Hermana Escalante: Happy (day after) Veterans' Day

Hi Mom and Everyone!

Thought I'd send all the pictures first, to get that out of the way, but that may mean that I don't have much time for writing. Sorry! Nothing new there though, right? First off, love the pictures! Between you and Susan and Papi, I had loads of pictures of Wes and fam! It's great! What a good-lookin' brother I have! Do you know if he got the card I sent? I hope it got there and that I had the right address. Let me know.

I'm so sad to hear about Elaina. Is that a common sickness with kids? I hope all went well with the drive back and that there was no more snow to slow you down. Do you have snow sticking yet in Orem? We usually have to turn the AC on during the day because it gets too hot.... so we can't complain ;)

No, I haven't heard from Ariana yet, but I did get a surprise call from the Assistants asking if I knew an Ariana Escalante. I guess she tried to drop off a box but no one was there so they found it outside the door of the office. It didn't have my name on it, just hers, but there are no other Escalante's in the mission, so they figured it was for me. I'm not sure what it is yet, because they haven't sent out mail yet for the week, but I did email Ariana today telling her thanks in advance. Sure do miss hearing from her, but I'll get to talk to her in a month and a half, so I guess I can be patient.

Well, the first week of transfers has been good and busy. The best news of all? ... (Drum roll).... Don picked his baptismal date and is getting baptized Thanksgiving weekend! Yay! He's so great! Really though. He is the most solid person I have ever taught and isn't shaken by anything. He has had a couple of rough patches with the Joseph Smith history he has researched, as well as polygamy, and he gets a little concerned when it comes to eternal families due to his divorce, but he finds peace in the Gospel, knows it is true, and his prayers and concerns are answered when he diligently studies and prays. He's so great!

Speaking of studying, I have become a little obsessed with "Jesus the Christ" lately, but it is so deep that it takes me so much time just to get through one page (as I mark and look up references and look up extravagant words in the dictionary and take notes), but it's so good! Just FYI.

Well, I forgot my planner at home, and this far into the mission, everything sort of starts to blur together, so I can't really remember what has happened this week. We have been finding a lot of new investigators lately, so now the trick is to get them to progress. The most challenging issues we have had as of late is working with a part-member couple who are pretty much my age (23 yrs. old), but with kids, who are trying to live off the government and the church as well. It is a hard situation because they are sweet people whom we want to teach, but they expect the church to support this ridiculously selfish and lazy lifestyle. As of this point, we are willing to meet with them if they would like (but we are not pushing for appointments anymore) and are counseling with the Bishop on the next steps to take with them. It is a sad situation, but there is only so much we can do for them.

We have a lot of training's and conferences coming up this transfer, so that is exciting. One of them will be with Elder Allan F. Packer of the Seventy and for part of our preparation we have been asked to fill out the new "My Family Stories That Bring Us Together" booklet (found on LDS.org) so I have asked Grandma to send me some more info on that, though I have most of it from the Family History Story book they made and with Familysearch.org.

Speaking of Grandma and Grandpa.... Happy Veteran's Day Grandpa! Love you so much and thank you for all that you do!!

Oh, we have a zone breakfast the first Saturday of every transfer with the stake presidency (which is where a lot of the pictures are from) so it's fun to see everyone and get some additional training, but the sad part is that everyone has to introduce themselves and say how long they have been in Temecula. I had the record, of course, with this being my 6th transfer in total. The stake presidency knows me real well. So that means, that by the end of this transfer, I will have been here about 9 months...half of my mission. Ridiculous, no? It's great though...and I know, I know. Wes was in one area for 14 months, so I have nothing to complain about. But I'm not complaining really, I do love Temecula. Though I'll be excited to go to a new area and back to Spanish work soon. I'm so glad I'm here right now though. I know we are here to help Don especially, as well as some less-actives that we have found. I really do love these people and I love this work and I love the Gospel.

I had some great scripture I wanted to share with you, but like I said, I left my planner at home on accident, and that's where I had it written down.

Oh yeah, No dentist yet. I guess I'm supposed to go to a member, so I'm going to the Dentist in our ward but he was booked clear until the end of November, just for a checkup, so I should be going in 2 weeks and then I'll let you know. I know for sure I have at least 3 cavities though. Gross I know. Sorry mom! I eat too much candy L the members give us way too many sweets. I think I have 2 brownies, candy, and a cupcake alone on my desk at home right now. The good news is though that we work out hard, so don't worry, I'm not getting chubby, in fact, I'm getting into pretty great shape. It's great!

Well, I'm completely out of time. Life is good. I love and miss you tons. The Gospel is true.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hermana Alyssa Nicole Escalante