Well, I guess it's tuesday again. haha. Last week we went to a part
under a freeway that is covered with graffiti. We got some sweet pics
from it. I will include some momentarily.

Tuesday night was interesting. Since the water had been off all day
(don't worry, it's fixed no) I kind of really needed to use the
bathroom by the time we left at 6. We got to our appointment at 6:30
(with Luis, a recent convert from the new part of the area). He was
asleep when we got there (he works the night shift a lot) but right as
we got there his mom came home, who is not a member (he's the only
member in his fam), so she was just telling us to come back a
different day. But like I said I really needed to use the bathrom, so
I just asked her if I could use theirs. She said yes, so I went in,
and when I came out, Hna D was sitting down in the living room takling
with the mom. So I sat down too and we ended up teaching her the plan
of salvation. haha. sweet. Unfortunately she wasn't there when we went
again last night. But this time Luis was ther and awake and he is
AWESOME. He was showing us how he just got the scriptures on his phone
so he can read them at work even. So great.

Right after that (well teaching his mom last week) we went to see
Adam. On our way walking from the car to his apartment, we ran into a
woman and she started talking to us and told us to come visit her
sometime, so that was sweet. We haven't been able to see her yet, but
hopefully soon. Her name is Carmen.

The other day at the Battalion I gave a tour with Sis Redd (an english
sister who goes home in 4 weeks). There was just one man, his name was
Jay and he was from Hawaii. During the tour he asked us a bunch of
questions about the book of mormon and things like that. After the
tour we kept talking to him and it turns out that the missionaries had
come to his door right before he came on this trip and he told them he
wanted to listen but would be gone for awhile. Then he asked us what
it takes to become a member of the church. haha. basically he is going
to get baptized. so cool.

We had a good lesson with sis Veracruz this week. We watched the
joseph smith movie and she loved it. It is way funnier watching that
movie now after having given the tour at the battalion so many times
because a lot of the characters are the same. haha. Most of them are
much plumper in the tour though than in the JS movie for whatever
reason. If you remember the blacksmith and his new wife, they are two
prominent characters in the tour. haha.

On Friday we had a really awesome opportunity. Elder Evans of the
first quorum of the 70 came for a mission tour, so we got to hear from
him. The mission was split in half to listen and my zone was on the
second day. It was really great. He talked a lot about how we are
responsible for the people we teach on our mission for the rest of our
lives. That is what it means to help them endure to the end. I got
thinking about Magda and how I've been trying to contact her but
hadn't been able to yet. I'll get to more on that later. While he was
talking he had some of us read scriptures and then talk about them...I
was one of those people. haha. So he asked me if I had ever had the
experience of hearing a recent convert of mine bear testimony and I
said yes and told about Magda right after she was baptized bearing her
testimony. We also had a question answer part of the meeting, which
was really good. Then at the end of the meeting guess who was called
on to say the prayer. haha. Yup. Me. Now, if you have ever had a
general authority ask you to pray you know that you say yes. haha. So
that was pretty cool and she shook my hand afterward.

After the mission tour we were at the mormon battalion, so I tried
calling Magda again and her sister in law answered again and said she
wasnt there but she would go get her and I should call back in 10
minutes. So I waited 10 minutes and called again, she said she still
wasn't there but she had another number I could call, so i did. and
guess who answered...Magda! She was sooooo excited. She asked when I
was coming to visit becasue I could just fly into mexico city and they
would come and get me. So awesome. (btw that means that I will need to
go to mexico shortly after my missiona haha). She said everything was
going great, they were all there together and they were still reading
in the bom. She said they aren't married yet but they are planning on
getting married soon, so I said I expected pictures soon of their
wedding. Then she let me talk to Jorge, who said things were going
well. He gave me their address there so I could send the missionaries.
He said he still wants to get baptized. After I hung up I entered
their address in the referral system, so hopefully the missionaries
will contact them soon. I also talked to the ward clerk on sunday to
have their records sent there so hopefully the ward or branch will get
in contact with them soon.

This Saturday was Mormon Battalion Day here in san diego (the
anniversary of when the men arrived in san diego). Sherman Fleek, the
author of "History May be Searched in Vain" (one of the best sources
on the mormon battalion) flew in from New York to speak at a fireside
that night, so I met him on Friday. He is a way funny guy. Man he
loves the army and the mormon battalion. haha. I bought his book from
him on saturday and he wrote a note and signed it for me, so that will
be a nice mission souvaneir. He also has a novel, "called to war: the
dawn of the mormon battalion" which I want to read when I get back. If
you all want to know more about the battalion, you could read it if
you wanted. We also got to go to the fireside if we werent working
that night, so that was awesome. He spoke about how amazing it was
that the mormon battalion was even formed...that would never happen
today he said.

I was on shift at the battalion Saturday morning for mormon battalion
day. Oh my goodness. I did not sit down once the whole time pretty
much. hahah . It was SO CROWDED. We were giving tours of around 30
people each time. People were having to wait for 30 minutes sometimes
for the tour. So crazy. I was out in gold panning a ton and the people
just wouldn't stop coming. haha. It was fun though. The people loved
it. There was also a parade down in old town square, but I was at the
battalion during it. I ended up working at the battalion form 9-6:30
(usually we just work 9-3) because hna D wanted to go to a baptism for
someone she found in her old area and her old companion wanted to go
too, so they went together and I took sis Smith's place at the
battalion for part of the evening shift. Man I was tired by the end.

I had a really cool experience though. Around 5 sis thomas asked me to
take a tour because it was in spanish. At this point the last thing I
wanted to do was give another though or talk to more people haha. But
I did it. And it was awesome. There was a family, mom dad son and
grandma. The grandma was from guatemala and didn't speak english, but
the rest did. Then there was also a random woman who came too, and
spoke some spanish, so she said it was fine to do it in spanish. So I
did. In the outfitting room, where we talk the most, I spoke english
an dspanish, because it was clear the kid preferred english. He was 9
or so. Also, it became clear that he was autistic. He was the sweetest
boy I've just about ever seen though. He dressed up as the soldeir and
I asked him his name and he said "captain brandon". He was just
adorable. I heard the random woman lean over and tell the mom
something about working with autistic children. The random woman just
loved this kid! haha. She thought he was absolutely hilarious, you
could just tell. At the end she ended up referring. I didn't get to
talk to her after because she disappeared pretty quickly, but one of
the other sisters caught her so I talked to taht sister after. She
said that the woman had said that she loved the tour and had been here
tons before. She said she feels like she is on a journey and doesn't
know where to go next or what she is searching for. I can't help but
wonder if that cute kid had something to do with her referring, since
she had been several times before and not referred. Also, she didn't
just leave her name, but she checked the first box, which NEVER
happens (it says something about wanting representatives to come
visit) most people just request a movie or something and then we send
it with the missionaries. So that was really awesome.

On Sunday Daniel came to church and he LOVED it!!!!! Well, he just
came for sacrament meeting because he has been feeling sick for
several weeks now and he didn't feel good during the meeting. Sis
Rivas suggested to him that he get a blessing, so he did from Hno
tadeo and Hno Morales. When we saw him again last night he said he
felt better by the time he got home. Also he said he is planning on
continuing to attend church because he really liked it. I am confident
that he will eventually get baptized.

Yesterday morning we had a 2 1/2 hour lesson with Linda. We went over
while luis was there for lunch and then he left. We read ch 3 in the
bom with her and then we sharted telling us why she didn't come to
church yesterday. She was planning on coming but then luis made her
mad so she didnt feel like going so she just took a walk with little
Noemi. Then she told us a very long story that ended in why she
doesn't fully trust luis, basically he doesn't always tell her things
and sometimes he lies to her so she wont feel bad or get mad about
things. Then she started crying and said that he tells her she is
worthless sometimes because she doesn't work. She just stays home with
the girls and takes care of the house. We told her not to listen to
him that she is worth a lot and she can have the happy family she
wants if she will just start making small changes herself...that
eventually Luis will catch on. Oh, it just broke my heart though. I
just love Linda so much. I love luis too, but I sure wish he would get
his act together and appreciate what he has more.

We had a dinner appointment with the Cano family last night. i love
the Cano family. I haven't had a ton of interactions with thme, but
whenever I do, I love it. They are just soooo cheery. They are a
little on the plump side "gordita" as you would say in spanish. So
during dinner they were commenting on how hna D and I are skinny
(people are always calling me "delgadita" or the skinny one. hahaha).
Then he went off telling us how in their family they just eat a little
and they get really fat - "comemos poquito pero engordamos mucho"
haha. He said they have tried lots of diets, but they just get hungry
and then they eat and get fat. haha. It is probably a lot funnier if
you could hear him explain it and keep in mind that his two little
daughters are sitting right there one is 5 and one is 8. haha. He said
that they have to exercise a lot, well not the 5 year ole, but soon
when she turned 6 she would. hahaha. it was just way funny. He settled
in the end that it must be genetics.

Well, I think that is about it for this week. Things are just chugging
along!!!!!! Hope all is well at home!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

love
hna livingston