Time is flying!

Hola Everyone!

Okay, sorry if this is a little shorter than normal. I had a few more people to write back to today (including my baby sister - yay! She wrote me, por fin!), and also, the Internet just deleted the email I started writing you a few minutes ago. I really struggle with this library...but I'm glad to hear you got a few pictures last week.
Well, where to start…

 School - if I get on the UVU website, am I able to sign up for classes yet, or is that after I'm accepted? Honestly, I would rather wait until I get home to do the interview, if that's possible. I have enough things to keep me busy here.

This will be a very busy transfer. We have ZTM on Wednesday and it looks like instead of doing the training with the Zone Leaders (like last time), they'll probably do a training and then I'll do a training on my own. Fun stuff. As an STL, it's different than zones and areas, because we are an STL no matter where we go and are assigned to companionships, more than areas. So right now, I am over the other Murrieta sisters (there are only 4 of us in the Zone), as well as 2 other companionships over in Temecula, though I am not over Sister Johnson and Sister Taupau, sadly. Sister Fluckiger covers them, as well as the sisters in Fallbrook.

So right now I have 6 exchanges to go on in 3 weeks, as well as the ZTM, Zone Conference, and temple trips. It should be great fun, oh and we'll probably be in charge of the training in the District Meeting in one of the upcoming weeks. It's crazy, but it keeps me busy and focused, which is what I need. It's been a good week with Hermana Painter, so I think it will be a good transfer.

Jose Luis did great in his baptismal interview on Sunday, so he will be getting baptized this Saturday, and then we will have the branch Valentine's day Party that evening as well. Should be fun!

We are really working on finding new investigators, though we have a few,
we are needing to find more, and more people who are really open. Claudia and her Andrew would be baptized in a heart beat, but her husband is against religion, so we just do what we can to help them feel the Spirit and we are trying to figure out how to help there be a change in the home. They're great though. It seems like the great investigators we are finding, we have to pass them all off to the English Elders. They are Spanish and Spanish-speakers, but grew up here in the States so they feel more comfortable in English. Bummer - but oh well.

Wow, I'm almost out of time! Sounds like no fun with popped tires and delayed flights, but I'm glad to hear that the fam is doing well for the most part! I am proud of you for writing in your journal mama! I used to be very good about that at the beginning of my mission, and then it just turned into a sort of scrapbook, taping things into it and putting random notes on sticky notes, but lately I have been trying to be better about it. It is hard though to find the time. If I'm not filling out teaching records or making calls, I'm probably planning for exchanges or doing extra studies, so writing in my journal is hard sometimes, but I know I won't regret it in the long run, and I know you won't either.

Oh, funny story real quick! Sister Fluckiger and I were carpooling up to Vista together for the Mission Leadership Counsel, and we planned everything perfect for Hermana Painter and Sister Flint (brand new missionary, she'd been out for about 2 days), but then they called us as we were half way to Vista and they realized that the apartment key was still on the keychain that we had! We didn't have time to go back and be on time to our meeting, so they went to French Valley to the Sister's apartment, but it took them about an hour to find because the new sister still didn't know the area and their gps wasn't reading the address correctly. Poor things. It worked out, but Hermana Painter left all her things in our apartment (thinking that she would be coming back to them in just a few minutes after we exchanged in Temecula), and was then left with nothing but her water bottle to get her through half the day. Not her scriptures, nor planning, nothing! But she survived.
She's a trooper!

Well, sounds like work and everything is going great! Sorry I don't have
much more time. I gotta go but I love you so much!!!

Con amor,
Hermana Alyssa Nicole Escalante