MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

to my dearest family.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! oh my goodness I just love you all so very much! I can't wait to talk to you this Christmas! it's going to be awesome! also, so I am sending home your Christmas package, and you are going to love it! I hope... it took me forever to put together. So sorry you are getting it late. But you will live... okay, now let me just tell you a bit about our week.

 

OUR WEEK WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!

oh man I cannot even write to you all the great things that happened. So let's begin on Tuesday. We got to go to the temple with our whole mission. Oh my goodness It was the happiest thing ever! It was incredible to see all of the Spanish speaking missionaries there in the temple. over 100 of us. The spirit felt there was so strong, and it was a wonderful day. Well after the temple we weren't feeling to hot, so we spent a little bit of time in the house, so it was about 7:30, and we needed to go out and do some missionary work, and I just had this feeling we needed to visit this woman, so we finally just went out and visited her. Well she was home and she invited us in and we taught her the restoration and she really liked it and now she is a new investigator!! WOW!

 

Well Wednesday we got to visit with our investigators. And they are all doing pretty great. This one family we are teaching, the Acevez family is awesome. Okay well the kids are awesome. And I love them! The parents are definitely progressing slower... dangit. Oh we have the sweetest family in our ward, Familia Grande. She made us papusas for dinner and then gave us 2 referrals! She is super awesome! (don't worry, I learned how to make papusas! Pictures to come!)

 

Thursday we had exchanges. Oh my goodness. This exchange was just the most hilarious thing of my life. It just seemed like one thing after another kept happening. It all started that the hermanas got lost on their way to our apartment, so they were like an hour late. We started at 3. I went to Hermana Barnes Area. Well in her area we decided to be Bike hermanas for a day. WELL, that was super fun and all, but we only made it about 3 blocks before we had a flat tire. so we decided to go back, ate an early dinner, and then went out again. We contacted a lot of people, and then went and taught an investigator on his porch, and the last thing of the night, we had an hour left to contact, and Hermana barnes said "we are not going home until we have found a new investigator!" Well, that's exactly what we did! we found an old woman who let us come in and teach her. She was such a sweetheart. Well. anyways, our exchanges were awesome. Super funny. Hermana Barnes is hilarious! I love her tons!

 

Okay so one thing I learned on this exchange is how to love to contact. So the next two days we spent basically straight contacting. We knocked tons of doors and we found 5 new investigators in 2 days! I just have to share two more miracles with you. So on Saturday I was reading in old teaching records, and I found the name of this man the elders used to teach about 2 years ago. I felt really strongly that we needed to go by him. So we planned to go see a potential. Well he wasn't home, so after knocking all the neighbors doors with no success, I said to Hermana, "hey that old investigator lives like two streets over lets go visit him." So we go to find him. On our way there we find a man and start talking to him and ask him his name. He said "Soy Gonzalo." Perfect! he was the guy we were looking for! So we taught him right there, and he promised us he would pray and read and come to church! HOW AWESOME!!

 

The last miracle we saw was on Sunday, also knocking doors. We met a man named David from Argentina. He said he is very catholic, but we asked if we could share our message and he said yes. We taught him and his mother. They are the most courteous people I have ever met in my life! We finished sharing about the restoration, and invited them to read the book of Mormon. That is when they told us they already had 3 copies of the book of Mormon, and they have met with missionaries before, and have read the book of Mormon before, and once again told us they were catholic. Well cute Hermana Blacker than says, "have you prayed about the book of Mormon, to know it's true?" and David said "well no.. I guess that is something I am going to have to do." We testified to them about the truthfulness of our message, and I just hope and pray they will be able to receive a witness for themselves that it is true.

 

Well the lord loves us a lot! We found so many new people to teach, and I am so excited about that! We are working hard out here, and seeing tons of miracles! Thank you so much for all your love and prayers! I can't wait to talk to you all so very soon! Have the happiest Christmas. I am so excited to be a representative of Christ this Christmas, and to share this glad message with the world. That our Savior lives! And he loves us, and we can all be redeemed through him. I love you so much family! Merry Christmas!

 

Love Ness

New area- Trainer

Hello there my dear family! Greeting from Sunny California ;) haha I just had to say that because you are all freezing over there! I am freezing over here and it's like 50-60 degrees! Well anyways, so there have been tons of changes!! let me tell you about them.

 

So I am not in North Hollywood anymore! I got moved to Burbank 5to! and holy tolito. I tell you what we are in a classy area. We have Nickolodean Studios right by our house, Warner Brothers studios, Universal Studios (the theme park...) the LA zoo!! all the fun things are in our area! it's HUGE!!! we are in car, and we get lost quite frequently. Our first day here in the area we had a Cita with someone who lived on main street. Well in our attempt to find it (after looking at the map before we left the house) we ended up in universal Studios, no where near houses. After calling the district leader, then the zone leaders, the AP's, and then Elder Oakey who was in the area before us, we finally found our way!! haha only an hour later! (good thing we left an hour early for our cita.)

 

Well as new missionaries in an area, we have no idea what to do really. We spent a lot of time knocking doors. It's kind of a game of hit and miss to find the latino areas in our area. We have met some pretty non latino people. Like a woman who is a stylist for bands! She was cool. Or this guy Valentino who is a movie star and works with Vin Diesel. (okay actually he is latino, and his mom is a member and they are from the Dominican republic. pretty sweet!!) We did find a couple latinos! Some who were very drunk, and then we talked to a homeless guy for a while. My poor new companera, she told me, man missionary work is different from what I thought! I didn't think we would talk to so many drunk and homeless people! hahaha oh cute her! She is in for a fun little time!

 

Speaking of my new companion, I am training!! Yikes! My sweet compie is from new Mexico, and came straight from the Mexico MTC. Her name is Hermana Shantae Blacker. She is a sweetheart and so excited to work really hard. I am super excited to be able to train her. It's been pretty hard trying to whitewash an area and train at the same time! But we are learning together so that's good! anyways, so also something that is super different is there are only 4 of us missionaries here in this ward! us 2 Hermanas and 2 elders. Okay the elders are the cutest things ever. Except no not really they are the meanest!! So they are on bike and we are the nicest to them, and one day they looked the saddest ever, so we sent them a message and told them we loved them and to be happy! Well then they said "please stop wasting our time we have a lot to do..." OUCH!!! aren't they the rudest!! well okay they were just kidding and then they said they love us too, but I'm still bitter about it because they are stinky. Yeah it's definitely different just being two hermanas and two elders. instead of the 10 we had in our last ward.

 

The last and probably my favorite miracle of the week: we got a new investigator!!! So we learned a lot in zone training meeting about how to be great missionaries, and how to find the people that will receive you. One thing the hermanas challenged us to do is ask people if you can come in for 10 minutes to share a message with them. So we tried it and it worked and we made a cute little honey named Graciela and she is so sweet! That was such a tender mercy to us after working so hard in this area. I am excited for what this area has in store for us, and to be able to work with our sweet new members. I love this gospel so very much, and I love being a missionary ever single day!

 

Oh dear Family I love you lots! Try to stay warm, and cherish this Christmas season. I love you all and miss you all the days! You are always in my prayers!

Sharing Birthday loot

Hello there my dear family! Greeting from Sunny California ;) haha I just had to say that because you are all freezing over there! I am freezing over here and it's like 50-60 degrees! Well anyways, so there have been tons of changes!! let me tell you about them.

 

So I am not in North Hollywood anymore! I got moved to Burbank 5to! and holy tolito. I tell you what we are in a classy area. We have Nickolodean Studios right by our house, Warner Brothers studios, Universal Studios (the theme park...) the LA zoo!! all the fun things are in our area! it's HUGE!!! we are in car, and we get lost quite frequently. Our first day here in the area we had a Cita with someone who lived on main street. Well in our attempt to find it (after looking at the map before we left the house) we ended up in universal Studios, no where near houses. After calling the district leader, then the zone leaders, the AP's, and then Elder Oakey who was in the area before us, we finally found our way!! haha only an hour later! (good thing we left an hour early for our cita.)

 

Well as new missionaries in an area, we have no idea what to do really. We spent a lot of time knocking doors. It's kind of a game of hit and miss to find the latino areas in our area. We have met some pretty non latino people. Like a woman who is a stylist for bands! She was cool. Or this guy Valentino who is a movie star and works with Vin Diesel. (okay actually he is latino, and his mom is a member and they are from the Dominican republic. pretty sweet!!) We did find a couple latinos! Some who were very drunk, and then we talked to a homeless guy for a while. My poor new companera, she told me, man missionary work is different from what I thought! I didn't think we would talk to so many drunk and homeless people! hahaha oh cute her! She is in for a fun little time!

 

Speaking of my new companion, I am training!! Yikes! My sweet compie is from new Mexico, and came straight from the Mexico MTC. Her name is Hermana Shantae Blacker. She is a sweetheart and so excited to work really hard. I am super excited to be able to train her. It's been pretty hard trying to whitewash an area and train at the same time! But we are learning together so that's good! anyways, so also something that is super different is there are only 4 of us missionaries here in this ward! us 2 Hermanas and 2 elders. Okay the elders are the cutest things ever. Except no not really they are the meanest!! So they are on bike and we are the nicest to them, and one day they looked the saddest ever, so we sent them a message and told them we loved them and to be happy! Well then they said "please stop wasting our time we have a lot to do..." OUCH!!! aren't they the rudest!! well okay they were just kidding and then they said they love us too, but I'm still bitter about it because they are stinky. Yeah it's definitely different just being two hermanas and two elders. instead of the 10 we had in our last ward.

 

The last and probably my favorite miracle of the week: we got a new investigator!!! So we learned a lot in zone training meeting about how to be great missionaries, and how to find the people that will receive you. One thing the hermanas challenged us to do is ask people if you can come in for 10 minutes to share a message with them. So we tried it and it worked and we made a cute little honey named Graciela and she is so sweet! That was such a tender mercy to us after working so hard in this area. I am excited for what this area has in store for us, and to be able to work with our sweet new members. I love this gospel so very much, and I love being a missionary ever single day!

 

Oh dear Family I love you lots! Try to stay warm, and cherish this Christmas season. I love you all and miss you all the days! You are always in my prayers!

 

Love Ness

Jannessa is transfered

Dearest family,

 

first of all, thank you all so much for the sweet birthday gifts and wishes!!! you are the best little family I ever knew!! I love you all so much!! Did you have a wonderful thanksgiving? We sure did! Aye let me just tell you a little bit about our week!!!

 

So last Monday we had turkey bowl, and Our team rocked. I tell you what. Some Latinos can just naturally pick up football and be good, and others have no idea how to play because it's not like soccer at all! ahahaha cute little elders I just love them with all my heart.

Tuesday We got to go to the TEMPLE!!! happiest days of my life!

Wednesday, well I don't really remember that day.

Thursday we went to 3 thanksgivings! okay well, let me explain. So first we went to one thanksgiving at Hermana Leivas. And let me tell you holy tolito was it good!!! She had turkey and ham and beef and potatoes and pastas and pumpkin pies and sweet potatoes! Oh so yummy! Hermana Clifton spent all morning In the kitchen making rolls to take with us. After her house we went to our investigator Yahel's because she wanted us to try her tamales. Which were just not good at all!!! ick! and then last we stopped by monicas to give her a pie, and she invited us in so we ran in and stole all the delicious treats and desserts from her table! We took her a pie and she gave us a cheesecake! ha! fair trade! Friday it was my birthday and it poured rain all day. So we spent the day opening birthday presents and then going on a service spree delivering birthday goodies to all the elders and hermanas. Later we had a birthday party at hermano Miguel's house and he got me a birthday cake!! yay! I love him all the days!

Saturday well I am not going to go into details but we had some companionship drama. We received transfer calls Saturday night, and IM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! don't worry mom I'm not going to bike ;)

Sunday we spent packing and then we took sweet Hermana Hadley and Wendell up to the mission office, because they are flying our to Argentina. Ah I am just going to miss them so much!

 

Okay now here is the juicy story of the week that you are all going to love!!! So. Wednesday we were in comp study. And Hermana Clifton says to me, "okay so we have planned for a baptism this week, and we have been working so hard. So how are we going to get it?" well we brainstormed for a bit, and then we realized, there is this less active we meet with, Hugo, and his mom has never been baptized!! okay so back story. Hugo was found like 8 months ago, and he was baptized when he was 8, but then never went to church after that. We have been going every week to meet with him to teach him and reactivate him. He is a little different, and has a special disability. But anyways, his mom always sits in on our lessons with us, but she has never been baptized. Most people just write her off as old and senile so she just gets ignored. But she comes to church with Hugo all the time! So we said, she's been to church enough times, and she knows the stuff, she could totally be baptized this sunday!!!

 

So we go to Hugo's house to meet with him. Well his mom went out to the market. Oh no that's not going to stop us from having our baptism. So we said that's okay we will wait for her to come home!!! so 30 minutes later she comes home. Well we taught her lesson 1. At the end we invited her to be baptized. She said she really wants to be! So we asked if she would prepare to be baptized on Sunday. She said yeah she would do it! perfect! So we walk out of there with a baptism planned for sunday. Sweet Hermana Albertina is getting baptized!!! The only problem was we just had to teach her all the lessons in 3 days!!!!

 

So the next day (thanksgiving) we stopped by in the morning to see her. We taught her the 10 commandments and follow the prophet. Anytime we asked her a question she just said "si, Exactamente!" ha! can you just imagine her baptismal interview? Hermana what does it mean to you to repent? "si Exactamente!" keep in mind this woman is like 90! ahaha oh man.

 

Well, we had a lot of things to teach her on Friday, but guess what. They left to palmdale for thanksgiving!!!! so they were in palmdale all day Friday. All of their cellphones don't work, so that was frustrating. We went by at least 5 times to see her. Almost ever hour. But no luck.

 

Well the same thing happened on Saturday! we kept going by, but they just weren't home from palmdale yet!! It was super frustrating, and I was just so discouraged. We weren't going to get our baptism!!! well. we kept going by every hour, and then finally they came home!!! it was a miracle!!! So we went and talked to hugo, and he said hermanas this isn't a good time. We are locked out of the house because I left the keys in palmdale. Oh great!!! of all the luck. So we said, okay nope, there is no way were are letting this minor detail get in the way of our baptism!! so we may or may not have assisted them in breaking into their house! shhhh don't tell anyone! well. Finally after that whole ordeal we were in! The only problem left was we had to teach her every single lesson!!

 

Well, we did just that. We taught sweet albertina the plan of salvation, the doctrine of Christ, the law of chastity, the word of wisdom, tithes and offerings, fasting, baptism and confirmation, all in under 45 minutes!! That is unheard of!!! oh man everything was straight on track. She was set and ready to go everything good for the baptism. She still felt good about it, we were all set for her interview, we had the people to give the talks, everything was set! I felt really good about it.

 

Well, sunday morning comes, and our district leader calls us. He says "Hermanas I was just in ward council, and we were talking about Hermana Albertina and her baptism. It turns out I have some funny news. Albertina was already baptized!" .......... WHAT!!......... "Yeah she was baptized in 1954." Well, so our baptism got cancelled....

 

I guess the moral of the story is, don't ever trust old people when they tell you they haven't been baptized. And thank heavens for church records!! That could have been a bad thing! Well Dear family, I love you all so much!! I miss you like crazy, but I can't wait to talk to you in 23 days!!!!

 

Love Ness