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
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
2/16/2010
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
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
Monday, February 8, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day
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
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
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
En el prado...
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
Hope you have a great first week of February!
Desde Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
If you can't tell....
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
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
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy MLK day!
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
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
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