Updates from Hermana Wilson

email of 22 November 2010

2010-11-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

Colorin, Colorado, este cuenta se ha acabado...pues, esta acabando :)‏

My dear family,

Hello! for the last time from California as a missionary! It's crazy that I'm actually here, at the end. I was reading through some of my early journal entries this morning, and remembering how hard the first little while of my mission was! Looking back now, it's funny because I remember, but it's not as vivid anymore. I don't feel the pain of it anymore; rather, it's just sort of a distant memory of a seeming lifetime ago. I'm such a different person and missionary now, and I am so eternally grateful to a loving, perfectly patient Heavenly Father, Savior, and many companions who have helped me grow and learn and change and become along the way. I've come a looooooooong way as a missionary! And as a person! I'm by no means perfect, but by golly, I'm better! My biggest goal as a missionary has been to become all that the Lord wants me to be, both as a missionary and as His daughter; I've sought to be an instrument in His hands in bringing to pass His great work, and I think that I have. I've at least tried to give my all.

I was also reading this morning my mission theme scriptures. The first here is the one that I found, I think in the MTC, and decided that this would be my goal. The second is one that I came across sometime in the middle of my mission, and thought, "Wow. I hope that can be said of me at the end of my time here in the field."

Alma 26

(the italics is my personal commentary :)

Alma 17
2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. that's the verse Dad wrote on my pillowcase!
3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and afasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with bpower and authority of God.
4 And they had been teaching the word of God *for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites, (that's the best part -- I've served among the lamanites!) having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the altar of God, to call on his name and confess their sins before him.
5 Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger check!, thirst check! and fatigue BIG check!, and also much labor in the spirit. Yep, that's a perfect description of missionary circumstances8 And thus they departed into the wilderness with their numbers which they had selected, to go up to the land of Nephi, to preach the word of God unto the Lamanites.
9 And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.
10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.
11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. This verse (11) is the one that's been my theme
12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.
13 And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken.
14 And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands.
15 Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lord were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance.
Ok, if verses 14 and 15 aren't a pretty perfect description of my mission, I'm not sure what is.
16 Therefore, this was the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption.

Alma 26:
1 My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?
2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?
3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.
4 Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God.
5 Behold, the afield was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.
6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.
7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will braise them up at the last day.
8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.

I know this is the Lord's work. I know that it is true and real, and that it really is the errand of angels. Of all the titles I've had and will have in my life, I think my favorite has been "my angel". I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I know that the Atonement is real, and so powerful! Both the Redeeming and Enabling power have blessed and lifted me over and over and over again in the last 18 1/2 months, both when I was aware of it and when I wasn't. I know that the Plan of Salvation really is a perfect, merciful plan of happiness! I know that as we do what the Lord asks, and keep the commandments, we are truly led to the happy, abundant life that He wants for us! I know too that if we haven't, we can repent and be healed! Is it easy? Absolutely not. Is it worth it and completely possible? Absolutely. This gospel is true! Jesus Christ restored it through the prophet, Joseph Smith, and we have a living prophet today! The Book of Mormon IS the word of God, and one of my most prized possessions! I know it's true -- I know it!

This has truly been the best year and a half of my life!

I love you all more than I can express in words. Thank you for everything; I am who I am largely in part to your love and encouragement and support throughout my whole life. Not a single one of you is exempt from that statement either, so don't even think about it!

I love you!!

I have LOVED being a missionary!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!

-----------------------

Stay tuned, I'm sure Sister Sallie will have at least one more letter to add after she gets home. . .

email of 16 November, 2010

2010-11-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

NOTE: As you may note from her letter below, Hermana Wilson is coming home VERY shortly! Like next Wednesday, November 24!!! Now I know this is the day before Thanksgiving and many of you have already made plans, but if you are available and you would like to, you are welcome to gather with us at the Augusta Regional Airport (1501 Aviation Way · Augusta, Georgia 30906...(Bush Field)...it's out on Doug Barnard Pkwy south of I-520) to welcome her home. Her flight arrives at 8:20 pm. Thanks for ALL your support and faithful readership . . . enjoy her last two letters. (Sallie's dad)

Buenas Tardes !!!

Hello, Hello!!!!

This isn't quite a departing email...I've got one more yet! It's coming soon (to a theater near you...) though!

(Mom, sorry for repeating this part, but I decided to include this note in the big email too...)

Well, after last week's craziness of ZC and trainings and firesides and almost NO WORKING, I've decided to work as hard as I possibly can this week. This is my only/last shot at all of this, and I want to give it everything I possibly can! So the plan is to work ourselves into the ground this week; pray for miracles and find them! We're biking twice (today and Thursday), and we've set our goals high, and whatever happens, it's going to be a great week!

Super News for this week! Rogelio got baptized! The baptism went great, too! He's so sweet, and said that he felt like a "new man" coming up out of the water! He came too to the departing fireside afterwards and loved it. He cried during one of the musical numbers, and wasn't really sure why, or what to do; my companion helped him understand that it was the Spirit, and a good thing. I'm excited for him to be confirmed next Sunday!

We have a new mission challenge -- to read the entire BofM by Dec. 31st. I'm excited because I think it will really help me stay on the ball spiritually when I get home! I LOVE that book!!!

The departing fireside was wonderful! There are 8 of us going home together, and we all got to bear our testimonies. I was really nervous, for some reason, standing up to bear my testimony, and then to do a musical number a few minutes later, but it went really well. I contemplated talking a little bit about why I'd come, or how my experiences had all been, but decided that I wanted my departing testimony to be just that -- a sharing of my testimony of the Savior, the truthfulness of this work, the love of my Heavenly Father, and the powerful influence all of that has had in my life. All of that is so true, and I know it! I love being a missionary!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

I LOVE Being A Missionary!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 10 November 2010

2010-11-10T17:13:00.001-08:00

Andale pues!?

I love the temple! Today was our temple p-day, and was, as usual, wonderful! It's so nice to be able to go and sort of escape for a little while. I love the purity and peace of the temple, and the beautiful spirit that I feel when I go.

This place is so dirty! It rained Sunday night, so Monday it was super clear -- almost like driving in Utah, the way we could see the mountains! And then today, as we were driving back from the temple, we were back to our usual smog-cover where you can't even tell there are mountains! Dirt and grime and a ridiculous amount of people in such a small area, a lot of wickedness and a lot of good...I love L.A.!

This week is a little crazy for us here! Monday we went on splits with the full-field sister trainers, Sis Nef and Sis Williamson. I got to go downtown with Sis Nef for the day, which was fun! Then today is temple pday, tomorrow is Zone Conference, Friday we have a training till 3, and Sunday is Rogelio's baptism and the departing fireside! It's been kind of a pain trying to set appointments this week! But it's great! Splits were good, the temple was wonderful, I'm thoroughly looking forward to ZC and the training, and, of course, a baptism on Sunday! Can life get better than this?! I submit that it can NOT! (That's for you, Clark, Mike, and Mellers...). Actually, if we could have a few more hours in the week to do our normal work, life would be better, but I still love it!

I don't think I've told you yet about the departing fireside this Sunday! Every month, there's a president's fireside that pres does for recent converts, less actives, investigators, members, whoever. Now they've decided to replace that once a transfer with a fireside by all the departing missionaries. We'll all bear testimony, have some special musical numbers (which I was put in charge of organizing), etc. I'm really looking forward to it, especially since we have the chance to invite RCs, LAs, members, formers, etc from our old areas to come, and we'll have a little bit of time to visit with them afterwards. I'm SO excited for that!!!

Now, as for the work right now! Rogelio is doing great! He's scheduled for baptism this Sunday, and is progressing. We've been teaching/reviewing a lot in the last week and a half, helping him prepare (which has included purging his tiny apartment of coffee and other items not in accordance with the commandments!), and I feel like he's going to be ready! Gladhys is also doing well, but has not been able to make it for church yet...she's so awesome though! She really gets it -- teaches US half the time!

OH! Faustino has come to church the last 2 sundays in a row, and last Sunday he was asked to give the closing prayer in SS!!! He did so good too! I was a little nervous that he'd close in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but he didn't!

I've decided not to be nervous and afraid anymore. I'm just working and living and loving!!!

The church is true!!!!!!!

I Love you SO MUCH!!!!!

I LOVE Being a Missionary!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!

email of 25 October 2010

2010-11-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Guess what today is?

Day 500!

Yep, my FIVE HUNDREDTH DAY of being a missionary!!! Can you believe that?!?! Crazy huh?!

Well family, here I am, coming to you again from California (where else?). Hey guess what? Do you remember Bro McCullouch? He was the stake YM pres for a while when we lived in Rock Hill...his son, Pace, was one of Joseph's friends...anyways, they have another son who is serving in my mission right now, and we happened to be at the same library at the same time today! How crazy, huh?! Apparently their family moved to Utah about 6 months ago, so he knows and gave me a few little updates on people back in charlotte! So cool!

Hmmmm, let's see. What something cool has happened this week in the missionary life of yours truly?

Well, we went to the VC with some investigators this last Friday, which was really good! Probably the best part though, was having a few minutes to talk to one of the sisters working there who is in my old area of Marina del Rey. She was giving me a little update of some of the people there, which was SO GOOD!!! Most especially, I think, Patricia. I love that woman so much, and it is such a joyful thing to be one of the missionaries who has had the privilege of watching her grow and change so much! I taught her almost my entire time in MdR (6 months), and she got baptized shortly after I left. Anyways, apparently she did baptisms for the dead in the temple for the first time not too long ago, and told the sisters what an amazing experience it was and how much she loved it!!! AND she really felt the Spirit at General Conference, especially when Pre. Monson spoke. It's just one of the most wonderful things to hear that she's doing so well, especially because I know how far she's come! I think maybe it's a little like watching your children grow up...if so, I agree with the scripture that there's nothing better than to know that my "children" walk in truth! THIS is why I love being a missionary!!!!!!!

Earlier this week we tracted into a lady named Maria. She's a really funny lady. When she first came out and started talking to us, all she would talk about was how terrible and sad it was that we leave our families and go so far away to do this. She had met some other missionaries a while back, and that was pretty much the only thing she remembered. Anyways, we asked if we could come in and teach her, a she agreed. Catholic by birth, she attends a Christian church and goes to JW bible study classes during the week (I know, quite the variety, right?). As we began teaching her, she told us that the other missionaries had given her one of our books (the Book of Mormon), and then found and puled it off her shelf. Really dusty and definitely unread, but at least she had one, I guess :) Well, as we were talking, my companion all the sudden said, "Do you know what that is?!," which kind of surprised Maria. Then she (my comp) proceeded to tell her very excitedly what an incredible thing it was that she had in that book! Maria was really taken aback and surprised, but then got really excited too, and just thanked us and thanked us because she had this great treasure, this book that is so valuable, and she'd had no idea! She seemed so happy and just hugged the BofM, saying how valuable it was, which kind of surprised us! People don't usually react like that when we tell them about the Book of Mormon! So then we invited her to come to church, to which she quickly replied, "No, like I told you, I already go to a Christian church."
DAH!

What's funny is that it wasn't mean or rude or malicious at all, just very matter-of-fact. So we continued teaching her because she was still very happy and excited about the BofM; we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted!!! She was so happy about it too! She told us how she'd been baptized catholic as a baby, but not as an adult, when she really knew what she was doing, and that she really wanted to. Sweet! So we talked a little about that, and then invited her to church again; we figured she would for sure, since she'd just agreed to baptism. Wrong! Just the same as before, she sweetly, quickly, matter-of-factly replied, "No, remember, I go to that Christian church."

If there was a word to properly describe the slightly deflated, shoulder-drooping, she-obviously-doesn't-get-it, uggh sort of feeling that comes at moments like these, I would use it here. I don't think there is though, so this description will just have to do.

Anyways, we talked to her a little more about it and set a return appointment, and we're going to try again when we go over tomorrow...IT was a pretty funny experience though!

OH!!!! Abraham got confirmed! FINALLY!!!!!!!! He's been MIA in Tijuana for the last several weeks, and we were getting a little worried. Something about your just-baptized, but unconfirmed investigator leaving town without a specific return date and no real way to get a hold of him makes a missionary worry a little bit. But he made it back safe and sound, was confirmed Sunday, and has an appointment to meet with the bishop about getting the PH this week!!!

All in all, life is good, and as always, I Love Being A Missionary!!!!!!! The church is still true, and I know it!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

email of 01 November 2010

2010-11-01T19:04:00.001-07:00

Haloooooooo!!!!!

This will probably be pretty short because I spent a lot of my time reading and writing individually today...which I'm totally fine with, and hope you are too! If any of you see repeats from your individual email, sorry!

Happy Halloween!!! Last Halloween we were home in our apts for the night by 6pm...and had eaten dinner with la familia cristobal, now that I remember :) This year, we had a zone activity instead, which was really fun! We all met at the USC institute and had a little cook-out dinner and just some time to kind of chill out...unheard of for a missionary!!! It was fun though -- there was a group of us playing "Celestial Pursuit," which, by the way, is ridiculously hard, especially if you were born after 1984 and haven't studied the silly little details of obscure people, stories and facts in church history and the scriptures! It was really fun though, and I found a fellow scripture scout while we were playing!!! The question was something about the Zoramite's Rameumtum prayer, and I was quoting "Thanks for making me so special..." when one of the elders turned to me and said, "Hey! Scripture Scouts!" It was so funny! And SO FUN! Noone really understands SS unless they've experienced them...otherwise they just think you're a little weird.

This whole end-of-mission thing is hard. I'm really happy and excited to come home and to see and be with all of my family and everything again, but I'm also really scared. I'm scared to go back to being "normal," and to loose the missionary bubble. I know that I currently live in one of the most worldly places ever, but I'm so scared to go back and live in the world. Maybe scared isn't quite the right word, but maybe it is. I don't know. I just can't believe that the end is looming so near...I'm really trying to work as hard as I can and just not think about it, but it's a little difficult to avoid. But it's ok. I know it is. It's just daunting to look ahead to real life and the future. Exciting, and scary, and happy, but daunting. Oh the unknown.

I am SO GLAD that I came on a mission! This is by far the best decision I have ever made in my life.

I KNOW the church is true, that my Savior lives, and that this is His work and glory!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

email of 18 October 2010

2010-10-18T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hello!!!!!!!

Well, like the subject line says, I was right! Heavenly Father is letting me stay here in S. Lynwood with Sister Fitzgerald for my last transfer! I'm really glad because that means I'll get to die speaking Spanish, and we have some really good work going on here right now! It'll be fun to be 3 transfers with Sis Fitzgerald too; there are for sure times when we both have rather mixed feelings about being together, but it's also a great experience in getting to know and love a person in the way that you do with a companion. We have (and continue to) learned a lot about love, compassion, understanding, charity, patience, and unity. We also have a ton of fun and very "molding and shaping" spiritual experiences together, and I'm grateful that we get to stay companions. It's funny though, the other day I was thinking about that old movie we have -- "It's a Miracle" -- and the part where the main character and his companion are having it out ("You want my peelings?"), and the way they sing at the end, "We're companions, we're companions, and we're going to get along!" I just had to laugh because sometimes that really describes our relationship. Now, I don't want you to think that my companion and I hate each other and never get along, because that's definitely not the case! We're just two different people who have had to stretch and change a lot in order to really work and be our best together, but it has really built and strengthened my testimony a lot, and I know that the Lord is in it! You see, we need each other -- both of us for whatever different reasons -- and I've learned SO MUCH from being with her! Anyways, all that to say that I love my companion, and am looking forward to another transfer together!

I did not end up singing at a mission-wide conference this weekend...it was cancelled because the visiting authority (E. Clayton of the 70) who had called it all together was assigned to go to another meeting of sorts instead. Oh well!

I'm trying to think of something funny/cool that happened this week...

We carved pumpkins for our Zone Activity this morning! Sis. F and I made a sick missionary pumpkin, one set of elders made a "El Libro de Mormon," and another carved the plan of salvation! So Funny! We took ours and the PoS to put on our balcony :) And Mom, guess what? My comp's favorite holiday is Halloween too!

Abraham still isn't back from Tijuana....we're kinda worried, but still praying our little hearts out and trusting that everything will be ok!

Rogelio is continuing to progress, and we're also now teaching a young single mom named Gladis, who is AWESOME!!! She's a former that we went back to visit, and she's totally ready now! The biggest struggle with her right now is that she works nights cleaning a movie theater, so the earliest she usually gets home on Sunday morning is about 10...church starts at 9:30, and it's Sacrament Mtg first. She got there in time for the last two classes yesterday, and really loved it, but we're going to have to figure something out for S.M.!!!!! I'm praying that she can get a new job...

We also met a girl and her little sister -- Jasmine and Jacqueline -- who are so cute, and really excited to learn about the gospel and get baptized!!! we had a great little lesson with them last night, and they committed to baptism on the 7th of November too!!! That's 5 people we're teaching now with dates for the 7th!!!!! PLEASE pray for them!!!

I want you all to know that I really, really do know that this is Jesus Christ's true gospel restored here on the earth! I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true, and I KNOW that the Atonement is real!!!!

I Love Being A Missionary!!!!!!!

I Love YOU!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 12 October, 2010

2010-10-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

Did you know that I am a missionary? Can you believe that?!?! I AM A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!

How in the world do these things happen? I've been thinking a lot about life lately and where I am in mine...I am a missionary. I am actually a sister missionary...almost a returned sister missionary! That's so weird. This was one of those things that I always just kind of thought about (or tried not to think about :), and wondered if I actually would, or even could do, and here I am! I have actually come and served...almost to the end now! I don't know that I ever knew I could really do this, but here I am! It's a little surreal, but not. Actually, I have to choose not to live in the surreal; otherwise I'm too focused on me, and not enough on what I'm here to do, and it won't get done! But that was just a thought I wanted to share this morning...I am a missionary!

And ok, I know this makes me totally sound like an old person, but since when did Thomas get old enough to go join the military?!?! Holy Cow have I lost track of time! I could've sworn he was only 15 or 16, tops; apparently not...congrats though! I hope everything continues going well for him in the National Guard (right?)!

Well, tomorrow's the first day of my twelfth transfer in the field! Pretty crazy! We'll find out our fates tonight...if we're staying or going. I'm guessing that both Sis. Fitzgerald and I will be staying together here in S. Lynwood (which would make her the companion I've been with the longest -- 3 transfers), but who knows! Sometimes President has some funny tricks up his sleeves, so we'll see...

If you don't mind, please say a few prayers for Abraham! He still hasn't been confirmed because he's had to go to Tijuana the last two weekends...first to see his mom before she moved back to Guadalajara, and then this weekend because one of his best friends died. He was so sad, and planned on going down for the weekend, coming back on Sunday or Monday. However, we haven't heard from him yet, so we're really hoping that everything is ok!!!

On the up side of things, we have a new investigator -- Rogelio Montes! He's really great, and we're super excited about him! He's an older single man probably somewhere in his 50's or 60's(...sorry mom and dad! note that I didn't say that he's old...just older). Anyways, we tracted into him a few weeks ago, and were finally able to go back and see him this week! He seems to be a very humble, honest seeker of truth

**quick side note: So yesterday we were playing with/redoing the ringtones on our cell phone, and we recorded us singing the mail song from blues clues for our voicemail alert. So just now, sitting here in the library, all the sudden we hear from Sis Fitzgerald's bag, "Here's the mail, it never fails! It makes me..." SO FUNNY!!! She very quickly grabbed and silenced it, but not before being startled by it and getting a little embarrassed (she gets embarrassed really easily).**

Back to Rogelio! We taught him twice this week, and he came to church (!!!!!!!!!!!!) Sunday, and to a Mission President's fireside Sunday night! He has really good questions, and you can just tell that he wants to be happy and is seeking to know and do the Lord's will. He's scheduled for baptism the 7th of November! He was so cute after church on Sunday because Hermana Lilia (a recent convert of not quite a year who we've been using as a fellowshipper) was talking to him a lot, and had shown him her Book of Mormon where she'd had different missionaries write their names and phone numbers inside the front cover, so he came over to us and asked if we'd do that too in his. He seems very happy and muy contento with everything, and I just love to see him!

We finally had to drop (stop teaching...at least for a while) Faustino and Margie. :( They just weren't progressing, and wouldn't make the gospel a priority right now. UGH! I hope and pray that someday they will, but right now just isn't the time, I guess. It's so frustrating because we know that they know, but there's a lack of willingness in a lot of areas. Oh well. As sad as it is, it's kind of relieving too because it frees us up more to be able to find and teach those who are ready and truly elect right now!

Hopefully you got the little package I sent by now! Mom, thanks again SO MUCH for the cute little Halloween package you sent me! I've been thoroughly enjoying the granola and m&ms, and we'll probably carve our little pumpkins next p-day!

Sorry I haven't actually followed through on telling you about different converts...I may or may not do better at that, but it's whatever!

I'll be singing again at a mission-wide conference on Saturday! Pray for me!

I know the church is true and I love it!!!! I LOVE this gospel, I LOVE the Book of Mormon, and I LOVE being involved in this great work!!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 04 October 2010

2010-10-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

Happy October! The weather finally agrees! Last week it was ridiculously, unbearably hot -- seriously, 104, 106, 112 degrees almost every day! But today it's beautiful! It's really great October, fall, Halloween weather! It's been cool, gray and drizzly all day. A little on the chilly side, but that's a nice little change from the heat!

YAYAYAYAYAYAY for General Conference!!!!!

Yes, I LOVED conference!!! I totally meant to bring my notes and share a few things, but alas, it is at home sitting on my desk. Oh well, I'll try to share a few thoughts. I loved Pres. Monson's opening remarks...something about being a full-time missionary just makes those comments and talks stand out a little more :) I was really impressed with Elder Christofferson's comments about living a consecrated life. I wrote the 5 or so points on a 3x5 card with the words "How consecrated am I?" to remind me and help me stay focused.

Mom and Dad, I especially want to thank you. As E. Holland spoke about his mission and the sacrifice made by his parents, it really brought me to tears as I thought about the incredible love and sacrifice you've always given me, especially in coming on this mission. Also in E. Lawrence's talk, as he mentioned the 5 things that will keep your children anchored (Family prayer, scripture study, FHE, family dinners, and personal interviews), I could look back on my life and see what a great blessing all of those have been to me. So thank you. I know we weren't perfect, but like it's been said, we don't have to be. Perfection does not come in this life, but thank you for working so hard to do all of those things, even and especially when it was hard. I know you always say that you were blessed with good kids, but we don't just turn out like this on accident! I can honestly say, with Nephi and Joseph Smith that I was born of goodly parents who loved and taught me in the ways of the Lord, and I am eternally indebted to you for that. Thank you. I Love You SO MUCH.

I miss you, you know! Sometimes here at the end it's hard not to think about or look forward to being home with you again. As much as I love my mission and am not looking forward to leaving it, I'm really looking forward to seeing and being with my family again!

PRESS FORWARD, SAINTS!!!!!

I also loved Pres. Uchtdof's talk! It's been interesting on my mission to see people from so many different walks of life, to see their lives, their joys and challenges, and to learn from them, both good and bad. I can really see the great importance of following Pres. Uchtdorf's counsel of simplifying and making sure that we know and have a strong relationship with the Lord, others, and ourselves! I was really struck with the impression of how important it will be for me to keep up my personal scripture study and prayers, and not to get caught up in the snares of wasting time on unimportant things once I'm home and in school and everything. Oh how important it is to put the Lord first!!! I see it, I see it, I see it! When we forget Him and let other things come in the way, we slowly, gradually let go of the rod and get lost! I DON'T WANT TO GET LOST!!!!!!!

Something that I've been thinking a LOT about lately is how important and what a blessing it is to keep the commandments (just ask my companion -- I say this all the time!). Oh my goodness, I just wish the whole world would JUST KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!! There is so much sadness and heartache and misery in the world, just because people break the commandments -- those natural and moral laws established by our Father in Heaven for our joy and happiness. Do you realize how much happier the world would be if everyone would just follow God and keep the commandments?!?! It breaks my heart as I see individuals and families suffering with the results of bad decisions. Por ejemplo, the RC (recent convert) family where the husband and wife got married just before her baptism so that she could be baptized, who are now getting a divorce because the wife is having an affair. She moved out, and the husband has been struggling to make ends meet and take care of his son. Their 9 year old son is now having to deal with parents fighting over custody, and just terrible sad circumstances and consequences. It kills me -- absolutely breaks my heart to see them suffering and so sad. And we see it every day...people breaking the law of chastity, the word of wisdom...pretty much any commandment you can think of, we see it being broken, and we see the terrible sadness that it brings; are they happy? NO! I can honestly say that most of the sadness and suffering I see everyday is a direct result of someone choosing not to obey God. Truly, wickedness NEVER was happiness!!! As Harvey Carroway always said, "Keep the commandments and you'll be blessed."

That is my plea for the day: Please, Please, PLEASE just keep the commandments!!!! I promise you'll be so much happier if you just will! Heavenly Father promises that, and He definitely doesn't lie!

Now, all that said, I know there are other things in life that cause us grief and sorrow that aren't direct results of sin, but I know too that throught the Atonement of Jesus Christ, peace, comfort and and underlying sense of joy or even just being ok can be ours if we'll follow Him and allow Him to heal us.

Ok, ok, all that said, I'm doing GREAT! I'll keep you in my prayers, and you keep praying for me, ok? I need you!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

who LOVES being a missionary!!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 28 September 2010

2010-09-28T15:53:00.001-07:00

Hello Hello Hello!!!!!!

So there's this funny old black man sitting two computers down from me, who has been reading/talking to himself the whole time we've been here. It's not a quite mutter either. He's just reading and talking as if he were talking to someone next to him. Here's what I've learned in about the last 1/2 hour: Pres. Carter is recovering just fine after having been carried off a plane with a stomach ache recently, the U.S. dollar is depreciating (says some Chinese political guy) and is in crisis, and something about the American Dream. I think he started off doing his taxes or something, but now he's just reading news. Out Loud. And it's all we can do not to crack up out loud, though I don't know if he would notice even if we did. :) I'll keep you updated throughout the email with comments like **this**.

How are all of you doing this week?! I am FANTASTIC, here in South Lynwood, California! I have pictures for you from our BAPTISM this weekend, but I'll be sending them next week when I'm hopefully on a computer that I can send them from a little easier.

**We are 3.5 trillion this year**

ABRAHAM (pronounced Ah-Brahm) GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! Faustino and Margie did not, but they will! Abraham's baptism was wonderful though!!! He is a walking miracle, and the process of finding, teaching, and helping him get baptized has been so incredible! Truly, truly one of the elect! I've decided that from here on out, I'm going to try to include the conversion story of at least one of my converts in my email each week; partially so that you can enjoy reading about and getting to know some of my favorite people in the world, but also to help preserve some of my own memories!

This week: Abraham (duh)!

Abraham is the first baptism in my entire mission that I can attribute to tracting! The very last week of my 10th transfer, Sis. Fitzgerald and I decided to tract one day on a street in our area named 2nd Ave. We were on bike that day, and had been knocking doors for about 15 minutes, when we knocked on a door that was opened by a young man named Hector. Hector is about 15, and seemed pretty interested. He told us he wanted to know if families could be together forever. GOLDEN, right? So as we continued to teach him there at the door, his dad walked up and started talking to us too. He seemed semi-interested, though more so in the two cute white missionary girls standing on his porch than in their message. However, both made return appointments, and we were really excited! So we went back the following Tuesday for our appt with Hector Jr....not there. Oh well, maybe he forgot or changed his mind or something -- he is only 15. Saturday, Sept.4th 2010, we went back for our appt with Hector Sr. He was home -- Yay!

**Obama's seekin' power...evesdroppin'...internet cellphone wire taps**

So we went in and sat down, and Hector began talking to us about how he's Catholic, and how his parent were Catholic, (etc, etc, etc...typical Mexican), and so he was happy to talk to us, but, I mean, OBVIOUSLY he wasn't going to change religion or anything -- he's Catholic! Oh Brother.

BUT, his nephew, Abraham, had just moved in that day from Mexico, and was really interested in learning more! YAY!!!!

Ok, long story really short, we taught Abraham that night, he came to church the next day, we taught him again on Monday, and he committed to getting baptized, and 3 1/2 weeks later he was!!!!!

**there are 433 banks IMMEDIATELY in danger of failing**

Hopefully I can write a more next week!!!

I Love you SO MUCH!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie
...who loves being a missionary!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 20 September 2010

2010-09-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Helloooooo!!!

How is everyone?!

Well, we had stake conference this weekend! We only went to the Sunday session (the Stake Center is really far away, and we didn't have any investigators who could go), but it was great! I'm so grateful that I speak and understand Spanish now! It really makes, well, everything, much more enjoyable and edifying. The talks were mostly on missionary work, but the stake president gave a really great talk about charity.

After stake conf, we went up to the Visitor's Center with our RC, Javier. It was SO GOOD!!! I LOVE our VC, and really, really, really hope that I'll have a chance sometime to come back here with you to show you too! There are so many awesome things there, and such a special spirit!

Ok, we needs LOTS of prayers this week! We have 3 baptisms scheduled for this Sunday, and it's going to really take the hand of the Lord and a few miracles from Him for it to all go well, but we've been praying our little hearts out, and are doing our best to do our part! Faustino, Margie, and Abraham are all going to be baptized on Sunday, and I am SO excited!!! It's amazing to see their progress, and the changes in their lives!!! So please, please, please include them and us in your prayers this week!!!

Ok, here's my funny missionary story for the week. It was way funnier in person, but hopefully you get a little laugh out of it:

So on Saturday, we were walking down the sidewalk to our car, and there was a boy, his mother, and grandmother walking towards us. The boy looked to be about 15 or so, with some type of mental handicap, and his mom was walking along with his grandmother, who was very old and frail, holding her arm to support and help her as they walked. Well, as we were walking towards them, the boy called out to us:

"Hey, that's a nice car!" (We drive a little 2009 silver Toyota Corolla)
"Thanks," We replied, enjoying his bubbly friendliness.
"Yeah, it's dirty!" he said, enthusiastically

That's the first funny part of the story. But then it continued:

"Yeah, it is, huh? Good thing we're going to wash it on Monday!"
"You're going to wash it on Monday?"
"Yep, that's our car washing day! See, we're missionaries, and we only do that kind of stuff on Mondays."
"Ooh," he said, kind of trailing off, but still very enthusiastic and happy to talk to us.
"Hey, can I give you a card?" I asked, walking over to him
"Yeah! What's it for?"
"Well, do you like to read, or do you like movies better?"
"I like to read!"
"Great! I have a card for you that you can call to get a free book that talks about Jesus!" I said, reaching into my planner to get one out for him.

Now this was the best part: As I was standing there next to him, reaching to get a card, he just reached right over and stroked my arm! It startled me for a second, and I thought he might be going in for a hug, so I got the card, turned and handed it to him, then quickly took a little step back. We talked to him and his mom for another second, then they kept walking and we left, but it was so funny, and we laughed about it all day! I know it's probably not nearly as funny just reading it, but it was hilarious in the moment, and just so sweet! Standing right there on the side of Long Beach Blvd in Compton, CA., and this sweet little handicapped boy told us we had a dirty car, then stroked my arm! Only on a mission!

Have a great week, and know that you're always in my thoughts and prayers!!!

I LOVE Being A Missionary!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T17:25:00.001-07:00

Good Monday Afternoon!!!!!

How is my darling family this week?!

Here in sunny So Cal things are going great! We had a good week at church this week -- 3 investigators, and they stayed for all three hours! The best part was that they liked it! Margie, Faustino's wife said that it didn't even feel like 3 hours, and she really enjoyed it. The down side is that we currently have only one investigator with a baptismal date. That is wonderful for him, but not as wonderful for the other 2 who came to church. You see, one thing that we're really encouraged to do is have a baptismal date for each investigator who comes to church, but try as we might, it just doesn't always work out that way. We went over to teach F&M after church, with the intent of teaching them an awesome, spiritually powerful lesson and inviting them to be baptized on Sept 26th.

We did not have an awesome, spiritually powerful lesson wherein they were invited and accepted the invitation to be baptized on Sept. 26th.

It was a really frustrating, difficult, and potentially discouraging lesson.

BUT we press forward, saints! We are NOT discouraged, and DID gain wisdom and understanding in how to handle some of the concerns and challenges that those particular investigators face, but it wasn't quite the way we'd have liked to find it out. I cannot express to you how much I love these people and just want them to be happy, or the frustration that comes when we don't understand each other (due to the spiritual language barrier, not the English-Spanish one), when we as missionaries fail to listen to the Spirit, and they in turn fail to progress the way they could! It's so hard! I just so wish sometimes that I really had the words and the ability to express my feelings and knowledge and desire for their salvation and happiness, but it just doesn't always come out/have the effect the way that I want it to! But it's coming -- I can just feel it!

Anyways, that was just a little challenge that we had yesterday that I thought I'd share with you. Missionary work is wonderful and joyful, but it's really tough sometimes!!!

We found some really great new/potential investigators this week, and I'm really excited to go back, teach them, and help them come unto Jesus Christ through His gospel and baptism!!! It was crazy because one day this week, as we were tracting/street contacting, we ran into 3 people right in a row who were really interested and pretty stinking golden! Right in a row! It was almost too good to be true!

Abraham is doing great -- reading, praying, coming to church, progressing!!!!

I hope that you all have a WONDERFUL week, and I love you and know that the church is true!!! I LOVE the Book of Mormon SO MUCH!!!!!

Oh, by the way, there's flour in my ears because for our zone activity today we played "capture the flag paint ball" with flour-filled nylon (as in old knee-highs) balls instead of paint balls. SO fun!!! You see, there's a new policy out that Sister missionaries are no longer required to wear nylons (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), so most of us have moved to wearing the little footies instead; that means there is a plethora of unused nylons, which make for really good flour paint balls!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of September 06, 2010

2010-09-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: New photos added at the bottom of the page!!!)

Ok, so loading and sending pictures kind of takes a while, so I don't have a ton of time to write, but write I will with what time I have!!!!!

Pday is kind of a funny day of the week; it's nice because I have a chance to take care of everything for the week coming, but it's a pain because there's always SO MUCH to do! Also, I've discovered that I really do not enjoy shopping very much, especially grocery shopping. Mostly because it's just a lot of trouble, it's time-consuming, and the music they play kills me! OH THE MUSIC!!!!!!!!! THAT is why missionaries are only allowed to listen to uplifting spiritual music...it's SO easy to be distracted otherwise!

So there's this funny thing that they do here in Lynwood, and that is that they only allow yard sales on a specific weekend (sat and sun) every 3 months. This last weekend was one of those weekends. It's was nuts how many yard sales there were! We counted at least 25 within probably about a 3 mile distance! I couldn't help but think that Mom and Aunt Julie would have been in yard sale HEAVEN...except that probably 90% of those yard sales were run by people who don't speak any English :) Too bad they don't have yard sales on Mondays...

We've had a good week here! Javier was confirmed yesterday, which was great; we also have a new investigator who we met and taught for about 20 minutes on Saturday night who then came to church on Sunday, and Sunday pm asked for a BofM!!!!! His name is Abraham, and he almost seems a little too good to be true!!!

Something I've really been focusing on, praying for, and working on is recognizing and following the Spirit, and I've had some really good experiences this week with it! Probably the biggest thing that I'm realizing is just how small and quiet that voice usually is. It really is like E. Bednar taught us at the MTC: as long as we're "being good," obeying the commandments and keeping our covenants, doing our best to do our best, we're guided! And most of the time we don't even realize it until later! But it's a beautiful thing to be led by the Spirit, and I'm grateful to have the knowledge that I have, the gift of the HG, and to have the fulness of the gospel in my life!!!

The Church is TRUE!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

...who loves being a missionary!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 30 August 2010

2010-08-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon!!!

How are all of you this beautiful Monday?! I'm doing GREAT here in Lynwood, and I have some GREAT stories for you from this week!!!

First of all, JAVIER GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The baptism was yesterday (Sunday) at 5pm. Well, it was supposed to be at 5pm...Latin Mormon Standard Time is a thing to be reckoned with, so the baptism actually didn't really start until about 5:40pm, but it DID start, and went beautifully! Afterwards, we went over to Javier's for dinner -- we made them the Italian chicken goop from Nauvoo, and it was delicious! It was SO great to see Javier after his baptism -- they invited him to come up and share his testimony, and he just shared very sweetly how good he felt and how happy and content he was to be baptized. It was beautiful.

Oh, I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday! In Spanish!!! Since it was a 5th Sunday (I think...), and also probably because our ward was just reorganized and we have a new bishopric, we had a missionary SM, and I and one of my MTC district Elders spoke! I spoke about becoming like Jesus Christ by being "shepherds" to those who are new and less-active members. THAT'S SO IMPORTANT!!!!!!! Anyways, it went pretty well!

A really, really cool experience came this week as we had a lesson with Faustino and Margie on Friday. We watched a couple of clips from the DVD "Special Witnesses of Christ," and then, as we were bearing our testimonies afterward, specifically about the prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration, Faustino began to really open up about some of his questions and doubts about those very things. So we asked him if he had actually prayed to know that they were true. Nope, he hadn't. So we invited him to kneel down and pray right then and there with us, and then to pause and wait for his answer. He did -- said a really sweet prayer specifically asking those questions, followed by praying for all the children in the world, etc, finished, and waited silently on his knees. I have never prayed so hard for someone to get an answer in my life.

After a minute or two, he looked up at us and smiled, then said "I feel all warm, like HOT, like I'm about to catch on fire or something!"

YES!!!!!

We listened for a minute as he described his feelings, then pulled out D/C 9, which he thought was really cool...

He's still thinking about baptism, but he DEFINITELY got an answer, and it was SO COOL!!!!!

Oh, something funny that just happened right before we came to do email: So as missionaries, anytime you're backing up in the car, there has to be a missionary standing behind the car, directing/checking for safety. Now, this is TERRIBLY embarrassing for my dear companion, especially when we're in public and there's anyone around. So as we were backing out of our spot over at the 99cent store, I was very attentively watching my companion in my rearview mirror, when I noticed a rather large black man walk in front of our car, spot my companion, and then look at me with WIDE open eyes, frantically pointing behind me, saying, "Oh! Oh!" I at first thought that he was teasing us, but then realized that he was very genuinely concerned for my companion's well-being, as he thought I didn't see her and was going to run her over! It was hilarious! Probably way funnier in person than in writing, but super funny nonetheless!

Hope you all have a fantastic week!!! I'll keep praying for you!

I LOVE YOU and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

email of 26 August 2010

2010-08-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Family of Mine!!!!!

Happy week 6 of the transfer!!! I can't believe it's here again! Every week when we have our 3-hour weekly planning session, we always say, "Didn't we JUST have weekly planning?!" It's kind of like open line Friday...again!!!

This week has been SO GOOD!!! We had our big training meetings Tues-Fri of last week, then Zone Conference with a 70 (Elder Alan F. Packer...Pres Packer's son) on Monday, then temple p-day yesterday! Man, what a spiritually uplifting week!

The new training that we received is so awesome! I'm reminded of Sam in the last little while of his mission, when PMG just came out. This training still uses PMG, it's just that it changes the emphasis a little bit and helps us to be better PMG missionaries; it's all about teaching by the Spirit, and is so powerful! There are 4 main points to the "new" teaching model:

1. Ask Inspired Questions
2. Listen (to your investigator and the Spirit)
3. Discern
4. Teach Doctrine

They focused a lot on taking time to pause, and ponder, and to let your investigator ponder as well; THAT is how revelation will come to both of us, and that is how people become truly converted: by having powerful Spiritual experiences! It's also changes the amount of time we spend talking/teaching/explaining, and is just wonderful! It's hard...takes really being in tune and listening to the Spirit, and breaking out of old teaching patterns and habits. It's so good though! When E. Packer spoke to us at ZC, he told us how blessed we are to be here in this mission at this time; our new mission pres was in the MTC for the training there, and is really implementing things here...it's just such a blessing!

Speaking of Zone Conf, it was also great! We all got to shake Elder and Sis Packers' hands, and at the end of his closing remarks, E. Packer told us how he'd been at a small b-day party for Pres Monson on Friday and had shaken his hand there, so we all got to "shake a hand that shook the prophet's hand on Friday." Awesome, huh?!

Also at ZC, I and another elder did one of the special musical numbers, and it really turned out beautifully! We sang the words of "Oh My Father" to the Sally DeFord arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." I sang solo on the first verse, and then we sang together for the rest of the song (he didn't want to sing solo), doing some harmony here and there. What was really cool was that on the parts where we sang together, we changed all the "I"s and "Me"s, etc. to "We"s and "Us"s etc. It was really cool, and I really enjoyed being able to do it!

Then, Temple p-day yesterday, of course was wonderful! Another col thing that happened was that my companion had a question after the session, and we got to go talk to one of the temple presidency and his wife about it!

I have some pictures to send you, but keep forgetting to bring my camera in with me! I'll really try to send a bunch on Monday when I write again!

Javier is getting baptized on Sunday!!!!!!! PLEASE pray for him and for the baptism to go well!!! He's awesome, and I'm super excited!

I'll try to have some funny experiences this week so that I can tell you the stories on Monday!

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
I also LOVE being a missionary!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!

email of 16 August, 2010

2010-08-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

Buenas Tardes a toda mi familia!!!

Well, here we are...P-day again! We've had a good week here in South Lynwood, and have another great one coming up!

Tuesday-Friday of this week, we have some big training that I'm excited for. It'll be 6 hours per day (9-3), for 4 days, which cuts a lot into our finding time, but I'm super excited to because I love big meetings that help pump you up for the missionary work, and help you bring yourself up to a higher level! THEN, next week (on Monday) we have Zone Conference with a visiting general authority (E. Packer of the 70), at which I'll get to do a musical number, AND we have temple p-day on Wednesday!!! So your email will be coming on Wednesday next week, instead of Monday, just to give you a heads up!

Ok, let's see...what are a few little funnies I can share with you from this week...
One of our investigators, Faustino, really wants to take us out for dinner (with his family), so we're going tonight...should be great, as long as he doesn't try to take us out of mission boundaries (apparently there's this great little restaurant just over our border). Anyways, the other night, he wanted to look up th addresses of a few places online so that he could see if they were close enough for us; When he asked his kids where his computer was, they responded that it was broken (they said it had gotten a virus). His response? "VIRUS?!?!?!?! You de virus!!!" SO FUNNY!!!

I would like to just share that my companion really looks like a sister missionary. I know, I know, she is a sister missionary, but she just really looks the part!!!

Ok, I need to ask you all a favor. It's really hard being toward the end of the mission, and while I'm so excited to go home and see you all, I'm also sad and a little scared to leave the mission and go back to "real life". And trunkiness is a strange thing...it just tends to sneak up on a person (i.e. me) unexpectedly, and makes focusing and working diligently really difficult. This condition, of course, isn't helped at all by the fact that everyone (members) asks the missionaries how long they've been out, which for me is unfailingly followed by a comment somewhere along the lines of: "Oh, so you're going home soon, huh?" DAAAAAH! Yes, yes I am. I've taken to using that "Oh, I've been out a little over a year" comment, which helps a little, but still. So anyways, the favor I'm asking is if we could avoid "trunky talk" as much as possible, at least until I really am at the end. I know I still need to think about and plan for school and things like that, and I'm not at all upset about anything that's been said or written before now because I know that you're excited for me to be coming home soon, and I am too! It's just that I know that I can't be as effective a missionary as I'd like to be when my thoughts keep getting drawn away from the work. So I would love and appreciate SO MUCH lots of loving, spirit and missionary-experience-filled emails as possible! I love those!!!

Speaking of missionary experiences, Mom, sorry I haven't commented much on this yet (I've thought about it lots, just have forgotten to say anything), but way to go on sharing the Book of Mormon with your friend, Paul! IT's so exciting to be able to share the gospel with people, especially when you know the blessings of it in your own life, and can really see how much it will bless and help their lives!

the church is true!!!

I Love You, and I Love Being a Missionary!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of August 09, 2010

2010-08-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hello hello to my wonderful family and friends!!!!! How are you all?

Actually, I know how MOST of you are, but there are two people in particular that are overdue in giving me an update about their lives! One of them APPARENTLY just bought a car, and the other is still planning how to get me back with the rolo...

LA is great, and I have a really good story about this last week to tell you :D
So South Lynwood (my new area) is mainly Hispanic, with some black as well, but little to no white people; I'm pretty sure we're some of the only white girls in the place. We absolutely love it here, though I've never been quite so painfully aware of the fact that I am indeed WHITE. This really hasn't been a problem at all though, so please don't worry! The funny story though, happened on Saturday, the 7th, when we were biking down to an appointment that's in the Compton part of our area (the southern 1/4-1/3 or so). It was in the middle of the day, and as we were biking, we passed two cops who were stopped talking to each other. I casually waved (I always wave to cops) and kept going. A second later though, I hear my companion calling, "Hermana, Hermana! Stop!" I looked back to see the cop pulling up along side of us with his window down, and stopped. Sis. Fitzgerald was scared to death; she thought for sure we were getting pulled over for not stopping at a stop sign or something like that. Instead, the cop pulled up, looked out his window at us, and incredulously said, "Do you know where you are?!"

Uh, yeah.

"Uh huh!" We replied.
"Good Heavens!" he said, "where are you girls from?!"
"Oh, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" we said with a smile.
"So, what, are you Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons?"
"Mormons!"
"Man! I knew they sent the guys out -- I've seen them around -- but I didn't know they sent women too. And here!"
"Yep!"
"So where are you girls actually from, originally?"
"Well I'm from Las Vegas" said Sis. F,
"And I'm from South Carolina," I chimed in.
"Does anyone ever bother you or anything?" He asked, again, incredulous.
"No, not really." (...well, except you...)
"You have cell phones, right?"
"Yes, of course. We have a cell phone; AND we're very careful!"
"So do you, where do you live?"
"Oh, we have an apartment up in Lynwood"
"Good L---, where?"
"Oh, up by the hospital. Do you live around here?"
"Heck no! I live over in the valley!"
"Oh, ok; hey, can we give you a card?"
"Uh, sure, if you want to," he said, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head.
"Ok! This is to receive a free Book of Mormon....blah blah blah schpeel about the card..."
"Yeah, thanks. Alright then, you girls be careful ok?"
"Don't worry, we will!"

We chatted for another minute or so, and then he left, but yeah, it was pretty stinking funny. Now, even though we're thee only two white girls around here, really and truly, no one had ever really bothered us up to that point, minus the occasional cat call, which happens no matter what as a sister missionary, but darn it all if we didn't get more than usual after he drove off! IT's all good though, and I really do love being a missionary here!

(Photo of Sallie with her new mission president [Baker] and his wife.)

The new Visitor's Center finally opened this last weekend, and it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! We went up with some investigators yesterday, and had a great experience! I hope I can bring you guys out here someday so that you can see it too! I LOVE IT!!!!

Well, that's about all my time for this week! I love you so much! I love this gospel, I love this work, IT'S ALL TRUE!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 2 August 2010

2010-08-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Good evening!!!

I'm sorry that this one will be short...I only have 18 minutes left because I was taking care of my byui readmission stuff...so weird.

Anyways, how was your week, everyone?! Sounds pretty good, what with weddings, and new jobs, and missionary experiences!!! Isn't life great?! Not always sunshine and roses, but great nonetheless :)

This week was good! There is SO much work in this area! I'd forgotten how open and talkative latins tend to be! It can be hard to get them to actually follow through on a commitment, but that's just part of it. We have some great investigators right now, who I'm so excited about, and who keep surprising me!

Edgar is A-Mazing! He has been an on-and-off investigator for a little while now, but is SO close to baptism!!! He's already read the Book of Mormon, and is about 1/3 of the way through the D/C. He loves the gospel, loves the church, loves the Lord, has SO much faith, and wants so badly to get baptized!!! Problem? He's not married. Ugh. He's willing, but his marido is not. They totally live in seperate rooms and everything, but still..."living together as if married" is the wording used in our standard, so we're not 100% sure what's going to happen, but we're working and praying!

Also working now with his "wife," Maria. She's great too, but a little more stuck in her Catholic tradition, and still in a lot of emotional and spiritual pain from losing her youngest two children as babies, as well as a brother, and her youngest son has a lot of health problems as well. She wants really badly to believe that she'll see and be with her children again, but just doesn't entirely. We'll be teaching her all about the plan of salvation this week. Also praying lots for her!!! She's so funny...loves me because I'm white :) The other day she made some comment about how white I am, to which I responded by showing her my awesome missionary tan lines -- SO FUNNY!!! She just gasped...couldn't believe how white I really am. She's says I look like a barbie...

Javier is the husband of recent convert Fanny. He's great, and came to church yesterday, but the really sad news is that he moved out Saturday night because he and Fanny are having some problems right now...

I HATE HOW SATAN ATTACKS THE FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!

...hopefully he'll still get baptized, but we'll just keep working and praying. Agency and the Lord -- that's what it all comes down to.

Jessica is 20 years old, single, and has a 1 year old little boy named Jordan. She's struggling a lot right now, but wants to change so badly, and is really excited to get baptized! She surprises us a lot (in a good way) with her responses and desires.

Faustino and Margie are great. Hilarious. Faustino talks A LOT, and very quickly. He seems very sensitive to the spirit though, and slowly but surely is progressing!

The work here is wonderful! Even when it's hard, I LOVE being a missionary!!! 3 Nephi 3 has some great "spiritual preparation" things in it.

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

I also love being a missionary!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!

email of July 27, 2010

2010-07-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

Mija numero tres!!!

Hola, Hola!!!

Well, I was DEAD WRONG about transfers this time! I thought, that since I hadn't gotten a phone call from president by the time I wrote my letter last week, that I was safe, but alas, the phone call came Monday late afternoon! Yep, I'm training again! FLUSH training again, in South Lynwood, which is the only full-field sister Spanish area now! AAAAAAAAH!!! Actually, I was SO excited to come to South Lynwood, because I really wanted to be able to serve in a Spanish area before I die (in the mission), but also a little nervous too about training, especially in Spanish. But it's been really good so far! My new companion is Hermana Stephanie Fitzgerald, from Las Vegas, NV, and she's so excited to be here on a mission! She reminds me a lot of me when I first came out, only more willing and desirous to work hard! Her Spanish is improving a lot every day, though it's still difficult for her, and I know she gets a little down about it sometimes. I won't lie, it has been a little tough for me, getting used to being in an all-Spanish area (this is pretty much little Mexico here), and a lot of the responsibility has fallen on me, but it's been really good too! I got a blessing on Friday after our district meeting, and have been feeling a lot better since then. Sis Fitzgerald is great though, and is working and trying so hard to learn Spanish and be a good missionary!

I'm having to re-learn how to tract, teach and contact because 1) It's all in Spanish, instead of English or Japanese; 2) Everyone already believes in God, and most are Catholic; and 3) Almost EVERYONE will talk to us! I've really only had one, maybe 2 door rejections in the last week here...it's really strange. Also, there is SO MUCH WORK here!!! We have a baptism coming up this Sunday (who is getting married on Saturday -- PLEASE pray for him!!!), and at least 3 other investigators with baptismal dates, plus about 3-4 other/progressing investigators, and just TONS of people who are ready to receive the gospel here!!!! It's amazing, but just a little bit of pressure to make sure that it keeps momentum, and we don't lose anyone!!! So anyways, I'm loving it here! Oh, and the food -- I LOVE real Hispanic food!!!! I don't know that there's anything in this world that I love more than beans, rice, and a hot corn tortilla (well, besides God, my family and baptisms! :)!!!

I have some great pictures I'll try to send next week...my new companion, my old companion, our bikes, and my awesome bike tan-lines!

I'm writing today because the library here is closed on Mondays...we may just try going to an internet cafe next week...that would be way easier.

Anyways, my time is almost gone, but I'm doing well, I love you all, and I know that this church, gospel, and work is true and of the Lord!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

ps oh, and I LOVE SPANISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

email of July 19 2010

2010-07-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Another transfer, almost gone! Transfers are this Wednesday, and everyone's curious to see what happens, especially since we have a new president. I'm not expecting much; actually, I'm not expecting anything. I'm pretty sure that I'll be staying here in Torrance with Sis. Molina for at least one more transfer, since I've only been here two, and we've only been together one. But who knows, maybe there are other plans for me! I'm happy either way -- the Lord's hand is always in it, and He'll put me where He needs me. I do hope that I get to serve in a spanish area before I go home though! Even with a native companion, the language skills dwindle when you don't speak it much.

Speaking of native companions and language skills though, I don't know if I ever mentioned this when I was with Sis. Tavares, but having a native companion really makes you examine your own native speech! I discovered very quickly at the beginning of the transfer that I say "gotcha" a lot...or at least I used to; I've cut back since I hear a little echo of myself with a spanish accent every time I say it. Apparently I add "ya," or rather, "cha" to the end of lots of my words...gotcha, nice to meetcha, good to see ya, how are ya, etc, etc, etc. So I thought it was pretty funny this last week when my email from Mom began with: "How in the world are ya?!"

This week Sister Molina also learned the phrase "Speak of the devil!" as well as the word "bummer." I now realize how often I use those words/phrases as well :)

We've been on bike for almost 2 weeks now, and it's going well! For about the first week, I was tireder (is that a word?) than I think I ever have been in my life, but it's all good! We're getting more and more used to it everyday, and for the most part are really enjoying ourselves. This week has been super hot though, so thank goodness you get a good breeze when you ride a bike!

I finally finished Alma this week! That's kind of sad because I LOVE reading Alma, but really exciting too because I LOVE what comes after Alma! I started in on Helaman this morning, and came across a favorite scripture -- Hel. 3:35. In my very first Zone Conference, the APs shared this in their training, and it was such a blessing to me then, so it was really good to read it again today! When I shared it with my companion during comp study, she called it "the process of sanctification," (she also referred to Moroni 10:32) which I LOVE! I hadn't thought of it like that until she said that, but it's so true. It's through fasting and praying often, and yeilding our whole souls unto God that we are fully sanctified and truly made His. I still need to ponder on it a little bit, but I think this is so much how we are able to really apply the Atonement in our lives. Aren't the scriptures and the Lord awesome?!?!

I often have to remind myself to be patient as we are all progressing at different rates, and are all at different spots on our path to perfection and the Celestial Kingdom. Sometimes I wish people could just get it and know everything that I know!!! Then I have to remind myself that I've been at this for 24 years now, and am still learning myself! Other times I have to be patient with myself, as I find myself just wanting to be perfect right now so that I can start applying all the knowledge and perfection to my everyday life and tasks! Oh, the mortal life :) I'm grateful for the patience of our Heavenly Father, and for His perfect understanding, and especially for the Atonement that helps us all along our way!

I hope that you all have a WONDERFUL week!!! You're in my prayers always, even if they're the ones where I'm falling asleep ;)

The Church is true, and I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I Love Being A Missionary!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

email of 12 July 2010

2010-07-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my-ee biiiike :)

Big news in Torrance this week, ladies and gentleman...er, Brothers and Sisters! This week, it was determined that the Sister missionaries currently serving in North Torrance, namely Sister Molina and Sister Wilson, are the coolest, the toughest, the most amazing sisters in the California Los Angeles Mission! That's right, for the first time in the known history of the CLAM, they have made and official full-bike sisters area!!!! Yep, Sister Molina and I are now on bike full-time! And no, it's not because of an accident, or me being a terrible driver or anything of the sort! It's just that there were some cars in the mission that just had to be sold (per SLC), so there was some rearranging, and we ended up being made a bike area! It's not bad though -- there are some definite challenges, but also some definite blessings, por ejemplo:

Challenge: biking in a skirt.
Blessing: I don't have to worry about doing my hair in the morning anymore :)

Challenge: Torrance is built on a slight slope toward the west, meaning if we're biking west in the evening when the sea breeze kicks up, it's terrible!!!
Blessing: We're giong to be the fittest, tannest sisters in the mission :)

...Anyways, we're enjoying it!

This week I hit another big milestone in the mission: 1 year in the field.
Which makes 14 months in total.

Man! I can't even begin to tell you how strange that is! I don't feel like it's been that long! I don't really feel like a experienced missionary, and I don't feel like there's anyway that I'm so far down the downward slope of my time here! Have I really been out serving the Lord as a full-time missionary in California for over a year now?!?! (Ok, Mom, I can here your "YES!" already :)

It just amazes me how the time flies. Once again, I'm so grateful for this time in my life, and the great privilege it is for me to be a missionary! Thank you thank you thank you all of you for your great love and support! I wouldn't be here without you, and I'm grateful for all the sacrifice that has gotten me here. Blessings, Blessings, Blessings on all of your heads!!!!

We had an interesting experience this week of meeting a couple that was really, really concerned about our salvation, and just wanted us to come to Jesus and stop being deceived. I won't lie, sometimes it's a bit disconcerting talking to people like that, esecially when they're normal. I'm grateful that I at least know how to recognize it when the conversation turns that direction, and has no hope of being productive or spirit-filled, so that we can walk away. Those kinds of encounters do tend to stick with me for a few days though, and I think and think and think about them. Not so much being bothered, just thinking and pondering on them and my own testimony. Anyways, I had a really good personal study this morning that just again confirmed my own tesitmony and surety of this gospel, the Book of Mormon, and the great work that I'm involved in!

The church is true, and the BofM is the word of God, as is the Bible! I know it, and I'm so grateful that I do!!!!

I Love you all!!!!!
I Love being a missionary!!!!!
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

email of 6 July 2010

2010-07-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!!!

How is everyone today?! Based on the emails I got, everyone seems to be doing pretty well! I got some great pictures from Joseph and Wendy, and even a little note from "el Rolo" ("It's a miracle, a miracle, It's a MIRACLE!!!!!!!!")!!!

Big happy birthday to Grandma Lynes!!! Hope you have a GREAT birthday, and know that your missionary in LA is thinking about you today! I Love You!

I didn't hear anything about the family reunion...did that happen this year?

I want to share with you my favorite scripture from this last week -- it's a 4th of July scripture! Only this one is an "Independance from sin" kind of 4th of July. It's Alma 10:6-7 :

"6 Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign of the judges.
7 As I was journeying to see a very near kindred, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and said: Amulek, return to thine own house, for thou shalt feed a prophet of the Lord; yea, a holy man, who is a chosen man of God; for he has fasted many days because of the sins of this people, and he is an hungered, and thou shalt receive him into thy house and feed him, and he shall bless thee and thy house; and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thy house."

Cool, huh? :D

So our new mission pres came in this week! Pres and Sis Baker, from Utah (Springfield, I think)! They're really great. We had a zone meeting with them the day after they got here, and they seem really excited and really nervous! I can't blame them -- I was nervous enough coming out on a mission myself, and I'm mostly only responsible for me! They come, having complete stewardship over about 200 missionaries and all the missionary work here in the LA area, and they're here for 3 years! They're very happy to be here though, and we're happy to have them! Something really neat that they told us is that when they first got their call, they printed off all of our pictures (they have special access to that kind of stuff), and made flash cards with them to memorize our names! President said that they were on a trip in Seattle to visit their daughter and her family, and that one day while they were there, their little 2 year old grandson was sitting with him as he was looking through these flash cards. As he would look at each one, Pres. would say, "That's Elder Jones," or "This is Sister Wilson," to which his little grandson would reply with this personal greeting: "Hi Elder Jones!" or "Hi Sister Wilson!" SO CUTE!!!

It's great to the Lord's hand in His work, and how it all just progresses on forward no matter what! It'll be interesting to see the focus and emphasis that Pres Baker has; He did mention that there will be a lot more training on things to do with teaching skills and teaching by the Spirit. The MTC is changing it's curriculum and the way that the new missionaries are taught so as to help them come out better prepared and able to do that, so we have to be prepared to receive those new missionaries! So, David, your MTC experience may be a bit different -- better, probably -- than mine!

I realize that I never really mentioned much about my new companion! Well, not so new anymore, I guess...

Sister Molina is great! She's from El Salvador, and this is her first time ever to the states! She's 25 -- back home, she had already finished college, and is a teacher! As a matter of fact, she taught english as a second language there in El Salvador! So her english is quite good; we work a lot on her pronunciation, but she has a good handle on the language, which is nice, and her accent is cute! She is also a great cook! I told her she has to teach me to make latin food (specifically Pupusas, Chile Rellenos, and beans and rice) while we're companions! She also has a great testimony, and I'm learning lots from her everyday that we're together. It's interesting to see and feel the different dynamic with each companion; each is totally different, but with SO much to offer!

Well that's about it for this week -- the church is true, and I am SO grateful that I was born and raised in a strong family in the gospel!!! Thank you all so much for your examples, for your love and support in everything!

I Love you all SO MUCH, and I LOVE being a missionary!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!

email for 28 June 2010

2010-06-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Family!!!

I'm glad you got the card and pictures, and that you've enjoyed the pictures :) The videos of Saroj and Mohini are my favorite! I'm going to try to attach a few pictures onto this email from last week (it didn't work last week); some from the temple, and a couple from our district bowling last week.

Mom, thank you SO much for the little package you sent me! David, I now happily sport LDSBC every morning playing soccer with the Elders :) The article you sent was so great -- really what I've been needing. Something funny: when I first opened up and pulled out your letter(s), I was thinking, "Wow, Mom, that's a lot!" So I flipped through to the back really briefly to see if it was all letter, or if there was other stuff in there too. Well, the first end of a letter that I got to was your primary letter, only I didn't realize that and just thought that it was the last page of my letter! I was so confused because it was signed "Sister Wilson". I thought, "What? Why did she sign her letter 'Sister Wilson,' and nothing else -- not even a 'HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!'? Maybe it's because I'm Hermana Wilson, and she wanted to sign it Sister Wilson...?" I was so confused, and a little sad thinking that you hadn't even signed it, MOM! But then, after I actually read it, I figured it all out, and laughed at myself for the confusion! Thanks for being such a great mom, and for being in tune with the Spirit to help your little missionary in LA!

To share a little from my journal this week, as to why that article and your letters are such a blessing, "The article [Mom sent me] is exactly what I need...it's about our short-sided, inadequate striving for perfection, and our great need for the Atonement. I have discovered since being on my mission that I am very much a perfectionist, and nowhere near perfect. The thing is though, before my mission, I knew I wasn't perfect, but I could fake it pretty well. However, here in the mission, my flaws and short-comings are ever before me, and being within sight and hearing of a companion 25/7, I've found that my short-comings and imperfections are in view of her too. I remember once, when I was with Sister Tavares, having a breakdown over her trying to practice Spanish door approaches with me; I don't remember all that happened or was said, but I do remember saying to her through my tears, "I guess it's because I'm not perfect." And then that loving mission- and life-changing phrase [from Hna T]: "Hermana, you don't have to be perfect in order for someone to love you." So here I am, almost a year later, having learned and grown so much since then, but still often struggling with feelings of weakness and inadequacy. Especially over the last transfer (#8), I have often felt bombarded and overwhelmed by my inadequacy. I cannot say how grateful I am to have had Sis Tittle as my companion! She was ever loving, encouraging, and complimentary of me -- who I am, what I do, etc -- Anyways, I haven't felt so down as of late, but I wanted to get this down because it's an experience that I've learned and grown much from." So yeah, Mom, the article was great for me! Thanks!!

Zone Conference this week -- Pres and Sister Blackburn's last one! It was wonderful -- bittersweet, but really, really wonderful! They had permission to hug all the missionaries, Elders and Sisters, which was soooo nice! When President announced it, he said "..and when you come back into the chapel from lunch, Sister Blackburn and I will be standing at the door, and we want to greet you all -- with a hug. Yes, Elders, you now have permission to hug Sis. Blackburn; you don't have to, if that's too uncomfortable or you just don't want to, but you can if you'd like; and Sisters, I'm going to hug each one of you, like it or not!" So I got to hug President!!! The whole ZC was wonderful; I found myself being taught some really great things by the Spirit that I needed; mostly about working with members, but also for my own sense and feeling of working hard enough/being good enough...I don't know if that makes sense or not to you, but it was just what I needed. Anyways, so today is the Blackburn's last full day in LA -- they leave tomorrow, and the Baker's come in! I'm excited for the change and to see what all happens; we'll have interviews with the new president next week, and I'm really looking forward to meeting and getting to know him.

I got Carrie's wedding announcement this week! Oh my goodness, I can't believe she's getting married!!!! I'm really happy for her, but good grief -- that announcement made me momentarily trunkier than I think anything else I've received during my mission! I'm so bummed that she's going to go off and get married WITHOUT ME THERE!!!!!, but then apparently life goes on, even when you're on a mission...at least she'll be able to be there when I get married! Love you tons Carrie -- best wishes!!!!

We're kind of in a "finding" phase right now...not a lot of progressing investigators we're working with right now, so any and all prayers you could offer in that regard would be GREAT!!! Thanks!!!

Oh, and one more thing -- a quote that has helped me a lot lately: "My dear brothers and sister, don't get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don't feel downcast or despair if you don't feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets, choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible, and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you." E. Uchtdorf

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

I ♥ being a missionary ☺

Love, Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email of 21 June 2010

2010-06-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello Hello!!!!!

I've been writing a few individual emails today, so this big one won't be quite as big as usual...but I'm only kind of sorry about that :)

Yesterday was a good Sunday! A little disappointing because most of the people we'd hoped would come didn't, but as President put it, "That's a sad part of the job" sometimes. On the plus side, Mohammad was confirmed, and it was wonderful! Pres and Sis Blackburn came (they weren't able to come to his baptism, which killed Sis B), and President even stood in the circle!!! How special is that?!

We had a wonderful experience this week! We had the opportunity to go to the temple for a chapel session and an endowment session -- as an ENTIRE mission!! President and Sister Blackburn are going home, and this was a sort of special "goodbye party". It was wonderful, just wonderful to be in the temple with our mission -- about 200 missionaries total!! The session was great, and it was really wonderful to be able to go into the Celstial room and be greeted by Pres and Sis Blackburn, and then to see all of my dear missionary friends and companions! THAT is what heaven is going to be like...only better!

I've been learning a lot about faith this week. Sometimes my faith is really weak and lacking, but the Lord is really strenthening and blessing me, as I go to Him and humbly ask. I shared with Dad my recent favorite scripture/story. It's in Alma 14, and is Alma and Amulek. Please read it -- especially verse 26! I wish I had the time and ability to express my love and testimony for and of the Lord, His Gospel, and my faith. Faith (along with all other Christlike attributes) is a gift you know! It comes, says PMG, as we exercise our agency righteously.

I love you all! Have a WONDERFUL week!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

who LOVES being a missionary!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

email from 14 June 2010

2010-06-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

NOTE: sorry this was late posting...my fault. ALSO...I finally learned how to insert photos in the letters!!!! Thanks Wendy!!!
Sallie's Dad

MOHAMMAD GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, life is good! I love baptisms -- they are truly the joy of missionary work -- but can I just tell you that they are the most stressful things as well?! They are.

Things actually went very well yesterday though; most of our opposition came the week before, so really, things were good. I was getting a little nervous when our baptizee wasn't there until 5:50 (the baptism started at 6), and the baptizer was even later! But, nonetheless (sin embargo!) everything went wonderfully! There was a great turn-out, the talks and testimonies were great -- really just perfect -- our missionary moment (the missionaries always stand up and share a brief gospel lesson while the person is changing, and Sis Tittle and I did it for this one), Mohammad was so happy; it just was a really great day! Oh someday I hope that you can come and meet all these people here! I just love them so much! It's really amazing what happens as a missionary -- the kind of love that you experience for others, especially those you teach and baptize! I also had a very nice compliment after the baptism, which I want to share by way of future remembrance for myself, and also because I thought you'd enjoy hearing, but not at all in a prideful way. You really don't need to include it on the blog, I mostly just wanted to share with my family :)

There's a man in our ward -- Bro. Christmas -- who looks like Santa Clause, and is a really funny old man. He's always making smart-alec remarks through Gospel Principles, and doesn't go to any conferences (stake, or general) because he says they repeat themselves too much. I know, I know -- it's just what he says!
Anyways, just after the baptism, Bro Christmas came up to me, shook my hand, and said (something to the effect of), "I really enjoyed your comments up there; I appreciated the things you said, and I felt the Spirit. Oh, and your eye contact is impeccable!"

I just thought that was so nice! It's always nice to hear a "good job!" when you do things like that, and I just especially appreciated that he noticed and commented on something specific; I guess I feel like that means he really meant it! Anyways, it was just nice -- I really try to be personal and meaningful when I teach, which includes looking people in the eyes. It's not something I really even think about too much, but I do it, and I'm grateful that he noticed :)

By the way -- we taught a short version of the 3rd lesson (PMG ch. 3), just in case you were curious :)

Guess what?! I felt and Earthquake!!!!!!!!!!!! It was actually last Monday, at about 2 in the morning. I woke up because my bed was shaking, and I laid there for just a second, then it stopped. My companion slept right through it, but I definitely felt it! Then, for the rest of the night I dreamt about earthquakes...weird dreams. Anyways, when I woke up the next morning, I wasn't 100% sure if I had jsut been dreaming, or what, but I was pretty sure, because I distinctly remembered waking up and looking at the clock and all that. So later that day when we ran into our WML's wife and son at Target, she asked us if we'd felt it. YES!!! There really was an earthquake, and I felt it! Apparently it was pretty close by -- just in Hermosa beach, but nothing else has really happened since then. Don't worry though -- I'm safe, everything is just fine; it's just part of living in California.

Sorry Mom, I hope I didn't worry you too much; I was just excited to have finally felt an earthquake. I'm over it now, and would be fine with no more earthquakes :)

It was great to hear from mom and dad this week -- I love getting letters full of Spiritual insights and happiness! Thank you!!!

I really excited because this week we'll be going to the temple for a special mission-wide devotional with Pres. Blackburn in the temple!!!!!!! Bah -- I can hardly wait!!!

I'm also sending a few pictures with this email :) One is of most of my zone last transfer, and the others are from Mohammad's baptism yesterday. The picture with just two sisters and Mohammad is Sis. Tittle and I; the other (with 3) is Sister Nef, who was Sis Tittle's companion when they very first started teaching Mohammad. Enjoy!

I want you to know that I really do love being a missionary! I know that the church it true -- the Book of Mormon is true, and no one can convince me otherwise!!! I'm SO grateful for the gospel in my life! Thanks for raising me in a good, righteous, gospel-centered home. I am forever indebted to you for that.

Just so you know, I'm walking in truth :)

I Love All of You SO MUCH, and I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 07 June 2010

2010-06-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

7 June 2010

Oh Family!

I just love you all so much, can I just tell you that?! Your vacation sounds like it was so much fun -- a lot, and plenty to wear you way out, but really great too! Thanks for the pictures too! I can't believe how grown up those little boys are getting!

Funny little note -- as I was reading Mom's travelogue, I read the part where Dad went to bed early one night, so Mom went out to shop and browse a little by herself. My initial/instinct reaction was "wait --you can't go by yourself! You have to stay together!" Sometimes I forget that married couples don't always have to stay within sight and hearing of each other...You know you're a missionary when...
:)

Life here is just great!

Today, for our Zone P-day activity, we had a cook-off! It's always fun for me when I have an excuse to cook; there's not usually much time at all, so I really enjoy it when I get a chance. One of our ZLs is from Alabama, and is actually going home on Wednesday (yep, transfer time again!), so I decided to make BBQ and macaroni and cheese. I mostly just wanted to make it. It all turned out really good! They didn't have the meat I was looking for, so I ended up just getting a cheap beef pot roast, but it turned out really well, as did the mac and cheese, especially considering that I don't have the recipes out here! The elders didn't know the difference -- most of them were just impressed that I brought something in a crock pot :)

8 ingredients, Elders -- 8.
...and that includes salt and pepper.

Anyways, so that's my fun food story for the day/week/transfer.

Speaking of transfers, I just happen to know (at least part of) what's happening on Wednesday! My companion -- my darling little Sister Tittle will be leaving. :( I'm sad because I'll really miss her -- she's been an awesome companion, and we've had a great transfer together! She is going to be flush training, but we don't know where yet; President said he wanted to leave something a surprise for transfer calls Tuesday night :)

I'll be staying here in North Torrance, which will officially be an english-speaking area (unofficially it might as well be an Arabic/Vietnamese/Japanese/Chinese/English area), and my new companion will be Sister Molina, from El Salvador! The funny thing about that is that she's my "granddaughter" in the mission! Sister Dickson (my first trainee -- "daughter") trained her last transfer, and now she'll be coming here to be my companion! I'm really excited! I've had the chance to meet Sis. Molina a couple of times, and she's really sweet; Sis Dickson says she's a dynamite missionary too, so I'm really excited! It'll be nice to have a native-speaking companion again so that I can really work on my language abilities and accent!

There are a LOT of changes this transfer in the mission! With the change to being a Spanish-English mission, plus prepping for the Visitor's Center (which is scheduled to open sometime this or next month!), PLUS getting our new mission president, it's going to be ca-razy!!! The President change will happen on the 29th; our new mission president is Pres Baker, from somewhere in Utah. That's about all I know about him. I'm really going to miss the Blackburns, but I'm excited for a new president too!

I don't remember if I told you last week or not, but Mohammad was supposed to be getting baptized yesterday. Due to some unexpected opposition, his baptism has been moved to next week at 6 o'clock. I've decided that the more significant the person/baptism, the more the opposition. Mohammad is incredible though, and so solid! He has an amazing testimony of the gospel, especially of living prophets. Our bishop yesterday said, "I'm pretty sure he's going to be the first Iranian Apostle!" Wouldn't that be awesome? He'll for sure help with the Farsi translation of the BofM!!! It's so awesome to be able to be one of the missionaries that helped to teach him! He's so funny -- he rarely calls us by our actual names; usually he calls us "Sister-Sister!", or his latest, "Double-sister!" It's the best when you can hear it in his accent! He's always coming up with funny little things to say and call us. Daaaaah I just love him!!! I'm so excited for his baptism on Sunday -- I'll be sure to send pictures!!! Pray for everything to go well, and especially that he'll be protected from whatever more opposition may come this week!!!

As for me, I'm doing well! I really do love being a missionary, and I'm learning and growing so much! I know I'm very different than I was just over a year ago, and that I'll probably change a good bit more before I see you again. It's kind of strange, actually, because I know that I've changed, but I really can't tell you exactly how; I still just feel like me, but I know that the me now is different from the me that left last May.

In the last few weeks, I've been studying the love of God (specifically from E. Uchtdorf's talk last Oct), and it's been amazing. I've also been struggling a lot with feeling really inadequate, but my companion and the Lord have helped me a lot with that, and I'm feeling way better about things. More than anything, I know that the Lord's love is real, that He is real, and that if we'll just try, just give it our very best, He'll make it enough, no matter how great or small our best is.
The Church is TRUE!!!!!

Thanks for being the greatest family ever! I Love You All SO MUCH!!!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

email of 1 June 2010

2010-06-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!!! Oh, and Happy first day of June too!!!

June! Can you believe it?!

I sure can't. And like I told David, I also can't believe that he's out on his own, living in an apartment in SLC, right by temple square and the conf center, riding his bike around town, being all cool and grown up and stuff! Since when are kids allowed to grow up and do things like that?!?!?!

Oh wait...

Actually, ironically enough, because this last week also happened to be the last week of May, we didn't have very many miles left in our monthly allotment (we have 600), so we ended up biking a lot. It's actually great, and we really enjoy it -- makes you feel more like a real missionary! And it's really not that bad in a skirt, just so you know. :) So yeah, we biked for most of the week, except for the couple of times we had meetings or service or something that was too far away to bike, or when we had to pick up the Elders (there are only 2 cars in our district -- us and the DL -- so we give some of the elders rides...it was a little weird at first, but not so bad now). I think we had 3 days that were entirely car free.
I had a few funny moments this week, as we were riding along, when it would hit me that here I am, 24 years old, riding a bike in a skirt in L.A. What in the world?!?! It's an adventrue, you know, this whole mission thing, but I love it! And we sure enjoyed being on bike. I'm so grateful that my companion is so willing to do what it takes, and love it. This has been an awesome transfer together here in N Torrance; a huge blessing that I really needed.

It's so great to hear about your vacation -- speaking of adventure! I'm glad everything went well with getting David off, and that you've been able to have the awesome experiences you have. Isn't the Priesthood wonderful? The experience you shared of Dad getting a blessing while you were in SLC reminded me of Ether 12:27. How often we're given trials and challenges that are hard, yes, but give us such an opportunity to turn to the Lord!

We had a cool experience yesterday of being able to experience and recognize the Lord's guiding hand in this work, and what it's like to follow the Spirit. We had planned last night to have dinner at a member's home where one of our investigators lives, and we were planning on having an FHE with their family, but especially focusing on their son-in-law who isn't a memeber. Then we were going to do another little FHE with a recent convert at another member's home. Well, about 5:15pm we got a message that our dinner needed to cancel (it was scheduled for 6pm, which is why you make back up plans as a missionary!). Bummer, but ok. Then, as we were eating dinner at home, we got a phone call from the members who we were planning on having our second FHE with, and they needed to cancel too! The recent convert could still do it, we just needed to find another member's house to do it at. We called several different families, and were about out of ideas, but then thought of one other family we could try, and, it turned out, they were available!!! Then Herman (our investigator from the first cancelled appointment) called to say that they were home now, so we were stil able to go by to do a lesson.

Those two changes were exactly what needed to happen. When we went over to see Herman, Chris (the NM son-in-law) was there and decided to join in the lesson. The family as a whole wasn't up to FHE, so we decided to do some BofM reading with Herman and Chris. It was great though, because it gave us an opportunity to really talk to Chris in a way that we couldn't have, had it been an FHE with kids running around screaming, etc. It was a great lesson too. He really opened up to us like he never really has befor with th sisters, and we were able to testify of the blessings that the gospel brings individually and to a family, especially the PH. IT was awesome, and both Sis. Tittle and I felt very directed in the things that we said in that lesson. It was funny too, at the end, when we knelt for the closing prayer, because here we were, two little sister missionaries, kneeling with these three very large grown men (One big white guy with a shaved head and a beard, one big black guy with dread locks who is a bouncer on the weekends, and one big half Samoan who is also a bouncer) to pray. It was a really spiritual moment, and just very powerful to feel the Lord near in that prayer.
Then, when we went for our second lesson/FHE with Brenda (the recent convert), it was definitely the right thing. It wasn't so much that the lesson was amazing as it was that the members were exactly who she needed in that moment. It's so awesome to see the Lord guide His work!!!

I would like you to know that this church and Gospel is the Lord's, that it's true, and that He guides it. I know that He loves His children, and that we find more happiness than we can even imagine as we learn to love and serve Him!

I Love You, and I love being a missionary!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of May 24 2010

2010-05-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello my wonderful family!!!!!

SO good to hear from you all this week! Looks like you're really having a great trip (even with all the driving and yucky weather :) -- Make sure you drive safe the rest of the way and just love every minute of it all! David, I'm super excited for you too! I can't believe you're all graduated and going to college and stuff -- it's nuts! But so exciting! You're going to LOVE living in your own apartment in SLC and going to school and everything. Do you know who your roommates are yet (I guess by the time you respond to this you will, of course!)? Dah, college is so fun, and that'll be a great place to go, especially for pre-mission. Sis Tittle keeps saying, "Oh, he's going to LOVE the business college!" She's really excited for you!

Here's something really fun that happened this last week: Our awesome investigator, Mohammed (Muslim from Iran) went on a trip to Utah (he works with NuSkin), so Sis Tittle gave him her parents info and he went to see them!!!!! It was so crazy to see the picture her parents sent today of their family with our investigator; also really funny to hear Mohammed talk about meeting her family :) Mohamed, by the way, is doing GREAT! He's set for baptism on June 6th, so pray that everything will keep going well!!! He's really incredible -- absolutely brilliant, and has an awesome testimony of the gospel, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, all of it! He was originally introduced to the gospel when he worked for a different church. He did their sound engineering kinda stuff, and one day some visiting pastor or special speaker or someone came, and preached a sermon that was something along the lines of how evil other religions (including ours) are. He had a BofM and threw it on the ground, saying that noone should ever read it because it was bad and evil and all kinds of balony like that. Well afterwards, Mohammed went up to the front and picked up the BofM, wondering how on earth it could be that this would be such a terrible thing. Anyways, after reading the first 50 pages, he knew it was true. When he heard about Joseph Smith and how we have a prophet on the earth today, he knew it was true! A while back, he met a lady at the grocery store (a cashier) who is a member of the Samoan ward here (which holds all meetings in Samoan), and she invited him to church with her. So he went. For 2 or 3 months.

MOHAMMED DOESN'T SPEAK SAMOAN!!!!!!!!!

His English isn't even all that great, but he felt the Spirit at that Samoan ward, so that's where he'd go. So then, a few months ago, he was flying to Utah for a business trip, and who happened to be sitting next to him on the plane but Sister Blackburn, our mission president's wife! She was realy excited to share the gospel with him, but (how funny is this?!) didn't even have a pass-along card with her! So she told him to go to temple square as soon as he could, and refer himself so that missionaries could come and teach him when he got home! So he did. And now he'd going to get baptized! Sis. Blackburn came with us a few weeks ago to teach him, and she was just so happy and excited! This is the only person in her entire time here on her mission that she found and has been able to see progress to baptism, so it's really special for her too; kind of a special little gift to her from Heavenly Father right before she goes home from her mission. He's had some really amazing spiritual experiences in his life that have led him to this point, and now he's getting baptized!!! Love it. I love it!

So anyways, I was just thinking -- since you'll be in Utah this weekend, you should go see the Tittle's too! That would be so fun, since your daughters are currently mission companions!!! Sis. Tittle is giving her parents your phone numbers, and I'll give you their info, so hopefully you can hook up. :)

(Note: Sis Tittle is Sallie's companion.)

Tonight we're going to do an FHE with a family from our ward, and I'm really excited because we came up with a really fun lesson/activity to do with them! When we stopped by to set up the appointment, we said we'd bring brownies or something; Sis K. mentioned that her youngest, who's 4 loves making brownies. He likes to do the stirring. So we decided to incorporate that into things. So we're re-labeling the brownie mix as "Happy Family Mix," and each component (mix, eggs, oil, water, bowl, spoon, etc) is going to be labeled as something that helps us to have a strong, happy family, as well as have a scripture ref/GA quote/Family Proclamation paragraph with it! I'm really really excited! Don't worry, I'm writing it all down for future reference...you'd better believe I'll be doing this again, on my mission and with my own family someday!

Life is good! I'm so glad that you got to go (and will go again) see the Joseph Smith movie at the visitor's center! It's amazing, huh? I feel so blessed that we have that available here in our mission! It's an amazing tool in the teaching/conversion process!

Have a great rest of your trip, and know that your missionary in LA loves you and misses you!!!

Thanks again for the pictures -- you'd better believe that I show those off to everyone I can!!!

I Love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
The Church is TRUE!!!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

(aka: Aunt Sallieonamission)

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

email of 19 May 2010

2010-05-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Temple P-day!!!

Sorry I didn't give you any warning ahead of time...I just didn't think about it. How is everyone doing today? It was great to hear from ALL of you this week! What a pleasant surprise! I'm glad to hear that the road trip/firefighter training/electrical test passing is all going so well...and that my prayers are working! Yey!

I got my birthday package this past Friday - Thank you SO MUCH!!! I love everything! David, thanks again for your sweet note and gift, and Mom for the pearls and shirt. I LOVE them! I wasn't totally sure about the shirt at first, but turns out it looks better on than off :) And I really do love the pearls...I couldn't believe it when I opened them! Thank you so much. It all reminded me very much of you, but in a good way -- the pearls especially are just very classy and feminine, and I just feel so special and loved!

And THANK YOU for the granola!!!!!!!!!! That's the best part of all, and I've been enjoying it all week! I just had to laugh when I saw the pretzel m&ms because I actually bought a little package of those at the store a few weeks ago, and thought, "oh boy -- salty, sweet, crunchy -- when Mom finds out about these...!"
And of course, thanks for the PB M&Ms!

So today was temple P-day!!! I know I've said this before (i.e. every time I have a temple pday), but I LOVE the temple! Today was interesting because we had the 7:30am session, and it was almost entirely made up of missionaries...and by that I mean that only 3 of the people going through the session weren't missionaries. And with Sis Tittle and I being the only 2 sisters in our whole zone, we were 2 of 3 sisters in the session, with about 25 brothers! That was different! Wonderful though, just wonderful!

Just after our session, our zone helped in putting together/organizing the mission 72-hour kits, which one of the sr. couples in the mission is taking around to all the missionaries to make sure we're all ready and prepared! Following that, we hit up the distribution center -- I got a gospel art book (a must as a missionary), and a mini Children's songbook.

Highlight of the week:

Patricia got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, May 16th finally rolled around, and Patricia (one of my favorite investigators from Marina del Rey) got baptized!!! The service was really nice -- Patricia was really nervous, but really happy too! Right after she came up out of the water, she said "oh my gosh!" in sort of a "I can't believe I actually did it...I'm a Mormon now" way :) It was cute -- It's always funny to see/hear people's reaction right after their baptism.

Let's see...we also had Zone Conference this last week, which is always great! There's a lot of changes taking places right now in our mission, the most noteable of which is that we are no longer a bi-lingual mission. For the last several years (since 2006 or so), all the clam missionaries were bi-lingual (Spanish, Korean, or ASL), but recently the brethren have decided to change us back to a Spanish-English mission, and we'll be getting some of our first English-only missionaries in this next transfer. Now, what does that mean for those of us who are here now and are bi-lingual? Well, that's what we'd all like to know too! We won't really know though, until our new president gets here in June/July. Pres. Blackburn says he doesn't think it'll really make much of a difference for a while though. Meanwhile, we still study Spanish most everyday, and try to speak it as much as possible!

Dear family of mine, life is wonderful! Challenging, but wonderful! So often I look around myself and just wonder why and how in the world I ended up being so blessed! Thanks for being the best family ever! The church is true!!!!!

I Love you all!
I Love Being a Missionary!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

2010-05-10T16:43:00.001-07:00

Dearest Family of Mine,

I can't tell you how good it was to talk to you yesterday!!! I really surprised myself by being a lot more emotional than I expected...it was strange because at Christmas, I figured I'd probably cry or be homesick or something, but wasn't, and so this time around I didn't think it'd be a problem, but I definitely surprised myself by crying when I bore my testimony to you in spanish, and again right as we were getting off the phone. I'm really not homesick, but I do miss you and love you so much, I really can't express it.

Hopefully it's just one of those little worries you have when you're away for an extended period of time, but sometimes I have that little worry of "what if something happens before I come home, and there's someone I won't get to see again?" It's terrible, I know, and hopefully it's nothing, but that little thought just nags at me sometimes, and I just want to make sure that you all know how much I love you, and how grateful I am that we're a forever family.

Anyways, on to happier, fun missionary stuff! We had a "cook-off" today for our district p-day activity, which was basically all of us getting together in the church kitchen and cooking/baking with whatever ingredients we had in our apartments. I decided to try the pioneer woman apple dumpling/turnover things (you know, with a can of soda and all that), but I've never actually made, or tried them, neither have I actually looked at the recipe. So I just kind of made it up; we had a can of pop-open crescent rolls, and a can of 7-up that a really sweet Pakistani man gave us last week (he was determined to give us something, so he gave us both a can of 7-up, saying "You cannot refuse" :). Well, there weren't any regular old 13x9 pans in the kitchen, and we don't have any either, so I ended up using a glass bowl that was about the size I wanted. They turned out pretty good, but I learned that apparently when you're baking with glass, you've got to use a pan specially made for that...yeah. Nothing too tragic happened, but the bowl did crack all the way around, and ended up in the garbage. I know, I know, I'm a little bit ridiculous. You'd think a culinary arts minor would know things like that...The apple things were safe though, glass-free, and pretty tasty! I also made some grits casserole, which I thought was delicious. My companion liked it too, but not too many of the Elders tried it. I'm attaching some pictures, and will hopefully get off another email with a few pictures as well (we can email pictures from the library in my new area :).

Here's a funny little something that happened this week: We ran into a lady who has had some really interesting experiences in her life, including being dead for almost 45 minutes once. She apparently was really into drugs and gang-type activity, but has since turned her life around, and tells everyone that they need to have a friendship with God. Well, she shared her experience of dying with us, and it was really interesting because she went to Spirit Prison. No really, she went to SPIRIT PRISON. She described to us the really weird sensation of seeing herself as a spirit (seeing herself, but being able to see right through herself), and being in an intense darkness, where she could her people crying all around her. She said it was cold there,"so cold it burned," and that she just kept going farther and farther into this thick darkness, until she saw a light and was told that she had to go back, which she did.

Hello Alma 40.

We actually pulled that out and read it to her (the description of spirit prison), and she just said, "yeah, yeah that's exactly what it was like!" Then my darling little companion told her, "Rosy, you went to spirit prison." The funny thing was that she completely agreed and told us that that was why she had since turned her life over to God. We went back to teach her the next day (on my birthday, actually), and had a really good lesson, until she decided to call her son who's a pastor for a really big Christian church aroudn here. He wasn't too happy that we were there, and we ended up sharing a basic lesson 1 with him. He stil disagreed in the end (not terribly surprising), and we got a phone call from Rosy the next day telling us that it would be better if we didn't come back anymore. Oh well...

Alright family, well, that's all I've got time for today, but just know that life is going SO well for me here, and that I love being a missionary, and I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

email of 03 May 2010

2010-05-03T16:51:00.001-07:00

Hello, my dear family!!!

How are you on this fine spring day in May? Can you even believe it's MAY already?!?! I'm going to be 24 years old in 2 days. You know, I've always heard people say things like, "if you'd told me 3 months/6months/1 year/etc ago that I'd be here doing this, I would've said you were crazy!". I always thought that was kinda funny, but now, I think I understand it a little better. Turning 24 in LA, California, while serving as a full-time missionary, was NOT something I ever expected for myself. But here I am, and I am loving it!

As you can tell, my emailing today means that I won't be spending my birthday in the temple, but that's totally ok. I mean, honestly, it's way cooler that I'll spend my birthday working out in the field, knocking doors and teaching people about the gospel -- you know, really doing missionary-type things! I can go to the temple on my birthday any other time I want, but I'm only going to be a young full-time missionary for this one birthday!

Speaking of which, you may also note that the day just after my birthday marks my one-year mark on my mission! How could it be so?! (c'mon, say it with the voice, mom!) Man, when I was starting out, it felt like this would never come..that it was soooooooo far away. Yet here I am, and I can't believe how fast it's all gone!

You're probably wondering just where in Los Angeles and with whom I'll be spending my two "birth" days, since transfers were this past Wednesday...

Well, I'm here in my new area of North Torrance with my wonderful companion, Sister Tittle! When I first got the call that I'd be coming here, I was initially slightly disappointed...I know, I know, that's terrible!!! I didn't mean to, but I was, ok? N. Torrance was an area that I never really wanted to serve in (I went on splits here a few times when I was with Sis. Tavares), BUT I got over that really quickly, and I LOVE it here! It actually reminds me a lot of home. I am, for the first time in my mission, serving in a "normal" church building -- just like the old Carmel stake center back home. That's significant because most of the church buildings here are pretty old and very unique; they're different from any I've ever seen before. I love them though; most of them are really cool, and have things like courtyards and pillars and pipe organs and stained glass, etc. This one though, the Artesia building, is what I was used to seeing before the mission. The people here are great too; our ward mission leader is SO on top of things and SO willing to bend over backwards to do anything we need, including memorize and give the baptismal prayer in Spanish...and trust me Dad, he doesn't speak Spanish either! He speaks fluent French, but not Spanish. He's also very good with and love bikes, so the day I came down, we dropped our bikes off at his house, and the next day we picked them up -- full tires, greased chain, fixed brakes and a new brake handle (my tires were completely flat, and I'd been storing it outside, so it was pretty rusty) -- SUCH a blessing! Torrance is a slightly wealthier area (it's right by Redondo Beach, which is really nice!), and there's not a lot of Spanish here, but there are plenty of White people, Asians, and middle-easterners! As a matter of fact, one of our investigators right now is a man named Mohammed, who is a Muslim from Iran.

Our apartment is really nice too; a long time ago they had two set of elders here, so it's very spacey, with two bedrooms (although we sleep in the same one) and a washer and dryer in the apartment! We have the only car in the district besides the DL, but we still ride bikes lots. We play ultimate frisbee every morning in a beautiful little park just down the street with a bunch of the elders in our zone, which, by the way, Dad, includes the deaf elders! Yep, we have the ASL elders in our zone, and the deaf ward/branch meets in our same building. The park we play frisbee in has a big pond with lots of ducks and geese, and the first morning we rode through it, I kept thinking of little Buster and how much he would LOVE it!!!

My companion, Sis. Tittle (like little, but with a T) is great! She's from Orem, Utah, and is super sweet. She reminds me a lot of Carrie, actually. She's been out about half as long as me, and this has been her only area so far. Something that I really love about Sis Tittle is that she's really good at recognizing and following the Spirit, and she's always looking for ways we can be better missionaries. I really love working with her, and I'm so happy about this area!

I'm really grateful that I'm not training again this transfer. I love training, but it's hard work, and really tiring/draining, and I was ready for a "normal" transfer, with a companion who has at least a little bit of experience. It's really great being able to have other ideas and experience to draw on, and not being quite so scrutinized (not bad scrutinized, it's just like being under a magnifying glass all the time) in everything I say and do.

So here's a quick little break down of my mission so far, in case you aren't keeping track of it (which you probably are...)

MTC: District 4C, Sis Gregersen comp
1st transfer: Downey, Sis Foutz trainer
2nd and 3rd: Downey, Sis Tavares
4th and 5th: Marina del Rey, training Sis Dickson
6th and 7th: Marina del Rey, training Sis Stout
8th: North Torrance, Sis Tittle comp

8th transfer. Holy cow.

A few weeks ago, I had a really good personal study that I've been wanting to share. I was reading through lesson 1 (PMG ch 3), and a line from "God reveals his gospel in every dispensation" really stood out to me. It says something to the effect of "Whenever people choose to disregard, disobey, or distort gospel principles, choose to reject the Lord's prophets, or whenever they fail to endure in faith, they distance themselves from God and begin to live in spiritual darkness." What stood out to me was the last "apostate" option: failing to endure in faith. It reminded me of another part in CH1 of PMG that says "do not get discouraged" because it will lead to lack of faith, decreased desire, lessened effectiveness, etc.

Ah, no time!

Anyways, it just made me think about how important it is for us to always endure in faith, no matter what, so that we can stay in the light!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

email of 26 April 2010

2010-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

So...I do in fact have a birthday coming up...my 24th, as a matter-o-fact. :) Here's a little something fun about it too: This coming transfer (starting Wednesday) is another temple p-day transfer, and I realized a few weeks ago that my birthday is on a Wednesday (which is the day we go), so I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I got to go to the temple on my p-day?! Well, we just happen to work in the same ward as the APs (who also live right next door in the mission home, and with whom we play soccer every morning), so Sunday at ward correlation, I asked about it -- not trying to find out about transfers, just checking to see if my zone (that I'll be in) might be going on my birthday. Anyways, so those elders, being the little sweetie-heads that they are (and I mean that in total respect and appropriateness) said they'd "see what they could do" to get my zone going on my birthday!!!!! What a great way to celebrate a birthday, no? I'm excited, anyways!

So speaking of my birthday, if you so choose to send me a little something (which wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least), I think the three things that would really warm me heart and soul would be some of Mom's homemade granola, some pictures of my amazing and incredibly adorable family, and some bread...if you can. At least the granola and pictures :) Hmmmm, stuff to de-smell shoes, hand-written letters, and just lots and lots of love! I don't particularly need any sweets -- I have a whole drawer full of them already, although a small bag of pb m&ms would be just fine...mostly because of the sentimental value :) I can't think of much else, so whatever your little hearts desire!

Now, on to my week!!!

This Wednesday is transfer-time again (dun, dun, dun), and I at least know that I'm not training again this time around!!! Not that I don't love training...it's just that it would be nice to work with a sister who also has other experience and ideas in the work that I can draw on. My guess is that I'll be transferred because I've been here in MdR for 6 months now, but it is possible that I'll stay again. Who knows? (Well, the Lord, President and all the office Elders...). I'm excited to see what happens!

Yesterday was kinda fun; I thought of you, Mom, because we got called in to teach a teen-age Sunday School class that was missing a teacher. It was really fun! We taught the first part of Lesson 2 (the Plan of Salvation) to about 10 14-18 year olds. It was funny to see the know-it-all seminary masters, as well as the quiet, shy, reserved ones, and to talk about the Fall of Adam and Agency and the Atonement, etc. I just love being a missionary :)

We, once again, had no one at church this week. I don't know what happened, but my patience is sure being tried with a couple of our investigators. My companion said "Be nice!" when I called James to find out why he wasn't there (again). I just said "I am nice! Even when I'm frustrated I really try to be nice on the phone!" "Yes, but you're visibly annoyed," was her reply. I guess sometimes that still comes out in the voice, even when I try to be nice... Anyways, there was a visitor at the singles' ward, who apparently already had all the lessons, is in Alma in her BofM reading, and wants to be baptized.
*MIRACLES!!!*

We're teaching her tonight, but will have to pass her on to the other set of sisters that works in our ward b/c she lives in their area...my comp is a little bummed about that, but oh well.

After church, we went to see Cesar, because we hadn't seen or heard much from him all week--since last, amazing Sunday--and he was home! And Happy to see us! He'd been out of town all week, but was back, had read the pamphlet we gave him last Sunday, and was thrilled when we asked if he wanted to come up that night for a temple tour and the Joseph Smith movie!!! He's great, and just makes my little missionary heart happy!!!

I sure hope you have a great week! I Love you SO MUCH and pray for you everyday! The church is true!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!

I LOVE all of you!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 19 April 2010

2010-04-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

Oh my goodness, can I just tell you how wonderful and amazing and miraculous it is being a missionary?!?!?!?!

There's a song that's been running through my head since yesterday afternoon . . . remember the one from Fiddler on the Roof that goes "Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles..."? Well, that's the one that's been in my head! Now, let me tell you why...

Earlier this week (Wednesday), our zone leaders came out on team-ups with us (that just means they come out to teach a lesson with us to see how we're doing), and they are amazing at talking to everyone. One person they/we talked to was a young man (in his 20's) named Cesar. One of the elders noticed a tattoo of la virgin (Virgin Mary) on his arm, pointed to it and asked him if he was religious. Turns out he'd never been to a church before in his life, but his grandmother was a devout catholic, and he'd gotten the tattoo in honor of her when she passed away. He asked if we were from a church or something, so we asked him if he'd ever seen the big white building on Santa Monica and Overland (the temple). "Oh that's you guys?! I go by there all the time, and I've always wanted to go up and see it, but I've never really known if I could." We told him that of course he could, and we'd love to take him on a temple tour (guided walk around the grounds) sometime this week. He was super excited and said that he'd love to, but had to check his work schedule. So we got his phone number and address and promised to call him. When we called him a day or two later, he was again SO excited to come up. Well, things ended up falling through, but he called us right as he got off work Saturday night at 10:29pm (right before bedtime) to see if there was another time to come. We invited him to church the next day, and he told us that he'd love to come! "Ok, so I'll see you at 2 then!"

Those are the words that I love to hear!!!!

Well, Sunday morning comes, and in our first two wards (our Spanish and family wards) no one shows up. NO ONE. Not even our regulars! RRRRGH. As 2pm comes, right before the singles ward starts, we were outside waiting for and calling the four other people who were supposed to come to that ward. Nobody. Finally, we got a text (we can receive them but not send them) from Cesar telling us that he was on his way. So we went on inside and waited in class; about 10 minutes later we get another text telling us that he was outside. We went out and got him, and he was so happy to see us! He came right in, telling us how excited he was, and how nice it was that we'd invited him. He really enjoyed the gospel principles class, and we set him up with one of the ward missionaries for PH. When we met back up for SM, he was still going strong, just loving it! We introduced him to lots of people, and he really seemed to enjoy Sacrament Meeting. Sat quietly and very attentively through the whole thing. So right after it was over, we asked him how he'd liked it, and if we could teach him a little bit. He said yeah, he'd love that. So we grabbed another member and an empty classroom, sat down and taught him. Mostly, we just ended up teaching about who God and Jesus Christ are, how much they love and are aware of us, and how blessed we are as we follow them. He literally just soaked it all up, and had tons of questions and comments. He's been looking for something in his life lately -- knew something was missing, but didn't know what. Anyways, we committed him to baptism for may 9th, and he was thrilled. Honestly, thrilled. He couldn't thank us enough for the opportunity. That was really humbling for me. THEN, he came to a baptism that was happening right after wards at 6pm!!!!!

GOLDEN!!!!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!

We're going to hike the Hollywood sign today...I'll send pictures!!!

Love you more than you know!!!!

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

PS . . . for those of you looking for or who read the "Troll" story, sorry, it was determined to be an "urban legend", so we removed it. No blame on or offense to whoever passed it through to this point, and I appologize for not checking it sooner. (Sallie's Dad)

email of 12 April 2010

2010-04-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hello, my beloved family!!!!!

I would like to tell you today about the most exciting phone call I think I have ever received in my entire life. No, seriously.

Wednesday evening, as we were driving home, the phone rang, and it was Patricia (our investigator who we've been teaching almost since I got here to MdR (Marina del Rey), who I love terribly). My companion answered (I'm the driver, hence no phone usage in the car for me), and started talking to her. Patricia said that she had something she wanted to tell us, and she decided this time to tell us right away, instead of keeping us on the edge of our seats for another 3 days (she's done that before..."I have something to tell you!...when you come over on Tuesday." AAAAAAH!). "So I'm just going to tell you, and not make you wait."

Sis Stout turned the phone on speaker, and we both just looked at each other in a sort of excited fear, because our last appointment had been a lot of resolving concerns and helping Patricia feel ok about things, stop freaking out about the idea of baptism (she psyched herself out every time she even thought about setting a date), and know that no, she wasn't wasting our time. So now, we were waiting to hear her "news".

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

"I decided that I want to be baptized on May 16th."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were (are) two very excited sister missionaries, doing all in our power to not yell and scream and completely go ballistic with joy as we drove down the 405, let me just tell you! Patricia told us that she'd had a "revelation" last night -- she always does things for everyone else: what's best for her son, what would make her parents happy, what her friends would approve of, etc, etc, etc. Well, it finally occurred to her that if this is what makes her happy, and it's a good thing, and it's what she wants to do, then she ought to just do it!!! She chose May 16th because her birthday is May 18th, and she wants to do it right before her birthday.

Joy of joys as a missionary, to have your investigator, who you've labored over and planned for and prayed and prayed and prayed about, call you and tell you she wants to be baptized and tells you a specific date!!!

I hope that brings all of you at least a little bit of the joy and excitement it brought me.

Thank you so much for all your prayers on my behalf and for our investigators. I can't tell you how much that means to me, and how much the Lord answers them! Now, if you could just pray a little more for us today -- we have a lesson with Patricia tonight, and we're going to see if she's willing to move her date up sooner. She's SO READY right now, and I don't want to run the risk of anything getting in the way of her getting baptized!!!

Oh, I thought you might enjoy knowing too that we met "probably the 3rd hippest person" on the subject of religion a few weeks ago. His name is Lee. We tracted into him, and he told us a few things about what Jesus really meant by certain things in the Bible. He also told us that we should go find others to talk to who needed this more than him, since he was "probably the 3rd hippest person on this subject". Why 3rd? I don't know; that's just what he told us.

We've been trying to work more with the members lately, and have been visiting them, teaching some about the Atonement, and the motivation that our really knowing, understanding, and experiencing the Atonement in our own lives gives us to share that knowledge and assurance with others. Alma 36, Mosiah 28:3.

No time left, but I do love you so much and pray for all of you daily! Remember who you are, choose the right, and keep trying to be like Jesus!!!!!

I Love Being a Missionary, and I Love All of YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 05 April 2010

2010-04-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!!

Wasn't General Conference A-MAZING?!?!?! Man alive, I LOVE conference! I actually meant to bring my notes with me to the library today so that I could share some of my favorite talks and other thoughts I had during GC, but I forgot it :( Sorry! I was rather impressed, however with how much the family was really talked about and emphasized this time around! I loved all the counsel for parents and for children, and Mom, I sat there thinking of you during all of E. Ballard's talk too! I'm always so excited when Conference time comes around, and so sad when it's over so quickly. Anyways, I just thought everything was so wonderful, and I am SO grateful that we are privileged to live in a time and place that allows us to: 1) Have a living prophet and apostles, and 2) be able to see and hear them speak almost instantaneously. What a blessing! We, of course, went to the chapel for each session...it took me back a lot to my childhood days of dressing up and going to the chapel for every session, with Subway between sessions on Saturday, and plenty of whining about Sunday clothes and wanting to watch it in the gym...sorry about all that. Mom, Dad, thanks for persevering through all that to help instill such a love and appreciation for hearing the living prophets! We didn't have Subway between session on Saturday...we were actually helping one of our investigators move, so we didn't even get around to lunch on Saturday; we did, however have some hot and ready Little Caesar's pizza and freshly bought Mexican grilled chicken at our dinner appointment on Sunday...we're still working on Sabbath-day observance with some of our new-members here...

So I'm guessing you've all heard about our earthquake! Yep, apparently we got a 7.2 (from what I heard, the epicenter was in Baja, and it was felt into parts of AZ.), and would you believe that I DIDN'T EVEN FEEL IT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! AAAAAAAH! I'm so mad that I somehow missed it! I've always kinda wanted to feel an earthquake, and here I am, in California, sitting right on top of one of the biggest fault lines in the US (world?), we went and had one, and I didn't even realize it 'till someone we tracted into told us about it. I think we were out street contacting a little bit when it happened because we were talking to a guy named Mario when the homeless guy, David, who we'd just talked to, stood up, looked around, and pointed up at the power lines (he was several yards away from us, but I was facing his direction, which is why I saw him. He kept standing there for a minute, mostly looking up, so finally I looked up and noticed that the power lines were swaying, but I didn't think much of it. I think I just figured some animal or something had just run across them or something...I dunno. Anyways, apparently everybody else felt it but us...Lame. Oh, and as far as I know, or have noticed, there haven't been any major problems or structural damage or anything because of it.

Hmmm, let's see...I have more time than usual because I didn't have as many letters to read this week, and I'm not sure what to do with all this extra time! Sorry my letters have been getting shorter than they were at the beginning; I'll try to do better, but I just find myself more excited about reading than writing lately.

We had Zone Conference this week! It's one of my favorite parts of the transfer! We were trained on/talked a lot about working with the ward leaders, especially having a good relationship with the bishop and ward mission leader, and also had some really excellent trainings on our purpose as missionaries, charity, and the Atonement. It's such a great pick-me-up, and always comes at the right time...kind of like holiday breaks when you're in school, but on a slightly more intense spiritual level.

How is everything going for everyone?! Mom, I'm sure you're just loving being up in Oregon with Joseph, Wendy and their three little guys! How's little Caleb? Joseph says he's a pretty chill baby, which I'm sure is a nice contrast to the more energetic older boys. Give them all hugs and kisses for me!

Dad, sorry to hear about the tires...Kinda funny and slightly ironic the way you lost both front left tires right in a row, huh? Sounds like everything else is going well though -- thanks for your notes and thoughts on Conference! Oh, and thank you so much too for the E. Bednar talk you snail-mailed me a few weeks ago on faith! What an awesome talk!

David, how are all the plans going for graduation/college, etc? How's work, school, friends, all of that?

Sam, Suzan and little Samuel, how in the world are things going for y'all? Thanks for the little card you sent with the quotes and stuff in it a few weeks ago (sorry, I can't remember if I already said thanks for that or not)! Hope life is treating you well!

And Joseph and Wendy, I hope things are still going super well with the new baby and the other two little boys! Sorry to hear you've been so sick, Joseph -- I'll definitely send some prayers your way!

Well, that's it for now. Hope you all have a great week! Always remember that your missionary in SoCal loves you, prays for you, and misses you! The church is TRUE!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

I still love being a missionary :)

email of 29 March 2010

2010-04-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Note: Why she was late this week: (Apparently Monday was Cesar Chavez day, so I'm just now getting to write ... I was under the impression that we live in the U.S., but I guess this is southern California...might as well be Mexico :) )

Dearly Beloved,

We are gathered here today to once again examine a week in the life of a missionary...

First of all, much love and congratulations to the Brown family!!! I'm so happy to hear how things are going for you right now! Thanks to the Lord for His abundant tender mercies over us and your family! I know lots of prayers have been offered on your behalf!

I'm SO EXCITED to have another little boy in our family! Babies and little children are one of the things I miss the most being a missionary...there's lots of them, but it's pretty much hands off for us, which kills! And then there's all these babies at home that I don't get to meet for a while, but it's all ok! Like the saying goes, I've left my family for a year and a half so that other people can be with their's for eternity! Speaking of which, I really want to find a family to teach and baptize! I was looking over the names of my recent converts this morning, and was just thinking of how much I love them all, but really really really want to be able to see a family come into the church and progress to the temple and everything. That is so much of what this is all about! It's not just "getting people wet," but helping all of them receive the exalting ordinances of the temple!!! One of the incredible blessings of serving a mission in the LA mission is being so close to the temple! It's been closed for the last week and a half or so for cleaning, and, as missionaries, we get a chance to help with cleaning assignments! We went and served last Wednesday, and got to help the florist take apart, and prep for a lot of the floral pieces in the temple and visitor's center! We also helped clean all the seats in one of the endowment rooms, and dusted railings and baseboards in another room. I LOVE the temple! It's such a beautiful place, especially when you know and understand the significance of what happens there. Being a missionary and studying the gospel much more in-depth than I ever have before has done so much to help me better understand and appreciate the temple, and I just want everyone to know about it and go there!!!

We had beach p-day this week! "Beach p-day?", you ask? Yes, it's true. We got to go to the beach this last Monday!!! We just stayed up on the sand, playing volleyball and building sand castles and looking at the ocean, and it was SO GREAT!!!! My companion got super sunburned. I wore sun screen. I do have some pretty great farmer's tan lines that are coming back now that it's warming up again. :) Love it.

Hmmm, let's see. Nothing else super exciting at the moment...we're teaching some great people; including a young man from Australia (Syndey) named James. He has a baptismal date for April 18th. Now we just need to get him more excited about it! He's willing and happy, but not exactly enthused...I don't think he's fully caught the vision yet. But he will!

I would like you all to know again how much I really love my life and love my mission. I'm so grateful that the Lord allowed me -- even prompted me -- to come and have this privilege.

Hope you all have a great week! Your missionary in LA is praying for you!!!!!

I Love you, and I love being a missionary!!!

Much Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 22 March 2010

2010-03-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

CINDY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!

It's true! It's true! It finally happened!!!!! Cindy got baptized yesterday! Everything went beautifully...strangely smoothly, which, of course, is what we were praying for, but baptism days are (almost) always a little crazy, with lots of last minute stuff happening to get in the way. I guess most of the opposition came before the day of. Anyways, it was lovely -- short, sweet, and simple, just like she wanted it! So yeah, I am a very happy missionary!

Now let's see...This week....

Oh! Transfers -- Sis. Stout and I both stayed together here in MdR, so we get another 6 weeks to do things right! We're both really happy, and it's been a good chance to reevaluate and make some good goals for this transfer!

I hope everything goes well with Grandma and her dental work today! Mom, I just can't help but laugh when you tell me about things...how she keeps forgetting everything. I know it's terribly frustrating and hard for you, but seriously, from this distance, it's hilarious. But I know it's a struggle for you...I'll definitely keep praying for you and for her! The Lord is just helping you be ready for the Celestial Kingdom, that's all! I think maybe I'll send Gma a little card/letter this week with all sorts of good stories and things from my mission, so that whenever you're having a hard time, you can give it to her to read and she can tell you all about how great things are going for me...again!!! :)

Do you have any idea how talkative old Hispanic people can be??? OOOOOOOOOOH my goodness that can be frustrating when you're a missionary on a time limit and you can't get a word in edge-wise!!! We had two of them, back to back on Saturday...sweet older (60's, 70's) Mexican men, who just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk...I don't know how they do it! And I'm terrible at interrupting, which is what you have to do if you're going to even attempt teaching them! I just always think, "Oh, he's right in the middle of a story...I'll just wait until he finishes his thought, and then I'll jump in." The problem is, they just go from thought to thought to thought without ever finishing! They are also children of God though, and I do love them, even if they drive me nuts. :) It's pretty funny too, I'm sure.

We had a lesson yesterday in the singles ward that we cover about tithing. As we were discussing, a letter that Joseph sent me a while back came to my mind, and I've really been thinking a lot about it. He talked about how a mission is your "life's tithe," and suggested/shared the counsel that'd he'd received to go to the temple following my mission, and take a good amount of time to sit in the Celestial room and go through my entire mission, really giving an accounting fo my "life's tithe" to the Lord. That has really struck me, and given me the desire to live each day in my mission with no regrets. I'm certainly not perfect at it, but I am trying; I really want to be able to give a full tithe of my life and to have no regrets! And even though y'all aren't on the same type of full-time missions as me, I think that's something we can all do! Live each day to the fullest...no regrets!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

...who still loves being a missionary...more and more every day!

email of 15 March 2010

2010-03-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hello my wonderful family!!!

How does your day be? I'm doing "SOOOOO GOOD!" and just livin' it up here in sunny southern California!

I would like you to know just how much I love being a missionary! God is real, and He really loves us, and I know it! This week has been a good one :) We had a dinner appointment on Tuesday with this sweet old hispanic lady, Hna Mendoza. She is somewhere in her 80's, I think, and is one of the most incredible examples of love, faith, and testimony! We went to her home, and she didn't have dinner for us because it's really difficult for her to do much cooking; she has arthritis terribly, and doesn't feel well much of the time. However, she faithfully comes to church every single week, and goes to the temple fairly regularly, I believe. Since she hadn't cooked, she kind of hobbled slowly over to her bookshelf and sweetly gave us a subway card as her dinner for us. We sat down and visited for a while, taking a little bit of time to teach the lesson we'd prepared, on the importance of prayer. She listened very intently and made some wonderful comments; we asked her to read a few times, and with her bent and crooked fingers that she could barely move, she would open and put on her glasses, then take the Book of Mormon and read carefully the verses we asked about. At the end, she told us (in Spanish), "Hermanitas, I didn't get a chance to bear my testimony in church on Sunday because it's just too difficult for me to get up to the stand, so I want to bear my testimony now to you." Then she proceeded to bear the sweetest, most sincere testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and the strength that she receives from it, of the reality of the Lord and His love for us, and a few other things. It was amazing, and I felt the Spirit in a way that I haven't in quite a while. I just wanted to cry to see the faith and beauty of this tiny little Hispanic woman, to feel of her love and testimony, and to realize and learn from the incredible example that she and so many others are.

Transfers are this week...again! I just can't believe it every time they come around! I at least know that I'm not training, but whether or not I or my companion will be transferred has yet to be determined...we'll find out for sure by Tuesday night! There are definitely pros and cons to staying or leaving, but I'd like to stay another transfer here -- I really love Marina del Rey! Sin embargo, "I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord!"

Our investigators are doing well...Cindy is scheduled to (finally!) be baptized this Sunday, but we're not totally sure if testimony-wise she's really quite ready. SO FRUSTRATING!!! I want so badly for her to know and feel this for herself, but this is the tough part of missionary work where you do all you can, while still respecting the agency of others... She's come a heckuva long way, but we'll see what happens. Pray for her!

Patricia is WONDERFUL!!! One of my favorites ever! She always has these little reservations when we first teach her a principle, but then goes off during the week and gains a testimony of it for herself. She's so great. Still not willing to set a hard baptismal date because she's still a little scared of the weight of the commitment, but she's SO READY!!! Pray for her too!

Michael and Justin still won't come to church...RRrrrrrrrgh. But they're coming along nonetheless!

I love my life! the mission is the greatest thing I ever decided to do!!!

Have a great week!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

I Love being a missionary!!!

Mucho amor from SoCal,

~Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 08 March 2010

2010-03-08T15:35:00.001-08:00

8 March 2010

Ok, so I finally wrote/finished my "parable of the soy milk":

I've never been a huge milk drinker. I'd have it with cereal now and then, and definitely need milk with cookies, but to just drink a glass of milk generally just isn't my thing. However, I've discovered that I really like soy milk. I'm not into it because of any health reasons or anything, I just like the taste better. So since making that discovery, breakfast is much faster because I usually eat cereal (with soy milk), AND I tend to enjoy it more. Most of my companions on the mission are more into regular cow's milk -- which is totally fine! -- but a couple have wanted to just try the soy milk to see what it's like. I always tell them first though, "Just don't expect it to taste like regular milk!" because that, inevitably, is what they expect, and that is NOT what you get! Despite the fact that soy milk looks similar, and even has almost the same name, it is not cow's milk! I would probably never drink a glass of soy milk with a warm chocolate cookie, because that's not the flavor or texture that I want with my cookie; however, I love it with cereal or just otherwise. So as long as you're not going into your first taste of soy milk expecting it to taste like regular milk, chances are, you may like it; however, if you go into it expecting a similarly-tasting replacement, you'll probably be really disappointed, and may think that soy milk is totally gross.
Now, for the parallel/metaphor/parable:

In life, we often go into new environments, situations, experiences, change, etc, and find ourselves really disappointed because things aren't quite the way they used to be, or they aren't exactly what we were expecting, which can leave sort of a "bad taste" in our mouths. Well of course things aren't going to be the same!! This is something different! Now of course this is a totally natural and understandable response, because we tend to compare things to what we already know, but we have to realize that change is just that -- it's not the same!

Real Life Application:

On the first day of this transfer, we were helping several of the new sister missionaries get moved into the temple apartments. One of them was coming from South Lynwood (Compton), and had now been assigned to Beverly Hills. Based on all the stereotypes and "mission-chisme (gossip)", she was understandably a bit aprehensive about what lie ahead; she was coming from one of the poorer, mostly-spanish areas of the mission to, well, the rich and famous. As I talked to her though, I tried to help her be excited and pumped-up about her new area, telling her all about how "it is what you make it," and "It'll be great! The Lord has elect people there too -- otherwise there wouldn't be any missionaries!" I even shared with her my little parable, basically saying, "Just don't expect it to be like South Lynwood, and you'll be fine; realize that this will be completely different, but it's still good, and you'll have great experiences here too!"

Now fast forward about 2 weeks: My new companion and I are still adjusting to each other, and I'm struggling just a little bit to find the balance in training and yet working as hard as we can, but working a lot on the smaller details of missionary work that I've kind of forgotten about because after a while things become habit and are just natural. Now, as this is happening, I often find myself comparing things to how it was last transfer, with my last companion, and my last experience training, etc...which was kind of a downer! But then I found myelf being reminded of the very words I spoke to the sister who was going to Beverly Hills: "You can't expect things to be exactly the way they were; just expect this experience to be different, but expect it to be great and it will be great!"

...I realized that I was drinking soy milk, and expecting/wanting it to taste like regular cow's milk.

That changed my outlook and helped IMMENSELY!

So, as changes happen in life, take them as they come, pray for strength and an open mind and heart to have the experience that the Lord wants you to have, no matter how different it may be from what you may have experienced in the past, and don't drink soy milk expecting it to taste like cow's milk -- because it doesn't!!!

...so take from that what you will. Hopefully you enjoyed it and even learned a little something from it!

Now, on more of a newsie front, life here in Marina del Rey is great! There's been lots of talk about Chile and everything lately; I still feel super out of the loop, but I'm really ok with that. I feel like I know as much as I need to know, and that's just fine for me!

The work here keeps moving along. It's sort of slowed down some, which can be a little frustrating at times, but as I've taken to saying (especially when we're rejected at a door or something), "Press Forward Saints!" We've just got to keep going, keep trying and doing our best -- our very best -- and let the Lord work as we're constantly seeking to grow and improve! Keep praying for me -- those prayers mean more than you know!

I Love you all more than I could ever possibly say!!!

I love being a missionary!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

email of 03 March 2010

2010-03-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

HAPPY MARCH!!!!

...It's already March...I can't believe it!

Oh what a good week it's been! The temple today was wonderful -- it's such a blessing and privilege to serve in a mission where we can go to the temple every two transfers! It always seems to come at just the right time, and is an amazing spiritual boost for me! Ou session this morning was at 6:30am, and it was such a beautiful little walk down to the temple from our apartment, just before sunrise, with the crisp morning air and all the little birds just singing away happily! What an incredible blessing it is to be a part of this marvelous gospel! The thought crossed my mind this morning a few times, as I was changing into my white temple clothes and waiting for the session to begin, that so many people have no idea. They just have no idea what wonderful blessings the Lord has for them, and how much higher He can and will lift us out of the dreary, smoggy "mists of darkness" of this life, if we'll let Him!!! I was thinking about all the worldly, carnal things that this world has to offer, about all the actors and actresses and their big awards shows and things -- what a big to-do it is, and how much trouble they all go to to find just the perfect dress, ect, just to parade out in front of the world -- and how it all just pales in comparison to the incredible, beautiful simplicity of the temple and gospel blessings -- and they have NO IDEA!!! Not that they're all bad people or anything, just that there's so much more; we all have so much amazing, eternal, divine potential! We just have to be obedient and follow in the Lord's way!

We tracted into a young man this week, who was very openly and brazenly atheist. Unlike Justin, who just doesn't really understand the nature of God and how to believe in Him, this man was just out-and-out opposed to God and religion and our beliefs. We actually talked for a good little bit, and he kept making so many arguments about science and evolution and proof and things like that; he also kept talking about/bringing up things about our "history" as a church -- things that were super mixed up and twisted -- and really just arguing his point from whatever angle he could. It wasn't a heated argument or anything, but we were both very open and unmoved in our standpoints. Now this story doesn't have any sort of a "cool" ending about us being able to completely defend the truth and silence him and him wanting to be baptized or anything; none of that happened. We did our best, praying for help and direction to say the right things, but, in the end, we just bore our testimonies and left. But I can tell you that even though we couldn't "change his mind," my testimony was strengthened, because I know the truth! I know the truth, and I know that I know it, and I know that that young man has been blinded by the cunning craftiness of Satan...who is carefully leading him away; and yet, he is also a son of the most high God, one with incredible potential that will never be realized as long as he is unwilling to see and hear what is true. 2 Nephi 28...good heavens Nephi was right!!!

But OH! I know that God is real and that this is His church and gospel, and that it's true!!!

That's about it for today...sorry it's a little shorter than usual, but I had lots of emails to read, and that's the most important things that I want you to hear from me today -- that the church is true and I know it!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
I Love being a missionary!

Love,
(Aunt) Hermana Sallie (on a missin!)

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 22 February 2010

2010-02-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE OLYMPICS ARE GOING ON RIGHT NOW?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Oh wait...

Well, it was news to ME, anyways...I have no idea what's going on in the world right now. Found out the olympics last night...the week before I found out that Ted Kennedy had died...a while ago, apparently. You know what though, I really don't feel as though I'm missing out on anything -- it's pretty freeing to not have to worry about that kind of stuff at all right now.

David, congrats on being so close with your Eagle project! I've been praying a lot for you and will keep doing so, especially that you can have nice weather this weekend to finish things off!

Tell Auntie JuJu that I'll be praying for her too. I'm so glad that she's doing better and know she'll continue to improve.

So remember back to my first email from the field where I talked about Christine, who was supposed to get baptized that week, but then didn't? Well yesterday she finally got baptized!!!!! That was sure exciting, let me tell you! We got to go down to Downey for the baptism, which was really good. It was a little weird being back in my old area and seeing the members and people there, but it was good :)

I was SO EXCITED to read about David's friend, Kami! How awesome that she's going to be baptized, and especially that y'all get to be part of the process! It's such a great experience and feeling to be part of this incredible missionary work, isn't it? I just love it! And what a great privilege it will be for you, David, to baptize her! I hope things continue to go well with that, and will add Kami and all of you to my prayers this week! Make sure to be great members for her and the missionaries -- bear your testimonies frequently, comment and participate in the lessons, but be sure to keep things simple and remember not to overload her with too much! And love her!

Mom, you asked me last week abuot how my spanish is coming; very well, thank you! It actually has improved leaps and bounds since coming to Marina del Rey, where I have had less spanish, and 2 non-native speakers...go figure. Actually, President told me that that's fairly common; since I don't so much have a more experienced/able companion to lean on, I've really had to work and improve myself. So although I still wouldn't consider myself fully fluent, and definitely have days where I struggle to get the words out, my ability to speak and understand spanish has improved greatly!

I'm sorry that I don't always write a whole lot of spiritual things...insights and such (at least I don't feel like I do)...I'm going to really work on that, because I'm realizing that the spiritual growth and development that I'm receiving here are far greater and of more importance than some of my silly little stories. I'm working on improving that in my journal as well -- I tend to get caught up in the "I only have 5 minutes to write something quick, so here's what happened today..." rather than share my thoughts and feelings and impressions from the day, which are far more valuable...though the stories can be pretty good :)

So I wanted to share a little something with you this week; something that I refer to as "the parable of the soy milk," (It's really not a parable...more of an analogy, but "parable" sounds better :) and it has to do with change.
I don't really have time though, but I promise to share it next week! Here's the first part of it though!

I've never been a huge milk drinker. I'd have it with cereal now and then, and definitely need milk with cookies, but to just drink a glass of milk really isn't my thing. However, I've discovered that I really like soy milk. I'm not into it because of any health reasons or anything, I just like the taste better. So since making that discovery, breakfast is much faster because I usually eat cereal (with soy milk), AND I tend to enjoy it more. Most of my companions on the mission are more into regular cow's milk -- which is totally fine! --

The church is true!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

I love being a missionary!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

ps Just a little FYI: next week is our temple p-day, so I won't be emailing until Wednesday...don't procrastinate the day of your writing though! :)

email of 17 February 2010

2010-02-18T04:58:00.001-08:00

Hello, hello, hello!!!

How are all of you this week? Doing well, I hope! I just read Joseph's letter and was thinking, hey, Wendy's due in about another transfer! ...oh how time is measured on the mission...

This week has been good! I got to go on splits with my sister trainer (kind of a Zone Leader for the sisters...) this week, which was so great! I love my companion, and the awesome opportunity I've had now to train twice, but it was really nice to work with a more experienced sister in the mission, to be able to feel and learn from her experience and spiritual strength! Sometimes as a trainer you have to pull a lot of the weight yourself, as you're teaching and helping your new missionary to learn and do as well, so getting a little break was nice. I will say this: training has really given me such a deeper appreciation for my trainer . . . it's also made me feel really bad for what I probably put her through during that first transfer . . . I'm sorry Sister Foutz...thanks for putting up with me.

Anyways, so we had a great day together, Sister Mosher (my sister trainer) and I! Just a little highlight: As we were tracting a little bit in the morning, we tracted into this guy named Justin, who was nice, but told us up front that he was an Atheist, but recognized the good in the world. Well, we kept talking to him, and felt impressed to share Moroni 10:6, which talks about how all good things testify of Christ. Afterwards, he said, "I have kind of a secret...I know it sounds funny to be coming from an atheist, but sometimes I pray. ...Sometimes I ask Him for things, but mostly I just say thanks; and you know, it feels really good when I do that." YAY!!!!!!!

We taught him really quickly about the light of Christ, and how no matter who you are, or what you believe, as long as you're moving toward that light that is inherently within all of us, you're going to receive more and more of it in your life, to which he replied, "Yeah...I really want to move toward the light." DOUBLE YAY -- THAT'S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!!!!

So anyways, we set up an appointment for the next day, went over and taught him about the plan of salvation, and committed him to baptism on March 21st!!!

I love being a missionary!

Well, I have another new responsibility in the mission! We have here what's called the "Information Center," which is kind of an interim visitor's center, since the actual visitor's center is still under construction...as it has been for about the last 2 1/2 years. The latest we've heard, it's scheduled to open the first part of June -- espero que si! So anyways, the Info Center...since the VC is currently out of commission, there's a big room in the mission home that they open up on a limited schedule each week to show the church's current VC movie, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration". It works pretty much like a VC in that there are sister missionaries who work different shifts at the IC doing things like introducing, starting, and leading discussions about the movie, or give temple tours, etc. It's been an awesome resource because we can schedule it and bring people we're working with to come see the movie (or any other church movies that we have), but the senior couple who got it (the I.C.) up and running finished their mission and went home just before Christmas, so the IC closed for a while. However, a few weeks ago, the first VC senior couple arrived, and have taken the assignment/opportunity to re-open the IC and be over it until the VC opens back up.

Now, all that said to tell you that I've been asked to be the sister who does the scheduling and coordinating of all the other sister missionaries' schedules to work in the info center. Thankfully the Larsens (the senior couple who are over the IC) will be the one's worrying about scheduling the actual appointments, so all I have to worry about is the Sisters' schedules. Anyways, it's pretty cool...a little stressful, but not too bad, and I'm so excited to be able to be involved in this way!

Things are going well with my new trainee, Sister Stout -- we're getting more used to each other, and the work is starting to pick back up some more! It's really the awesomest thing in the world to be a missionary and to literally watch the changes in people's lives! I love it!

Not much time left . . .remind me next week to share with you my parable/analogy of the soy milk. :)

Oh, and David, I just want you to know that I love you and am praying for you and your Eagle project -- don't give up! You CAN finish it in time! Just work your little tail off and pray like crazy!

I Love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

. . . and yes, I LOVE being a missionary!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

ps I discovered a new favorite cereal...Quaker Oatmeal Bites...touch of brown sugar flavor

Oh, and is there any music on the way? I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeaalllly love some!

email of 8 February 2010

2010-02-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

Well hello!

Another week, come and gone on the mission...and I'm still alive and kickin' it! I have a great new companion, Sister Stout, from Hurricane Utah! Things are going really well for us still here, and I'm enjoying working with my new companion. I DO miss having Sister Dickson, but that's just because we had really gotten close, and I'm still adjusting to a new, different companion; she's really good though! Like I said last week though, I'm really trying to remember how I felt when I first got out, and am praying like crazy and working hard to be the best trainer for Sis. Stout that I can be!

Yesterday wa had the baptism of Estela Chavolla! It was so beautiful, and I just love how great the spanish ward is at taking care of each other in the little details that busy missionaries sometimes forget. Forgot to ask one of the sisters to be at the side of the font waiting with the towel? No worries, the WML's wife just went right in with her to help. Didn't think to arrange for/ask about refreshments? Oh, they're all over that with homemade cupcakes and hot chocolate (mmmmm....). And Estela was so happy! All three of her daughters came, and they seemed to really enjoy/appreciate it. They are a very close, loving and supportive family, and Estela is really hoping that they will see the blessings and changes in her life and want to be part of the church as well! If you'll recall, Alicia was also supposed to be baptized, but due to a few circumstances that arose last minute, her baptism is being postponed for just a little while, we hope. It sure broke my heart though, and I cried for the first time in a while. I'm not really much of a crier anymore...I think I may just be pretty cried out from the MTC and my first several transfers; although, maybe not because it sure was relieving to be able to just cry and let it out for a couple of minutes yesterday...minus the headache that accompanied afterwards. Anyways, everything is ok now, and we're going to keep working with Alicia and her family; they just HAVE to get baptized!!!

Hmmmmmm, what's something funny that has happened in the last little while that I can share? hmmmmm...well, we're teaching english to these two cute little old Indian women, Mohini and Saroj. They're so funny! Everytime we come over, when we first see them and say hi, they always respond with, "Oh fine, and you?" in this cute little accent and in the exact same tone of voice. It's really much better in person, trust me. Something kind of fun with that though, is that a few weeks ago they took a picture with us to send to their family in India. So, somewhere across the world in some family's little apartment in India there's a picture of me!

I've definitely had the blessing of being able to sing a lot out here on my mission, and I really love it! Last night was one of our "President's Firesides" that Pres Blackburn does every month or so for investigators and recent converts, and I was asked to do the special musical number for it. I sang the Rob Gardner arrangement of "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul", ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aPtzR1svzU ) which I love! It was really nice, and I think that the Spirit was able to touch a few hearts through the music.

I just love being a missionary here!

Oh, and Dad -- I followed your little suggestion from last week and asked for a blessing yesterday from the AP's (they live right next door in the mission home), and it was really wonderful! I hadn't had one since the week I left the MTC, and it was just really good to have a personal blessing from the Lord to me. So thanks for that suggestion!

It was weird to be called by my first name though...

Well that's it for this week! I love you all -- be strong!

I love being a missionary!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email of 1 February 2010

2010-02-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Happy February!!!

Too bad it's not tomorrow, huh? If it were, you could go crazy receiving this letter over and over and over again every day! :D

So today is my two hundred and seventy-second (I think...give or take a day or two because I didn't check my journal this morning) day as a missionary! That means that in a grand total of about 5 days, I will officially hit my halfway mark. Man, 9 months...somebody could've had a baby in that time !! Oh wait...at least one somebody DID have a baby in that time! It's weird, and yet strangely NOT weird to be halfway through my mission. I really like the way the family we ate dinner with yesterday put it: this is a great time of the mission because I've been in it long enough to really get a feel for things and feel like I more or less have a handle on this mission thing, and yet I still have plenty of time left to enjoy and improve in being a missionary! And it's true! Although I know and feel that I still have plenty left to learn and lots of growth ahead, I don't really feel "new" anymore, and am MUCH more confident than I was 6, 7, 8, or 9 month s ago!

And on to of it all, we're coming to the end of yet another transfer here in the CLAM...and the word has been spoken: I'll be training again next transfer! Thankfully I'll get to stay here in Marina del Rey, but I'm losing my beloved "daughter" companion, Sister Dickson! It's been such a blessing to be her trainer and companion, and I'm really going to miss her, but such is mission life, and I'm excited to see what happens next! There's always a good bit of nervousness around the time of transfers, but more especially with training and wondering what my brand new companion will be like, and wanting to be the trainer that she needs, but also really hoping that she'll feel up to the huge task that it is to be a missionary. I just have to keep in mind my own experience and feelings when I first arrived, and try to be sensitive to that while also teaching, training, and moving the work move forward. Speaking of moving the work forward, we're (planning on) having two baptisms this Sunday!!! Estela and Alicia are both scheduled to be baptized at 4:30 this Sunday, Feb 7th, and we're SO happy and excited for them!!! We walked to church with Alicia and her kids and Jorge (he's her cousin) again yesterday, only this time, they were all up and dressed and ready to go when we got there at 9:30! Well, all except for little Juan (the 4 year old)... pobrecito (poor little guy)...he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and Alicia said that he eats really slow, so we left without him. Although we didn't find out that that's why he didn't come until we were halfway to church! Had we known, we would have totally waited for him! He really wanted to come to primary too... :( oh well. Alicia is doing great though! In one of our lessons earlier this week, she basically told us that she's more than willing to keep the commandments so that she can be baptized; she just needs to know what they all are so that she can keep them! She's awesome :) Estela is our other baptism on Sunday, and she's just the most incredible lady! She has SUCH a sweet spirit and countenance about her, and is so happy about getting baptized! One thing I love about her is that she always talks about God "illuminating" her with the gospel. I'm SO happy for her, and am SO grateful for her open heart and spirit, as well as her incredible patience through these lessons as we've struggled, but made it, through the english-spanish language barrier. Last night she just thanked us over and over, telling us what an impact and blessing we've been to her (because of the gospel!); she even called us her "angelitas" (little angels). I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this woman, and what a privilege it has been to be so involved in her conversion! She is truly an "elect" It's times and people like Estela and Alicia and Patricia and Cindy (the last two of whom are still working toward baptism, but aren't quite there yet) that make it all worth it. All the walking, all the tracting, all the rejection, all the early mornings and long days, all the strugglings are just made so sweet and joyful through people and experiences like these!

Speaking of tracting struggles, I have a quick question for Alex Dunlap...did you run into many Orthodox Christians there in Croatia, and if so, HOW DO YOU TEACH THEM?!?!?!?! We've been running into quite a few lately, and I'm pretty lost on how or what to say to get/keep their attention and teach them the restored gospel! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Well, that's all the time for today -- thanks for all your love and letters! Hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll definitely be praying for the condo sale and your trip out west with David (congrats!)!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

love,
Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 25 January 2010

2010-01-26T06:37:00.000-08:00

cual es la diferencia entre una pera y una novia de un misionero?
una es pera, y la otra no

:D

That's my most recent favorite Spanish joke. It doesn't really translate into English very well, but if you're dying to know, ask someone who speaks Spanish and let them explain it to you :)

Well Happy January 25th!!! I surely hope that everything is going great in your neck of the woods! California is just great! This last week was really good for us here, rain and all! Yesterday, we had 6 investigators at Sacrament meeting! Actually, in total we had 12 people in church , but only 6 who are specifically investigators made it to sacrament meeting (so that's the 6 in Sacrament mtg, plus 3 children under the age of 8, and the neice of one of our investigators...we haven't taught her (the neice) yet, so she doesn't count as an investigator; two of our other investigators made it to church, just not quite in time for sacrament meeting). It was a miracle!!!

We actually went by around 9:30 in the morning for the Reyes family (the one's we were going to walk with), and when we got there, the house was still pretty dark, but Alejandro (the 10 year old that we're teaching) answered the door and told us that everyone was still asleep, except for his aunt (Alicia, investigator) and his grandma (Antonia, also an investigator). Jorge (the cousin - investigator) was asleep on the couch and wouldn't get up. Then Alicia's sister came out and told us that they weren't there...they'd left, but she didn't know where to. RRRGH! So we ran over to the laundromat to check and see if they were there...no dice. So we went back to their apartment to wait outside to see if we could catch them. Wait, wait, wait, nothin'. We called their house and talked to Teresa (the sister) again, who told us they still weren't there. Walked back to the laundromat to see if anyone there knew where they were. Nope. Went back to the apartment, and right as we got there (it's about 9:50 by this time -- church starts at 10), out came Teresa (the sister -- not an investigator) with Antonia (the grandma, one of the one's we were looking for) and several of the kids. Antonia just said that she was so sorry, but they weren't going to be able to make it this week because the had to go help their cousin with some food thing. Sorry! Come next week though, we'll come!

HJGKDFLSAIOUTHRILWEAHJ KLGDFHSJKALHFEKJ!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell you the feelings of frustration and disappointment that I was feeling as she told us that. I couldn't even really muster an understanding smile. Both my companion and I were pretty much about to cry. Maybe it seems silly, but OH! When you work with and love a family so much, and then they don't do the one thing that you've been really planning on the whole week -- the one thing that you know will help to strengthen and solidify their little growing testimonies, and will help them progress in the gospel -- never mind the fact that you got there with plenty of time and waited for nearly a 1/2 hour, when that happens, it can feel like a pretty crushing blow!

So anyways, we just sort of stood there, watching them leave, and listening to Antonia's apologies, not entirely sure what to do. So we asked if Alicia was going with them, or if she'd be able to make it to church. Antonia said that Alicia was going with them -- sorry, next week! -- and called in after her. We went in to just see and talk to Alicia for a second, and she came out crying. She said she was so sorry, but would for sure come next week, and would we still come by during the week. So we talked to her for a second -- almost all of us in tears -- and then left to walk to church by ourselves. Halfway down the street, our phone rang, and it was Alicia. "Will you wait for me? I want to go -- I'll hurry!"

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was kind of an Alma moment -- you know, the terrible sadness and disappointment that turned to great joy and rejoicing. We were two happy and excited sister missionaries, let me tell you!

So we ran back to the apartment, and waited while Alicia hurriedly got herself and her 4, 6, and 1-year old children ready. In the meantime, we woke Jorge up and told him to hurry and get ready because he was coming to church. Within about 7 minutes, we were all ready and out the door! So the 7 of us walked to church together and had a great Sunday!

So that was our big Sunday! And that's not to mention all the others that came and had great experiences as well! We actually tracted into a lady -- Danielle --on Saturday, who recognized us as a wake-up call from God that came at just the right time in her life. She came to church and brought her neice, and had a wonderful time! She was the most vocal and active participant there, as a matter of fact! We're teaching her later this week, and are so excited!

Also, Sister Dickson and I won the clean apartment award for this transfer (and that's out of the entire mission, thank you very much!), called the "Elder Gene" award, which includes a steak dinner with Pres and Sister Blackburn up at the mission home tonight!! I'll be sure to take and send pictures!

So good to hear how well everyone's doing! Thanks for the great emails, as well as the little messages from friends -- it's a fun little treat!

Dad, thanks for being amazing. I so appreciate your letters, especially in the last couple of weeks. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to get those kinds of letters from you!

Well, have a fabulous week and remember how much your missionary loves you all!!!!!!!!

I Love you TONS!!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!!!

email of 19 January 2009

2010-01-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

Well Hello!!!

Darn Monday holidays...they wreck everything! Just kidding...it's all good! It doesn't bother me so much as it did at the beginning of my mission -- which is a good thing. No offence, because I love you all SO MUCH and I LOVE hearing from you, but I feel like I'm finally getting to the place where I ought to be...where I don't really miss you all that much, and where things not directly pertaining to the mission don't matter as much to me. Don't get me wrong!!! I really love having an inbox full of letters each week, with updates on all that's going on at home, i.e. bathroom remodels, births, weddings, school, etc. It's just that I don't so much just live for my one hour of email time every monday anymore. More than anything, I live for our lessons with the Reyes family, and with Patricia, and with Gavino; I live for the chance to go to the projects and teach Estela and the Topete's; I live for my personal study time each morning; I LIVE for my almost 8 hours of sleep each night :); I live for driving up to the lit-up L.A. temple each night feeling completely beat from a long, totally satisfying day of work; I really live for missionary work!!! And it's the most wonderful feeling!!!!! So I love the highlight of hearing from some of my favorite people in the whole world, and all that's going on in their lives once a week, but I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!

I've decided that I want to live my mission as if I was running on a moving sidewalk; so that by the end, when I run right off the end of it, onto solid ground, it really is a total shock, and I just about trip and fall before adjusting to the difference of the pace. The only problem with that is that the faster you run on a moving sidewalk, the sooner you're at the end of it...which ISN'T so much what I'm going for, but will probably be a natural reaction. So if, in a little over 9 months, when I walk off the plane (run off the sidewalk), don't worry if I'm just a little bit shell-shocked, and struggle at least a little bit when re-adjusting (aka: if I'm totally post-mission awkward); that's kind of my goal at this point.

OK, so on to this last week!

The weather here is crazy right now! It's pouring down rain outside, as it did yesterday, and is forcasted to for the rest of the week. Also, I saw lightning and heard the first clap of thunder that I've heard since arriving here in LA! Something about "el nino"...sure makes tracting fun :)

Corina got baptized on Sunday!!!! It was a great baptism, and we're so thrilled for her! It's kind of funny because it's not like this is a huge change for her; really it just makes the changes that she's been undergoing/making for the last few years "official". She sure seemed happy though, and so are we! It's the first baptism that Sis Dickson and I have had that was really "ours" (meaning we taught her from start to finish...except that she'd already had all the lessons about 1 1/2 years ago), so it was pretty exciting, especially for my darling companion :) We sang "Consider the Lillies," which turned out really nicely; she and I both love singing, especially together, which is so fun to be able to do! She carries a beautiful melody, which gives me a chance to have fun with harmony underneath (and sometimes over top) her. Anyways, it was great! We won't be having a baptism this Sunday because our investigators just aren't QUITE ready yet, but the 31st should be a big day for baptisms!

We're teaching a family (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) right now...the Reyes family that I mentioned earlier. They were actually former investigators that were taught before we came into the area, and who we started teaching about 2 weeks ago. I LOVE this family so much!!! It's a great little (well, actually not-so-little) family from Mexico; Antonia is the Grandma, who makes and vends tamales at the local laundromat 3-4 days a week, Alicia is her daughter (who has 3 children of her own -- Jose, Juan, and Sara...who Antonia calls Sarita), Jorge is her cousin...I think (we're still figuring out the exact relationship there with Jorge), and Alejandro is her 10 year old grandson (the son of one of her other daughters). There's actually a lot more people than that who live there in the house, but those are the ones that we're teaching and that have baptismal dates. Anyways, it's so great to teach them! They all come in and sit down to listen when we come, they love learning and participating, Jorge loves reading any BofM verses we need read (and is a great reader), and they're all really excited to get baptized!!! Alicia came to church with her two little boys and Alejandro this Sunday! It was an 88-stake stake conference (which was wonderful), and those little boys were the best-behaved kids there! We're going to go over and walk with them to church this next Sunday because none of them have a car, and I'm really excited! My favorite part of everytime we go over is the closing prayer. It's such an awesome experience to kneel down on the wood floor of their little apartment -- all of us, adults and kids -- and to hear their sweet, humble prayers in spanish. I love being a missionary so much; I just can't even tell you!

Oh, and have I mentioned yet that one of my favorite things in the whole world is hearing little children speaking spanish? It is. I LOVE little hispanic children, especially when they get really excited and just go off in spanish (or the ocasional spanglish...:)!

This is really the greatest place ever -- I LOVE it!!!!!!!

I hope that you all have an AWESOME week, and that you see miracles and the Lord's hand in your life every day -- look for it, He's there!

Good luck with the bathroom remodel, and Dad, I sure hope your back gets better soon!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

I LOVE Being a Missionary!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

By the way, the church is SO true!!!

email from 11 January 2010

2010-01-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

WE'RE GONNA HAVE A WEDDIN'!!!!!!!!!

Oh how I love my dear, sweet, wonderful family!!!

Thank you so, so much for all your love and support and your great letters each week!

*********
Oh man...I just got the emails with pictures from Amy and Laura. I can't believe how stinking grown-up we all are! Mission, Marriage, and Mommy! It's really funny to see where we all are right now in our lives -- I never would have expected things to turn out quite the way they have so far, but how wonderful!

*********
Well, MY exciting news for the week is that (just like the title says...) WE'RE GONNA HAVE A WEDDIN'!!!!!!!!! VAMOS A TENER UN CASAMIENTO!!!

That's right, our wonderful investigator, Rosy, decided that she's going to get married, which means that she can be baptized too!!!! It's such a blessing and a miracle and an answer to prayer, I really can't even tell you! She'd been really nervous/scared of actually committing to marriage with Reymundo, but she prayed a lot about it, and we prayed and encouraged her a lot about it, and now she's going to get married!!! We don't know exactly when yet, but hopefully it will be really soon so that she can still be baptized on the 24th!

It's been a neat experience because we've prayed a lot about and for Rosy, especially that her heart would be softened and opened to a willingness to marry Reymundo; he's really a wonderful "might-as-well-be" husband, and wants to marry Rosy, but she's been scared because of past experiences of unfaithfulness from her former "husband". Anyways, so this last Thursday, during our weekly planning session, we decided to have a special prayer right in the middle of it for her because we were looking over what all we have left to teach and do with her before she could be baptized, and obviously getting married was the biggest obstacle, since she and Reymundo are living together. Anyway, so we prayed especially for her, especially that things would come together so that she could still be baptized on the day we originally set with her (the 24th), and THE NEXT DAY, when we went over to teach her, we asked her again how she was feeling about marriage and everything, and she said that it felt right, and that she would be married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were two VERY EXCITED missionaries, let me tell you! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but I have a very real, very definite testimony that the Lord hears and answers our prayers!

If all goes according to plan, we'll be having a baptism every Sunday for the next 4 weeks!!! And if everything goes BETTER than according to plan, we might even have 5 or 6 baptisms in the next 4 weeks!!! Corina's getting baptized this Sunday, then Rosy and hopefully Cindy on the 24th, then Patricia and Alicia on the 31st, and Estela on the 7th!!!!!

The Lord is really blessing us here in Marina del Rey, and we've especially noticed it as we've tried to find ways to stretch ourselves and put forth extra faith and effort. Thank you so much for all of your prayers on our behalf, especially those you pray especially for our investigators! I can't tell you how much it meant to me to read that you pray for them as well as for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I've been studying the Plan of Salvation a lot lately, and I really, really, really love it and am grateful for it! It's amazing just how simple and beautiful, yet complex and deep and completely all-encompassing it is! Heavenly Father didn't leave a single thing out (of course), and it's just so perfect! The gospel is so incredibly beautiful and perfect, and I can't tell you (that's my phrase of the day, can you tell?) how grateful I am for it, and for this amazing opportunity to be here on a mission, learning and studying in ways that I otherwise probably never would. I'm learning things and understanding and appreciating the gospel on an entirely different level than I ever have (and probably ever will again), and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's just so wonderful and amazing and beautiful and perfect! God is real, and He loves us; this I know.

The church is true!

I LOVE YOU!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

email of 02 January 2010

2010-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

2010 - - What in the world!?!?!?!?!?

Oh, dear family of mine, how are you doing?!

From the sounds of it, your week and your New Year has been pretty good; thankfully the world didn't come to an end or anything...not that we were expecting it to -- that's 2012, right? We actually get that question all the time: "So, what do you think about 2012?", or "So do you believe that the world is going to end in 2012?", or "How about 2012? Do you think that THAT'S when Jesus is coming?" etc. Gimme a break.

Remember that part in the scriptures where JESUS says that not even the angels in Heaven will know the time of His coming? If they don't even know, then I seriously doubt the probability that the ancient Mayans knew. They probably just got tired of making their calendar and figured, "2012 years...yeah, that seems like long enough." Or maybe some punk Mayan kid thought it'd be funny to see what would happen if he wrote something about "the end of the world" happening in 2000-some-odd years.
So yeah, that's kind of my take on 2012.

Anyways.

Sorry for the totally random tangent there...the week was really great for me! I just love being a missionary! I love just about everything about it. I love being in L.A., I love serving in Marina del Rey, I love the people we see and meet everyday, I love being able to study the scriptures for almost 3 hours on a daily basis, I love my companion, I love our investigators, I love waking up and seeing the beautiful LA temple every day, I love the Marina with all the boats and the ocean, I LOVE the Projects, I love seeing the sunrise coming up over Santa Monica Blvd each morning, I love wearing a tag with the name of Jesus Christ on it every day, I love teaching, and yes, I even love tracting. Who knew that this day would ever come. :) That doesn't mean that tracting is my favorite thing to do, and that I don't still on occasion have to fight back a little bit of fear and trepidation before walking up to someone on the street, or knocking that first door, but I have indeed grown to truly enjoy and love tracting. It's fascinating to get a little peek at the lives behind each door (though sometimes that comes in the form of a voice behind a closed door telling us to go away), and to really see and understand how much every single person in this world needs the gospel! It's funny how sometimes it still just kind of dawns on me: I'm a missionary! I'm actually ON A MISSION, living and serving in California, speaking spanish, for goodness' sake! It reminds me a little bit of how Joseph was right after Aaron was born. I remember that he had picked me up from my little apartment in Provo to go to his house for dinner a couple of days after Aaron was born, and as we were driving he just stared out the windshield in amazement and said, "I have a son. I have a red-headed son!!!" I still have those moments about being a missionary. How in the world did all this come to be?! We had a big mission-wide devotional on New Year's day, and President Blackburn pointed out that this isn't just the start of a new year, but of a new decade as well; one in which we will be making some of the most eternity-altering decisions of our lives (no pressure). One of the other speakers told us "as you look forward to a new year and a new decade, think back on the past decade, where you've come from and the decisions you've already made that got you here!" So, while I really just take it one step at a time, one day at a time, even sometimes one hour at a time, I'm also trying to look forward and do all that I can now to prepare myself for what's ahead...whatever that is.

Dad, before I forget, who was your mission president? I ran into someone here who served in (I think) the same mission as you, around the same time, and I'm just wondering if you would have served together! His name is Bro. Beasley, and his Miss. Pres. was Pres. Crandall. Also, could you send me your PH line of authority? I'd really like to have it to use as a visual aid in teaching.

Time's almost up, but I want you to know that I've had a wonderful week, with lots of teaching and tracting and learning and growing! I know that the Savior lives, and that He loves us. I know that He truly is the only way back to the Father, and that the Father's plan is perfectly made so that ALL of His children CAN return!

The Church is true.

I Love you all more than you know!!!

I LOVE being a missionary!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

email of 28 December 2009

2009-12-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hello hello once again!

It was SO good to talk to y'all on Friday! I hope the rest of your Christmas was great, and that Grandma's party went well also! The rest of my Christmas was really good, as was the day after, and the day after, and the day after THAT, which is today, is turning out to be pretty good too!

I can't say that anything TOO exciting or noteworthy has happened since I last talked to you, except that we had 5 investigators at church this yesterday!!! THAT is exciting, let me tell you! We have some great investigators right now, and the last week or two have been pretty miraculous in that area. We had some pretty cool experiences tracting, and were able to find about 3 people to teach, who are just ready! It's so awesome to see the light in their eyes and their countenances that just help you to see that these people truly are elect, and have been searching and are ready for the truth! One of them is Rosy, who is from Honduras. She actually took the missionary lessons there, and most of her family was baptized, but she never was. She recognized us right away when we knocked on her door, and we've been able to teach her once so far, plus having her at church this week. She's great, and really wants to be baptized, but DOES need to get married first, so we're working on that. There are several other people that live in her house who are interested as well, so we're working on teaching them as well, espeically her husband/boyfriend, Reymundo. We've met him a few times, but haven't actually taught him yet because he's always working.

We also tracted into a guy named Alberto, who is definitely one who has a "countenance". A good word to describe him would be "sober". Not in the alcoholic sense, but more along the lines of Alma 37:47 and 38:15. He's been so attentive and understanding when we've taught him, and has really felt the Spirit, especially when we asked him to pray in the first lesson. He's very humble, and we're really excited to see him progress!

One more -- Estela -- is the neighbor of a reactivated/recent convert family, who is the other one who we've really noticed a light and "elect-ness" about. She's expressed to us that she's really looking for the truth, and we can tell that she really is. She really felt the Spirit in our first lesson with her, and was so focused during the whole lesson. It was wonderful!!!

So, currently, those are our Spanish investigators, and I just love them! One of the best parts is feeling pretty able to understand and communicate with them in their own language! Not perfectly, mind you, but I think I get most of what they're saying, and they seem to understand me pretty well, so it works out great! And it's SUCH a blessing! I know that there's no way I could do this on my own, and it's really neat to be on the receiving end in this way of the gift of tongues.

Anyways, so the work is going well here! Actually, it seems to be going really exceptionally well, and we're just loving it! We have several investigators in english as well, which makes in total, 10 progressing investigators, 6 of whom have baptismal dates! Really and truly, we ought to have more with baptismal dates, but we'll be working on that this week.

Quick funny story about one of the families we're working with right now -- it's actually the recently reactivated/recent convert family who introduced Estela to the church. It's a single mom (Nicolasa) and her 5 kids, who live in the projects. We've been working with this family since we first got here; they'd become reactivated before us, and two of the kids were baptized, but they still have their struggles, and the older son was still really less active. Anyways, they've just recently started to really warm up to us (most specifically the oldest son, Juan, and the middle daughter, Rosa), which has been awesome. Anyways, so when we were over the other day, and were about to teach a lesson, we asked if Dom (the middle son) would demonstrate/teach how we pray so that everyone would know what to do. Well, he was holding the dog, Pallaso (clown in spanish), who is a pretty sad looking little one-eyed chihuahua. So he said, demonstrating using the dog, "you fold your legs, bow your head, and close your eye." SOOOO FUNNY!!!!! I know that my telling it probably doesn't give it justice, but it was hillarious!!!

alright, well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

The church is TRUE!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

ps I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 21 December 2009

2009-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

You'd best sit down for just a moment...because you're probably about to be excited out of your mind :)

You get TWO phone calls!!!

Ok, ok, so it's probably not a CRAZY super exciting deal, but still. I'll be calling sometime Thursday night to set up a time to call again on Friday. Now keep in mind that it will be a really quick call -- just long enough to set a time for Christmas day -- and may be fairly late but it's a phone call nonetheless :) We have to be in by 6pm on Christmas Eve and Day, so it'll probably be at least around 9-ish your time when I call on Thursday.

And if there's anyway do a 3-way for at least a few minutes with Joseph and his fam on Friday, that would be great. He wrote and asked if they could have 5 of my 45 minutes so that his boys could say hi and hear their Aunt Hermana Sallie's testimony, but we only get to do direct phone calls to parents; my District Leader DID say that a 3-way would be fine though.

We'll be getting mail again on Christmas Eve, so I should get your package then! I DID get a little box with some goodies from Rilda this week!!! Please make sure that she gets this little message:

Thank you SO MUCH! It was really great to get a little something from you, and to hear how your family is doing! I love the handkerchief, and the wrapped present is sitting "under" (more acurate would be "next to")our tree, just waiting to be opened up on Christmas! Thanks again for all you've done for me while I was at school, and for storing all my stuff while I'm out here on a mission! Oh yeah, and for helping me make it into the world in general :) You're really a wonderful and remarkable person, and have been such a great friend to me and our family!

It's kind of weird that Christmas is almost here. Of course the weather here is a little different -- not exactly what most people would think of as "Christmas-y," but what can you really expect in southern California? I think the main thing that really makes it feel like Christmas for us is the lights and the music. Living up at the temple apartments, there are several companionships of young sisters, as well as all the Senior missionaries that live up here, and we've been borrowing some of their Christmas music for the last week or two :)

Sis Dickson and I are really looking forward to this week! Tomorrow is packed full of appointments, then on Wednesday we're going to go caroling to a bunch of our investigators and ward members, and we also have some little gift bags to take around to several of the widows and shut-ins in our ward. Wednesday is also transfer day (and Mom's birthday :), but we're really hoping that we both get to stay together here in Marina del Rey for another transfer, though we won't find out until tomorrow night.

I'm sure you're wondering what my Christmas day will be looking like. Well, we'll probably get up around 6:15 am, go running, come back and get ready for the day (down to the shoes, just like FlyLady says!), have personal study at 8am, companionship study at 9am, and depending on our service, maybe language study at 10am. We have some sort of zone service project at a convalescent home at some point Christmas day, possibly another service opportunity at the UCLA hospital where one of our members works as a nurse, at least on visit to make to a member of our ward who will be having nonmember family members over, then Christmas dinner at our family ward RS president's home at 4pm. We'll be in at 6pm, and have the evening to study, open presents, call our families, and whatever else we decide to do. Then at 9pm we'll have our "Sacred 30" nightly planning session, then bed by 10:30!

I'm hoping to get my little package to y'all off today...totally ran out of time last week. I'll just send it to Sam and Suzan's house, and hopefully you'll get it in time for Christmas! If not, well, sorry! It's hard to plan ahead for this kinda stuff as a missionary, not to mention working it into the schedule! I know, I know, you probably don't think I should even worry about it, being a missionary and all, but it IS something I want to do :) It's nothing big -- just a few little things, as well as my latest camera memory card, so whatever I end up getting in there, enjoy!

We were talking to one of the counselors in our singles ward bishopbric yesterday, and he said something that really struck me. He just told us to really enjoy this Christmas on the mission, because (for me anyway) it's the only one I'll ever have like it! He mentioned how yeah, it's kinda sad that you're away from family and friends and all that, but we'll have how many more of those after the mission -- probably at least 50 or 60 or so! This Christmas can be extra special because it's just me, my companion, and the Savior. So I really want to make it extra special like that! This week, I've decided to study the Christmas story a little each day, and to study by characters. So today was Zacharias and Elisabeth (and John), then there's Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds and Wise Men, The Star, the Angels, and of course, Jesus. I'm excited to do this, and make it a little different and special :)

OH, and a quick little update about this last week! Sasha didn't get baptized yesterday...she backed out on the day of her interview. She's just not quite ready yet, but hopefully in a few more weeks or so! We DID have a young lady come up to us after RS on Suday and say, "So, do I have to take my lessons in order to get baptized?" JHDGKSAH;TEIWHOALKGJKLA;FOE8WYAOT4WAKFL;DSI;AYFAJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She's a girl who has had all the lessons before and is a really strong and active (non)member of the church. Basically a "dry mormon," but she's finally ready to take the lessons again and get baptized!!!! IT'S A MIRACLE!!!!!!!

Well, that's all until Thursday night!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

email of 15 December 2009

2009-12-17T20:18:00.000-08:00

Buenos Dias, mi familia y amigos!

"Tuesday?", you ask? Yes, this week I'm writing on a Tuesday. We had our big Christmas Zone Conference yesterday, so our P-Day was moved to today for this week. As far as I know, next week will be on Monday, as usual.Zone Conference was great, as usual, with some great training and counsel from President and Sister Blackburn, as well as the APs and some of the Zone Leaders. The four of us sisters in my zone (the Marina zone, for those of you who were or were not wondering...) did a special musical number, and it turned out really nicely. It was a Sally DeFord arrangement of "What Child is This?", and is really a beautiful arrangement! The Christmas ZC is a little longer than usual, with a big group picture taken at the beginning, and a fun little Christmas program at the end, after dinner. "Santa" (Pres. Blackburn) came and read us all "The Grinch," which was SO fun!!! After he read to us, we each had a chance to come up, and the Elders got to sit on Santa's lap for a picture and a little gift, while the Sisters got to go and stand by Santa...also for a picture and a gift. :) It was really fun! I'm actually really enjoying Christmas on the mission, and almost wish that I got two! But that's fine...I'm reallly trying to live it up all I can, especially now that I have less than a year left! AAAAAAH.

We have a little tiny (as in maybe 6 inches tall) Christmas tree up in our apartment, a little wreath on our door, and the Senior couple who live next door put lights up along the railing out front :) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I'll take some pictures of everything and send it home so that you can see what our little L.A. Christmas looks like :) Maybe I'll try to get some pictures of the temple all decorated too!

By way of mission business, we were asked yesterday to please write home and ask our families to please NOT call the mission office unless it's something really urgent. The office is really busy, and I guess they've gotten a few calls along the lines of "Did Elder...get his package yet?" or, "Do you know if my son needs more socks?" or, "I didn't hear from my missionary last week - is everything ok?" So yeah... I'm not terribly worried about y'all calling, but thought I'd mention it anyway. They told us to tell our families to just think, "If my son/daughter was on a mission in Mongolia, would I make this phone call?" and judge by that.

ANYWAYS... We have a baptism coming up this Sunday!!! And Grandma Lynes, guess what? She's Russian!!! She's actually from Uzbekistan, but is and speaks Russian. Her name is Sasha Rubini, and she's just great! She actually just moved to the US back in October, and married a brother in our ward, which was her connection to learning about the church. She doesn't speak very much English (though she IS learning very quickly, and no, her husband doesn't speak Russian...and no, I don't really know how that works either), so we've taught her through a translator this whole time. It's been such a cool experience, and a really good opportunity for the brother in our ward who translates to brush up on his Russian! Bro James (our translator) actually mentioned last night how really awesome this has been! He said it's been really neat to see Sasha, and to see how completely open and prepared she was to receive the gospel. She reads everything we give her in her Russian BofM, she prays, she has a testimony of Joseph Smith, and is willing to keep all of the commandments, no problem! Last night we taught the WoW, and although she's a coffee drinker, she said she'd give it up! It's been a little bit challenging because between the language barrier and the fact that she tends to be fairly shy, it was kind of hard to tell exactly where she was testimony-wise at first, but she's since opened up a lot more, and really is SO GREAT!!! We watched "The Restoration" with her in Russian last night, which was really cool too! So yeah, we're really excited for her baptism this Sunday! Keep us in your prayers!!!

WELCOME HOME, ALEX!!!!! Don't worry, I'll hold down the missionary work for ya out here in the field if you'll help me readjust when my time comes! Hope you had an amazing mission, and that your "transistion" goes well! God Speed, Elder, I know the Lord is proud of you for all that you've done in serving an honorable mission!

Alright, well I'm about out of time again. Please know that I love you and that I'm doing well. I really do love it out here, ups and downs and all!

The church is true, and so is the Book of Mormon!

"Be good, and no more sadness!"

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I <3 Being a missionary!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

email of 09 December 2009

2009-12-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Questions first, then I'll talk :)

Any suggestions on packaging your Christmas box? Has everything arrived OK so far? (Halloween box OK?)

So far, everything has arrived just fine, so whatever you've done before will probably work great again.

What will your schedule be like for Christmas Eve and Day?

I have no idea yet...we should find out either this week at interviews or next week at Zone Conf.

Will you just stay in or is it prime teaching time?

I'm fairly sure that ON Christmas day we stay in, but I'm not sure on the details or on either of the days surrounding Christmas. Holidays are kind of tough though for missionary work...on the one hand, everyone's home and with their families (or out of town), but on the other hand, no one wants to be bothered. So we'll see.

Will you be having a zone/district party or anything like that?

I don't know, but I think that's a GREAT idea! Again, we'll probably find out this week.

Any idea what time you will be calling? (Y A Y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!)

Sorry, I'm also not sure on this one, though I am pretty sure that I'll just call you from the cell phone that we have -- nights, weekends, and holidays are free, so I think that that will be the arrangement. I'll let you know for sure when I find out. What time would be best, and what number should I call? Dad mentioned in his last snail mail (which was the only snail mail I got this week -- thanks Dad!) that if I can call before 12 EST, SSs will be there, but we'll see how it all goes down :)
I DO know that I'll have 45 minutes, so be ready for that.

Do you have a CD player? I assume this is the best way to get you music--make a CD and send it to you.

Yep! And that would be great...make me a couple of cds if you want :) I DID actually buy 2 CDs today at the dist. store...just the primary songs in spanish and a MoTab CD...Sounds of Glory or something like that. So I'm still wide open for anything else you'd like to send! OH, and in addition to our normal "acceptable" music, for Christmas we are also allowed to listen to "tradition carols by LDS artists" as well, so anything Christmas you want to send my way would be fabulous!

Is there anything you need me to send to you?

Hmmm...not especially, though if you happen to run across any other cute sweaters from the houses you clean, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that :) It's actually pretty cold (highs barely in the 60s, lows in the 40s...hey, temperature is relative!) here, so that would be fine. If you feel the urge to include panty hose (I know most elders get socks, etc...), I like jet black or suntan, with reinforced toes.

OK!!!!

I got emails from Bro. Tustian and Bishop Tolman this week -- Thank you thank you thank you so much!!! It was GREAT to hear from both of you! ...however, due to mission rules, I need to have any/all emails from anyone outside of my immediate family come THROUGH my immediate family. So if anyone who wants to email me could just send the emails to you (mom or dad or any of the boys), then you can forward them on to me, and that'd be great! I know it seems like a little bit of overkill, but rules are rules, and there are blessings for obedience!

This week was great! We had a baptism this past Saturday for an incredible girl named Karen. She was actually almost completely taught by the previous sisters, so all we did was get the service organized, etc, but it was great! Hopefully we'll have a few more coming up here soon, but it all depends on how they're progressing. It's so great to be a missionary though, and to see all these different people and their different lives and their progression in the gospel! Sometimes when we're out (mostly as we're driving from our apartment to our area each day), I just look at all the people we pass by, and just wonder about them. What are they thinking? Where are they going? What do they do for work, and what is their family like? What big joy or tragedy just happened in their lives or with their families? What kinds of questions do they have? Do they know that there's a God who knows and loves them? There are SO MANY people in this world, and all of them SO DIFFERENT! And Heavenly Father somehow knows and loves them all!!! It's amazing.

Today we got to go to the temple, and boy did I need it!!! I haven't been to do an endowment session since my first transfer (last time we went I did initiatories), and it was so good to just go and sit and listen and feel and remember! Oh, to go and escape from this crazy city and commune with God was so wonderful! If you haven't gone lately, GO!!! And if you can't go right now, GET THERE!!!

I have a quick question in the way of needing advice. Especially from those of you who have served missions, but also from anyone else who has any thoughts, how can I respond to those people who pull the "We all worship the same God" line? It's so hard to figure out how to help them understand that this is SO MUCH MORE than that! YES we all worship the same God, and that's the most important thing, but why don't people get the importance of the apostasy and the restoration and the real, true Priesthood authority, and that it DOES matter?!?! Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated :)

Well, my little 5 minute warning just popped up, so I'll finish up here. The church is true, the Lord lives and has called a living prophet in our day! The Book of Mormon and the Bible are the word of God to lead us and guide us and help us truly know His will. We CAN all return and live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our families FOR-E-VER!!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Mucho Amor,
Hermana Sallie

email of 30 November 2009

2009-11-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm going to try to get the pictures to work, but I may not be able to "due to restrictions on this computer"....

Anyways, My week has been GREAT! How about yours?

Thanksgiving on the mission is a little different...still good, just not quite the same. And actually, this Thanksgiving was really great; Wednesday, we got to go down to the Santa Monica Civic Center to help set up for their "2009 Thanksgiving Feast!", which is one of the most awesome things I've ever seen or done as far as service projects go. What it is, is a HUGE Thanksgiving feast, primarily for the homeless and those in need, but also just for anyone who needs a place on Thanksgiving. It's amazing though--besides the TONS of donated food, they also have lots of really awesome free services that people come together to offer. They set up a fairly big clothing "store" full of great donated clothing that people can go shopping in (all clothing is free), there are free haircuts and makeup, several jumpers (moon bounce things...they're really popular out here), free pony rides for the kids, a photo booth, free medical, eye and dental screening, hygiene kits, extra food and blankets to take home, etc. It was awesome. So we helped to set things up on Wednesday, and then on Thursday we came back and helped to serve. As we were helping on Wednesday, we were unloading a bunch of stuff from the back of a big semi that was full of donated items, and as we were doing so, someone in the truck dropped a jar of turkey gravy, which hit the edge of the truck and pretty much exploded on my companion and I. Yep, turkey gravy. A-L-L O-V-E-R. It was great.

It was actually a very spiritual experience for me to be there and serve and to see all the love and care from the thousands of volunteers who donate time, food, clothing, money, etc, and then to see the people who came in that we were able to serve, some of whom literally carried their entire lives in a book bag. It really brought back memories of the soup kitchen for me too :) Thanks for that, by the way. That little service that we did each month for so long has really made a difference and an impact on my life, and I just want you to know that for as many of those days that I whined about it, now I'm really grateful for the experience.

As for our actual Thanksgiving dinner, we just went over to the Bishop's house and ate with them; it was a nice little dinner.

The rest of our week was good too. Actually, on Friday we ran into a guy named Alex who basically invited himself to church...AND HE ACTUALLY CAME!!!!!!!!! And then our Gospel Principles lesson was on the Law of Chastity...oh boy. We were sure praying the whole way through the lesson! Turns out though, that he really enjoyed it! Said it was good to see/hear that "there are still girls out there with real morals, ya know?" The Spirit pointed out to me later as I was pondering that I need to have more faith...

Then, in the single's ward, who should I run into but Jessica Gunson, who was out here for the holiday! Wow! I don't think I'd seen her in about 5 years! It was crazy, but really fun too!

Mom, as for music, I would LOVE some David Tolk/Paul Cardall (as long as it's all hymns or primary songs), any other Mo-Tab, etc. Just as long as it's hymns, primary songs, or classical (100+ years old); any arrangements. Oh, and I LOVE the Lex deAzevedo cd's that Sam had/listened to on his mission! Please no single's ward though...thanks :)

Ok, that's about all my time...sorry this is a bit scattered and not super spiritual, but just know that I AM having great spiritual experiences, and that my testimony grows every day here!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!

I Love YOU!!!!!

Love,

Your Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

ps I'll try to send pictures next week...I couldn't get it to work on the comp here.

email of 23 November 2009

2009-11-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

This one will be shorter than usual...I spent most of my time writing a few personal emails, so I've only got about 10 minutes.

This week has been great! Sister Dickson and I are really loving the work here! We're really working and praying for more inverstigators to teach, and are specifically working an having greater faith, both individually and as a companionship. We're really excited to have found the "Spanish area" of our area; Hispanic apartment buildings are the best for tracting and finding, so we're excited to know where those are around here! There are a lot of relatively wealthy white people around here, and, sadly, for the most part, they aren't generally very interested in hearing about the Gospel. SOME of them are though, which is why we're here! The work just keeps moving forward!

How are all the Thanksgiving plans coming? We're probably going to go over to the Bishop's for our Thanksgiving dinner, though nothing's set in stone yet. It WAS pretty funny to hear him say that they'd have two pumpkin pies, "and that should be plenty"...TWO PUMPKIN PIES?!? I guess I'm just accustomed to Thanksgiving on a slightly larger scale...as in 15 or 20 pies...and then some :)

I'm coming to realize just how important and key faith is as the basis of our testimonies. And not just faith, but faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Without that, whithout Him, nothing else really matters, and all this great "gospel knowledge" and understanding that we have really doesn't mean anything. He IS the Rock of our salvation, and the very focus of our faith.

Also, something that I really like from sacrament meeting yesterday is this: It's through simple acts of obedience and submission that we come to know the Lord and to have our hearts and very natures changed. Change and transformation IS possible. Just look at Saul/Paul.

The Church is true, the Savior lives, He loves us!

I Love you, and I love being a missionary!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email of 16 November 2009

2009-11-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

Hello My Dear Family!!!

WELL! What a week it has been!
Brand new companion, brand new area, brand new everything, almost!

I LOVE it though!

My new companion is Sister Dickson, from Virginia (the D.C. area), and she's WONDERFUL! I'm pretty sure I ended up with one of the easiest missionaries to train ever...she pretty much came trained. She really is great -- she loves the work and is super excited for it, she's a great teacher, she works hard, and just loves being here! The very first day, when we take the brand new missionaries out tracting for a few hours, I actually got to go with her (this was before they decided who was training who...they just pair the new missionaries up with whatever trainer and then send us out), and I was just amazed. She was really excited to go out and work, and at the first door, she just opened up her mouth and went for it! I was scared to death that first day!!! Anyways, she's great. Her spanish is really good too, and she loves to speak it at any chance. We're really enjoying working together here, and as challenging as it is to "flush"/"whitewash" an area, it's been fun and exciting...like I wrote last week: refreshing, yet stretching. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have Sister Dickson for a companion though; I don't think I could have asked for a better "goldie" (that's what we call greenies here in the CLAM), or even a better companion for this adventure!!!

Speaking of my new area, Marina del Rey is BEAUTIFUL!!! ESPECIALLY down by the marina...all the boats, and the smell of the salt air...it's great! The demographic and just overall feel of this area is completely different than Downey, but I love it! It's much more laid-back, and yet much more professional and high-tech at the same time (the overall population here is quite a bit wealthier than in Downey). It's been challenging to figure out what to do and how to work here, especially since neither one of us knows the area, but I feel like we're finally starting to get it, and are finally getting more things into our schedule than just tracting/contacting. It took a little while those first few days to kinda get a feel for the area, and to figure out what works well, but we decided to just work as hard as we can, keep all the rules, follow the Standards of Excellence, and pray pray pray!!! We're both feeling really good about this upcoming week, especially after church yesterday. We're covering 3 different wards here: Westdale 2nd (a family/mid-singles ward), Santa Monica 3rd (a young singles ward), and La Cienega (a spanish ward). So far, we really love them; there's just so much life in these wards! This week, we decided to be bold and really use being brand-new to our advantage. So during ward council, we asked the bishops if we could have a couple of minutes during sacrament meeting to stand up and introduce ourselves and maybe bear our testimonies. They, of course, were happy to let us; so during sacrament meeting we stood up, introduced ourselves, and took just a few minutes to let the whole ward know that we are SO excited to be here in their ward, and that we're looking forward to visting and getting to know them, and that we're ready to work hard in this area of the Lord's vineyard. And then the bold part...we told them that our purpose as missionaries here in Marina del Rey is to BAPTIZE, and we're here to do it! Yep, straight from the pulpit. We read a few verses from the BofM that talk about that, and then just said it straight out: we're here to baptize! The thing is, we KNOW that the field here really is white, and here we are, ready to harvest! That means baptism, and THAT means that we need their help!

Anyways, it was pretty exciting, and we were able to meet a lot of great members; These wards are great, and we really ARE excited to be here, to work, and to baptize! The great thing about being flushed into an area, especially with a goldie, is that neither one of you really knows WHAT to expect (as far as stereotypes, etc), so you just go for it with all you've got! PLUS, with Sis. Dickson, I've got the extra bit of "greenie-fire" that comes out of the MTC. LOVE IT!!!

Alrighty, I'm about done, but just a few more quick things:

If somebody could maybe facebook Jessica Gunson for me, I just wanted to let her know that I'm now serving in her old singles ward -- Santa Monica 3rd -- and she's still remembered and loved :)

We're going to head over to Target today because I need to buy another sweater or two...it's chillier here than in Downey.

Oh! I don't think that I ever said thank you for my favorite part of that package that you sent me -- the homemade GRANOLA!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I have been thoroughly enjoying it!

Ok, well, that's about it for this week. I love and miss you all tons, but I am LOVING being a missionary here in California, and I'm safe and happy and well!

I Love You!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!

Love,
Hermana Sallie

ps HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

pps We met an old jewish woman from Romania this week who thinks that Jesus was just a chiropractor...yeah...

email of November 9 2009

2009-11-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!

email of 2 November 2009

2009-11-02T15:26:00.001-08:00

Querido familia mia,
(Keh-ree-doh fah-mee-lee-ah mee-ah....means dear family of mine)

Thank you so so much for all the email last week and this week! I DO love getting on and having lots to read, but if something happens, no worries - I'm not on a mission just for the mail ;) In fact it's something I've really had to work on - not living from mail day to mail day. I do love getting mail, it just isn't the ONLY thing I love :)

So this week the questions were from Dad!

P-day schedule:
P-day is usually about as follows (except for temple pdays or night pdays, or "something else weird happened" pdays) :

Up at 615, start laundry at member's house, exercise, home, prepare (shower/breakfast, etc), personal study at 8, companionship study at 9, district or zone activity from 1030-12, and then from 12-6 to do everything else we need to do; email, groceries, wash the car (every week), clean the apartment (home-blessing:), write snail mail letters, etc. At 6 we go back to work, and work as normal. For email, we come to the library, and have 60 minutes (timed) to use the computer. I usually get on, read/skim my emails, send them to the printer and then write. When I send my little "I'm on! 54 minutes" email, that just means that I'll be only for the next however many minutes, so if you have anything else you'd like to write for me to get before the following monday, that's your time frame. We're allowed however much time we can squeeze out of the rest of the pday to write regular letters, but with everything we have to get done, it tends to go by really fast, and I'm lucky to get one or two letters written.

And that's about it. :) Sometimes we have "free pday," which means no district/zone activity, so that's some good extra time for us to do stuff. Temple pday just moves our pday to Wednesday, and night pday means that we work until 1pm, then have pday as normal, but until 9 instead of 6, usually with a district/zone activity in the evening. That's actually what's happening today.

As far as the other super-secret-ninja address, sorry Charley, but all mail's gotta go through the mission home. That's fine though - it's all part of the deal.
I AM realy excited to get the halloween package though! I should probably get it on Friday. For Halloween, we had to be in at 6pm instead of 9, and had the time to do pretty much whatever we liked (within mission rules, of course). I made soup and wrote letters (oh, AND did monthly numbers...).

I will certainly continue to send lots of prayers your way! Don't worry though, as long as you're all keeping the commandments, God's gonna prosper you - He has too; He promised. :) I just read about that this week in my personal study. And no, there's no way that I'll make it through the entire BofM this transfer...it was just a little much. I DID make it all the way through the small plates of Nephi and Words of Mormon though! And guess what? The Book of Mormon's amazing! Of course :)

We had an amazing zone conference this last week! Our President and his wife spoke, the AP's trained (we have some excellent APs -- I always really thoroughly enjoy and learn great things from their training.), two sets of zone leaders trained, and we also had a guest speaker. Brother Preston Jay Waite, who's actually the former US Census Director, came and spoke to us. He's a good friend of President Blackburn's from back when thye were both living and working in D.C. His talk was so good! He talked a lot about obedience and integrity, and the blessings that come from them. President Blackburn is one who truly has an obedient spirit, and as such is very firm about us being exactingly obedient as well. He's no tyrant or anything -- quite the contrary! He simply understands well the blessings that come from being obedient (D/C 130:20-21), and wants that for each of us individually, and for our mission as a whole. I'm coming to understand better the blessings that come from that as well, especially when we're obedient because we WANT to be, and because we love the Lord, and not because "we're 'post to" (Thank you brother bytheway).

We also have a new mission challenge to work toward that we're all really excited about! We're going to have a "White Christmas" in L.A.! We've been promised that with our obedience and sacrifice, each companionship in the entire mission CAN and WILL baptize in the month of December! That's about 180 baptisms! :) With the challenge, each district/zone will be taking pictures of all the missionaries in white, to be put up in the mission office, and with each baptism, we'll be taking pictures of our recent converts in white at their baptism, also to be posted in the mission office. It's going to be so good, and I'm really excited!

We've been seeing some really great miracles lately -- Ron is continuing to progress; he came to church again on Sunday, and is praying about a Dec. 5th baptismal date! He's doing so good, and we're so happy for him! Vilma will be getting baptized this coming Sunday, which we're also thrilled about. We took her to a baptism yesterday, and she really loved it. She's wonderful. We're just starting to teach a few different people and families who really get and understand what we're teaching, and I can't tell you how awesome that is!!! AHHHH I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

I do, as always, send my love and prayers. I love and miss you more than you know, but it really is an awesome thing to be about the Lord's business in this way. I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

I Love You!
I Love Being a Missionary!

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email from 26 October 2009

2009-10-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

GOOOOOOOOOD MORNIN'!!!!!!!!! It's the Sister Wilson Show on the email!!!!

(Ok, ok, so it doesn't work quite as well as JB&B, but ya know...)

I'd like to thank el Rolo y su familia por finalmente esciribiendo a mi ;)

As much as I'd LOVE to listen to the sound clips, I'd have to use headphones, and can't because that's against mission rules...I'll just use my imagination, I guess...

This week has been really good! I've been feeling like our work is slowing down a bit, but I think it's picking back up, which is good! We had 4 investigators at church yesterday -- FOUR!!!!!!!!! Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but with the way the last while has been, that's huge for us! First of all, our WML and his wife brought a couple to church last week, and they came again this week. They're a wonderful couple, and we're really hoping that they'll progress! They speak spanish, and since our english ward only has gospel doctrine in spanish, we just taught them a L1 (la Restauracion) during SS, and it was really really good! We're going to try to take them up to the information center (our temporary visitor's center) to see the JS movie next week, and they seemed pretty excited about that!

Next, we have Vilma. Vilma is a former investigator that we started teaching, and she's amazing! She loves the BofM, she LOVES church, she loves having us come teach, she's making friends with the members, she's getting baptized on the 8th of November!!! She also has two incredible grandkids - Belen y Gustavo (who are 9 and 11), who also love when we come to teach, and love church and everything! AND they really seem to get what we're teaching. Belen even told us this week that she wants to be baptized! We just got permission to officially teach the kids, and are hoping that they'll be able to get baptized with their grandma on the 8th as well!

And last, but not least, we have Ron. IF I had a favorite investigator -- which I don't -- but if I DID, Ron would probably be...one of them :) We found Ron as a referral that came in from an Elder serving in WV. Ron is a lifelong best friend of a member who lives not to far away, and is also really great friends with his son (the Elder who sent us the referral). Ron is one of the reasons that the world needs Sister missionaries. Several years ago he had Elders who were trying to teach him, but he scared them away. However, he has a real soft spot for sisters, and can't tell us no. He (like pretty much everyone we meet and teach) has had a really rough life - both of his parents died when he was young, his sister died recently, he had and barely survived throat cancer (and as a result of the radiation can't eat solid foods and has a speech impediment), he was a hard drug user and smoker/drinker for most of his life (has been sober for a few years now, but still smokes...we're working on that) and when we met him, was pretty bitter towards, well, everything. He was pretty much atheist, and figured that if there was a God, He was punishing him (Ron) for living.

It has been the most amazing experience to teach him and see the little changes that he's making, to see the light coming into his eyes, to hear him pray, and talk about feeling the Spirit, just everything! And yesterday he came to church!!!!! AND he enjoyed it!!!! AND HE TOLD THE BISHOP THAT HE'S GOING TO KEEP COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! I can't tell you the joy that that brings to a missionary's soul! The gospel is A-mazing, and SO TRUE!!!!
My current favorite scripture (and one that I share a lot) is 3 Nephi 9:13-14.

13 O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine carm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

I would just like to bear testimony that that is true! He loves us -- ALL of us, and he's always there, with His arms outstretched to us, if we'll just COME. I've experienced it in my life personally, and, as a missionary, I've had the incredible experience to see it work in other's lives as well. Don't believe me? I dare you to try it yourself.

A few others that I also especially love lately are : Jacob 3:1, Proverbs 3:5-6, and Matt. 11:28-30 AND, you should try a little comparison between 1 Nep 8 and Psalm 119:105.

The church is true!!!
I love and miss you all!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Hermana Sallie

ps HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!

email of 19 October 2009

2009-10-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Dearest, Darlingest Mumsy and Popsickle,

FIRST of all, someone needs to tell my big, older, slacker of a brother, who, to protect his identity I'll refer to simply as "the Rolo", that I would like to hear from him more often than once every 3 months, and would be willing to accept his apology in an email next Monday afternoon :)

...Because I LOVE and miss and want to hear from and all about Sam and Suz and Buster and their lives!!!!!

That's all.

Now on to the rest of the email :)

This is going to be a little on the short side because I read and wrote a few other emails first, and only have 17 minutes left.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I just needed to say that.

I've had a pretty good week here in Downey, CA. The weather has been really weird though - it was really nice -- sunny and hot as usual, then got downright chilly! And I was thinking, "how nice -- some real FALL weather!" It even rained and everything! And THEN, two days later, it was almost 100 degrees again! Ick. Oh well, it's all good; the work continues on! Appointments, lessons, study, referrals, Spanish struggles, tracting, splits, dinner appointments, planning, finding and teaching God's children that He loves them and has a plan for them...Yep, that's the life of a missionary. I need to take better advantage of my time with a native Spanish speaker, in an area with a fair amount of Spanish. It's hard though, and I know that I tend to get a bit lazy. Learning Spanish in the US is hard because there's just too darn much English! We hear and have a lot of lessons in Spanglish, which is pretty funny, and I definitely need to work harder at getting out of my comfort zone and speaking more Spanish. It's coming, but not as quickly as it could.

Remember Hector? The one with the awful house that we cleaned about 2 months ago, who stole the scriptures and was meeting with the missionaries? HE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!! I so wish I could have been there, but we never actually served in the area, even though we helped teach him a few times, so we couldn't go. I was talking to the sisters though, and they said that it was beautiful! He's been going to church pretty steadily for the last 2 months or so, and finally got baptized! And it really is amazing what a different person he is now. He even painted their house! In the words of one of the sisters there, "It's downright cozy!" now :) The Gospel is AMAZING!!!

I've been thinking a little bit over the last few days...just some questions that have crossed my mind that I don't totally have answers to yet, just that I've been thinking about. And for no particular reason, here is a piece of the inside of my head:

What lack I yet?
What motivates people?
Why here, why now? Why am I here seeing what I'm seeing, meeting who I'm meeting, learning what I'm learning, having the experiences that I'm having? What's the purpose in it? Just what is the Lord trying to teach me and prepare me for? What is it that I need to learn and do?

Missions make you think.

I LOVE hearing from you every week! Mom, congrats on the sunbeams--that'll be so great, and I know you'll love it!
Keep up everything good, and leave behind all the bad!
Heavenly Father is real, and He loves us all!!!!!!!!

I love you!!!

I love being a missionary!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 13 October 2009

2009-10-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Holy Hannah, 10 New emails!!!!! THAT was fun to see when I got on today! Thank you so much - I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Clearly someone wasn't thinking about missionaries and their P-days when they made half of our federal holidays on Mondays! It's ok though--I'm grateful that I at least don't have to wait an entire week before hearing from and writing to you!

This week....
WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!! We've been teaching this particular young woman for just over 6 weeks, and she was finally able to get baptized on Sunday! I realize that 6 weeks is not all that terribly long, but the interesting thing with Elizabeth is that she'd been pushing US to get baptized. When we first met her, we were watching the Restoration DVD with her dad, and she asked us if our church did baptisms, and if so, could she be baptized? ...Uh, yeah! She had some pretty big personal obstacles she had to overcome though, and so it took a little while longer than she wanted to be able to be baptized. She has some mental/psychological problems that make it difficult for her to totally understand or comprehend things very quickly. She's very sweet and sincere though, and had been SO anxious to be baptized! So anxious, in fact, that she actually got pretty mad when we told her we needed to postpone it a few weeks. But it all worked out! I tell you what though, Satan sure tried to get in the way! The DAY BEFORE the baptism, she had her wisdom teeth taken out. THE DAY BEFORE!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!! So then she was a little late for church, and wanted to go home part way through Sunday school to get her pain medication from her dad. She said she'd be right back...

So we went on to Sacrament mtg (church is a reversed block here, with PH/RS first, then SS, then SM), and...no Elizabeth. They went to announce the baptism from the pulpit, and...still no Elizabeth. I was DYING!!! The bishop was kind of looking at me like "What's going on and why isn't she here?" from the pulpit, and all I could do was mouth, "She's Coming!!!" and want to just shrink away. Sacrament came and went...no Elizabeth.

I really don't know if I can adequately describe a missionary's thoughts and feelings when something like this happens.

So finally, I grabbed the sister who was my companion for church (we were on splits since we cover two wards), and we went to Elizabeth's house to find out what the heck was going on. When we got there, she said, "Oh, sorry - my dad's still not back yet with the medicine." After taking a deep semi-calming breath, I said, "Elizabeth. You're getting baptized TODAY. You HAVE to come to church!!! Why don't you just call your dad and have him bring your medicine to the church when he gets here? You can sit at home and wait, or you can sit at church and wait, and if you're going to be baptized today, you need to be a church." She said ok, and we took her back to church. After that, everything went off pretty smoothly, and it actually ended up being a beautiful baptismal service! When she came up out of the water, she kind of laughed and exclaimed, "That was fun!" And at the end of the service, the bishop invited her to come up and bear her testimony. My companion and I were a little nervous because we hadn't talked to her or gone over any of this kind of thing with her, and we weren't sure what she was going to say. She was actually really sweet and sincere though, and talked about how happy she was, and how grateful she was to have the church in her life, that she was glad that we'd taught her about "the Mormon book" - that it had brought a lot of peace and happiness, and then she ended with "And just, God is good. ...Thank you." and sat down. It was so good! And really, it's moments like these that make it all worth it!

Something kind of fun that I've been meaning to write about, but keep forgetting is a fun little song that my trainer wrote about sister missionaries. We call it the "Missionariettes" song. It's sung to the tune of a Mary Poppins song (the one that the mom and the maids sing, marching around in their women's rights stuff towards the beginning of the movie...I hope you know which one I'm talking about), and goes like this:

(Note: This is the Sister Suffragette song . . . Google it–it’s on youtube and you can hear the song.)

We're merely Elders in pantyhose,
Fearless crusaders for human souls!
Though we'll adore L.A. eternally,
We admit that as a whole,
They're ra-ther sin-ful...
SO! Cast off rejection from yesterday!
Crying repentance throughout L.A.!
Our recent converts will adore us,
And the'll sing in grateful chorus:
WELL DONE! Missionariettes!

I LOVE it! Make sure to sing it wil a strong British accent, and harmonize on "and they'll sing in grateful chorus:" :)

Now, for something on a more spiritual note...

I'm trying to read the Book of Mormon this transfer (which translates to 12 pages a day, if you're wondering), and although I'm behind, I LOVE it! It's just so amazing to me, and I can't help but think and feel and know as I read it just how true it is! We had an experience a few weeks ago that I've thought a lot about; we were tracting, and we met a lady who was nice to us, but absolutely NOT interested. She'd had a bad experience with members in the past, and just didn't like "our ways" very much. As we visited briefly with her and tried to share something, she said, "Well you see, you've got a problem here - see, I don't believe in the Joseph Smith seeing angels, and Mormon book stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we had taken a little too much acid, and that's what happened." We talked for a few more minutes and then moved on, but as I've reflected on that, it just kills me! It was during my personal study the next morning that it really hit me. ACID?!?! He'd taken too much acid?!?!?! AAAAUGH!!! As I opened up the Book of Mormon and began to read, I was really struck with how true it is, and how utterly impossible it was that it was written in any other way than by inspiration and the gift and power of God! OH, if people only knew! If they would just READ the Book of Mormon and see the power and truth that is there, they would know!!! Actually, I do know and understand that people can and do read the Book of Mormon and don't realize that (because they don't want to, and they don't have or invite the Spirit as they do), but I wish that everyone did! I love the scriptures!!! As I read (sang) in 2 Nephi 4:15-16 this morning, "For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them..."

Thank you so much, Dad and Mom, for raising us with and teaching us of the scriptures! I know that they're true, and I'm SO grateful for the knowledge that I have!!!
The church is true!!!!!!!!

I Love Being a missionary!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

ps HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!

email of 04 October 2009

2009-10-05T14:21:00.001-07:00

My dearly beloved family,

Well, another week come and gone in the mission field -- they go by so fast! It really is so true what they say - the days are long, but the weeks fly by!

Conference was WONDERFUL!!! You remember that clip of missionaries that they showed during one of the talks? That's from a series of DVD's we refer to here in the mission field as the "Preach My Gospel DVDs," aka "The District." They're training dvds that they show in the MTC and in the mission field -- and they're real missionaries and investigators and experiences and everything, so that was pretty cool to see at conference :) There was SO MUCH that I loved at conference, but I don't have my notes with me...I'll share something specific maybe next week...

Elder Holland's testimony was incredible. I'm pretty sure that that's the most powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon that I've ever heard in my life! And I loved Sis. Dibb's talk...and all of them!

I was thinking too how it was this time exactly a year ago that I felt the prompting to serve a mission. Lo and behold, here I am. It was also fun to think about how we were all doing this "together" -- that even being a whole country apart, we were watching conference at the same time! It was great! Oh, and good job on taking care of the missionaries and their investigators/recent converts - that's HUGE, and just warms my little missionary heart and soul :)

This transfer so far is really great. I'm still in Downey, and still with Hermana Tavares. We've decided that this transfer is going to be our "Transfer of Miracles"! We're working hard, praying hard, and expecting miracles! And SEEING miracles! It's awesome to see the miracles, big and small, every single day (kind of like the gratitude thing - the more you find things to be grateful for, the more you find things to be grateful for!). Sometimes a miracle one day can end up being a complete dud later on (i.e. golden investigators who don't progress, or amazing door contacts who are no-shows at their appointments), but for that day, it was truly a miracle that the Lord blessed you with.

It interesting (well, perhaps maddening would be a better word choice there) too, to see how hard Satan works to bring people down the closer they come to the truth, and how frustrated, confused and sad he tries to get them when they're just on the verge of incredible joy. And believe you me, he does all he can to get missionaries discouraged at seeing that.

AAAAGH!!! I can't tell you how frustrating and sad it is sometimes!!! You know what though, it's hard. I DO understand that. And we can't always see the reasons for everything. It's possible though. Oh SO possible because He'll be with you every step of the way, if you'll let Him! It's one of those places where I take great comfort in the words of Nephi: "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

I hope that makes sense...sometimes with my limited time on here I just "think" onto the page (screen), and I don't know if my thoughts are always and coherently connected as I'd like. Hopefully you at least get the idea!

If all goes well, we'll be having a baptism on Sunday!

That's about all I can think of at the moment, and I'm about out of time. I'll try to send a more fun email with lots of "missionary adventures" next week.

I love you all, more than you know!!!
I Love Being a Missionary!!!

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email of 28 September 2009

2009-09-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Happy almost-last-day-of-September!

I didn't have anything but a financial notice and a 5-word reply email from Joseph in my inbox today, so hopefully you're on and writing so that I'll have something before we get mail on Friday!

Well, Wednesday marks the beginning of my third transfer in the field! It's so crazy to think that I've been out that long already; it occurred to me the other day that I'm almost at my 5-month mark...which is pretty darn close to 6 months, which is pretty stinking close to a third of my mission already. AAAAAAAH!!! How does it happen?!?!? I'm NOT trying to count down or wish it away or anything, but it does go so fast.

I've been really realizing lately how much of a mini-super-condensed "life" a mission is. It's like an entire lifetime all smooshed down and crammed into 1 1/2 years. And because of that, EVERYTHING is extra concentrated too -- the experiences, the study time, the learning, the growth, the emotions, the joy, the struggles, EVERYTHING. My companion has a quote about how it would take something like 48 years of the regular 3-hour block of Sunday meetings to get in the same amount of spiritual study-time that you get in 2 years of a mission. So if I'm 23 now, then that means I'm coming back an old woman (my deepest apologies if I offended any women who are 71 or somewhere close to that)!!!!!

This week's been good, but kind of hard for me too; I was feeling really lonely (yes, it's possible, even with a companion at your side 24-7), and just struggling a little bit personally. Not to worry, I'm fine now - it was just one of those super-concentrated times of struggle that allows you to learn and grow. And so from that experience, here's something that I learned. As I was (finally) talking to my companion about things, she told me,

"Hermana, you don't have to be perfect in order for someone to love you."

That's really stuck with me. Not that I didn't know it before -- I did -- just never really KNEW it before. I'm discovering that I'm the kind of person that really likes to do everything right -- I like to be liked, to always be happy, to be smiley and bubbly for everyone else, to not look like a moron because I'm doing something that I don't really know how to do (i.e. talk to strangers in Spanish), and when I'm in a situation where I'm made painfully aware of my imperfections, and painfully aware of the fact that there's someone else who's ALWAYS with me and sees all of my imperfections too, well, I have kind of a hard time with that. Because I can see who I want to become, but I'm not there yet. That's just the thing - it's who I'm BECOMING. Thankfully though, the Lord knows that, and He loves me anyways, and has given me a companion who does too, (as do all of you...).

That's not all though. I learned something else along those same lines just yesterday. As I was getting frustrated with my wonderful companion, the thought came to me,

"She doesn't have to be perfect in order for you to love her either."

Well HELLO, McFly!!! THAT just went and completely changed my perspective again, helping to make me a happier, more loving, and less frustrated person as well...

Ok, That's about all of that. Just one more little thing - My first comp, Sis Foutz shared this quote with me that I think about a lot:

"All frustration comes from unmet expectations"

Chew on that one for a while :)

Mom, I totally forgot to mention anything about the RS Broadcast last week--I was praying for you all week though! I hope everything went well, and that it was a great "last hurrah"!!! Wasn't the broadcast wonderful?! All the sisters in the mission got to go up to the mission home on Saturday evening to watch it together, then had a light dinner afterwards; it was so nice!

Did you know that they're coming out with a "Where the Wild Things Are" movie?!?!?! I don't know if our billboards, etc come out sooner/earlier here, but I've just started seeing them pop up for "Where the Wild Things Are," due out I think in a couple of months. I couldn't believe it! First of all, I was really excited, because, well, hello - "Where the Wild Things Are"! Secondly though, I'm wondering how on earth they've managed to make that into a full length film...it only takes about 5 minutes to read on "Reading Rainbow"...

Speaking of "Where the Wild Things Are," I've been thinking a bit lately about our little Max. I think being a missionary does that to us, because I remember Joseph and Sam both talking about him too...it's just cool to be about the same work as your little brother (who, granted, I don't really know too well just yet) who's on the other side of the veil. His birthday's coming up too, isn't it Mom? Sometime in November, I know.

Ok, that's it - less than a minute left.

I Love You!!!
I Love Being A Missionary!!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

ps - does anyone know what a fuller is (or could you look it up for me)? I'm wondering because of the scriptures that refer to the "refiner's fire and fuller's soap," and I've just been curious to know what exactly a fuller is...

pps - I don't think that we'll have temple p-day next week (new church policy about missionaries only going 4 times a year instead of 8), so I'll probably be writing on Monday again

email of 21 Septembr 2009

2009-09-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Do you know anything about Grape Street?

. . . Because apparently it's kinda famous or something . . . something to do with the Watts Riots? I honestly don't really know much about it at all, but I did get to see it this week! I was on splits, and we were going to our dinner appointment (which was in Watts). We got a little turned around on our way, and finally I just stopped the car to look at the map and asked, "ok, where are we?" My companion looked up and said, "uh, this would be the projects of Watts. This is where the Watts riots took place; oh, and there's Grape Street!" Awesome! So I can now say that I have been to both Compton and Watts, California, and it was pretty much awesome. I'm pretty sure that they are two of the most ghetto and probably pretty dangerous places in the U.S., but don't quote me on it. You could google it though, and let me know for sure :)

And here's some crazy city statistics for you, especially you relatively small-town folks: Compton, Ca. has a population of approximately 98,000 people (give or take... I'm pretty sure that fluctuates daily w/ all the gangs and such), all crammed into a total area of 10.6 square miles. Yep, you read right - 98,000 people, 10.6 square miles. There are a LOT of people here.

Remember that garage-house we cleaned up a few weeks ago? Well, I got to go over there when we were on splits (the same day as Compton/Watts) to teach Hector, the son. He is amazing!!! I could really see such a difference in him from the first and even second time I saw him! He really truly has a light in his eyes, and you can just tell how much happier he is. AND, as of yesterday, he has a baptismal date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! And here's something funny that happened while we were teaching: Keeping in mind that Hector's lead a fairly rough life, he also has a fairly foul mouth (as do many of the people that we teach). We were teaching him the 10 commandments with a fun little hand game we play to help people remember. When we talked about commandment #3 (Don't take the Lord's name in vain), we also talked a little bit about all of our language. For the rest of the lesson, he was correcting himself whenever he slipped up and swore. It was so great! And at the end, as we were going through reviewing everything, it was really funny to hear his "translation" of the 10 C's. ex: We got to #6 (thou shalt not kill), which we do by holding up 4 fingers on one hand, with the thumb and forefinger of the other pointing at the four like a gun. So we held up our hands like that and asked, "What's number 6?" Hector's reply: "Don't be blastin' nobody!" The sisters who are teaching him just about completely flipped out on him a few weeks ago when they asked if he had a bible, and he said, "yeah, I think I've got one around here somewhere." and pulled out a QUAD that he had stolen a few years back!!! So Michael R. Hadley, wherever you are, I'm sorry that your scriptures were stolen, but they are in good hands, and have helped to save a soul. Thanks for all the notes you took in seminary!

Ok, ok, so back to my area and the rest of my week.

Minus the part where only ONE of our 4 investigators with baptismal dates came to church yesterday, it was a pretty good week. To kind of balance out that disappointment, we found out that one of the Priests in our ward has been bringing a friend to church with him for the last couple of weeks...not sure how we missed that one! He's awesome though -- he's 15, and Jewish, but really loves the church. Yesterday when he introduced himself in Gospel Principles he said, "I'm Jared, and I'm 15, and I'm not a member of your church, but I really, really want to be." YAY! Miracles do happen! I'm discovering that sometimes you just have those days that are pretty discouraging, but the Lord has this way of giving you just enough at little moments throughout the day to keep you going. I'm so grateful for that.

Mom, good job in sharing the gospel! Don't worry either, I'm a missionary and sometimes am really terrible at missionary work! You could always ask the missionaries to help you by maybe teaching you a little more, or role-playing situations with you so that you can practice, or even go out teaching with them sometimes, OR--even better--see if they have any investigators that they could teach in you home!!! Trust me, if you'll ask/offer the missionaries any of those things, you'll have some really happy missionaries on your hands! AND you'll really have a chance to learn how to be a better missionary, and probably even be instrumental in helping people come unto Christ and be baptized and joining the church! How awesome is that?!?! (pretty awesome, trust me :) Also, studying PMG, especially ch 3 (the lessons), would probably help :)

Tomorrow is Zone Conference!!! I'm really excited, especially since we have a general authority (Elder Glenn L. Pace) coming! Zone Conference is great, and I'm really looking forward to it--it's a good "recharge" for the transfer.

AND GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! I LOVE conference, and am so looking forward to hearing directly from the men we bear testimony of every day: our living prophet and apostles!

Alrighty, well, time's about up. The church is True, God lives--He knows us and loves us and wants us!!!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!
I Love YOU!!! (y'all)

Hermana Sallie

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!

email of 14 September 2009

2009-09-14T14:18:00.001-07:00

I don't remember exactly when or where he gave the talk, but sometime not too long before my mission, Elder Oaks gave a talk in which he said to the women something along the lines of: "You are daughters of Zion, not street walkers in Babylon!" I've thought about that phrase a lot since being out here, and it has occurred to me that as a missionary serving in the California Los Angeles Mission, I am indeed a street walker in Babylon! Not to worry though, I am most definitely a daughter of Zion as well...just a daughter of Zion walking the streets of Babylon everyday. :)

It's been a good week...but then, pretty much every week is good :) They all have their ups and downs, for sure, but the ups far outweigh the downs. We've had to drop some of our investigators in the last few days, which just kills me because I want so badly for them to progress! I just so want them to understand what this gospel means, and how it can bless and change their lives, but unless they care enough to actually do something about it, it won't. And we're here to find those who are ready and willing, so even though it breaks our hearts, a missionary's gotta do what a missionary's gotta do...which sometimes means NOT continuing to work with people you love. BUT THEN the Lord goes and gives you people who ARE ready, and who WILL change their lives because they DO get it, and that is one of the best things about a mission!

Por ejemplo: We're teaching a lady right now who we (well, my comp and the other sister she was on splits with that day) found in the park one day, and she's amazing! She was so excited to find out about living prophets and that Jesus Christ came to the Americas - her response when we told her about them was "I knew it! I always KNEW that Christ came here, and now I have the proof of it!" She's so excited about getting the gospel and getting baptized. She smokes, and also drinks coffee (only about 1 cup/day though), but when we taught her about the WoW this week, she said "Ok, well if it's a commandment, then I'll keep it." Just like that. She said she won't drink anymore coffee, and we're working with her right now to get her off of cigarettes - she's down to 7 a day starting tomorrow!

There's another girl that we're teaching that I am really amazed by. She's had such a difficult life -- her mom left when she was a young child, and her living situation now (with her father and step-mom) is really not very good. Her family isn't very loving or supportive at all. Se struggles with same-sex attraction (no, it's not a problem with us teaching her or anything - don't worry), as well as a form of psychosis. In the words of a BYU education week speaker (he spoke about "the functional family," I believe) who was quoted at our stake conference this weekend, the only thing that's really every been written on her "personal blackboard" is "You are a mistake." It's really sad, but incredible at the same time. We've been amazed at her strength and desire to follow the Lord. As we taught her the law of chastity yesterday, she told us that even though it's so hard for her, she's willing to give up the person that she's loved for most of her life because she loves the Lord more and wants to do what He wants her to do. There's really a difference in her - more peace and happiness and light - since we've been teaching her. She still has problems, but she's so much happier and at peace. I can really feel the Lord's love for her as we teach.

We're teaching about following the prophet tonight at the ward FHE - should be fun!

I know there's lots more I could probably tell you, but sometimes I just don't even know where to start. I'm really growing to love California, and it's finally becoming beautiful to me. It really wasn't when I first got here, but there is beauty all around when you're a missionary!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! The days are long, and hot (though they're getting cooler :) and hard, but SO good, and so rewarding! Everyday is the same, yet different, and I learn more about letting go of me everyday. And it just makes me so happy, even when it's hard and sad and heart-breaking. The Lord gives us joy.

So that's me this week -- I'm happy and healthy, and am getting a killer farmer's tan (my arms, my neck, my watch/ring lines, even my feet are getting it :) - I actually DO change color--who knew?! The church is true, and I love it!!!

I Love and miss all of you, but I do love being a missionary, in the short little sojourn that I get here in California!

Hermana Sallie :D

email of 08 September 2009

2009-09-09T08:44:00.001-07:00

Happy Day After Labor Day!!!

(italics are questions from Mom . . .)

"So, how in the world are you?!"
GREAT!
"Do you need anything?"
Not especially
"Money is OK?"
Yep, it's fine. You'll see my personal expenses on my BoA account occasionally;
those are just for things that I'm not supposed to use my mission card (the blue
card) for, i.e. clothes, personal items, souveniers, etc. I try not to use it
very often, but when you see expenses, that's usually what it is.
"Eating enough?"
Plenty :)
"Great to hear from you each week and get all the news! "
Awesome! Her we go:

The libraries were all closed yesterday (obviously), so we get to email today :)

I'm on splits again today, this time here in my area with a great sister named Sister Youmans. My normal companion (Sis. Tavares - pronounced "tah-vah-rehs") has one of the two sister leadership positions here in the mission - Sister Trainer. That means that during each transfer, she goes on splits with half of the sisters in the mission. She either goes to their area or they come here, so she works with them for the day, taking time at the end of the day for review, to talk about what things went well, what could use improvement, setting goals, etc. She's also available as a listening ear, and for extra love and support for each of her assigned sisters. SO, since I'm her companion, I also go on splits (about twice a week), sometimes to other areas, sometimes here; today I'm here. That also means that today I'm the acting senior companion in our area, so I was/am in charge of planning, and taking the lead in the things we do today. It's good practice and preparation, and I learn a lot. It's also really fun to be able to work with so many different sisters and to see their different areas. It's amazing how drastically different our mission is from place to place, especially with it being such a geographically small mission. For example, in our mission we have Compton, and we have Beverly Hills. West Hollywood, and Inglewood. Etc, etc, etc.

Totally different places, totally different people, all within less than 40 miles of each other. It's amazing, and I love it!

This week has been good - a little up and down, but overall very good.

Tuesday I was on splits in Redondo Beach. It is a beautiful area! It's also quite wealthy, and the people aren't terribly receptive. Most of the people we talked to were very nice, they just weren't interested. It finaly hit me at one point toward the end of the day when a lady very sweetly told us that she and her family had a great church that they attend every Sunday, it's a great church family, they're very happy there, so they weren't really interested. As we walked away, it really sank in: All day long we'd been talking to very nice, genuinely kind people who all said the same thing: They had a church; they were very happy where they were in life; thanks for what we're doing, but they're really not interested, etc. And I just thought, How do we help these people understand what a big deal this gospel is?!?! How do we show then just how important it is?! How do we help them see that this is way, WAY more than just us trying to get more people come to our church?! How, HOW do we really help them to feel and understand how much better, happier and fuller their lives would be with the FULLNESS of the Lord's gospel, a LIVING PROPHET, the added LIGHT and KNOWLEDGE that we have because of a 14 year old boy who prayed in faith and through whom the heaven's were opened and God spoke again!!!!! This is SALVATION and EXALTATION, people!!!!!!!!!!!!!Like, for real! And for goodness' sakes, they're just fine and happy where they are. UUUGH! But they are. That's just the thing; these people are really, genuinely fine and happy, and find great joy in their lives, it's just that we offer so much MORE, but don't always know how to really tell them that.

Do you see what being a missionary will do to a person? When this gospel is all you do, all day everyday, you really start to see and feel this way. It's just that you don't always know what to do about it, short of grabbing people on their doorsteps and yelling "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT A BIG DEAL THIS IS?!?!?!?! TRUST ME, YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO US!!!!!" But we don't. We just smile, try to say something that will touch them in some way as to open their hearts, offer to help, and continue on our way. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don't. Thankfully, the people here in Downey tend to be at least a little more receptive, but still.

We currently have 3 people with baptismal dates, two who ALMOST have baptismal dates, and two who HAD baptismal dates, but are looking a little less promising than they did in the beginning. We're so excited for Elizabeth, Linda, and Teresa, so hopeful for Dutch and Christine, and a little frustrated, but still hopeful for Miguel and Ernesto. And that's just kind of how it goes. Missionary work is SO wonderful, and yet often so discouraging, but there's a price to be paid, and experience to be had, and work to do! It's so interesting too to get a peek into so many different lives and homes and hearts. The world is a sad, hard place, and the gospel really offers so much hope and joy and peace. Something I'm really learning though: we're here for the elect; those that are ready. And when we find them, it's amazing. And when we search and search and search and don't find them, it's sometimes a little discouraging, but then we search some more until we do find them.

Ok, ok, I'm done.

I love missionary life, and this week has been good; this next week will be as well :)

Oh, and my Spanish is getting better! I made my first Spanish referral phone calls this last week, and for the most part was able to really understand and communicate!!!

I'm glad things at home are going well, and hope they continue that way! David, congratulations on school and all the pharmacy work stuff - that's so exciting!

I sure do love hearing from everyone :)

A quick message to please post on my blog:

I got a card and letter this week from Brother Bob Resch! I saw it and though, "Bob Resch?! What in the world?" I knew who he was because Mom has mentioned him before, but I didn't know that he knew who I was, or that I was on a mission or anything! Turns out he does :) Apparently he follows my letters on the blog, and saw that a few weeks ago I had requested conversion stories, and he'd felt prompted to share his with me! It was so wonderful and inspiring to hear his experience with the sister missionaries who were able to be instruments in the Lord's hands in helping him to come back into the church, and of the true conversion that happened in his life. It was wonderful, and gave me so much hope and joy to read that! It really made my night. So Brother Resch, over in Afghanistan, thank you so much, and may the Lord continue to bless you and your family!

Alrighty, well, that's about it for this week. Your missionary is healthy, and happy, and loving her life out here. I'm grateful every single day that I'm here. The church is true!!!

I LOVE YOU, and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

email of 31 August 2009

2009-08-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hola!

Mail again, mail again, jiggity jig :)

Mom, I skimmed over your letter, and just had to smile that Durk has called you a couple times. He would ;) If you talk to him again soon, tell him I'm glad to hear that he's doing so well, and that there should be a letter coming his way sometime later this week. Hopefully he's still in Beryl and gets it before he leaves!

Ok, so on to your questions!
1) Are you being affected by the wild fires? (It's all over Fox News)
Not really, except for the terrible heat. It's hit over 100 degrees everyday since at least Thursday; apparently the fires affect that. Besides that though, no. Life and missionary work continues right along just as always! Actually, the only reason we even know about the fires is because a member mentioned it, and because of the huge smoke clouds. Things like this make it a little weird to be so "disconnected." I know what's going on, and yet I really have no idea...any other light you'd like to shed on the fire situation? And I guess that there's a hurricane or something headed our way too? I didn't know they get hurricanes here.

2) Do you see the smoke?
Oh yeah. We actually took some pictures today, so the next time I send my picture card home (there's one on the way right now...it should be at least halfway to SC by now), you can see what we see here. There's a giant mushroom cloud in the sky, with a rising gray haze all across our horizon. It's weird, but kinda cool to see. I guess maybe it should be a little scary too, but it's not.

3) Have you received your driving record from Dad yet?
Yep! It came last week, so I'm all clear, which is good, because I've been driving since the beginning of the transfer (my companion lost her license a while back, so she's not a driver anymore)!

4) Have you been back to that house you cleaned last week?
Actually, yes. And while it's still not the cleanest place you'll ever be, the sisters that work in that area say that it's cleaner every time they go over!

5) Is the woman doing any better? Is she going to join the church?
Andrea is doing much better, but here's something funny: she's not really interested in the church, but her son (who was pretty bad news in the beginning - using the money to buy drugs, etc) is! In fact he's probably getting baptized soon! We just talked to those sisters today, and they said he's at the point where he knows it's true, and he knows that he needs to get baptized, he just hasn't set a date yet. It's really funny to see the way that things play out on a mission, and how lives can really change.

6) Dad wants to know the name of your apartments. He has google mapped you, but
wants to be sure.
I'm not sure the name, but I think the address is 8105. It probably looks kinda like an "H" from above, with a swimming pool and garden area opposite the street.

Let's see, what to share about my life in the last almost week...

Well, for starters, Freddy (who was baptized two sundays ago)got confirmed yesterday! That was really good.

We're teaching an awesome 10 year old right now named Miguel. His mom and older sister are less-actives, and he's not a member yet. The first time we went over there though, his mom (who isn't really interested in coming back to church) mentioned that he wants to go to church. He came running over to the door and said "Yeah! Can you guys help me go to church? I haven't ever been baptized either, but I really want to! Can I?" Why yes, yes you can :) So we're teaching him right now, and it's so fun! When he found out that their ride to church would be there at 930 on Sunday morning, he said, "Oh sweet! I'm getting up at 7 so I can be ready!" Then he started making assignments to his mom and sister, telling them to get up at "6, no 5!!!" so that they'd all have time to get ready and go. It was awesome! Yesterday was his first Sunday, and I think he really enjoyed it. He and his sister came with some of the members, and he was happier than a kid in a candy store... because he was a kid in church! I've never seen a 10 year old so excited about church! He's getting baptized on Sept. 20th

We're teaching another lady right now - Linda - who also has a baptismal date for 20 Sept., and she's great. She has a lot of home and family problems, but she's doing pretty well. We're really working on faith with her. She really wants to follow the Lord and do the right thing, but life is so hard, and she's just so afraid of doing the wrong thing. I relate well to that... So we've talked to her about not just having, but exercising faith (it is SUCH a principle of action), and promised that the Lord will answer her as she moves forward with her decision. We also promised that we wouldn't let her get baptized if she wasn't ready, but she will be. :)

I'm reading an amazing talk right now called "The Fourth Missionary." It was given in 2003 (ish?) by a mission president to his missionaries, and is a real missionary life-changer. I'm only about part way through it, but it's really incredible. He talks about the 4 kinds of missionaries, and how to be the 4th - the best. This missionary is not only obedient and successful, but much deeper, and is personally blessed and changed by their mission. I really want to make copies and send it to everyone I know because it's really so much more than just about missionaries - it really applies to life and how to allow the Savior to bless and change you. I'm studying it 1) because it's an awesome talk, and I want to, but also 2) in preparation for my "40-day fast", and I'm really excited about it. And no Dad, this is not a missionary weight-loss program :) It's an idea I got from my companion, and we're doing it together. This is a fast from the things that are keeping me from being the best missionary I can be. It begins with a fast, and ends with a fast, and in between (those 40 days), you "fast" from things that are maybe standing between you being good and being great. I'm finding that there are so many blessings that come from stretching just a little further, trying just a littler harder, and exercising your faith in making sacrifices for the Lord, especially when uniting as a companionship (or spouses, I'm sure) and doing those things together. So I'm really trying to prayerfully take an extra close look at myself this week and see what things - little or big - I need to change in order to be a more profitable servant, sharper tool, more in-tune instrument for the Lord. That's my ultimate goal out here, you know - to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. My inspiration for that came in the MTC, from Mosiah 23:10, and Alma 17:9. Sometimes when I'm struggling, as we all do - even the very best of missionaries - that helps to keep me focused and remember why I'm here. Like that picture on Grandma's wall (remember Sam? The one you thought was a scripture and almost quoted in your mission acceptance letter? :) says, it's not easy, but totally worth it.

Well, that's about it for this week, my wonderful family! I sure do love you!!! I hope everything back home is going well, and that you see the tender mercies from the Lord everyday!!!!

I love you!!!

I Love Being A Missionary!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

email of 26 August 2009

2009-08-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hello again, my wonderful family! I hope y'all weren't too worried or sad to not hear from me on Monday this week! We found out on Friday that this week would be temple p-day, which means that p-day gets moved to Wednesday instead of Monday. I was a little worried that y'all might be worried, but I could just hear Mom's voice in my head, "Well, no news is good news..." :)

The temple was wonderful today. We actually just missed the session (traffic on the 405 is horrendous), so I did initiatories instead. And actually, it was really wonderful! I love doing initiatories because I love to hear/remember the blessings there. I also tend to have a really hard time staying awake in an endowment session too, so initiatories are good :) It was fun to actually be able to pronounce the Spanish names too.

It's been a good week! The weeks really tend to just fly by out here on the mission, but at the same time, they seem very long as well. For example, we had an experience (which I'll share a little further down) a week ago yesterday, but it seems like it was FOR-E-VER ago now. Weird.

So I'm on my second companion now. Her name is Sister Tavares, and she's from Salta, Argentina (nope David, not my MTC comp - thank goodness! companionships definitely need more experience than 2 brand new missionaries!)! It's really great having a native Spanish-speaker for a companion, and my Spanish is already improving incredibly, just in the last week! Sis. Tavares is a great missionary - really hard-working, really obedient, and a great teacher. It's still hard sometimes -- getting used to another companion, doing things new/differently, etc, but it's good, and I'm learning a lot. AND I'm enjoying tracting. I've pretty much just decided that the first couple of days or weeks are just HARD, and that a lot also depends on your companion...which really makes me want to be a better companion, so that I'm ready and can really be a help and blessing when my turn for sr. comp/training comes around. And it will, this much I know. Our mission is growing a lot, especially now that the visitor's center will be opening up (it's been closed for renovations/remodeling for the last 2 or so years), so we'll be getting a lot of new sisters in the next few transfers, which means that most of us who are here now will be training soon. ...which scares me to death, but I'm doing my best to learn all I can and be the best missionary I can be so that I'll be ready.

Ok, some experiences and picture-worthy missionary moments from this week!
First of all, did you know that I'm really close to Compton here? It's actually in the neighboring area, so I'll probably get to work there a little bit when I go on splits there. I'm excited :) And don't worry Mom, we're very careful, and there is a very real protection that comes with being "one of them Jesus people". God watches over His missionaries for sure.

I discover more and more every day how much I love being a missionary, and all the cool experiences that you have that would never ever happen otherwise. Por ejemplo: (for example) Last Tuesday I was in South Gate (the neighboring sister's area that includes Compton) for the day because it was the day before transfers and my companion was at the mission home for the day before she went home. While there, we went to see and help one of the investigators that the sisters were teaching. It's amazing to be in a place where you can go from 1st to 3rd world conditions in a matter of moments, often within the same neighborhood. This woman was in her late 40's, and because of diabetes and really poor living conditions, she is blind, losing her hearing, and her legs are almost black from the calf down. She had sores all over her legs, and really just was not doing well at all. The saddest part though was her home. She lives in a converted garage apartment that was the filthiest place I've ever been. I really can't even describe to you what that place was like. But imagine the dirtiest - not messy, but dirty - home you've ever been in, and multiply that by a lot. Garbage, flies, rat droppings, stench, filth. Everywhere. It was really sad. So we went and cleaned. We have a recent convert who's an ex-gangster and a nurse, and he came and helped bandage her up (I think he also scared her son into taking better care of her). The house was notably cleaner when we finished, (though not what you would really call "clean"), we put some pictures of Jesus up around the house, and she had clean, well-bandaged legs. She was so happy that she went from sitting, waiting to die to dancing! It was quite the experience. Really, it's like a whole other world here.

We went and made breakfast for some investigators on Sunday morning to help them get to church, and they came!

Did you know that there are professional garbage-diggers here? There are. We see them at least once a week or so in our apartment dumpsters. Apparently there's big money to be made in recycling here, and people go to great lengths to find bottles.

I'm really coming to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to true happiness in this life. Every single day we see people who have everything, as well as people who have nothing, and without the gospel, they aren't happy. They really aren't. They may think they are, but being on this end, I can really see the void that people try to fill with money, medication, drugs, stuff, whatever it may be; if it isn't the Lord and His gospel, it always, always, always leaves them empty in the end. I can say that because I know myself and have seen it in the lives of others around me. True happiness, joy, and lasting peace in this life only and always comes from living the Gospel - keeping the commandments; inviting the Lord into your life and then letting Him build a mansion out of our little "shack" of a soul. The church is true, and I can't believe what an awesome opportunity I have to not only be a part of it, but share it as well. I'm so glad that I came.

Well, I've got to go - time's almost up!

I love you all, thank you so much for everything!

I Love being a missionary!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

email of 17 August 2009

2009-08-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

My dearest family,

Hello!!! Here I am, another week in. I've made it almost a whole transfer (Wednesday is the mark) now! I'm realizing how much I've changed, even in just the last 6 weeks; last week we were talking about it in companionship inventory, and my companion mentioned how much she's seen me change and grow. As I thought about it, I realized how true it is. I'm still very much me, but I HAVE already grown a lot. I'm not as scared anymore, and I'm really learning to focus outward and "lose myself." I know, I know, I've talked a lot about that ever since coming out, but I feel like I'm finally getting it...but still have a long ways to go. It's all a process, but a really good one. :)

Mom, to answer your questions (including those from last week - sorry I totally missed them),

(Valerie's Questions: "How in the world are you? What are you up to for P-day? Do you have enough money for food? Are you eating well? Any more/other weird food?")

I'm doing great! P-day always entails exercise and study as usual, laundry, some sort of zone activity (today was a birthday party for one of the hermanas), email, grocery (and other) shopping, washing the car, cleaning the house, and, if we have time, writing letters.

I have plenty of money for food, and am eating very well. It's nice to have a little more control over that again! As for that little money blip my first month, I just didn't realize that they didn't put the full amount on my account because I wasn't there the full month (I came in on the 8th). So I just had everything calculated wrong. So sorry about that, but everything's under control now. No other really weird food as of late...it's all been pretty normal.

I've learned something though: (you probably shouldn't include this in the mass email/posting) . . . missionaries LIE. No, really, they do! At dinner appointments, even if they hate the food, most missionaries will tell a boldfaced lie, and say that it's great. But if the food IS great, we'll usually tell you that too. Now you know. I try not to completely lie...I'm always grateful that members open their homes to us, and I make sure to tell them that; and if I don't like the food, I'll usually just leave it at "thank you." Most of the food we eat really IS good though.

(Valerie's Questions: "How is the missionary today? How was your Sunday? What's new?? Are you receiving many letters? Who from? Do you still hear from Durk?")

Today I'm doing great! Yesterday was really good too! Actually, bitter sweet (as I'm learning that missionary life often is). Freddy's baptism was the really sweet part. Everythign went really smoothly and great. It was cool to see some of the "fruits" of our labors as he was baptized. No one from his family came, but the Fonseca family (his member girlfriend's family) were all there, as well as other ward members, and we were so grateful for the support, as was Freddy.

The more "bitter" part was expecting 11 investigators at sacrament meeting, and being almost completely sure that all of them would be there, but then only having 1 show. It was a little discouraging, to say the least. The 1 who did come was Freddy, and if he hadn't come, well, that would have made for a REALLY crummy Sunday.

What's new? Well, transfers are this week, so I'm killing my companion tomorrow. In cheesy mission lingo, that means that she's going home. That means that I get a new companion, which will be exciting. It's really weird and kind of sad to see Sister Foutz leave, but she's served well, and I'm grateful to have had her as a companion.

I actually got quite a few letters this week, which was so fun, and mostly unexpected! I've heard from Ginger Leaf twice, which was so fun! I'm thrilled for her to be a ward missionary! I never realized how important that calling is until now! I also hear from Melanie, Grandma Wilson, random roommates and other friends, and yes, Durk. I also heard from one of my dear BYU-Idaho friends, Mike Smyth. Will you please make sure that he gets this message (you can facebook him)? "THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!! I loved getting your little package (a Spanish book and a letter), and your letter was one of the most missionary-motivating letters I've gotten. It was so great to hear from you!"

Will you also see if someone will write and tell me where Megan and Josh Dustin are going on their missions?! Thanks!

I really am sending my camera card this week! I know I told you a few weeks ago, but time just always runs out.

I'm glad life and everything is going so well at home! Just keep chugging through the hard stuff - there's a lesson and lots of blessings in all of it!

Mom, I'm SO glad, grateful, and excited for your decision to be more missionary-focused! Something I've realized since being out here is how hard it can be to be a new member. It can be difficult to investigate, and join the church, and often people (especially new members) are lonely, and really need the ward members to love and take care of them! Also, just make your home and life as open to the missionaries and missionary work as possible! You personally (and the whole fam) will receive so many blessing by doing this, the work will progress so much better, and the missionaries will really love and be grateful for you! So even if just for me, your missionary daughter in L.A., do all you can to support this work. It really is the greatest work to do, AND it's all true!!!
Well, 1 minute left. I love and miss you all, but I'm doing well, and loving life here. The church is true, the Lord is real, and He loves ALL of His children.

I love you, and I love being a missionary!!!

Hurrah for Israel!!!!!

Hermana Sallie :)

email of 10 August, 2009

2009-08-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Guess what today is?

Day 99, that's what.

Day 99 of being a missionary. That means that tomorrow I will have been a missionary for 100 DAYS. Talk about crazy. I could have won "Survivor" twice now. We'll call this "Survivor L.A. - The Mission" :)

Ok

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the package!!!! I was surprised and laughed pretty hard about the corn nuts...definitely not expecting them!!! Thanks Dad! And thanks for the journals too!

Ok, so with the 18 minutes that I have left, here's a quick little bite of mission life this week:

Freddy postponed his baptism to next week because of needing/wanting to tell his mom, and to give her time to adjust to the idea. He is still getting baptized though!

You know how English-speakers tend to make fun of Spanish by adding "-o" to the end of a word (cake-o pound-o, anyone? ;) ?? Well, a memeber from the spanish branch was telling us that they do the same thing with English, only they add "-ation". For example: "Por favoration pasation la aguation" It's pretty funny.

Mom, you would die as a missionary here; everyone has dogs. And a lot of them are pretty huge mean ones too. There's a GIANT German shepherd named "Rambo" that lives down the street from one of our investigators. Trust me, it's a very appropriate name, and he's a very good guard dog. There have been a couple of times when I was a little scared of a dog, like when there was a dog who was trying to eat through his fence to get at us, or one who was running at us like mad (but chained up) and barking pretty ferociously, or like just yesterday, when someone's German shepherd had gotten out, and was just taking a nice little stroll down the same street we were...I'm really grateful that Heavenly Father protects His missionaries!!!

Also, you asked about the L.A. Temple. It's beautiful, and also HUGE. The endowment rooms seat about 300, but they are some of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen. And no, it's not quite as "old" looking as the IF temple (LA was built in the 50's).
I've been thinking a lot this week about giving my heart to the Lord. Im reading the NT right now, and came across Matt 6:21 this week, which hit me differently than it has before. I just realized that up until this point, I've had a hard time putting my WHOLE heart into the work here because it hasn't been my real "treasure." So I thought about that and decided to really give all of my non/pre-mission hopes and dreams to the Lord for the next while of my life, and let Him keep them safe in a jar on a little shelf somewhere, and have asked Him to help this - the mission and all that that entails - to be my treasure. It's really helped me a lot.
Also, I've been thinking a lot about "Harvesting" lately, and how that applies to what I'm doing right now.

I'd elaborate more, but I have no time. Just know that I love being here, and am doing well!

I love being a missionary!
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie :)

ps I was wondering if some of the people who read my letters and were converts wouldn't mind writing and sending me their conversion stories. I'd love to read them, and also think that they could be a great tool in my teaching people here!

email of 3 August 2009

2009-08-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

What a week!

Brace yourselves people, what I'm about to say may blow your minds...

I had an experience this week where I actually loved tracting.

I know, I know, who knew it would be possible, especially this soon in the mission. The Lord works wonders and miracles, if we'll let Him.

Tracting still isn't my favorite of all things to do, but I did have a really good experience with it this week. We had splits this week, and Sis Foutz (my trainer) made me promise that I'd go tracting with my splits companion. When I very grudgingly agreed and asked why, she simply said, "because miracles happen tracting when you're on splits." Was she right? Of course she was. She's got almost 15 months on me. My splits companion, Sister Earl, LOVES tracting. I did NOT understand how this was possible the first time she told me that (a few weeks ago), and I thought she was crazy, but having gone tracting with her, I understand. She is super full of energy, and absolutely LOVES being a missionary, and she just can't hold it in. She's also very talkative and relates well to people, which definitely helps. Overall, it was just really good to get out and do the work with someone else. Not that I don't love my companion, because I do, but a little change up and different perspective in the area really helps sometimes. We met some really great people tracting, and got lots of potential investigators. We (well, Sis. Earl actually - it was in Spanish, and I'm not quite that good yet; I still spend a lot of my time just trying to figure out what people are saying.) actually even committed one lady to baptism right on her doorstep! She's a really sweet Spanish sister from Guatemala, she's married and has a beautiful little 7 month old baby girl.

Have I mentioned yet how beautiful I think Hispanic children are? Cause I do. A lot.

Anyways, back to Sandy. She's very Christian, but she seemed to really understand when we talked to her about Priesthood authority and how important that is. So we've started teaching her, and will hopefully be able to catch her husband soon too (he works a lot). They seem like a great family, and I'm excited for them!

We also tracted into her next door neighbor, an interesting man named Kim. He came to the door in just a pair of swim trunks and some sort of cloth/leather necklace thing, but was very open and willing to talk to us. He even went inside and turned off his TV so that he could hear us better. THAT'S pretty amazing, especially considering that we hadn't said anything about it. Anyways, he understood everything really well - he's very smart and has studied a lot. He had some interesting ideas, one of which was that Martin Luther King was the latest prophet that he knew of. He at least had somewhat good reasoning behind that idea that we were able to work with in introducing the restoration and Joseph Smith (that MLKJ had a dream, and well, prophets have dreams, so "obviously" he was a prophet.) We talked to him for a good 20-30 minutes there on his doorstep, then left him a Restoration pamphlet, and asked him to read and pray about it. He told us we were welcome back anytime, but that he doesn't answer the door if he's eating or reading. Other than that, he's more than happy to talk to us. So yesterday we stopped by to see Sandy, then decided that Sis Foutz hadn't met him yet, we'd go over and see if Kim was home. He was (and yes, shirtless once again...), and came out and talked to us for another good while. He'd actually read the pamphlet (well, skimmed through it at least), and passed it on to a friend. So we had another really good conversation with him, taught him about the Book of Mormon, left him with a Book of Mormon and a Bible, and set up a return appointment. We told him that the most important thing to do when he reads the Book of Mormon is to pray and ask God if it's true. When we said that, he asked, "before or after I read?" When we told him to do it before AND after, he just nodded like, "oh, yeah, that's good idea." I told him that it's always good to "sandwich" your scripture study between prayers (thank you, Ian McArthur). His response? A grin and chuckle as he said, "I like sandwiches." It was pretty funny.

The thing about Kim is that you wouldn't expect to feel the Spirit around him. He's a 30-40 something construction pipe fitter who's out of a job, he never wears a shirt, and he just is an interesting individual. I'm not sure how else to really describe him well at the moment - he's one that you sort of just have to meet. So while on the outside/at first meeting you wouldn't expect much, and certainly not to feel the Spirit, you do. He just has this light in his eyes, and you can tell that he is of the blood of Israel. As we left, my companion turned to me and said, "why do I feel the Spirit around that man?" I've never met someone quite like him. And he's very smart. He thinks very intellectually, and says that the things we talk about really make sense to him. I'm excited to teach him more!

One of my points in telling you all this is that Sandy and Kim's apartment building is one that we knocked because as we walked by, I thought, "we should knock that building." And at first I kept walking, but then I told Sister Earl, "Hey, why don't we knock that building?" So we did. And it was amazing!

A few fun little "randoms" : I ate calamari (squid) this week. It wasn't very good. It wasn't terrible, but it sure as heck wasn't good. It tastes really fishy, and is really rubbery in texture. I don't recommend it. Second, I've decided that I'd like to be fluent in Spanish AND Ghetto before I leave my mission. We went to see a former investigator who lives with her cholo (Mexican gangster) boyfriend. Just picture a big, bald-headed (it’s a Mexican gangster thing), very tattooed Mexican guy answering the door with a marijuana joint tucked behind his ear. Fairly normal, I guess. Whatevah. It was just a really funny experience. Remind me to tell you about it someday.

We have a baptism this Sunday! Freddy (I think I told you a little about him last week) is getting baptized, and I'm SO EXCITED!!!!! We had an awesome lesson with him yesterday. I haven't been totally sure what to think of him up to this point, and was a little worried that he was getting baptized just because of his girlfriend, but as we talked to him yesterday about the baptismal interview questions, he really opened up to us. He knows the church is true, and he wants to be baptized, but he's really worried about/scared that he'll hurt/disappoint his mom. He's really a very tender soul; we just didn't realize it. More on him next week.

I love being a missionary!!!

I Love All of Y'all!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie

email of 27 July 2009

2009-07-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

...as a missionary!

I'm almost 3 weeks in the field now; crazy, huh?

I don't have a ton of time, but I'll write as much as possible! . . . so on to life in the week of your missionary!

This week has been good. I feel like I'm getting more into the hang of things as a missionary! I've realized that part of that is just getting over my "need" to be normal. Like it or not, missionaries just AREN'T normal. Normalcy is taken away from you the moment you put on the tag, if not sooner. Things like wearing a skirt and nylons every day, knocking on random people's doors and asking if you can teach them about Jesus, riding a bike in a skirt and book bag, and (my favorite) standing in the middle of a public parking lot to back your companion out of her parking space, these things just aren't "normal"! However, now that I've realized that I'm not going to be "normal" for the next 15 1/2 months of my life, I'm at least coming to terms with it :) I still don't love tracting, but I don't loathe it quite like I did that first week; I really don't mind wearing a skirt everyday too bad, though I do sometimes miss jeans; I actually rather enjoy riding a bike, even in a skirt; and as for the backing thing, well, I'm at least grateful that we have a car!!!

We're toward the end of our miles, so we've been biking a little this last week. I really do enjoy it! It's hot, yes, but you at least get a nice breeze, and it tends to be a nice, somewhat solitary time to think. I like it way more than I expected. I makes me feel like a real missionary. My companion isn't such a fan (she tends to be a bit trepidatious on a bike), but she's getting better about it.

We had Zone conference this last week, which was really great! My comp and I sang "Consider the Lillies," and it was really nice! My companion graduated in vocal performance from BYU-Hawaii just before her mission, and she's really good. Our voices blend really nicely, and we love singing together! We've sung for quite a few people at their doors, which I really enjoy.

And now for my picture-perfect "making memories" mission moment (that's alliteration...) this week! Mom, prepare to be thoroughly grossed out. We went to dinner at a member's apartment earlier this week. They're very humble people, in very humble circumstances; slightly odd, but really nice. Picture, if you will, your daughter, sitting next to her companion, eating hot dogs and potato chips on a couch in a tiny, very crowded (with 20 years worth of stuff), and (here you go, Mom) roach-infested apartment. Yep, roach-infested. They were everywhere. They weren't big "Palmetto bug" roaches; they were the little and medium sized ones, but they were all over. I tried really hard just to focus on the people we were with, and not look around the room because I about died every time I did. Uuuuuuuh, it just makes me shudder thinking about it, but I did it.

NEXT!!!

We have a baptism coming up in two weeks!!! I'm so excited! He's a young man (~21) named Freddy, and he's getting baptized on the 9th of August! I'm really excited because except for his very first lesson, I've been there to teach him all the way. He's really, really great, and I'm sure excited!

We're also teaching a family that I'm really excited about! We met their son, Joshua when we were out delivering a Bible to a media referral about two weeks ago. After we introduced ourselves ("Hi, I'm Sister Wilson; Hi, I'm Sister Foutz"), he looked at us and said, "Hi, I'm Brother Joshua!" He's great! He's 16, has a younger brother, Angel, who's 8, and his parents. He also has two older brothers, but the oldest is married and lives somewhere else, and the other is actually in Juvenile detention right now. They're catholic, but Joshua doesn't really buy it, and has LOTS of questions that his priests and teachers could never answer, but the gospel does! After our first visit with them, he told us that he'd learned more that night than he had in his 2 years of confirmation in his church! His mom is a really sweet lady, and seems very interested, and his dad we just met at the end of our last visit. The dad is a little more skeptical, but seems really open. We left them "The Restoration" DVD, and will be visiting them again on Thursday this week. They're a great family, and I'm really excited about teaching them! Oh, and Angel is kind of a little ganster (there's lots of them around here). It was so funny last week3! After I told them about the first vision, I asked Angel "So Angel, what happened?!" He had been holding the picture as I spoke, and he turned it around to look at it and said (throwing his hands around like a gangster) "Well, I'm not really sure, but it looks like this dude (Joseph Smith) is talkin' or prayin' or something, and this one's (Heavenly Father) talkin' to him, but I don't really know what this dude's (Jesus) doin'. Yeah, I, I don't really know." It was SO funny!

We also went this week and contacted a former investigator in our area. Her name is Melissa, and she's 18. Also amazing. She really felt the Spirit as we visited her, and she's excited to start meeting with missionaries again. She said that they really made a big impact on her life before when they were teaching her, and at one point in our talking with her (especially relating the 1st vision to her and telling her that she's a daughter of God, and the He really does know and love her perfectly) said, "Wow, I just don't know how to say what I feel right now." It was such a good experience. Her parents are very devout Catholics though, and wouldn't let her go to church before, which is probably why the missionaries had to drop her. We're hoping and praying for a miracle that she can come to church and really progress. We sang "Grand Eres Tu" ("How Great Thou Art") for her and her parents before we left, which was a great experience. I think her parents really felt the Spirit too.

So yeah, I'm doing really well. This is definitely still the hardest thing I've ever done, but it really is worth it!

I hope you're all doing well - I love and pray for you every day!

I love being a missionary!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie :)

ps My comp and I stopped into a Heath Food store today (we were waiting for our car at Pep Boys...1 - 1 1/2 hours actually turned out to be 3...), and it smelled like childhood to me. I also heard some James Taylor song in the grocery store (something about Philadelphia and the Mason-Dixon Line), which reminded me of home and family reunions and such. It was a happy memory :)

email of 20 July 2009

2009-07-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends!!!!!

So I've been feeling a little bad about my email last week because I felt like it was super negative and complain-y, but then I reread it today and realized that it wasn't terrible...I just felt terrible. I'm feeling much better today.

The mission is still hard, but it's ok. There are moments when the next 15 1/2 months stretches out in front of me and seems like forever, but I'm finding that when I just focus on the Lord and His work, it doesn't really matter. Something I'm learning--it really dawned on me this morning, and I've been thinking about it a lot today--is that I don't think a mission is really so much about preaching the gospel as it is a personal process of sacrifice and sanctification within the missionary. Don't get me wrong - we're definitely here to find and baptize and bring people to the Savior, but I really feel like so much of it is really what I've mentioned before: completely losing yourself in the work of the Lord; sacrificing yourself and your will - your "natural man" - so that you can really become an instrument in the hands of the Lord. And it's really a great sanctifying process.

I'm trying to be better about focusing on the work; really serving with ALL of my heart, ALL of my might, All of my mind, and ALL of my strength. The strength part I think I'm the closest to...I am more exhausted every single night than I ever have been in my entire life. And I thought I was tired in the MTC! Class all day doesn't even begin to compare to going all day, teaching, tracting, walking, etc, in the hot L.A. sun. It's HOT here. But guess what?! I already have a killer farmers' tan :) ...and I thought my skin didn't change color.

We have a car, but a lot of the time we'll drive to our appointment or a certain area, park, and then be outside walking for a while. The other day we were street contacting and walked with a guy as he walked (we just walked with him and taught as we walked), and then walked BACK to where we were originally planning to be. It was probably a good 3 or 4 miles total. Honestly though, I'd almost rather be outside talking and contacting because there you at least have a breeze. Most of the people here don't have A/C in their homes, so you get inside and the hot air is just trapped all around you. Blech.

So yeah, I'm pretty much completely exhausted every night. It's really hot in our apt too, especially when we go to bed at night (we have a small A/C unit in the front room, but not in the bedroom). I sometimes sleep with my sheet on me, but usually I don't sleep with any covering at all.

Here's a fun little tidbit - the other night just as we were getting to sleep, we heard two gun shots outside! It was ever so slightly unnerving, but it wasn't RIGHT outside, and it was just those two, so we just tried to not worry about it and go to sleep. We never did hear any sirens...

There are a lot of apartment complexes here - a LOT. And for the most part, they look pretty dumpy on the outside. But what's cool is that with most of them, you go inside the complex and there is a nice little courtyard of sorts, and the apartments themselves are really pretty nice! I'm learning not to judge things or people by their outward appearances, because so often what's inside is so completely different than what you'd expect! 1 Samuel 16:7, anyone??? (the seminary kids should know this one)

Spanish is good, but I'm still a bit timid in using it when I don't know the person...what am I saying? I'm timid using it when I DO know the person! My companion usually does the talking when we meet a Spanish person on the street, but she always tries to get me to contribute something. I feel like I can write ok, and if I have time to really think out and plan what I'd like to say I can do fine, but when it's just right there on the spot I freeze up and would rather not say anything. That and I'm usually just trying to figure out what they're saying, and it still takes a little while to process things in my poor little brain. Yesterday my companion "dared" me/set a goal for me to be confident to the point of error. She told me she wants me to make at least one "colossal" mistake in Spanish this week because I was being so overly confident/bold in speaking. I don't know how I really feel about that...I really don't WANT to make a colossal Spanish mistake. It's good though, and the only way I'm really going to learn and become fluent (which is one of my mission goals) is to open my mouth and try, without looking to my companion every time I'm not totally sure of a conjugation or something. We went to the Spanish branch yesterday, which was really great. The Spanish people are so loving and welcoming! I played the piano for sacrament meeting, and my companion and I helped them in their ward choir. I understand now what Sam and Joseph were talking about with Hispanic singing...they sing loud and strong and with all their hearts, whether or not they can sing well, and I'll just leave it at that :) I really do love it though! One of the teachers at the MTC told me and my companion about how her first few weeks in the field she just had a perpetual headache because of the language (she served in Portugal). I don't have a perpetual headache, but I sure had one last night! My biggest problem is trying to focus on what's actually going on in the Spanish meetings. I find my mind really wandering a lot because I can't understand, and it hurts my head to try to understand for the full 3 hours. It'll get better though, I'm sure!

We didn't have a baptism this week, but we're really hoping for this coming Sunday! Christine (she's the one I mentioned last week) is close, but she's had quite a few obstacles pop up in the last week. We're working through it though, and are very hopeful! I actually committed one of our investigators to baptism last week! Our mission president wants us to do a "hard" baptismal commitment (setting a date, not just a "when you know these things are true...") in the first lesson with people. The mission has seen a lot of success from that, and not just random "low-quality" baptisms either. More than anything else, it helps us find the elect much quicker, and weed out those who are just being nice. That doesn't mean that we drop someone just because they don't accept, but we try to get a hard commitment as soon as we can. Anyways, Freddy is the young man I committed to baptism; he's the boyfriend of a girl in our ward, and he's really great. He tends to be kind of quiet and shy, but he really wants to know, and he's doing the right stuff!

So yeah, life here in Downey is good. Still hard, but good.

Thank you SO much for all your continued love and support in all that I do, especially here in the mission. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

I Love you , and I love being a missionary :)

Hermana Sallie Wilson

ps
Tell Bro. Tuckfield thanks :) it's nice to hear things from someone who really knows this mission

email of 15 July 2009

2009-07-15T16:26:00.001-07:00

15 July 2009

Hola Hola Hola!!!!!!!

So today I find myself in the Downey Public Library, writing to my family (and friends ;) for the first time in 2 weeks!

So here's a quick run down of basic info, then I'll tell you about this last week. My P-day is usually on Monday, but once a transfer (until Sept.) we have temple P-day, which means that P-day is Wednesday, and we get to go up to Santa Monica and go to the temple, then do all our other p-day stuff. I can only send and receive email from immediate family (parents, siblings, siblings-in-law, grandparents), so unless you're in that category, please don't email me! I get snail mail once a week at our District or Zone meeting, and then email once a week as well. So any snail mail (which I love getting too...), just send to the mission home (1591 E. Temple Way, L.A. Ca. 90024).

I'm currently serving in Downey, Ca, which is in southeastern LA county. It's a good sized town, with LOTS of people. LA in general has LOTS of people! I was amazed as I looked out over LA from the airplane last week at just how many people there are crammed into this place! There are houses and apartments everywhere, and they're all really close together. Hence, there are approximately 5 million people just within the boundaries of my mission! In Downey alone there are something like 110,000 people!

My companion is fabulous - her name is Sis. Foutz, from Boise Idaho, and she has the patience of a saint! This first week hasn't been easy, but she's very patient and loving with me. This is actually the last transfer of her mission, which means that I'm "killing" her in the mission. She's great though, and I'm SO grateful for her!

My mission president and his wife are also great. I wasn't sure what to expect from the picture, but Pres and Sis Blackburn are wonderful.

Sister Blackburn especially cracks me up! She has very classy and sophisticated style, with her red high heels and spiky hair, but she's just great.

Downey is a good area, and I'm grateful that it's my first. Our mission is a bilingual mission, which means that all the missionaries can speak both English and Spanish (well, eventually anyways), unless they're called to Korean or ASL. In our area, we cover both the Downey 4th ward, as well as the Santa Fe Springs Spanish branch. So we have a pretty good mix of both English and Spanish here, though a lot of the people in my area are 2nd generation Hispanics, so they speak mostly English.

There are a lot of pretty poor people here, but it's not a totally ghetto area (they take care to keep the sisters in good areas). It's definitely not Beverly Hills! BH is actually where my MTC comp is at, and they do a lot of tracting to call boxes there. Not the most successful, for sure. I'm grateful to be where I am!
The field is way harder than I expected...I feel like I'm starting all over again. I suppose I AM starting all over again. There are really good people here, and they've actually been having great success, so I've "inherited" a number of recent converts and investigators. That's nice, but there's always more finding to do. I've come to learn that I hate tracting. No really, I do. Street contacting is ok - I actually kind of enjoy that, but I hate knocking doors. I didn't realize how hard the rejection factor would be for me. And it's not that we're getting doors slammed in our faces all the time - that's only kind of happened once or twice. I'd almost RATHER people just shut the door without listening if they really don't want to hear us. For me, it's the worst when they just stand there at the door looking somewhat bothered that we're there, but trying to be polite, so they listen and kind of nod until they can gently convince us that they aren't interested and close the door. Honestly, the quicker we could move through those who don't want to hear it, the better. I know we need to give everyone the chance to hear the gospel because everyone needs it - this IS their salvation, and you never know what one little thing you might say will pique their interest and make them want to listen, but sometimes it feels like we stand there talking with someone for a good 5 or 10 minutes, just spinning our wheels. I like street contacting better because they're already out, and what's the worst they can do? Run away? I just want to find the elect, who will "hear mine voice," and not turn me away like I'm not even a real person. I guess it's just been tough being brand new in a town, knowing no one but your companion, and having most of the people you kindly say hello to resent that you're even there. Does that make sense? Am I at least semi-normal for feeling that way?

That's all just so that you know, in all honesty, how I've been feeling a lot this last week. OK, I'm done complaining.

Really, I have no room to complain - the Savior went through WAY more than I'll ever go through, and it's His errand that I'm on. What can I expect? In the words of Elder Holland, missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. How can I expect sunshine and roses all the time (though there IS sunshine here all the time) when Jesus Christ suffered and was rejected beyond anything I'll ever experience here in LA? I can't. But just so that you know, missionary work is not easy.

The End.

So now that I'm really done with all that, are you ready for my fun and happy stories from this week? I've got some pretty good ones already!

First of all, Mom, I think of you a lot just because of the Sheryl Crow song that we always sing about LA. The temple overlooks Santa Monica Boulevard, and today we were out (just behind the mission home...just off SMB) washing our car "hosing and scrubbing as best we could in skirts and suits." Yep, we washed AND waxed our car today, all in our normal proselytizing (sp?) clothes. It was fabulous. And going to the temple was wonderful! It weird to come out of the temple and look right out over LA, with the smog, and the buildings and the cars and the billboards...oh the humanity! You want to talk about Babylon? That's where I am! I love it.

I'm learning just what a blessed, sheltered life I've lived. We meet people everyday who are living on welfare, people who have known nothing but the street their entire lives, people who have seen and experienced more in their life than I ever will, and more than I even imagined was possible. We have a recent convert who grew up in the streets of San Diego. His entire life, since his very earliest memory was drugs and gangs. And hard core too. He's amazing though! The coolest thing is to see the miracles that the Lord works in people. Mario (our gang-banger friend) is a changed man. As he put it in his talk Sunday, conversion is a "quiet miracle". He is a spiritual powerhouse, and funny too! Another sister that we're teaching right now is going through that change as well. She's 19 years old, but when she was 13, she ran away from home and lived on the streets for a while. She did street racing, lived with her boyfriend for about 4 years, was in and out of jail, was a bit of an alcoholic, just lived an all-around messed up life. Like I said, she's lived and seen more of the world in her 19 years than I'll ever even begin to imagine. However, she came back home and is turning around. She's got a ways to go yet, but to see the changes she's had already is just amazing. She's scheduled to get baptized this Sunday!

We had a total missionary moment earlier this week teaching someone! There's a cute little Korean lady who's dry cleaning place is just down the street from us. Her name is Esther, and we're teaching her English. The picture-perfect moment dawned on me when I realized that here we were, sitting in the back of a little tiny dry-cleaning shop in a Los Angeles suburb, eating plums and teaching English. It was great.

Mom, you'd be shocked by some of the people that we meet and talk to here - I'm shocked half the time - but they're wonderful. I'm learning that most of the roughest looking people are the best investigators, because they're the one's who've seen the world and want something better.
This is such a ride.

The church is true, the Lord loves ALL of His children!!!

Ok, well I have 1 minute left, so I'll go. I love and miss you all TONS, and look forward to hearing from you!!!

I (usually) LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

email of 1 July 2009

2009-07-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

...I met the Prophet :)

No, seriously, I MET THE PROPHET!!!!!!!!!

So here's the run down of the last week, since I know that you're DYING to hear!

So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, we sang for the NMP seminar devotionals. That's pretty much all we got to do - we'd file in, sing, then file out and be on our way for the day. And every single day I was just dying to be able to stay and listen!!! But we couldn't. But it was still amazing! Apparently this has been the best small MTC choir they've ever had - Bro Brenchley (our director) told us that several times, and also told us on Sunday morning that E. Holland told him the same thing: that we were the best sounding, most professional/missionary looking group they've ever heard. In fact, he (E. Holland) said that our rendition of Pres. Faust's "This Is the Christ" was the best he'd ever heard, and they requested the recording from the devotional!!! Holy cow!

Thursday morning, President Eyring and Elders Holland, Oaks, Perry, Cook, Christofferson, and Anderson were all there. Friday morning we had Pres. Uchtdorf and Elders Holland, Perry, Oaks, Bednar, Christofferson, Anderson, Scott and Cook. Saturday morning it was Pres. Packer and Elders Holland, Oaks, Perry, Ballard, Scott, Bednar, Cook, Christofferson and Anderson. And then, yes, on Sunday (not the morning devotional, but the special 1st presidency sacrament mtg), all the 1st Presidency and quorum of the 12 were there except for Pres. Packer. Apparently he was scheduled to be there, but had to do a stake conf. broadcast from SLC. Is that not INCREDIBLE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! My companion and I were talking to Pres. Clegg (a counselor in the MTC presidency that we've become good friends with), and he said that this was really an unprecedented event, to have that many of the presiding brethren (not to mention LOTS of seventy and other general aux. leaders) here at once like that. AND I GOT TO SING TO THEM EVERY MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention all of the incredible new mission presidents and their beautiful wives - you want to talk about spiritual priesthood power in a room? That's what I felt every morning. It was wonderful! The neatest thing though, was that it wasn't all about THEM. It was actually all about US - the missionaries. It was interesting to be there, with the tables kind of turned - THEY were all watching US come in, THEY listened to OUR message and testimonies (through song), THEY were so happy, excited and overjoyed to feel of OUR spirits, and then THEY watched in quiet reverence as WE left. I could really feel their love and appreciation and respect for us as I participated. And each morning, as we would file back out, I always looked over to the Apostles on the stand (we sang just in front of the stand - maybe 5 feet away from right where they were sitting), and tried to make eye contact and smile. And I did! Elder Cook and Christofferson both looked and smiled right at me a few of the mornings as I left! It was really amazing! Then, on Sunday morning, after we sang in Sacrament meeting, they made special arrangements for us to watch Pres. Monson speak from another room (they just broadcasted it into the room we were in - there was no room in the actual room)! We stayed for most of it, but then had to go for our other meetings. It was so neat to hear him speak to all the new mission presidents! I felt so much overwhelming gratitude as we began to watch, just because it was such a privilege and a tender mercy to even be in the choir in the first place, and then to get to hear the prophet speak - even from another room - was wonderful!

So when did I actually meet the prophet??? ...I know, I know, I'm getting there! Sunday morning we sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" for the special Sacrament Meeting. Afterwards, we went back for our regular Sunday meetings, but had a break for lunch and study time before OUR sacrament meeting. Since we had seen the 1st Pres. cars' parked up on the sidewalk (and security was TIGHT, let me just tell you! It took us 3 tries just to get anywhere close to the doors of that building, and we were the CHOIR!), we decided to go sit on the benches outside the building and study, hoping that maybe, just maybe we'd get to see them when they left. We waited out there for a good 45 or so minutes, and then FINALLY they came! Pres and Sis Uchtdorf came out first, and left pretty quickly, but they waved to all of us (there were probably about 15 or 20 of us out there waiting...) and told us we were wonderful and that they loved us, then left. Quick side not, can I just tell you what an incredibly beautiful couple they are? Really, they are just stunning people!
Anyways, a few minutes later President Monson and President Eyring and their wives came out! There was a bigger crowd by now, and it definitely continued to grow! As they came out, we were all standing, and began to sing "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet". After a moment, Pres. Monson came over and just stood and looked at all of us. He just stood there, not 10 feet away from me (I was right at the front of the group), and just watched us. I barely finished the verse because I couldn't help but cry as I stood there, as a missionary of the Lord, looking right at His chosen prophet, seer, and revelator, and sang "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter-days! We thank thee for sending the gospel to lighten our minds with it's rays! We thank thee for every blessing, bestowed by thy bounteous hand, we feel it a pleasure to serve thee, and love to obey thy command." It was really funny though, because as we got to the end of the verse, Pres Monson smiled really big, and lifted up his arms to direct the last line or two! It was just wonderful! Then he stood and talked to all of us for a good 10 minutes or so, asking about where we were going, and telling us stories (of course!). He even sang some funny little song to us in Spanish! He didn't shake our hands because 1)there were too many of us, and 2) the whole swine flu thing. Stupid swine flu...

Speaking of which, it's pretty much taken care of here...there are still some sick missionaries, including a few in sick bay/quarantine, but the best news of all with this is that THEY'VE LIFTED THE HANDSHAKING/HUGS BAN!!!!!!! It's been against the rules to shake hands or hug anyone since before I got here, but Pres. and Sis. Clegg told us last night that they've officially lifted it! Our elders were all really excited to shake our hands today after we told them, and our teacher hugged us all (hermanas) twice! :)

Anyways...after Pres Monson talked to us for a little bit, he moved around to the other side and talked to all the other missionaries who had gathered by that time; then, as he went to go to his car, we all sang "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet" again, and he turned to all of us, and directed our singing! He really just waved his arms - he doesn't actually know how to direct music - and smiled, chuckling to himself a little bit, but I can now say that I've sung in a choir directed by the prophet!

The thing that hit me more than anything else was his genuine love and joy. He and Pres Eyring both just radiated that joy that the gospel brings, as well as the love of the Savior. What an awesome thing, I really can't even begin to tell you, to be a missionary, taking this incredible gospel message to the world, and to see it, up close and personal - the living prophet, called of God to lead and guide us; to sing and learn and teach, feel everyday these amazing truths! And the best thing about it is that I'm not the only one who gets to have it!!! That's why I'm going out to serve - so that EVERYONE can know, and feel and follow the Savior! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now in the last few minutes that I have, here's a little more. We got our flight plans this past Friday!!!!! I fly out at 8:30 am next Wednesday morning - which is in 6 DAYS, for those of you who are wondering - have a short, hour long flight, and then off I go into L.A.!!! That means that the next email/letter you'll get from me will be from Los Angeles!!!

We have to be at the MTC travel office at 5am to check out and get our tickets, and then we're off to the airport. So, Wednesday morning, sometime between probably 8 and 10 am your time, I'll be calling you from the SLC airport!!! I'm not sure how exactly to work all that yet, but I'll see about maybe getting a calling card from the bookstore. If you'd rather send me one, and/or if you plan on sending any more snail mail to me here, please do so by tomorrow or Friday at the latest! Saturday is the 4th, so no mail, and then I'm gone Wednesday before the mail gets here. So at this point, dearelder is your best bet till I get to L.A. Anyways, that's the deal! I'm SO EXCITED!!! Still a little nervous, but more excited than anything else - we all are! Everyone in my district going to L.A. is leaving on the same flight, along with a bunch of other missionaries, which is nice.

I'm so glad that David had such a good time at EFY, and a successful wisdom-teeth surgery - Thanks for writing from your iPod in bed, David! I love you tons, and love hearing from you!

I hope that y'all have a great family reunion this weekend!!! They've got something planned for us for the 4th of July, though I'm not totally sure what just yet, but I hope that the reunion is fantastic! Know that I love and miss everyone, and tell them all hey for me! I miss you all, but this is seriously the greatest thing ever - the gospel is true, and brings happiness that people just can't understand who don't have it. I love it! And yes Mom, I am SO glad that I came! I am accomplishing so many things that I can't do! I really can't, but "nothing's too hard for the Lord!"

One more quick thing - since it's our last week in the MTC, our district is really focusing on teaching, so we've planned a "servicio bautismal" ("baptismal service") for this Friday, and are all working to have at least 5 investigators (for the whole district) ready for baptism. My comp and I are currently teaching 6 people - 5 missionaries, 1 teacher, and one real investigator (we call her from the Referral Center; she ordered a BofM, and we've been following up with her). Yesterday we invited two of our "investigators" (a companionship of sisters)to be baptized and they committed!!! And just so you know, it's taken several tries, but they finally accepted and are really excited!

I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but really, it's so cool, and such a cool experience, even just in practice. Because, really, all of us ARE investigators on some level or another, and Heavenly Father knows us and our needs, and He works through each one of us to help and bless each other.

By the way, all of our teaching is in Spanish (except for our RC investigator) - albeit broken Spanish that definitely has room for improvement, but Spanish nonetheless!

I think that's about it for now...I'll talk to you from the airport in just less than a week, and will write again soon-ish!!!

I love the Lord, I love this gospel, I love the scriptures, and the chance to study them everyday, I love my companion, I love my family, and all of my friends who love and support me so much in this! I am forever indebted to the Lord for allowing me to have this experience.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie Wilson :) (the happiest missionary on earth :)

ps - By the way, sorry Uncle Vern, but there were a lot of people, and I didn't really get a chance to say much to Pres. Monson, so I wasn't able to tell him hey for you...maybe next time :)

email of 24 June 2009

2009-06-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hola Ustedes!

That's about the closest I can come in spanish to "hey y'all!"

Sorry this will be kinda short, but you've had some pretty good long emails the last few weeks! It was great hearing from everyone - thanks!!!

What a day! Today is Wednesday, so we got a bunch of new missionaries in, AND today all the new mission presidents and their wives arrive for the seminar this week! That's great, and crazy all at the same time. Great because, well 105 new mission presidents and their wives, plus tons of general authorities, with at least 1 apostle each day, and Pres Monson on Sunday, is GREAT! Especially because I get to sing for them everyday, including twice on Sunday (one for their am devotional, AND for their Sacrament mtg with Pres Monson)! Uncle Vernon, if I get a chance to talk to Pres Monson, I'll tell him hey for you! Now, the craziness is mostly because for this seminar, they've partitioned off half of the cafeteria, which means that the already insane amount of missionaries that eat in there together are now going to be totally crammed into half the space and available food lines. Trust me, it's going to be nuts (tonight is the first meal like that for us).

Choir is SO GREAT!!!! Absolutely Awesome!!! We are singing 5 times, plus once with the whole MTC choir for devo on Friday. We are singing "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth," "Come Thou Fount," "Joseph Smith's First Prayer," "This is the Christ," and a brand new, absolutely incredible arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer."!!! They're letting us record our singing (our dress rehearsal/warm-ups each morning), so I'll send you a recording! I'm SO EXCITED!!!!! Our first devotional is tomorrow morning at 8am, and Pres Eyring is going to be here! Friday is Pres. Uchtdorf, Sat. is Pres Packer, and Sunday is Pres Monson! Elder Christofferson is here today. Baaaaah!!! It's so awesome!

Today we got to clean the temple! It's closed for the next two weeks, and they assigned a bunch of MTC districts to help clean. So during our normal temple time (a little longer, actually, which is why this is later than I thought), we got to go clean! We took our tennis shoes, and they gave us white scrubs to wear. It was such a cool experience! We cleaned the lockers in the men's dressing room and the male ordinance worker's room, and the 4 of us Hermanas got to go upstairs and vacuum the Celestial room!!! I got to clean the temple in Rexburg once, but this was especially neat because it was the heavy duty cleaning that they do twice a year, so all the furniture was moved out of the celestial room. It was completely empty, except for a huge painting of Christ on the wall, the mirrors everywhere (of course), and us in our white scrubs and vacuums. It was really neat to just take a few minutes to stand in there and look. There is a mirror right underneath the picture of the Savior, so I could see myself, in my white scrubs, right underneath the Savior, with His outstretched arms. Wonderful! Missions are amazing, can I just tell you?!?!?!?!

Here's another little crazy something...exactly two weeks from today, I'll be in Los Angeles! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm super excited, but super nervous, and just trying to be ready! I feel like the Lord gave me a "vision" this week of my capacity to really do this work, and I'm so grateful!

By the way, can I just tell you that I love my companion?! 'Cause I do! She's such a great example to me, and it's been amazing how much we've grown together in the last 7 weeks. She's very driven in this work, and I love it!

I'm still running...1-2 miles everyday!

OH!!! Mom and Dad, I've been meaning to write about this for weeks, and I just always forget! When you go on your mission someday, Dad will be very pleased to know that the milk here is ice cold. :) We have cereal every Sunday morning, and I think of Dad and his cold milk every single time I have milk!

Will you please make sure that Durk gets this letter? I have a letter that I'll be finishing and sending to him next week that I started last week, but that I just haven't had time to finish! Lo Siento!!!! Durk, thank you SO much for your letters...dearelder or handwritten is all great - I just like hearing from you ;)

Joseph, thanks for writing me so faithfully every week - I love hearing from you! It's great to get such uplifting emails encouraging me in the work, and I love hearing about how your family is!

Melanie, thanks for your letters too! I'll try to write next week, but no promises! And hey, Mike gets home in less than a week, huh? Good luck with that - let me know how everything goes!!!

Mom, I got your package - thank you SO MUCH!!! I love the sweaters - the color is great, and the skirts are great too. I love pockets!!!

I love you all so much!!! The church is true - I know it more and more everyday!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Much Love,

Hermana Sallie Wilson

email of 17 June 2009

2009-06-18T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hola, Mi Familia y Amigos!!!

Just so you know, this email is REALLY long. Just wanted to prepare you now. You're printing these off so that I can have a letter journal after the mission, right? :) I rearranged what I actually wrote so that you get the most important, spiritual, exciting stuff first.

Ok, so now for the SUPER AMAZING, AWESOME, CRAZY-EXCITING news of the week!!!! No really, this is big!

So each June, they have the New Mission Presidents' Seminar, where all the incoming mission presidents come and are trained by the Bretheren here at the MTC, over a 4-day period. So that's exciting in and of itself, because it means that next week the entire first presidency and quorum of the 12, along with various other General Authorities will be here! But wait, there's more! ("It's a NEW CAR!!!" just kidding, just kidding :) Each morning they have a devotional, and they have a small choir of missionaries do a special musical number for said devotional. Small as in 36 missionaries small. 36 out of 2500 in the whole MTC. And guess who was chosen to be in this small choir of 36 (8 missionaries per part)? ME!!!! AND my companion!!! AND 2 elders from our district!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! That means that next Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun (possibly twice on Sunday), I get to sing for all the new mission presidents, and at least some of the bretheren (Pres. Monson is coming on Sunday) EVERY DAY!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!! Keep in mind that this only happens once a year, and I'm here for it!

Sis. Ann M. Dibb came and spoke to us this week for RS. She's in the YW general presidency, and is Pres. Monson's daughter! She spoke about the importance of virtue, sharing some thoughts from Jane Eyre, and Ruth in the Bible. I read the book of Ruth (4 short chapters) this week, and it's really great! My favorite verses are 1:16, 2:12 & 20, and 3:11.

The Sunday night fireside was really good too. The speaker shared this quote from Elder Scott that I just love!

"You cannot today remotely imagine what that decision to be unwaveringly obedient to the Lord will allow you to accomplish in life. Your quiet, uncompromising determination to live a righteous life will couple you to inspiration and power beyond your capacity now to understand."

It reminded me of the quote that you sent me on valiance, which I love, by the way! And I love especially that it's never too late! You can ALWAYS make the decision to be valiant and obedient, and the Lord will love and help and bless you! Like the parable of the workers in the vineyard; "His arm is stretched out still!"Ok, to start off real quick, Mom, I can't open the pictures you emailed - something with the MTC server restricts it...which is kinda weird, because I could see the picture you sent last week of you and Dad. In any case, I can't see the pictures, but the clothes sound great! If you do send them, I wouldn't mind getting my pink sweater too, but it's not crucial, if it's put away and you'd rather not dig it out. :)

Wow, what a week, may I just tell you? Today is my 6 week mark in the MTC/mission (day 45 as a missionary...Dad, I officially passed my "Noah mark" here this last week. Send the punch line in your next letter :)! That means that I only have 3 weeks left until I'm off to L.A.!!!!! That also means that I'll be leaving at the same time as all the English-speaking missionaries that come in today...which is weird. We started a new planner this week too, which means that it will have REAL investigator's names and info in it, REAL areas in L.A., and a different companion! It's so crazy!

THANK YOU!!!!! for the package! I got it Friday, and am SO grateful! I love having jeans to wear on P-day, I love my new curling iron, I love everything else, and I especially love the M&Ms! Whenever I open a package from you, I think, "Peanut butter M&M's!!! yep, Mom knows me for sure!" I want you to know though, that I make those suckers last! The first two packages lasted me 3 1/2 weeks, and I still have about 2/3 of my second package that you just sent! I just stick them in the back of one of my drawers and eat one or two every day :) Not because I can't get them here, but because they were sent with love from my Mom.

My district is officially the oldest district in the zone, with just a few more elders from past districts waiting for their visas to head off to Mexico. How could it be so?! It's so crazy to think that we're the "older, wiser, 'experienced' " missionaries in the zone now. I definitely don't feel like it! I feel like I still have soooooo far to go, especially with learning Spanish! It's coming, but I need to do some serious dedicating of myself in the next 3 weeks! We started teaching in Spanish this past week, which went fairly well. It's definitely a humbling experience to try to express all that I know and feel and want to say in another language. It's especially hard when I don't know/can't think of simple little words and phrases, and all I'm trying to do is introduce the First Vision or something! AAAAAAH!! It'll come, I know, but it can be a little frustrating sometimes, and again, definitely humbling. I'm really coming to realize and feel my dependence on the Lord, because I sure can't do this myself!

I forgot to mention last week that I've been asked to serve as the new Coordinating Sister in our zone! I'm responsible to "Lift, encourage, inspire and bless the sisters in the branch" [zone], encourage them to "live a high standard of obedience", I now attend and participate in branch council each week, and attend another short meeting each Tuesday to discuss any concerns or ideas. It's been good so far. We have started a little nightly tradition to help build unity and prepare for bed, where we take just a very quick moment to go around and share a tender mercy that we had that day. Then we all pray together, and then split off for companionship prayer. It's really a nice way to come together and end the day, and I think we're all enjoying it!

They started something new here this week, which is definitely an answer to prayer! They've started opening the gym from 6-6:30am for sisters only, and it's FABULOUS!!! It definitely helps in the MTC battle of the bulge, and most especially gives us a great start to our day! I've started running too...I know, I know, it's pretty unbelievable, but it's true!!! I ran 2 miles on Monday, 2 yesterday, and 1 today (I didn't have as much time as the last two days). That's 5 MILES in the last 3 days. For those of you who don't realize, that's a pretty stinking big deal for me. I'm so sore, but it's SO worth it, and feels SO GOOD!!! More than anything else, it's kind of a goal thing for me. I have a whole analogy that goes with that, but I'll spare you, since this is already so long.

Almost done!

Please let the Rock Hill people (esp. the Spurlins and the Cramers) know that there's an Elder in my zone named Elder Nathan Stanford. He knows them/their sons, and I was super excited to meet someone who knows people that I know!!! Could someone get on facebook and get me Mike Smyth's address? He's a good friend, and I never called him just before I left, and I want to write him. While you're on there, could you also send Amy (Ward) a "Happy Birthday!!!" from me? Thanks!

Thank you so much for your love and letters! Dad, it really means so much to me to get your letters every week...I'm especially entertained by the way you addresses it each week (empty sea...), and I love hearing your thoughts and insights and the goings-on of the week.

Mom, I love and miss you too; I never realized what a friend you are, besides being my mom, until now.

And David, for goodness' sake, you sound so grown-up and mature in your emails! It's great, but kinda weird, I'm not going to lie. :) I'm glad life is going so well for you right now ;) tell Dierdra hola for me.

Joseph, thank's for writing so faithfully each week. I love hearing from you, and hope everything continues going well for you, Wendy and the boys! Tell Benjamin fdaj klf;hds a; I gh aLOVE hbtrYOU fh TOOfjkd sa!! for me!

And Sam and Suz, thanks again for the package!

Sorry this is such a novel, but I just have so much to say! Life here is absolutely wonderful!!! I still don't know exactly why I'm supposed to be on this mission, but I know that I am, and I love it, and what I time to be here! "Who knoweth whether [I am] come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14).

I love my life, I love the Lord, I love serving my mission, I love all of you, and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie Wilson

email of 10 June 2009

2009-06-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Hola!

I finally got a computer without a timer!!! Not that I'm trying to be disobedient or go way over time or anything, it's just nice to not have the crazy pressure of the flashing red timer in the upper right corner of my screen!

I'm guessing that maybe you're wondering what the subject of this email means...and I'm going to tell you (aren't you excited :) )!

38 - days that I've been a missionary now, from the night I was set apart until today! I keep a count up in my journal; each entry has a heading like this (this is what tonight's will be):

Day 38: 10 June 2009

And then I write whatever I write for the day.

28 - days that I have until L.A.!!!!! That's right, Brothers and Sisters, if the flight plans hold true to my original departure date, I'll be in Los Angeles, California, preaching the gospel in exactly 28 days from now! THAT'S LESS THAN 1 MONTH AWAY!!!!!!!!! Crazy, huh? I won't actually know for sure what time or day I leave until probably two Fridays before I leave. That's when outbound missionaries get their flight plans, telling them what time to be at the travel office, what time their flight is, who's in their travel party, etc. So I won't know what time I'll be able to call from the airport until then, but I'll let you know as soon as I can!

I spoke a little too soon about the swine flu avoiding my district here...the day after I sent that email (last Thursday), TWO missionaries in my district got quarantined, one of which was one of the sisters in my room. That meant that on Friday, our whole district got to go in for a special "health meeting," where they gave all of us a preventative medication called Relenza. All districts who have missionaries go into quarantine get it, in the hopes that it will prevent the rest of us from getting the flu. I wasn't too crazy about the idea, but I decided that it's for the best, and that I needed to be obedient. So I'm taking it...4 days left! Right after that meeting, MY companion went and got sick, though apparently not with the flu. She was in bed for most of that night, and pretty much the whole next day. We finally took her back to the clinic Saturday night (we'd taken her on Friday and they just sent her away with some Sudafed), to find out for sure what was wrong. Since it was Saturday night, that meant that the MTC clinic was closed, so we got to go to the local clinic here in Provo. Yep, I left the mission boundaries on my one-month mark. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was nice to have a little change of scenery! A little weird to sit in a waiting room where Batman was on TV though. . . She tested negative for the flu, but the Dr. did mention that the Relenza that we're all on could have masked it and made the test come back wrong...fabulous! She's been pretty much out of it until today, which means that I've been inside on my residence floor for several days. Got some good personal study in though, and it wasn't too bad. I'm still fine, as is the other Hermana in our room. The most I ever got was a slight runny nose, so I'm very grateful!

Ok, ok, ok, on to something else!

We're supposed to teach our first lesson in Spanish tonight! I am SOOOO not ready! The Spanish is coming, but I definitely still have a ways to go! I'm reading the Book of Mormon out loud in Spanish everyday, which is really helping (I'm a lot better and faster than I was before I left!), but again, a long ways to go still. I do love singing the hymns in Spanish! We sing to open every class, and of course in our sacrament meeting and other district meetings, and I just love it!

Can I just say (again...) that I LOVE the MTC and the mission?!?!?! I do. I love it!

The most exciting news (I know, I know, about time, huh? I'm a little long winded, I know) is/was our devotional last night! As we were singing the prelude music (all the missionaries are lead in 3 hymns prior to large meetings..it's kinda cool to sing our own prelude!), they paused us for a moment and made this little announcement: "Elders and Sisters, as you all know, we don't stand for the hymns of Zion, but we DO stand if a member of the 1st Presidency or an Apostle enters the room. So, if that should happen to happen tonight, please do so."

Gee, I wonder what THAT means?!

Sure enough, about 2 minutes later, in walks Elder and Sister Bednar!!! That man has a power and a love and a spirit about him that is almost tangible, let me just tell you! Devotional was incredible! Elder Bednar spoke about recognizing the Spirit; specifically answering the question, "How do I know if it's the Holy Ghost, or just me?"

Here's the answer he gave: "Quit worrying about it!!! Quit fussing, quit stewing, quit stressing about it, quit worrying about it! If you're living a good life, if you're doing what you're supposed to, if you're being a good boy, if you're being a good girl, honoring and keeping your covenants, and keeping the commandments, then you are following the Spirit!" He said that about 6 different times during his talk.

He said, "90% of the time, if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you ARE following the Spirit, but are/will be unaware of it." He then shared several stories from his own life where that happened. He did something, not really thinking about it, or even questioning it, only to find out 6 months, or 20 years down the road that it was absolutely inspired by the Spirit. He told us, "If you are good, then every good thought that you have is inspired of God." He specifically emphasized ACTING; not just sitting back waiting for some big, dramatic answer to come. The Lord told us to Press Forward, not Sit Still! "You get going You get busy and do everything that you are supposed to do, and you WILL become and instrument in the hands of the Lord." SO POWERFUL!!! He share D/C 80 with us, and left us with this promise and blessing:

"If you will be a good boy, if you will be a good girl, if you will remember and keep your covenants, if you will keep the commandments, then as you press forward with faith in the Savior, your steps will be guided, your utterances will be inspired, and you cannot go amiss."

Wow. WOW! It was so powerful, and just so great to be able to sit at his feet and be taught! Especially this principle, which I have thought and wondered about SO MUCH! Really, I cannot express to you how incredible it was! One of the funniest things was getting to see and hear his sense of humor. You didn't think he had one, did you? Oh, he does! It was great! He even talked about that for a few minutes, and said (so funny!!!), "Brothers and Sisters, General Conference is not the place to pop off! We're standing, expressing the mind and will of the Lord there, and it's not the place." But then he went on to tell about E. Oak's favorite joke and how his shoulders just shake every time he tells it. It was so great!

Ok, so this is a waaaaaaaaay long email, but I'm glad I finally got to say more of what I actually wanted! Life is great, it really is! I'm so glad to hear how well things are going with the move and the yard sale and everything at home. I hope and pray that things are happy and smooth in this transition time for y'all. I Love you SOOOOO much, and miss you tons! Never fear though, I am about the Lord's work, and He IS blessing me!

Love you!

I Love Being a Missionary!!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

Email of 3 June 2009

2009-06-03T08:44:00.001-07:00

Hola!!!

So the computers here randomly do and don't have timers on them...try as I may, I can't get one without, which I would really love. Oh Well...

Well, I don't know if you've heard or not, but the swine flu has hit the MTC. There's a write-up about it on LDS newsroom, if you want to read it. We're on a partial "lock-down" right now; mostly it's just the flu that's going around (the MTC of course is prime breeding ground for it!), but we have had 3 confirmed cases of the swine flu (or as our elders refer to it, "Puerco Muerto"). All missionaries scheduled to leave in the last week or two are on at least a one week delay. They're letting new missionaries in, but no family can come in with them today - bummer for a lot of families!!! I feel kinda bad for the new missionaries too - it's scary enough just coming into the MTC, let alone the MTC with a flu epidemic! Half of my zone has been sick, and at least two elders have been quarantined. There are signs and announcements everywhere that say "if you have any of the following symptoms, get checked at the health center immediately, and STAY IN YOUR ROOM!" One of the Hermanas in my room (not my comp, thankfully) is sick too...don't know what it is yet, but she's going to the clinic today. On the up side, I'm perfectly well! Not even a little bit sick, and not planning on getting that way! I've been taking my vit C and Elderberry Defense herbs, drinking lots of water, and washing and sanitizing my hands a ton. Oh, and praying too. So far, it's all working pretty well!

Ok, on to happier news!

Remember how I told you I'm getting a lot better at getting on time for things here? Well, it helps that almost nothing here starts on time...meetings almost always start about 5 minutes EARLY. It's so good! Mornings are still the hardest for me, just trying to get totally ready in about 30 minutes, but I'm working on it!

Mom, I must've said Mike Richards on accident - I haven't heard from him in years! It was Mike Brooks that wrote to me my fist week here!

And no worries about the clothes thing - I'll let you know when I get closer to heading out whether or not I'll need a little extra $, but I was already planning on buying a few things in L.A. But yeah, being here DEFINITELY gives me a better idea of what I want!

Guess who I saw here yesterday? Debbie Ryals!!! She just got in on Monday, and I ran into her on my way to dinner yesterday! She's only here for about a week (apparently the English-speaking Sr. missionaries are only here for about a week!) before she heads out to NY. She seemed to be doing really well! I little nervous and overwhelmed, I think, but that's pretty normal. Overall she seemed happy and excited to be here!

Also, I'm in the MTC choir, which is way cool! They didn't have it for the first 3 weeks I was here because they were refinishing the gym floor, so it was closed until about a week ago. We sang "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" yesterday for devo. It's amazing what they do with us here. We learned and were ready to sing the song in two 1-hour practices (Sunday and Tuesday), and it was actually really good! I'm excited to see what else we'll be doing! We're also trying to put together a quartet to do a special musical # for something while we're here. My comp and I and one of the companionships of elders in our district are trying to get some music, and we're going to audition as soon as we can. It's really exciting!

The weather here is AMAZING!!! It has been beautiful every day that I've been here! It's rained maybe twice during the day (a few more times at night), but even that is beautiful! It's just lovely though. This place is incredibly blessed, even if we are all dying from the swine flu (just kidding, just kidding...no one is dying!).

Also, we've decided that the birds here are the happiest birds on earth! They are ALWAYS out, and just a chirping away! We joke about how they're always excited about everything, and that they're saying, "HEY! ISN'T THIS PLACE GREAT?! IT'S DINNER TIME, AREN'T YOU SO EXCITED?!?! WE LOVE IT HERE! WE'RE SO GLAD THAT YOU'RE ALL HERE! THE MTC SURE IS AWESOME, HUH?!?!?!" :) Seriously though, I love hearing and seeing them everywhere!

Life here is fantastic! I just really can't even tell you how great it is! I'm learning and growing so much! I love my companion, and am so grateful for her! We both learn a lot from each other, and definitely complement each other well in our strengths and weaknesses. The Lord has really blessed me with charity and love! There really are incredible blessings that come from being a missionary - I LOVE IT!

Thanks so much for all of the love and support you all give me! It's means more than you know!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Hermana Sallie Wilson

ps I'm snail-mailing some pictures today! I can't email them, so hopefully you can scan them in or something.

pps Will you ask the missionaries how/what ever happened with Carol, the lady that I met on the plane over here that lives in Woodside? I've been thinking a lot about her!

ppps tell Sis Novak thanks for the Letter!