October 25th

Well, tuesday night we had a good experience finding a new investigator named Ana Andrews. She was a potential, so we dropped by her house, but she wasn't home. I noticed they had a huge parrot though, so I started talking to her aunt about the parrot and the next thing we new, Ana walked up. We had a nice lesson with her about the book of mormon. I think it was a good way for Sis. Stirling to start her mission. It's not so bad teaching in a trio. At the end of the lesson we invited her to pray, and it was so sweet - we all kneeled down, but then she didn't say anything. I peaked after a little bit and I could tell that she was intently praying. After a little bit she asked if she could get up once she had finished and we said of course. I could definitely feel the spirit while she was praying.

Wednesday morning started out with a lot of studying because of the training program for new misisonaries now. After that we had a nice lesson with the Romans. We watched the beginning of the lamb of God, but had to stop it early because we had to leave for another appointment. We stopped it right after Christ suffered and just talked about how much Christ did for us. We talked about baptism and Hna Roman surprised us all by saying that her husband had said he wants to get baptized by Juanito (our recent convert who got baptized in September - he is like the Roman's other son). When we asked him, Hno Roman just said yes, but later. So we are going to try to help them both get baptized soon.

We taught Hno Chavez after that using the Book of Mormon edition of the Liahona. Then we served at the mormon battalion, but things weren't too busy.

Thursday we did exchanges, but since we are in a trio, Hna Lewis just left to go with the other sisters and I stayed with Sis. Stirling. We served at the battalion in the morning and I trained sis. Lee how to chat, which is always a fun experience. We had a few weirdos come on, but then someone with a really good question came on - it turned out it was a misisonary asking us a question their investigator had asked them. Lame. haha. I gave a tour later with Sis. Stirling and an adorable way old lady volunteered to be the soldier, which was pretty funny. She nearly fell over when I put the backpack on her.

We taught Juan at 3, which was great as always. We taught about fasting. At first he said he couldn't do it because he was "too skinny" haha. But then we talked about it some more and he said he would give it a try on fast sunday. I told him he should bear his testimony on fast sunday and he said he couldn't because he would be to nervous (if you basically picture how Max - our dog - or better, Toby, would act speaking in front of an audience, that's about how nervous Juan would be). I told him we could practice, so I bore my testimony and then helped him to bear his by asking him questions like why he believed the church was true. It was great to hear his testimony. I love it when recent converts testify of what they know.

In our area we first went to see Candelaria. She and her husband fed us dinner first, which was excellent. Then we taught her the restoration. She liked everything, but feels that she was already baptized by God even though she doesn't believe the catholic church is right. We talked a lot about prophets and she told us that she knows Isaiah was a prophet because when she reads his words she can feel God speaking to her directly. We told her to read the book of mormon and if she felt like that with these words, she would know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything else that comes with it.

Later that night we went to see Hna Alvarez. She has been less active for about 30 years. The last few visits we had with her didn't impress me very much, but we had an appointment, so we went. It turned out to be a great appointment. We chatted with her and her foreign exchange student from japan for a bit and then he left and we started talking with her about the sacrament. That wasn't our original plan, but that's just where the lesson went. I mentioned how animal sacrifices was replaced by taking the sacrament and she looked at me with amazement and said she had never heard that before. We kept talking about how the sacrament is so important and how we really need to take it and that's why we go to church. She really opened up and told us her concerns and in the end she agreed to pray about coming to church. It was a great lesson because I could really feel the spirit working through sis. Stirling and I and I was learning new things as we were teaching. I love it when that happens.

Friday we did some weekly planning and then had district meeting. After that we had to head to the temple, so we picked up a pizza on the way there. It just so happens that Fidel (from barrio 20) was working at little ceasars when we went in! So he gave us some free crazy bread, which was delicious. It was nice to chat with him for a minute, but it sounds like he hasn't been to church since I left because he dind't know that I was transfered! haha. I told him to go though, so hopefully he will.

After that we were at the temple and took some excellent photos because it was finally cold enough for me to wear my yellow hat that Hna Arrosco knitted for me last year (hats are now officially allowed within the new dress code). I will include some in a bit. Not too many people came to the temple while we were there though.

After that we tried to see Claudia, but she wasn't home, so we went to see Julie. We had yet another great lesson with Julie and I was nearly positive that she was going to come to church this time, but it was yet another fail come sunday.

Saturday morning Hna Lewis and I went to the battalion to practice a song we are playing for church next week (obviously sis stirling came too - don't worry). As we were leaving we ran into Mark and his dad, so that was fun. They said they would come back later to do the tour. After that we rushed off to our area and went to see a potential named Enrique. As we were walking up the stairs we heard someone behind us, and it was him! So perfect timing. He invited us in and we taught him briefly about the restoration movie that he had requested. He seems like a nice guy. He lives there with his sister and they are both from Mexico and moved here within the last few years.

After that we visited Ulises and just taught him outside on the porch. He is such a funny kid. We just introduced the book of mormon and he said he would read it. It was super hot outside though, so we didn't want to stay too long for fear of dying outside. haha.

At the battalion that evening I gave a tour to the Brown family, which was fun. The sound wasn't working in the last room, which was super unfortunate. That happened to me the other day also and when it happens we just have to narrate what is happening. The other day I accidentally told the people that the battalion's march contributed to the purchase of the gettysburg address....oops I mean gadsen purchase. haha. It was pretty hilarious. After that Hna Stirling and I did a tour with a cute couple who was there for their anniversary. The husband is in the army waiting to be deployed so the story really hit home. They referred themselves at the end and I am pretty sure that they will love the gospel.

I took the last tour of the night with sis Kunz and it turned out that Nathan was on the tour! I didn't realize that at first since I haven't seen them for 11 years or something. Sis. Kunz thought it was pretty hilarious when we figured that one out during the tour. haha. They took my violin for me, which will be a huge help. Thanks mom.

Sunday we were at the battalion. I gave a tour to a couple who does living history for the church, but aren't members. After the tour I asked them if they understood why the pioneers made all those sacrifices and they said yes, because of their faith. I asked if they had read the BoM and they said yes, so I aske dif they had prayed about it and they said no. I told them that they should if they want to know if it's true, but they just quickly changed the conversation. I just don't understand how you couldn't be touched by those stories. Oh well, maybe one day.

After our shift we rushed off to bring Julie to church, but we got there and she wasn't home. It turns out her family had just arrived from Mexico, so she was at the store with them or something. church was good. During sunday school Hna Rosales brought a dragon sword as a visual aid. I borrowed it for a photo opt after church. The primary kids were adorable as always. We learned a new song then practiced some of the old ones and then played musical chairs. I of course played as well.

we had a meeting with the branch pres. after church to plan the primary program, so that should be fun to help with.

We had dinner with the Pattersons that night, which was fun. They seem to be getting along a little better these days - I think because his spanish is improving. That can make a big difference in a marriage if you both speak the same language.

Monday we had another good lesson with Hna Roman. She seems to really want to get baptized, so we are just trying to get the husband on board. Also, we discovered that she can read a little bit if the letters are super big.

We had a funny lesson with Yolanda, who abruptly ended the lesson because she was going to wet her pants and didn't want to use the restroom while we were still there. haha. We visited the Garcias that night and introduced PMG to them. They already have some names in mind to start their family mission plan. They are such a great family.

This morning we went to the temple, which was amazing as always!!!!!!

I love you all!!!!!

love,

Hna Livingston

Photos!

October 18th

SURPRISE! I got a new companion yesterday! Her name is Sis. Stirling and she is awesome! So on Sunday afternoon we got a call from the assistants asking us to come to pick up our new companion on Monday night at 7. Of course we agreed that we would. I will give more details on that later though. So we are training/in a trio. Should be a good time. This just upped my total number of companions to 5. haha.

Well, last week we had a fun p-day with a bunch of the battalion sisters. We went to coronado island, ate panera, and toured hotel del coronado. I will include some photos shortly. That Evening we visited Rina and had a nice lesson with her. When I invited her to be baptized on Nov 5 she said that was the day her husband died. Oops. So we will see if she feels ready by then. After we finished teaching, we ate some rice an dpork with her, which was fun. She said that she will teach us to make platanos next time we come. I hope she remembers.

Wednesday morning we had an appointment with the Angulo family (they are less active). We had just sat down to talk with her when there was a knock on the door and in came the elders from the branch! haha. It was funny because we had just talked with them about who we were visiting so things like that wouldn't happen. Oh well. We had a nice lesson with her and I think she got the message that she is missed at church. While we were there, her sons came home and one of them (who is like 14) accidentally almost kissed me on the cheed (in the normal greeting kind of way) because he thought I was his aunt at first...or so he said. haha jk. But he was way embarrased and almost fell over when he realized and tried to switch to a handshake mid-lean. So funny.

After that we visited Hna Roman. She was in the shower, so we just talked to the husband. I think as a way to distract us from talking about baptism, he showed us several photo albums of their family, which was fun to see. We had to leave before Hna Roman came out, because we were serving at the temple at 5. We were there until dusk and hardly anyone came, which was sad. We took some pictures for some visiting families though. AFter that we went to see Ximena. We were going to teach the plan of salvation, but she had read 2 Nefi 31, so that led to a discussion about baptism, which was fine with us. She was saying that she sees God more as an energy than a being, so we are working on that.

Thursday I was on exchanges with Hna Young. We were at teh battalion in the morning and things were pretty steady. I gave a tour with Sis smith to the Evas' neighbors - 2 men. They were pretty hilarious and a little bit flamboyant. One of them had lived in Spain for a bit, so we chatted about that.

In the evening we tried to see about 100 people who weren't home. Finally sometime after 6, we found a woman named Rita home. She lives in a trailer park and we taught her about the book of mormon. We asked if any of her neighbors would be interested and she told us the number for one of them, so we went there. THey had a HUGE Doberman Pinscher. It tried to attack us when we tried to go to the door. It was chained to the fence, cut the chain was a little too thin for comfort. We tried several times and then eventually gave up. haha. It was pretty vicious.

We dropped by the Carranza's house to talk to Maui about setting up a dinner with Rina. He was down with the idea. Then we went to see Julie (again - we had already tried earlier that day). She was home and we had a really good lesson with her about church and baptism. We invited her to be baptised on the 4th and she accepted. I emphasized that she HAD to come to church, and she said she would, but she didn't. SHe ha one more chance to get baptized before I leave because she has to come three times before she gets baptized.

Friday we had district meeting and then visited Los Roman. We watched the restoration with them and they loved it. Hna Roman wants to get baptized so badly! But her husband won't let her. It's so frustrating. We asked Hno Garcia to go talk some sense into him, so we'll see what happens with that. We were at the battalion that night, but it was pretty slow.

Saturday morning we were at the battalion and Daniel and his kids came in!!!!! So I got to give them the tour and chat our in gold panning. That was way fun. He said they have been going to church and are hoping to come to utah for Hna De La Cruz's wedding next year. The kids were adorable as always.

After that we were in our area and we visited a recent convert named Maria Flores. I colored with the kids to distract them while we talked about the book of mormon. After that we went to see Julie and had another good lesson with her about coming to church. Again, she sounded like she was going to, but didn't.

Sunday was a busy day. We were at the battalion in the morning and then headed off to church. Right when we pulled in, Hno Chavez called and asked us to go see if Yolanda was going to come to church because he couldn't get a hold of her. We did, and there was a note on the door that said "Dear mormon, I am so sorry I had a family emergency" so we'll see what happened with that later. She is so funny.

We got to church just before the opening song and had a good time at church. We did the music time as always. THis time we played musical chairs with the kids while singing book of mormon stories mostly with an occasional follow the prophet. THe kids LOVED it! I played too for a few rounds. So excellent.

After church we had a dinner at the Carranza's house with Rina and her Neice and Hna Medina. It was delicious - we had grilled chicken tacos. Maui also grilled some chiles with cheese inside and bacon wrapped around the outside. He told us they weren't hot, so we tried it and that was definitely a lie because I had to drink about 4 glasses of water. haha. Never let a mexican person tell you whether or not a chile is hot.

After that we rushed off to the fireside with Rina and got there about 30 minutes late, but it was really good. The best news was that Eric was there! (from barrio 20) He came up to me afterwards and told me that he had just gotten out of jail this morning because his girlfriend dumped him the night before and he got drunk and was put in jail. ANyways, he said that he has decided to change and find GOd again because he realized that he can't feel the spirit anymore. He talked to the bishop that afternoon and said that he said that he needed to start living the commandments. I made him pinky promise to never drink again, which he did. It was great to see that FINALLY after soooo long of working with him it looks like he is really coming back. He is probably one of my favorite people I've worked with on my mission - maybe because he was so difficult!

Yesterday I was on exchanges with Sis Burden. We brought Hna Garcia with us to visit a few of the relief society sisters. THen she took us out to lunch, which was fun/delicious. After that we were at the mormon battalion. After giving a few tours we switched back with our companions and the brenchleys (a senior couple) gave sis lewis and I a ride to pick up Sis. Stirling. We had a meeting with president clayton about training and then headed off to plan and go to bed.

We started Sis. Stirling's mission our with some excitement by waking up this morning at 4:30 to go hike Cowels Mountain with all of the battalion sisters (don't worry, we had permission from Pres. to do this). We hiked in the dark and watched the sunrise from the top of the mountain. I will try to include some pictures. The view was breathtaking. IT was so foggy on the way up, but when we got to the top, we broke through the clouds and it looked like we were surrounded by snow - but it was clouds. It was definitely worth it.

Well, that's about it for this week! I love you all!!!!!!!

love

hna livingston

pictures!

October 4th

Ok, first thing first. Last tuesday we got to watch 17 miracles at the mormon battalion - best movie ever. Well, at least the best movie I have seen in 18 months, so that may not be saying too much. I wouldn't take any youngsters to watch it because there is a lot of suffering and dying, but it was so well done. Something about serving at the mormon battalion and getting to know their story has helped me to love the stories of the pioneers even more. It was fun to watch the movie with all of the sisters.

That evening we taught Rina and she said that she wants to wait to get baptized, so that is sad, but also ok. I wouldn't want to force anyone to get baptized when they didn't want to. She is going to keep reading and see what happens. After that we had coordination and then Hna Lewis and I went to pick up the new sisters. They stayed the night with us before transfers on wednesday. Ironically, one of the new sisters is named Elizabeth and I knew her pretty well at BYU. She is besties with Kelsey and Kristin, so I saw her all the time. It was fun to be the one to pick her up. She doesn't serve at the battalion though.

Oh, you are probably all wondering if I got transferred...maybe you can guess by my not saying anything that I didn't. You would be right. There weren't too many changes, but Hna Stevens, who I trained a transfer ago is now training in a trio with sis lee and the new sister, so that will be fun for her. It's unfortunate that I never work with the barrio 20 sisters now that I was transferred.

Wednesday morning after transfers we went to visit Julie, but she wasn't home. Instead we went to see Hna Roman and had the funniest conversation with her and her husband and Ivan. THey were talking about how they wanted Juan to get married in the temple. Juan is almost like their other son. He stays with them all the time (he's the one who got baptized a couple weeks ago). Then we started talking about marriage and how they had kept their marriage strong. Hna Lewis tried to congratulate them for still being in love after 30 something years, but said something more along the lines of them still being lovers, which was pretty hilarious. Also, while we were there Ivan was cleaning and listening to music - it started with just your average mexican music, but quickly changed to "barbie girl" by aqua. Hilarious. I hadn't heard that song for a while. haha.

We were at the battalion in the afternoon and Hno Chavez came in for us to teach him, well really to teach us. I told him last time that it was his turn to prepare the lesson and teach us because we had taught him plenty of times (and we want him to practice to be a home teacher). He brought us take out from olive garden (he works there) which was excellent, and something he calls "agua de los dioses" or water of the gods. He has been talking about it forever and finally brought it. It turns out that it is basically chocolate water. It was ok, but not quite worthy of its title. Horchata is 100 times better for sure. We didn't tell him that though. haha.We had a nice lesson with him. We got him pumped for conference because he and some other guys from the ward were going to go in Salt Lake.

That night something pretty epic happened. I gave my first tour in CHINESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so excellent. Some elders brought an investigator who spoke some english, but is from Taiwan. Hna Lewis and I did the tour and obviously we spoke english, but the pictures and videos all spoke chinese. There are some parts where we talk to the pictures, which was pretty hilarious. Also there are a few parts where people sing and it is so much funnier in mandarin. SHe loved the tour and said afterward that it was the first time she felt the spirit ever. IT was awesome.

Thursday morning was very successful for us. Julie and her son came to the battalion and did a tour. They both loved it. They were out of town this weekend though, so she still hasn't been to church. I hope she comes soon because I would like to see her baptized! After that I gave a tour with sis kunz to a woman who is married to a less active man. She didn't know anything about mormons, but referred herself after the tour.

After that Hno Chavez brought Hno and Hna Roman for the tour. They LOVED it. Juan showed up halfway through the tour so he joined also. Then we talked to them all at gold panning for a bit and the romans left and we taught Juan after that. We mostly just talked about conference to get him excited. We told him to write down some questions he has and he suggested "how can I be better at video games." haha. I wonder if he found the answer among the talks.

We contacted a referral that night that we got from the fiesta a few weeks ago. IT's the mom of a member in the english ward, but the mom only speaks spanish. We went over and chatted with her for a bit and she is super nice and wants to learn more. We visited Ximena after that and watched clips of the apostles speaking and then talked about prophets. Ximena's cat tried to attack me several times, which was a first for my mission. I've only had trouble with dogs up to this point.

Friday morning we had another traning meeting with the evans and salt lake about the mormon.org chat. They had us get online and do a chat and the woman who got on and chatted with us was named cindy. We have had several chat appointments with her since. Basically the chat went something like this: she said she was having a hard time, I shared 3 nephi 9:14 and said it was from the BoM and she asked where she could get one. We sent her one and then gave her the link to read online. The next time we chatted she read all of mormoni 7 and loved it. Then we chatted about the gospel and told her to read 2 nefi 31. We are going to try to send the missionaries the next time we chat with her. It's a way cool system and it turns out that it really works!

We served at the temple that afternoon and had an iteresting experience with a very negative woman who came. She was really rude to us when there wasn't parking. She was coming to do a session. She apologized later and then told us about all of her problems. She had a horribly negative attitude. Hna Lewis read her a nice quote and when she finished she told her that was the WORST possible things he could have read her. It was amazing though - whens he came out of the temple she was like a new person! I had been thinking that there was nothing that could help her see the light, but I was wrong. She talked to us after and felt so peaceful about all of her problems and that they would be solved. It was pretty amazing to see.

For lunch the brenchleys (a senior couple) had just come out of a session so they took us to lunch in the cafeteria, which was fun. Later on a man named Jesse came to the temple. He is an elvis impersonator (don't worry I have a photo). He talked to us for about an hour and performed several songs. It was great news that I had borrowed Hna Stevens digital recorder and turned it on behind my back. He was so funny. He's a member and he lives right by the temple. I had heard about him the first week of my mission, but this was the first time I met him.

Saturday morning we served at the battalion, so I missed part of conference to take a tour. What I saw was excellent through! We got off shift in time to watch all of the afternoon session. I loved elder Christofferson's talk about repentance and elder Perry's talk about member missionary work. AFter that we had an appointment with Elizabeth (the referral we contacted earlier). We had a great lesson with her and her daughter, Alma. She is a jehovah's witness, but it is willing to accept the book of mormon. She watched all of conference and liked it a lot, so that was excellent. After we taught, Alma gave us dinner and we got to know her. SHe is a way cool lady. Her daughter is adorable and reminded me of emily (though no one is as adorable as Emily). After that we tried to see a lot of people who weren't home. THen we dropped by the Rosales family and found them outside with her pit bull named brad pitt. It was a somber group and it turns out that the dog had just bitten a kid in the face, so the animal people were coming to pick him up. We ended up meeting her neice and nephew though who are less active members that just moved here, so that was good news.

Sunday morning we were at the battalion again. I caught the end of the talk about the book of mormon with the 2 dots. FANTASTIC! I loved it so much. I can't wait to read the whole thing. We watched the afternoon session with the branch and Juan came! He said his favorite talk was the guy from Japan. That seemed to be the case for most people in the branch because they are converts and felt the same way.

We had dinner at Jeneane's house after that with Juan and some other members. Then we tried to see people, but no one was home. I called Daniel and Cleo to see if they went to conference because they hadn't gone to church since I left I knew and Pres Clayton told me I should call them to try to help. Daniel said he went, and at first I didn't believe him, so I quizzed him about some talks until I believed him. Then he told me that he hadn't been going to church becuase he had to work on sunday. He said that he remembered that he had made a promise to God, so he went to his boss and asked for sundays off. His boss said he could pick between church and his job, so he picked church. I nearly cried when I heard that. He said that they are going to go back to church and that hopefully they will come to Hna De La Cruz's wedding next year. Great news!

Monday morning we had Zone Leader Council, which was way good. Pres. Clayton got us all fired up to step up the mission because baptisms dropped a lot in september compared to our goals. He talked about how a hot air balloon works and hwo you have to get rid of the baggage to move higher, so that is what we are trying to do as a mission.

We visited Ivan that afternoon and he showed us pictures from the trip to SLC and conference. It looks like they all had a blast. The elders quorum president took several recent converts and his son to see conference. Then we went to find a former named Yolanda. She lives in a trailer park and we didn't have the trailer number, so we asked the first people we saw if they knew yolanda and then did! So we found her. She is a SUPER old and SUPER skinny lady. She is fluent in english and spanish and kept calling us "honey" and "mija". She seemed interested in learning more and liked the idea of church in spanish, so we are going to go back next week.

After that we visited Hna Maltiz and I brought my violin to play her several hymns. She loved it. She goes back to venezuela tomorrow, so it was our farewell lesson with her. She is less active, so we told her to prepare for the temple and next year when she came back we would go together.

After that we met up with the sisters in spring valley to go teach Ivan (the one I taught before in barrio 20). Hna Lewis didn't know the area boundaries when I came and so we recently discovered that Ivan is like 2 blocks outside of our area, so we handed him off to the other sisters. We had a great lesson with him though all 4 of us. He seems a lot more prepared this time. I told him at the end to call me when he was going to get baptized and he said he would. Then he said "thanks for not giving up on me!" - sure enough, I have known him since about January I think, so hopefully he can get his life in order and get baptized before I leave, but if not I"m sure he will eventually.

Well, that's about it for this week! I hope you all are doing well and don't have any more natural disasters or anything.

love,

Hna livingston