Sounds like Halloween was fun for everyone! Our ward hosted an awesome trunk or treat, and there were at least 30 non-members there. It was sweet! It was hard to judge the costume and "best trunk" contests! I totally won the best costume contest at our zone activity last week. It was hilarious, we walked in, and about half of our zone was dressed up in legit disney costumes, and none of us knew anybody else was planning to do that. We had a couple goofys, chip and dale, mickey mouse, donald duck, and I can't remember what else. It was a good time.
We had to go inside early on Halloween; it was nice to have a couple hours to just relax- that never happens. We carved pumpkins with a family in our ward- it was intense. They used a screw driver with a detachable "pumpkin-gutter" and knife/carver. You just plug in the screw driver and power carve out the top, then you attach the pumpkin gutter and detach all the slimy pumpkin guts from inside in about 3 minutes. Then you attach the carver again and carve a perfect picture on the pumpkin. This is the 21st Century, I suppose.
The Jones bought me a new blow dryer haha (they are the ones who buy us groceries sometimes :)) They are so sweet, they bought our groceries again this week. We love them! Their friends came to the trunk or treat, and we hope to start teaching them soon. We've been working with another lady in our ward (the one who gives us dinner presents haha this ward is ridiculously awesome), whose friend comes over every week and we've been able to teach her a few lessons. She says she's not open to hearing the missionary lessons yet, but she has listened to our message for a couple weeks in a row now and enjoys our visits :) she's coming to a baptism this Saturday which is HUGE progress. The elders in our ward have an investigator getting baptized this Saturday and I'm singing a musical number with them. Should be fun and hopefully not too off pitch ha. We're still trying to get in contact with Claude. We don't have any solid investigators. It's really hard because we just walk and knock on doors pretty much all day every day; we get "shooed" a lot. It's just a really wealthy area and most people feel like they already have everything- that's one of the biggest things I miss about Spanish work- the humility. But, I am grateful to be here, and I realize that missionary work is just that, work! We're just waiting to see the fruit of our labors, which I know will come in the Lord's time.
I just got called to be a Sister Trainer Leader! It's exciting and yet makes me a little bit nervous at the same time. I'm excited because that means I get to go on exchanges almost every week, and there's a chance that they'll be in Spanish! It's a lot of responsibility though, and I have to make sure I'm always doing things right because the sisters will be watching a little more closely now. But, the Lord doesn't call the qualified, but rather qualifies whom He calls, so I know I can do it.
Our mission is going to be visited by Elder Packer from them 70 in a couple weeks, and will be introducing to us a new pilot program that we'll be using on Family History. In preparation for that, he has asked that we gather some information about our family. I've been able to get most of the facts from familysearch.org, but was wondering if you could please send me the following:
- where I was born
- birth places of: Mom, Dad, Jake, Torie, Jesse, Grandma, Grandpa (both sides), All of my aunts and uncles (both sides), great grandparents
- short stories or memories about grandparents & great grandparents (I didn't know them!)
- full names of my aunts and uncles and their b-days (as well as the children of my great grandparents)
It's a ton of work, I know! I'm not sure what we'll be doing with this program but I'm excited to find out.
P-day is on Tuesday next week due to Veteran's Day.
Jesse looked like he had a blast hunting! I know he's always wanted to do that, and I'm sure he was living the dream. That was so nice of grandpa to give Jesse the meat and the head! No doubt he is one happy boy right now. Torie looks good on her Senior Night! Good for her! Congratulations on going to Super State! I wish I could be there to see it; I know you guys will do fantastic. I'm glad Torie could stay awake during her stake conference talk haha. I'm also sad to hear about Ardie's husband and will be praying for her. Be safe on your trip mom!
You said one of the elders in your ward is from Idaho and he's super tall. Is his name Elder Jones, by chance? There's an elder in our mission here who told me his brother is serving in Surprise, AZ right now and it's his first area. He's a Spanish elder, but maybe he's in English right now like I am? He's super tall and is from Idaho haha.
I'm happy to hear about all of your missionary efforts :) keep it up! This is the greatest and most important work we can do!
I'm glad you got the pictures from Sandy. We had dinner at their house last night- they have 2 missionaries out right now, too. She's the daughter of Mr. Marriott from Marriott Hotels... and we have the previous CEO from Clorox in our ward. Just to give you an idea of the kind of people I'm working with here... :) Let's just say super sweet and gorgeous homes. You know what's neat though? Even though these members are wealthy, they are still so humble and so generous with what they have. They are so missionary-minded and are willing to give everything to serve the Lord. :) and that's the way it should be.
I love you all! Have a great week and be safe and happy!
