On Thursday night Sis Adams, Lee and I headed off on the road to California. We stopped for the night in St. George and then continued on our way for a grand total of 11 hours driving to get there. And to think it took the Mormon Battalion a whole year to walk from Iowa to San Diego. Good thing we had a car.
Walter didn't want to miss out on the fun, so he came too.
I don't think I can even express how much screaming was happening as we entered our mission boundaries in San Diego. We were pretty excited.
Our first stop was naturally the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. And yes, that is the real sky. Somehow San Diego knew we were coming, so things were pretty much perfect.
We got to see a lot of the sisters we had served with at the battalion and then we headed over to Mission Valley for a baptism for someone that Sis. Lee had taught on the mission. How perfect was that timing? It was so fun to see the people that we have missed so much since being home. They were pretty excited to see us too.
Somehow, all three of my old companions who are still on the mission were at the baptism. I only served in two areas on my mission - Barrio 20 with Sis. Stevens and La Mesa with Sis Stirling and Lewis. Now they have just switched locations, but they are all still in my old areas.
We had dinner with Daniel and Cleo, some people that I taught for over a year. It was fun to eat with them and then dance around with their little daughter after we ate.
We saw Luis at the gas station he works at.
On Saturday morning we went to a Spanish session at the temple with a convert named Nicolas.
He was all about posing for a variety of pictures.
We had lunch at Miguel's with Hugo. The food was so delicious, but we were definitely stuffed by the time we left.
We walked around the Old Town market, because we never had time as missionaries. Hugo and I found some nice marionettes that we played with.
Good news: even though I haven't practiced for 6 months, I still have mad skills at panning for gold.
After hanging out at the Battalion for a bit, we decided to go to the beach just because we could.
We had a blast, though the water was a little bit cold.
After that we took a tour in Spanish with Hna Mendoza as our guide.
She did an excellent job.
Since we weren't missionaries we went out for ice cream after the tour. It was weird being out so late in San Diego after always being in by 9:30 on the mission.
On Sunday we went to all of the wards and branches we had served in. For me that was only two, but Sis Adams and Lee somehow managed to go to three. I was so proud to see these three in church and in white shirts and ties!
I was also pretty excited that I could hold little Azul. So adorable.
That afternoon we hung out with our Mission President and his wife at their house, which was so fun. Then we came to the battalion for a tour in English.
Sis. Stallings is famous for having made the "best thing out of flour" at some fair in Idaho. Naturally she made us bread, which was so delicious.
We went out to visit some people after the tour. Hna Morales was concerned about my being cold, so she gave me one of her jackets. She said she thought the colors would look great on me because I was white.
The next morning we went to breakfast with Hugo. Walter took a quick tour of the battalion and then we tried several times to drag ourselves away from beautiful San Diego, but we didn't end up leaving until almost 11.
No worries though, we made good time on the way back and didn't fall asleep once.
We stopped at Historic Cove Fort on the way back and a nice old man gave us a 40 minute tour. Not exactly the timing we had hoped for, but it was fun to see.
All in all the trip was perfect!
