Quite a week!

Well, this was quite a week. It was probaly the best week of my mission so far, mostly because Magda, Chris, and Justin got baptized. It was also kind of a strange week because Hna Mortensen was getting ready to head home. I dropped her off at the airport this morning and am once again a solo sister. haha, actually I'm just hanging with some other sisters for the day because transfers aren't until tomorrow.

So last tuesday Magda, Justin, and Chris had their baptismal interviews and everything went perfectly. Then we couldn't see them on Wed, but on Thursday we went over and showed them a clip from these missionary training dvds that has a baptism filmed so that they could see what what going to happen and know what to expect. They all seemed really excited about getting baptized, especially Magda.

Friday was the big day. In the morning Hna M had her departure activities (aka going to the temple with Pres. Donaldson and talking about dating and stuff like that haha), so I went with Hna Johnson and Lee for the morning to their area. They went to the batallion at 3 and I waited there for Hna M to get back. Showed up at about 3:45 so we rushed off to the church, where the elders were waiting, filling up the font for us because that font takes 2 hours to fill up. haha luckily we found that out the night before, or that would have been bad news. We got there and made sure that everything was ready and Magda, Justin and Chris got there at about 5 (when it was supposed to start...but that's no surprise in the latin culture). They changed into their jumpsuits and we took a couple pictures. Two of the sisters who taught her before were able to come to the baptism, so that was nice. We got started around 5:30 with the service. We had been worried that people wouldn't come because it was kind of last minute and they couldn't announce it in church, but so many people came. It was perfect.

There was a prayer, by Maria Rivas, who has come with us to visit them before, and then a talk by Hna Morales, who came to a lesson with Jorge and Magda at the beginning with her husband, our ward mission leader. Her talk was perfect. She said that she had been praying since the first time they met that Magda would choose to get baptized and then she talked about how she looks forward to seeing her and her husband go to the temple together and how wonderful marriage is. It was perfect. Magda was crying by the end of it. Then after the talk we did the musical number, and yes, I played the violin. I played "cuando me bautice" aka When I am baptized...the rainbow one that megan played at Emily's baptism. But I played it and the sisters sang. It went really well. I could see Magda while I was playing and she was crying again.

After that was the actual baptism. Magda went first, then Chris, then Justin, and Hno Morales baptized them. It was so great. We stood off to the side of the font at the top of the stairs, and the spirit was so strong. It was amazing.

While they changed Hna M and I showed a couple of clips from the special features of Joy to the World and then we bore our testimonies. Then Magda bore her testimony. It was so great, she just said over and over how happy she was that they could get baptized and how it took her going through something really difficult to realize that this is what God wanted her to do, but she was so happy she did it. It was fantastic.

Then the meeting ended (there was a slight confusion there about her being confirmed, I think the bishop forgot to communicate that to his counselor who was conducting) so after the closing prayer she was confirmed, which was really nice. The boys were confirmed in sacrament meeting the next day.

It was such an amazing experience to take part in. I am so glad I had the opportunity to teach them. THey are a great family. I hope I stay in the area and can continue to work with them. They live in the same apartment complex as Adam, so hopefully she can just come along to the lessons with him.

Jorge has his court date set for November 9 now I think, so after then he will probably be sent back to Mexico, and then who knows what will happen, but I feel very confident that no matter what happens he will be baptized soon and then will be able to go to the temple in a little over a year. The timing should work out just perfectly that it will be right after I get home, so hopefully I could attend their sealing. That would be just amazing.

The baptism was kind of the main focus of the week, but we also taught Adam, and hopefully he and his girlfriend, Martha, will have a baptismal date soon. Last time we were over it was just Martha there and she just talked to us about how she just wants to know, like Joseph Smith did, which path is the one God wants her on, so that's a good sign. She just needs to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she will know.

Things have been good at the batallion...for one, I saw Greg there. haha. I'm sure he already told you all about it, but I had to switch shifts on saturday, so I wasn't there when he came, but the sisters called us and told us there was something at the batallion for us, so we went over, and there was greg wearing a straw hat as a disguise. haha. pretty funny. It was fun to see him and nice to meet Melissa. They came back at 3 so I could give them a tour, which was fun. I will include a photo from the experience.

Sunday night (Hna M's last night in our area) we went to a ward activity that was awesome. It was an iron rod activity, and they blindfolded everyong and had them walk through the church holding onto a rope. There were rooms with different temptations and people trying to get people to let go of the rod. That was an understatement though. Only one person made it safely through. People were literally being yanked off of the rod and dragged into the rooms. hahaha it was way funny. I wish I had had my camera with me. But in the different rooms they were taught how to better hold to the rod and then they were allowed to return and made it to the tree of life and got to partake of the fruit (a snickers bar). THe young women sang and hna M played the piano. IT was a way fun activity. It was planned by the young women and turned out really well.

Then yesterday we went to our area in the morning and visited a couple of people. WE didn't have a car, so we had to walk, so we really only saw like 2 people. THen the other sisters (Latu and Werner) picked us up and we went out to lunch with our district since it was Hna M's last day in the mission. WE went to Mimi's and it was really run. We have a really great district. Then we were at the batallion. I just gave one tour last night, and it was to 2 people from Thailand and one from Korea. They were hilarious. They were teenagers probably and in the outfitting room they had us pose in pictures with them and made us stand in some funny michael jackson like pose. hahaha. (I gave the tour with hna johnson). We asked them to email us the picture, so I hope they do. haha.

Then the Stutz (the senior couple who was on) bought pizza to celebrate hna MOrtensen, so that was fun. After we finished eating, she brought hna M outside where a bunch of people from our ward had come to surprise her. It was really fun. They brought food and we ate and talked and laughed and it was so fun. All the missionaries from our district came too.

Basically it was a really good week and I am excited to see what happens tomorrow with transfers. I can't believe I've already been out for 5 months today!!!!! and in less than 2 weeks I will only have a year left. Craziness.

I hope that everything is wonderful at home. I love you all!!!!!!! Thanks for your support!!!!

love,

hna livingston

p.s. I am sending another email in a second with pictures, don't you worry!

Greg visits the mormon battalion!

and look what he found!!!!

p-day at the zoo and best week yet!

What a week. Honestly I don't even remember what happened at the beginning of the week, so much has happened.

Well, actually now that I think about it, I do remember going to the zoo last week on p-day. It was pretty fun. Lots of animals, I'll attach some pictures for you.

But more importantly, the last 2 days have probably been the best 2 of my mission. I'll start with sunday.

Actually, I have to backtrack a bit. On Friday we knocked on Adam's door for the hundredth time, and he answered! That was awesome. We scheduled an appointment for sunday night and invited him to church. On Sunday morning we were driving to his apartment to knock on his door to remind him about church when we got a phone call and it was from Magdalena. She said she randomly got work off and wanted to come to church. We immediately ran over to her apartment (luckily it's just upstairs from adam). We were trying to find her a ride because with Jorge gone she can't drive. We couldn't get anyone to come get her, but she said she would just walk (it's like a 20ish minute walk probably), so we said ok and drove to the church and waited for them. Sure enough they came in like 5 minutes after the meeting started. YAY. It was a really good meeting, the first talk on tithing, the second on keeping the commandments and then the bishop spoke for a few minute at the end about the importance of following the prophet. Oh, and also a woman got confirmed, and in the blessing was promised protection for her family and things like that. Basically it was awesome. They had to leave after sacrament meeting because someone was giving them a ride somewhere so they needed to be back, but that was ok.

After church we were at the batallion and it was super busy because everyone from utah and arizona was visiting for fall break. After the batallion we were back in our area. We had a dinner appointment with Hna Sevilla, one of the ward missionaries, so we asked her to come with us to our appointment with Adam, and she agreed. We have never taken her with us before, but turns out that she is excellent.

We went to Adam's and chatted with him at first about what he's been up to the last month or so since we'd seen him. He said that Martha's (his girlfriend, who thankfully he does not live with) daughters had been having some health problems so they have been gone a ton, but he had watched the Restoration movie 4 or 5 times, and he really liked it. He then explained to us how Joseph smith came to be a prophet and how important the book of mormon was. We were just nodding and agreeing. Then we taught him the plan of salvation and invited him to be baptized and he said YES. We suggested a date, and he said he wanted to read a little more before he committed, we reminded him that he only has to read a part and pray to know it's true, so he said he would. We have an appointment with him tonight, so we'll see how things go.

After that we went upstairs to see magdalena. We had planned this whole lesson out about the children of israel being blessed even when they struggled with keeping some of the commandments, but when they tried they were blessed, and they were even more blessed when they were obedient, and this was all because of the covenant God had made with them. We talked about when they were bitten by the snakes and just had to look at the serpant on the staff to live, and how that's how easy baptism was, but through it we can be saved. We then invited her to be baptized and she said yes. We were surprised so Hna Mortensen suggested november 6th and she said yes, that she and the boys wanted to be baptized then. We were dumbfounded and just promised her a ton of blessings and then left. We were SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!

Then we tried to visit someone else, but they weren't home, so we took Hna Sevilla home and then decided to try to visit a potential, Ramona. I was driving, and on our way there, the phone rang and hna M answered it, it was Eric Robles (one of our less actives who we have tried to visit at least once a week, but have only managed to find him twice my whole mission). He said he was in the hospital and asked if we could come, so we said yes and asked if he wanted the elders to give him a blessing and he said yes, so we called the elders and met them at a recent converts house and they followed us to the hospital. It is always a stressful experience driving while someone is following you and you don't actually know where you are going. hahaha. especially if the place you are going is the hospital. Luckily we arrvied safely not too long after (probably at like 9 oclock). We ran into the emergency area and asked where he was, they sent us up to the trauma section. They said it was just a big room with a bunch of beds. Now, as you may know I do not like blood, so that was not what I wanted to hear. haha. I had an image in my mind from the movie pearl harbor of people just missing limbs and bleeding all over the place. haha. Luckily it wasn't quite like that. We went in and saw him and he looked terrible. He was laying there with a neck brace and seemed pretty out of it, just really confused about everything. We told him the elders were here and would give him a blessing, so they did. It was AMAZING. The spirit was soooooo strong. It was such a beautiful blessing, they promised him that he would be healed according to his own faith and that he could be spiritually healed too. It was such an amazing experience. Then we shared a scripture, Ether 12:27 and headed out. We didn't get home until about 10 o clock. Man I was tired. It was a very long day.

We went back yesterday to see Eric again, and he is looking much better. He said that anytime he notices that he is feeling a little better he thinks about the blessing. We shared a scripture with him and then he prayed at the end. It was probably one of the best prayers I've ever heard. It lasted about 5 minutes and he asked that God could help him change his life and recover both temporally and spiritually. He is such a good guy, he just needs a little help in getting back on the right path. But he is so funny. He wouldn't tell us what happened because he said, in spanish "di otra historia aqui" aka I gave another story here. haha. As if half the nurses and doctors around us don't speak spanish. haha. He's a good kid though, I hope he can really turn his life around because of this.

After that we went to help out in Elder Gardner's area (in our district) so we knocked some doors for him and visited some formers. We only got a chance to visit 2 because they both let us in and talked to us for awhile. haha. He said he has never been able to find any of them, so I guess people just like sisters better. haha. So that was good. Then we went to see Magdalena.

We asked her the baptismal questions to make sure she was ready. When we got to the one about the law of chastity we were just super blunt and asked if she was planning on marrying Jorge when they were back together. She looked at us and just said yes, I'm going to marry him. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! She said that her answer came while she was in church, she just knew that she wanted to marry him now and that God wanted her to, and so she was going to. It was that easy. haha. Once people use their agency, things can just work out. So we asked if she wanted to be baptized sooner (because hna M wants to be there and she leaves in one week) she asked if she could be baptized tomorrow (aka today) and we said that might be a little soon, so how about friday. She said that would be perfect. While we were there Jorge even called (from the detention center) she said that we were there and he said to tell us hi and that he loves us, haha so cute (he was on speaker phone) and then she told him that she and justin and chris were going to get baptized, and he was really excited for them. She asked if we could baptize him there, but we aren't allowed to visit jails, so he''ll have to wait a bit, but that's ok. So basically, now we are rushing aroudn trying to get everything set for their baptism on Friday night at 5. We are super excited. It is amazing how everything has just worked out perfectly and from the trial of Jorge being deported has come this wonderful blessing. This is definitely Heavenly Father's work and I am so glad to be a part of it.

Well, I hope that everything is going so well at home. I attached a couple pictures from the zoo, I figured you probably haven't even ever seen Hna Mortensen, and you might like to, so she's in a couple of them.

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love,

hna livingston

two weeks left in the transfer...

Well, it appears to be tuesday again. Just 2 weeks left in the transfer. Crazy. With Hna Mortensen going home I'm the only one who knows for sure that I will have a new companion. We have a trio though, so I am kind of guessing that I will just be with one of them....but which one is the question. Maybe I'll have some more rumors next week after everyone has had their interview.

So this week has been a crazy one. Tons of horrible things have been happening to all of our investigators and members. Last tuesday we had a dinner appointment with Magdalena and Jorge. It was great. They gave us arroz con leche, aka milk with rice. Kind of like a combo between rice pudding and rice cereal. It was lovely. Jorge had this book sitting out called "difficult, but not impossible" we asked what it was and he said taht it was a book from his english class and he had written one of the pages. So we read his page and it was all about how much he loves his family. It was really precious. Then we talked a lot about learning english and he showed us a bunch of the books he had given to magda to help her learn english. They were pretty funny. Basically it was just a really fun night. They are so awesome. The next time we saw them was Thursday. We went over because Magda called us to cancel coming to the batallion on Friday, so we went over to see what had happened. We walked in and Justin (the 9 year old) was standing there just sobbing. We asked what was wrong, and Magda started to tear up as she told us that the police had come at 7 that morning and taken Jorge. I guess a neighbor or someone told the police that jorge was helping illegals into the country (which Magda says is not true), and so they came and took him. They haven't heard from him since. They are going to try to go see him today (he is in a detention center still) to find out if he is going to be staying, going back to mexico, going to try to come back or what. It's a pretty unfortunate situation because Jorge is just about the nicest guy I've ever met. On Saturday we were on exchanges, so I wasn't there, but Hna Mortensen went with Hna Lee and she said that Magda told them that they are doing ok, she has been praying a ton and reading in the book of mormon, and Saturday morning she woke up early for work and was praying and she said taht she heard a voice, a man's voice, but it was really sweet and loving, and it told her that her family would be together again and everything would work out. I wish I had been there to hear her describe it, but we went over last night, and she seems to be doing ok. She is a really strong woman because she's been through so much, but I was takling with her while Hna M was helping Justin with his homework a little bit and she told me that she knew everything would work out and that God was in this and maybe Jorge just needs more faith and he'll gain it from this experience. We asked her if she is going to get married when she sees jorge again and she essentially said maybe, but this maybe sounded more hopeful than the other ones we've heard. SO maybe she just needed this to realize how much she loves Jorge and doesn't want to be separated from him.

The night before we discovered Jorge had been deported we went to visit Ana Torres. She was just getting in her car when we got there and asked us to come back in half an hour. SOmething seemed kind of strange about the situation, so we said we would. We went to visit someone else and came back half an hour later. She wasn't back yet, so we sat in the car and waited for a bit, which was strange because we don't normally do that. But 10 minutes later we saw her walking down the street holding her daughter, melanie, who is almost 2. She was just sobbing (Ana, not melanie), we went over and hugged her and walked her to her apartment and asked her what was wrong. She said we didn't want to know. But sure enough, she still told us. She is pregnant and the man left the picture. It's really sad becuase this is the same thing that happened with Melanie. She was thinking of moving to LA because she didnt want anyone to know. We've visited her since though, and she is doing much better now and is just going to move to a different apartment within San Diego.

The day after finding out about Ana we went to visit Linda Torres (Ana's sister in law). Linda told us that the man who was renting a room in their apartment just left suddenly so they didn't have money to pay for their rent. SHe told us all about her life and how hard it has been living in all these different places and how she just wants to stay, so they were looking for someone to rent their room. We went back a couple days later and they had found someone, so things are looking up for them. They are one of my favorite families, so I"m glad they won't be moving again. They are so funny, we visited them last night and Linda, who has been entranced by my hair for sometime, was petting my hair last night and asking her husband if he liked it. Hopefully she doesn't try to dye hers blonde. haha.

The other horrible thing that happened to someone was we went to visit Beatriz, a less active who we can never find, and she was randomly home, so we talked with her and she said that she thinks she has breast cancer, but she doesn't have insurance. We randomly ran into her again yesterday, and she is doing ok. She has a doctors appointment set up for this week, so hopefully everything will work out fine for her. But we visited her right before finding out that Jorge had been deported, so it was just a lot of horrible things right in a row. But everything seems to be turning out ok so far. When we saw her yesterday, she was so funny, she was telling us how she loves to dance (she's probably in her late 30's) and how she does not aprove of how people dance nowadays. But she was showing how she likes to dance, using me as her partner, and she is about half my size. haha. it was pretty funny.

This week some awesome thigns happened too. We visited Adriana, (the 16 year old less active) and when we got there the family was painting their kitchen, so we helped. Her family aren't members, so we always try to talk with them. They loved that we were helping and it was really fun. The older brother even asked us how conference was because we had invited him to come with adriana. It was awesome. And the kitchen turned out great. Plus, we visited a different less active yesterday and told her about helping them paint their kitchen, and she was like PERFECT! I need help painting my bedroom. So we are scheduled to paint it with her on Thursday. haha. This woman is so less active she has joined another church, but we won't give up. haha

The exchange we did on Saturday was pretty fun. I was with Hna Johnson in her area. We were at the batallion in the morning, which was good. I gave a bunch of tours to elders and sisters in my district and their investigators, so hopefully that will help them out. Then in the evening we tried to visit a ton of people, but basically no one was home. haah. But we did get good milkshakes for dinner somewhere, so it was all worth it. haha jk.

Well, life is good. Despite all the horrible things that are happening to people, I'm positive that God is looking out for them and everything will work out. Besides, you receive the witness after the trial of your faith right? So hopefully these trials will bring some increased faith to these wonderful people. IT's crazy how much I love these people, but I really just want to hang out with them all the time. I want to adopt Linda and Luis' children, or at least babysit for them so they can get out and do somthign, unfortunately that is not allowed, so I'll have to come back and do that. haha.

The house is looking good from what I've seen. Good luck with everything! I love you all!!!

love

hna livingston

Four Month Mark!

Hola familia!

So, on Sunday I hit my 4 month mark. It was also the one month left mark for sis. mortensen, so that was kind of funny.

So this week was not the most exciting in city heights, but we did manage to have a good lesson with Rosalba (the wife of Jose 1) and her nephew, Juan. We went over planning on dropping them, but we talked to her and she was pretty interested and we talked a lot about the book of mormon and how you can pray to know it's true. She and Juan (who is like 17) both said they would pray about it. We're going back tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

I had a good experience at the Batallion this week. I gave a tour with Hna Evans ( who came out with me). It was a good tour with a bunch of people. At the end we somehow got comments from every single person in the tour (we have a comment spot on the referral card), which doesn't usually happen. One of the couples we knew weren't members, and he had puth is address but hadn't marked the box saying he wanted something, so I asked him if he wanted anything and he said no, he was catholic. I kept talking to him a bit and somehow family history came up, so we talked about that. I asked if he wanted any more info about doing family history because the church has a lot of resources, he said yes. So I got him a paper about it and asked if it would be ok if the missionaries came by and explained a little more, and he said that would be fine. So that was cool.

This week I finished the book or mormon (which I started sometime in august) and started it in Spanish. I'm hoping to finish it in spanish by the end of november. But it's been coming along just fine. I'm marking some different things this time, including references to missionary work and being a good missionary and verses about the atonement and things like that.

We hadn't heard from Daniel and Cleo in forever, so we went over to their house one day to set up an appointment for later. We talked to Daniel and he said he didn't think his wife was interested, so we probably shouldn't come back. That was kind of disappointing, but oh well. Some other missionaries will find their name in our area book one day and go back. Later that night in planning, we ended up dropping most of the rest of our investigators. We still have magda and jorge and adam and martha, and jose and rosalba but that's pretty much it. haha. But we couldn't ever find most of the other people. So we're trying to find some new people in these coming weeks, but we have some good potentials, so we are hopeful.

We were helping the ward out this week by contacting a bunch of people in the ward who no one knows if they are active or even live there anymore. On our way to contact one woman, there were two men sitting on their porch drinking, and they asked us what we were doing. We told the we were missionaries and they asked if they could come to our church (well first they wanted to know if it was in spanish). They were just super excited about everything, it was really funny. They were obviously drunk. One had the most ridiculous mustache - I wish I had a picture, it for real curled up at the ends. haha. It was a funny experience. Unfortunately they did not come to church, but we gave their name to the elders in their area, so hopefully they at least have a fun time contacting them.

I got to see most of women's conference, which was great. I missed most of the first talk because I was at the batallion and I was taking a tour, but I loved president Monson's talk. It was excellent. I'm excited for conference this week and should be able to see most of the sessions (whenever I'm not at the batallion).

Working at the batallion is pretty funny. We meet the funniest people. I gave a tour wtih Sis Adams to several people, including three old men who were veterans from the army. They were very exciting by the outfitting room and were explaining how things haven't changed much as far as what they carry. Just modernized a bit. Outside in gold panning we were talking to them, trying to see if we could send the missionaries, and I was talking to Al, and he was saying how much he loved mormons and how great they are and how we need more people who are brought up like them. He wasn't interested in receiving anything though, I guess he has a few mormon neighbors who visit him a bunch. haha. He was a way nice guy. He kept talking about his angel wife and told me that when she came I should look at her face because I would see that she was an angel. Sure enough, when they met up, he brought me over and aked me if she didn't look like an angel.

Yesterday we had MTE (missionary training exchange) so we were in a meeting with president from 9-1 and then we went on splits kind of for the rest of the day. (kind of because most people go in a group of three, 2 companions and one extra person to help practice what we learned), but some people are left over, so I was just basically on splits with Hna Nielsen, so came just 2 transfers before me. We went together to my area first and we tried to visit some people, but for the most part no one was home. We went to see Linda Torres, a less active, and she was there and gave us some water (because it was probably 10000 degrees outside). We were takling to her and I was explaining about general conference when Hna nielsen ran outside and threw up. I'm just glad she made it outside. haha. It was pretty funny in retrospect. She wasn't feeling to good so we came back to her apartment and she took a nap and then threw up few more times, so we ended up staying there the rest of the night, so I had some time to study. I'm in 2 nephi now in the libro de mormon and I finished reading Acts and am in Romans in the bible. I felt bad for hna nielsen, but it sure makes for a rather funny story. haha.

So things are going well. Magdalena and Jorge are supposedly coming to the batallion tonight and we are going to watch the joseph smith movie with them, and we are bringing Adriana (2 birds with one stone), so that should be good. We want them to understand what people are willing to go through and do when they really know the book of mormon is true and then commit them to pray again to know it's true and see what they need to do because of that knowledge. Hopefully it works out. Also, we are planning for the temple lesson on Friday (they had to cancel last friday) so hopefully that will go well. We have the marriage papers all printed out for them and everything.

Well, I hope all is well with all of you. I hear that mom is haning out with grandma, so I hope they are having fun together. Matthew - good job on breaking 6 minutes and good luck at your next race! Emily - keep being the cutest and write me a letter when you get a chance!!!!!! Oh, and someone should send me a picture of the house when it all gets finished or during the process or whatever. I need to be able to recognize it in 14 months or so. haha

Love you all!!!!

love

hna livingston