Hermana Escalante

Hi Everyone!

Jaja, sorry for being late. We had a District activity this morning and it went over and then we missed our email time at the library (you have to make a reservation here) so we have just been all over the place and we haven't even eaten yet so I am pretty hungry! We played a board game for District activity though, called "Life". Like the cereal? It was pretty fun. I never played it before but I definitely won, so that's what is important, right? Just kidding ;)

District activity today. I totally won! J

Thanks for the pictures! I love them all! I wish I could print them off but the Library has a weird lock and it wont let me print picture. Pretty lame. Oh well. I still enjoy them and they are all precious.

Thanks for sending part of Chrisser's email! He's so great! He comes home pretty soon though, huh? Is he an AP? I love reading his emails and seeing his Spanish-warped English grammar. It's great. Sadly, I speak too much English throughout the day to get to that point with my English, but I can definitely understand why he said, "assist church" instead of attend and "for much time" instead of something like "for awhile" – ha-ha I love it! That's exciting about their baptism with Luis! I think it's pretty interesting that the baptismal service was so small! The ward is definitely more involved with the baptisms here, and we've never had one with so few people, but I'm sure that's just a difference with being stateside and foreign.

Our Luis is doing great as well! He is overly excited about his baptism next month (on the 17th) and we may even bump up his date if he is ready. He comes to church every week, is reading and praying every day, and just can't be more excited about the gospel! It's pretty great. We just have to work with his girlfriend a little more and make sure everything will be okay with the Law of Chastity. Oh, it's so fun being a missionary ;)

We had Intercambios this week with the STL's and it was pretty great. I was a little bummed to not be going with Hermana Schwegler, but I'm sure she's doing great up in English work! Hermana Bennett and I actually hit a little bump and I was very humbled the day before we had intercambios, so it actually turned about to be good timing and I learned a lot.

Spanish Hermanas - Trainers and Trainees at the Follow-up Trainers meeting

Hermanas Whicker, Bennett, Lythgoe, y yo. Aren't we just cute? ;)

Hermana Bennett and I are still doing great. No worries. She is from Alberta area, I believe. A small town above Montana. She comes from a family of 6 kids and is the 4th to go on the mission. She just turned 19 in May and came on a mission as soon as possible. We are both pretty different in our missionary style and personalities, but it's a good different and we balance each other out pretty well.

Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies. In the mission, and just on email time! Oh yeah, during intercambios we had a fun little miracle. We were teaching (Hermana Lythgoe and I - while Hermana Bennett was in Vista with Hermana Whicker) our investigator Gabriel, and right as we were about to say the opening prayer, a man walked up his driveway. I didn't recognize him, so I just assumed he was a friend or also lived there, but then I realized it was Hermano Reyes! (a member in our ward. J) Apparently he and Gabriel have been friends for 30 something years and we had no idea they even knew each other! Well, Hermano Reyes joined us for the lesson and even offered the opening prayer. It was great. We also had a great lesson with Cristian and had a fun ward activity for our investigators and recent converts. We had Mauricio, Alfredo, Maria y Conchita, Luis, and the Gonzalez family all come. It was a hit!

So, I still don't really understand who Becca and Todd are. Have I met them? I hope Benson had a beautiful blessing and Vanessa had a wonderful birthday! I love them both tons! Wish Wesley a happy birthday for me this week and tell him sorry I didn't get him anything! Next year though, for sure!

Well, I'm already out of time - bummer! But things have been good over all. Just trying to keep up! It's hard being in such a busy area. I am trying to get everything done AND train a new missionary on top of that who doesn't really speak the language. It's great fun. She's doing well though and is able to help me more and more every day in the work. I wish I could tell you everything about everyone, but I'm out of time again. I love you all very much, and I look forward to your emails next week!

Con muchisimo amor,

Hermana Alyssa Nicole Escalante