"I seem to get picked for everything" 12-15-2010

Hola Familia!

 

      Thanks for forwarding the pictures from Barry and Ben its fun to see those. So I went to my first zone conference yesterday, it was combined with another zone so I got to see my old MTC companion which was fun. The mission president talked to us for a little bit about Christ and went over scriptures that prophesied about him in the old testament and scriptures from the new testament about those who accepted him and those who rejected him. It was really interesting. The first one we read was Isaiah 9:6 (I think) which is included in Handel's (?) "Messiah" so the song was going through my head the whole time we were talking about it because we listened to a few of the songs on the way. After that we split up into our zone's and talked about church attendance and finding people to teach. Before they told us all we needed to prepare a five minute talk on "the wonder of Christ" and they would call on a few people randomly to speak. So that's what we did after lunch and of course, becausee I seem to get picked for everything since coming on my mission, I was the first one. Good thing I remembered to write it...haha but I think it went well. Oh and at the end they gave us all our packages and some extra goodies that they had collected for us. So I got the Christmas package! I'm excited to open them on Christmas.

 

      So it is still cold here, but I had no idea they closed the airport or that there were blizzard warnings. hmm, the weather hasn't seemed that stormy at least where I am. Though it got down to a low of 6 degrees during the day a few days ago. It was weird because the river across from our apartment was steaming like a hot tub...though I am pretty sure that water is NOT warm. Mainly because of the ice chunks floating down it. I think it's probably going to freeze all the way before too long.

 

      So I don't know how it happened but there were too days this week where we had two dinner/lunch appointments within two hours of each other. ugh. I'm not looking forward to this friday when somehow we ended up with appointments for breakfast at 9, lunch at 12, dinner at 4, and Dinner #2 at 6. It wouldn't be so bad except people usually serve us and the plate is usually so loaded with food (including usually an enormous helping of meat) that I can barely finish but I do anyways because I don't want to offend them.

 

      Oh transfers are coming up in a week so don't send anything directly to my apartment probably Friday through Wednesday until I can let you know next week if I'm still in the same place. I don't think I'm getting transferred but you never really know. I'll find out tuesday morning. Just send anything to the mission office address and they'll forward it. This week I read a really good talk that the mission president gave us by Gordon B. Hinckley. I forgot to write the name down but I think its "Feed My Sheep" or something along those lines. It was given in 1999 and talks a lot about missionary work and how the members can really have a huge impact. You guys should look it up if you can find it. Its really long but good.

 

      We do have some investigators who are progressing, but only very slowly. Usually because they are "too busy" or because they just lack religious motivation in general. Also people always miss appointments, and rarely let us know before. It's a little bit frustrating sometimes. The Brazilian family we are teaching is probably progressing the most, though they also happen to be the most busy. Antonio (the Dad) works almost every day all day at a restaurant in Chicago, and Angelica (the mom) just got a restaurant job too. So they don't have much time for us to teach them and they are both the busiest on sundays because sunday happens to be the busiest day in the restaurant business apparently. We had a really good lesson a few days ago where we talked about the Plan of Salvation. We found 6 new people to teach this week which is really good. Now we just hope they don't "disappear off the face of the earth", which they tend to do here. We just have to keep trying. I think it's particularly hard in this time of year because a lot of Hispanic men work plowing snow which means they never really know when they are going to be working. We have one investigator with a baptismal date, Humberto, I think it's probably the third time in 2 years that he's set one. He really wants to get baptized, he just can't quit smoking. So we're hoping that this time he'll be able to do it. He set it for his birthday in March to help motivate him.

 

Well thats all for this week! I hope everyone's having a great time getting ready for Christmas! 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Kristen West

"Getting Pretty Cold" 12-8-2010

Hola familia!

 

      This week has been pretty good. Its getting pretty cold though, which I don't like. It's been about 19-21 degrees during the day. It makes knocking even less desirable and I think it also makes it harder for me to speak Spanish. haha. I've had a little cold this week too, but It hasn't really been bothering me much during the day, only in the morning. On friday of this week I went on exchanges with another greenie so our trainers could go to some leadership training meeting. So I worked in Bloomingdale (English) with Sister Parker. Our first appointment was with a new member named Jack and we were going to teach him at the church, he didn't end up making it, but I started talking with the sister from the ward there who came with us for the appointment. She was asking where I was from and she said she had a son serving in that mission. At that point I remembered that she said her name was sister Davidson and was like "Oh I think I know him!". Yup. The same Elder Davidson who served in the ward back home all summer. It was really funny, and random. The one day I work in the English program I meet his Mom. haha. I also walked over and saw his missionary plaque on the wall. So that was cool. The rest of the day wasn't overly exciting. I'm discovering that white people are generally less friendly when you're knocking....

 

      I have discovered my new favorite holiday drink. It's called "ponche" and I'm still not sure exactly what it is but it tastes like Christmas. It's kind of like apple cider, only red and made by boiling various fruits and spices together. I've had it twice and the first time though I was a little bit uncertain because it had mysterious chunks floating in it and the lady gave us a plate and told us it was for the parts that weren't edible. So I spent the rest of the time trying to figure out exactly what was edible and what wasn't because I didn't recognize anything that was in it. One of them was sugar cane I'm pretty sure. It tasted really good though.

 

      The branch president and his wife (Pres. and Sis. Urrutia) are from Guatemala and when I told Sister Urrutia that my brother was serving in Guatemala she got really excited and said she had "connections" haha. So we'll see what happens there. Today I think we're going to go bowling with our district so that'll be fun. Oh Happy Birthday Mom coming up this week! And thanks Grandma for the Christmas package I got it yesterday! Sorry I'm running out of time but I did upload some pictures!

 

love,

 

Hermana West

 

 

"Because God Helps You" 12-1-2010

Hola familia!

 

      It's snowing right now! Just a little bit. That's pretty cool that it snowed there in WA too! Too bad school was canceled though I know everyone was probably really devastated. This week I decided that I don't really like it being cold. Especially the fact that it's going to get even colder. The wind makes it all worse it's like it undermines any effort you take to stay warm by finding a way to seep through your clothes anyway. Also after a lesson this someone gave us Popsicles which we didn't really feel like eating. We had another appointment so we just left them outside the car and they were still frozen when we got back. Yup. this week has been around 28-32 degrees. Hna. Gailey was sick this week so we we had to stay in more than usual and we didn't get as much done. She's getting better now though. Thanksgiving was good, we did end up having more of a traditional dinner with trukey and everything, it was good. The elders in the same ward as us were there too. Afterwards we played a little bit of Wii sports so that was fun (my mission president is ok with wii sports don't worry haha). I'm glad Thanksgiving was fun back in Lake Stevens!  and I hope Kevin's teaching went well =D.

 

      Some things that I've learned about food this week: 1. I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy food. One lady who fed us gave us each a plate full of tacos with this spicy hot green salsa all over it. I thought my tongue was going to burn off. She asked me if it was too spicy and with watering eyes I said "only a little bit" trying not to let the steam come out of my ears. It was really good though. Hna. Gailey was completely fine though...I need to build up more of a tolerance. 2. People like to give us a LOT of food when they serve us. I always end up too full. 3. Pop tastes really weird after you've had something spicy. 4. I really like Mexican food.

 

      On Sunday we taught someone new the first lesson, he seemed really receptive and interested. So much so that he asked us how he could join the Church and pretty much set the return appointment for us. Neither of us were expecting that. We had to explain to him that baptism is a serious decision and he needed to be really sure first. So we asked him to read and pray. He said he would. We also invited him to come to church. So we'll see what happens.

 

      Yesterday we taught this one lady and her kids about the importance of prayer. Her son who's only about 6 or 7 was in the kitchen making himself some food and a little bit later came and sat on the couch on the other side of the room. I wasn't sure if he was listening or not, but when Hna. Gailey was asking why it's important to pray we hear this little voice coming from over there saying "porque Dios te ayuda" (because God helps you). It was so cute! He then went on to say that sometimes at school it's hard for him to speak English but God helps him. Later on through the lesson he grabbed a chair to come sit closer. His older sister (about 9) was also getting pretty involved in the lesson. Little kids can really have a lot of faith.

 

      I got the package of warm stuff you sent, thanks! also thanks for the early christmas gift I think it's really going to come in handy on my mission because the areas are so big! I was just thinking earlier this week how lost I would get if my companion (who's been here about 7 months) got transferred. Driving around this week we're starting to notice more and more Christmas lights which makes everything look more cheerful. It seems to happen only by street though, so some streets have a lot and some streets have none. the sociologist in me is thinking It probably has a lot to do with neighbor competition; "oh the Jones' are putting their lights up we can't let everyone think that they have more christmas spirit than we do!". So once one person puts lights up everyone else does too. Oh, I met Sister Morgan's parents at church on sunday! I was wondering if they were in this area because I remembered hearing the name of the town Elgin. So that was cool.

 

Well everyone I hope everything continues to go great for you! Thanks for all your support, letters, and everything you do for me I really appreciate it!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Kristen West