August 31

I love being a missionary. It is hard hard work but it is so completely worth it! Of course the most exciting news first-Cristina got baptised! About half of our little rama (branch) showed up and showed her their support. It was so great. The spirit was there and she is going to be so blessed for it. We also spake in sacrament! It was my first time speaking as a missionary, and it was in spanish. We were both pretty nervous but the Spirit helped us out a lot with our language and our message. We just had such a great week in our area and I am so so so blessed with all of these miracles. I have been studying a lot from the past general conference and just hearing what our profeta has to say to us is so simple. Just love and teach our children. The battalion is also great. SO many people come in prepared. I love giving tours and seeing them think and ponder these things, even if they are subtle. Gracias por su ayuda como siempre. me encanta servir mi redentor y aprender mas acerca de el cada dia. Todos estamos bien bendecidos.

pictures (hopefully in the right order...) (backwards order)
1. a bridge we made at the battalion.
2. the creators =]
3. Cristina's baptismmm!!!
4. proselyting at the air and space museum.

August 24

my new apartment in location to the battalion.

August 17

This week has been such a week of miracles I don't even know where to begin. Since we're starting from scratch, it's really hard to find investigators really fast and get things going. But Heavenly Father sees our faith and diligence and is providing us with these people! I won't bore you with the details (right now) but gah. We are so blessed. We walked two days in our area. I think that's why we're recieving so many blessings. But it was fun. =] Being a missionary is the best. One of our investigators has a baptismal date and is just awesome. Her desire is big. And this branch loves doing missionary work and is excited to have us here. On Sunday I went to my old branch to play piano for them for their branch conference. It was exciting to see everyone again-even though it had only been a week! It seemed like a lifetime! We had our first branch activity and the picture of their cake is attatched. I love serving with these people. They are so amazing and so loving. My spanish is improving-thanks to Heavenly Father. But it's neat to see the Holy Ghost at work!

August 10

It's true. I got transferred AGAIN! My time was very short in the Logan Heights branch but Heavenly Father knows where I'm needed. As you might remember, I "whitewashed" into Logan Heights-which means both of us were new to the area. Well, I'm whitewashing AGAIN! This time into the Sweetwater 3rd Branch. It's also a spanish branch and it's only about 3 months old so they're still building it up-I gues that's my job! And the best part of all of this is...that I'm training again! My new companion is Sister Lee from Idaho and she just came from the mtc. Everyone in the branch is calling her "verde". I am so blessed to be able to train another sister-they really have so much to offer and our spanish should explode! It's hard starting at scratch again in a new area, but we are excited about the possibilites that lay ahead and everything. It is so neat to see Heavenly Father bless me with the ability to speak spanish. I couldn't understand half of what was going on a week ago, but now that I have to, it's possible!
And now a miracle for the week.
Last preparation day, at the end of the day, I couldn't find my wallet. I wasn't really worried. I just figured it was in one of the cars I had been in. I went in one of the cars on Thursday, not there. Sunday I was in the other car. Not there. I hadn't been worrying up until that point, and even then I was still not freaking out but kind of starting to. That night I was saying my nightly prayer and asking that I would find my wallet and a thought came to my mind to call the hair place that we went to last week. I called the next day and they had it! And everything was in it! Heavenly Father is really looking out for his missionaries, and all of us for that matter.
And in other news: Sister Zaldivar came to visit! It was SO good seeing her and meeting her family! I have been so blessed on my mission and am so glad I have so much time left. I love you all!

July 27

This week has been a really good week. We are finally really seeing the fruits of our labors and are finally figuring out how to work at the battalion and build up our new area. It only took 5 weeks! And we've had more success at the battalion this week than any other week. Heavenly Father provides in so many ways. President had a meeting with all of the spanish speaking missionaries and he gave us a new way to contact people on the street. He told us to ask them if they have famous ancestors and then tell them that they do and that we have a record of their antepasados! Of course it's the book of mormon. He promised us success and we have seen it. We have new investigators because of it. I love being a missionary. We also had so many people who are just so ready come into the battalion. They can feel of the Spirit which is here. Gracias por su apoya y sus oraciones. mucho amor!

July 6

This week was so crazy and I have never been so tired on my mission! I'll start with the finale.....The Flores family got baptised! yay! They are so so so happy. It's amazing how fast these changes happen in a person when they have the gospel. SO. To get them baptised....They had to get married first so they got their marriage license on Thursday so we planned the whole wedding in three days. On Friday they got kicked out of their house so we had to move them super fast! In about 2 hours. But again. The ward members stepped in and they did it! So Saturday was the wedding. It was really cute at the church. And all of the church members stepped in again and brought food and decorated. Huge blessing and miracle. So the wedding was at four. And the baptism was at 530! So they quick got changed and we started their baptism. It was so great. They were all so excited and ready to go! And then afterwards we had a party! They then got the Holy Ghost on Sunday and are just ridiculously happy. I am so grateful to be a missionary and help people truly become better every single day. The church is true. The Gospel blesses families. Truly. Thank you all for your support! Have great weeks!

June 29

I don’t know what is more exciting…that I am finally in a SPANISH AREA!!!!!!!!!!! or that WE DON'T HAVE TO WEAR NYLONS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i guess i'll talk about that one first....at the mission president seminar they announced that we don't have to wear nylons anymore! Best day ever! 9 months is quite enough for me!
Ok but getting on to the real excitment! I am in a spanish are! La Rama Logan Heights. It's pretty much downtown San Diego. A different world from home, and my old area even. We meet in a school building. But the work is SO GREAT. Our branch President is SO INTO missionary work. It's so good to have his support. He wants us to baptise 4 people in the month of July. And 20 by the end of the year. There are 4 sets of missionaries in the rama. So that will be 80 baptisms by the end of the year. It's going to happen. I completely have the faith. Did i mention my companion and I are whitewashing into the area? That means that both missionaries who were there before got taken out so neither of us know anyone or the area. It's quite an adventure! It is so awesome though. We went to visit this member the other day and she's on the road talking to this lady that she just met and she invited us both over on Wednesday-what a great missionary!
My companion is awesome too! Her name is Sister Monarrez and she's from Chicago. I am so blessed with such great companions. She is an awesome missionary and she can speak spanish. What more could I ask for!? We are teaching this great family who are going to be baptised this Sunday. They saw their nephew change after his baptism and they want it for themselves. Awesome. The church is true. I love being apart of it. And this great work. I love you all.

June 22

transfers are tomorrow. I think I mentioned this last time but President doesn't tell the Battalion sisters about transfers until we are all there Wednesday morning so none of us know! Even though the rest of the mission knows about theirs. So that is just on everyone's minds right now. I love being in Chula Vista though. This ward is so awesome and are trying so hard to be missionaries! They helped us find a few part member families and we started meeting with one of them. Super cute and humble family. The dad has a huge testimony but doesn't go to church. I have met so many people on my mission who have testimonies but just don't go to church. I don't understand it. But they have a little boy who hasn't been baptised and really wants to be. (Their last name is Woody and the first time we went over they were watching toy story. awesome). On Sunday we didn't have a car so we were legit missionaries on foot! It was really fun. We talked to a bunch of people that we saw and it's just a whole different experience when you're on foot! Well I guess that's the updates for this week; I'll let you know next week about transfers! bum bum! If you get a picture of me with another sister tomorrow....you'll know! mucho amor! La iglesia es verdadera!

June 15

Great week in Chula Vista.
Charity got baptised! The little girl in the middle with her two sisters. She is so cute and was excited all week for her baptism. We went over on Sunday after her confirmation and you could already tell she was different. She is such an example for her whole entire family. Her mom, at the end of the baptism, said "i'm glad we did this" which is a huge step for her to say that. So we're just so excited for the potential of that little family =] We are meeting with a lot of other part member families in the ward and every week I love being a missionary more and more. It is so cool to think that the Lord is working through me to help his children. I love you!

June 8

Great great week. As usual. Heavenly Father loves to bless his missionaries; especially when we are patient and hard working! Charity is going to be baptised this week! We've been working with her for a while but due to some circumstances, she is finally being baptised! We are super excited for her; it'll be good for the whole family. The ward council in the ward is really stepping up their game as well. They gave us a lot of great part member families to work with and we're super excited to work with them. Maria, our recent convert, is so awesome. Some people are so sensitive to the Spirit and she is one of them. We can say about 3 words in a lesson and the spirit just teaches her. It's so so so neat to see how much people use the holy ghost in their lives and how much ofa difference it makes so fast. We're still teaching a few families and going at a pace for them. I've been thinking a lot lately how this is all planned out and at the beginning of my mission I just figured I was just kinda put into this ward. But after being here for over 6 months, I'm finally seeing that this is where Heavenly Father needs me. I need to do something in this ward and He knew I would do it. And I don't need to be in a spanish ward to learn spanish! Todo es posible con Dios. Estoy tan bendecido aqui en Chula Vista y me encanta servir my Redentor. La iglesia es verdadera y las ensenanzas son verdaderas y realmente nos ayudan en nuestras vidas cada dia. les quiero!!!!!

June 1

Good good week. It's so hard writing about the full week because I really just base it off of what happened yesterday. But that amazing family who is a part member family and the mom came in and referred herself at the battalion. Well we visited wtih all of them on Saturday and they are just good good kids (12,14, and 15 year olds) and they all came to church the next day! We are so excited for them. They said they actually enjoyed it and I just know good things are coming =] It's amazing how much you grow to love someone so fast. We have such a love for this family, even after one time meeting with them. We also met with this less active family and her 9 year old daughter now has a baptismal date. We know how good this will be for the whole family and are so excited to prepare her for baptism. We met with Maria yesterday as well and she is a rockstar. She is taught by the spirit so strong every time we visit with her. And she realized the importance for baptism for her children so we are going to start teaching them. Our hard work is paying off and I know that these miracles really do come because of the faith that we have and the effort that we show to our Father in Heaven. The Mormon Battalion will really start picking up because schools are starting to get out and we've just had so many prepared people come in lately. This place is awesome. I love you ALL!

May 25

we're kind of in a slump right now. not many investigators, and def not solid ones. it's discouraging. but we're working so hard. so so hard. and i've been feeling sick every single day. bad stomach aches and head aches. itgets in the way of work! gah! but we did have a pretty cool miracle week and I know we'll have more of those because of our hard work. on sunday we were at the battalion and a sister asks me what ward i'm serving in and i tell her and she says "there's someone here frmo that ward who wants to go back to church". uhh AWESOME! she didnt have her name so i just went and did my own thing. so i come back and she's holding a referral card and it has the name julie anderson. ok. julie anderson-we have been trying to contact her for like 2 months now. she has non member children so yeah. but she CAME to the battalion~ and left her informatioN!!! holy miracle! so we went over yesterday and she is so awesome. a kook. she talked for over an hour. but her daughter is interested in going to church. hello. she's gonna be baptised so soon! so i guess that's all the news for this week. i love being a missionary. it is so hard jess. so hard. but i know it's worth it. i am so happy. this is deciding my future and i know the type of person i want to marry more and more everyday. i met this RM at the battalion and he was just stupid. talking about the stupid experiences he had had on his mission. i do not want to marry some one like that. ok. i'm done. i miss you.

May 18

Obviously we had transfers this last week. obvious because Sister Zaldivar went home. But I am now a mother in the mission! I am training. Which means she just came out of the MTC. But she is a way solid missionary. She loves teaching and is way good at it too! I am so blessed to be training such an amazing missionary! She's from Utah. I guess Heavenly Father is trying to teach me something because all of my companions have been from Utah! We found this awesome lady this week who is super interested and has a lot of family who is LDS as well. We're really excited to teach her. We are also starting to work with members more because we know that that is the BEST way to find! We know we are going to see so many miracles this week because of our hard work. We also had a lot of cool people come to the battalion. This was our best week referrals wise so that was pretty exciting. And as for a small miracle story: I can speak spanish! We are working with a family who primarily speaks spanish but we went in speaking english, but by the end we were making jokes in spanish and laughing and set up another appointment. It was so cool for me because up until this point, I couldn't speak that much. I know it was my own fear keeping me back or maybe because I had to speak spanish! I didn't have a companion who could talk for me. It was really really neat and it built up my confidence a ton to speak spanish. Well I guess that is all! Keep working hard. The Lord lifts us up right when we need to be. I have seen it so much this week. As I open my mouth to speak more than I have so far on my mission, I feel like it's not even me talking. A great feeling.

May 11

Transfers are tomorrow! And President is being so sneaky and not telling anyone at the battalion if they are getting transferred until tomorrow! So no early packing or anything! Pretty crazy. And Sister Zaldivar left today =[[ After four transfers I don't know what I'm going to do with out her! It's going to be hard to live up to her legacy here in the 2nd ward, but Heavenly Father trusts me! But this past week was way good. Maria got baptised! After 2 planned baptisms, she finally came through with this one =] It just goes to show that this is in the Lord's time. Not ours! She is so solid and is just so great. The Spirit was so strong at her baptism and it was small-exactly what she wanted. And she has the Holy Ghost now which will make such a difference for sure. We're already talking about teaching her children and she's talking about how she's going to try to get them for Sundays. Delia-who got baptised in March, disappeared right after her baptism. BUT. She called last night and told us she's in New York! The Bronx! We are so glad that she is alive and doing well. We sent missionaries right over =] Saturday we helped with the church's service program "helping hands". We pulled weeds from a state partk on the border and it was just so great doing service in such a different way and seeing so many people helping as well. That's it for this week! Stay tuned to see who my companion is. You won't know for another week! But I have full confidence that she will be super great. I love this gospel. I love how much I can feel God's love for me and can see the blessings as well. Find something to do this week to get you closer to God. Whether it's praying more, or reading a little more in the Book of Mormon every day, whatever you need. And I know that you will see a difference. You will feel such peace in your soul. I love you!
Funny story; we had a group from Calexico come in to the Battalion and we made them sit on the crates that shake in the campfire room. And they got so freaked out because they thought it was another earthquake! They have had aftershocks every day since Easter. We asked what they thought it was (cattle, the war etc.) and they were saying 5.0! IT was pretty funny =]
Ok that's all!

May 4

Awesome awesome week. We had an amazing opportunity to have 4 firesides this week by Gladys Knight and Saints Unified Voices. She joined the church about ten years ago. And formed a choir where they sing all about Jesus Christ and the gospel and she bears her testimony and it is a great referral opportunity as well. She offers a free gift of a sampler CD, a Book of Mormon, and The Restoration DVD so we deliver those to the people who wanted them and they have already felt the spirit super strong and then we teach them and help them be baptised! I think we got about 600 referrals from this. Sister Zaldivar and I "worked" at it and were at the VIP entrance and we let very important people in! But that is also where the choir lined up before the fireside so we got to talk to all of them! One of them was a sister who served in Laconia for 9 months! in 1996. (I got her name and phone number but I forgot to grab it so i'll give it to you this week for Bishop Stephenson) It was so uplifting to see such an influential woman bear her testimony about our Father in Heaven. That was definitely the highlight of the week. Our area is still great. Our ward is so awesome and loves doing missionary work. I'm definitely going to be here for another transfer as Sister Zaldivar is leaving this transfer! Nooo! I dont know what it's like to be a missionary with out her! But she has trained me so well and I am ready to do it! OK well that's all! Talk to you on SUNDAY!

April 26

you are all on vacation! how fun! First things first, before I forget, preparation day is moving to TUESDAY! So I will no longer email you on Mondays. Tuesdays. OK
And now a word from this week! Life is great here in Chula Vista. We are in the greatest ward on earth. The members love doing missionary work and have the strongest testimonies. A lot of the young women love doing missionary work as well. And love coming out with us. Nothing too eventful happened this week. But we want to start working even harder with the members. It's amazing how much more ready people's friends are than people we find. This week was really slow at the battalion but it gave us a great chance to catch up on studying! And other things like that. But even the people that came were prepared! Sister Zaldivar and I also went to the temple this week. There is an amazing peace found in there that really cannot be found anywhere else. I wish I could go everyday! WE are just working so hard in this area for her last two weeks (shh don't tell her I told you!) I'm sad there's not more to report! We got a new senior couple at the Battalion. They are so sweet and so eager to learn. I love serving here in San Diego. This is where Heavenly Father needs me to be. And although sometimes I'm not quite sure why He picked me! I sure am glad He did. Have a great week! I'm excited to hear all about your trips! Talk to you next TUESDAY!

April 19

This week has been a good week. We found 2 amazing families this week and we've been trying to find these two specific families for some time now. It was great to see how they saw the importance of the gospel straight away. They are both part member families. I love being a missionary! The Mormon Battalion is still amazing and hard work too! It's still important to find their needs and teach to their needs to help them out and strengthen their faith as well. It is so rewarding when you can feel the spirit in the tour. And I have the best mission President in the world. He always knows the answers for us and our investigators. We are pretty blessed to have him! Well I think that's all the great updates for this week. I'm doing well and so is the work. I love you!

April 5

We had transfers this past week. I'm still in Chula Vista. Still with Sister Zaldivar! 4 transfers together! That is very rare so we are very excited! But we did lose Sister Story =[ Luckily we see all the sisters everyday at the Mormon Battalion! We also moved to Old Town! Now all the sisters live there as well! Right across the street from the Mormon Battalion. I've never not lived with other companionships so this is weird! But it's been good.
Well the most exciting news of all from me is Maria is getting baptised this Saturday! We have been working with her since I've been here and we had a great lesson and Spirit was so strong and she got her answer. We are so excited for her!
Our Easter was uneventful except for the Earthquake! But because it was in Mexicali we barely got anything here. and I was in old town which is north of San Diego so we were just in the apartment and suddenly I said "is there an earthquake?" and Sister Zaldivar said "yeah i think so" and it just felt like we were on a boat and the only thing that moved was on the blinds-the thing that turns the blinds. But apparently in Chula (our area) houses were swaying and stuff. No damage though. We were talking to one of our investigators who was in Mexicali and he said he was scared and that some pretty serious damage happened. Our mission goes out that far (but not across the border) and all the missionaries are OK. So nothing compared to the earthquake in Chile.
I have finally figured out a good way to get referrals in the Mormon Battalion. I had really been struggling with that but it is just a matter of me opening my mouth and then the Holy Ghost will put the right words out there. I did my first tour in spanish all by myself last week too! Thank goodness for the Spirit- I could not have done it with out it!
General Conference was amazing. There were so many talks on how important the family is and how we need to be teaching the gospel in the home because that really is the only place that they can truely learn. Satan knows how important families are too and that's why there's such an attack! And it's just doing the little things to keep him out. Praying as a family, bearing testimony, reading scriptures together. Just amazing and simple things.
Well I think that's all for this week! I hope you all had an amazing Easter! We are so blessed to have Jesus Christ in our lives and the hope that He gives us.

22 today!

MARISA IS 22 YEARS OLD TODAY! THIS MEANS SHE ONLY HAS 6 MONTHS LEFT ON HER MISSION! JOIN ME IN WISHING MY FAVE LITTLE SIS A HAPPY HAPPY MISSIONARY BIRTHDAY!!

March 29

Amazing week yet again at the mormon battalion historic site. It got dedicated finally and we had the great privilage of Elder Holland come and dedicate it! What's even better is that we got to have a mission conference with him as well. He is so passionate about missionary work and he really whipped us into shape. He did his pulpit pounding and everything. He reminded us of the power that we have and the authority we have as well because we have been set apart. It gave us a lot more confidence. And that we need to be converted ourselves and that's why Preach My Gospel is here! So we can convert ourselves first and then help others come unto Christ as well. And President Donaldson asked if I could play the piano for the meeting. Quite an honor! We all got to shake his hand as well. Elder Hinckely and Elder Jensen of the 70 were there too. And then the dedication was that afternoon. Where my companion Sister Zaldivar and I played the musical number! The spirit was definitely with us because we played it perfectly. It was so great to be in the presense of an apostle of the Lord. The work has been going well too. We are still finding new investigators to work with which is a long process but we know that Heavenly Father will bless us for our dilligence. maria is so close to baptism as well! SanDiego is an awesome place to be right now.