Hola!

It was nice to see you too! It was pretty weird though...
Yeah, I love this area. Way more places to knock. Right now we don't
have that many solid people, but I think if we keep talking to
everyone we will find them. I'm kinda glad the area wasn't doing that
well before I got here. This way I can build it up the way I want it
too and I don't have to scramble through other peoples sloppy work.

We did find one person that wants to be baptized already! We met her
on Thursday! Her name is gabby and she is a complete sweetheart. Very
willing to learn and accept. She couldn't go to church because she was
very sick. I swear people I teach are always in the er.... We are
meeting her husband and son tomorrow. :)

Have a nice week!!! Keep your crazy family in check!!!

Oh I was just at a cafe and saw you didnt write me and I thought it might be more likely that you would if I shot you an annoying email. It worked!!!

Yes, transfers were today. They happen on Mondays every six weeks. I'm now in Anaheim with Hermana Hulet. I've met her a couple times and so far she seems pretty cool. This will definitely be different from the last two transfers where I could do whatever I wanted to. On Wednesday the aps called us and told us we were getting a new companion, Herman Witham. But they wouldnt tell us why they were emergency transferring her or for how long. So me, Biffy, and her were a trio fri sat and sun. It was soooo much fun!!!!!!! Before me and biffy were a little put out because we wanted to be alone for each other during our last couple days together, but it ended up being amazing. I'm pretty sure I laughed for three days straight and took a million trio selfies.

I was pretty sure I was going to leave just because Ive been in garden grove for so long, and I'm definitely ready to start in a new area. I'm only really sad to leave Gomez. It is really hard on them to have the last two missionaries that were here when the baby died leave. They said they will come and find me in anaheim haha. We were with them last night and it was so sad! Biffy is not attached to them, so she won't visit them. But I assigned an Elder that is still there to take care of them.

I'm also sad to leave our investigators. We have so many people that are finally taking off!! Especially Saul and Maria. I told them to listen to everything the hermanas say and to make sure to invite me to their baptism.

I saw Charles' prom pictures on facebook this morning. So cute! They really are quite a cute couple.

Yessssss sunday is mothers day. I was going to send you something today but what with transfer craziness I don't know if I''ll have time. Sorrrryyyy. Were thinking of skyping around 2:30 on Sunday. Does that work for you??

Love you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hiiiii!!!

Were having our pday today because we were supposed to do a service activity on Saturday and the training for it was on Monday. It was to help people get citizenship, but now were not even doing it because the brethren said there were too many legal complexities.

I'm still very sad about Alessandro. He hasn't been coming to church anymore. We teach upwards of twelve other people on his street and it's so tempting to go over there and talk to him but we really can't.

Ismael sounds very nice. And I wholeheartedly approve of pink dining rooms. That will make everything taste so delicious!!!!

Yeah probably not the best thing to have in the bishops office.... I think a sign that says: "So you've made a mistake? Stop feeling so special about it. Join the club." Would be more appropriate.

I eat with people every single darn day. Meals usually take two hours or more even though it's only supposed to be an hour because they feed us sooo much. And they all talk a lot. Sometimes I eat with two people in a day. The rest of the time I wobble around trying to teach people feeling soooo full. My other meals are very small. But the food is super good!! So there's that.

 

And it's really hot here. And really windy. Going outside hurts.

Hola!

 

We ended up passing Alesandro. We didn't feel comfortable going over there anymore and Denise said us teaching her husband looked bad to the neighbors. We were teaching the Gomezs and the Elders were teaching Abe on the porch. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I could feel the Spirit strongly and I could tell that they loved him. I felt that we needed to pass Alesandro. So far it hasn't gone well at all but whatcha gonna do. I know The Lord has a plan for him.

It was like finding all the ingredients to make a very complicated chocolate cake. Mixing them laboriously together. And then right when the cake is ready to be put into the oven, you realize your oven doesn't work. Then you're like," oh I know! We can ask the nice neighbors if we can use their oven." You go next door. "Hey, we made this delicious cake but our oven doesn't work. Could you bake it for us? We'll even let you eat it." They're all like,"yeah! We don't have any cakes right now! We would love to." But then a week later you go over and the unmade cake is still on the counter..... Who leaves unmade cakes on the counter!!!???

We had a conference with our mission and the Irvine mission and Elder Andersen came to speak to us. He was so nice, and young, and funny! It was very enjoyable and I would have been fine if he had talked to us the whole day. He is so smart and spiritual! We got to meet at the church across from the temple.

Have a nice week!!!!
Sent from Tommy the iPad

Guess what!!! I'm in a telenovela!! I told dad the details but I guess I can put them in this email too.

Alesandro wants to be baptized so badly, but his wife is growing more and more opposed to us. We've only been able to teach her once. She says that we are bringing more problems than peace and she does not want us teaching him in her home. Their relationship is very strained because he doesn't have a job right now, and she is struggling to make ends meet. She also feels like she does all the work at home. She is bitter that he takes the time to let us teach him when he should be doing other stuff. He didn't come to church yesterday because she said if he left the house to church, she wouldn't let him back  in.

Part of me wants to say never mind! You can join the church in a couple years after you guys have sorted everything out. Forget I said anything. But he's too far in. Leaving him would be like leaving a newborn baby alone to fend for itself. He wants to be baptized. He wants to be a part of this church. And he said he will leave her before he stops following God. He has found so much new peace from reading the Book of Mormon daily and praying. Maybe this is exactly what he needs in this very stressful part of his life. And honestly it's nice that we can teach him whenever we want because he's not ever busy.

I hate that were part of the reason they're arguing. But at the same time, I know we're right. And the truth really will help them, no matter what she thinks. Yesterday we went by with a member couple. Denise, the wife, wasn't there. It was amazing because Hermano Ramirez told his conversion story. He said he had been sold from the start, just like Alesandro. But his wife wasn't baptized till two years later. Then his wife shared how grateful she was that her husband was persistent in seeking the truth even when she thought he was crazy. Now their whole family is Mormon and their son is on a mission and she is so grateful for her "crazy" husband.

That's so cool that you have a baby!! I wish I was there!!

I liked everything a lot except for that teal shirt. I'm not really sure why though. It's just sooo.... I don't know. I will give it to someone else. Yes, everything fit I just wish I was skinnier so that things would look better on me. You should buy me more skirts like that black one! I'm so bored with my clothes that I've taken to wearing my companions and she super tiny so this is not a good idea.

I don't have any plans for Easter. Talk about Jesus??? Just a thought.

Happy birthday to Charles!!!!!! I can't believe you're paying him to make dinner. That ridiculous.

Love you mom!!!!!
Sent from Tommy the iPad

Hola mom!!

Did you watch general conference?? It was amazing!!

They were showing it in the Greenville building in English in one chapel and Spanish in the other so a lot of the missionaries had their investigators go to that chapel. We dropped them off and then went to the English side with the other young people. Best group to watch general conference with ever! We are very easily entertained, and whenever anyone said anything cool we would all look at each other with awed expressions and say, "did you hear that?? That was crazy!!" Then afterwards we all air dropped our notes to each other. People got some pretty interesting revelation!

Alesandro went to the first session alone. When we asked him if he liked it he said it was amazing! And then he started listing off all the people he was going to bring to the next one. He says the prophet seems like a very considerate person and he's glad he has his help. Awwww so cute.

Because the chapel was too far away from our areas we got permission from pres to eat lunch in Santa Ana. So we went out to eat and on Sunday we had a picnic. It was so fun to be able to hang out with people again! We didn't have to stay with our district so we were with the people we get along with! What an interesting concept! It was so nice to see people I haven't seen in a long time. One of the things I miss most from real life is people choosing to spend time with me. It's just not the same when people are assigned to be around you. I've felt really lonely lately so it was a good reminder that I actually have made a lot of real friends here. It just doesn't usually feel like it because when they leave my zone I'm not allowed to talk to them. Lame.

My birthday was awesome! I've never gotten so many sincere birthday wishes before! My mom (Morley) came to the last session on Sunday. It was so good to see her! And then in the middle of that session Farny came and sat next to me and said happy birthday!!!! He's an elder that left here in February. I think you met him on skype? He's the Farnsworth that you said I'm not related to. But I still think we might be because he reminds me of family. Anyways, were very close because he was super depressed and I helped him a lot. It was so good to see him as well!! Best birthday present ever. I kept thinking, if I'm this happy to see this random kid, I wonder what it would be like to see my family! When he came in and sat next to me, im pretty sure I looked like I had just won a game show. Haha.

Then we had an impromptu party at Gomez complete with Farny.

I felt so loved during conference. Partly because of the beautiful messages that were bing shared and because I was surrounded by happy righteous people I love. I thought Heavenly Father was trying to make me less needy by separating me from the people I want to be with, so feeling this outpouring of love from all sides was an unexpected blessing.

Probably one of my favorite birthdays ever. Thanks for everything in the package! I wore the black and white skirt on my birthday. Hope you had a wonderful my birthday/conference weekend as well! Hahah I liked your Facebook post. I was so adorable!

That was max that sent that to dad hahaha.

Are you getting paid to watch that baby??

Where is the love?? Where is the love?? Where is the love, the love, the love???

Love youuuu!!!!!

Yeah as far as the language thing goes, you're definitely weird. And everyone in our family is weird too. So that's probably it. My comp also right now doesn't have the greatest vocab so that's making the way I talk feel extra not normal. The words I have had to explain to her today are auspicious, flippant, reprimanding, and what a round is. How do you not know what a round is!? It's also weird because even though she speaks Spanish better, I have to explain longer Spanish words to her that have English cognates.  Like Hipócrita or parelelismos. Because she doesn't know what hypocrite or parallelisms are in English she doesn't understand what members are saying to her....

Yeah me and my comp are good. We actually get along perfectly! It's just forced me to work on my patience because she is sooo slow!! She is the nicest though! And I'm actually happier than I was with my other comp because there is a lot less drama and I like running the show. It's just stressful because I'm not sure how good of a job I'm doing. I never get any feedback good or bad. People just tell me to pray and I am like goodness I am praying!!! And He told me to ask you!! It's not like you always get answers from angel visitations or something!!!

On Wednesday we went to visit our investigators in the hospital. Lizbeth Mejias son has leukemia and has been in the hospital a lot lately because the treatments they're giving him make him have almost no immune system. They are very worried that he will die from the common cold. We haven't been able to teach them because she doesn't want anyone to come to their house. She did agree to a blessing though. Obispo and hermano Alfaro came with us but  they didn't remember that she wasn't a member until they started talking to her. Then they explained what a blessing is and gave Sergio one. It was very nice. We were in a meditation room within the hospital. And you could feel the spirit very strongly. I felt an overwhelming approval from God for arranging the blessing. Lizbeth is super solid but she she can't progress right now because we can't teach her and she can't go to church. It's so sad!

On Saturday the elders baptized 6 people! Since I've gotten here mine has been the only area in the ward baptizing except for one so this was super good! Lots of missionaries had taught these people so we had a cute missionary reunion of sorts. Everyone was so happy! We brought our investigator Alessandro and he loved it. The members were joking with him, saying he could just change into white and get baptized too! We had to explain to him that he wasn't ready yet hahahaa. We haven't even taught him the plan of salvation yet!

Gomez' are good. Valerie had a dream that it was the second coming and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father descended from the sky in front of their house and gave them back Maxi. Everyone was crying because we all realized that even if it doesn't happen exactly that way that dream will happen and they will be reunited. Also max thought the dream was amazing because no too long ago Valerie didn't have hardly any knowledge about what Jesus and Heavenly Father were like let alone what the second coming is.

I can't find Lizbeth Cruz. She stopped going to church and no one is ever at her house. Her number is disconnected. I'm worried about her and the worst part is I think I'm the only one. The ward and my comp don't seem to care. #toomanysheep

There was an earthquake mom! But it wasn't that big. And lots of after shocks!! Saturday night during the millions of after jiggles I woke up, looked around and was like oh it's okay I'm just on the cruise. Feeling comforted I was about to go back to sleep when I realized no I'm not!!! Freaking after jiggles. Disneyland closed for a day but it's back up again. It was very interesting to see who texted us during the earthquake and in what order and what they said. Max Gomez wins the prize for most sincere concern. Successful natural disaster social experiment!!!! I'm pretty sure I'm fine, but if something does happen you can find me with Gomez. :) and then maybe grandma and grandpa smith if any of the trains still work.

No, the Gomez' haven set a date yet. He still needs to take a class to get the Melchizedek priesthood.

They are showing conference in my building. I've told a couple people that's it my birthday but I've tried not to tell too many because I don't want to have to eat 5 times on Sunday. But I'm going to tell my investigators and then invite them to my party at the church. Then when they're there I'm going to be like let's watch my favorite movie. You've probably never heard of it because it just came out today!!

Loveeeeee you!!!!!!!