Transfer 11 starts today . . .

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

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

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

Tuesday Sept. 28th

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

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?

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