So little time!

Wow, sorry I have so little time this week, we'll see if I have time to write anything! :/ Hmm, this week has been up and down, like always, right? No, I didn't find my planner, which is pretty lame, but we are onto Transfer 2 already, so it's not too big of a big deal (though I'm still bummed).

Yes, there are Spanish Elders here as well. There are four of us for the branch, which covers the entire stake/area, but we split it into 2 areas for the 4 of us. We have the north half, and they have the south. We are in the same branch though, so we work together sometimes and coordinate where we need to.

 This week has been interesting. Saturday we did a car fast, hoping to see some blessings from it, but it was mostly just a hard day. We ran into a few anti-Mormons and atheists. Man, I really don't like talking to white people. There was one guy in particular that was just harassing us and going off about sacred topics and all about the ordinances performed in the temple. Apparently we don't believe in God and are ruining people's eternal salvation...good to know. But alas, the work goes forward.

Things have been good in some areas and bad in others (regarding our investigators) but I really have almost no time, sorry! I'll just say that things didn't go as well with Alejandro as we would've liked, but they are going better than we had hoped with Fernando :) We dropped Elizabeth but picked up a few more investigators, so we'll see how things go. This transfer there will only be 5 weeks, which is pretty nerve-racking, as that means I will be no longer training in 5 weeks! Wow, this week has gone by so fast. The days just get faster and faster out here.

Mom asked about the kinds of food we eat, so …we are in a pretty diverse branch, for example we had Dominican food last night. We eat Mexican food often, as well as other varieties from central and south America.

It has been so warm this week and I've been loving it. Oh yeah, the computer was about to kick me off when it extended by 15 minutes, so that's why I'm writing this. Yesterday we were trying to find a P.I. (prospective investigator) out in the middle of wine country, it was so rad. We were driving past vineyards and orange fields and it was so beautiful, you can't even tell it's January out here :) This house was in the middle of nowhere on some crazy dirt road, miles from anywhere. It was a little sketch, but a fun adventure. And no, nothing came out of it. Oh well, we tried. Here is a picture of the valley we were driving through to get to the house.

Out in the valley

Well, I'm sorry I don't have more time. Things are going fairly well though. I love this gospel, I know our Heavenly Father loves us, and He cares for us so much. It's amazing how much of a pick-me-up the Book of Mormon is. I love the scriptures and all that they contain. They are true revelation.

Con amor,

Hermana Escalante

Buenos Dias :)

Well, this week has been up and down, but pretty good for the most part. Some fun updates: Magali and her family (including her husband) came to church and are really starting to like it. However, the Gospel Principles teacher was sick and Hermano Perez (who is one of the counselors of the branch and super awesome) taught. The only problem was that he knows so much info about the gospel that he got really caught up in little details. He was supposed to teach about the Sacrament and ended up going off about how our spirits look like our bodies, just without flesh, and how Christ had nails in His hands AND wrists, and off about the Plan of Salvation...it was intense and our investigators were confused, to say the least. We're probably going to have to go over and re-teach the Sacrament this week, so they understand what is really is. Magali's husband has agreed to start taking the lessons as well (instead of just joining in randomly when he feels like it), so we'll probably start with Lesson 1 with him this week.

We had a great lesson with María last week (Hermana Ascue, a member, came and helped us find some of her doubts and concerns), and she committed to read the BOM every day, but she still has been having some family problems and hasn't made it out to church in a few weeks. Bummer.

We set a baptismal date with Alejandro last night! Woot! It's pretty exciting, and hopefully he'll be baptized next month. Hopefully all goes well this week as we teach him about the Word of Wisdom and commit him to give up drinking...we'll see how that goes. He knows it's bad though, so hopefully all will go well. Oh, our lesson with him last night was in the church with Hermano Ascencio and we had a church tour and it was great!

We had a "pass-off lesson" with the Spanish Elders on Sunday, sort of. It wasn't really a pass-off because they were more like Potential Investigators, as opposed to Investigators. I think I mentioned them before though. They love us (because their daughter is on a mission) and they love to hear anything we have to say, but they are pretty hard-core Catholic and have no intention of changing that anytime soon (we'll see though). We had dinner with them on Sunday with the Elders, introducing them, and helping them feel comfortable with them, and then we read and shared a message on faith. Hopefully the Elders will be able to keep a good connection with them and soften their hearts a little bit ;)

We picked up a new investigator named Elizabeth who is crazy talkative. Our lessons are so long with her because she just talks so much. Her life is kind of crazy and she's going through some really hard things, so she just wants to talk to us for hours and we can't do that, sadly. The good news is though, that she's reading and interested in what we have to teach. She is so sweet!

Well, I wish I were better at Spanish and learning it faster. I'm grateful for how much I do know, but I really need to be more disciplined in language study and speaking it whenever possible. Hermana Ruíz and I usually speak in English, so I'm not learning as fast as I'd like, but that's my fault. I need to be more humble and patient with myself. It's hard though. Oh! The worst news this week! I lost my Planner! It's awful! I never realized how important that little book is and how attached to it I would be. I have more to use, but there was so much information in that little book! Ugh. I lost it last night, probably in the Moraga apartments (where Alejandro lives), so hopefully we'll have time to go look for it today.

So the Ward Mission Leaders have been in Mexico for the last 2 months (I've never met them) and finally got back in town yesterday. We're going to go meet them and have a correlation meeting with them tonight. Hopefully they will help the work move forward even more so. To be honest, the branch here is so great. Hermana Ruíz keeps telling me that I am going to be very disappointed in my next area because no where else has leaders that are so involved and members so willing to help.

Well, I think that's all for this week. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and have nothing to contribute to the work...but I'm learning and trying to work hard each day. I know this is where the Lord wants me to be. He loves us, each and every one of us, and he knows us so well. His gospel is real.

Con amor,

Hermana Escalante

Greetings from the Creepers!

Hey Mama!

Wow, fun letter this week. Ha-ha, but good to hear from you, all the same. I'm glad to hear the family is doing so well J The Bishop forwarded the Ward Bulletin to me so I got to read the missionary updates - fun stuff! I also saw the post about the Single Adult Fireside coming up, are you going? ;) I hope so! Speaking of, are you still signed up for LDS singles?  How has that been going? Any dates yet?

Sounds like you had a fun date with Kimi and Sharron to see Les Mis! Ha-ha I'm glad you enjoyed your popcorn. I'll be honest, that is the first movie I want to see when I get home. I'm so excited for it! Should be so good! But don't worry, I'm fine with waiting another...15 months. I'm sure it will be just as good then as it is now.

Wow, sounds like a fantastic testimony meeting. Ours was pretty great too. There always seems to be some underlying theme in every testimony, and ours was the temple. Sadly, only one of our investigators (Magali and her kids) was able to make it to church this week (we were hoping that 4 of them would come), but the testimony meeting was very powerful and really touched her. Her husband lost his job last week and since then has been a bit more humble and willing to listen to what we have to say. He would listen to us before, but not take it very seriously. He committed to coming to church this Sunday, but I guess he was stuck up in Perris where his parents live, without a car, so he didn't get back in time for church. Magali was pretty upset that he said he would come and he didn't, so that's good news that she cares and wants him to come so much.

Also, she and her kids stayed the whole time this week and I think her kids are really warming up to it. We went and visited her that evening and she seemed so much happier than usual! We can feel the gospel and the support of the branch lifting her spirit. We had a lesson with her last night as well with her uncle (recent convert) and Anel and Rigo (the ward mission leaders). Anel and Rigo were baptized last April and are on fire! They are so great and want to share the gospel so much! Anel and Magali are good friends and she is such a good support for her. We were talking about the Family Proclamation last night and how we can bring the Spirit into our homes. Magali was having a hard time, crying, and talking about how her kids are crazy and she doesn't feel any support form her husband. Anel helped so much with her testimony and counsel, as well as the spirit that was present and the scriptures, of course. We can tell that Magali really wants to be baptized; she just has some more steps she has to take. Hopefully we will see those blessings soon :) We are having a dinner/FHE with her family and the Piñeda family tomorrow night and are excited to help her husband warm up to the members and the gospel.

Another tender mercy: Maria has been really hard to get ahold of since Hermana Vidal (her good friend) went out of town. She has canceled on her appointments, hasn't come to church, and hasn't been very responsive. After the lesson with Magali, we had planned to see Nubia (a less -active), but I suggested we go see Maria instead. As we were visiting with her, she received some really hard news about her nephew who is bi-polar, he wants nothing to do with the family, and is alone somewhere in LA (they have no idea where). She was crying and asked us to pray for him. We shared a scripture, talked about the support of the Lord in our lives and in the lives of our families, and prayed together. Wow, what a tender mercy that we were there right as she received that news and were able to help her feel the comfort of the spirit. We are meeting with her in a few days and hopefully setting up a date for baptism J

Did I tell you about Fernando last week? Well, we're not really sure how he's doing. We're supposed to see him tomorrow, but haven't been able to get ahold of him much this week (bad sign), so we'll see how that goes. We also picked up a new investigator Alejandro who didn't seem very promising at first. However, when we arrived for our apt, he was waiting for us and was excited that we were there! He was drinking during the lesson, but was still very involved, was asking a lot of great questions, and even offered a prayer with us. We committed him to baptism and he says he will if he finds these things are true. He didn't come to church on Sunday, but we saw him last night and he has been reading and had more great questions for us! Neither of us was expecting much out of him, since he's usually drunk or drinking, but we're excited to see how things go! We love him already and are exciting to help him change his life and come closer to Christ!

 We recently received a list from Hermano Piñeda (who works in real estate) of all the houses with Latino last names out in French Valley. We spent quite a while there yesterday, tracting the list. Tracting isn't something we do all that often and man, it's tiring. It wasn't very fruitful, but we did get one return appointment for today. French Valley is very rich and the people there are not very humble, I'll tell you that. We'll see how much we get from this list, but I know that if nothing else, blessings will come from working hard.

We had interviews with President Cook this week and all went well J I'm sad that he'll be leaving in the summer - he is a great mission president. He complimented my Spanish and is very pleased with how I'm doing J It's comforting to hear things like that, as some days are pretty rough and I feel anything but confident in the work. Nevertheless, this is the Lord's work, and it will go forward J The English sisters are moving out this week, so we will be a little lonely in our apartment, but only for a little bit, as new sisters will be coming in next transfer (in 2 weeks, I believe). There are going to be so many new sisters in the next few transfers...it's going to be crazy.

Well, I better wrap this up, but I just want to share how much I love the scriptures - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the D&C, and the Pearl of Great Price - all of them, side by side. They are so amazing. I hope all of you take advantage of the words of God that we have available in our hands. They truly are amazing and they guide us so much. This work is crazy and kind of weird, but it's awesome. We feel like "creepers always creepin", but Hermana Ruiz prefers to call us "righteous stalkers" ha-ha.

I hope all is well with the family. Tell Ariana to email me! Ok, I have to go for real. LOVE YOU!!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Escalante

Happy New Year!

Hi Mama (and fam and friends)!!

I sure do love hearing from you and seeing all the darling pictures! Thanks so much :) Happy New Year! I'm glad you had a happy (calm) new years eve. I should've done yoga too! ...Darn. We actually had to be in by 7pm so that we wouldn't get hit by any drunk drivers or anything. Plus, who is going to talk to missionaries on New Years Eve? It would've been a waste of time. So yeah, Hermana Ruiz and I decided to be consecrated and skip dinner and work through until 7. We had visited our investigator (Maria - see picture 801) earlier that day and she gave us some "pozole", which is super common for a Mexican New Years Eve dinner. We ate that whilst planning and afterwards had a little "apartment party" with the English sisters. I wanted to study instead, but figured it would probably be good to not offend anyone. We had little New Years sound makers, hats, etc., drank Martinellis, and watched a little mission movie. We took some pictures and said “Happy New Year” around 9pm and called it a night. J After some extra reading I was able to get to bed a little early, which was so nice! Happy New Year to me J

With Maria and friends

Celebrate!

Happy New Year! (somewhere!!)

So yeah, that was our New Years Eve. New Years day we had Zone Training and it was awesome! President Cook was there (he's so great) and it was just a great training. President Cook came over to us Spanish missionaries during a practice (there are only 4 of us in the zone) and said "Tengo mucho esperanza para ustedes y su rama" very seriously. We are all now feeling a little intimidated and are not sure what he's expecting of us, but it's exciting that he has so much faith in us! After the training everyone was really, really, pumped. We decided to set some "accomplishment goals" for our day so we could be more effective. We had low contacts (not surprising for January) but we gave out 2 Book of Mormons and got some return appointments! It was an exciting day. I hope we can keep up the enthusiasm and work! We are probably going to be doing a blitz in the Elders’ area sometime soon to help get it going - should be fun.

We ate outside of our area last night (with permission, of course) with some members. The Elders showed up for dinner too (we didn't know they were coming) and it was a little awkward - ha-ha but still fun. Elder Herrera is from Columbia and is learning English. He's such a sweet heart. Elder Nealy is from Oklahoma and is a great kid! The poor thing has been persecuted so much by family and friends (for being Mormon), it's amazing how strong his testimony still is. It helps me be so grateful for all of the love and support that I have.

Yeah, the work has been a little slow around the holidays - people don't want to make time for us to come over, even those who are truly interested. We are really trying to focus on our investigators Maria and Magali right now. Magali came to church this week! (Finally!) Her kids didn't like it so much, so they only stayed 2 hours, plus they had to go look for a car (theirs got stolen - super sad!) but she enjoyed sacrament meeting and she was able to meet with President Morgan, as he has been trying to help them get a car. She feels a lot of love and support from the branch and hopefully she and her family will be able to come out for a Family Home Evening with the Piñeda family tonight, but we'll see.

I'm so glad that you and the fam had such a great Christmas! Are you going to send me a couple pics from the family Christmas party with the manger and everything?

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot! So we had exchanges this last weekend - what a great experience! Our mission does them once a transfer and I really love it. I went to Escondido with Hermana Schwegler. 

Hermana Schwegler

Hermanas Schwegler, Ruiz, Lythgoe, y yo!

That girl is CRAZY! But a great missionary J She really helped me out with a lot of my concerns and also pushed me a bit. We set out some goals and she helped me out with setting up better study plans. Escondido is so great! They call it the "Dirty Dido" because it's pretty ghetto and dirty, but I love it! It is a whole different ball game down there. The work is so different, but it is the Lord's work all the same. There are so many Mexicans down there, and so many members (though most are inactive). Anywhere you go you can find someone to teach. Very different than Temecula. Here everyone is rich and white and you have to work through the members and look effectively to find the Latinos. Oh, the other day we knocked a door of a black Baptist minister. He was so creepy and weird! Ha-ha, this work is fun J

Anyway, I'm almost out of time so I'll wrap it up with telling you that I love you and I hope the fam is well! Tell Ariana the bathroom looks great! And I hope M,J, & D are in Utah when I get back! That'd be so fun! I love you! I love how much revelation is found through the Book of Mormon and how it truly is the word of God. This is God's work and it truly is directed by Him.

I hope everyone has a super fantastic 2013 and that all of you may come closer to Christ through out it. Les quiero mucho! Feliz Año Nuevo!

Con amor,

Hermana Escalante

PS - a couple more pics from the MTC

The gang

Off we go!