Happy New Year!

My dear wonderful family!

I love you tons. It was sooo good to talk to you (and see your faces) on Tuesday! And don't worry, I didn't cry afterwards. :) I was very happy and grateful for my wonderful family. After we left Bishop's house, we went to the G family, who had invited us for dinner. We watched the Joy to the World video while we were waiting for the food to be done, which was never actually done...at least not before we had to be back in our apartment. They ate pretty late, but we had to be back in apartment at 9. Which actually was probably a good thing, because I wasn't super hungry and was worried about having to eat a bunch of food!

Christmas Day was definitely very different from past Christmases. Though I still built my LEGO set in the morning, which was great fun. Maybe my companion thinks I'm crazy. :P And then we didn't do much most of the day. We didn't end up having a zone activity, so we just stayed in our apartment until 5. We just kinda hung out, Hermana Mendoza made some delicious pasta, we took naps. haha but then we got to work in the evening. We visited a few people, investigators and members. A few even gave us little Christmas presents. :) I didn't end up eating any tamales though. Maybe next year!

 

Sounds like you had a super fun Christmas with the Hermanas! 

 

During our weekly planning session this week we were going through our area book and came across a less active family and at the top it said "Only speak English." We called them up and visited them. They are the J. family, a couple who say that they moved here to learn Spanish, and that it's not really working. haha but they are wonderful people. She travels a lot for work, which is usually the reason they aren't at church. It was great talking with them. We shared the message of the Restoration, and I actually had to translate in my mind from Spanish to English! It was kinda crazy. 

So, you want to know more about my first day...not much to tell. We flew into the San Diego airport, where we met President and Sister Carreon. Then we drove to the border, waited for a super long time to get passports/visas stamped and checked, then went to a stake center. After we ate dinner, we were assigned our companions, and started to go over important information, fill out forms, but then we had to leave because our ride was there, and then we went to our area! I feel like I don't know President Carreon super well, because we didn't have much time that day, but I know we'll get to know him more with time, and I know he cares about us and loves missionary work!

 

Oh, other important news: we had a baptism on Thursday! That was wonderful! J is really great and super excited. Afterwards, he told us that he felt really good. He wasn't sure if he was ready before, but afterwards he felt good and knew it was the right thing. I am very excited for him. I'll try to send pictures. 

 

Well I love you all! I can't believe 2013 is coming to end, but I am very excited to see what 2014 brings, the blessings and changes and everything. Have a great week, and a happy new year!

 

Love,

Hermana Loveland