investigator decided to get baptized just because one of the missionaries is leaving even though they aren't ready, but in this case, we know that he is ready to be baptized and just needed to decided when and work towards that goal. I have learned on my mission that setting goals is important because we have something to work towards. Even though we may not feel prepared or able to reach something, when set that goal the Lord sees our faith and helps us to achieve it. It is the same with baptism. Even though they don't feel like they know enough or will be able to get over their addictions, when they chose a date or a goal to work towards, the Lord pours out His help and blessings because of their faith. Gabriel will be baptized on the 18th. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and his children. Part of me wishes it could never end, but I know that the Lord calls us for a specific period of time and then we must move on to the next thing He has in His plan for us. I am looking forward to making this last little time as unforgettable as the rest has been.

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Nov. 30, 2010

2010-11-30T05:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Our week was really good, especially with the start of the Christmas lights. On Thanksgiving we had a lunch with all the missionaries from the VC and then we were able to go out into our area because they didn't need all the sisters assigned at night. Unfortunately we don't find holidays very effective missionary times, especially at night after everyone has had a lot to drink so we were only able to visit 2 families. On Friday the lights started. It is amazing how the VC can go from almost empty one night to completely packed the next. Saturday was one of the happiest days of my life! First of all, on Friday Hna. Rodio at planning said that Romina, one of our investigators, really needed us to come over on Saturday because she was having a really hard time. She saw her at the VC on Friday (we weren't together because we are back to zebra companionships). So on Saturday right after our shift at the VC we rushed to her house, only to find a mini surprise bday party for me that my companion had put together (isn't she awesome!). It was so nice. Romina and her sons had decorated a big sign and she even wrote happy birthday in french and arabic for me. She got me a cake and oreos (Hna. Rodio and I love oreos, well, I love them now because she always has them so we have tons at home). Best of all however was a dvd she made us. She always makes her parents and in-laws dvds of pictures and quotes and music for special occasions and always shows them to us, so it was so special that she made one for me! Then she drove us to Juan's baptism where I spoke and played the violin. I have never cried at a baptism before, I'm just not a crier, but I was so happy that after so many trials Juan was able to enter the waters of baptism. After that we had another miracle. When Romina dropped us off we went to go see Carlos. We really felt that he should be baptized this coming Saturday, but whenever we set a date with him something comes up and he misses church, so we knew we would have to focus on that first. While we were talking to him however he said "I'm goign to church tomorrow." (we hadn't brought up the topic yet). "Sisters, I was at Walmart with Eric (his youngest son) earlier tonight and I turned to him and said 'Eric, we are going to church tomorrow. I have no more excuses.'" We were sooo happy! Then on Sunday morning we were walkin to church and felt like we should stop by Carlos' house to confirm he was still coming. Right before we walked up a car pulled up and two men got out and were talking to Carlos. We just knew they were inviting him to go look for work. We walked on in and waited for him inside. His wife Mirna was talking on the phone to his mother in Mexico. When we came in she said hello and then explained to his mother that the sisters were over. Then she proceeding to tell her that last night Carlos had asked her to find his nice pants and fix his nice shirt because he was going to church tomorrow (he usually goes in jeans and a tshirt). She also said that that very morning he told her that he was going to get baptized. Mirna told her mother in law that she was going to get baptized right after her sons ot baptized. We were so excited to hear all that. We always knew Mirna wanted to get baptized after her sons and that one day Carlos would get baptized, but for him to say it from himself to his wife, without us talking much about it was a miracle. And the miracles continued when he came inside and the men left without him and when he and Mirna came to church together (she never comes if her sons don't.) What a great birthday! And it had started off in the morning with Hna. Rodio filling my bathtub with balloons and putting twixes everywhere and later hanging notes on the ceiling above my bed. Hna. Rodio really helped to make my birthday great! Then yesterday was really weird because they changed our farewell dinner so that we went last night with the people who left this morning. It was fun but weird because out of the 11 of us there only 3 were actually leaving today. The rest of us just got back in the cars and headed back to Mesa. We had a nice dinner with Pres. and Sis. Ellsworth and then a nice testimony meeting with all of us. It really was a great week! And I know that the next ones will be just as great! And a last minute addition, it has been pretty cold recently, my body is just not used to this weather anymore. And for transfer news Hna. Rodio and I are staying together and when I leave Hna. Chaca from Peru will be coming to her.

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yesterday I hit my month left mark. This time of year is just like a time of deja vu, because I was on my mission in Arizona for all of this last year. Today Abigail (Hna. Blades! she's been home 6 months!) came into the VC and I got to see her, Claudia Mestre, and Rosalva Farnsworth. I love them so much and am going to see if I can have permission to see some of the people in my old areas that mean a lot to me before I leave. I bought a memory card last week that will be filled just with people I love from my mission. Xmas lights start on Thursday, so everything is going to start moving a lot faster. Juan Ortega's baptism is this Saturday, and I am so excited! He has asked me to give the talk on baptism. Hna. McBride is coming and I am also way excited to see her! This past week has been good, everyone getting ready for the holidays. We have had some very full days, which I love. At the beginning of the week we were given some braided bread. The bread people (that's all we know to call them) home make this delicious bread and sell it, but give it to missionaries free. It is prety funny, because if they see you, they will follow you till you stop and get out of you car and then run up to you with a loaf or two. Now that we are on bikes we are much more noticeable so they will pull over and catch us all the time. Last week they gave us 2 loaves but we were out at appointments so we decided to give one of the loaves to some less-actives. The Alvarez family are the ones who feed us for free every weekend, because they sell food in their backyard. They make delicious food so we didn't think that our little loaf of bread would be a big deal, but when we gave it to them they were so grateful, you would think that we had given them 1000 dollars. We saw them again on Wednesday when we helped Hna. Alvarez get ready for Los Tacos and played Uno with her children afterwards, and then again on Saturday when we ate with them. On Thursday my bike got a flat (we aren't sure how, we went in to an appointment and it was full and we came out after teaching and cleaning her house and it was empty). Luckily Edwin was home, our handy man investigator (meaning he works on cars and soups them up with things like Burberry leather that costs like 250 a yard...) On Saturday we met with Daniela. We had contacted her husband in a parking lot a few weeks ago but had never been able to catch them at home, but we did on Thursday so we visited her on Saturday. She had asked us to bring the DVD Finding Faith in Christ. She is so sweet and has a sweet little family. She immediately accepted to come to church the next day. (She didn't come but she just called me before the appointment we had today saying that she and her daughter were sick and that they didn't go to church because of the rain.) She is very sincere and we are excited to teach her and her family. Thanksgiving is our actually preparation day but since things are closed we had to email and shop today. We are going to have a dinner with the VC, just like last year. We have also been invited by our investigators Edwin, Shannon, and Nora, to come over to their home so we might spend a little time with them as well. I am excited to spend my favorite holiday here in Mesa again, but I'll miss Dad's chocolate pie, so I hope there is some for Xmas! I love you all and hope you remember all the things you are grateful for this week and always! I am grateful to have been born in the true restored church of Jesus Christ, for the blessing of being able to serve a mission here is Mesa, Arizona, for all the people that have become a part of my life here and for all the people who are still a big part of my life back home. And I am grateful for all of you! Happy Thanksgiving!

Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

11.16.2010

2010-11-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

The second week of my favorite month is over and the start of Christmas lights is fast approaching. In the excitement of the concert miracle I forgot to mention a church miracle that had happened the day before. As previously mentioned we are teaching the Franco family and have recently started teaching the grandchildren of Hno. and Hna. Franco. They love when we come over and we love going over. On Sunday morning we invited them to come to church, thinking that as usual it would only be Gabriel who came. However, when we showed up to Gospel Principles we looked in to the classroom to see Gabriel and Hna. Franco! And they told us that all four children were in their respective primary classes. They were so well behaved and they loved it! They are such good kids. We are hoping that Danny will be able to be baptized by his dad, and then when his little cousins turn 8 they too will be able to get baptized. Recently we have been having a lot of time in our area, which we enjoy. We had 2 full days last week and 2 again this week. On Thursday we had exchanges. Hna. Nielsen came to Hna. Rodio and I went to Hna. Nielsen's companion, a new sister. Unfortunately she was sick the whole day so we weren't able to get much done, but Hna. Rodio reported that our area was great. We went back to the VC on Friday and were there every day this weekend, but were able to teach almost every hour we weren't there. This is such a busy and blessed area, but I find that I can only praise each of the areas I was in. I feel blessed to say that, and blessed that I had such great areas and that the Lord helped me love each one of them.
Yesterday was stake conference for the entire state of Arizona, broadcast from Salt Lake to all 90 stakes! It was cool to be a part of that. Bishop Burton, Sis, Thompson, Elder Cook, and Pres. Monson all spoke. Elder Cook has roots in AZ and I agreed with all the praise he gave it. Much of the conference, especially Pres. Monson's talk, was focused on 'rescue.' We went to the morning session and the English sisters (who went to both) told us that before the afternoon meeting our stake president got up and said "Knowing what is coming, I feel prompted to tell you that there are around 500 less-active members within our stake boundaries alone, enough for a ward." Hearing that statistic was crazy, 500! That is a lot of work ahead, but we have a great stake and I only hope that we as missionaries can keep up with the great work that the members here do.
Recently we have been reading the Book of Mormon with Carlos almost every night. It has been a really great learning experience for us as we have read from the beginning, one chapter at a time, trying to think as our investigator thinks. I have noticed that while the Book of Mormon can be read any direction, inside and out, and studied in any order, it really has great power when read from the beginning. We learn as Nephi learns, gain our testimony as he gains his, truly line upon line and precept upon precept. I had never noticed the emphasis the first chapters make on the importance of scriptures until reading it with someone who currently doesn't treasure the scriptures. It takes us reading with him for him to read, yet in almost every single one of the first chapters of Nephi, the importance of scriptures, the purpose of the Book of Mormon, and the gratitude of Nephi and Lehi for the sacred words are shown. I think that is just so cool! And Carlos is so attentive when we read. Well, not neccessarily attentive, because it looks like he isn't processing a single word, but afterwards when we ask him what he learned he is able to point out even the littlest details that it takes members years to notice. We are just praying that he will begin to make the necessary effort to live the gospel and not just believe it.

What a week...

2010-11-09T14:50:00.002-07:00

This is going to be shorter, because I forgot my planner and a disadvantage to writing everything down is that your brain then feels like it can forget it. So what we did last week is mostly in my planner, and not in my memory. It seems like we spent most of last week in meetings, but at least they were good ones. On Monday (and I forgot to write about it on Tuesday because our pday was so scattered) we had a meeting with Elder Evans of the Seventy. He toured the mission on Monday and Tuesday, and the mission was split between the days. It was a really great meeting (really long too). We learned a lot from him about how to focus more on how we teach, rather than what we teach. Then on Wednesday we had zone conference, where we were able to practice and apply some of the things he had just taught us. We had (an) awesome miracle(s) yesterday which were the highlights of probably the month, and they all happened at the same time, which is why they can probably be considered one miracle. We had morning shift at the VC yesterday morning and then had an appointment scheduled right after. However, he didn't come, so we stuck around at the VC to eat lunch. If he had come we probably would have been gone right before 2, but instead, right after 2 as we were getting ready to leave, Hna. Bustillo came in saying that Emma Smith was at the VC. For those who haven't seen the movie Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration, the characters from that movie are like celebrities to us. So we were pretty excited to hear that the actress who played Emma was there. What made the news even better was that the group of people who were with her was actually the Nashville Tribute Band, which she is now singing with. They are a group of members that have put out the cds Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet, and Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers. They were in Mesa for a show that night and had come to the VC to invite missionaries and investigators to come for free. Those cds are missionary favorites, at least in this mission so we were all super excited, but of course had to get Pres. Ellsworth's permission. Next part of the miracle was that he was actually at the VC doing a baptismal interview for (next miracle) Juan Ortega, who passed and is (next miracle) getting baptized (next miracle) the day before my birthday! I can't express how happy that made me. He told President that he wanted to get baptized as soon as possible so that I could be there, which meant a lot to me, and then it meant even more that when given the choice between the 20th and the 27th, he chose the 27th because it was the day before my birthday. For me the day could have ended there and it would have been a good enough miracle, one that I will eternally be in debt for, but it continued. (miracle) President gave us his permission to go as long as we brought investigators, (miracle) The band sang 3 songs for us right there, (miracle) Romina and Marcelo said they would come, (miracle) they actually came, (miracle) and they loved it. They had seen the Joseph movie at the VC and were so touched by the music. Romina was especially touched by the song about Emma Smith sung by the woman who played Emma Smith, because she has lost 3 babies to miscarriages, one just last month. They also sang a few of the songs from Trek and a few from the next cd to come out - Work: A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries! It was just an awesome experience, because it was so last minute but the investigators that needed that and would be touched most by that were able to come! I think that even if I had brought my planner, all of last week would have been overshadowed by yesterday. Juan Ortega is getting baptized! I am so excited I just wanted to cry yesterday, and just wished that I could give him a great big hug! He is so happy and so converted. He finished the Book of Mormon and has started it again already. His son is coming to live with him and even though he has never met with missionaries he has seen the change in his dad and has already told him that he wants to get baptized when he gets here. I love these people and I love being a part of their life and I am so grateful that they are a part of mine. I am so blessed to be here and they have wrought a change in my life that I never imagined. I love you all! Have a great semana!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

2 Nov, 2010

2010-11-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, happy birthday Mom! I just at least wanted to mention it so you knew I remembered because this will get there faster than snail mail, but I am sending something.

Second of all, to everyone else, happy beginning of the best month ever! I am so excited for November! It is finally cooling down here (though it goes back and forth, this last weekend in the 80s, but before that in the low 70s). It is really weird to start thinking of a year ago, because some of the things are repeating themselves, but differently. For example, on Saturday we had a Halloween activity with the VC so that we wouldn't be out in the area. We ate dinner together and carved pumpkins and then watched a movie. A year ago on Halloween as a district we participated in the Stake trunk or treat. I remember a year ago when they were setting up for Christmas lights, and now it is that time again. It is kind of a deja vu point of the mission right now because of all that. However, it is the things that are different that really make this time awesome. I love the area (although that isn't saying too much because I have loved all of my areas). This week we started our branch fast. When each family starts fasting we are able to go over and visit with them and then pray with them as they begin. We realized last night that we are really going to be able to get to know the branch well through this. Often with transfers, you come into a new area and rely on your companion to tell you about the people. However, then you are left with only what they know, and sometimes that is only biased information. This week I know that Sis. Rodio and I will be able to get to know the members personally and as a companionship which will really help our work with them. We want the branch to trust us and to see that we are doing our best to do missionary work, because that will help inspire them to do it themselves.

Our investigators are doing great. We were finally able to get some of them to church. Actually, we only got one real investigator to come but we had a miracle with another. The one that came was Gabriel Franco, who usually only goes if his brothers go. However, this week he made the decision to come even though they didn't. We had a lesson just with him on Saturday, which I think helped because usually in lessons his brothers overshadow him, but when it was just him he had to speak up. The miracle was that another man just showed up looking for an American who had invited him to church. He had never been before and even though he didn't find him and didn't remember his name, he stayed with us for all three hours and accepted to have us come over. He was so attentive during the meetings and said that he loved the classes. He usually works on Sunday, but said that whenever he doesn't work he will come to church with us. We were so excited to have them at church because it is something we have been struggling with all month. However, yesterday was a new month and we will continue to try our best to get our investigators to come to church. Carlos is one investigator who is struggling with that. He wants to get baptized, but he always makes excuses for why he can't come to church. I realized last week that he is the investigator that I have taught for the longest time on my mission. That's great though, because then I can be more bold with him because he knows me and knows that it is out of love.

We are still adjusting to balancing time being back at the VC, but I think we are doing pretty well with it. On Saturday we only had 4 hours in our area, but we were able to teach 5 families. That is all thanks to the many people that the Lord is preparing in this area. We are so busy finding and teaching all of them. I have decided that I love being busy (not rushed and in a hurry, but busy.) It is something I have come to appreciate on my mission that I hope I can keep afterwards as well.
Well, I hope everyone has a great week!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

'May we open with a prayer and a load of whites?'

2010-10-25T11:22:00.003-07:00

I hope that the title gives you an odd image in your head and I hope that that image at least a little bit resembles the odd week we have had. I am sad that I won't have much to report on the missionary side of things, since it seems most of our week was spent doing laundry. I'm sure that those who have access to the news have heard about a pest epidemic, and it seems with our schedule and our visits, we invited lots of little roommates into our apartment. At least thats what we think because Hna. Rodio kept getting bitten during the night. So, to get rid of the invisible vampires, Elder Alldrege, the office missionary over housing decided we should probably fumigate. Fumigating a missionary apartment means washing EVERYTHING in hot water. That means everything. That means the flowered curtains over our window. That means the old coat an ancient sister left in the closet. That means everything. Do you know how long it takes to wash everything made of fabric in a 4 sister apartment? 2 and a half days. We had to come back between every appointment to change a load of laundry. We seriously considered bringing our laundry with us to our investigators' houses, hence the subject line. And on top of all that, to avoid having to do 2 and a half days of laundry when they come back in 2 weeks to spray again, we had to move. So we found a family in our branch who have a little studio apartment that we can stay in for a few weeks. No study area, no kitchen, but it is cute and bug free. It is just difficult living between two places, because we can still go back to our old apartment, we just can't keep our clothing there, and we can't sit down anywhere... We also live farther away from the VC now and my bike has a flat tire, so we walk every morning and get rides home at night. We have come up with a companionship motto - If we can make it through this we can make it through anything. It seems to be working so far!

A few short updates on the mission: Jesus finally got confirmed! He was baptized Oct. 2nd, but then had to go to Mexico suddenly because his mother got sick. He doesn't have a phone nor does he live in our area, so we were very worried, but with the help of another recent convert we were able to track him down. On Sunday we had one last minute scare. Israel was going to pick Jesus up but he got there late and when he did, Jesus was nowhere to be found again. He called us and we were worried but told him just to come to church. On the way to church, he ran into Jesus, walking! He was so determined to make it this week that when Israel didn't come on time he started walking. I don't even know how far of a walk he lives from the church, it is at least a 20 minute drive. His confirmation was so special, and the brother confirming him started crying at the end when he blessed him to know he was loved and accepted by our branch. Jesus doesn't really feel that from many people so it was really special. After Sacrament meeting he came up to us and gave each of us a little glass statue (like the kind he pulled out of his colorful bag) and told us we were his angels.

As I have been coming closer and closer to being permanently transferred ;) I have seen so many other tender mercies from the Lord to help me realize the impact a mission makes on people. I saw Juan Ortega at the VC the other day. He is still just as excited about his baptism. I remember when Hna. Guzman and I first found him, and when Hna. McBride and I struggled to get him to read the Book of Mormon and go to church. He now goes almost every week. Once Hna. McBride and I asked him to start the Book of Mormon from the beginning. When we came back about a week later he told us that he had read 14 chapters already. 14 is a lot for a week for most investigators, so we were super excited, then he opened it up to show us and pointed to 1 Nephi... chapter 1... VERSE 14... On Friday, however, when we saw him at the VC, he opened up to where he is now... the Book of Ether! He is almost done with the Book of Mormon. He just thanked us for finding him and bringing the gospel into his life.

Last night I got to see Emilio and Estrella again. They were at the VC watching the Joseph Smith movie with their new missionaries (they moved from the Sister's area, but stayed in Liahona 4th.) They go to church every week still and Emilio has finally decided that he wants to get baptized! We asked him every lesson from practically the time we found him if he felt ready to be baptized and he just said he wanted to learn more. He was probably the most faithful reader of the Book of Mormon I have every taught, however, so that time finally came! Now he is going to get married and baptized, he hopes before the end of the year (his girlfriend is married to someone in Mexico.) Estrella was so excited to see me, and said she was hoping we'd be at the VC. We weren't even serving there, just waiting for some investigators to come. She still wants to go on a mission and said that she doesn't think she can wait 12 more years! I don't think I could ever express the joy that comes when you see how someone's life has changed and how they appreciate you for your part in that. I know that missionary work is all about them, rather than about us, but I am still grateful the Lord lets us have those little moments. And I am so grateful to serve in such a small mission with a VC, so that I can still see all these people who mean so much to me.

And for the other people who mean so much to me - I hope that you all have a great week. I miss you all and love you all! Happy Halloween! I hope your week isn't as frightful as ours has been ;)

Desde Mesa con amor,

Hermana Ladd

Transfer 11 starts today . . .

2010-10-18T14:15:00.001-07:00

Wow, put in words that just looks crazy - Transfer 11! out of 11.5!

In good, better, and best news - I am going back to the VC, get to stay in BOTH areas of Ellsworth, and am still companions with Hna. Rodio! You can decide the order of which is good, which is better and which is best, because I sure can't! Sorry about the short email last week, but this week we are back at the library and have much better connection. The day after preparation day last week we were able to help a family in our branch, the Islas, clean the apartment they are moving into. They are moving out of our branch area, but as far as we all know they will be staying in the branch because it is just temporary. He is the Elder's Quorum President and she is in the Relief Society Presidency. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being back in a branch. Liahona 4th as an area was amazing, but boy, there is nothing like serving in a little branch. It seems the less people there are, the more they do. We were really touched when, in our Branch Council meeting yesterday, we told them that we were both staying and many of the leaders didn't hide their excitement. Anyways, we helped them clean their apartment and then went out to eat pizza. There are so many neat families in our ward and I can't wait to continue to work with them. Hna. Rodio had the great idea to do a week long ward fast. We are really excited and even more excited because our leaders are so suportive. How it will work is that we will send around a sign up sheet next Sunday, and starting the Sunday before fast Sunday there will be families in our ward fasting certain days that week. That way as a branch we will be fasting for an entire week. We will go over to the families houses the night they start their fast to share a message and pray with them. Then on fast sunday they will of course have the opportunity to share their experience. Another way for us all to work together for missionary work.

On Friday, I went on exchanges with Hna. Hernandez in the Escondido branch. (We all like to make fun of the name of that branch, because it means "hidden" in Spanish, and it is one of the teeniest branches in the valley). I was able to meet a lot of neat people there. (PS, especially after this next transfer, if I start using the word 'neat' a lot you can blame it on Hna. Rodio, becuase she uses it tons and now I catch myself doing it as well!)
I am super excited to be finishing my mission up in this area. This transfer news means that I have 9 more weeks in Ellsworth park, and there is tons of promising things happening in the next 6 weeks!

Last night there was another mission president's fireside. I love those because it is my chance to see people who have such a big part of my heart. Especially because last night it was hosted by Liahona 4th, so I was able to see people like Rogelio, Hna. Rodriguez, Gilberto, etc. Also, we had a great miracle. Betty told us that she would try to come to church, but would more certainly be able to come to the fireside. I called her a little bit before with the address, and she had forgotten and had a headache, but still sounded like she was going to try to come. I felt like she was going to come and told Hna. Rodio so. Right after I told her the phone started vibrating, and it was Betty, saying that she had gotten lost! I gave her directions and about 10 minutes later she walked in! It was such a miracle and we know that despite her headache she was able to feel the Spirit. We are so grateful she made the efforts to come. She is one that we have great hopes for, because she is so sincere in her desires to learn. I'm excited to update you about her and everyone else in the coming emails!

October 5, 2010

2010-10-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

The highlight of our past week was definitely conference weekend. Conference just doesn't get any better than on the mission. On Saturday morning session we walked over to the Visitors' Center to watch it in one of the theaters. Then some sisters drove us and our bikes down to the southern-most part of the area for an appointment we had immediately after the session. We saw Romina and Marcelo, our Argentine investigators and they committed to watching conference with us on Sunday afternoon. As soon as we left them we biked over to the stake center where we watched the second session, which was immediately followed by Jesus' baptism! Jesus was really excited for his baptism and really understood the significance of this step in his life. We got him some of the most interesting baptism presents I've ever gotten anyone in my mission. First of all we got him a notebook and pens, because he always carried around a notebook to write down our appointments and take notes during lessons. However, he lost it the week before his baptism, so we got him a new one and gave it to him before conference so that he could take notes. The second present needs a little explaining. The lesson before his baptism we were having a lesson with him in the Visitors' Center. Now, Jesus always carries with him a colorful handmade backpack, common to South American countries. He had to look through it for a pen so he started pulling out all of the things that mean a lot to him, all the things he carries with him always. Before I describe it, think about what you would carry around in your bag... Anyways, Jesus pulled out three glass cubes, the kind with etchings in the middle, that had been banged together so much that they were missing corners. Then he pulled out a metal snail statue, then a harmonica, and finally 2 bags of popcorn. He said a little something about each item as he pulled it out and when he got to the popcorn he got really excited. He explained in Spanish how it was his very favorite food, and when we said "popcorn, really?" He exclaimed in English "I just love it!" So we got him popcorn for his baptism! It is so funny because no matter who he is talking to he always says "I just love popcorn!" in English, rather than Spanish. After the baptism we headed to dinner. Our morning and afternoon had been packed! As we were leaving our dinner appointment, Sis. Rodio noticed some big salmon-brown clouds. "Those are fire clouds!" she said. Having never seen a fire cloud before I took her word for it and we peddled on. AS we got to one of the biggest streets in our area we stopped to talk to someone on the corner. The way we were standing I was facing them and the big clouds were behind them, so I had the better view. As Sis. Rodio was talking to the man I realized the clouds were moving way to fast to be fire clouds and that I had seen them a year earlier. It was a dust/sand storm that often accompanies monsoons. As soon as we finished the contact I told Sis. Rodio what they were and that we should probably get inside. We weren't worried because we had an appointment, so we just peddled as fast as we could through the wind and dust to our appointment. However, when we got there she was "taking a shower" so the appointment was cancelled. By this time the dust storm had been pushed through and the thunderstorm was coming. Now, in a car, it would be just a regular missionary evening, despite the weather, but on bikes, lightning creates a different story. We were unsure whether we should be out in the weather but as we were leaving the cancelled appointment we got our answer. Sis. Rodio looked down at her back tire, only to discover that somewhere along the way it had lost all of its air. not just some, but all. So much that we could pull the tire off the spoke... We weren't going anywhere. So here we were stranded under an apartment car port, during the priesthood session of conference when all the men with trucks and bike gear had the cell phones off. So instead we called the VC, and got permission for the sisters who had driven us that morning to come pick us up. Luckily they still had our bike rack. It made for quite an exciting Saturday.

p-day

2010-09-29T14:20:00.001-07:00

Sisters Campbell and Cottrell had Sisters Ladd and Rodio over to the mansion!

Tuesday Sept. 28th

2010-09-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Piggy! Wish I could be there for my baby sister's 14th birthday!

And happy birtday to Grandma, Aunt Nancy, Uncle John, Leslie and Michael! Sorry I am way late on most but I didn't remember whose was when until Grandma reminded me, so thanks :)

Another week has come and gone. You know, it is a blessing to be on bikes, because the weeks seem longer! This is probably, however, the hottest September of my life. I'm sure last year was just as hot, because I wasn't used to it, but being in the VC and in a car helped a lot. I can't believe that October is here. This weekend is going to be so great. First of all, there is a baptism, and then right after the second session on Saturday we are having a baptism. His name is Jesus and it is amazing to see the change the gospel has brought to his life. When he was younger he was studying to be a priest, so he already understands a lot and it wasn't hard to add in the truth he had been missing. One of the coolest was when he decided to stop wearing crosses. He came in to his cita at the VC one day and was wearing probably about 20 crosses. We didn't want to tell him that he shouldn't wear crosses, but were unsure about how to address it. We talked about the baptismal covenant and how when we get baptized we are able to be the example or the symbol of our faith. We didn't, however, mention anything specifically about crosses. After teaching him, we weren't sure if he would understand the way it was meant, but hoped that he would change that habit. The next time we saw him at the VC we taught him about Pres. Monson and how he has lived his life following Christ. At the end of the lesson, he brought up the crosses, which was a surprise to us. He said that something that I had said in the last lesson made him think about how he didn't need to wear crosses, and he told us that after his baptism he would take them off. We were so happy and it was such a blessing to see how the Spirit had taught him through us.

We recently received a referral from some members. Her name is Betty and she is renting the side apartment of their house. Last week we had a really cool lesson with her. She marks everything that we read with her in the Book of Mormon and told us that she is confused about religion and really wants to know the truth. She is so sincere and I know that she will accept the gospel. Yesterday when we taught her, we gave her a list of questions of the soul that the Book of Mormon answers and asked her to choose one and that we would study it together. She chose "Why does God allow suffering to occur?" We studied with her out of 2nd Nephi and she was able to see how the Book of Mormon answers her questions. We left her with another question to study and answer on her own (How can my family be more united?) and we are excited to be able to discuss what she has learned. I love using the Book of Mormon in teaching. That book really is a testimony to the Restoration because it was written for our time. It answers the questions everyone has. Yesterday we actually did that activity with all of our lessons (meaning at the end each one chose a question to study) and it was so neat that every single one chose a different question. This helps us to understand better the needs of our investigators and how to help them meet them through the gospel.

We had our interviews with Pres. Ellsworth last week and were able to receive a lot of neat training that is coming down from Salt Lake. As always I am excited for the progression of the mission but sad that I didn't learn some of this at the beginning of my mission to have all 18 months to apply it!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

21 Sep 2010

2010-09-21T14:15:00.001-07:00

I've got a lot of individual emails to write this weeks so this will be a shorter one. I don't remember if I mentioned this last week, but 2 weeks ago we painted a fence for the son-in-law of an investigator (the one who talked about toilets being white). He was shocked that we wanted to do service and kept looking at us shocked and asking why we were doing it. He said "I'm a nice guy and all, and I like to help people, but only when they ask me to." Anyways, we painted the fence, whether he believed we wanted to or not. Last Tuesday, after pday, we were driving by his house and he was in a Uhaul truck outside. We jumped out and asked what he was doing. He told us that he had to clean out the shop (his boss just closed their car shop). Then he looked at us and said, you know, it you like helping, this would be a good time to do it. We jumped in the car and followed him over to the shop, where we spent a good while loading all the scrap metal into the Uhaul to be taken to a scrap metal shop. We were so happy that we had gained his trust enough that he asked us for help. After we cleaned it up, they took us to get "Mexican" fried ice cream. I say "Mexican" because it was from one of those American "Mexican" restaurants and was just ice cream rolled in corn flakes. But we enjoyed the time together and were able to have some good gospel talks. On Wednesday and Thursday we helped Sister Alvarez again in preparation for their "restaurant" on the weekends. They are less active and while they have testimonies and know they should go back to church they don't really listen when we bring it up, so rather than pound them with invitations to church we just do service. However, last week, as we were leaving, Hno. Alvarez said "you know, if you want you can leave us with a prayer before you go. And sometimes you could even share a scripture if you want to, we'll listen." That was exactly what we wanted. We wanted them to show the desires. And then of course we got to eat their amazing food that weekend. Hna. Alvarez has promised to teach me some recipes before I go home, so get ready! Thursday we had a lesson with a new investigator. She is renting an apartment on the side one of our member's houses. Hno. Ayala is in the branch presidency and Hna. Ayala in the RS presidency. Betty is a young mother and was really sweet. We are excited to teach her again. Bikes are a little trying, and are wearing off their charm. Sunday morning we had to bike from our house to Gilbert Rd and the 60 (which if going straight there is about a 45 minute ride). At least we know we can make it now, though we usually borrow a car when we have to go that far. Sunday night there was a mission president fireside in Phoenix. I had never been in Phoenix before but it was super nice! Too bad it is hotter there than in Mesa, otherwise it looked like a really nice area to live. Hna. Rodio and I are very curious about what there is to do there, becuase every one is always going to Phoenix. Yesterday we say 3 of the Franco sons. We were able to see 2 of them on Friday. We had a really great lesson with them. We asked the sons what were some of the things that they had learned from their parents. Then we asked them what their children would say if we asked them. It was really cool the things they said, but what was funniest was when Hna. Franco said "why don't we ask them?" and got up to get her grandchildren. They haven't been in American for very long so they are these cute little Domincan kids, just barely learning English. Luis has 2 sons, Luis del Sol and Juan Luis. Juan Luis is home all day, he is only 4, and he goes by "blondie." We asked Luis del Sol, the kindergartener, what he learns from his dad and it was hilarious, because he started spouting off all the English phrases he could remember. "What's your name? Just a second. Hold on. How can I help you" etc. He has the cutest little accent. Then Rubio shouted at the top of his lungs "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8!" It was hilarious and all of us were laughing. However, the best part of the lesson came later when Tomas was answering a question. He looked at us and referred the church as "your church" but then paused, looked at us again and said "I mean, our church..." It was so awesome!

I love these people and the things I learn from them each day and hope I can learn many more in the next few months!

Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

Did you ever notice that toilets are white?

2010-09-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

The title for my email this week comes from a conversation we had with an investigators son-in-law the other day. It made me realize how much we take for granted. He was telling us about is life. When he was little they lived in Mexico and his mother left them with his grandpartents and she came to America. When he was young, this strange woman showed up at his home, and it turns out it was his mother coming to bring them to the states. He told us the trip from his perspective as a little boy. He said that when he got here, the first house they came to just after the border seemed like an entirely different world. "The toilets were white!" he told us. Have you every noticed that toilets are white, instead of concrete? I don't think I had ever taken much thought to that before, but now I will be forever grateful that they are. It is amazing how much we take for granted. He pointed out that the pictures on the walls were amazing to him because in Mexico, the walls were made of cardboard and would fall down if you put anything on them. It is amazing to me the humility of the people we visit, and the humble circumstances they live in. Many of them have small homes, that are almost empty of all furniture, but I never thought to compare it to their former circumstances. To them, just to have four sturdy walls and a strong roof is enough for happiness. We are so blessed to be here and I hope never to take our freedoms and liberties for granted. Romina and Marcelo might have to move back to Argentina to take over his family's business, which actually does well. However ,as they were talking to us last night about all the struggles they've been through here, Marcelo said "we would rather be poor here than rich there."

On Saturday we had a 9-year-old baptism. Jacob was baptized by his dad which was such a miracle. The Garcias had been a little less active, I don't know for how long, but when Sister Rodio was first in the area she an Sister Lopez really worked hard so that Hno. Garcia could pass the sacrament, which he did I think their last week in the area. With that background, I think it was especially touching for Sister Rodio to see him be able to baptize his son. I have been studying the talks from last conference and am so often reminded of the talks about the priesthood and the truth that the father presides over his household, no matter who else is present.

Yesterday we had another great miracle. When I came to the area, we were teaching 2 adult sons of a less-active couple, who had accepted baptism but were coming to church as regularly as we would like. When Sister Rodio came we went to see them and I met one of the other sons, that she had been teaching before. There are 4 sons and Sisters Rodio and Lopez were teaching 2 of them, while the other 2 were still in the Dominican Repulic. Then The area was whitewashed and the sister started teaching the other 2 when they came, but for some reason didn't continue teaching the first 2. So she knew 2 (Tomas and Ermino) and I knew the other 2 (Luis and Gabriel). Anyways, we went over and I met Ermino and set up an appointment around his schedule (the other three werent there). When we got to the appointment yesterday, Hno. Franco (who is always there) went to get Ermino and it turns out Luis and Gabriel were also there. We started teaching all of them and partly through the lesson Tomas came home from work. There we were with Hno. Franco and his four sons. It was a powerful lesson and the first time either of us had taught all 4, in fact, it was the first time all four had been taught together. And all four of them accepted a baptismal date! I can't really express in an email just how miraculous it was to have all 4 of them there, and after the lesson Hno. Franco looked at his sons and thanked is for teaching them.

We have seen many miracles in this last week. When Sister Rodio was here the area was split in 2, then whitewashed after that transfer by the sisters in the north area, so when I got here (and still) it was the 2 areas combined. For some reason when it was whitewashed the north sister didn't contact many of the investigators in the south area, so Sister Rodio and I are going back to these people. So many of them are ready for the gospel but haven't been contacted in 12 weeks! So many of our miracles are coming from those people in the south area. One of them said to us yesterday "I've been thinking a lot about you lately, and I guess it is because you were going to come today." I love serving with Sister Rodio, because we are alike and different enough that we just work great together. She loves the people from the south area so much that I can't help but love them the first time I meet them. And likewise, I love the people she doesn't know in the north so much and just love introducing her to them because I know she will love them too.

In latest news, the temporary bike situation from last email has become a permanent circumstance. So many missionaries came in last transfer and there are a few elders that can't ride bikes, so they asked us if we were willing to give up our car. What else could we say but yes? It hasn't been too hard, but there are days that we struggle and we come home exhausted every night. We have a fairly large area compared to some others (actually quite large, it takes us 30 minutes to get from the middle part home, and we haven't even tried biking from the far reaches) but we make due. The only thing that is frustrating is the fact that since it takes us forever to get anywhere we can no longer have appointments ever hour, but we are learning to plan timing better and when really necessary, we can borrow cars from the sisters serving at the VC.

Oh, and I promised to talk about the surprise from the VC! On Saturday at our preparation meeting we got to meet someone really awesome... Joseph Smith! :) Okay, actually it was just the actor that plays Joseph Smith in the Joseph Smith movie and in the Restoration movie, but that movie is such a big part of our mission that it was really neat. He lives here in Mesa and Elder White invited him to come down. My favorite thing he said was in response to the question of whether or not he felt pressure to continually live up to that role, since (especially in Mesa) many recognize him as playing Joseph Smith. I loved his response. He said that while many would think he would feel a lot of pressure it really doesn't matter, because he has taken on a more sacred covenant, one that is to represent the Savior as a member of His church. He also said that Joseph Smith wouldn't ever want us to mention him without speaking of the Savior. I loved that because really, all of us have taken on that covenant, first at baptism, to represent the Savior and take His name upon our heart. All of us should feel that type of pressure to live up to our "role". I am so grateful that not only do I have His name written on my heart, but that I have the blessing of wearing His name next to mine on my nametag for 18 months!

I hope that every one is having a great week and that every one will have a great upcoming week too!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Transfers have brought a few surprises, some great, some okay...

2010-09-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if y'all want the great surprise or the "still figuring out how I feel" surprise. I'll start with the later - I am staying in Ellsworth but... I am going full-field again. Don't have much comment on that since I wasn't even expecting that as a possibility and was excited to spend the rest of the mission in the VC. Actually, in all honesty, I was not excited about it at all, because I love the VC. At least mom you know my pday will be every Tuesday again...

However, this is where the great news comes in, luckily to outweigh the not so great... you ready for it... my new companion is a super awesome sister from California named... HERMANA RODIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes Hna. Ladd and Hna. Rodio have been reunited again! I'll go full-field again even if the only reason is so she can have her second full-field. So pretty much, I am super super excited and 6 weeks of emails won't ever be enough to show how much I love Sis. Rodio and how excited I am to be her comp. I love Sis. Dewitt, but she is going to Sis. Lopez. At least we will still be in the same zone, because she was also one of my greatest companions.

In other news, we are on bike until Wednesday or Thursday, because our car broke on Friday and the dealership didn't have the part to fix it. I must say (and yes this really is Sister Brynn Ladd writing this) that I love riding bikes! It is a blast! And Mom, I don't plan on getting a little vespa in Morocco, but I am thinking about a bike! :P

Ok, enough with transfer news, now onto missionary stuff :) Sis. Dewitt and I have been studying a lot from last April's conference Ensign (super good, can't wait for October). It is amazing how specifically these things apply to our investigators and I love having a modern day prophet! We finally were able to see Romina and Marcelo (speaking of, Dad - which cities in Argentina did you serve in? Marcelo is from northern Argentina) on Tuesday and as we talked to Romina it seemed like everything she said was actually a question her soul had, and the answered were found in the talks we had been studying. It was amazing, it was as if the general authorities and been given her questions and concerns and asked to give talks on those subjects. We brought her a copy of the Liahona and then on Sunday night we shared a talk with them. I felt like it was a powerful lesson because it was from the talk We Follow Christ by Elder Cook and pretty much we just shared and testified, shared and testified. Also, I had Sis. Dewitt lead the lesson which I hope was good for her to give her the confidence she needs to speak the Spanish she knows. She has such a strong testimony that it shines through no matter what words she says. Conference seems to be a theme lately, and I hope it will help our investigators take the opportunity to see it next month. We shared a talk with 2 recent converts last week and this week they are studying a talk and are going to share with us. It is wonderful to see the modern application of eternal principles and again, I am so grateful for a living prophet. I would hate to even imagine my life with out a prophet to help guide it.

Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

release date!

2010-08-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

Brynn's mom here.... she has a release date now! Her extension was approved and she'll come 'home' just before Christmas. Feel free to comment or contact me if you have questions and I can respond privately!

My heart is brim with joy!

2010-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been a hard one, but that sentence still stands true. Most of our appointments fell through and we didn't have a single full night in our area, so our numbers were awful, also, our three investigators with baptismal dates didn't come to church so they can no longer get baptized this month, but needless to say I am still happy, and here is why:

First of all, on Saturday I was able to go to the baptism of one of my investigators in Liahona 4th. I was so delighted to see how full the room was (most baptisms in that ward consisted of the missionaries, the person being baptized, and those taking part in the program). Second of all, it was really cool that all but 3 of the missionaries that taught Seferino were able to be there (the other 3 have already gone home) He was found a year ago and has moved around so there were 7 of us there. I have a cool picture of us with Seferino. Also, I was able to see most of our main investigators from Liahona 4th! I saw Juan Ortega, who is still going strong, but is still having trouble going to church. Daniel was also there and has a baptismal date for Sept 4th! So I will be heading back that way soon. Also, my favorite members and my recent convert Rogelio, were all there, which leads me to miracle of joy number 2.

Last night we had a Mission President's fireside. At the end of the last one Rogelio said "well, I guess it is my turn next!" I was so excited to hear his testimony. I was looking around the congregation for him but I couldn't find him til he came up and sat beside me. He was wearing a full suit and tie! He looked so different from the former drug dealer we had first met. When it was his turn for his testimony, I could tell he was nervous but he did it anyway and there was a new strength in him. He started off telling a little about his hard past, but then told about how we met him and said that the time since his baptism has been the happiest 2 months of his life! He said how even though before his baptism he never would have believed it, but now he knew that in a way, being forgiven of your sins is as easy asn being baptized. I do not know a time that I have felt happier in my entire life, than hearing his testimony, especially after all he has been through. Even after his baptism he struggled knowing that he had been forgiven, because he struggled in forgiving himself. He said that he continues to pray for us and will always respect us for helping him find the truth.

So, even though it was a hard week, I cannot help but exclaiming that my heart is brim with joy, because I have been so blessed this week to be able to feel a great part of our Heavenly Father's love for his children. I testify that it is so great and that His joy is also full when even one lost sheep returns to the fold. I understand the scriptures so much more on my mission and cannot even imagine what the joy of the celestial kingdom will be. Father promises us "how great will be you joy with him," the souls we bring to Christ. I saw just a little sliver of that this weekend and could hardly contain my joy... I cannot even fathom how happy we will be in heaven. There better be lots of trampolines because after this weekend I just imagine us all bouncing up and down for joy eternally!

Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

9 Aug 2010

2010-08-16T06:40:00.001-07:00

We had a great week last week, but not much time in our area. We are averaging 1.5-2.5 nights in our area in a week because of our VC schedule, so we are very busy during the time we do have trying to see all of our investigators while finding new ones as well. I'm grateful for all the help that the Lord is giving us. I have seen tons of miracles this week (but what is new on the mission!) First of all, our zone leaders challenged the zone to have each companionship set 2 baptismal dates last week for this month. We got the challenge with only 4 sundays left in the month, 3 for someone to come to church and 1 for their confirmation so we worked hard to get people to church. There is one family, Carlos and Mirna, and their kids that I had actually taught in my last area. Carlos grew up in the church so he always says he's Mormon, even though he was never baptized. They were investigating in the Liahona 3rd ward and then moved to Liahona 4th right before I got there. We taught them for a while thinking he was less-active, until we found out he had never been baptized, but then they moved into Ellsworth and here I am again! He had had a date for July 24th, but never went to church. We felt like he was one that is ready for baptism, we just needed to get him to go to church. We saw him on Thursday and committed him for baptism for the 28th of August. We were very bold about the importance of going to church. He often doesn't work during the week and then Saturday and Sunday he gets offered work so he takes it. We shared the scripture in D&C which says "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say but when ye do not what I say ye have no promise." We told him that when he went to church the Lord would be obligated to help him find work, but if he didn't go to church, then the Lord wouldn't be obligated to help him. He committed to come and we prayed all week that he would. We had to serve in the VC on Sunday morning so were late to church and when we peeked in to priesthood meeting our Ward Mission Leader gave us a big thumbs up and mouthed "he's here!" We were soooo excited that he was at church! What a miracle! But the miracles continue. We were searching and searching trying to find who was the other person prepared for baptism. Carlos had brought 2 of his sons with him to church so we both thought that the 10 year old was the other one ready (the 16 year old slept through most of church...) We had an appt with them later in the evening so we were going to talk to him there, but then they called and said they would be home in time! Almost all of our appts fell through and so while we kept looking and trying, we couldn't find the person and felt it was still Eric. We had a meeting at 8:00 at night with all the Ward Mission Leaders of the wards in our building to plan an open house so when we got there at 8, we thought that was the end of our night and we wouldn't reach our goal. However, the meeting got out at 8:30. We realized that that would give us just enough time to run by Carlos's house to see if he was home yet. He was! So we were able to talk to him and his son and invite Eric to get baptized with his dad. It was the miracle we wanted after the trial of our faith. The whole day we knew that there was someone else ready for baptism, we just needed to show our faith and keep believing even when we couldn't find them. I am so excited for this family and know that Eric will provide a great help to keep his dad going to church.

I also had an awesome VC miracle. Sis. Dewitt and I were assigned to the Art Exhibit at the last hour of the night when 2 men came in. I was by the entrance so they just asked me about what the art exhibit was. I introduced it a little and then the looked through it and I didn't talk to them until they were through. I asked about their favorite pieces and we talked about the art until one of them interuppted and said to his friend "now I just have to ask, are these girls in their service time or mission or whatever?" His friend answered yes and then Jerome (the one who isn't a member) explained that he wasn't Mormon but his friend was. His friend told us that he had joined last November. We talked a little bit about the difference between sisters and elders and Jerome told us about his familiarity with the church, which wasn't too much, more with members than the actual church. Then he exclaimed "you ladies don't know what kind of day I've had and how you've made it a lot better." I testified of the Spirit of the temple and then felt prompted to testify of families and how when our earthly family fails us we have God as a perfect Father. He told me that that was exactly what had made his day hard, was problems with his family. Then his friend shared how he had felt prompted to invite him down to the VC tonight. Jerome talked about the peace he felt at the VC. I told him that there was a way for him to have that peace always, to be able to hang up the phone after a stressful conversation with a relative and immediately feel that peace in his home, and then I invited him to have the missionaries teach him more about how. He said "you know what, I'm sold, I'd really like that." And right as I got his information we heard over the PA system "The Visitor's Center is now closed. Thank you for coming and please come again." A top box at 9:00 pm! It was so wonderful to see how the Lord really prepares so many people for the gospel. Both of these miracles were answers to unspoken prayers of mine. With transfers there were a few people that, seeing that the missionaries had changed, didn't seem as interested in the gospel and even though I know it isn't me and that I am called to this area, I could help feeling bad and wishing I knew how to connect with them sooner. That's when we set a date with Carlos and since I had taught him before, I realized how well the Lord knows us and how he calls us and puts us in places to touch certain people. With the top box, earlier in the week we had a very slow day at the VC and hardly anyone came in. I was in the exhibit for an hour without a single person coming in and I realized how hard it is to remember you are a missionary and not get discouraged when you are sitting in an art exhibit and not feeling like you are doing any missionary work. Then Jerome came in a few days later and the Lord was able to remind me of the great call I have and how powerful of a tool is the Spirit of the temple and the VC.

I love being a missionary and I love seeing all the miracles the Lord has prepared for this area.

Please pray for Carlos especially so that he can keep coming to church and prepare for his baptism!

Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

3 Aug 2010

2010-08-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well this past week has involved a lot of meeting new people, which is great. It is always a little odd to be transferred, even though this is only my second time doing so. But nonetheless, it still makes you feel like a brand new missionary in good and bad ways. Bad in that sometimes you have no idea what is going on, and good in that it seems that everything is possible ahead. The branch members that I have met so far seem super awesome, and I am excited to get them more involved. They don't come out with the missionaries very much but they all seem so willing to that I think that is just a feeling that has been passed down through missionaries. Sometimes all it takes is asking. We have two area books because the area is one that gets split and combined all the time. I think that it will stay combined for a little while because they just took away our other phone, the area used to have two phones so it was easier to split. I have been going through the area books and there are TONS of former investigators in this area! Most easily translated that means that there are a lot of potential investigators. Just a quick explaination, an area book is where we keep all the information about the people we are teaching, and the people that have been taught. Their records stay in that book until they move or die or go through the temple, so sometimes that means a long time. I always wonder what these former investigators think when new missionaries show up on their doorstep after years of not coming. Little do they know... ;) Speaking of what people think, I have always wanted to do like a photo exhibit of the world from the point of view of missionaries, or missionary work from the point of view of the world (maybe a future project Ky, because I sure can't do it but I do want to see it). Let me explain, there are so many times when we as missionaries see things and you know we are only seeing part of the story, but I would love to capture those moments. Then there are times when we see people's faces and I wish I could see us from their view. Sis. Dewitt and I have started pointing out some of those moments. For example, yesterday we went to teach a less-active. He is a single man, and the family he is living with wasn't home so we had to teach outside. The only place with shade at 3 in the afternoon was under the car ports in the parking lot which faces the main street in our area. And the only place to sit in these car ports were the little parking curbs. Here we were, Sis Dewitt and I sitting in skirts on these curbs with Santiago squatting against a wall. I wish I could have seen that from the view of the many cars passing us on the street! It is amazing that in this crazy world, there are little mini-systems, and when you are in one of those mini-systems, you forget all about the larger system we are all a part of. Missionary work is like that. We are so wrapped up in our little world that sometimes I forget there are people on their way to work passing our car in the street. There are people watching the news inside the houses we knock. There are things going on around that we are just not aware of. The best thing, however, is that in missionary work none of that matters. Missionary work, or the gospel itself, is probably the one mini-system that makes the macrosystem better. We don't have to know the chaos going on in the world around us to be able to make it better. I think that sometimes people watch the news and get so preoccupied with what is happening and worry so much about what they can do to help. Many settle on thinking they can't help hunger in Africa or homelessness in India. That isn't true. In fact, whenever we see that and want to help the world, the fool-proof way to do so is to walk outside and give a Book of Mormon to your neighbor, to invite your coworker to church, or to share your testimony with your friend. It is amazing how effective one baptism is in bringing peace to the world. This is the Lord's world, and we can help in only through the Lord's work.

Not sure where that tangent came from, but I know that it is true and I am so grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity and called me to be a part of His work 24/7 for 18 months.
Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Transfer news has come again, this time with some exciting surprises...

2010-07-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

I would go through the whole story, with the irony and have you find out as I did, but I don't think I have the patience for reliving it. I have been composing this email since we found out, but now you'll just have to deal with the short story. Hna McBride got the call that she would be training in the area and that both Hna Rodio and I would be leaving (poor Hna Rodio, she has been transferred every 6 weeks, and is heading to her 5th and 6th companions in 6 months, yep, another trio for her) anyways, so we just waited for night to come to find out where we were going. We waited and waited and when they called the district leader said "Sister Ladd, you will be opening an area in Phoenix with Sister Dewitt." Phoenix!!! I was super excited, I've always wanted to whitewash Phoenix. So I went to bed thinking I was whitewashing Phoenix and woke up thinking I was whitewashing Phoenix and when we got to the VC found out that I was actually in the Pioneer zone, which is not Phoenix. I quickly called the assistants (our 2nd call of the morning because Sister Rodio had to call when who we thought were her companions said that their zone leaders had told her she wouldn't be their companion but would be with a Sister Skyler (her first name...)) and when I told the Elder he answered back "they told you what?!" Yeah, that's how I felt... When I told my district leader that he was wrong he was just as confused, because when they found out they asked both of our zone leaders to confirm and they both said it was true. I don't know where it got lost in translation, but they were all probably more bummed than I was, because all of our elders had served in Phoenix and were super excited for me. Instead, I am going to Ellsworth Park, where I thought before that I would go. I am excited for that too, because Ellsworth is a good little area. I will be with Hna Dewitt, Hna Rodio's MTC companion. And I hope to have much more to tell you next week about the area.
It is super sad to be leaving Liahona 4th, I love this area so much and will never forget the people here. Rogelio, our recent convert, almost started crying when we told him, as did one of our investigators, 10 yr old Estrella. Rogelio said "you are leaving me all alone." I promised that we would still support him through our prayers. But it breaks you heart nonetheless to be leaving the people you love. I have served them for 6 months! I am excited for the people in Ellsworth, last Friday I went on exchanges with Hna. Dewitt in the area and met some of them. I will probably be dieing here, so I'm ready to love many more people. I am super super sad however to not be with Hna Rodio anymore. I have been so greatly blessed this transfer to serve with her. Thee Lord knows and loves us both and we were able to find our "best friend" on the mission and even though we won't be companions anymore, I know she will be there to support me always.

This last week we have continued to see many miracles in Liahona 4th, and I am sad to go but excited for the miracles to come. The English sisters in Lehi turned over an investigator, Sandra, to us, so that we could teach her husband as well. When I went over with the sisters they committed her again to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith because she hadn't yet. When we followed up the next day, this time with my companions, I asked her if she had done it and she said yes! She said that she felt very good and that she was excited to continue to read the Book of Mormon. I could see in her eyes that she had received the answer that it is true. Later that evening we went on splits with some returned sisters, miracle after miracle. Juan Ortega is still super excited for his baptism and shared some experiences he had had in the last week where he knew he felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Sister Rodio went to Evangelina and told us how great she was. When we got to see her this weekend we felt how strong her spirit was and how prepared she is to receive the gospel. On Friday evening I was able to go out with Hna. Dewitt in her area, which is now my area, and am glad I got the chance to meet some of the people we will be serving there. On Saturday we had a great ward activity which I think really united the ward, because that has been a struggle in Liahona 4th. I love these people and am grateful for the power of prayer, because I know that I can continue to pray for them throughout not only my mission, but also my life. I pray for all of you as well and am grateful for your prayers of support!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

2010-07-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Jacob! Hope that you got the card, so it isn't much more but one day you will understand. I can't believe I have a 17-yr-old brother, I never thought I would! But I bet, Mom, that you can't believe you have a 17-yr-old son :P !

Another fairly uneventful week in Mesa, but good nonetheless. For hopefully the last time this transfer our companionship was split up. A full-field sister hurt her ankle and can't tract, so we trained her on telephone calls at the VC while Sister Rodio went out with her companion all week. We had quite the scare and thought that she was going to be emergency transferred, which was not a happy thought. I will be ready for it when it comes, but I don't want us to be split up before then. I love this transfer and have great companions!

Rogelio has been struggling since his baptism. The first few weeks were great, and he was really a different person, but then he started getting really discouraged. He wasn't getting work and wasn't being patient through his trials. It was frustrating to us because we can see the hope and the blessings that wait on the other side of the trials, but he couldn't see that and wasn't trusting us. I guess in a way it is like being a parent, when your kids don't listen to you because they don't believe you know, even though you've been through similar trials. And yes, Mom and Dad, you can say "I told you so" if you want to... However, Armando, a recent convert, has been fellowshipping him and found him a stable job. He is much happier again and on Sunday at the mission president fireside he told us that he wants to share his testimony at the next one! How wonderfully exciting!!!!

Our zone is getting zone t-shirts and they asked me to help coming up with a few design possibilities. I ended up drawing one out which they all really liked. I didn't realize they would appreciate my art so much, seeing as how in the family that hasn't been my forte, but that of others. I was glad to see I got some of that talent too. The creativity I've always inherited, but didn't know I could translate it into art.

On Friday, we went visited a less-active member with the English elders in our area. It was neat to see that we could teach in unity with 5 of us. Daniel is an older man, with some hearing and speaking difficulties. He is super nice and funny, but very lonely and gets offended easily. He hasn't been coming to church because he hasn't really been getting the fellowshipping he needs and because of some miscommunications was offended by another member and neighbor. He also doesn't have any transportation to church, he had been riding with the member he was offended by. As we were thinking about how to best help him, we decided to try and transfer him over to the English ward, because it is closer, there are more members close to him, and in that ward there are a lot of older people who can fellowship him. We don't want him to think we are kicking him out of this ward, because we love him and want the best for him, but unfortunately in Spanish work, sometimes the best is not a large ward like ours. And he speaks English as well, so we think it will help. The elders in that ward said that it was an answer to prayers in their ward because there are some ward missionaries who are older and feel unused. The elders and a member went over yesterday without us, and they told us it was really successful and that he accepted their invitation to their ward. I love the stability created by the gospel, knowing that no matter where you are, the church is exactly the same. This is the only church that is that uniform, which is just a greater testimony to me of its establishment by God, and not by men.

We also had a really great lesson with an investigator Daniel (who also lives in the trailers) at the VC on Friday. We were trying to help him stop drinking for a while and when we were full-field we went over every night, but it didn't seem to help him. When we were called back to the VC, we couldn't go over and see him as often. For a little while, he thought we were mad at him because we hadn't been over. (That is still a struggle we have, balancing our schedule at the VC, but the Lord blesses us if we work hard, as in this case.) About 2 weeks ago we talked to Daniel on the phone and he told us he had quite drinking again. We went over a week and a half later and he hadn't started again. He seemed a lot stronger and happier about it this time. We brought him to the VC on Friday, because he has a distracting roommate who isn't interested, but likes to talk, so it is hard for us to teach. We weren't able to get a teaching room in the VC, so we gave him a tour of the art exhibit. It was such a great lesson and the Spirit was extremely strong. He felt it and almost cried many times throughout, especially when we told him about going on a mission. That is what seems to give him the most motivation to change. He just turned 19 and will be able to serve a mission a year after he is baptized. He wants to be able to share this with other people, which shows the conversion taking place within him. I am so grateful for the art exhibit and the strength it has. Art has the power to touch people's spirits in such a strong way. If you think about it, the world and even we as the Lord's creations are His art. All of his creations testify of him, and they don't have the voice to do it. If they could they would shout His praises. How much more responsibility do we have as His children to share our testimonies. We have been blessed with voices, let us shout and sing His praises always, through our words and through our actions!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

13 July 2010

2010-07-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent most of my time reading dad's email which was much more exciting that writing, so this one is going to be more of a summary. (PS Dad, you can write that long every week if you want to :) )

Anyways, I was the very first missionary Pres. Ellsworth interviewed. He said he would look into extending, and didn't really give me a straight up answer for whether or not I can start researching schools, so keep an eye out for me! We haven't quite been a trio the past week for some reason or other, either because Sis. Rodio was sick, or because another sister was sick and Hna. McBride went with her companion. On Wednesday when we went to see Juan Ortega he told us that he had almost completely stopped drinking coffee and had completely stopped smoking. That was great news, because while he was sure he could stop smoking because he had done it before, he told us it would take a while for the coffee. We were surprised it happened so fast! We even took his coffeemaker from him. When Sis. Rodio asked for it he said "oh, sure, that would be great! that would really help me out." She asked if we could keep it for 3 days, until our next appt, but he said "no! you can keep it a week!"

Sidetrack but big part of my weeks for the rest of my mission - I was assigned a few weeks ago as the administrative assistant in the VC. They just made it up and I am the first one to have it so I still don't know what it entails, but mostly is a bunch of behind the scenes projects for Elder and Sis. White. On Pioneer Day the VC will have some activities so my last project was to design a passalong card for that. The weeks are flying by and as Hna. McBride keeps accidentally reminding us the transfer is almost over. I wish I could stay in this companionship for the rest of my mission.

In more sad news, Quirino, after being sober for 3 weeks, up and bought a case of 18 beers on Saturday, and another 12 on Sunday. I am grateful that I understand agency of people, because it is hard enough when an investigator we work so hard with falls back. Armando, a recent convert we work with a ton was really sad. He was the reason we started teaching Quirino and Melissa again. He has expressed to us many times his frustration because he shares the gospel but more often than not nothing comes from it. After this weekend we were talking with him and he was much more hopeful in the past. He is starting to learn those same lessons. We also know that this is not the end, that Quirino can still change and we have a lot of hope that he will stop drinking again. The saddest thing was that after 30 beers in less than 24 hours, he could still walk and could talk coherently. It is so sad that people can build that high of a tolerance to poison.

Yesterday, we got to do service in the temple. We cleaned and polished the wood in the rooms for preparatory ordinances. It was so cool, just the three of us cleaning the house of the Lord. We are going to go back and serve next week too! Last night was awesome, Mondays are some of my favorite days because we usually get tons done as a good way to end the week right before pday. We were at the VC after the temple and then just had 3 hours in our area and in those three hours we were able to fit 3 lessons, two of them member present lessons (We had to split the trio again, but I think this is the Lord's way of helping us cover more in our area even while serving at the VC right now). A lot of changes are taking place with all of the missions all over the world. We learned about them at interviews. I don't know how well they would be understood so I will write it in a letter and send it home. I will send a copy to Grandma and Grandpa Colton too, even though they probably already know, but they are the most likely to understand some of the terminology. Well, I think that is it, I still have to write president and a few others so I'll finish up here. I love being a missionary even though it still hits me hard sometimes and I am surprised that the Lord has brought me here in my life. I never imagined it but I have never been happier to be proved wrong!

Desde Mesa, con amor
Hermana Ladd

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-05T20:20:00.002-07:00

... Speaking of the Ellsworths, we had Meet the President last week. They are another younger couple, so their 2 youngest daughters are here with them. One will be going off to BYU in the fall, but the other is going to be at home all 3 years. They are wonderful people and I look forward to telling you all more about them as I get to know them better. We have interviews tomorrow so I will ask President about some of the matters that are coming up sooner than I want.
I got Dad's email, how exciting that he is in Rabat! We emailed late today so that I could have a bigger chance of getting it. Also, we are just emailing at the VC right before shift, since everywhere else is closed (to answer your question Mom). We got to celebrate the Fourth on the Third. The VC closed early because much of Mesa was celebrating Saturday and just taking work off today. After a meeting at the VC we went to the chapel behind the temple for dinner and then we had a few different activities to choose from. Some sisters played sports, others decorated cookies, but my companions and I and some other sisters got to watch the movie Emma Smith: My Story. It was such a good movie, especially because, even though not made by the church, it had the same actors as and some of the same clips as the Joseph Smith movie we show here at the VC. It was amazing to me to see the life of the Prophet from another point of view. He had such a great call and really has done more for mankind than any other person, save the Savior Jesus Christ Himself. I know that Joseph Smith was called personally by God and His Son Jesus Christ. I know that the church he was called to restore is the only true church on the earth, with the true and complete gospel of Christ, which allows us access to the only way back to Our Father.

After the movie it was time to go home for the night, and we were walking through the temple grounds on the way back to the VC to pick up the car. It was such a miracle, because we were the only sisters who decided to walk to the chapel which meant we had to walk back at night, but right when we got to the temple, the fireworks on Main Street were set off! We took some really beautiful pictures of the temple with fireworks in the background.

Well I'm excited to hear more about the move and especially hear more about Morocco! We have quite an adventure ahead of us!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

29 June 2010

2010-06-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well...
President Bassett is off and President Ellsworth is here. We get to meet him tomorrow.
Seferino has committed to baptism next month. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with him. What a blessing to have the Visitors' Center.
Melissa and Quirino are praying together every night. They have also started reading their scriptures, personally and together. We love having FHE there because it brings so much light to the darkest part of the area. Quirino has also been sober for over a week, even with his neighbors calling him every night inviting him to just walk outside and drink with them.
We got to go to the temple on Thursday. I feel blessed to be part of a mission president switch, even though others are scared. Just think about it, whenever a prophet or leader died or left in the scriptures he gave some of his strongest advice. Before the temple trip on Thursday we had a conference and heard Pres. and Sis. Bassett's "last words." Then we got to go through the temple with half of the mission.
We get to clean the temple a week from Monday. I'll have more to say after we actually do it.
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday. We had some hard meetings with the ward leaders in the morning. They don't have much if any faith in our investigators. It is frustrating that they don't understand that they don't have to be perfect before baptism. Most of them are converts and they have already forgotten that they too had vices they were able to overcome with the help of the gospel. My talk was on the Rock of our Redeemer. However, the chapel plus overflow ward was a 3rd of the chapel branch on Sunday morning. We are pretty sure it is because Mexico played Sunday morning.
We found Juan Michoacan for the first time in a while. He has been out of town for a little over a week. We were afraid that he had gone to California with his sister's family. He said that everytime his son comes over his son won't let him go to sleep until he prays. His son also asks for us everytime he comes over, saying "papi, where are your friends? can't you call them and tell them to come over right now? why don't they come over to play anymore?" I love when children recognize the gospel. God really is sending His strongest to the earth right now.
We haven't had personal study for 4 out of the last 6 days. It is amazing how much of a toll it takes on your spirit. Especially after being full-field and being about to study every morning and no going back to the VC and losing that. It is so important to read your scriptures everyday, otherwise your spirit literally starves!
I bought a composition notebook made out of stone (weird, huh?)
I love my companions so so so much. We have tons of fun together. I don't even want to think about the likely change that is coming in a few weeks. I want to stay in this trio for the rest of my mission. I wouldn't mind staying in this area either (in the ward I wouldn't, but the area, for sure).

The temple gardens are full of huge sunflowers and there is a little duckling in the reflection pool. Sometimes when I see the temple from a different angle than that at the back desk of the VC, it hits me again just how beautiful it is. I can't even imagine how much more amazing it must be for someone who doesn't have the Spirit with them and doesn't know what it is, because their spirit recognizes it and feels something when they first see it.
The sun is scorching but I've gotten used to the 110+ heat. Really it hasn't been to bad. Everyday the temperature surprises me. I have realized how much of a difference humidity really does make. In the shade the heat here is completely bearable. It is just the sun that kills, it is super direct sunlight. Plus, I'm a missionary and we have way more important things to worry about than sweating.

My next pday has been changed from Tuesday the 6th to Monday the 5th. Just so you know :) Especially you, Dad, so you can try and get an email off. If I don't get one I'll try and get permission to check my email Tuesday morning, because I can't wait to hear from you in Morocco!
I love you and good luck with the move!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

22 June 2010

2010-06-22T12:15:00.002-07:00

Happy Father's Day, Dad, and Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! Hope they both were enjoyable and not tooo stressful with the move.

Well I have to say that this transfer was the one where I got the faster confirmation on companionship ever. Even though I have had really great companions my whole mission, sometimes you don't know why you have to be with specific ones or what you are supposed to learn from them until later in the transfer or even after it is over. I love this companionship and am excited for the best transfer ever. My companions are both awesome and together we are a great companionship. Hna. Rodio is like a little ball of sunshine in our companionship. I love being back at the VC and feel like I can be more involved in improving the work there. We have so much fun as a companionship and yet are able to get tons of work done. The Lord keeps blessing me with transfers I don't deserve. I just hope that I can make a difference for good in the lives of my companions, just as they do in mine.

Rogelio's baptism went wonderfully on Saturday. Not many of the ward showed up which was disappointing but common for the ward. However, as Sis. Rodio said, Rogelio was there and Heavenly Father was there and that is all that matters. Hna. McBride and I worked harder for this baptism than for any other in my mission. That isn't meaning that my other baptisms weren't as meaningful, but they didn't need as much support from us the missionaries. I felt like we really had to fight for Rogelio and help him keep his spirits up. It was so worth it. Rogelio is a rougher looking man. He has longer hair, a large black widow spider on one side of his neck and a smaller spider on the other side and an earring in one ear. Those are my favorite baptisms, to see people who once were some of the hardest-hearted people in the world become now the cleanest and happiest. What made his baptism and confirmation even better for me was what happened last night. We went over to Armando's (the recent convert we have FHE with every week, sorry, but I really forget how much I write about these people and so I never know if you know who I am talking about) anyways, Rogelio also lives in the trailers and came last night and it was a miracle. I felt like I didn't even recognize him. He was smiling and joking around with the kids there. He was happy and I had never seen him that happy in all the time meeting with him. I had been praying for him to recognize the remission of his sins when it came, to really be able to feel it because he was a little worried that he had been so bad he couldn't be forgiven and last night I got the answer to my prayer and I know he got the answer to so many of his. That happiness he feels right now is a testimony that the he has received the Holy Ghost and is allowing its influence in his life. I hope that he never loses that. Sometimes those of us who have been members of the church longer sometimes forget what if felt like not to have the Holy Ghost so we don't recognize that it feels any different to have the Holy Ghost and we take it for granted. Let's never take that for granted and always recognize that the happiness in our life is attribute to the fact that we are blessing with the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Juan Ortega is also starting to get that more and more in his life and he has decided to be baptized. He is really excited about it and knows that he has made the right decision. We were a little hesitant when he asked how soon can I be baptized and we told him that the soonest was in about 3 months (he has some repenting to do before then). But he took it super well and since he doesn't know any different he said "3 months sounds great!" I really love that I am here in Liahona 4th. I love serving a mission and can honestly say that this past transfer and this past week have been the happiest 7 weeks of my life. I have been happy before, but the joy felt when you give your life to share the gospel can only be described in the words of Alma: "My joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God... Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel..."

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Sis. Ladd... the time has come...

2010-06-15T15:23:00.002-07:00

That is how Elder Smith introduced our transfer news when he called Saturday night so that is how I start it now.

The time has come for me... To stay in Liahona 4th!!!!!

I really got the best of all worlds in this transfer: 1) I get to stay one more transfer in Liahona 4th, 2) I get to go back to the VC, which I was starting to miss, 3) I get to stay with Hna. McBride, which was a blast, and... 4) I get a new companion too! We are going to be in a trio! I am actually excited and not too nervous about this trio. The first one was hard but 2/3 of us were super new missionaries. Now it is the opposite. 2/3 of us have been out for over a year (my mission birthday is Thursday...) Hna. Rodio, our new companion has only been out 1 transfer. She was trained by my dear companion Sis. Lopez, so all three of us have had Sis. Lopez as a comp now. The only thing that I am a little teeny bit sad about is that I am staying in the area AND going back to the VC. I was ready for one or the other. Either I'd go back to the VC (good) and leave the area (sad) or Stay in the area (good) and stay out of the VC (sad). The reason I am a little teeny bit sad about staying and returning at the same time is that our area has really been busy even for full-field. There is so much work and sometimes we don't have time to see all of our investigators as often as we would like. However, one thing I learned when I left the VC for the first time is that as long as you work hard, the Lord fills up your time no matter how much you have. We are really going to have to juggle to be able to see every one. And we only have about 2 full-field days in the area, because we are really short on Spanish VC sisters. There will only be 3 companionships at the VC, meaning 7 sisters. Luckily there is an English sister who is from Argentina so she can help us out. The other 3 VC Spanish sisters are full-field right now. Anyways, to make a long story short, Hna. McBride and I were super happy with transfer news!

As far as our investigators, they are doing well. We had a rough last week of the transfer for some reason. Last transfer really was the greatest transfer of my mission, yet last week was one of the hardest weeks. Our numbers had been almost doubling every week, but things kind of came crashing down last minute. However, we still saw a lot of miracles. In fact, the bad things that happened weren't permanent bad things, and I think it was just a way for the Lord to show us his hand in the work and that he is in control of the timing. Rogelio didn't get baptized as planned last Saturday, but he will get baptized this week. I told you how he had been thinking about leaving. He didn't end up going to work for Bro. Crandall Tuesday or Wednesday. When we went over on Wednesday he was packing for Mexico. We were heartbroken. We told him that the job was still available and called Bro. Crandall right then. We were able to convince him to stay and at the end he agreed to pray for the first time in a few lessons. When he prayed he thanked Heavenly Father for his blessings and apologized for losing faith. We were so happy to hear that. He didn't even end up working for Bro. Crandall on Thursday or Friday, but his faith was back and his desire to get baptized too. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday he was able to work for his old boss, but that's why he didn't get baptized. When we saw him Sunday he told us that he still hadn't gotten paid by her and was sad he missed his baptism, and that there was nothing that could keep him from missing it this week. I know that that was just a trial he needed to pass to show his desire to get baptized and this week we don't feel any of the anxiety about his baptism that we did last week.

Another thing that made last week sad is that we finally had investigators move out of Arizona :( So far it was only Perla and Danito, but Daniel might be going soon. It is amazing how much of a difference there is in our trailer park without Danito! Their trailer is almost in the middle, and we pass it all the time and can see it from most of the streets. Without Danito and his character it just isn't the same. And he is only 3 years old...

I think that is about it. Oh wait, the heat! I think I am actually getting used to it... It was 105 yesterday and Hna. McBride and I kept our sweaters on and it didn't even bother us. I realize how much humidity makes a difference and am very grateful I went from a humid heat to a dry heat, rather than vice versa. I am not really worried about the summer. The heat came on late so maybe it won't get too hot. The hardest is being in the car and getting up the energy to get out of it. Bikes are much better because when you are on bike you have more energy and you are already hot, so no big deal. However, the bike I was using got stolen Saturday night (another reason the week was hard.) We are going to try and get others from the VC. Good thing about bikes too is that no one really owns them, they are from sisters that went home before I even came out, so if they get stolen we can find another (although I was still really mad because I loved that bike and I had locked it up even...)

Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying you June, I sure am! Can't believe I've been out a year already!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

what a week...

2010-06-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

This has been hands down the craziest week of my mission. It started out as promising to be the best, but then took a turn for frustrating. Here's what happened:

On Tuesday we got a call from the referral secretary of the mission saying that she had an emergency referral for us, a woman, Lydia, who wanted to get baptized SATURDAY! Her son had gone into the VC and asked for Spanish missionaries to come, because he (a member of 2 years) would be leaving for boot camp with the Marines Monday and she wanted him to baptize her before he left. Well, we met her on Wednesday and confirmed that that is what she wanted. She had been married to a member so had gone to church many times before. She told us she has been wanting to get baptized many times before but something always came up, her daughter was in the hospital, she was in the hospital, she wasn't actually married when she thought she was (her husband hadn't gotten the license signed as he told her). Anyways, she wanted to be baptized last week. We were amazed at the miracle the Lord had placed in our area. So we spent 3 hours teaching her the first half of the lessons Thursday, and 2 hours teaching her the second half Friday. She passed her baptismal interview on Friday night. We called EVERYONE in the ward on Friday to tell them about the baptism. Then, on Saturday at noon we canceled the baptism. Boy was it hard to do. Sorry I just cut to the point but I didn't feel like drawing the excitement out any longer. Both Sis. McBride and I didn't feel right about the baptism but we just thought it was our mind, since a baptism in three days is a really really big miracle. Our ward mission leader called us Saturday morning saying he and the bishop both thought that it was really rushed. They were also concerned because there is a single man renting one of the rooms in her apartment and they were worried about that. We felt that that was the confirmation that it was the Spirit, not our mind, saying the baptism wasn't right. It was really really really hard to do. We went over to talk to her and they came up with the idea that her son can baptize her when he comes back in September or October. By then her other 3 children (which her ex has custody of) can also be ready to get baptized. Also, Hector will be ordained an elder at boot camp so he will be able to confirm them as well. This way he will also have motivation to stay worthy and live his standards while with the military. She seemed completely okay with all of this until Hector left, then she opened up and said that she wasn't happy about it, and that ever time she tries to get baptized something comes up. "And this time I was only 4 hours away!" She is upset with the bishop and thinks it was his fault, she didn't seem to hear us when we said that all of us felt it wasn't the right time. She is willing to wait, because she knows it is true and that it is the right thing. That is what was so hard. She has such a strong testimony, and a great understanding of the gospel, but for some reason the timing wasn't right. We still don't know why she has to wait. Maybe that's the only way her children will be able to get baptized. She is great though, we love her so much. She is from Puerto Rico. Boy, I don't know what I would have done if I had served there. EVERY Puerto Rican I've met is crazy. That goes for Cubans and Dominicans too. I think the Islands do something to them. But, they are all some of the funnest people to be around and Lydia is no exception. Anyways, we were emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally exhausted by all of that, and it was only Saturday. But wait, there's more... At our appointment on Sunday, Rogelio, who is supposed to get baptized this Saturday said that most likely he will be leaving this week. He is extremely discouraged, because it seems the closer he gets to the church the worse things get around him. His boss hasn't paid him in a long time so he is thinking of going back to Mexico. We told him he needs to make a decision and then consult the Lord about it. Even though we really wanted to interfere and tell him to stay, we know that he needs to learn how to receive revelation from the Lord. We told him that we would support him and help him find the church wherever he goes. We also told him we'd help him find a job if he chooses to stay here. As soon as we left I started calling people in the ward but no one knew of any jobs. Then, for some reason Bro. Crandall's name popped into my head and I remembered he works in roofing, which is what Rogelio has been doing. I called him up and he said that they actually were about to start a job that would last them until Friday. When I called Rogelio last night to see what he had decided, he said that he had decided to stay through Friday to seem what happens. I was so excited to be able to tell him about the job then. We are still praying that he stays longer, so that he can get baptized. I am really worried that if he leaves he will have a hard time getting baptized. At the same time, however, I am not too worried about him leaving. I think he will stay and I hope that is the Spirit, and that I am not just past-feeling after all that has happened this week. He will be working with all members, including a Hispanic member in the branch presidency in Ensenada Park. I know that there is a reason Bro. Crandall's name came to my head, so we are hoping for the best. Even though it has been a hard week, we have learned so much. We have learned how to better listen to the Spirit and trust in the Lord and His timing. We have been able to continue seeing a lot of miracles in the area. I hope beyond hope that I can stay here one more transfer. I love Liahona 4th so much! I love every one of our investigators! We have recently started to teach some formers that are extremely addicted to smoking (the woman) and drinking (the man). Their situation is sooo sad. Addictions are horrible horrible things. I have learned on my mission that there are things in this world that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can heal. No therapy or treatment or medicine can help heal the sicknesses of discouragement, hopelessness, and loneliness like pure light at truth. Melissa and Querino are so addicted to their respective substances that they have lost all sense of self-worth. That is a deadly attack from the adversary, but if I have learned one thing on my mission it is that the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal every person of every trial. When all these people see is hopelessness and darkness, those of us that have passed through it and reached the light on the other side can't help but help them. We with the gospel know what blessings await us through the trials and it is something we have to share. I am grateful for that hope, it allows me to go into some of this sad and dark places and still feel the Spirit and see the potential these children of God have. We have visited them many times in the past week and had a FHE there with some members last night. It is amazing how the scariest part of our area is beginning to change as they are creating a place for the Spirit to come.

I love you all and will have transfer news next week!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

1 June 2010

2010-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well this preparation day probably started the best of any in my mission (besides the ones where we go to the temple) but this morning for our zone activity we all went and played laser tag! It was so much fun. Some elders in the zone live with the members that own this huge place called Golfland, with tons of different things to do. It was double fun because after we played laser tag we got to do service and helped them fix a few parts of the terrain and wash everything down. It was a blast for sure.

The work is going great as usual. I know it probably won't happen but I would looooove to stay in this area next transfer. There are so many of our investigators who will be ready for baptism then and that is so exciting. Last pday was the first one of my mission where all three of our pday appts were there, which was great! Wednesday we had our last interviews with Pres. Bassett. He is such a great leader for the mission, but I am excited for the Ellsworths to get here to see how the work continues to progress. The Zambrano family is finally complete. Of course I can't remember everything I've said, but we have been teaching both Daniel and his brother-out-of-law Juan, which I know I've talked about. Last week we went to find Juan at an appt. He wasn't there, but his sister Perla was. We have been wanting to teach her before, she is such a sweet woman, but Daniel kind of answers for her when we ask if she wants to listen or if he will go invite her to join us. Neither Daniel or Juan were there so when Perla answered the door she said "do you want to come in? I don't know why I've never invited you in before..." We sat down and talked to her and she opened up about how Daniel drinks and is a bad example for their 3 year old. She also told us they weren't married and that she used to be meeting with missionaries about 5 years ago. (Daniel had told us he doesn't drink and that they were married...) We are actually thinking about dropping Daniel and Juan because they promised to come to church but didn't show up, which has happened a few times before. We are going to start focusing on Perla and maybe she will be the one who can bring the whole family around. When we dropped Daniel we started visiting Juan and Daniel saw and kind of came back from disappearing all the time. Now when we drop them both and pick up Perla we are hoping her example can bring them both back and help them keep commitments. She is super sweet and just seems like a really good person. She wants the best for her son like any mother and has so much patience with Daniel. When we found her she was watching cartoons of stories from the Bible. Her son Danny had fallen asleep to them but she kept watching even after she put him to bed. Rogelio is coming along great. We left him 2 Nephi 31 to read to be prepared for when we taught the lesson about the gospel and when we followed up he pretty much taught the lesson to us. He is on track for his baptism June 12th. Emilio and his daughter Estrella came with us to a baptism which we are hoping will help Emilio accept a baptismal commitment. The baptism was also a great miracle. We thought it was going to be 1 woman, but it ended up being 1 woman and 5 children. The elders have been teaching a family with 4 children for months and they are still waiting on the father's divorce from mexico so that the parents can get married and baptized. They were going to have the kids wait to but then suddenly they decided to have them get baptized. The son of the woman also got baptized. The Spirit is so strong when children get baptized, because they are young, but have still felt the influence of the Spirit and understand the necessity of what they are doing. After the baptism Estrella who is 9 said "I wish I could get baptized like that, but I already got baptized when I was a baby." I happily told her that she could get baptized again when it was in the right church. She excitedly told her dad that she could and wanted to get baptized again. I love it when the children are the example to their parents. Children are so close to the Spirit sometimes.

In VC news, they just opened up and new Exhibit in the center. It is "Our Heritage of Faith" and is a collection of some of the winners from the Church's art competitions over the years. They are all original and it is really beautiful. You can feel the Spirit so strong through art, which is one reason I love the VC. They even have works from two of my very favorite church artists, a painting of Esther by Elspeth Young and a painting of Jesus learning carpentry by Walter Rane. Another piece that I love is called Duet: Mary and Martha. It is a sculpture (bronze I think) of Mary and Martha back to back. Their dresses swirl into one fluid movement. Mary is holding scriptures and looking up and Martha holding food and looking down. The artist says it is to symbolize the noble traits of both women. Mary looking up as if to the Lord, strengthening her faith, Martha looking down to those around her, serving them with charity. It is a really beautiful piece. Ky, you would love the Exhibit! I'm really glad that I will be going back to that at the VC. The whole exhibit just seems so conducive to teaching our special message.

I love you all and I love this work and I am glad that this transfer is so busy it seems sometimes that there is too much to write!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

25 May 2010

2010-05-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was the temple dedication for the Gila Valley temple. We got to go to the dedication because they broadcasted it to all the stakes I think in all of Arizona. However, that meant no sacrament for our investigators to go to :( We told all the ones that had said they were going to go to church, BUT, in good and bad news, we had some investigators (Emilio and his children) try to go to church that we didn't think would go. They went to the ward building and found it closed, so they just went to the VC and watched a movie. Thank heavens for the VC! And we were so glad to find out they had tried to go to church! For sure they will be there next week. We also had Juan Ortega tell us for sure that he was going to be there next week. He said he has already canceled work. ALSO, he said that he would like to start meeting 2 times a week (we had always been trying for that but sometimes he wasn't there. He has already talked to the guy he works with and they have started going to work much earlier to still get enough hours in. He has blocked out his Monday and Thursday nights for us! After a week he is going to see if it is possible to do Mon, Wed, and Fri. He will surely get baptized! He is getting a lot of surprise support from his family. His mother, who before would have disowned him told him that if he should do what he feels is right. His son said "dad, I have noticed a huge change in you since you've started meeting with the sisters. When I come up to visit you the first place I want to go is to the temple (he means the VC). I need that change too." Isn't that so awesome! Our investigators are great! Liahona 4th is like the promised land, zion, adam-ondi-ahman, and the celestial kingdom all rolled into one! Daniel Zambrano ... has also started being ...[better]. He came to a ward activity this Saturday and then right after he came to the cultural celebration for the temple. His brother-in-law Juan "Michoacan" Zambrano (weird that they have the same last name, I had never heard it before and then these two both have the same name, Daniel's son's (Juan's nephew's) name is Daniel Zambrano Zambrano...) anyways, Juan Michaocan is doing well too. We saw him Friday night and his son was there so we did a little activity and focused on the son. That always works, it seems that the way to a Mexican man's heart is through his child, which is great for the gospel! Anyways, we taught his son how to pray and when we ran into Juan the next day he said that in the morning he got up and prayed with his son. When his son asked why he answered "this is just something that we have to do now."

Oh our investigators make me feel like crying for joy! They probably think we are absolutely crazy because we literally have to hold back from jumping up and down when they tell us things like that, but it is really hard so sometimes we can't help it and we at least bounce or clap. Seriously, a missionary wears her heart on her sleeve. When I called Juan Ortega to confirm our appointment last night he said "oh, hermanas I won't be able to be there." All I got out was "aw, Juan..." before he interrupted and said "don't worry don't worry, I'm just kidding I'm already waiting!" Seriously, I think this has been one of the best transfers, work-wise. Hna. McBride and I are really working on talking more about baptism in our lessons and it is bringing so many miracles. It is amazing that the more we talk about it them more they talk about it! (who would have thought ;) ) I already talked about Rogelio last week. We kept talking about how he could change by being baptized and being cleansed from his sins and then he asked what he had to do to be baptized. In a lesson with Maribel we were explaining about how Christ was baptized by authority and by immersion and she interrupted and said "this is all true, isn't it? otherwise you wouldn't be here." With Emilio on Sunday we were talking again about baptism and his mother-in-law who is always there but never comes and listens came in and said "I don't think little children should be baptized, because they don't know." Then she sat down and joined us and we would answer their questions about baptism and then go on to another point in the lesson and before we could bring up baptism again they would ask another question about it! I love the mission! There is no way we aren't going to reach 200 baptisms this transfer! The Lord has opened the windows of heaven, but it seems like His french doors are right over Mesa Arizona!

To answer my "dailiness" question for the week "do we eat with members a lot?" We have a schedule within the Mesa Central stake so we should be eating with them every night (sometimes they forget). We rotate wards and get to meet a lot of really different people. For example, right at the end of last transfer I ate with the screen writer for all the Church cartoons and the Swan Princess movies. Pretty cool huh? And the older members have some really great stories! Then there is the other hand, when some of our dinners turn out really awkward... You were right, mom, you meet TONS of different people on the mission!

I hope that everyone is having as great of a May as I am! Oh, and happy Memorial Day next Monday. We live super close to the city cemetery and go running there in the mornings. I love walking through and seeing all the graves with the temple on them, or "sealed for eternity." There is even one for a little boy that has the CTR shield on it. I love the peace and hope that the gospel can bring to our lives. I know that God has more in store for us after this life. We can be with our families forever and nothing material in this life is worth giving that up. So don't give up. Don't sell your inheritance for a "bowl of porridge" (sp?). Don't even sell it for a moment of pleasure, because what you are selling is an eternity of joy. I know that through the Savior we can be forgiven for anything we have done. It isn't too late to read the Book of Mormon again, or go back to church, or get on your knees and pray for help. So do it today! I love this gospel. The church is the true and restored church of Jesus Christ. And I love all of you!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

18 May 2010

2010-05-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

This has already been the weirdest transfer ever! We have a potential Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde investigator. We contacted someone in the street about 4 weeks ago and he wasn't really interested but said we could stop by if we are around. However, he lives at the north of the area so we never go up there. However, the other day someone with the same name called us about wanting to come to the VC. It turns out the English sisters up there (one of them from Argentina) set up and appt with him. When he couldn't come he called us (I don't know how he had our number) so we set up another appt. He was awesome and said "Sisters, I really want to learn more about God, I think it is time, when can I come." However, when I called to confirm at the number I had for him, he was really different and was like "I'm up in Payson, kind of busy, we can do it later." That's when we started wondering if there were two people, so I went through caller id and called the number that called us (it was a different number) but it was no longer in service. We talked to the English sisters and confirmed that it is the same address. We still haven't quite figured it out... and weird things keep happening every day...

We continue finding more and more investigators and doubled the amount at church last week. All of the stake centers were booked with baptisms last weekend- Mesa is becoming the new waters of Mormon! And this week is the Gila Valley temple dedication! I am super excited to be able to go. Plus, there is the cultural celebration the night before, which will be really cool. Get to learn a little more about where I am serving. Really crazy things keep happening in the area, and by really crazy things I mean miracles. It is super exciting and I hope that I am here next transfer, but we'll see. Yesterday was our last zone conference with Pres. Bassett. It was kind of a "back to the basics" conference, and I wish I had had it at the beginning of my mission. We talked about basic things like planning and studies, and I learned tons that I didn't know before. Hopefully it will make a big difference in the future.

Our investigators are doing well. Sunday we did everything we could to get them to church so it was a little sad when some of them didn't come. We even went to Juan's house after church and invited him to an English ward at 2, and he said he would be right there, but he never came. Last week, we taught a new investigator who was a referral from a Bishop he works with. The bishop came with us and it was a really good lesson. We have been working on testifying more in lessons, because that is what invites the Spirit. We have our next lesson with Lupe tonight and I hope it goes well. We also found another miracle investigator. We got a referral for the trailer park in our area but it didn't have the trailer number, so we decided to tract the trailers and look for him. The first door we knocked we found Rogelio. He had been meeting with missionaries before he moved to the trailers and was more than happy to have us over. We taught him last night and he had a lot of great questions. I told us how he really wanted to change his life but that sometimes it is hard, because when he was into drugs and alcohol he had friends and now that he has left those he doesn't feel like he has friends. Armando, the recent convert in the trailers has told us almost the same thing. He said that it was easier to make "friends" before being a member, you just had to call and offer them beer. However, as we explain to Rogelio, they aren't real friends. We got to talk a lot about baptism to him, about how that is an important part of his change and that he will be able to again find happiness in his life, this time a healthy and lasting happiness. He is excited about coming to church and accepted to be baptized when he knows it is true. We have faith and hope that he can be baptized at the beginning of next month. I am super glad he lives in the trailers, they are awesome! Hna. McBride and I are working on forming the Paradise Palms Branch down there!

I know that this Gospel is true and that it can solve any problem that anyone is faced with. We have a loving and merciful Father in Heaven and through His Son all is possible. We also talked about miracles and our zone conference and in the Bible Dictionary it says that Christianity is founded upon the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that knowing that, all other miracles cease to be improbable. I'd like to add that I think part of the foundation of the true church of Jesus Christ in the latter days is the miracle that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith. If we know that then all else is possible. God still talks to man and to each of us personally. We can live with our families forever. We will be forgiven for our sins when we repent. There is a prophet on the earth today. All that Christ taught and established, all that was lost, is now restored, we just need to open our eyes and see it.

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

11 May 2010

2010-05-11T19:28:00.002-07:00

Well, it feels really great being back to full-field, but that is probably because we are really busy. For some reason the work just exploded in Liahona 4th! We found 9 new investigators last week, which I think is more than any week my entire mission. Yesterday was the 1st day of the week and we already found 4 more! And most of them are promising investigators too. Some of them might take a little time to fully accept the gospel, but I know that there are some ready for baptism this transfer. We have seen a lot of miracles as well, big and small. Here are just a few:

We found a little family where the daughter loves to sing primary songs. She already knew "I am a Child of God" from past missionaries. She really is going to pull her family along and she is only 9!
We've met a lot of really great members in the past week, who are so willing to help us out, so we have places to just drop by and get water when we run out.
Elder Perry came to the VC last week and we happened to be there, so we got to say hi to him along with the other sisters. I remember when I first met him in Budapest and being surprised by how tall he is.
We went to the bishop's house to ask if he knew of any families that needed service because we are really struggling to find ways to serve them and we were immediately able to help a family for almost an hour.
I got to talk to my family.
We got a referral for a little family and went to see them yesterday and it turns out they are former investigators that seem a lot more ready now. They aren't in the area book so we never would have been able to find them otherwise.
We had 3 investigators at a Family Home Evening last night. We do these "Noches de Hogar" every Monday with one of the recent converts in our area and he keeps finding more and more people to come.
We go home exhausted every night and wake up exhausted every morning, but it feels great.

Those are all such great miracles and I am back in the habit of writing them down every day, so those are only a fraction of them.

In other news, our investigators are great. Hna. McBride and I have such a great love for each of them and they all have difficulties that only the gospel can solve. One of them in specific is Juan (or Alfredo... they always seem to give us different names since they have so many, they give missionaries their given name but they go by others...) Juan is Daniel's brother-in-law. I can't remember what I have written about Daniel, but he is an investigator that keeps telling us that he wants to get baptized, but he is really flaky and doesn't understand the weight of the commitment. He is hardly there for appts and hasn't come to church yet, so we are backing off for a little while to see if he shows any signs of commitment. Anyways, Juan is his brother-in-law, and Daniel calls him "the athiest". On the contrary, he is a much better investigator. We had a lesson with him at the end of last week. We had just stopped by to invite them to church and he told us he didn't want to commit to coming because he didn't feel comfortable. We sat down and talked to him for a while and he really opened up. In front of us just appeared this broken, lost young man. He recognizes that he has faults, but he doesn't understand that he doesn't need to all of a sudden be perfect, but work towards it. We talked to him about the love of God and shared the story of Enos. He said that he looks around and sees all these happy people and feels like he just asks and asks God for things but never thanks him. We committed him to say a gratitude prayer. I know that he will be able to feel the love of God for him individually through that. We are really excited to teach him about repentance because we know that that is what he needs to understand. He, like all of us, needs to recognize that that is why Jesus Christ came to the earth, so that when we make the mistakes that we are going to make as humans, that there is still hope for forgiveness and happiness. He isn't a horrible person with horrible sins, but anyone who has committed even the "smallest" of sins and doesn't know that they can be forgiven feels just as hopeless and weighed down as the person with the "largest" of sins. The beauty of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is that it is there for all of us and it will cover all those who suffer. The love of God is something that is so infinite but it can be individually and personally applied to each and every one of His children. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that it is by him, through him and of him that all miracles are brought to pass.

Love you all!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

May 4, 2010

2010-05-04T19:25:00.002-07:00

Well another transfer come and gone, and big surprise in transfer news: I'm staying and Hna. Guzman is going?! It was such a surprise because we thought that if anyone was going to be leaving it would be me for sure, since I have been here longer. And I'll be going back full-field. I am really grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I have grown to love the VC so much more this transfer, that I am glad to be getting the rest of my full-field over with so that I can serve there the rest of my mission. Also, Hna. McBride will be coming to me. She came out the transfer before me, and I have been on exchanges with her. She is a really sweet sister and I am really excited to be serving with her. I am also really excited to be staying in the area, I didn't think I would be, which was sad because it is amazing how much we just keep finding and finding new people. The area is about to explode and I really hope to be able to help it this transfer. Sorry I haven't been very good at sharing this transfer, but keep a look out for the names Daniel, Maribel and Jesus, Uriel and Gladys, Juan, and Chava (or Salvador) in the coming emails! This is the Bassett's last full transfer, so the mission is trying to be more unified in reaching 200 baptisms in this one transfer. I really hope that we can get it. The Bassett's have worked so hard to lead the mission and it has improved to be the leading mission in the US. We are going to keep it that way too!

Anyways, quick thought that I found in the scriptures yesterday, sorry if I've already shared it or if I share it again, it's a good one. In Alma 48 it is talking about how great of a man Moroni was. It ennumerates all of his good qualities, his faith in Christ, etc. Then it goes to say that if every man was like Moroni, the powers of hell would have, well, no power. That is a pretty mighty man, a pretty great captain if you ask me. If we read about his story we see how much good he did in saving the lives and liberty of the Nephites. However, we read that he was not alone in righteousness. I was sharing that scripture in prayer meeting at the VC and felt I should keep reading. So I read on about Ammon, Alma, the sons of Mosiah, and Helaman. The chapter says that they were "no less serviceable unto the people" than this great captain, one of the greatest in history. Yet they weren't leaders like he was, they were... missionaries! "for they did preach the word of God, and they did baptize unto repentance all men whosoever would hearken unto their words." Moroni saved lives, but they saved souls. It brings a different meaning to verse 17: "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, [missionaries], behold, the very powers of hell would be shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." Sometimes we read about Moroni and even though we want to be it seems hard to be as great of a man as he was. However, every one of us CAN be missionaries. All we have to do is share our testimony with those around us, by word and by example. If every member of the church did that then that promise would come true and even in this world, the powers of hell will have no power over the hearts of the children of men. So please, my challenge, more like my plea for you this week is to share your testimony with someone who isn't a member. I promise as a missionary of the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth that you will change their life, whether it be now, or in the future.

I know that Jesus Christ has restored his gospel to the earth. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us, and that He watches out for us. He hears our prayers and better yet, He answers them. Joseph Smith was a prophet and we have a prophet still today. The Book of Mormon is true, and the gospel is possible to live. It may be hard but it is possible.

I love you all and happy mother's day!
Desde Mesa, con amor,

Hermana Ladd

2010-04-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, another week come and gone and another transfer half-way over. Laura's baptism was last weekend and it went great. Planning baptisms is one of the most stressful things for me, and her baptism was especially stressful. After we had it planned she decided she wanted it in a different building and at a different time. Background: our ward geographically covers 3 stakes, but is under the leadership of Mesa North stake so our baptisms are there. However, our area is the one that covers Mesa Central and that is where Laura's family attends church and she knows a lot of members there so she wanted have it there. I wont' go into detail of all we had to work out but we were running around up until right before the baptism. However, it was just a trial of our faith and dedication and the Lord smoothed everything out and made up for where we lacked, so that it ended up being a great service. She is so happy, all of her family are, and I know one day her husband too will join. We had zone conference last week, and our mission is really focusing on unity. Last week we reported at the end of every day how many people we talked to. We call them TTIs (Teach testify invite) and were promised by an apostle (I don't know which one because it was before I got here) that if we talk to 20 people in the day that our teaching pools will never be empty. We have seen a lot of miracles come from that, and are beginning to find a lot of people who are ready for the gospel.

Last night we went over to a recent converts to have FHE. He lives with one of our investigators and they invited another recent convert and good friend over as well. It was a really spiritual lesson on the priesthood and I learned a lot from them. It was neat to see them take over, because we pretty much were just onlookers and to help out when there was doctrinal questions they couldn't answer. I have learned so much about receiving spiritual inspiration on my mission but I know that I still have a lot to learn. That is one of the things I am most excited to apply in the future.
Other than that, there isn't much more to talk about this week. I promise I'll get back to writing good emails, hopefully next transfer.

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

2010-04-08T21:29:00.002-07:00

Sorry about the short email last week, I was exhausted. But that seems to be happening more and more. All the older sisters always said that once you hit halfway that your body just starts going downhill. Well, now I'm considered one of the older sisters... We are still tired, recovering from Easter Pageant, so this one will be based on answering my mom's questions.

The Pageant was wonderful. It is based on the life of Christ, set around the story of a centurion who was there at the cross when he died and he asks some of Christ's disciples about who he was, and then they tell the story of his life to the centurion. It is a musical, so there are songs and a few dances. The coolest was the dance of the ten virgins, telling about the parable. Most of the text is taken directly from the scriptures, mostly from the new testament, but there are some from Isaiah and the Book of Mormon. It was really cool to see.

Post-pageant I still don't know if I'm staying in the VC or back to full-field. We will see... hopefully soon... Since we have been in the VC for the past 2 weeks, not much has happened in the area. We had a great lesson with Laura at the home of her family. Her baptism is Saturday, and she is so ready for it. We have seen a lot of miracles in finding new people and have a lot of potential investigators. I know that this area is getting ready to explode and am really excited about it. Other that that there isn't much to say. I hope that short letters don't become a trend... Conference was really great of course. I love the emphasis on families. I have really seen that in teaching the people here, those with family support are much more prepared for the gospel.

Just a few more random notes: 2 weeks ago (this is especially for Grandma and Grandpa Colton) we went to the cemetery 2 blocks from my apartment. It is the Mesa City Cemetery and is located in the Lehi part of Mesa. And guess who's grave I found - Dan Jones. We had gone the week before and looked around in the oldest part of the cemetery but it is a huge place so couldn't find it. This time we went to the office and asked them where it was. There are a few Dan Jones there so I just made a guess and asked for the oldest grave. Sure enough, when we found it it said "Founder of Lehi" so I am pretty sure it is the right one. I took pictures and they are on the memory card I just sent home.

Next random note. If you are going to come to Arizona only at one time of year, make it March. The temple is the most beautiful I think I've ever seen it, with the gardens in full bloom. On top of that, all of the citrus trees are blooming, and they smell AMAZING! The air smells so good every where. I think I also saw the prettiest sunsets of the year last month and during February. I think it is the sunsets and the citrus that I am going to miss most about AZ.
Well, that is it. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T16:48:00.005-07:00

Visitor Center Couples and Sisters

2010-04-03T16:48:00.003-07:00

Hermanas Ladd and Nielsen (I think!)

2010-04-03T16:42:00.001-07:00

The Temple

2010-04-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

2010-04-03T16:22:00.002-07:00

Brynn's Great-Great-Great Uncle - Dan Jones was married to Brynn's Great-Great Grandfather's oldest sister, Harriet Emily Colton

Lehi, Arizona is now Mesa, Arizona

2010-04-03T16:21:00.001-07:00

This has nothing to do with her mission, but was on her memory card that she sent home. We found it hilarious!

2010-04-03T16:19:00.001-07:00

these are Brynn's favorite shoes. She didn't think she could take them on her mission ... but once there, she found she could wear them and had Mom send them to her :-)

Ensenada Park

2010-04-03T16:18:00.002-07:00

... before leaving the Crandells

2010-04-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Three Hermanas

2010-04-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

2010-03-29T19:57:00.001-07:00

Well, the Easter Pageant is amazing! And I've been able to see a lot of people from my old little branch. This email is going to be super short because I don't have much to say, and I don't want to be here for that long because we still have a lot to do today (my new companion likes to shop a lot). Anyways, we are really busy almost every night. At first I thought we wouldn't be because the first few nights weren't very crowded. People would come early but stay outside to save their seats and go home right after. However, the cast missionaries (they are called and set apart from surrounding wards) are doing a great job of getting people to come into the VC. We also have one theater set apart for pictures with cast members, like the Roman soldiers. We have cameras, so there is no excuse like "we didn't bring our camera." Also, we have set it up so that they have to fill out a referral card before they can get their picture taken, so we know who the picture belongs to. If they aren't members of the church they have the option of having missionaries bring them their picture and share a message with them. I've heard that in photos alone, the number of people who accepted missionaries is double that of all Easter Pageant last year. And we are only in the first week! It is really weird being back at the VC and I must say that there are still days that I miss full-field. The VC is much more exhausting than full-field. I don't know why, but it is. Well, that is all I have energy for right now. I think this will be my shortest email, and the shortest I have ever spent in the library.

I love you all, and hope you enjoy conference, I am super excited for it! And it is really special that it falls on Easter this year and I am excited for the testimonies of the prophet and apostles. As the finale in the Easter Pageant says "He lives, my Savior lives, He lives." Maybe I'll write more of the songs next week when I'm not so exhausted...

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Another transfer come and gone...

2010-03-23T05:32:00.002-07:00

And Hermana Nielsen is leaving me :( I feel like the one transfer I wasn't ready for some type of a change, one came. I really really hope that I will be able to serve with her again. Transfers were all around kind of crazy this transfer. For the Spanish sisters that transferred, we all just switched. Hermana Nielsen is switching with Hermana Guzman, Hna Lopez with Hna Hernandez, and Hna Bustillo with Hna Anthony. Hna Nielsen is going to the companion she had just before me, so maybe there is hope we can serve together again! Another full-field Spanish sister got transferred to Connecticut, and no one knows why yet. ALSO, they put sisters back on the reservation! Maybe there is hope that I'll get to serve on the res now, I've wanted to as soon as I got my call. Hna Guzman and I don't know if we are going to go back full-field after the pagaent, because we were both full-field this last transfer, so we both still have one more. I have mixed feelings about going back to the VC. I am really excited for the pageant, but I haven't practiced any of the VC teaching skills in 6 weeks. I hope that they will come back quickly.

One thing about going back to the VC is that we won't have such an open schedule to make appts. This is already a busy area, so it will be super busy as a VC area. And we won't have any nights in our area for about 2 weeks. Luckily, there are more missionaries in our ward so the elders can help us out. They will be teaching Laura tomorrow night, because we have to be at the VC, but she has to continue to get all the lessons to be ready for her baptism. She finally came to our ward yesterday, though it was just for sacrament. Then she had to go to her daughter's ward to help with her granddaughter while her daughter taught a lesson. She said she will for sure be there all three hours next week. Maria and Eustaquio also were at church. Maria has been going every week for months, but it has just been recently that Eustaquio has been coming every week. I haven't written about them before, but Maria's son got baptized last year. He is 17, and a great example to his family now. Every since, Maria has known that the church is true, because she saw the change in Jose (evidently he was on the worse end of the spectrum of trouble teenage guys can get into.) However, Eustaquio, while not against them learning, wasn't interested in learning himself. Also, they aren't married, and he is married in Mexico and has to get divorced first (sound familiar? it does to me...) Recently, however, he decided to learn and has been attending church ever since. We of course asked him in our first lesson to read the Book of Mormon. And of course he got opposition right off the bat. He told us in the next lesson that his coworkers, who had never even mentioned the church, started talking about it. His boss said that the Book of Mormon is another Bible and that he shouldn't read it. To that Eustaquio replied "I'll read it first and then I'll let you know if it's true or not." He had only read to the introduction when we last saw him, but he had already gone back to his boss and testified saying that the "Book of Mormon is not another Bible, but a compliment to it." They are just waiting to get enough money to pay for his divorce, and then they will get married and baptized. Also at church was our investigator Salvador. Salvador is a fairly new investigator. He lives with a recent convert who is on fire. The sisters before us dropped a lot of investigators in the trailer park where he lives and when we went back to contact them about half said that Armando is still coming over to visit them every week! He is really great. Salvador, however, is very difficult to teach. He is actually a faithful Catholic and goes every week. Not only that but he actually knows and studies the Bible every day. It is very intimidating to us. However, I have learned a lot from teaching him. I have learned to rely so much on the Spirit and testimony. Right before we started teaching Salvador, we had taught Armando the 1st lesson again so that he could then teach it to his mom. We reviewed with him after the lesson and asked him what he had learned about teaching. It was great to hear his reply. He said that the most important things are to testify a lot, talk about the restoration of the gospel, and use Joseph Smith's own words to describe the first vision. Those are all things that we focus on in mission meetings. And it was interesting the very next day when we went over to teach Salvador, how we really had to rely on those 3 basic but crucial things. However, Salvador is making progress. He sometimes studies with Armando at night, and he said that in all his years studying the Bible he has never understood some of the things that Armando, who has less than one year in the church, can explain to him. That is the beauty of modern revelation and living prophets! Another funny thing about them- when Salvador first found out Armando was Mormon (they work together) he said to him "Armando, I always thought you were more intelligent than that." Armando confidently replied "If I appear at all intelligent, it is because I am a Mormon." The recent converts in our ward are great! We are also teaching the son, Gilberto, of another recent convert, Fransisco. Fransisco and Armando are actually great friends and are both in similar situations. They are both single and each have one son, Gilberto is 8 and Abram (Armando's son) is 6. They sons live with the mothers not too far apart in Phoenix during the week and they drive together every Friday night and Sunday night to pick them up and take them home. The boys had spring break last week so they were with their dads all week. Even though Gilberto is going to be baptized with the other 8-yr-old children, Fransisco wants us to teach him so that he feels more ready. He is such a cute little boy and he loves his dad so much. In our first lesson he turned to him and said "I want to be you when I grow up" and then held his hand. It is so great to see the gospel unifying them. Fransisco works so hard for his son and if he could he would have him live with him all the time, but he works until like 8 at night so he can't. Gilberto's mom has other children and since they all have different fathers they don't have a strong bond. She also smokes, which neither of them like. Gilberto is really great though, and so excited to get baptized. It is really fun to teach little kids, because then we get to pull out all of our missionary tricks!

That's all for this week. Next week I'm sure I'll have tons to tell you about a new companion and... EASTER PAGAENT!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we found at least 6 new less-active members. Some of them have a desire to come back to church, and others seem less than enthusiastic about it. I can see that work with less-actives is going to be an emphasis we have to make in the coming weeks. We are hoping to really try and involve the ward in this. Sometimes, especially when a ward is made up of many converts, most trying to figure out how to be members themselves, it is hard for them to know how to help the missionary effort. The have the desires to help, but they need direction. Our ward has been having a little trouble finding that direction in the investigator part of our work, but I think that helping them help us with less-actives will better help them understand how they too can be missionaries and examples to everyone.

There isn't much to report on Laura this week, since we haven't been able to see her. Her daughter-in-law just had a baby, so she is busy helping her and our next appt isn't until this Thursday.

We are starting to worry a little about Thelma. We were only able to visit with her last week, and not teach a lesson because she cancelled some of our appts and when we just stopped by, we were able to visit with her for a short time but then she had to go. She rescheduled for tomorrow, and are hoping and praying that she will be there. The last time that we taught Thelma, and we were taking about baptism, she said, "well, yeah, but it was a lot easier for both of you becuase you grew up in the church." I started thinking about that and told her it was easier to recognize the truth, because I had great parents that taught it to me. They taught me the lessons and the principles through FHE before I was eight. I told her that is what we are. Since she didn't have parents who taught her the lessons, the Lord sent missionaries, so that, if she lets it, her decision can also be as easy as mine was. I realized how important the things I learned were in keeping me strong in the church. So thanks, Mom and Dad, for being my missionaries and fulfilling our purpose, to "baptize and retain."

We have spent a lot of this week inviting people to the Easter Pageant. It starts in exactly one week! I am really excited for it. The stage is up and they are practicing all this week, since it is Spring Break for the Mesa Schools. The last day of the pageant is the first day of conference, and the day before Easter. I am excited that conference falls on Easter this year. There is so much to look forward to in the next 4 weeks! We find out about transfers (all ready?!) this Saturday, transfers and the Easter Pageant are next Tuesday, Easter and General Conference are the first week of April, and then Laura's baptism is April 10th. So much to do! Who knows what is going to happen with transfers. Who ever knows but the Lord... I really want to stay in my area, with Hna. Nielsen next transfer. That would mean I would be back at the VC just for 2 weeks and then full-field again. It has happened before. Well, that is it for this week!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Well, guess what tomorrow is...

2010-03-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

My half way point?! Can you believe it? I sure can't... So much has happened in the last 9 months... I figured it would be a good time right before I hit the peak to look back and comment on the last 9 months.

Spanish: The Spanish is going well, of course I still make mistakes, but at least I feel like I can speak more fluently, mistakes and all, meaning that I don't trip over the words any more. I can understand almost everyone, especially over topics I have vocab for. There are still some people that are hard to understand (our investigator Thelma is one of them, she speaks super fast and uses a lot of expressions I don't know). All in all, I feel confident enough to talk to people. In fact I still prefer talking to people in Spanish.

VC: well, seeing as how I am not in it right now... but I have gotten used to the VC, there are of course still some hard things, it takes a lolt of faith to call people. They are getting ready for the Easter Pageant in 2 weeks! The stage is huge and I've heard so many things about it. I wish you all could be here to watch it too! And I can't record it to send it home, so we will just have to go back.

Other Missionary stuff: The routine is easy to handle, I actually really like always having a schedule. If we don't schedule out or preparation days well, then they can get a little stressful. Teaching is my favorite part of being a missionary. My least favorite part has got to be a certain type of contacting. I say a certain type because there are other types I do like. For example, I have no problem when we get a referral through the church referral system contacting people who ran into missionaries outside our area, or accepted at the VC or through calling in or being called. They at least are expecting something so it is easy to talk to them. Also, if members give us referrals and say that we can tell their friends the member sent us, it is a teeny bit harder, but really not that hard because we can find some common ground. However, when members don't want us to tell their friends (or neighbors or family or tenants...) they sent us, or if they tell us "well I think there are hispanics in x house" I still struggle with that. I don't even know what to expect, let alone the person we are contacting. That, however, is one of the reasons the Lord gave us companions, to help support each other and encourage each other. It is like the scripture in Ether 12:27 - "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." The scripture could have easily said "then through the help of their companions will I make weak things become strong unto them." That can apply in any situation, because we all have companions of some sort, whether it be our missionary companions, our fellow ward members, leaders, parents, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, coworkers, friends... We should all help each other overcome our weaknesses and develop strengths. That is one reason I am grateful for my companion.

Anyways, nowadays the mission feels like normal life. I love something that Elder Holland said in a talk called "Miracle of a Mission." He said that the mission IS real life. I don't remember exactly what he said but it made me realize that as missionaries we aren't taking a break from real life for these 18 months. Instead, we are getting the chance to spend all of our time living real life, helping our brothers and sisters gain eternal life. I like thinking about it like that. The most important things in life are not those things we gain from the world, but from God.
On to the investigator update. Laura is great. We went to her son-in-law's baptism last Saturday, which was beautiful. She had been telling everyone already that she is going to get baptized. Her date is April 10th. The one thing that we are struggling with right now is getting her to church with us, because other things just keep coming up, and they are good excuses. Last week was fine, because she went to his confirmation and his ward, so still at church be we want her to meet our ward. She can't go this week because her daughter-in-law is having a baby (had a baby?) today and it is a c-section so won't be out of the hospital til the weekend. But, she has a strong testimony and her family is super supportive, so we are going to keep working on that.
Thelma now understands the importance of baptism, but doesn't know if she wants to be baptized. We told her to pray about it, and she told us that she already knows the answer will be yes, that she needs to be baptized, but she doesn't know if she wants to. She has been with someone since she was 16 (who actually just moved back in a week ago to our suprise) and she told us she may want to explore other paths before she gets baptized. We are really trying to make it clear that she will not find joy on those other paths, especially since she knows she needs to be baptized.

Like I think I mentioned last week, we have been really emphasizing our use of the Book of Mormon in our mission meetings. We had a good experience with this the other day. We have been trying to contact a referral from the VC for a few days but every time have only found his brother. Finally we asked his brother if we could share a message with him. He had to think about it for quite a while, then he let us in. We began teaching the Restoration, but then his brother came home. He was clearly under the influence of something so we told him we would come back. He said that we were going to bring him a book (he had asked for a Book of Mormon). We showed it to him, but rather than giving it to him, testified of the treasure that is was and told him we would give it to him when he was in a better state to understand it. Before all of our training we probably would have just given it to him, but we didn't. We left our phone number, with him, and then his brother, who we didn't think was interested, asked for our number too. We could tell that something had changed in him. I know it was because of the way we treated the Book of Mormon, and now he is interested. He was not under the influence of drugs like his brother, so he was able to notice how we treasured the book and in a way protected it. That was just 2 days ago, so we haven't been back to see him yet, but I am excited to give him a Book of Mormon, because he seems like he will respect it more.

Time almost up, so I have to go. Love you all!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

(No Subject)

2010-03-02T11:20:00.003-07:00

I'm sure I've said this plenty of times but it still holds true and that is that each transfer goes by faster and faster than the last. In fact, today is my "9 months left" mark. I don't know how exact it is because my exact 9 months left would be February 30th, which even on leap year doesn't exist, so I rounded it to today.

This last week has been really great. We had zone conference last Thursday, which as always was wonderful. We talked a lot about how to emphasize that baptism is a gate, a beginning rather than an end. We also talked a lot of the Book of Mormon. During this time of my mission I have grown to love the Book of Mormon more than I ever have before, and each time I have the opportunity to testify of it my own testimony grows. I just wish all people would just take the small step to open it and read just a little, because then the Spirit will testify to them of its truth. Until they do that however, we can't help them progress at all. Unfortunately there are many people that won't take that step. But, on the other hand, we have seen people who do take that step and then we see it change their lives. We got to teach Laura, our "golden investigator", again last night. She is so wonderful, and before we even invited had made the decision to be baptized. We committed her to pray for a date, and we are thinking that it will be at the beginning of April. We are also going to pray as a companionship to find a way that her husband's heart will be softened and he too will be able to prepare for baptism then. She has so much faith that it will happen that I can't help but have that faith either. I learn so much from the people we teach, that sometimes I feel like they are the missionaries and I am the investigator. At least I hope that I am a progressing one!

We haven't been able to see Thelma since last Wednesday, she has rescheduled both of the appointments we made with her so our next appointment is tomorrow. I just hope that she is still reading and praying, so that she can continue progressing.

At zone conference, Sis. Bassett, our mission president's wife spoke to us about our area books. Those are the book where we keep all of the information of people being taught, as well as people that used to be taught. Everything from info like where they live to committments they are keeping to problems they are having to how they are taking the lessons. There is a section in the area book, sometimes large, sometimes small, called the former investigators. Sis. Bassett promised us that there is someone in that section who is now ready for baptism. It is such an exciting thing to hear, but for an area like mine where the former section is quite large, it seems like an overwhelming task to find them. Hna. Nielsen and I are working on that right now, going through our area and trying to contact all of our formers. We know one of them is ready to progress again, but sometimes it is hard to get ahold of them. We have already found a few that have moved away, and others who aren't interested. But we have a lot more to go through. As a missionary something I try to do is not prejudge people. When you read through the teaching records of some of these formers they seem to be an obvious one to try and contact. Sometimes we can't tell why someone was dropped when it seems they were progressing so well. Sometimes we can't see why someone wasn't dropped earlier. That is why we have to go through and contact everyone, because only the Lord knows which person is ready.

Speaking of zone conference, we also got some exciting news. First of all, we found out who our future mission president is going to be. I can't remember his first name, but it is Pres. Ellsworth, from Idaho. [mom: R. Spence Ellsworth] He is going to be coming sometime at the beginning of July. I really love Pres. Bassett, we all do, and he is the president we need right now, but I am excited to welcome Pres. Ellsworth. Something Pres. Bassett said to me in my very first interview is that often missionaries that have been here for a while (and I have now caught myself doing this) will talk about missionaries that have already gone home. It is not bad to talk about them of course, but they talk about how great they are and how they wish they were still here. They compare some of the newer missionaries to the returned ones. What President told me is that yes they were great missionaries but he doesn't want them anymore, he only wants the missionaries that are called to serve right now. We talked about it in my last interview too, concerning the Burkes leaving and the Whites coming, and President said it would be the same when he left. I know that that is true so I am excited to welcome the Ellsworths when it is their time to serve. One thing I noticed when the Burkes left is that no matter how hard it is for us, it is harder for them. They are just a part of our mission. We also have our members, our investigators, our companions, our other leaders, our mission leaders, our VC leaders, etc. However, we are their mission, and when they leave they won't have something to replace us, like we have to replace them. Unfortunately I know that it will be the same when I leave, but fortunately I still have a little more than half my mission left!

Another exciting thing we heard about was some changes in the mission boundaries. There is going to be a new mission created! It will be the New Mexico something mission (I already forgot the name, but it is some northern town in New Mexico). [mom: New Mexico Farmington] Our already small mission is going to become even smaller. Right now we cover Mesa and go up north to Snowflake and Payson and a few other northern towns, plus the majority it seems of the Navajo nation Reservation. All of the reservations except the one down here in Mesa are going to be taken out and put in this new mission. That goes for all the surrounding missions too. The new one will cover 4 states, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. It will cover 4 Corners, and it seems like it will be made up mainly of reservations. The president for that is a 70 that is working in the missionary department of the church. [mom: Spencer V. Jones] He is actually the church "expert" on the Native Americans and Pres. Bassett has already been working with him a lot concerning our reservations. I think it is great to see that the work is progressing so much in this area that a new mission is being created. Even better though, I think it is awesome that the Native Americans in the area will have a mission almost completely focused on them. They are the Lamanite people, and their ancestors were those that God led first to this continent. They were also some of the first people missionaries we sent to when the church was organized. That is something that I love about teaching the hispanic people, because they too are descended from the Lamanites. (I think I may have said this before...) I love seeing the promises of the Book of Mormon fulfilled in the people I teach.

Now on to my "answer this for me..." question of the week. What is a p-day like? Well, we wake up at 6:30 am, as usual. Instead of exercising we clean our apartment. The rest of the day sometimes has a variation in schedule but consists of the following: We email from the library at 10:00 am. We have a small mission and there are only 2 libraries in the Mesa part of it, so the library is packed with missionaries on Tuesday. If you aren't here at 9:45 you don't get a computer. I am sitting in a part of the library with 24 computers, and every one but one has a missionary. And this is just a part of the library. We also do our grocery shopping, usually at Wal-mart. If there is need we write letters at our apartment later on in the day. Then we usually do one other thing. Today we are going out to lunch with an English member in our area. Once a transfer we go to the temple in the morning. Once a transfer we do some sort of a zone activity. Often people go hiking. I usually try to fit a nap in there somewhere. Hna. Nielsen and I are also going to make tshirts today, which I am pretty excited about. I'll send pictures when they are done. All in all, I often feel like pdays are just as busy as every other day...

Well, I hope that March has started off well and that where ever you are the weather is treating you well. I think February so far was my favorite month in AZ, weather-wise. Which is odd because I don't really like February, it is just such an odd month... Anyways, the weather is still beautiful here so if it isn't beautiful where you are, just you wait, I'm sure your summer will be beautiful and mine will be the opposite...

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

--no title--

2010-02-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

As mom reminded me I need to update with more information on the area and companion. Hna Nielsen is from Michigan, and was studying art at BYU. She is the second of 8, the oldest girl. And we get along great! I am hoping to stay full-field next transfer so that we have the possibility of staying companions! We live in an apartment, which is weird to not have upstairs roommates, and sometimes I miss living with members. I can send pictures of it when I send the memory card. The area is north of the temple and our ward covers 3 stakes. Our specific area covers one stake completely, then has about 2 blocks of 2 other stakes.

Well we have had some interesting things happen this week, to say the least. On both ends of the spectrum from good to bad. I'll start off with the bad... We have a few investigators in this one apartment complex. Hna. Nielsen said that before I came the manager had told them that we can't come there and knock doors. They had insisted that we don't tract in that complex, we only go to those that have invited us... so despite her we kept going. She had said that it is private property and that we aren't allowed to be there, but as missionaries who deal with this a lot we knew better and kept going. Last week I finally got the privilege of meeting Blanca. We were at an investigators apartment, waiting for her to come out of the kitchen. We actually were planning on dropping her and were just there to get her permission to teach her son, who is interested. We stood there waiting and waiting for her to come, both her son and her "husband" said she was coming. Instead, along comes Blanca from the office. She told us that she had tried to be nice but had no choice but to kick us off the property. We kindly but firmly insisted that we had the right to visit people that had invited us, but she insisted that we didn't and said she would call the police. She also took the mission office number and said she would call and speak to them, because she has talked to many missionaries before (she doesn't understand that both the English and Spanish sisters go there, or that we get transferred...) We left because even though deep down I wanted to argue with her I luckily remembered that I am a missionary and I should not (I don't even think she is a citizen, maybe just a resident, because she isn't American natively...) We figured out later that we think the investigator called her, because she knew right where to find us, which is frustrating because we would rather people take the time to just tell us personally not to come back, rather than make there manager lie about the legality and make it so that we can't visit our other investigators there. I called the mission office and confirmed that we were legally allowed to be there if invited, so we will end up going back one day, but not til after our frustration cools off. That is a hard balance to find as a missionary. I know that as ministers of the gospel that we have authority to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, many people (especially ones older than us) do not understand or believe that and treat us condescendingly. I find it hard to balance between being bold and confident and being kind and respectful.

However, the good things of the week far outweigh the bad. On Tuesday, we got a call from the stake president over the stake our area is in and he said that he had a referral from us. He had just set apart a missionary and his whole family was there, including his non-member grandmother. He spoke with the grandmother (through the grandson because she only speaks Spanish) and asked her how she felt and if she wanted missionaries to come teach her more. He set up an appt with her for us to come over last Saturday. I can now say that for the first time in my mission I have met what people call a "golden" investigator. I don't think I have ever met anyone more prepared (well, more prepared when we first meet them) as Laura. We went over and she was waiting for us. We asked her about the setting apart and found out that all of her children and their families are converts to the church, the longest for no more than 3 years. She then proceeded to tell us that she has wanted to meet with missionaries for a long time now, because she has seen the affect the gospel has had one their lives. She has been to all of their baptisms, ordinations, talks, testimonies, etc, and knows that it is true. However, she wanted to wait for her husband so they could take the lessons together. He isn't (for right now) interested in learning about the gospel. After the setting apart, Laura decided that she couldn't wait any longer and that she would take the step of faith to invite us over. She knows that her husband will one day accept the gospel if she starts down that path. She pretty much bore her testimony to us every time we asked her a question, answering with how she already knew that the things we taught we true. She is such a sweet little woman, and we are so excited to be teaching her!
Thelma and Jessica are also progressing well. We made a plan of salvation game that we played with them last week, and they both have great questions. Jessica always asks if we can come back "tomorrow." They even went to church this week! They didn't go to our ward, but the went with Refugio, her brother-in-law. Then Sunday night they came to the Mission President fireside, where recent converts bear their testimonies and tell their stories of finding the church. They again came with Refugio and his family. I am really excited for them and we have seen the wonderful changes that the gospel has brought in just these few weeks. Thelma is more confident with herself, and understands more the importance of her decisions and her happiness. She is letting the Atonement heal her heart from the hurt she has been through. And she understands the importance of also letting the Savior help her forgive those who have hurt her. I am so excited for this sweet little family!

Well, that is all that time is allowing for this week. It seems like every transfer goes by faster and faster! Have a great end of February!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

2/16/2010

2010-02-16T19:34:00.001-07:00

Well my first week full-field and I'm sure all of you have the same question that I've gotten everytime I go to the VC "How are you liking full-field?" To be honest, it isn't all that different than any full-field day that I've had in VC transfers. The biggest difference is the area... there are hispanics EVERYWHERE! It is so wonderful to know that most of the people we talk to are potential investigators. Before it was sometimes hard, knowing that almost all the people we talked to were going to be American and that even if they accepted, we wouldn't have the chance to teach them. There are a lot of benefits of being full-field, in that we are able to make appointments much easier. And there are so many people to make appointments with! We already have 13 appts for the rest of the week. My very first day in the area we had a lesson with Thelma. She was there and waiting for us with the door open. She is a fairly young mother with an 8-yr-old daughter and a 6-yr-old son. She has a lot of questions and at first said that she just wanted to learn, but didn't want to prepare to be baptized (every time we teach a first lesson we ask if they will prepare to be baptized when they know it is true, we call it a soft commitment). We have taught her three lessons since I've gotten here. Last night she met us at the VC and it was actually quite a miracle lesson. The way we found out about Thelma was through a recent convert from Sis. Nielsen's last area. He is her brother-in-law (not technically because Thelma isn't actually married to his brother...) Anyways, Refugio is the only member in his family, his wife and children have been investigating for over a year, every since he started investigating. We called the sisters in his area yesterday to get his phone number to see if they could come to the lesson with us at the VC. However, we found out that they had an appt with his family at the same time as our appt and they were going to try and get his wife to commit to a date. So we didn't want to interfere with that of course so we didn't even call him. As we were about to start our lesson at the VC, Thelma's daughter came into the room from the hall and said "my uncle's here!" I guess they had been over at his house earlier that day and Thelma told him about the lesson and so he came to the VC to be there with her! The Lord really is in charge, because it worked out better for us with him there. And maybe that's what his wife needed, to be able to meet with the missionaries without him. All I know is that it is in the Lord's hands and he blessed us with the support of Refugio. He has such a great testimony and is someone Thelma trusts. Sis. Nielsen and I both felt last night that Thelma will get baptized, we just don't know when. One thing I have noticed about almost all of our investigators in this area is that they ask tons of questions. They always apologize, but they don't understand how much we love getting questions. You can see how much they want to learn, how much they want to understand. Many of them are going through very hard times, and are sincerely looking towards the Lord for help. We have also had a few times in the past few days when we have gone to contact former investigators or contacts in the area and have instead ended up teaching another member of the family. We had been trying to visit with a brother and sister almost every day since I've been here, and I still haven't met them. Everytime we talked to the brother's wife. Sis. Nielsen said that she wasn't originally interested, but the other day she was impressed to ask her if we could visit with her. Her countenance immediately changed and we set up an appt to come back and see her. That same night we were trying to contact someone they had taught once just a little before I came. She wasn't home but we spoke with her daughter at the door. They she asked "do you want to come in?" We went in and spent about an hour answering questions she had, and made an appointment to come back tonight. We have found 4 new investigators since I've been here. In Ensenada sometimes we found 4 in the whole transfer. (I really don't compare the two areas two much during the day, we are too busy to think about Ensenada, but I am just putting the comparisons in here so that you can have something to relate it to.) I really love being able to teach all day and be out working all day. Even though I love the VC there were mornings there that were really slow and we didn't talk to many people. If things go slowly here it is our fault and it is because we aren't working hard enough, so we always try and visit people up to the last minute of the day (last night we were finally able to contact a referral because at 8:45 we decided to drive all the way to the north of our area and try to contact them. Around 8:50 we were making an appointment for tomorrow, and by 8:55 we were headed back home).
I hope that everyone had a good Valentine's day and a good President's day. February is more than half over! Speaking of half over I figured out all my important middle days for the mission. They are all happening this transfer! On March 2nd I have 9 months left. At midnight between March 10th and 11th I hit my halfway, and on March 17th I hit 9 months here. This is a big transfer!
Desde Liahona 4 Este con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-08T19:16:00.009-07:00

You were right family. The pictures with the Crandalls were from dinner last night. They had us over (or upstairs) for my last Sunday in the area. We actually found out for sure on Sunday morning where I was going. (We are supposed to find out on Saturday night, but by the time our district leader called at 10:35 we were both out cold.) Besides the fact that this is my first transfer, it is going to be a big one for many other reasons. I am 1) going to a new area, Liahona 4th East; 2) Liahona 4th is a Spanish WARD not a branch of 30 people like Ensenada; 3) There are 6 missionaries in our ward; 4) and... are you ready... I'm going full-field! Yeah, talk about a big transfer! I wasn't very surprised though. My new companion will be Hna. Nielsen (I'm going to have to learn how to spell her name) from Michigan. She actually came to me for our last exchanges so we have already been companions for a day. There are no VC sisters in that zone, but our physical area covers some English VC sisters, so they will be sending us referrals. I have a feeling it is going to be a completely different experience. In Ensenada we have gotten maybe 5 referrals from church headquarters and the VC, but in Liahona 4th they have so many that they haven't been able to contact them all. A sister in the VC that also served full-field there said that they were easily teaching around 30 lessons a week, where here we work super hard to get 20. I'm just ready for culture shock in that I'm going to be in a Ward; I've don't think I've ever stepped foot in a Spanish Ward in my life, unless we went once in Honduras. Of course there are a few mixed feelings about the transfer, I love the branch so much. In missionary words it is were I was born and raised. The members and investigators here are awesome. And I'm sure there will be a time when I miss the VC, but my new area will be so much closer that we will be teaching lessons there many times a week, plus I will be back a lot for our meetings and trainings, I'm still a VC sister after all. Besides that it is mostly excitement. I am excited to learn a new area, excited to get to know a new companion, excited to be finding a lot more hispanics, excited to work in a ward, excited to teach all day every day, etc.

I will only be full-field for the next six weeks, because the first day of the next transfer is the first day of the Easter Pageant, and it's back to the VC for all of us VC sisters. After that I don't know what will happen. I don't know if I'll be transferred that quick again, or if the area will become a VC area again (it was a little under a year ago) or if I will go back to the VC just for the 2 weeks of the pageant and then finish my full-field. Who knows?

Anyways, that is the most exciting thing that has happened this week, but I'm sure I'll have tons to tell you about next week after getting to know my new area a little. Right now I am in the middle of packing, and then tonight we have a branch FHE. In Mexican culture, on the 6th of January(3 Kings Day, or Epiphany) families and friends will get together and eat a cake shaped in a oval wreath called a rosca. There are little plastic babies in some of the pieces, kind of like a yule log, but in Mexican culture you don't want to find one in you piece, because if you do, then some day in February you have to throw a party and provide tamales. We shared 3 roscas for the January FHE, and tonight is when the people who got the little figures are supposed to bring tamales. I'm so glad I get to be there with my branch before I leave, one last chance to see everyone. Transfers don't take place until 6 pm tomorrow, so I'll also get to eat with Hna. Mestre one last time.

Well, to finish up this week's email I am going to go back to the subject of the email, Happy Valentine's Day! This is something that I learned from Hna. Lopez the other day about Valentine's Day and the true meaning.

        For God so LoVed the world,
                 that he gAve
                      his onLy
                      begottEn
                            SoN,
                         That whosoever
                  believeth In him
                     should Not perish,
              but have evErlasting life.

            John 3:16

Cool, huh?

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

En el prado...

2010-02-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, for all of those who won't believe me pictures will be sent, but I went on a 5 mile bike ride this morning. It was tons of fun. Sis. Lopez and I went with a senior couple from the VC, the Ogdens and then had breakfast at their RV. The weather was perfect this morning, not too cold, and we rode up and down the one of the canals by their RV. It was a great way to spend what is most likely my last pday in Ensenada Park. Of course I don't know for sure if I'm leaving, but I have a pretty good guess, especially after our interviews with President yesterday when he was telling me that he understood how hard it is to leave our first area. But I sure do understand why missionaries don't stay in one area their whole mission. I'll miss Ensenada Park, especially the branch, but I'm excited to meet and work with new people. Each transfer seems to go by faster and faster. It seems like just yesterday we had the Christmas lights everynight, and now they've already started putting the stage up for the Easter Pageant! It is just around the corner! This last week we've been really blessed in finding new people to teach. Hispanics just seem to be popping up everywhere in our area, and we never knew they were there. Of course not all of the potential investigators we find turn into real investigators, but the more potential ones we find of course the more investigators we get. It really is amazing to see. Our zone fasted last week and the VC is going to fast this week, so of course that gives us a lot of blessings. The fasting also helps balance out all of the food people are feeding us! Friday was exchanges and Hna. Neilsen came to me and we were fed so much! We ate breakfast and lunch as normal before leaving the apartment and then about 2 hours after lunch we visited Rosalva and she fed us tamales (I can't say no to tamales...) Then we had our dinner appt and the sister we ate with serves us so we had to eat a lot. Then just an hour after dinner we went over to an investigators house and she was waiting there with hot chocolate and Mexican sweet bread. We were so full! Yesterday was zone development meeting and afterwards all of the elders wanted to go to Golden Corral. There are just 4 sisters so we couldn't convince them otherwise. Then we went to Hna. Mestre's house and she had another lunch waiting for us, and we went straight from her house to our dinner appointment. Later in the evening we went to visit a reactivating couple and their complex was having a party. I was so full that I have learned how to say no to tamales. We've gotten to the point that besides breakfast, we hardly eat anything we aren't fed. Don't worry family, I will be coming home with all of these recipes so that we can still have good Mexican food in Morocco. As for the rest of the past week there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. One thing that I am working on studying is responses for a lot of the concerns/excuses/questions/etc that we get from people. The scriptures are amazing! You can find the answer to everything in there, from answers to questions we get from other religions to comebacks to excuses from Hispanics, anything. I'll let you know as I find more things. Our plans for the rest fo our pday are to finish up our shopping for the week, decorate our planners, and then I need to organize my stuff "in case" I am transferred next week. Now that I think of it Monday may be our last pday for the transfer, in which case I have one more from Ensenada Park, otherwise who knows where I'll be writing from next week! Hna/ Lopez and I have been listening to the Children's Primary songs in Spanish for the last week which is a lot of fun. I have a new favorite primary song, but it isn't in the english book, just the spanish. But it is fun to have songs to teach to the children. They have such strong spirits as I have said before. On Monday I was drawing pictures for the son of an investigator and then asking him what they were. He would never answer me, he would only repeat the name when I said it. However, when I started drawing sister missionaries he said "las hermanas!" even before I was done drawing and had asked him what it was. That always gives me so much hope that even if their parents don't accept when we are teaching them now, I know that one day many of these children will find and accept the gospel on their own.

Hope you have a great first week of February!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

If you can't tell....

2010-01-27T11:04:00.001-07:00

If you can't tell I have a new email address. The Church just updated the email service and are now coordinating with gmail, so our email is much better, we won't lose emails because gmail automatically saves, we will receive email instantly instead of having to log out and back in to see if anything came while we were writing... it is just all around better! (but no g-chat of course) My new email address is brynn.ladd@myldsmail.net, so just the same as my gmail. Anything sent to the old email address will still get to me, but you should go ahead and start emailing me here.

I don't have much time to write because we have a district meeting today (yes, on our pday, but we had a zone activity yesterday on their pday so it balances out) so I will probably just be pasting most of my letter to President into this one. So for the last week it has been pouring rain almost everyday except for yesterday. It is beautiful! I'm sure I wouldn't think it is so beautiful if I was on bike, but I do. I was sad when it didn't rain yesterday, but the rain is back today! However, the work hasn't stopped because of the rain, in fact, we seem to find so many more people at home (though there haven't been hardly any outside). We have been having a lot of success contacting referrals that the English Elders give us, and they have been finding a lot of hispanics recently. Of course some of them aren't interested, but we have made a few appointments and have a lot of hope for the ones we have yet to contact. Our zone had a fast from Monday to Tuesday and Hna Lopez and I have already seen the fruits of it. We each fasted for our individual areas and the needs they have, but since we fasted as a zone we were able to be unified in our desires to improve the work. One thing Hna. Lopez and I have been trying to improve is getting more fixed appointments. Since the beginning of my mission that has been a struggle with the hispanics, trying to get them to commit to being home at a certain time, and then having them there when they do commit. We have a few appointments set up for the rest of the week though, and we are hoping they hold. We are also starting language classes through our stake this week as a finding idea. We are going to be teaching Spanish to the Americans in the area and English to the Hispanics, with a little overlap so that they can practice together. Our hope in this is to help the English members be able to communicate with their Spanish neighbors so that we can receive member referrals. We already have a lot of interest for it. Larry Farnsworth, the husband of our recent convert (they were also just called as branch missionaries!) is very excited and has already started asking all of his coworkers for any Spanish contacts they have. Rosalva goes to other English classes and after the first day she told us "There are so many people there that I want to bring into the gospel." They are really feeling the light of the gospel in their lives because they have such a great desire to share it. We also had another couple called as branch missionaries, so we now have 4 in the branch, the most we've had since I've been here. I probably have a new favorite thing about my mission every week but one of the top ones is that, our branch, our members and recent converts. They love us so much and have such desires to share the gospel. One of my other all time favorite things about the mission is the children. Members and nonmembers alike, they treat us like their heroes. I have seen the children in the branch grow up so much in the past 5 months. The daughter of one of our less-active members has been learning to talk since I've been here and we were there when one of her first words was "mana". At church last week one of the sisters was bringing her son back in to the chapel and when he passed us he turned around and ran back and gave us hugs. Another little boy likes to run around the chapel and 2 weeks ago as he was approaching our pew he stopped and saw Hna Lopez and said "Hermana Lopez!" in the middle of sacrament meeting. We were dropping off flyers for our Spanish classes at another chapel last Sunday and when we walked down the hall the primary was getting out and a little boy tugged on his mom's arm and said "look mom, it's the missionaries!" There is so much meaning in the words of the scriptures when we are told to become like little children, and so much truth when Christ tells us that "for of such is the kingdom of God." I think that is what I will miss the most when I go home. The people I can keep in contact with, the places I can visit, but never again will little children recognize me by a name tag and be so excited to see a real live missionary.

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy MLK day!

2010-01-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

It was up to 70 here last week and over the weekend, but now the winter weather is back and it is down in the 50s :) It rained yesterday and is supposed to rain all this week, but it really doesn't look promising today. We went to the temple this morning with the other 2 sisters in our zone and then we went to Waffle House (yes there is one here! it is right across the street from my area). None of them had been there before and they were not disappointed at all.

The biggest thing for this week is that we got our new directors over the weekend. We had the farewell for the Burkes on Saturday but then the rest of the day was normal. It really didn't hit that they were leaving until Sunday. They were at the VC in the middle of the day with the Whites, to train them on a few things and then they left. It was so sad when they left, we said goodbye to them right when we got on shift. Everyone was crying for a little while after they left, but I think the Burkes were the ones crying the most. They were such an important part of our mission, but we were everything to their mission. I just briefly met the Whites on Sunday, but they left when the Burkes did because they weren't on shift. Monday morning we had a meeting where we all got to meet the Whites. They are really awesome. It is amazing how much the Lord know who needs to be serving where and at what time. On Sunday it didn't feel right for the Whites to be the new directors, and we missed the Burkes a lot. However, on Monday I felt like there is no one else who can be our directors right now. Elder White was in the Air Force, but he is not one bit a hardened military man. He was a mission president in Florida Orlando mission, but I can't remember when.They brought their daughter, Debbie, with them. I'm not sure how old she is but she has a mental disability. She is so cute. We already feel like they are our new grandparents here at the VC and I am excited to serve with them.

Other than that there is no big or exciting news from the area. The work is still going as usual. We are still working working working to find more hispanics in the area. The work with the ones that we have is going well, especially with some of our less-actives. One of the families we have been working with that is almost re-activated is this cute young couple with a 2-yr-old son. Their son is kind of wild but he has gotten so much better since we've starting working with them. Last week we went over and Edgar (the dad) had just spent the week with his biological uncle. America(the mom) did a lot of research to find him and they got back in contact. Edgar and his uncle were really close when Edgar was younger. His biological dad was a drug dealer in Mexico, so he didn't really know him and they left when he was 6. All the memories he has of his dad are bad ones and all the good memories he has of his childhood have to do with his uncle so it was a really great thing for him and his brother to be able to spend time with him. When we went over they told us that they were thinking about getting in touch with his biological dad too. We shared the scripture in Malachi and talked about how this may be a way for them to share the gospel with Edgar's dad (Edgar converted when he was a teenager) and when America read it she started crying. She is such a good mother and such a good support for their family. She has a lot of faith and really tries to learn all she can about the gospel. That is one of the biggest reasons their family is progressing, because of her love and patience. We haven't been able to teach them since last week however, so we don't know what has been going on with his family but as always we are praying for the better and working for the best.

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

"Many mighty miracles..."

2010-01-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well, this week was long, but we saw some miracles come from it. We were able to talk to a lot of people even though every day it didn't seem like we had talked to very many. None of our investigators ever seemed to be home yet we taught the most lessons to investigators out of our district. Hna Mestre told us she didn't want to get married or baptized or come to church for a while, yet everything was smoothed out and they all came yesterday. We got a young women's program in our ward (finally!!!!!!!!) and there were 7 young women yesterday! There is a family that lives in our ward but goes to their old ward and has 5 daughters, but they came yesterday and we think they will start going to our ward now (which means youth fellowshippers! that is something we haven't had and have needed badly) Claudia Edith went to young women's and loved it, said it was so much better than Relief Society. Now I think she will want to be baptized when her parents finally get baptized, because she feels more a part of the church. We went to visit 2 members last night and they both happened to have investigators over, so we were able to teach 2 lessons with members present even though we hadn't planned for it. When Hna Mestre was feeling like she couldn't be a visiting teacher because she is still learning herself, and nothing we said seemed to help I looked down at the Nov Liahona I happened to be holding open to the inside front cover and saw a picture with the scripture of Christ telling Peter to "Feed my sheep." I remembered my first visiting teaching experiences when my freshman ward Relief Society gave us magnets that said "Feed my sheep" with a little sheep that either said "hungry" or "fed." I told her about it and it helped her to understand more about why visiting teaching is important for all members of the relief society. Those were just some of the miracles we saw last week, so now on the "It's a Small World" story.

Daddy you should especially take note of this story, as it pertains to you, and it happened on your birthday: On Saturday afternoon we were in the VC. It was very slow all evening, and I think this happened when we hadn't been there for too long. We were at the back desk when a father and his daughter walked in. We asked how they were and if they were at the VC for any special purpose. They responded to that "we are in town for the game (packers vs cardinals) and we are already members, in fact, I have a son on a mission right now." Since we don't discriminate against members at the VC as they seem to think we do, I continued talking to them. He began to tell me about his son, who was serving in Maryland right now. He said that his call is actually to India, but that he has been in Maryland for six months waiting for a visa. I guess the last ambassador from India said the church could have as many visas as we wanted, but the week before his son went into the MTC the new ambassador came and he is not giving any right now. Then the man proceeded to tell me a story. He said "a similar thing happened to me. Now this was back in the early 80s, but I was called to Mexico. We also had a problem getting visas so they sent me to Montana to wait for my visa and I ended up serving in Chile." I said that the same thing happened to my dad but he waited in New Mexico and ended up serving in Argentina. He did a double take and then looked at my name tag. He asked "did he serve in Cordoba?" I told him yes. "What was his name." "Well it was Elder Ladd...Joseph." "A real tall guy?" "Yeah! Did you know him?" "He was in my MTC district!" So dad, I met Elder Mike Anderson. He said that everyone in his district was called to different parts of Mexico and when they all had the same visa problem all the elders except for him got sent to New Mexico. He described you as "not a serious guy at all." I laughed. He also says he has some pictures from the MTC that he is going to send me. He is originally from Tuscon, but lives in Colorado now, and just happened to stop by the VC while he was in town. I think that is the smallest world experience I've ever had!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

2010-01-06T20:04:00.001-07:00

I hope that everyone had a safe and fun New Years. On New Years eve we were of course in the VC. All of the missionaries sang and I think it went pretty well (mom if you haven't already you should be getting some pictures from the Crandalls). There was a little mission party but as a VC we had to split in half to go so that the center was covered and ended up being there for only about 15 minutes. After closing it was home and in bed by 11:30. On New Years day all of the sisters from the VC went with the directors and another senior couple bowling. It was so much fun! Many of the sisters had never bowled before, and as usually is the case with bowling, the rest of us were all at about the same level. Elder Burke, however, seems to have a hidden talent for bowling. He blew us all away! Maybe it was because he plays golf every week, so he has a good arm. After that we went back to the VC and had pizza and then opened at 5. That was the last day of the lights and it has been pretty quiet in the VC ever since. We are back to our old schedule. In almost every way that is good because we have so much time in our area now, but that means that we won't be working with all of the sisters every night, so I think I'll start to miss some of them.

On Saturday night, the lights came on for a few hours, even though they were officially over. I guess the timers were still on. There were only 6 of us there that night and it began to get a little crowded. However, amid all that we got to witness a really awesome miracle. While Hna. Lopez and I were at the back desk, there was a girl sitting in one of the chairs going through her phone and writing something down. Then she came up to us and asked of she could have some referral cards. We told her that of course we would love to give her some cards and asked how many she would need. "Twenty." We were so shocked! Hna. Lopez said, "you know you can fit 2 names on a card" so we gave her 10 cards. We asked her if it was for a project or something and she said no, it was just for her friends. She took them and then went back and sat down and began filling them out. When we had to change posts we told the sister coming to back desk about it. She ended up giving us 21 names! Sis. Smith was the one at back desk when she gave them to us. The girl told her that she was really scared to do it, but that it was one of her New Year's resolutions and she wanted to start off well. She is going to be so blessed for that! I wish that I had the courage to share the gospel with more of my friends before my mission. That is something that I will definitely change when I get home. I have seen the mixture of love, joy, excitement, hesitation and faith as people in the VC invite their friends to learn about the gospel and because of it, we sent out almost 2000 confirmed teaching opportunities during December. And there are so many more to send! I haven't even counted the number of cards in my box to call, but I can certainly say that there are a lot!

That is all for this week. I hope you all aren't freezing wherever you are... it has been in the 70s all week here!

Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

And a Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T20:27:00.001-07:00

Well our mission reached our goal of 1200 baptisms this year! We had almost 400 just in the last 3 months. I was so glad that our little branch could contribute to that. Speaking of our little branch, today is transfer day and no change. I am still with Hna. Lopez in Ensenada Park. If I stay here any longer then I might just end up ending my mission here. I am excited to continue to help this area. Especially because of the limited time we had in our area during the Christmas season, it could really use some help. We have been really blessed, however, for our work in the Visitors' Center and have received 5 referrals from people coming to the lights and accepting missionaries. I can't wait to see how things turn out here! I am also glad that I am not leaving because of our wonderful little branch. It seems like every time the end of the transfer comes and I feel like I am ready for a change we have some type of ward activity that makes me realize how much I will miss the branch when I do leave. This Saturday our schedule is going to go back to normal (which won't seem very normal after a month of Christmas lights) but we will have so much more time in our area and I am hoping that with that extra time comes the blessing of extra people to teach as well.

I feel like there is not much to say seeing as how I talked to the family just a few days ago. Christmas was really great! I woke up, called the family, then Hna. Lopez and I opened our presents and then headed to the Burke's apartment for our VC brunch. Everyone loves sister missionaries. Some people brought us all stockings, the Burkes made us all blankets, and there was a boy scout who did an Eagle scout project collecting clothes for all of the sisters. Then we played a White Elephant game and then we went over to the VC and watched It's a Wonderful Life. Then we opened and it was business as usual. This Friday we are going bowling as a VC to celebrate New Years. 2009 went by so fast and brought huge changes. I graduated from college and went on a mission. 2010 will be spent almost completely, if not completely on my mission, so I know that it will fly by. However, there will still be tons of changes. Transfers bring surprises every 6 weeks, and in 3 weeks the Burkes are leaving and we will be getting new directors. Then the Bassetts leave this summer and around the time I hit my year mark we will become the second oldest sisters at the VC. And the whole time new missionaries will be coming and old ones will be going, including both of the Senior couples at the VC.

3 new sisters arrived at the VC today. One of them speaks French and the other took a little Arabic, so I feel like they are little blessings to help me learn French and relearn Arabic so that I can communicate when I get home. (To those out of the loop my family is moving to Morocco. (Mom you can censor that if you didn't want to tell everyone yet))

I am excited to make missionary goals for the New Year, and excited to see the mission's goals. Since we reached a miracle this year we will have to raise our goal and stretch to meet a new one. I encourage all of you to also make some New Year's goals that you can reach for this year. And especially try and include some missionary ones, too!

Today in the VC I spoke to someone from Northern Scotland, raised in a tiny hamlet speaking Welsh and growing up pagan. It was so interesting to take to him and hear his questions. Since I was blessed to grow up in the church I have had an understanding of who God is since Primary. It strengthened my testimony of the love of our Father in Heaven as I tried to answer this man's questions about His nature. I realized that our knowledge of God will never be enough in this life to perfectly understand because we see things in such a limited perspective. That is what is so beautiful about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first principle is faith and that is all we are asked to have. Not a knowledge but a faith and a hope that Our Father loves us, and when we have that faith in him and his son Jesus Christ, then the reast takes care of itself and little details that we can't understand without an eternal perspective don't matter. And interestingly enough, when we have that faith, even just the desire to believe, then amazingly we begin to notice more and more things that testify of God and Jesus.

I love you all and hope to have more stories as we have more time in our area!
Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

New Year's Eve - back to work

2009-12-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

Missionary Program at Visitor Center

2009-12-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Christmas, after call

2009-12-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

During Christmas call home

2009-12-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

My sister from Mexico, Hna. Hernandez

2009-12-23T07:04:00.002-07:00

Decorating the Christmas Tree for the Crandells

2009-12-23T07:02:00.001-07:00

Rainstorm in the Desert

2009-12-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Hike

2009-12-23T06:57:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Christmastime is here! But it still doesn't feel like it. We found out about the lab at the branch of Mesa Community College right near we live so we don't have to go to the crowded library and have a time limit. School is out for the holidays, however, so the campus is literally like a ghost town, with no people, lots of cactus, clouds and wind. I'm just waiting for the tumbleweed...
There is no second wind when it comes to Christmas lights I've found out, so all of us get more and more tired every day. And more and more people are coming in every night as we get closer to Christmas. However, there is still a charm about Christmas lights and no matter how tired you are at the end of the night and how much more tired you are when you wake up the next morning, I still always look forward to going to the VC. I am especially looking forward to the last night of the lights, New Year's Eve. All of the missionaries in our mission (including the ones up north) will come down to the VC and we will be the concert for the night. I am playing prelude music with another sister who plays the violin. There will be a few full group numbers including "This is the Christ," and a few smaller group numbers. I am in a group singing "Still, Still, Still" and it is coming along nicely. I really love that we are able to teach the gospel and share our testimonies in other ways, especially through our talents. I will try and have someone record the concert so that I can send it home for you to see.

We got a text from our Pres. Bassett yesterday saying that we will reach our baptism goal for the year, which is 1,200. That means we will have had at least 400 baptisms just in the last 3 months. The Southwest missions are leading the US and Canada in baptisms and our mission is leading the Southwest. It is so exciting to see us reach our goal of a White Christmas! I am glad that our little branch was able to help towards that goal with the baptisms of Rosalva and Juan Carlos. This Saturday we will find out about transfers. I can't believe they have already come again. Sisters have been talking about them for weeks, but I still have no idea what is going to happen. I like to see everyone make their predictions and then see how they match up. I don't have much else to write this week, especially because I will be calling you family in just 3 days! so I thought I would send some pictures in my email as there is a sister here with my same camera and she brought her cord with her.

Desde Mesa con amor y Feliz Navidad,
Hermana Ladd

A night in the life of a VC sister...

2009-12-19T15:18:00.003-07:00

Can you believe that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away? I can't! Everything is going by so fast. Between this email and the next I will hit my six-month mark, which means that a third of my mission is already gone :( I think I can honestly say that it has been the fastest six months of my life. I wish the next year would slow down, but from what I've heard it is just the opposite. One thing that doesn't help is that our time isn't split into months anymore, but into our 6 week transfers.

Since most of my missionary time right now is spent at the VC, I thought I would explain a little about how Christmas Lights at the VC work. There are 9 posts in the VC and we rotate through 6 of them every night. We are in Zebra companionships (I think I explained before, but that means 1 English and 1 Spanish sister). I will just start describing from the first post.

Front steps: We stand out on the front porch and invite people to come into the VC. A lot of people think that the VC is part of the temple and that they are not allowed to come inside, so we invite everyone in. We talk to as many people as we can, inviting members to think of friends they could invite to hear the gospel, and inviting nonmembers to meet with missionaries. There are also Elders assigned on the temple grounds every night, also contacting people. We aren't allowed to stray past the 2 steps of the porch, because past that is where elders are assigned. We say that we can't step in the "lava" just like when we were little kids playing with couch cushions. Likewise, the elders aren't allowed to come into the VC at all during the night. Needless to say, we are more obedient than they are in this matter and never step in the lava, while the director is still having trouble with the elders coming in.

Front greet: we then move inside where it is still cold because the doors keep opening, but too warm that you look silly if you keep your coat on. Here we welcome everyone that comes into the VC and again, ask everyone to refer someone, either themself or a friend. I got to speak Russian here the other night. The women were really nice, one from Moscow and one from Ukraine. They said that I just needed to keep practicing because I had very good pronunciation :) We also direct people to different parts of the VC and try and keep them reverent and away from the curtains, behind which is the...

Christus: Here we present the narration that goes with the Christus statue. We play it both in English and Spanish (unless there are no Spanish speakers). We also get to play it in other languages if there are people visiting from other countries. We always play it in the other languages first, then Spanish, then English, because we have found that by doing it the other way, the English speakers always get up in the middle of the other languages or while you are ending the presentation in another language and leave the room. Not polite or reverent, so we make them wait :) "Through the door behind us, you can see a 6 minute presentation about the birth of Christ called...

Luke 2: In both of the theaters we show Luke 2. While one theater is playing it, the other is seating for it. Again, our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, so we give everyone referral cards. It gets frustrating when members say "I'm a member, I don't need that." Little do they know that they almost need it more. A sister the other day told me to tell them "If you don't like missionary work you aren't going to like the celestial kingdom." That is the hardest thing for me on my mission, learning how to work with members and elders. The elders take the cards away from their investigators, thinking they don't need them because they are already meeting with missionaries. However, sharing the gospel with others is such an important step in conversion. When the elders don't take cards or take them from their investigators they don't understand their purpose. Same thing with the members. I had a member the other day who wouldn't take a card, she said "We don't need that." So when she passed I ignored her and, because I believe people have their individual agency, handed one to the people she was with, who I am pretty sure were not members. She turned back and said "I said we don't need them, they are from Costa Rica." My thought: people in Costa Rica need the gospel too! We watch the Luke 2 movie so much, that we can quote it in Hebrew and Arabic. I am actually pretty sure I can understand the Arabic in it because I have heard it so much. We can also sing the last line of the film "Let earth... receive... baaaaah... her king."

Then we move on to the Savior of the World room. Just like the other floor posts *Front greet, back greet, and nativities) we talk to everyone.

Then at God's Plan for His Family we take turns showing it in English and Spanish. We also have that one memorized. I haven't decided if I have a favorite post yet. Most sisters prefer the floor posts versus the presentation posts (Christus, Theaters, God's Plan) because you can go up and talk to individual people, and it isn't as repetitive. I think I agree with them. I personally really like ...

Back greet, because that is where my favorite exhibit, the Book of Mormon table, is. I love going up to the people looking at them and starting a conversation. I feel like that is something that I can relate to because of my background, so whether or not they speak another language, I can relate to the people you just plain find it interesting. Also, that seems to be where you are most likely to find out that people are from other countries. I have already met 2 groups from Iran. One man said that he would come back so that I could give him a Book of Mormon in Farsi (we were out at the time). People are always impressed that the church has published it in their language. I think it helps them to feel how important they are to someone, and as they begin to learn more about the church and find out it is the true church of God, they will realize that it is their Father in Heaven that they are so important to. I hope all of you know that. As missionaries we have the great blessing of being able to feel a small percentage of the love our Father and His Son have for each of you and I hope I'll be able to feel that for the rest of my life!

Thought for the week- President Bassett read this scripture at our Mission Conference and because of something that had been said earlier in the meeting it made me think of faith, hope and charity. I had never noticed it before in this scripture, but those three important things are what give us eternal life: (I am translating this from my Spanish BofM)

2 Ne 31:20 Wherefore, you must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ (faith), having a perfect brightness of hope (hope) and a love of God and of all mankind (charity). For behold, if you press forward, delighting in the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father, you shall have eternal life.

De Mesa con Amor,

2009-12-08T11:59:00.002-07:00

Well we've survived the first week of Christmas lights! It is amazing how little time we have in the area. Our numbers have dropped even though we are working hard. Oh well, at least if we are working hard this transfer we have the promise of seeing the blessings in the future. The Farnsworth baptism was on Saturday. It was really special. There were so many people there, both from our branch and the English ward that Juan Carlos goes to. They were both confirmed on Sunday, and we were able to go to both meetings. It was great to finally see a family reach baptism, and then continue through that gate. I know that Rosalva's faith will be such a blessing to their family, I think she was the key to activating Larry and keeping him active. Juan Carlos one day will be a missionary and will go on to bless the lives of others. He has already started asking about what it takes to be a missionary. We are again waiting for the date for the Mestre baptism. The Lord is preparing that family for something huge! In years to come we will be able to see why their faith had to be tested so much. We have started seeing a few Christmas miracles. Yesterday, some of Hna. Blades' former investigators came to church at an English ward. The elders let us know and we are going to meet with them next week. We are finding more hispanic people little by little and most of them have agreed to let us come back. The biggest problem is still that they don't like to make appointments, and with our tight schedule we really like to have appointments, especially so that we can bring members.

Last week, the mission went to the temple together. First Pres. and Sis. Bassett spoke to us in the chapel behind the temple, and then we all went to the temple together (by all I mean about half of the missionaries in Mesa, there are so many of us that we had to be split in two days.) We only had 2 hours between the time that we got out of the conference to the time we needed to be back at the VC, so instead of wasting 1 hour and a bunch of miles, we had Rosalva come down to the VC to watch the Joseph Smith movie. We called almost every female member in our branch to see if they could bring her because she can't drive, but none of them could do it. Either they work during the day, or their kids come home from school at that time, or there husband was using the car, even one member who happened to have a doctor's appt at that time. Finally we had to call Hna. Mestre. Our investigator was the only one who could bring our investigator to the lesson! I love them so much, they are so willing to help us out. (I'm not complaining about our branch, we are so blessed with the members we have and they are so willing to help when they can, I'm just pointing out how amazing our investigators are.)

It has been just over a week since the lights started. The VC is very busy every night. However, there is such a variety of people who come in, so many people to talk to. We are on our feet all night and the individual hours are slow, but still the days seem to fly by. And each hour goes by faster the more people you talk to. When we are on shift in the morning is when we can count on our hands all the people that come in. I love the VC so much, especially right now, that I am already planning on asking the next mission president if I can stay for an extra transfer. I am scheduled to leave 3 days after we turn on the lights next year.

Today we are going to put up the tree in the Crandell's house. The other day on our way home I drove through some of the neighborhoods in our area so that Hna. Lopez could see all of the houses decorated. She was amazed by them and it was so fun to hear her. There is nothing like this in Bolivia. Even though I see Christmas lights every year they all seem more amazing this year when I heard how happy they make her.

De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Christmastime is here!

2009-11-30T10:56:00.003-07:00

Well this week was long, but flew by! On Thanksgiving, we went hiking in the Superstition mountains with 9 other sisters from the VC. We wanted a fun easy hike, to just enjoy the morning. It was beautiful. There are some places out here where it still surprises me to see the desert so beautiful. We went hiking up to some petroglyphs in Gold Canyon. I took lots of pictures so you'll see them when I send the next memory card home. After that, we rushed home so that we could get ready to go to our VC Thanksgiving dinner. I had volunteered to help Sis. Burke cook something so I had to throw that together too. Then we went to the clubhouse where the Burkes live, right behind the temple, and ate dinner with all the sisters. It was a lot of fun. Right after dinner we sang some Christmas songs to some of the people in their complex. Sis. Burke said that most of them are shut-ins so they don't have many visitors. This one woman started crying and said that she was sick that day so she wasn't able to go out and celebrate Thanksgiving with her family so she was very grateful to us. We only had time for a 20 minute nap even though we were exhausted, and then it was back to the VC for pie and then we opened.

Thanksgiving night was like a run through for Christmas lights. We ran like it was Christmas lights and had all the special posts we have for Christmas, but it wasn't very busy so we were able to practice a lot of the presentations. Then Christmas lights started on Friday! I am so exhausted but it is so much fun. There are so many people that come every night. Literally thousands. I know that over 3000 came in the front doors alone last night (so only after 6 pm) and I think we had over 6000 total come in for the whole day. Every night when we get home at 10:30 we collapse on the floor, plan for the next day, and then crawl into bed. Our hours change during the Christmas lights season so we have to be in bed by 11:30 and get up at 7:30. Our feet and back hurt from standing, but our cheeks hurt from smiling. You can't help but be happy at the VC and even more so during the Christmas season. My birthday was no different than any other day, but it was good nonetheless. The members we live with decorated our stairwell and their upstairs with "Feliz Cumpleanos" signs. At the VC, along with all the other food we get from the stakes, Sis. Rowe one of the senior sisters brought brownies with peppermint ice cream to celebrate. During this past week I have really been amazed at how special my call is. At the VC you get to develop such a special bond with the other sisters. No other mission is like that. We have the Elders in our district of course, but we usually only see them every other week unless we run into them proselyting or crossing paths at church. At the VC we can all support and uplift each other, sharing in good, bad, funny, sad, spiritual, and everything in between times. We also get to work with the 3 great senior couples who treat us like their own grandchildren. I wouldn't trade my call for anything!

It has been getting colder here, and it even rained yesterday. One of the posts at the VC is the front steps where we invite people to come inside the VC and see some of the presentations. It can get pretty cold out there. Thanks for the sweater mom, it is very comfortable and perfect for the weather out here (I am even wearing it right now).

We are having to work extra hard in our area, even teaching some lessons today, so that we can see the work grow here as well. We went back to Red Mountain apartments the other day and saw Mirna outside taking tabs off of soda and beer cans, so we helped her and then helped them crush them. (It was an interesting service activity for missionaries...) Then they let us in and we shared a message. I think she was just in a bad mood the other day when she wouldn't even talk to us, because she was back to normal and received us the way she used to. Service really is the way that will reach her heart, so that she can open it and continue to be touched by the Spirit. We are looking forward to the Farnsworth's baptism this week and the Mestre's 2 weeks later. We are stilling trying to find find find so that we can continue to help our little branch grow. Our district has made the goal of 20 baptisms for this transfer. I don't think that that has ever happened in the history of the mission, in our or any district. There were 8 baptisms our very first weekend and then our branch has 4 coming up. We are going to try and make that at least 5 coming up, plus a few other people that we are working with. Get ready for the Miracles on 82nd St.!

I love you all and I hope that no matter what you are doing right now, that you are enjoying it!

De Mesa con Amor,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

Today is kind of a half-pday so that we can email, because our actual pday is Thanksgiving. I can't wait! There are now sisters all the way out in our zone, so we are going to go over to their house in the morning and make pies for our dinner with the VC sisters. Next week's email will be much more exciting than this one, because I will get to tell you all about how crazy Christmas lights are. They set up the room full of nativities early so we have already opened it. It is my favorite room! I love it so much! You would love it mom, it has some of the coolest nativities from around the world that I have ever seen. There is a really cute one from Nepal. I will for sure send you pictures of all of them. This week has mostly been getting ready for the lights in the VC and finding new people to teach in our area. Hna. Lopez and I are going through all of the former investigators missionaries in this area have had and are trying to contact them. Some have moved but a few have told us that we could come back. Hopefully they meant it. Christmas transfer is the transfer of miracles and with some baptisms coming up we need to find new people to teach. (That is one way to lose investigators, baptize them! Granted it is the best way to lose investigators...) But nonetheless we are working hard and enjoying it. The elders in our area actually help out a lot because they are out in the area all the time so when they meet Hispanics they tell us. Just keep praying for my area, it really helps!

We took Rosalva and Juan Carlos to a baptism on Saturday so that they could see what it was like. Rosalva is so excited, she turned to us afterwards and said "I'm ready." She has more faith than many members. She told us last night that she really feels like Satan is against her, she can't sleep at night, when she does, she has bad dreams, her family is starting to say things, etc. We are praying so hard for her. However, the good thing is that she knows that it is just the adversary, and she knows he is doing it because she is making the right decision. I am so happy for that little family. It is amazing how much love one can develop for these people. We just stepped into their life and for some of them they didn't even accept us in it at first. But even when they didn't accept us, we still loved them and still hurt when they didn't accept us. Now that they have accepted the gospel it really is like D&C 50 (I think, still working on references) but "we both rejoice and are edified together." There are a few of our investigators that have kind of distanced themselves from us. The other day we passed by Mirna and Eliseo's apartment and the door was open so Eliseo invited us in. Mirna turned to see who it was and didn't even greet us. She was cooking but she stopped cooking and took her son and said that she had to go to the store. After talking to Eliseo for a few minutes we went to another investigator in the same complex and she asked if we had been to Mirna's. We said that we just left there but Mirna had left. Herlin said she was waiting for Mirna to take her to the store. Clearly she hadn't left, because Herlin was still there and her van was in the parking lot when we left, but we don't know where she went or why she was acting like that. We saw her yesterday and she told us she was busy. But we are patient because we know it all happens in the Lord's time and we also know that everyone has their agency and can choose whether or not to accept. It is sad when people think that they don't have time for God or for his gospel, but that sadness can't even compare with the happiness you feel when someone changes their life and accepts the gospel and have the wonderful blessing of being baptized and confirmed and opening the door to thousands of other blessings.

We have very little time in our area this transfer, but our companionship has been blessed with 7 nights in our area during Christmas lights. That is more than any other companionship so while at first I was afraid about being able to fill that time, I have since realized that it is because the Lord knows that there is that much work available in the area and he is ready to help us find it. He has blessed us with so much time and so now we just have to work hard and follow his guidance. Hna. Lopez and I are looking into getting bikes (I know...) so that we can talk to more people on the street. It gets really tiring pulling over the car and getting out every time we see someone (plus, they usually have time to escape), but as missionaries we have committed to Talk with Everyone, and we are trying to be exactly obedient and do that. There have been a lot of sisters that have learned how to ride bikes on their mission and I figure there is no better time to relearn than while I am under the most protective arm the Lord has to offer. Plus, it will be good exercise to balance all the meals during this time of year (We ate 2 dinners last night plus tortillas...it was also the first time I ate tamales and they were super good.)

I'm sorry I don't have more to write, nothing super exciting has happened this week. I hope that you all have a very wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday. This is my favorite holiday of the year and I can't wait for it. It seems like as a missionary I have so much more to be thankful for that before, but the actuality is that I am just noticing more all of the blessings that our Father in Heaven gives us. Like in Mosiah 2, we can try and try to thank Him, but we will always come out of it unprofitable servants because He will continue to bless us just for thanking Him. I challenge you all to try and do as the prophets have encouraged us and remember to thank Heavenly Father in our prayers. Have some prayers this week that are purely in gratitude. I promise you that those ones will be answered with more powerful and needed blessings than the ones where we are asking the Lord for what we think we need.

I love you all!

De Mesa Con Amor,
Hermana Ladd

Transfer 3 aka the Holiday Transfer

2009-11-17T15:51:00.004-07:00

Well, Hna. Blades is gone and Hna Lopez and I are left in charge of Ensenada Park. It is extremely scary and overwhelming. I don't feel like I know near enough to be senior companion, we have at least 2 baptisms coming up and I can't remember the last time I've even been to a convert baptism, let alone that I've never planned one. However, Hna Lopez is a great missionary, so I'm glad that I have her to help me in our area. President told me in interviews that I was in for something challenging, and he was right. 5 VC sisters left yesterday. It was really sad. I was closest to 2 of them, who also happen to be the two foreign ones so it will be hard to see them after the mission. One left me my favorite shoes of hers, and the other her True to the Faith book in Portuguese (they are from the Dominican Republic and Brazil, respectively). On the mission there are always so many changes. Comings and goings every 6 weeks. Everyone that leaves says that it goes by so fast, and I am starting to see that. Today is my 5 months on the mission mark. I wonder if it is going by as fast for all of you back at home. I am envious of the Elders who get to serve for 2 years, but at the same time it makes me more motivated to try and accomplish as much in my time as they do in theirs.

I am so excited for this transfer! In just over 1 week it is Thanksgiving, then we turn on the lights, then I turn 22. I can't wait to tell you all about Christmas lights! Family, can you believe that in just less than 6 weeks I'll be calling you?!

Even though it will be hard and we don't have much time in the area because of Christmas lights, I am so grateful that I got to stay in Ensenada. I was not ready to leave. The Farnsworth baptism has been moved to the 5th of December, but they aren't going to Mexico over Thanksgiving so that is okay. It was really funny, when we talked to them about moving it to before Thanksgiving they were completely okay with it. However, Sis. Farnsworth said "How intelligent you all are, to get me baptized before I go to Mexico." We just looked at each other and laughed, because we hadn't told her that is why we wanted to move the baptism forward. I could tell she was happy about it though, and she agreed with us. They both passed their baptismal interviews which we are happy about. I had no doubts that they were ready for baptism, especially Rosalva, but Juan Carlos was still trying to stop drinking coffee. We prayed all weekend that he would be able to. However, the Bishop of the English ward and Larry decided that he wasn't quite ready to be able to baptize them, and instead of choosing someone else they decided to wait. He is a little disappointed and feels bad their baptism is postponed because of him, but it will be good for him. Even though he has already changed so much it is good for him to see that his inactivity for so many years does have some consequences. Thankfully he has such a supportive family and they are all doing what they need to be doing now, and together.

The Mestre family is continuing to plan their big wedding and baptism. Unfortunately, because it is during Christmas lights, we can only be there for the wedding and baptism, and not the fiestota (big fiesta) afterwards. I am so excited for them, as is our little branch. Everyone is so supportive of one another.

The work is really progressing in our area. Our district was split this transfer. We used to be 4 companionships, 3 in my stake (Alta Mesa) and 1 in Salt River. Salt River was just split so now there are 2 companionships over there (one is VC sisters, so we are no longer the farthest sisters from the VC, nor the only sisters in our zone). They are their own district. One of the areas in our district was also split, so we still have 4 companionships in our district, but now they are all in our stake. I think the elders have something like 10 baptisms just this Saturday! The work is really exploding, all over Mesa, and it is so exciting to watch. I can't wait to tell you when we have reached our mission goal! There is just something about the Christmas season on the mission, I have never been happier at this time of year. I think it is because this Christmas, I am giving something back to Christ. We are giving him a present for his birthday, the present of greatest worth, the souls of His Father's children. I want everyone else to be able to feel that during this holiday season. Every one of you can add to your own White Christmas by inviting your friends and neighbors to celebrate the birth of our Savior by learning more about His church. Invite someone to you ward Christmas program. Invite someone to the Christmas devotional. Invite someone to a Christmas Family Home Evening and talk about the restored gospel. I promise you that if you invite even just one soul to come unto Christ that this Christmas time will be the best one in your life so far. Do it for our Savior. And please, tell me how it went, I want to share in your Christmas joy too!

De Mesa con Amor,
Hermana Ladd

Reflections on Christus

2009-11-13T20:43:00.002-07:00

The Beautiful Mesa Temple

2009-11-13T20:42:00.002-07:00

Las Hermanitas

2009-11-13T20:41:00.003-07:00

More Pictures of Hermana Ladd

2009-11-13T20:36:00.003-07:00

I'm no longer dreaming of a White Christmas...

2009-11-11T12:14:00.002-07:00

BECAUSE WE ARE GETTING ONE!!!!!!

I have been so happy this week I want to cry. Rosalva Farnsworth and her son Juan Carlos are going to be baptized! We originally committed them to the 5th of December but we are trying to move it up because they are going to Mexico for Thanksgiving and we don't want her to face opposition from her family without the Holy Ghost. They are such a miracle. We think Larry has been less-active for at least 18 years! And he is not only coming back to church, but he is going to be able to baptize them. It was really special when we committed them to be baptized. We asked who they want to baptize them and even though Larry isn't his birth father, Juan Carlos (who is 13) immediately pointed at Larry. I really wanted to cry, they are such a special family. So that is 2 baptisms for our little branch at the beginning of next transfer, 2 more souls brought to Christ. But wait... there's more...

The Mestres are getting baptized too!!!!! Finally!!! They are the family that has had a date for almost 6 months, but we have been waiting and waiting for Hno Mestre's divorce, but just problem after problem came up. Finally, last week Presidente Kleinman (Branch Pres.) called Pres. Bassett (mission pres) who called Pres. LeSeuer (Area Pres.) who called the Missionary department in Salt Lake who called the General Authorities in Mexico who called the Mexican government and confirmed that after 5 years of not living together, Hno. Mestre and his ex-wife are legally divorced! And all in less than a week! When we first found out, we only heard about the communication up to the Missionary department, so we thought that they had just got permission to be married in AZ even though he isn't divorced in Mexico, so that is what we told Hna. Mestre, and she decided that she couldn't be married to someone who is still married, so she would wait. But last night, we got everything cleared up and Pres. Kleinman told us how we had misunderstood. Finally, this little family with so much faith and hope can be baptized. It is going to be a huge wedding and baptism, and Hna. Mestre is thinking about the 19th of Dec. So add 3 more to the Farnsworths and that is 5 baptizms this next transfer! And it is Christmas lights! We are going to be so busy! All of the VC sisters are in the VC during the Christmas transfer, because we are so busy in there. Also, every night there are a certain number of full-field Elders and Sisters assigned to work outside. I can't wait. I have heard everyone say that this transfer is the transfer of miracles, because we have so little time in our area. One sister that is leaving in a week said that Christmas lights was her only transfer with more than one baptism, and we already have 5 scheduled! The mission is coming so close to our goal of a White Christmas, and Ensenada Park Branch is definitely contributing its share!

I don't think I've ever been more excited for this time of year in my life: baptisms, Thanksgiving, Christmas lights, my birthday, wedding/baptisms, Christmas, New Year's, it is going to be so great!

This is the end of my second transfer in AZ, and next week I will hit my 6 months in the mission mark, I can't believe it! We know for sure that Hna. Blades is leaving, because Pres. told her in interviews last week. She knew anyways, because she has been here for so long, but she is still sad, especially because she and Hna. Rincon were the ones who found the Mestres. But she will definitely be coming back for their baptism. We are pretty sure that Hna. Lopez and I will stay here, and I am hoping beyond hope that that is true. I am not ready to leave Ensenada Park yet. No matter how mean all the retirees are, our branch and our investigators are my family out here. And the members we live with are awesome. Their son just left for the MTC in Argentina, and we have volunteered to put up their huge xmas tree for them. Maybe after our xmas miracles I'll be ready, but not yet.

De Mesa con paz, gozo, y esperanza,
Hermana Ladd

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...

2009-11-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dear Mommy, Happy Birthday to you!

Last week was so frustrating when it lost my email. Right before time ran out and I clicked send, the email system logged me out. The weather was really cold for a few days right before the weekend, but for the last 2 days it has been back up in the 90s! And it is November! It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. I am really excited for both this year. They have been putting up Christmas lights at the temple since the beginning of October and will turn them on at the end of this month. I've heard that Christmas lights are crazy, and that we are so busy, but I've also heard that that transfer is full of miracles. I guess you all will find out about it when I do! We had a mission fast a few weeks ago, because the mission's goal is 400 more baptisms by the end of the year. We are going to have a White Christmas down here in Arizona and I am so excited to see it happen.

Last week for Halloween, we had some awesome activities. First of all, the English ward that meets in our building and our branch had a huge activity with the community on Friday night. They closed off two streets for it. On Saturday we had a trunk for the English ward that Rosalva's son goes to and we live in. Also that night, we got together with the elders in our district at one of their activites. Again, it was huge and for the whole community. It was in a park. We had a trunk, some elders had a trunk, and then the others put together a Tree of Life thing. The people had to hold onto an iron rod through a dark tunnel to a tree in the park the elders had decorated with christmas lights. There they got their candy or precious fruit. All the elders were dressed up as nephites. It was a lot of fun and I took some pictures so you will get to see them at some point.

I wrote about the Farnsworth family a few weeks ago. Sister Farnsworth is absolutely amazing. She is just soaking up the gospel, eating, sleeping, drinking it in. She reads all the standard works, plus the Liahona, plus the Gospel Principles and Joseph Smith manuals. AND, she tells her family in Mexico about it! The companionship (easier that saying Hermana Blades and Lopez, and I) was talking about it the other day, about different ways we can tell people are truly converted. First of all, they start looking forward to the missionaries coming over. At church Rosalva always asks to make sure we are goig to come visit her again throughout the week. Also, they love learning about the gospel. She reads with her husband and her son and always asks her husband to help her understand what they study. Also, they start sharing the gospel with those around them. If only we all could have the fire of an investigator or new member! We have come up with a competition for our ward to try and help them remember their conversion, because most of them are converts. It is like phase 10 but they have different missionary challenges. It is no surprise that the Mestre family, our awesome investigators, are winning right now. Speaking of the Mestres, I don't remember how much I've been explaining about their situation, but Hno. Mestre is married in Mexico and they have been working with lawyers here and there so that he can get divorced and they can get married. However, it has been almost 5 months now. They were supposed to find out the week I came into the field if he was divorced but because of the process they keep saying 60 more days, then 60 more days. They are so ready to get baptized and could really use the Holy Ghost. They have so many questions and study so hard. We want them to be part of our Christmas miracles. Presidente Kleinman our branch president called President Bassett Monday and they are going to call the Area authority over Arizona to see what can be done. I will be sure to keep you updated. I know that we will have their wedding/baptism before Christmas, I just know it. Along with Rosalva and her son (who haven't been committed yet but will be) that will be 5 baptisms for our little branch. Not only do I know that the mission will make its goal of bringing 400 more souls to Christ, but I know that our little area can help and add the the miracles. It is really great to see the work progressing. We found out in Zone Conference that the 4 Arizona missions are right now the strongest in the US. We are seeing so much success down here in Arizona, but we need to keep finding the people here that are ready. The field is not only white, but whiter everyday and there are more and more people ready to accept the gospel.

De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Argh

2009-10-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

The system signed me out right before my time ran out so it lost my email! I'm going to have to write a letter. I'm at the VC and got permission to send this just so you know it's coming.

:-(

2009-10-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

It's still summer

2009-10-19T12:36:00.001-07:00

Last week we committed someone to baptism! So in 3 weeks will be the first baptism of my mission! We found Maria 2 weeks ago through the English elders and she has been really open to learn about the gospel. She had no problem accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet, in fact she really likes the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. As of right now she is going to be baptized in 3 weeks and we don't think that there will be any problems with that. Many of our investigators were sick over the past week and a half. There have been bad cases of flu throughout Arizona. Our Mission President has asked us to be really careful, but already 7 elders have gotten sick, 2 hospitalized. They were all in the same district though. As sisters we aren't as worried, because we are much more clean and cautious than most of the elders, we use hand sanitizer and wash our hands a lot. We haven't been able to teach much this past week because our investigators were sick or their children were sick.

Yesterday was the branch primary program. It was so cute. Also, our little branch swelled to 98 people! We only had 7 investogators at church but Hermana Mestre, the investigator waiting to get married, invited 2 of her sisters and their families. They took up an entire row! They were all so excited for Josecito, and he did so well. I think he was the only one in the Primary who had memorized his part. The wonder of wonder and miracle of miracles though, for probably the whole week, if not for many weeks, was the Farnsworths. I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned them before. He is a member and his wife is not. We have been trying really hard to get them to church, so hard that Hermana Blades' worst day of her mission (she says probably even her life) was a Sunday when we went over before church and he just came up with excuse not to go (it was the day we prayed for pizza). We did get them to watch a little bit of conference on their television 2 weeks ago and I think that was the key. Something must have hit Larry, and Rosalva was so touched by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Last time we went to visit them Larry offered the closing prayer and we could tell that he was really grateful we have been coming over. They were supposed to go to Mexico on Friday but her dad told her not to, I guess it has been dangerous around the border (we never really hear about this stuff). So instead they stayed home AND came to church yesterday! They are the one family our branch hasn't had faith in, because a few of them are familiar with Larry, so we really have been trying to pull them along by ourselves which is rare with our branch. But they came and the Spirit was strong because it was the Primary Program. Rosalva especially loved the Relief Society lesson on families. I was so shocked I almost didn't recognize them because they were out of place to me. I knew that one day we would get them to church, they had talked about coming after they got back from Mexico, but since we thought that they were gone and we hadn't invited them specifically to this Sunday as with others, it was a surprise. Her son also went to church, but he goes to an English ward with a friend. He has actually been a few times before. I wish every Sunday was the Primary Program!

We also had a Mission President fireside last night, where recent converts from around the mission come and share their testimony about their conversion. The missionaries bring investigators, other recent converts, and members. There are also special musical numbers between every two testimonies. I played This is the Christ on violin (thanks for sending it out mom!).

For any of you who are not following the weather here in Arizona, they have reached record highs for October. It was just over a hundred the last three days. Everyone has gone back inside, so it is hard finding people to talk to. I have surprisingly gotten used to this heat. I say "this" heat because I have gotten used to up to 112-115. When it goes higher than that next summer then I will have more getting used to to do. The worst thing is probably how tired it makes you. You are too tired to care about the sweat.

Well, that's the last week for you. I hope everyone is enjoying their nice fall weather and beautiful autumn colors. While it always looks like summer here, it also still feels like it!

De Mesa con Amor,
Hermana Ladd

I'm already running out of subjects lines...

2009-10-19T06:16:00.003-07:00

My email this week will be rather short. We had transfers last week and now are in a trio. My new companion is Hermana Lopez, from Bolivia. I was in the FLSR with her older sister for 2 years. She is so sweet and nice, there is a lot that I have to learn from her. I am so glad that I stayed in this area, and am hoping to be here next transfer too. I love our little branch, everyone has such different, yet, strong personalities. We had a ward Family Home Evening last night and played a game where the person in the middle says something like "I love everyone who..." and everyone who matches the description has to get up and switch seats. We were playing it with full grown adults, who had grandchildren, the youngest player was 12, followed by us sisters. It was so funny to see how they all got into it and argued (jokingly of course). The ward members make me smile everytime I see them, in church, at meals, at activities, etc.

Our investigators are the same way. I find myself saying every time we leave someone's house "I love them so much, they are my favorite," and then we go to someone else and I find myself saying the same thing. They really become your family out here. I found out about Grandpa the morning of transfers while we were visiting with our strongest investigators, the Mestres, because it was their daughter's birthday. So when I got the call from President, they were all there for me, which really helped, because I wasn't alone. I hope that everyone back home is doing well, I'm sad I couldn't be there during this time, but at the same time, there is no other place I'd rather be right now than teaching other people how their families can be together forever. And when you really focus completely on the work then you forget about your own personal troubles. My testimony of the plan of salvation is just that much stronger, which also means that my desire to share it is that much greater. I'm grateful for all the time that our family was able to spend together over these last few years, and I'm grateful that you are all there for each other. You too can use this experience to share the gospel and your testimony of the plan of salvation and the wonderful blessings of the restored gospel. I send everyone my love, especially Grandma. I'm so grateful for the wonderful example you and Grandpa always gave to us. Like I said, today's email is short, and I will have to continue in handwritten letters.

De Provo [sic] con amor,
Hermana Ladd

(mom's note: she is not really in Provo ;-)

End of transfer 1

2009-10-19T06:10:00.003-07:00

So here it is TRANSFER NEWS: I'm getting a baby sister! Yep, not only is Hna. Blades training again, but we are both staying in the area, so we are going to be in a trio for the next 6 weeks. That is really unusual, but this was a hard transfer for President, I'm sure. There are 4 Spanish sisters coming in tomorrow, and of the 10 Spanish VC sisters we have now, 4 of us have been here for 2 transfers or less, so it was hard to have enough trainers.There are 2 training trios this transfer, mine and then Hna. Cochran is in one as well, but her trainer is leaving and a new one coming in. We found out officially how it was all going to work out Saturday night, but we had some clues since Wednesday. For example, we knew we would be in a trio, because we live with members and Elder Willis the housing coordinator called us to get permission from the members, see if we could fit 3 sisters, etc. And then on Thursday he called us back and told us for sure there would be 3 sisters. There were still a lot of ways it could have happened, so Saturday night was greatly anticipated. Hna. Blades is pretty sure that this is her last transfer in Ensenada Park, she is going on 7 months there. Our guess for next transfer is that she will leave me and the new sister in the area, but again, you never know!

One thing that has amazed me on my mission is that I have seen the Lord use us as his instruments, even when we didn't know. To clarify: of course on your mission there are times when you get spiritual promptings that you need to go somewhere specific or see someone specific, but the Lord uses you even when you aren't as in tune with the Spirit as you should be. Last night, at around 8:30 we were unsure where to go. We hadn't contacted enough people that day, so we decided that that was the priority, just contact. Usually we pull over whenever we see people and talk to them, or park far away from our appointments, but I really hate doing that at night and I was driving so (probably out of laziness) I just decided to go to an apartment complex that we have a lot of investigators at and figured we could talk to them and some of the people in the parking lot. I can honestly say I felt no inspiration or prompting to go there whatsoever. When we got there, we found Mirna outside her apartment. She looked really upset and when we asked her what was wrong she just started crying. We stayed and talked to her for the next 40 minutes. I didn't understand everything but I could tell she is dealing with a lot. Her brother's girlfriend's family is trying to have him deported, because he is poor. Eliseo still can't work because he is still healing from his burns. She doesn't work but has to be the support of her little family, her two brothers, and her brother-in-law. She said that none of her neighbors have been helping her, even though before the accident Eliseo was the first person they would turn to for help. She has been so impressed by our little branch, who ran to her aid even before they knew her. She has so much faith. She was saying that she doesn't need luxuries, she just needs necessities for her family and God. When her brother's girlfriend's family (they are wealthy and proud and citizens) was treating her horribly, I think one of the things they said is that her family is so poor that they are gonig to end up like dogs, eating food from the garbage. In response she said, if God allows me even that much food, then I will be grateful. I know that we were sent there at that time by the Lord. This is his work, and he uses many ways to accomplish it, even my laziness at times. Right before we saw Mirna we were with a less-active member. He was saying the same thing. He and his wife had been struggling in the past, and about 2 weeks ago they were fighting again. Right as it was getting really bad and he was talking about divorce, the executive secretary called saying that our Branch President wanted to meet with them right then. Their home teacher also called. He said that on the way to the President's office, they were in shock, as to why that happened right then. We had been trying to contact them all weekend long. We were started to get worried, because we can usually get a hold of them some way. That same night, we had gone over while they were meeting with president, and got home right after we left. Their neighbor told them and so they called us and we turned around and went back. We didn't know about all of the fighting and the calls until last night. Again it is just miracle after miracle. Miracle that president wanted to see them (that one I'm sure was inspiration), miracle that their neighbor was still out when they got home (he was waited for his ride to work). I love seeing things like this, because they I know that even through all of our human weaknesses, the Lord can still use us to accomplish his work. When I was at the MTC I was worried about things like this, will I recognize the promptings? will I know what to share? will I know where to go? I have found that when we don't know what to share, the Lord opens our scriptures. When we don't know where to go, the Lord knows where we are. It is the Lord's work and glory to bring to pass the immortaliyt and eternal life of man, not ours. Our work is just to obey the commandments and be worthy to be his instruments.

In the VC they set up one of the theaters so that we could watch conference. I was able to watch almost all of the sessions, except half of the Saturday afternoon, because we were at our stake center and had to go to the VC. Yesterday morning our investigators were the first ones there (after us) and the members that came to the stake center we all late (way to go investigators!) Then there was a branch potluck in between the sessions. I like almost everything that I've eaten here. The members know that we gringas usually can't eat very spicy foods, so they put the chile on the side. I can eat spicier than I used to be able to though. One night when we were with a member, she had just picked some chilis from her backyard. She had some tiny red ones, about as long as a dime, and some tiny thin green ones, about as long as a quarter. Just to say we did, Hna. Blades and I each took a little nibble from the green one (family, think smaller than Erin-sized nibble). I thought that my tongue was going to fall out. My mouth was in pain for the next 30 minutes at least. There was not even really any flavor, just pain. The smaller the chili the hotter it is. I think I am going to stick with the bigger chilis.

Anyways, after that little tangent (I think I forgot I was talking about conference). I really enjoyed conference. I have never been good at remembering who talked on what, so I will make more comments when they come out in the Ensign. I will never forget Elder Holland's talk though. It was great! I wish I could carry the recording around and play it for everyone we contact in the street who says "well I read the Bible" "The Book of Mormon can't be the word of God (keep in mind they've never read it)". Last night we even had a woman say "Well I read the Bible to learn about Christ. I read a few pages of the Book of Mormon, and I just can't see how it talks about Christ." Our answer in our heads was "what book are you reading!?!?!" I have a new love of 2 Nephi 29.

De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Last week of my first transfer!

2009-10-04T16:29:00.004-07:00

This email is going to be shorter, because the week was shorter, our last p-day was on Wednesday. Next time you hear from me I might be in another area, I might have another companion, I might not even be at the Visitors' Center, any number of combinations. This Saturday is when we will find out about transfers, who's staying, going, etc. All the sisters have been saying that this is going to be one of the craziest transfers. There are 4 new Spanish speaking sisters coming in, which means some of those who were training this transfer will be training again. The older sisters think that a lot of us greenies will be going full-field next transfer. I guess we will all find out in less than a week.

This past Thursday we had exchanges so I was companions with Hna. Mancilla for 24 hours. She is companions with my MTC comp, Hna. Cochran, and they are in the area next to ours. She came into my area for the day and Hna. Blades went to an area in downtown Mesa. It was interesting to see how different sisters work, but I enjoyed it. A lot of the new sisters were terrified to be with a new companion, especially because your first transfer you stay in your area so you are the one in charge. Hna. Blades and I went on splits the week before, however, so I got the being terrified over with then.

One of the best things about the mission is seeing the change in our investigators. There is a mother and daughter who are investigating together, Leonor and Herlin. Herlin is only 17 but has a three month old son. They have been investigating for a few months and have been challenged for baptism a few times but each time they said they weren't ready, they didn't feel like they knew enough, etc. When we went on exchanges Hna. Blades went to visit them and while there Leonor said "well, I don't think that we can get baptized." Hna. Blades asked why they thought that and she said that because neither she nor her daughter Herlin were married, but they had children. I guess that she had been harboring a lot of guilt over that. Hna. Blades explained that we were aware that Herlin wasn't married and yet had a son, and that we were still inviting them to be baptized. She explained about the atonement and while they still haven't accepted baptism, we have seen a great change come over Leonor. She has been coming to church for weeks but last Sunday was the first time she had dressed up. They are diligently keeping the other commitments we have given them, so we know that they will be ready for baptism soon.

On exchanges Thursday I went and saw another one of our investigators and her husband. We watched the Testaments with Mirna and Eliseo, the one who is miraculously recovering quickly from third-degree burns. After the movie we started talking to her and asking about a Relief Society activity she had gone to the night before. We were unable to go because we were in the VC but it was a "spiritual banquet" and everyone that we have talked to loved it. Mirna started crying when she was telling us about it. She has been dealing with a lot of stress over the past weeks because of Eliseo's accident. There were many days when she honestly didn't know if he was going to live, and she was worried about what would happen to her and her young son. This stress has been giving her a lot of tension in her neck and back and she wakes up every morning in a lot of pain. Yet through it all she has tried to stay strong and keep it inside. At the activity, one of the sisters in our ward came up to her and starting rubbing her back (there was definitely some prompting from the Spirit involved) and talking to her to see how she was doing. Throughout the evening, she said that the Spirit she felt was so strong and gradually the tension went away and was replaced with peace. Thursday morning was the first morning in a long time that she had woken up with our any pain. Her husband was crying as well while she was telling us this. I know that they are spiritually ready for baptism, they have so much faith and I think they always have, but now that we have helped them know where to direct that faith, and what their faith should inspire them to do, they have grown a lot. Since the Spirit has gotten them spiritually ready for baptism, now we have to help them get physically ready. Mirna is married in Mexico and before they can get baptized they need to get married and before they can get married she has to get divorced (this is the same thing we are waiting for with la familia Mestre). At least we already know a lawyer who deals with this type of situation and our Branch President can start to work on that. Then there is also the wait until Eliseo has healed enough to go completely under water. I will keep you all updated on how things are going, but we sure would appreciate your prayers for our investigators. Oh, one more thing about the miracle of Eliseo. His right arm is really the only place that will stay scarred, as it is completely burned to the third degree. After we had been talked about the activity, Mirna was talking about his recovery. I was so suprised when I heard some of it. Since his arm was so severely burned it was pronounced dead, the nerves, circulation, everything, so with dead limbs the thing to do is, of course, amputate. They called Mirna to get her permission to amputate it. She gave her permission but said that if there was anything they could do to save it then of course she would prefer that. From what I understood this was early in the morning so we think this happened right before she called us and asked us at 3 in the morning and asked us to pray for Eliseo. The nurse later called Mirna and said that in the operating room, while he was on the operating table and they were ready to amputate, something happened and his arm reacted! It hadn't done that before, which is why they had pronounced it dead. When that happens it is the policy to retest and reobserve the limb for 24 hours before continuing with the amputation. Sure enough the blood started flowing in his arm again, he gained his strength in his muscles again, and even though the ends of the nerves are burnt he can still feel. This really has been even more of a miracle than we had previously thought.

We saw Juan again last night, with another member of our ward. He hadn't read the chapter we had given him in the Book of Mormon yet, so we read a little with him. Mostly we just let him and Hno. Reyna talk. He had many more questions as usual, but you cannot deny that he feels the Spirit while we are there. He was trying not to cry for part of the lesson. I think that he has been hardened by his life. He has had to build up a wall of protection around his emotions and when we are there are the Spirit is touching his heart, well I think that is something very new to him. After we left Hno. Reyna commented on what a great man he is. I know that he will get baptized one day and he will be a strong and immovable member, you can just tell.

I went back through and skimmed over some of my past emails. Sorry I repeat myself so much! I didn't even realize it, but sometimes it is probably deja vu on your end when you read the same thing 2 or 3 weeks in a row! I will really try to be better at that.

I said in one of my first emails that I would talk about some of the exhibits that we have at the VC, and I haven't been very good with that so I'll describe one now. We have a little corner that we call the Neighborhood. There are 3 little houses with TV screens on them and kiosks in front of them. You can watch some of the church commercials, watch President Hinckley read the Proclamation to the World, or watch grown-ups or kids answer some gospel questions. My favorite is when the kids are answering the question "What happens to us when we die?" There is a clip of a little girl and all she does is look at the camera, shrug, and then point up. It is so cute and I laugh almost everytime I see it. I don't think I've watched any of the ones with grown-ups; those aren't nearly as fun to watch. There are a few problems with the neighborhood however. First of all, some of the computers will turn off randomly and we have to get engineering to come down from the temple and fix them. Also, because it is set up like a little street front, we have a lot of kids that want to climb over the wall and see if they can go in the houses, or they want to play with the stuffed animal cats or dogs on the front steps. Parents are usually pretty good about keeping the kids off though, which is saying a lot because many of the parents assume that we have been called and set apart as babysitters, not as missionaries. Elder Burke even had to send around a letter to be read in all of the wards in the area, saying that children were not to be dropped off at the VC unattended. You would be surprised at how many drop their young children off in the vc while they go to the temple. We have a sign on the back doors saying the same, that children must be accompanied by someone at least 16 years old, and yet we see parents outside after they have read the sign, tell their 10 or 11 year old "if anyone asks, just tell them you are 16." If Sister Burke sees it she has no qualms about running outside after the parents, or calling the temple and having them find the parents if they aren't already in a session.

Some crazy stuff happens at the VC. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the crazy story that happened last week! There was a woman who I think just walked into the temple, wanting to learn more (it happens a lot, especially with temples that have a VC). When the brothers inside explained a little bit and helped her out, she found a member and began to ask her a lot of questions. Just then 2 of the sisters on shift walked by and after talking to her a little they brought her into the VC. Hna. Blades took her into an exhibit called God's Plan for His Family and at the end, stayed in the last room and talked with her a bit. (I'm going to tell this from my perspective) There is one entrance to God's Plan which is open, and then the exit is closed by a door. I was standing in the back of the VC close to the entrance. All of a sudden this woman comes running back through the entrance of God's Plan followed by Hna. Blades. She runs outside and since we can't leave without a companion Hna. Blades yells for me to come with her. She tells Hna. Blades not to come close and she says thats find, she just wants to finish talking with her. She invites her to have the missionaries come teach her more but the woman says not right now, but that she would take a card. While Hna. Blades runs inside to get every pass-along and referral card we have, the woman comes up to me at the door, asks my name and says that she would like to shake my hand. I hold out my right hand and when she shakes it with her left hand she drops a twenty dollar bill in my and and runs back to the fountain before I could give it back. We try to explain to her that we can't take it she says that she won't take anything from us unless we put it on the ground and walk away. So we put the money (she had given Hna. Blades some too) and the cards on the ground, she grabs the cards, throws the money (a total of 80 dollars) into the VC and then runs away! I guess that what happened at the beginning is that after talking with Hna. Blades in God's Plan she told her she wanted to thank her for how well she had explained everything and reahes in her bag (Hna. Blades thought she was going to pull out a Catholic pamphlet or something) and threw 60 dollars on the floor of God's Plan and runs out. That is where I caught the story. It was really funny. We gave the 80 dollars to the Director with the story, and he has it in case she ever comes back. She was a funny lady and I am sure that is just the beginning of the crazy stories I will have on my mission!

De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Hola!

2009-09-23T19:03:00.004-07:00

Happy Birthday Erin! I hope to hear from you about what you do and what you get, etc.

Well it seems like weather is the talk of Atlanta. I even have people coming into the Visitors' Center and when they find out I'm from Atlanta they say "have you heard how much it's been raining?" Of course we don't hear anything out here, but after this weeks emails it seems to be more than even the people out here have imagined. It hasn't rained here since my second week (so the "monsoon" season is over) but the temperature is starting to go down. Meaning that now it is below 100. Because I'm used to humidity it actually feels pretty cool now, and it has been windy lately, but not the usual hot breezes of the desert. Today it hasn't gotten above 90 yet, and it feels really cool, but thinking about it, for the end of September it is pretty hot.

We've had a really great week so far. I've found that the more you do each day, the happier you are at the end, and you are tired no matter what, so it is better to do a lot. We try to make it the habit of stopping and talking to EVERYONE we see. And oddly enough, the more people we have talked to the nicer they have all been. I think that that is all mainly on our part, because the more diligently and willingly we talk to people the more we have the Spirit and then we aren't as affected by the other persons actions. And we have talked to some really nice people this week, which always makes it easier to talk to the next one. Also, someone the other day told us that their neighbor was Russian! (Kylie, can you send me my Russian PMG and blue book?) We are going to try and contact her at some point and it would be great if we got to teach her. She speaks English too because she is a school teacher, but it says in D&C that everyone will have the opportunity to hear the gospel in their own language.
We have just started teaching a man from Mexico. We taught him for the second time last night with one of the members, Hermano Duarte. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had thus far. And Hermano Duarte was perfect for Juan.He has a lot of questions, but really wants to know the truth. He has also had a lot of hard times in his life and even though he has a family he is at a point where he feels very lonely, so we taught him about how after baptism we can have the Holy Ghost with us always, to help us on our way. I really want him to recognize the answers he gets. He even said that he knew we were sent by God because of the time we came at. Now he just needs to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He read a little from it, but he really needs to pray, so that's what we talked a lot about.

Yesterday really felt like a day of miracles. Before teaching Juan we visited a less-active member. She is married to a nonmember, but her family is very active in Church. First of all it was a miracle we went over there. She is only about 23 or 24 and has a 1 year old, but she is home by herself almost all day. We usually visit her on Wednesdays but for some reason went over yesterday (this week our p-day is Wednesday). Her mom just went through the temple on Saturday, and her sister is getting married in the temple in November, and so I think that that was on her mind. She opened up to us about some of the hardships her family has gone through. Her step dad was very abusive to her family when she was in her teens, verbally, physically, and from the way she was talking we think it was worse that even that. She had to go to therapy for a while and has really just had a hard time. She was telling us that she feels like she lost her chance to have an eternal family now, so we comforted her and assured her that she can have that and will have that. Hermana Blades opened up her scriptures and just shared the first thing she had marked and it ended up being a scripture that her bishop had shared with her when she was going the counselling and court trials against her step-dad. I was so glad that we were there for her at that time, because you could tell that some of those hard memories had been coming back to her and burdening her for a little while.

Tomorrow we have exchanges, so Hna. Blades will be leaving tonight and Hna. Mancilla will be my companion for the day. I was a little worried, but last Friday we went on splits with some members because we didn't have much time in our area, so I am no longer worried about being the one most familiar with the people and area. Plus, Hna. Mancilla is Mexican so she speaks perfect Spanish.

I had a request from Dad to write about my schedule and things like that. We actually get a lot of questions about this when we are talking to people, questions like "how much do they pay you?," "is this like a nine-to-five job?" etc. This is a typical full field day, meaning no time in the VC. We wake up at 6:30 every morning and try and exercise for 30 minutes. Sometimes we go outside to exercise and sometimes we stay inside. Then we have an hour to get ready and eat breakfast and such. At 8 we have an hour of personal study, at 9 an hour of companionship study, and at 10 an hour of language study, which we use to prepare for our lessons for the day. We eat lunch at our house (we live in the basement of some member's house, I'm not sure I've mentioned that) at 11 and try to leave right after 11:30, then we are out proselyting until 9 or 9:30, depending on if we are in a lesson. We eat dinner with members at 5 or 5:30. As soon as we get home we plan for the next day and then get ready for bed and go to bed at 10:30. If we are in the VC this changes depending on our shift. IF we have the morning shift then instead of study we go to the VC right after 8 (we need to be there at 8:45). Sometimes we get an hour of study at the VC, but they rotate which companionship gets to study each day. The morning shift is usually until 3 and then we are out in our area until 9 or 9:30. If we have the evening shift then we are in our area from after lunch until about 2:15, and come straight home when the VC closes at 9. We very rarely go out to eat, except for on p-days. Yesterday we had a shorter shift at the VC because 4 of the companionships had p-day so the way it works then is that there are 2 from 9-1, 2 from 1-6 and the four p-day ones come in at 6. (The shifts are also shorter on Sundays so we can all go to church). So yesterday we went out to lunch with the other c-ship that had been on with us in the morning. Our RS Pres is really good about making sure we are fed every night we are in our area. She feeds us herself if no one has signed up. In other Stakes, the sisters have food brought to them at the VC so they get dinner even if they are there at night. We live too far away for that though, but we don't mind, we just bring healthier snacks. We don't tract in the normal sense of going door to door, especially because most people are English and we drive a car. Instead, when we are going from place to place (the places we've planned) we drive up and down streets and weave our way through the area, rather than taking direct main routes. Then if we see anyone we get out and talk to them. We make sure to ask everyone if they know of any Hispanic neighbors. They all probably think we are the Immigration Police...

I'll end this email by giving you all a challenge. Sis. Bassett, the Mission Matron (President's wife) gave us the challenge in Zone Conference to everyday write down a miracle you have seen that day. It is really cool to see the different miracles there are, big, little, personal, etc. They really can come in a number of forms. Once we were having a bad day and were on our way to dinner. It was with our RS Pres and we eat with her a lot. The last time we had eaten with her she said she would make us tongue next time because it was really good and we should try it. Well, that day, we really didn't want tongue. It was the weekend I had been sick, many of our appts fell through, and we were struggling to get some of our investigators to recognize the importance of church (actually we were struggling to get the less-active husband to go to church) but we really wanted pizza for dinner. Yes, we prayed that we would get pizza. And we did! Some elders in our zone said at Zone Development meeting that they prayed for cake once and ended up and a diabetic woman's house and she said "Elders, I don't know why I have this cake, I'm diabetic, do you want it?" So the point is that they can be small things like that or big things like when we met Juan or Eliseo's fast recovery. So my challenge is to start writing down miracles in your life. And I promise that the more you recognize them, the more the Lord will give you.

De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Hermana Ladd with President and Sister Bassett and family

2009-09-21T18:01:00.002-07:00

display: block;
text-align: center;
cursor: pointer;
width: 502px;
height: 335px;
opacity:1.000;
filter: alpha(opacity=100);
-moz-opacity: 1.000;
" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fY-q_nDnOUw/SrgiY0QSzyI/AAAAAAAAAJU/zTE00Z0EyZM/s320/brynn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384091164260618018" border="0" />

Wow, what a long week...

2009-09-20T17:22:00.004-07:00

I am halfway through my first transfer and I can't even believe it! It is going by way too fast. Whoever controls mission time should switch it so that the MTC goes by faster and the mission slower. Actually, never mind, I liked the MTC and decided this week that I wish that we could go to the MTC and then go to the mission for about 3 weeks and then go back to the MTC to focus better on the things that we need to improve in. Missionaries at the smaller MTCs go out every night with the missionaries in that mission, but no way would they do that in Provo. (Can you imagine all of the missionaries in the MTC out proselyting in the Provo mission every night?!)

This past week was hard and Hna. Blades and I are just thankful that we made it through. I'm positive that this is just the first of many similar weeks and I'll get used to it with time. We talked to a lot of people but didn't get to teach very many. One reason is because most of the people we talked to were English. We are in a fairly affluent area and it is a real struggle for us to find the Hispanics. Also, about half of our area is made up of large "retirement villages" so we have a lot of snowbirds, and these people seem to have been hardened by life. I'm thankful that none of my grandparents have gotten mean and grumpy as they have gotten older, as age seems to make the people think they have an excuse for being rude. We still haven't found new people to teach, and we hardly have any time in our area this week because of our VC schedule. Also, the Elders in our stake are teaching 2 Hispanic families! They are teaching them in English of course, but who knows how well they speak English, and even then our branch needs families! We also know of at least 2 other member families that are Hispanic but attend English wards. That is really frustrating because our little branch is so strong and they all try so hard, they could really use the support and blessings of having more numbers. I can't remember if I wrote this last week (I often forget what I've already emailed) but our Relief Society president is so caring and selfless, once the dinner calender has been filled out she puts down her name in every blank day! And neither she, nor her husband have jobs right now! It amazes me how much these people live the gospel and how humble they are. I am learning so much from our branch, and I hope I can remember and use them when I am back to being a member missionary.

Last p-day we went to the temple. The Mesa temple is really beautiful, and really big. The inside has some of the same stonework as the outside, which adds to the feeling of being in Solomon's temple or one of the Ancient American temples. I'm sad that we can only go once every 6 weeks, but at least we get to go, unlike the majority of missionaries in other parts of the world. And I am at the VC almost every day so I get to be "in the shadow of the temple" where the Spirit is just as strong. Last Friday was one of the days when we weren't in the VC at all. We had had one of those days my first week out but then haven't had a "full field" day since. When there are more sisters at the VC we usually get one a week. I have been really good about staying hydrated out here, so I'm not sure what happened but last Friday I got really sick. I think I was dehydrated because I had an awful migraine, complete with nausea. But I was able to hold out until we got home at night, and the next morning I felt perfectly fine. I have now tried to drink even more water than I was before.

So last week (I do remember this) I said that Arizona was very ugly. That still stands, but I have found something really beautiful about Arizona and that is the lightning storms. Many nights, even when there isn't rain, there are lightning storms. I don't know if they are far away, but you never hear thunder with them, just lightning. And since the sky goes on forever out here the lightning lights up the sky, the land, the mountains... I especially love it when the lightning is behind a cloud and lights up only the outline of the huge dark clouds. It is really quite a sight.

One thing that Hna. Blades and I do every night is think of the miracle(s) we saw that day. Sometimes they are really big miracles, but we are starting to notice a lot of little ones as well. For example, we ate pizza for dinner on Sunday night. That was a miracle because earlier we had said that we really wanted pizza for dinner, and if you all had been out with us that day and known what type of day we had had, you would have seen that it really was a miracle. We are working with a family where the husband is American, and less active in the church, and the wife and son are not members. We have really started to see changes in Bro. Farnsworth as we've visited and he has become more active in the lessons, even getting his own scriptures out. He is the key to this family, whenever we invite them to church she always looks to him first. We had stake conference on Sunday and went over before to try and get them to come, but Bro. Farnsworth said that "they would have to pass today." It was such a blow, and one we weren't expecting. Things like that are really frustrating, because we just want to yell back at him "you can't just pass on salvation! and this isn't even your salvation at stake but your wife and son's!" But we don't, we just express our disappointment and invite them again next week. That is one thing that I am trying to work on, being bold, but loving, like Christ always was.

Well, I don't have much more to write. Mirna's husband is getting released from the hospital (I'm pretty sure this happened after I wrote last week). We thought that he would be able to be moved to a hospital closer to home if he kept improving, but he gets to come home! He has gone from intensive care with 3rd degree burns from the waist up, to being able to go home, in just over 2 weeks! That is definitely the largest miracle we have seen, and it is because of the power of prayers, the priesthood, and faith. We are really blessed to have access to the restored authority of God on the earth today. There are many day that I think what my life would have been like if I wasn't born into this gospel. Would I have found it? Would I have accepted it? I would like to think so. But every time I think that it makes me all the more thankful that my ancestors have been so faithful to the faith they found that my parents were able to raise me in it. It also gives me such a greater respect and admiration for all those who have found and accepted the gospel themselves and are the pioneers of the descendants that will come after them.

De Ensenada Park con amor,
Hermana Ladd

End of week 2 already?!

2009-09-12T15:48:00.005-07:00

These weeks have flown by! I feel like I don't have anything new to write about. That's why I need good questions when you send me emails and letters so that I can respond to those. Luckily I do keep a list in my planner of things that I think of during the week that I want to write about.

First of all, even though I love my mission and my mission call and my area and everything, that doesn't stop Arizona from being one of the ugliest places I've been! There is literally no grass, except for in parks and at the temple. Everyone's yards are made of rocks. And even worse, guess what I saw yesterday - rocks painted green! There were even some "yards" where all the rocks were glued down and painted green. There are some areas of Mesa where I feel like I'm in the middle of Mexico, and there are others (the ones with the astrorock yards) that make me feel like I'm back in the 50s. But I still love it. I am already used to the heat, and it really isn't near as hot as I thought it would be, but maybe that's because it isn't humid. In fact, some of the natives were complaining about how humid it had been last week, and I didn't even feel it. But there have been thunderstorms 5 times since I've gotten here. I tell all our members that I must have brought them from Georgia with me when they comment on how it hasn't rained in a long time.
I have another small world story for you all. The former VC directors came in last week to visit and see some of the changes that have been made and they too lived in DC and was in the stake under Grandpa Ladd, and therefore knew the Ladds and the Coltons. His name is Elder Peterson, and I didn't get his first name.

I don't feel like I have very many stories this week. Everything that was happening last week is still happening. We are still waiting to see if the Mestre's can get married and Eliseo is still in the hospital and we haven't been able to get a hold of Mirna to ask how he is doing. One of our investigators, an 11 year old, decided that I look like Bella from Twilight which of course is her favorite movie, so I am her new favorite person. Now if only she would understand that she needs to go to church more... Speaking of favorites, we have a member from El Salvador and when we went to go visit her on Friday I told her how I used to live in Honduras and that papusas were my very favorite Hispanic food so when we went over for lunch yesterday she made us some. Yep, still my very favorite Hispanic food. But just goes to show again and again how kind all of the members are. I feel like I've found my niche in the branch now, so I'm glad that happened quickly. Hna. Mestre was saying on Sunday that she had gotten in touch with the sister that had just left over the internet and told her that even though she missed them a lot they didn't miss her nearly as much because they had a new sister missionary in the branch. I thought that was really nice. I am Hna. Blades' first gringa companion, which is good for both of us, because she speaks the language really well which helps me, and when we are in lessons if I don't understand something she has to answer, when previously she had had natives that always understood so she could take a back seat on some of the harder questions, so we are both learning from each other.

We had our first zone conference yesterday which was amazing! Pres. Bassett knows the scriptures so well and finds some of the most obsure stories that seem like they were written purely so that he could use them to teach certain points. Our mission is really accelerating the work, which is great but means that we have to keep working even harder. Elders Bednar, Perry, and Ballard have all come and told us things to do specific to the mission. Elder Ballard said we need to be teaching 20 lessons a week, and I think Elder Perry was the one that said we need to be talking to at least 140 people "by the way." That is the hardest one for most of the missionaries, because it is really hard to just go up and talk to random people. And in a car it is even harder, because whenever we see someone we stop the car, get out, and go talk to them. But it is amazing that if you are obedient in talking to everyone you see then the Lord will place a lot of people in your path. The English speakers are the hardest. Some of them are so mean! I don't see the need for being rude even if you don't want to listen. We had a really condescending one the other day, calling us kids and saying we just didn't understand the world today. It is really hard for me to keep my mouth closed and be polite rather than explaining that I probably had a higher education than he did and had a far better understanding of the world, even though I was a "kid". But I did, because we don't want to lower ourselves to their level, but bring them up to ours. Hna. Blades was getting really frustrated too, because he told us he belonged to a church but siad that he didn't go that often, because he put more important things first, like work. She kindly shared that Jesus taught to put the kingdom of God first but that's when he got into the "you kids just don't understand." I thought (but kept in my head) "you must not have ever learned anything those few times you made it to church. We get a lot like that, but even that one had some good things. The day before we were talking to some high school kids down the street and one of them had made the comment "they must be paying you a lot to do this." We explained that we weren't paid but that we and our families had to pay for us to do this. He was impressed by that. Well the next day when we were talking to the other man it was raining and the high schooler drove by and said "what are you girls doing out here, it's raining!" We just told him "so what, we work in the rain too." He was really impressed by that and thought it was "awesome" so I hope at least some seeds were planted there. We love talking to nice people, at least it helps us get out of the car faster the next time we see someone and pull over, whereas after the meaner ones it is really a struggle to want to talk to more people.

So here is probably my most exciting and most terrifying story for the week. The other night in the VC some elders from the Tempe mission were there and talking to some of us right after they finished a lesson. They came up and said "we were told to ask here if there was a sister who spoke Arabic." There were four of us in the front and all of them looked at me and said she does. I had to back pedal for them and say "I studied it but can't really speak it any more." After asking why they told us that there was a Syrian man in their mission who has read the Book of Mormon 4 times already, knows it is true, and wants to be baptized. However, once you are past the age of eight you can't be baptized without being taught the lessons by the missionaries. And this man doesn't speak very good English so they need someone who can speak Arabic. I gave them all of the Arabic materials we have (Elder Burke asked my to be in charge of organizing our language materials, because there is a ton! So I knew where it was and what it was) and I told the elders that if they needed me to teach him then to call the VC and the Lord would have to help me relearn enough Arabic to teach him. They haven't called us back yet, but I've started using all the Arabic materials we have to try and relearn it. I really wish I had kept it up. I honestly never thought that I would need to speak Arabic on my mission, Russian maybe, but not Arabic, and yet the day comes and it is the language that I can't teach in that the Lord might need me in. (Side note for mom, can you find my Arabic books and send them to me so I can relearn more. I don't know where they are, and if they aren't at home then they are at grandma's, and I don't know which box, because again, not expecting to use it for 18 months. Also, if there is an Arabic Preach My Gospel could you find out and send it to me?) So that was my humbling experience for the week. If I really do end up helping them to teach this man then that will be even more humbling because it will have to be all the Lord. Luckily the church has so many great materials. 3 of the 5 lessons are printed in pamphlets for investigators so I could teach him out of those, and Preach My Gospel has all the references I would need for scriptures in the other lessons, so it would be a lesson completely out of the scriptures.

On the topic of languages here is the list of all the languages that we have the Book of Mormon in. It would be great if Erin or Ky or Jake or Mom could look them up and email me back with where each of them are spoken (I think it would be a fun project for Piggy). We have other materials such as the Family Proclamation and the Living Christ in other languages too.
Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Aymara, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Catalan, Cebuano, Chinese, Croation, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Efik, English, Estonian, Fante, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilkano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kekchi, Kiribati, Korean, Laotian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malagasy, Maori, Marshallese, Maya, Mongolian, Navajo, Neomelanesian, Niuean, Norwegian, Palauan, Papiamento, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Rarotongan, Romanian, Samoan, Russian, Shona, Sinhala, Slovenian, Swahili, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tongan, Tswana, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Xhosa, Yapese, Zulu.
Not hard to see why it is my favorite exhibit, right?

I'll finish up by telling you about another exhibit that we have. Our temporary exhibit right now is about the history of MoTab. There is a place where you can conduct the choir, except the baton breaks all the time from misuse and the songs are soooo slow. There is a listening station to listen to some of their recordings, interactive kiosks about their history, a collection of MoTab dresses and former conductor's batons. And then there is the beloved Music and the Spoken Word episode from the 60s. It is on a loop and just plays over and over and over. Many of the sisters have it memorized. (Take time, for your children... Mother.... where is mother? Are the questions asked when they come home...) That is unanimously the VC sisters' least favorite exhibit, especially because it is hard to teach from. It isn't a bad exhibit, actually quite interesting, but only on the first time through, and we are there a lot. But in only a few more weeks it will be gone, the room will be used as a theater for a few weeks, and then the nativities from around the world will be up for Christmas!

De Mesa con amor,

Hermana Ladd

I'm in MESA!!!

2009-09-01T18:55:00.003-07:00

Wow, can you say longest week of my life?! Tuesday was the longest day of my life, followed closely by Thursday. But I love it! I don't even know where to start. first of all, I'm sure many people are wondering about the weather. Yes, it is hot, but surprisingly 115° isn't near as hot as I was imagining it. I've only been here a week and I'm already used to the sweat and the sun. I think I have gotten more tan in a week than in my entire life, even though I wear sunscreen everyday.

So, as I've found in my journal writing this week, It is better to just recount a few big things, rather than a step by step account with no details so that's what I'm going to do. On Tuesday morning we arrived in Mesa and met our Mission President and his wife and the two elders that are his assistants at the airport. we loaded up our stuff and went straight to the Visitor's Center. There were 19 of us that came in this transfer (a transfer is a six week period and missionaries come in and leave on the first day of the transfer). At the Visitor's Center (which I'll tell more about later) we all sat in the room with the Christus statue of Christ and Pres. Bassett talked to us about how we (with our companions) are the only ones in our area that have the ability to bring salvation to the people of our area by bringing them to Christ (no pressure right?!). Then we all drove up to the Mission home in Scottsdale where we had interviews with Pres. Bassett, had a little orientation, and then got our areas and companions!

My companion's name is Sis. Blades, and I have to tell you a quick small world story about her. We figured this out when we were driving home Tuesday night. So Sis. Blades went to BYU Idaho and had a roommate up there who transferred down to BYU and moved into the Arabic house! Then she was my roommate for one semester. And the even funnier part is that Sis. Blades came down and lived at my apartment over Thanksgiving that semester and we even went out to dinner together! Crazy, huh?! And now she is my trainer. Anyway, our area is Ensenada Park, in the Superstition zone. We live with some English members of our Stake.

We work in a little Spanish branch with about 40 members, but I love it. Because we are in such a small branch we know all the members and they always fellowship the investigators that come to church. No one gets lost in that branch. Yesterday in church Relief Society and Priesthood were combined because it was the fifth Sunday of the month. The RS President, Hermana Parra, got up during announcements and said "the Mestres, the Ayalas and Hna. Vichez weren't at church today, who is going to visit them?" I was so impressed that it didn't take us as the missionaries to point out the people that were missing. The Mestres are some of our investigators, but you wouldn't know it because they are some of the most active members of the branch. They are going to get baptized as soon as they can get married. As a side note, just a little something about the family situations here - they are crazy! I have a hard time keeping track of them. Hno. Mestre was married to someone in Mexico before coming here, so before he and Hna. Mestre can get married he has to get divorced, and the way they work out divorces in Mexico is that they narrow down an area where his wife might be, put ads everywhere, and then wait a certain amount of time. If noone responds to the ads then he is divorced. We were supposed to find out last week the results, but the lawyer hasn't called yet. So we are just praying and waiting. I would say that the majority of hispanic couples around here are not married to whoever they are living with, even if they have been together for a long time and have children and everything. The hardest thing for me in the branch is showing them I love them. Sis. Blades and her last companion whitewashed the branch 5 and a half months ago, meaning they came into the branch when there hadn't been missionaries for almost 3 years. So the branch really thinks of Sis. Blades and her last companion as "their" missionaries and now that the other sister has gone home to Colombia, they really miss her. It is one of the most common topics of conversation, so I am really trying to show the members and the investigators that even though I am new I am going to work just as hard and love them just as much, but it is still a little intimidating.

So that is a little bit about our branch, now on to the Visitors' Center. First of all, our area is the farthest away of the areas Visitors' Center sisters work in, almost 30 minutes away. The rest of the sisters are much closer, in the areas directly surrounding the temple. I love the Visitors' Center! There are 3 senior couples that work there, the Burkes (the directors), the Rowes, and the Ogdens. They are all so nice, it is like having 3 more sets of grandparents. Speaking of grandparents, the first thing that Elder Burke said to me when I met him was "are you related to Don Ladd?" It turns out that Elder Burke was the bishop of the Washington DC ward when Grandpa was stake president. And since he was in that stake he of course knows the Coltons too. He wrote a book about the history of the Washington DC ward, and I think I remember him saying something about Grandpa Ladd being the bishop of that ward before he was. And he said that he interviewed Uncle Sterling for the book. So there are some more small world experiences! His first name is Lee, and he wasn't ever married when he lived in DC. He married Sis. Burke only about 5 years ago.

I don't even know where to start with the VC. We work in shifts, which are usually 6 hours a day, except when other sisters have p-day or on Sundays. And once in a while we will have a "full field" day, which means we don't work in the VC at all that day (hence Thursday, my first full field day, was the second longest day of my life). We only have about 2 or 3 full field days a transfer. There are 8 companionships that work in the VC and we are split into groups of 4, so for this first 6 weeks I will mostly be working with the same 3 companionships. Our shift changes everyday, so we don't always work in the evening or morning, etc. I like that because it keeps things changing. Also, we talk to more people in the afternoons and evenings, so they try to give all the companionships at least 3 nights a week in their area. Our p-day will also change every week, but is almost always on a Monday or Tuesday. I can't remember what day it is next week... More about what we do at the VC: We have different posts every hour. Some days there is hardly anyone there, and some days (like last Saturday) we have more than a thousand people come through. They said that during the Christmas season we have thousands of people go through just in the evenings. There are lots of presentations and aspects of the VC and to space it out, I'll only talk about a few each email. We will start of with my favorite exhibit, the Book of Mormon table. We have a table with the Book of Mormon in 83 languages (easy to see why it is my favorite, right?) And really, there are languages I have never heard of, which is saying a lot since we learn about even crazy dying languages in Linguistics. I will have to send a list of the languages some time so that my family can do some research and tell me where all of them are spoken. There is a sister from Brazil at the VC at the same time as we are, so between her and the Portuguese Book of Mormon maybe I can pick up some Portuguese while I'm out. All of the sisters are a lot of fun to be with, and being at the VC sometimes it is like I have 6 trainers instead of one. We are actually going to lunch with another companionship right after this, another trainer and a sister that came in with me.

Wow, time flies, I have already been typing for 50 minutes. We only have an hour to write, because we are at the library and there is a line of people waiting for computers. Some important info for communication with me: Just keep using the mission office as my address - 6265 N 82nd St. Scottsdale, AZ 85250. They can forward the mail and always know where we are living. Also, they bring mail down to the VC twice a week so we get it there. If you send any packages, again use the mission office address, and try to send them by USPS if you can. FedEX, etc. can't be forwarded, they have to wait until someone is coming to our area, so while I'm in the VC that is fine, but when I am outbound (or full field, or full pros, or whatever you what to call it) then it might take a while. Oh! one more experience and then I'm out.

We are teaching a woman named Mirna, and she was actually the first lesson I taught. We asked her if she had been praying and she said yes, but that she wasn't sure if she was getting an answer, because she didn't feel any different when she prayed. Then at 3:30 Saturday morning we got a call from her saying that her "husband" had been in a car accident and was in intensive care. We prayed with her on the phone, then as a companionship, then individually (we do a lot of praying on missions...) When we woke up again on Saturday we got permission from our President to go to the hospital (it is in Phoenix, and either on the edge of our mission or across the street out of it). We had to work in the VC in the morning, but we called the Branch Pres and he took two other brothers and went and gave Aliseo a blessing. Then we went about 2:30. We still aren't quite sure what happened, but something in the car exploded (we don't know if he was in it or in front of it looking under the hood) and his body was burned from the waist up. When we got to the hospital he was sleeping but when he woke up he seemed like his spirit was still strong. By the time we had gotten there he was able to drink by himself, and they had taken all tubes out of his throat and nose. His 2 year old son called while we were there and he tried really hard to be able to talk to him. Also, Mirna had brought her Book of Mormon to read to him (he hadn't really been interested before). She asked for us to show her a part she could read to him later, but he wanted her to read it right then, so we read a chapter with them and then left them with a prayer. She called us on Sunday to tell us that he can now eat by himself. Then we ran into her yesterday and she said they had taken off all but one of his bandages and that his task for yesterday was to walk. And this is all in just 4 days! It really is a miracle. we are hoping that this will help her progress more. She has already exercised faith when she called us and asked us to pray and reading the Book of Mormon with him. He had to have surgery (today I think) on his hand for skin graft, and so the doctors say that he will be in the hospital another 4 months for therapy, but we are praying that at least he will be able to be transfered to a hospital closer, especially because Mirna is thinking of moving out there during those 4 months and that is way out of our area. If she does move then we will just pray that the missionaries out there will be able to keep teaching her and continue helping her progress. I love seeing the Lord's hand in this work!

De MESA con amor!
Hermana Ladd

MESA and 110° weather, here comes Brynn!

2009-08-25T11:39:00.002-07:00

Update from Brynn's mom - we got to talk this morning as she was at the airport in SLC waiting for her flight to Mesa. She was soooo looking forward to the 110° expected later this week. She got to see her sister, Kylie, before going through security. Her Dad was flying home from UT today, so he got to go with her to the gate and stay with her until she left.

There were a ton of missionaries going to Phoenix with her - at least 12 of whom were going to her mission. There are 18 sister missionaries in her mission, but not all are called as Visitor Center missionaries. And of the VC sisters, it is split between English and Spanish speaking. Anyway, you can e-mail her at brynn.e.ladd.AMM@myldsmail.net, or send her letters at the office address on the side bar.

I'll post again as soon as I get an e-mail from Mesa!

Love you all!!

2009-08-22T20:13:00.002-07:00

I don't have much time today. Well it seems like it is like that every week, and 10 minutes of my email time has already passed with reading emails. So I will focus on how crazy this week has been!

Visitors' Center (VC) training started on Wednesday. There are 5 of us in the district, all going to Mesa on Tuesday. 2 are English speaking and 3 of us are Spanish. We all get along so well, I am really looking forward to meeting all the sisters in Mesa. Besides my comp the other Spanish sister is from Washington, but her parents are Mexican. The 2 English sisters are from Alpine, Utah and Acworth, GA. It is fun having another Georgian, and one of our teachers is from Marietta, so that makes up half of us!

The VC training is really intense. Wednesday was like another first day at the MTC. We had some hardcore Referral Center training. We found out that we spend about 6 hours a day at the VC and 2 of those hours are spent on the phone calling potential referrals that we have gotten. That was news to all of us. Whoever said that a Visitors' Center is not a real mission and is really easy needs to go through the training we have. Regular missionaries really get to know their investigators one on one and can sit down with them to find out their concerns. We have about 5 minutes to find out the concerns for groups of up to 30 people sometimes. We have to get to know them, find out their background, their questions, and then make a "lesson" plan right then, based on what we learn. It is kind of intimidating, but at the same time exhilarating. The sister who trained us in the phone program said that the Lord requires a great amount of faith from His VC sisters, because most of the time we won't ever see the fruits of our labors. We see these people in the VC for about 30 minutes, and then they go home. If they were in tune with the Spirit, they will give us their information, and then we will send other missionaries to go teach them. We have to trust the Lord and other missionaries enough to leave these people in their hands. I know that this is one of the big reasons I must have been called to serve in a VC. Having the trust to do that has been a struggle I have had while here and the person that the Lord wants me to be is someone with great faith, hope and humility, so he has given me this call to be able to develop those attributes. I am so thankful for that.

I am so excited for Tuesday! I have already packed up half my clothes, because we have hardly any time on Monday to pack and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication is on Sunday when we would normal pack. Last night we had our first VC TRC. We set up a VC with pictures in a room in the MTC and took people on tours. Oh! Sorry, this is going to be a scattered email... We have so many resources as a VC sister! There is a room next to our class room that has some electronic kiosks about the temples and families, etc that they have in VCs. There is a big screen TV where we can watch some of the exhibits that VCs have, like the Christus. We even have a huge cardboard Christus cutout. I will take pictures and send them home.

Anyways, tomorrow is Temple Square day! I can't wait. We are going to be put with a companion there and will follow her schedule from 4-8 in the afternoon. Oh, and tonight, we go around the MTC collecting real referrals from the missionaries here. We then call these people tomorrow morning and invite them to be taught by the missionaries! We are already starting real missionary work! There is so much more to talk about and learn about, I'm sure we will learn more our first day in the field than we have in 9 weeks. I will have to try and write a longer email then and tell all about it!

I love you all and am sorry if my emails are scattered! Speaking of scattered, the little miracle from God today was that we found a Russian vocab, phrase and grammar book in one of the give-away boxes, so now I have a Russian PMG and the MTC language book that goes with it. But don't worry, Spanish is of course my focus, I am just grateful for the gospel oriented opportunity to keep up my Russian.

De Provo con amor,
Hermana Ladd

Hola (again)

2009-08-16T17:47:00.002-07:00

Two more weeks from yesterday! And I know that they are going to go by really fast, because in a week our elders will have left and we will start our Visitors' Center training. That consists of lots of class, lots of tour memorizing, and a secret VC room with pictures where we practice giving tours. It is going to be a ton of fun. Oh, and plus the afternoon up in Salt Lake! I think that we have met all of the sister's going to the Mesa Visitors' Center with us. There is Hna. Cochran and I, Hna. Guzman, who is from Washington but her parents are Mexican so she already speaks Spanish, Sis. Fonbuena, who is from Cedar Hills Utah, and Sis. Collier, who is from the Cartersville stake in Atlanta (I think that is her name, so if anyone knows any Colliers in the Cartersville stake). We get our flight plans tomorrow so we will know exactly when we leave, but the estimated date is the 25th.

A lot of fun stuff happened this last week. First of all, I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. Every week we are given a topic for a talk and then they call on 2 missionaries to speak at the beginning of Sacrament meeting. All in Spanish of course (but that really isn't a problem since I got my first Spanish talk out of the way before I left). Anyway, the week I spoke it was on the Great Apostasy. I wrote about half of the talk and then decided that if I was called on I would just testify for the rest. As soon as I decided not to finish writing my talk I knew for the rest of the morning that I would be called on. At least it was no suprise when they did call on me. It went really well and I am starting to get to the point where I don't have to write everything that I say down, and can improvise in Spanish, which is going to be a super important skill in about 2 weeks!

The other cool thing that happened last week is that we did Spanish calls in the Referral Center for the first time. It was awesome! I was terrified, but I think I talked to more people in Spanish in 1.5 hours than in all my weeks of calling English speakers. And 2 of the people that I spoke with accepted a visit from the missionaries with a Book of Mormon! Most of the people were extremely patient with my Spanish. It is so much harder to understand on the phone than it is in person. But all accept one were really kind. Our teachers tell us that that really is characteristic of almost all hispanics. I can't wait to teach them! One thing that I have learned in the Referral Center is how hard it is to have your personal testimony rejected. It is definitely a faith-trying experience. But I have learned that in missionary work (which is the Lord's work 100%) as long as the missionaries are obedient and share their testimony, than if it is rejected it is only because of the agency of the other person. Still, everytime it happens, it is really difficult, because as a missionary I learn more and more everyday how vital this message is to the world and it makes me sad when they don't want to accept it. I think that this will be something that is especially difficult my whole mission, not taking every rejection and every insult personally.

However, on a much brighter side, the Lord provides so much help and support for us. While I was in the temple today and every Wednesday, I am always reminded of how many prayers there are for the missionaries. Everyday multiple times a day in every temple people are praying for us. All of the General Authorities pray for us, everyday. Mission presidents, everyday. Families, everyday. Friends, everyday. As a missionary I pray for all the other missionaries, everyday. And even when we are in the TRC, teaching volunteers, they always pray for us as well. There are more prayers for missionaries around the world (and I'm sure in heaven too) everyday than could possibly be counted. Everytime I hear someone pray for the missionaries I remember that I am included in that and it gives me so much comfort. Every prayer is appreciated, and more important, every prayer is needed. So the point is thank you all so much for your prayers. I know what it means now when people say "we can feel your prayers for us" because I certainly can. And just know that I am praying for all of you too!

De Provo con amor,

Hermana Ladd