email of November 9 2009

I’m going to have a baby!

...In mission lingo, that means that I'm going to be TRAINING.

AGFHDAHGFJ KD;AOIGURPEO 8AYUG JKEPATIOUROI AHT;JKLSAJIOG DHSJAKL NVFJKLEAIE;W OAIHG HSGKLAIKW USEGHUIO REWHGDL;S ALKSUDF9OW ;7589473Y HJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right...training. And not just training, but FLUSH training. THAT means that I'm going to an entirely new area, and will be getting an entirely and brand new companion to work with there.

It's kind of a big deal. And I'm kind of scared to death. But also kind of excited. In the words of Elder Gold (one of our APs), it will be a refreshing and also stretching experience for me. So tomorrow I will, once again, be taking my beloved companion up to the mission home, and leaving her there for her final day with the President and his wife (and all the other departing missionaries). Then I'll come back and work with another sister whose companion is going home for the day. Wednesday morning, Sister Tavares, my incredible companion, will fly home to Argentina to start her life all over again. She's really nervous. A little bit LATER on Wednesday morning, I will be going up to the mission home, taking my stuff up to the temple apartments (right behind the mission home and temple), where I'll be living and training for at least the next 6 weeks, then heading over to the Westwood chapel (right behind the temple apartments) to do our little 1st day/Trainer's training dealy-o. Wednesday night I'll go home to a new home, with a brand-new, fresh-from-the-MTC companion. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH dear, I only hope that I'm up to the task. Well, actually, I know that the Lord will make me up to the task, and that makes everything ok. But I'm still nervous. I feel very inadequate, but also very excited. I know that this really will be a growing experience for me!

My new area will be Marina del Rey -- close to the ocean! I'll also get to come home to the sight of the L.A. temple all lit up every night! AND, all the Christmas lights are going up and should be turned on sometime right after Thanksgiving, so that will be wonderful! However, I'm leaving my dear, beloved Downey, with all of my amazing investigators and recent converts, which makes me sad. It's how the mission goes though, and I know the sister (who will also be training) who will be coming in, and I'm SO grateful that she's the one taking over. She'll be great!

I DID finally get the Halloween package -- THANK YOU!!!!! We thoroughly enjoyed it, and yes, I most definitely shared with the elders in my district and zone!

I have some semi-bad news...You know that cute little Halloween card I sent you? Well, just minutes after that picture was taken, we were taking another picture, and my camera was dropped. on the floor of CVS. and then it wouldn't work anymore.
Our Bishop here knows someone who does camera stuff, and took it to get looked at, but the guy said that with the part (something with the lense) and labor, it would probably be easier, and possibly cheaper, to just buy a new camera. I was really sad because I LOVED that camera!

THANKFULLY, all of my pictures are fine; it's just that my camera is completely out of commission at the moment :( I haven't really decided what to do about it yet, but just so that you know, I won't be emailing any pictures anytime real soon.
My companion was actually the one who dropped the camera, and she has felt SO BAD about it. She may or may not be trying to replace it once she gets home, but I told her not to worry too much about it - it was an accident, and I'd feel bad having her pay to replace it. I don't know....

ANYWAYS, on to happier news!

We had a baptism yesterday!!! Vilma was baptized, and it was wonderful! Something that I've learned about baptisms though, at least as a missionary, it seems that things ALWAYS come up/happen right up until the very last minute to interfere with the baptism! Darn satan...always trying to ruin our plans!!! Thankfully, the Lord always steps in too, and things usually go off just fine.

Today, as it's Sister Tavares's last day, and P-day, we've gotten to go to a few of her old areas and see a few of her recent converts. It's been so fun! We had breakfast in Marina del Rey (her first area, where I'm headed!), then went over to Westwood, where we had lunch with some of the funniest people I've ever met! They're two old Jewish women who were baptized in their 60's, I believe (both of them had to wait until their parents died before getting baptized), and they're just hysterical! They also had a good friend there, who is a Muslim from Kuwait. It was SO interesting to talk to him!

So far on my mission, I've met LOTS of Hispanics (Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Chile, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico), a few people from Spain, a Japanese couple, two Egyptians, a German, and now a Kurd (I think that's how you say it...from Kuwait)!
Anyways, we're about to have 2 dinners...uuuuuuuuugh...and THEN we're going to stop by Ron's (one of our favorite investigators), who is cooking us fresh lobster that he caught last week. He also gave us an aloe vera plant, so now we can be like everyone else in California (it seems like EVERYONE has aloe plants here!).

Anyways, things here are going amazing for me! It was great hearing from all of you again this week! Have fun with Samuel and Jacob :) and keep keeping the commandments!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!