11 April 2011

Dear Family,


I'm so very grateful to have received your emails. Ok, I'll review the week and then talk about y'alls messages. Monday- We changed things up and had our proselyting time in the middle of the day since we had had some appointments but then as both of them canceled but it worked out perfectly since the best time to knock doors in this area is between 2-5 so we were able to do that and then no have to go knock doors during creepy hour (8 pm, worst time EVER to not have an appointment and have nothing else to do) So that was great. Tuesday- We had coordination in the morning and then we had language study. I'm trying to memorize a million words before zone conference this week in order to finish the first page of our APM study guide, complete the goal that i set with President Beck and receive my APM pin. So I've been working on 177 Spanish words to memorizes (those are just the ones i don't know yet) and D&C 4 in Spanish. We visited Juana who is a recent convert and had surgery a few weeks ago, so she's just in the house all day. We explained the different priesthood things (priest, teacher, seventy...whats that called again?) and she really wants us to be able to meet with her husband and son and explain it to them since they just received the priesthood. Then we were in Wittman and were quilting. I cut fabric again but tomorrow I get to start a quilt! Wednesday- We had District meeting in the morning and then ate at Subway (its sort of a district tradition) but next week we're super excited since we're having district meeting up here in Wickenburg instead of in Surprise! We're going to take them to Filiberto's which is an awesome Mexican fast food restaurant and is so very good! After lunch we drove to the Mission Office and picked up a large print copy of the book of Mormon for Melvin, who's 83 and had trouble seeing small print. We then had some really great lessons and then ended the day with some studies. Thursday- We weekly planned< knocked doors all day and then ended the day with a fantastic lesson with Dawn and a member! The members here are great...now if only they could speak Spanish. Friday- We knocked some doors, and then had a great lesson with Susan who is just coming back to church and recently stoped smoking !!! We're so excited, shes going to go to the temple soon and do baptisms for the dead and she is so very excited and had such a respect and awe for it. I grew up knowing that when I turned 12 I would be able to do that and it wasn't that big of a deal to me but seeing her having this tremendous joy to be able to go and do that for the first time in her life (she's 53) just makes me realize how great of a blessing it is. Saturday- We went over to an investigators house and helped her paint some rooms in her someday house. They bought and old abandonment house and are fixing it up, so we helped cover up the graffiti with white primer and it was loads of fun. In the evening a member was throwing a house warming party and we were invited so we went to that and there were quite a few of our investigators there so it was a great opportunity to talk with them and get to know them more. Sunday- We went to church and then went to see our ward mission leader's wife since she just had a little baby boy this week. He's so very cute! Then we finally met with our investigator Levi who Hna. Ocho hadn't seen since Feb. He's a very hard man to get a hold of. We talked with him and he said he's wants to be baptized and has a goal of the end of July / August. Longest baptismal commitment I've ever had. But after he's baptized he'll get married to Vicky, who's a member he's been dating for a long time but isn't married to yet since she doesn't marry non-Mormon boys. They're such a cute couple. Levi looks kind of like Billy Idol and David Bowie combined. We met with Dawn in the evening and she wants to be baptized! She's preparing for the 30th of April, which would be just wonderful since Hna. Ocho leaves for home on the 2 of May. Today we had a Zone activity in the morning and we played volleyball and my team got in second place! We were undefeated until the finals and were against a team that we had beat the very first round, but they beat us twice in a row so they one. Then we bought groceries in Surprise since they're cheaper down there and on the way home I picked up a birthday present for Marie since her Birthday is coming up this weekend. Oh, So on Wednesday we have a Zone Conference which I'm really excited about and then on Saturday we're going to go to Mesa with our Mexican investigators and see the Easter Pageant in Spanish. I'm stoked! That's why this week is going to be amazing. I'll tell you more about that next week.

I'm morning the lose of our dear friend Lady Winifred, Duchess of Katz. She was the best Duchess of Katz I've ever known. She shall be missed.

I love you all so very much and miss you tons! Love, Brea

P.S. sorry, but i didn't take any pictures this week. I'll try harder for next week. But I will leave you with an awesome picture I took of the Mesa Temple.

Police and Dogs- March 28, 2011

Dearest Family of mine,


Last week was Hna. Ochocinski's birthday, so in the morning we went over and cooked pancakes for some Seminary students and then the Neal Family took us out for lunch to celebrate. They're a great family and a lot of fun. Their son is getting ready to go on a mission so we have lessons with him every week to help get him ready. He can now focus on preparing since, while riding a bull, he got his leg stepped on by a bull so he can't walk for 6 weeks. Also, on Monday we went over to a recent convert/member's house and had a surprise party for Ocho, and she was actually surprised! Yea, it worked perfectly and was lots of fun. I've got pictures to show you. Ocho misplaced her (driver’s) license for about a week and a half and so she called the vehicle coordinator and changed it so I'm the designated driver. Then the next day she found her license, but she doesn’t want to drive so I still do.

We knocked on a lot of doors this week, but we live in an area where there are a lot of snow birds who are set in their ways and are cranky and old so they don't want to talk to us. On Friday we had a member come with us to our two appointments in the evening and she was so amazing! She's so funny and has a great testimony of the gospel and was perfect for our first appointment. Then as we were on our way to our second appointmen,t which was in Whitman, we were unable to get to the house since there were a lot of police blocking the way and a black hawk was flying through the air. We think we drove into the middle of a Whitman jail break. We're not very sure, but we called our investigator and she wasn't home so we decided that we should probably leave. Earlier on Friday we were knocking doors and talking to people and we went up this really big hill and then when we were finished talking to the people who lived up there we rode down it and it was a LOT of fun. There's a picture of the hill we rode down. Then on Saturday we had an appointment with this old lady who reminds me of great grandma in her looks, not her personality, so we went over there to see her and her little dog (who is either pregnant or just had puppies) tried to attack me! It tried to bite my leg but didn't break the skin and the lady was busy so we just set up a return appointment and left. Then we came home and helped set up a surprise party for one of the members. Since almost all of our investigators were going to be there we were allowed to go. It was so much fun. Mexicans are so funny. Yesterday we tracted a lot in the afternoon and walked around this really hilly area, and I'm feeling that today. No one wanted to talk to us but it was really random and funny. You just got to make the most out of every moment.

That's pretty much all I've been up to all week. This week went by really fast, and Hna. Ocho is going through that freak out of it being her last transfer. It’s going to be great! She thinks I'll be training next transfer since we've heard that 3 new Hna.s are coming in, but we'll see. I love you all lots and lots!

Love,

Brea

Wickenburg Week One and Transfers- March 21, 2011

Hermana Wells points at a scupture of a rattlesnake.
(Really freaked Mom out.)

Hello Family,


I'll start off with what all of you want to know. We received a phone call today from our district leader and he told us that neither of us has transfers! So that means that I get to stay here in Wickenburg with Hna. Ochocinski for another 6 weeks and then she'll be done with her mission. Crazy, I'm going to kill another one of my companions. The crazy thing is that we've talked to some of the other Hermanas (there's only 10 of us) and none of us are getting transferred but at least one of them is getting a baby. We think one or two new Hna. are coming in, but we're not sure since only one set of Hnas. have said they're going to transfer meeting.

So Wickenburg is REALLY BIG! It’s crazy huge and crazy into cowboys and the West. So I've just been trying to get to know the area and get to know the people here. We live in the basement of the Stake President's house and we go to an English [speaking] Ward that has it translated into Spanish for our small number of Spanish members. We're working with the area and our goal is to someday soonish to be able to have a Spanish branch up here. So we teach both in English and in Spanish which is something new for me. I'm glad I was in Encanto first so that I got a better base for my Spanish because it’s going to not be used so much up here. We had a wedding and then a baptism this last Saturday which was a lot of fun. Nothing super exciting to report on. We drive a truck and we need it since we go on some dirt roads and it takes us an hour to get to district meeting in Surprise. But this area will grow on me and someday I'll turn into a cowgirl down here. Don't be surprised if I start wearing cowboy boots, a hat and a big belt buckle. I love you all so much!

Love,

Brea