Have you all “liked” the Mesa Temple Vc on facebook? Yeah, we have a facebook. I’ve never seen it, but that’s what I’m told.
LUIS GOT BAPTIZED! Everything was crazy as usual. Our ward mission leader’s wife had to go to the hospital that day so he wasn’t able to do the programs. I threw a huge temper tantrum a few days before because he had been trying to keep me from doing anything in the baptism, and I was not having that. Seriously, I’ve been teaching Luis forever, I wanted to be a part of the baptism. Anyways, I ended up speaking, and most of the people there were our investigators which was awesome, but kind of stressful because you have to make sure someone is always talking to them and they don’t feel awkward. Carmen was so excited when he went in the water she gasped, and the whole thing was super sweet. He also received the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday after church. 🙂 When he received the Holy Ghost and when he got the priesthood they talked in his blessing a lot about mission work.
Carmen’s kids also came back from their trip with their dad, and they both want to get baptized so badly. Jason prayed during our lesson last night that his dad would say yes when he asks. They’re so awesome. I really hope their dad lets them soon. They both love the book of Mormon, and have awesome testimonies.
I think all my baptisms in Valencia are going to be from the same family…
And we had a mission tour this week. Elder Aidukaitis came to speak with us. He also brought his brother with him. It was really nice, because to be honest, you just hear the same three talks at every meeting you go to on the mission, but at this meeting I learned totally new things. It made me super excited. Everyone was kind of stressed out because he told us we’re horrible at planning and that we’ve been doing it all wrong, and to be honest no one really understood how he wants us to plan, but luckily we had our temple trip today, and now I get it.
Anywho, it’s been another one of those weeks with a half and half pday. Yesterday I bought a flower pot for my house plant, Jesusote, and painted it. He got too big for the one he came in, and I moved him to a new one but then quickly realized that it didn’t have a hole to let the extra water drain out of. So, I finally got him a big new home that won’t make his roots mold.
I’m out of stamps so, I probably won’t send any letters this week, but know I still love you. I bought Rebekah a picture of Mary that’s super pretty so, hopefully I’ll get around to sending that soon.
And next week I should have some news on transfers. DUN dun DUN!
Love you,
Rachel
Questions:
Insults aside, how is your Spanish? Is it still improving, or have you reached a plateau? Are you reading your scriptures in Spanish? If you read everyday in the Book of Mormon in Spanish, I bet you will be surprised how much it helps.
Yeah, I’ve kind of plateaued where I don’t learn new words very often. I’ve never really felt any differently about my accent, but a few weeks ago Carmen told me I’m much easier to understand then when I first came to Valencia. So, hopefully that means I’m progressing.
I actually studied with a lady in the branch the other day, because I was really nervous about speaking in Luis’ baptism. I felt like I was in first grade, “now, what were you trying to say here?” But a lot of it was just me having poor story telling skills because I couldn’t communicate what I wanted to say very well in English either, but she helped me out a lot. She’s the branch president’s wife. She’s from Argentina.
How are the head aches? Have the sunglasses helped at all?
I think they’ve helped. This week hasn’t been as bad headache wise anyways.
About how many people attend your branch each week?
I really don’t know… enough to make it look full, but not enough that we’ve ever had to use the overflow.
Tell us a little bit about your companion, Hna. Schwartz. Where is she from? How big is her family? What does she want to do with her life? etc. etc.
Hna Schwartz is from Atlanta Georgia. She has one little brother (he’s 20). Before her mission she was working as a BYU traffic cop, and studying Anthropology and Business. She wants to work in social entrepreneurship.