Well, it was fun to talk to you all on sunday! I will probably just tell you about my whole week in chronological order though, so sorry if there is some repeats.
We got an exciting phone call from Adam last tuesday. Well, he wasn't excited about the news but we were. He and Martha had a fight and she moved out. We are hoping this is permanent so that he can get baptized after we teach him some more, but we will see. We didn't have time to see him last week because we were so busy preparing Hna Sapon for her baptism.
We had a good lesson with Amelia. We were planning to talk about the plan of salvation, but when Hna D asked her to pray she went off for about half an hour about why she doesn't want to pray yet or come to church. SHe had a horrible experience previously in her life with joining a church and really believing it and then finding out that she had been deceived. She is reading in the book of mormon though and she loves it, so it shouldn't be too long before she comes around. She was in 1 nefi chapter 7 last week. After teaching Amelia we taught los Sapon the word of wisdom. The girls weren't there when we taught it the first time. They agreed to live it. When we talked about how important it is to take care of our bodies because they are a gift from God, Martha asked if tanning was ok and then asked if we thought that maybe Michael Jackson had gone a little too far in damaging his body. haha. She is so funny but so sincere. As of Tuesday we were still planning on the girls getting baptized with their mom, but that didn't happen.
We had our first district meeting since Elder Au and Reagan left on Wednesday, so that was a little strange. We are down to just 6 missionaries: 2 elders and 4 sisters. Kind of odd. haha. But it's good. We all serve in the same ward, by the way, I don't know if you already knew that. THere used to be 11 missionaries in the ward back in my second transfer, so we have really cut back. We divided up their area between the three of us and we got the part where Linda Torres lives (obviously we already visit her, so that's good). After that we went to visit Hna Garduno, who just had her baby. The baby is SUPER cute. Too bad we can't hold babies. Hna Garduno looked like she was doing well. We talked about the baby being blessed, so that should help them come to church in a few weeks. Also Hna Garduno and her husband gave us a very detailed description of their experience with the c-section, which included him almost fainting. haha. I was close to fainting as he described the blood spurting out, but I managed to hang in there. Luckily I don't understand all of the medical terms in spanish. Hna D looked a little more horrified than I was, so I was ok with that. haha
On Thursday we saw Marisela again for the first time in forever. SHe is pretty much the same, except they are about to lose their house so they will be moving soon. I'm pretty sure her "husband" will be actually leaving her soon. He currently lives in a trailer behind the house. She still continues strong in her faith though and we are hoping she will come to the mother's day party this week. (p.s. happy mother's day!!!!! It's may 10 in Mexico. haha)
We went to see Efren, who we contacted last week and had set up an appointment with. We knocked on the door and could hear someone moving inside. THen we saw the door knocker move as someone checked through the peep hole, but the door didn't open. We knocked a few more times and then Hna D called him. We heard the phone ring inside and then he answered and told us he was at work and wouldn't be home until SUPER late. haha. So I guess we won't be teaching him any time soon.
We managed to find Eric that night. He was just about to leave when we got there, but he stayed and talked to us for a bit. He said that he was going to the barber shop...we assumed to get his hair cut, but he said it was to get his eyebrows done. hahahahaha. I wish I had a picture of him. He usually has these little slits in his eye brows. Not like slits, but just like a stripe where the hair is missing. He is such a funny guy. Unfortunately he is not doing so well. He had scratch marks on his face and he said it was from when he came home drunk one night and his girlfriend scratched his face - not good. We asked him if he was happy and he said no. Duh Eric!!! Come to church! So hopefully he will come around again soon.
After that we had lunch with the RS president. Hna Tapia (who got baptized on saturday with Hna Sapon) and her daughter were there. Karen (the daughter, who is 16) was telling us about a new dance move that is all the rage called the shuffle. She demonstrated it to us. Does matthew know it yet?
We saw los Sapon that night and Hna Sapon said that she changed her mind and wanted the girls to wait to get baptized until they knew more. We re-taught the restoration and explained about the book of mormon again and the girls said they understood better after that, so we will see what happens. Hopefully they will get baptized within the next month.
Friday we were at the temple - don't worry I remembered to wear sunscreen this time. THere were a couple weddings happening. A limo pulled up around 12 and we assumed it was with one of the wedding parties, but the people who got out were the JONAS BROTHERS!!!!!! jk. They were dressed like tourists (like hawaiian shirts and everything). The woman came over and talked to us because she loves missionaries. I asked her about the limo and she said they weren't super rich or anything, it belonged to her company and they just wanted to chat on the way down to san diego, so they took the limo. haha. That sounds like a good deal to me. She gave us each a 7 up from the limo, so that was pretty cool. Then we took a picture in front of the limo with the temple in the background. Hna D was embarrased at first, but I told her she would want the picture later, so she did it too.
Daniel came to the temple while we were there so that he could by the doctrine and covenants and pearl of great price at the distribution center. He is just awesome. He told us he was going to need a bag to carry all of his books. Sure enough on sunday he had a nice new briefcase style bag to carry his books in. haha.
After the temple we went to teach Norgia. We watched the restoration with her on a little portable dvd player. I noticed that William was playing Uno on the computer while we watched the movie. I hope my life never quite gets to that point. I mean I love uno, but I'm guessing it's a lot more fun to play it with people. Norgia really liked the movie and said she would read in the book of mormon in chapter two.
Next we went to see cleo and daniel. We watched the testaments with them, but Daniel had to leave part way through so that he could go out with the elders. That was fine though because we really came for Cleo. She LOVED the movie, especially when Christ came. We asked her after if she wanted to learn more and she said yes, so we set up an appointment for monday to come teach just her. Also, she mentioned that Daniel wants to get married in the temple and she thinks it would be nice too. yessssssss.
On Saturday we did some weekly planning and prepared the program for the baptism that night. Hna Sapon had her interview scheduled for 5:30 and the baptism started at 6. Just in case, we made two versions of the program - one with both names and one just with Hna Tapia. After that we wanted to go get some lunch because we were going to start our fast at 3 (we had stake conference last week so it was fast sunday this sunday). We decided to go get california burritos becuase neither of us had had one and Hna D is getting low on time in san diego. We called Lupita (one of the YW) to see if she was working (she works at a taco shop) but she wasn't. She told us to come over and she would come to lunch with us though, so that was even better. We drove to her house and then walked to a taco shop and she insisted on buying us claifornia burritos and horchata. SHe is just adorable. I will include a photo. THe burritos were delicious (it's like chicken and pico de gallo and guacamole and french fries). It was way fun to hear all about her plans for prom and eveything. She is a super cool girl.
Next we picked up Hna Ameneyro to come with us to a lesson with a man named Manuel who we contacted in a store last p-day. He wasn't there so she came with us to see Veronica instead. We got to her complex and there were a bunch of kids who told us to be careful becuase there was a snake in the bush in front of her apartment. We quickly walked by safely and knocked on the door. SHe let us in but she was in the middle of dying her hair so she had a plastic bag on her head. As we tried to teach her there were lots of screams outside when the snake was found and killed. ALso she kept getting phone calls from mexico because her son was going to visit his uncle and was getting picked up in tijuana but had a suitcase with like $3,000 in it so she was worried about him being attacked and killed. IT was a rather stressful/funny lesson. haha.
Manuel called us as we were leaving Veronica's and said he was home now and sorry he wasn't before his phone had been stolen and he had gone to recover it. We went over to invite him to the baptism. He said he would come and his uncle would come too. I figured they probably wouldn't really, I mean we had JUST met him. But he came and brought his uncle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So cool.
We went over to the church to practice the musical number with the young women. I played I'm trying to be like Jesus and WHen I am Baptized and they sang. It was good. At 5:30 hna sapon had her interview and then quickly changed for the baptism at 6. Hno Morales baptized her. The baptism was PERFECT! Most of the ward came because Hna Tapia had been attending the ward faithfully for over a year and was finally getting baptized. Hna Tapia was baptized first and then Hna Sapon. We watched from the steps inside the font, so that was great. She was baptized but she kicked her foot up so she had to be baptized 4 times before she went under all the way. WHen she bore her testimony after she said that as soon as she was baptized she just wished that she could be baptized again, so she considered herself lucky that she got to be baptized 4 times. haha. She is awesome.
Sunday was fun. All of the mom's got roses from the young men. Luis and Linda Torres came for sacrament meeting, which was exciting. The highlight was definitely talking to all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that I was at the battalion. I was standing at the front when none other than Brigham Young himself walked in. Not literally, but from the JS movie/the mormon battalion movie. I greeted him and sent him and his buds on a tour. THen I gave the next tour and after my tour I was out at gold panning when he came out, so I had a nice little conversation with him. I asked if he and the guy who plays Joseph Smith are good friends in real life and he said yes. It turns out that he is actually the one who produced the battalion film so he told me some about casting the characters and whatnot. He was a really nice guy.
Yesterday was as you may know MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the package. It was an excellent day. I woke up and exercised and then Hna D made me french toast while I showered. I opened my presents and I LOVE them all. In fact I had tried on the white shirt at h and m the week before. haha. I wanted to get it but picked another one to get with Grandma's money (which I wore on my birthday). The plaid skirt is AMAZING!!!!!!!!. After we studied and everything we headed over to Linda's and watched the restoration with her. She gave me an old photo album for my birthday. SHe is so adorable. (not like a photo album full of old pictures, but like a used photo album. But I love it). After that we tried to go see a less active in the elder's area, but we couldn't find the house.
Next we had an appointment with Cleo. It was AMAZING. We taught the restoration and everything just clicked. It turns out that Hno Hernandez had gone over the night before and talked to her about the book of mormon, so it was really easy to teach her. SHe said that she has noticed such a change in daniel that she wants to get baptized!!!!! We invited her for the 21 of May and she said YES!!!! talk about a happy birthday!!!!!! That is Hna D's last saturday, so she will see her confirmed too.
After that we went to an appoinmtnet with a contact, Yadira, and we added her as an investigator. SHe is super nice and has some adorable children.
NExt we tried a few people who weren't home and then went to Hna Rivas' for what I was told was an FHE with the cano family. IT was actually an FHE/surprize birthday party for me that Hna D had planned with a bunch of people from the ward. Hna/Hno Morales were ther, Hna Galvas, Hna Rivas, and Daniel and Cleo and their whole family. It was so fun. We had carnitas (pork tacos) which is one of my favorite things. Daniel brought a cake that said "Hna Livingston" on top - spelled right and everything. (usually they forget the g). It was a tres leches cake with chocolate frosting. It was soooo fun. So it was definitely a good birthday. I will send some photos.
Well, I think that's about it for this week. I hope that all is going well at home and that Greg and Melissa manage to take an engagement photo.
I love you all!!!!
love
hna livingston
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