People Prepared, Finding Experiences, New Years Eve

January 2nd Letter

First off, we went to the Visitor's Center with our little family on Thursday. I love [that] family! They are so incredibly prepared. It amazes me. At the Visitor's Center, we had them watch the Christus presentation, then a display called God's Plan for His Family. It basically follows a family through the course of the growing up years of their oldest daughter. Hey, that's me! I won't lie, I cried through the whole thing, because I'm just so happy that I'm part of a family that will be together for eternity. AND because [they are] taking the steps to work toward that goal too! There's nothing better than seeing people come to realize that God does have a plan for them. [The mother] said, "Everything is so clear to me" at the end of the presentation. She has amazing faith and an amazing ability to be taught by the Spirit. She's even really excited about doing genealogy so her ancestors can be baptized too!

This week has also been a week of miracles in finding. We have very few people we're teaching right now, but over the weekend we contacted TONS of people. We have a gigantic pool of potential investigators, and 5 appointments tonight alone! We've been very blessed. We had a miracle with [another] guy.... We knocked on his door trying to find a cousin of a sister who lives in our ward who said she might be interested in hearing the gospel. We knocked looking for a Hispanic woman..., but the person who answered the door was a tall black man.... We started teaching him anyway, even though we had the wrong house, and we asked him what it would mean to him to know that there is a prophet on the earth today. He said, "Who is he and how can I meet him?" He said that he had asked God a question and he knew that God sent us to knock on his door. Wow! We won't be the ones who teach him, since he speaks English, but hopefully his heart will be open to listening to the Elders.

We also had a neat finding experience with our next door neighbor. She called us on Friday night and asked if our church does special prayers or blessings for people in need. Someone close to her took advantage of her and betrayed her, and she felt desperate for help. We had the senior missionaries come over so she could receive a priesthood blessing. We talked to her about the atonement and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the way we can become clean from sins and healed from our injuries through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. She said, "I really need that in my life." She said she felt better after receiving a blessing, and she allowed us to give her information to the English Elders. It was really a neat experience to see someone exercise such faith and humility, and to turn to God for relief.

On Saturday we had our New Year's Eve zone party. WE GOT TO WEAR JEANS! Wow, what an experience. And even better, I got to wear my SPERRYS! :D I've missed them. We also watched Cars 2 (so funny!) and Kung Fu Panda 2. And we ate lots of candy. It was fun! It's weird though, to see how not dressing in proselyting clothes changes your demeanor and attitude. I'm glad we wear proselyting clothes all the time! It's easier to feel like a representative of Jesus Christ when you're "dressed up," just like on Sundays it's easier to be reverent when you stay in your Sunday clothes after church.

Sunday was one of the best days here in the mission. Sunday morning, there was another hour-long panic session when the people who were going to give rides to the ... family either didn't pick up their phones or got lost on their way to their house. We were praying so hard that things would work out, because it's so so SO important that they attend church! Finally, at the last minute, I decided to try calling their ride one more time. I woke her up--turns out her alarm didn't go off and she didn't hear her phone the other times we called her. But thankfully, she was able to come and pick them up, and we made it to church just after the opening prayer. I felt such relief as the Sacrament started and our investigators were there to hear the prayers and see the sacrament be passed to the congregation. We were definitely blessed to have them be able to be at church on Sunday. During Sunday School, [the sister] made the best comment about repentance I've ever heard. She basically taught the doctrine of repentance in just a few sentences--that Christ suffered for our sins and he can cleanse us from sin, but that we still have the responsibility to ask for forgiveness and abandon our sins, and not make the same mistakes over and over again. So great! She's amazing.

On Sunday night we had the blessing of being able to ride with one of the Elders' investigators to her baptism. ... she's from Honduras. We got to ride with her and her family to Oakland, where she was baptized in the building right next to the temple. It was such a blessing to be there and to see her make that important step. I was impressed by the simplicity of the ordinance of baptism. It's so simple and only lasts a few seconds, but the Spirit testifies so powerfully when one of God's children takes that all-important step of entering the waters of baptism and making a covenant with Heavenly Father. It was humbling to watch Elder Pettit, our district leader, bow his head and say the words of the baptismal prayer in Spanish, and then to see everyone's smiles as [she] came up out of the water. The Spirit was very powerful. While [she] was changing her clothes, Hermana Osborn and I had the chance to teach the people who came to the baptism the Doctrine of Christ and the Restoration. As we were finishing, [she] came out of the dressing room, raised her hands in the air, and said, "Thank you for coming. I'M HAPPY!" So great, so great. :D And even better--the [family we're teaching] was there to see the baptism and feel the Spirit that was there, and that will be there at their baptism on January 15th! Just two weeks away! I'm so excited for them!

Two Months Out, Expectations for Investigators, Exchanges (Dec 26)

It was a good week. We're still struggling because our teaching pool is pretty small right now, but we see miracles every day with the people we are able to teach. Especially with the ... family! They're so SO great. Yesterday we had a stressful situation that had to do with them, but it was resolved just fine. They don't have a car, so we have to arrange for rides for them to get to church on Sundays. The ward members are all really willing to help, so we had rides set up for them early in the week. Problem though, on Sunday morning, we called to confirm with their rides, and found out that the member who was going to take them to church wasn't coming to church that day. Big problem. We ran up to the chapel and found someone to go and pick them up, but he got lost and came back to the chapel without them. We felt awful, because by this time the meeting was half over, and there was no point in dragging someone else out of sacrament meeting to go and get our investigators. We were really frustrated and felt guilty because we weren't able to get our investigator to church, and especially on Christmas, when they were actually planning on coming to sacrament meeting! Derek can attest to this--getting investigators to church is one of the hardest things, and one of the most important things. Anyway, they couldn't get to church, but we went to their house afterward and apologized, and everything was resolved. We were afraid that they'd get offended or something and not want to talk to us anymore, which is silly, because they're very nice people, but everything worked out well and we had a great lesson with them.

"Another cool thing from this week--we just started teaching [another young man] ... We went by his house, half expecting him not to be there, because second to church attendance, keeping appointments is our biggest struggle. People tend to just not be home for the appointments they set with us. But when we showed up at Omar's house, he was there! And he had read the things we asked him to read! He had great questions about the plan of salvation and about the importance of baptism. It was a really great lesson. It was a reminder to me that I do need to have more faith in the Spirit's ability to touch the hearts of our investigators. Sometimes it's easy to be negative and expect them to not keep appointments, or to not have read from the scriptures, or to not show up at church, but that's something I need to repent of. The gospel does have the power to influence peoples' lives and actions, and I should be more positive in my expectations of our investigators.

"This week we also had exchanges. I don't know if all missions do this, but in our mission there is one companionship of sisters that is assigned to train other sister missionaries. Not all missions have sister missionaries go on companion exchanges, but our mission does. This Wednesday I got to go to another area to be trained by Hermana Luker. She's really great! It was weird to switch companions for a day, but it was good. I missed Sister Osborn and our area, but I learned a lot from Sister Luker. We focused on the importance of asking inspired questions when teaching and meeting people. You think I'd be better at asking good questions, since that's a big part of what I studied in some of my last classes at BYU, but asking inspired questions is one of the things I struggle with on the mission. I learned a lot from Hermana Luker though, and I'm on my way to improving that skill.

"Wow, I'm not sure what else to say! I made it through my first transfer, and when the new missionaries come on Wednesday, I'll no longer be one of the baby missionaries! Haha, that will feel good :D I'm so glad I was out here for this transfer, and not in the MTC, because I feel like I've grown in a lot of important ways through being thrown into something I didn't feel prepared for. I was already getting comfortable in the MTC by Week 1, so I know I definitely needed to come here early so the Lord could help me push myself. This transfer has been a blessing :)

Study, Service project, Interviews, Ants in the Iron (Dec 19)

From Jessica's December 19 letter:

"This week was a little different. We spent a lot of our mornings doing a big service project, so we didn't get our normal study time. I've missed it! It's so great to be able to sit down and study the scriptures for a solid 3 hours every morning. That may sound sarcastic, but it's not! My love of the scriptures is growing daily, especially as I see how they apply to the lives and problems of every person we encounter. Anyway, our service project this week was a project done through Richmond Child and Family Services. Every year they collect donated toys for families who have little or no income, so their kids can have gifts for Christmas. We got papers describing the childrens' ages and clothing sizes, and then we got to "shop" among the donated gifts to pick out a Christmas package for them. It was really fun, and I got my shopping fix for the year, and I didn't even spend money! We did that project for 3 days in a row--Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday--as a zone.

"On Friday we had interviews with President Wade. Everyone gets nervous about interviews with the President, because it is kind of intimidating, but I always enjoy talking to him. He looked at my scriptures and my planner because, as he says, you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their scriptures and their planner. My Spanish scriptures are still fairly new, so there's not much of a story there, but it was good to have a reminder to use the scriptures as often as possible. :)

"Investigators who get the highlight of the week: [A family with a mom and her kids]! They're so wonderful. We found the uncle of this family my first week here. We were in the library writing letters to our mission president. We were a day late writing our letters because we had new missionary training in Oakland the day before. But I know that we truly were supposed to be there on that day, because he came up to us and said, "I'm a brother, I'm a brother!" He was baptized about a year ago and is now part of our ward. The other day we were thinking about him and we decided to go visit him. He's living with his sister, who just had a baby boy, and her two daughters. The mother and the two daughters are so prepared, and we're so grateful that we found them when we went to visit their uncle. The daughters are 12 and 8. They came to our ward Christmas party, and it was wonderful to see the ward attend to them with so much friendliness and kindness. Actually, the newborn baby boy (just 16 days old! He was born on December 1st :D ) got to play baby Jesus in the nativity presentation! He was perfect--no crying or wiggling at all. That was a blessing because it helped his mom feel welcome in the ward. They all came to church on Sunday, and they loved it. We also had a lesson with them on Sunday night, and it went really well. The mom understands the apostasy really well, which is something that is really rare. Their hearts are prepared, and they have a real desire to know the truth and to act in faith. We did invite them to be baptized, and they said they will prepare to be baptized, but they didn't accept a baptismal date. We're very excited for them! The Lord really has prepared a lot of people to receive the gospel!

"Another story... We had a lesson with [a brother] last week, and it was amazing. We taught the message of the restoration, and at the end of the lesson, he opened his heart up and told us about some very difficult struggles his family has been through. It was another testimony to me that the Spirit's influence is powerful in helping people open their hearts to the truth. People have shared so many things with me, and I feel blessed to hear their stories and be trusted with the difficult things that are happening in their lives. It's a blessing to be able to see that people do have a willingness to change, and that their honesty and openness with us is a sign that the Spirit is working in them. The fact that they trust us so much--a couple of random gringas that knocked on their door--really tells me that it's the Spirit that influences people to recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ. It's amazing. It's so easy to love these people. I know that's a gift of the Spirit too--something that I've talked about before. It's astounding to be able to feel so close to people so quickly, and I know that comes from the sacred calling we've been given to represent the Savior and help them feel the love that their Heavenly Father has for them.

Funny story of the week--we found ants in our iron! In our IRON! Crazy. In the Christmas package I sent (I hope you got it!) there's an envelope on top with pictures. Don't open anything but the envelope! The stuff in the box isn't wrapped! P.S., I got the Christmas package you sent me, Mom, and I'm so excited! We have it all set out under our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. :)

Zone Conference, Christmas Party, Agency, (Dec 12)

From Jessica's December 12 letter home:

This was a crazy week! Well, I'm seeing that every week is a crazy week. This week was a little different because we had zone conference. I'm amazed at how much work and love goes into things like this. President and Sister Wade prepared an amazing training session on how to extend invitations in the Lord's way. Missionary work is all about extending invitations. Extending an invitation gives someone the power to exercise their agency to follow the example of Jesus Christ. If there's one thing that's been both super frustrating and super amazing, it's been learning the power of agency. It's very painful to watch people choose to NOT do what they know is right, especially when they've felt the Spirit and they know that the gospel can bring them happiness. It's so, so sad, especially when you care about them and you want them to choose the things that will make them happy. On the other hand, there's nothing more exciting than seeing someone keep their commitments and use their agency to choose the right and follow Jesus Christ!

As another part of zone conference, we had a Christmas party of sorts. The members of the ward that occupies the chapel in which we held the meeting prepared a really great lunch for us. I'm constantly amazed at the generosity of members. It's eally a blessing to see their examples, and it's humbling to be the recipient of heir generosity.

After lunch, we played a gigantic version of the gift-stealing game (the one where you take a number and you can steal peoples' gifts, etc.). Haha, President Wade old us to set aside our Christlike attributes for 2 hours while we played, and like obedient missionaries, we did exactly what he told us to. :) The gifts were all packages of missionary essentials--canned food, boxed food (including Ramen), oothpaste and razors and Windex and laundry soap--with some extra surprises thrown n. The big gift of the day was a snowcone machine. That one got stolen several imes. :) We almost ended up with it, but an elder stole it from Hermana Osborn, haha. I couldn't believe how much WORK went into preparing the gifts for us. There were about 70 missionaries there and all of us walked out with extra food and apartment supplies.

After zone conference, we had one of those time-wasting experiences like Derek talked about. We were supposed to go to the Visitor's Center with THREE investigators, but one by one they all canceled, so we got stuck on the freeway for almost an hour and didn't end up having any appointments. It was awful! We wasted lot of time and I felt terrible, just like Derek said. But thankfully when we got back, we had a lesson with a less-active recent convert.... We've been trying so, SO hard to help him come to church. I was pretty direct with him in his lesson, more direct than my personality usually is. I straight up called him to repentance and told him that the responsibility for being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost is his. I was suprised at how direct I was, but because I know that's not a part of my personality, and because the Spirit was present during that lesson, I know that the boldness of my invitation to come back to church came through the Spirit. In the meantime, [he] is in our prayers (he didn't come to church), and hopefully he'll find the motivation to make the choice to come to church.

Other news, we had to drop [the] stellar couple we were teaching. They were actually the people we taught during my first appointment. It's heartbreaking to have to drop people, but they aren't progressing anymore. We've been going crazy trying to get in contact with them and set appointments, but to no avail. Hopefully
they'll come around later and be able to make the choice to continue progressing toward baptism.

Our main investigator right now is ... an older gentleman who speaks so quickly my brain sometimes shuts down when I'm listening to him. I think I've talked about him before. He loves the scriptures, and he reads intently. I'm learning a lot from
the way he reads. He'll read out loud, and go over a verse 2 or 3 times to get the meaning of every word. He really studies as he reads, and I know that will be a blessing in helping him receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have a lot of anxiety about Rafael, not because he's not progressing, but because I care so much
about him and he has so much potential. We're teaching him tonight, so hopefully all goes well!

Funny stories of the week: I ate a waffle with chopsticks yesterday. It was pretty fun. And there was practically a war in Relief Society over whether we should have ham or turkey at the Christmas party. Also, a guy that we ran into about 2 days ago on the street (and with whom we spoke English) answered the door when we were tracting yesterday. And he told us he doesn't speak English. So we taught him in Spanish on his doorstep, and then he said, "Lo siento, pero estoy mirando el futbol. No puedo hablar ahorita." Translation: "Sorry, but I'm watching soccer. I can't talk right now." As great an excuse as any I've heard :)

Focusing on Jesus Christ in lessons

From Jessica's December 5 letter.

"This week was Cuh-RAZY. Crazy. People were definitely not lying when they said that the mission is a roller coaster--not just week by week, or even day by day, but hour by hour! I think that's why the days seem so long--there's just so much emotion packed into every single day!

"This week we've really been trying to focus on the importance of Jesus Christ in our lessons. We realized that as we teach, we aren't connecting things back to the reason why we have the gospel, the reason why the Plan of Salvation is possible, and the person in whom we place our faith and in whose name we are baptized--Jesus Christ. I've noticed that as we testify more of Jesus Christ in every lesson, whether it's on the restoration of the gospel or on the word of wisdom, that the Spirit is more present. It's a testimony to me that this work really is His work, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ really is the only way we can receive salvation and a fulness of joy.

"Updates on our investigators: V, one of our investigators who had a baptismal date, [was scheduled to have a] short interview with our mission president on Sunday. Problem though, when we went to wake him up for church, he didn't answer his door! And he has no cell phone, and no car, so we were panicking about getting him to church, both because it's important that he attends church in order to increase his testimony and keep the commandments, and because our mission president was going to drive all the way from Oakland to meet our investigator at the chapel. Eventually we had to leave without him. Sis Osborn and I were freaking out all through sacrament meeting and Relief Society. Finally, we got permission from our district leader to leave church early to go and get V for his interview. We were praying really hard that he would be at home. And when we pulled up to his apartment, there he was, just chilling on his balcony! It took all that was in me not to yell, "Where WERE you???" Haha, apparently he was asleep until about noon. At any rate, we got him a ride to church and he had his interview. It was a miracle that we found him, because it's pretty much impossible to track him down because he has no phone. He had his interview, and President Wade said that he's progressing well toward baptism. He doesn't have a baptismal date right now, but things are looking good for him.

"...We finally got to meet with [two others who have baptismal dates], and we went through the questions of the baptismal interview. They are so prepared! The only thing is that [the brother] is a pretty persistent coffee drinker, like 3-4 cups a day. We talked about the word of wisdom, and he committed to reduce his coffee intake to 1 cup a day this week. That is for sure a big sign of faith--first, even wanting to give up coffee, and second, trusting that the Lord will make it possible to break such a strong habit. Also, we followed up on their Book of Mormon reading and asked [him]what he'd learned from 2 Ne 32. He said, "Well, basically, it talks about how baptism is the gate. And then after baptism, you have to keep going until the end and keep the commandments for the rest of your life. And then you can have eternal life." Sister Osborn and I had to pick our jaws up off the ground after hearing such a stellar explanation of the basic doctrines of the gospel. It's so great to see how the Spirit works in people to bring them to an understanding of truth.

"New investigators: [Another sister] also accepted a baptismal invitation in the first lesson! Somehow I'm always a little shocked when that happens, because even though it's a wonderful thing, it's not all that common. [She] is a very, VERY beautiful young mom who has two daughters. We talked about the blessings of the gospel in families, and she was very receptive to the message of how Jesus Christ can help us improve our families. Sad story though--we haven't been able to talk to her since the lesson when she accepted a baptismal date. :(((( Sad face, big time. It's so sad when people all of a sudden stop responding to calls, start missing appointments, etc. But, like what happened with [sister] last week, all we can do is put forth our best effort to keep trying as many times as is useful, and then we have to trust the Lord that He'll allow the Spirit to continue to work in them even if we have to stop trying to reach them.

"We also started teaching a lady.... She has more Christmas decorations in her house than ANYBODY I have ever seen. It's like a Christmas explosion in there. Twice. We went into her house and sat among the Christmas villages and nativity sets, and it felt like our house's decorations, but on Hispanic steroids. We taught her the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she opened up to us, and shared her testimony of prayer. She said the story of Joseph Smith's experience with prayer is "beautiful." She said she's excited to learn more and share with her daughter. Awesome. We're praying really hard that she'll be able to progress in the gospel, because her heart is definitely prepared.

"Definitely a good week. It was also tough because we had zero investigators at church, and many, many dropped appointments, but we know that with faith and hard work, miracles are going to happen in this area.

"Hilarious story for the week: we knocked on the door of a person whose name we got from the English-speaking elders. It was for a 15-year-old girl named Elizabeth. She speaks English and Spanish, but her parents only speak Spanish. She answered the door and we explained, in English, who we were. She said, "just a second" and went into the house and started yelling for her mom in Spanish. In Spanish, she said, "there are missionaries here!" Her mom said, in Spanish, "Say something to them!" Daughter, in Spanish: "Should I tell them we're busy and we have stuff to do?" Mom: "Si!" Girl turns back to us and says in English, "sorry, I cant' talk right now, we're about to leave and do something with our family." We then asked her, in Spanish, if we could set an appointment to come back and see her sometime later. Baha, the look on her face when she figured out we speak Spanish and we understood her entire conversation with her mom... priceless :) "

Thanksgiving week, one month mark

From Jessica's Nov 28th letter.

"Mkay, so this week was definitely a rollercoaster week. On Monday night, we had what felt like unreal success. When I wrote you on Monday morning, we had one investigator with a baptismal date. When I went to bed on Monday night, we had FIVE investigators with baptismal dates. Insane! Inviting people to be baptized is a really special thing. I've never really had experiences quite like it. It's amazing to feel the Spirit of the Lord backing your words up when you invite someone to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God. We had four investigators accept baptismal dates in one night. And on P-day!

"One of them was a lady who we were teaching for the first time.... She very readily accepted baptism, even when we told her about the word of wisdom. She said, "I drink coffee, but I'll just have to start drinking hot chocolate instead." Haha :D Unfortunately, yesterday morning, when we called this lady to see if she was coming to church, she "dropped" us. It was super super super sad. She was prepared, but she said that she can't talk to us anymore because she can't hurt her family by changing religions. Hopefully we will get to talk to her again and address some of those concerns, but for now she's made it pretty clear that she doesn't want to talk with us anymore. Muy triste, but hopefully there's a seed that's been planted there.

"The other three that accepted baptismal dates are a family--[a mother](20) and her husband..., and [the mother's] little brother, (14). They've been invited to be baptized before, but on Monday night they accepted. They're hopefully on track to be baptized on January 1st. We're nervous because they've all of a sudden been a lot less receptive to our efforts to teach them, so we're praying really hard that they'll want to keep moving forward. I'm noticing that Satan works really hard on people who are preparing to be baptized. So I'll keep you posted on them :)

"Tuesday was a great day as well. We got to go to the temple! The Oakland temple is definitely very unique. It's very Polynesian in design. It has teeny tiny cramped staircases, but the ordinance rooms are ENORMOUS. Someone called it a megaplex, and that's a fitting description. It was really nice to go to the temple. I'm really lucky to have arrived here in time for temple week. After the temple we went to the mission office for more new missionary training. We focused on the importance of the doctrine of Christ. My mission president is really a man of God. He's not afraid to tell us where we need to improve in order to be more effective missionaries.

"On Wednesday we had a crazy day. We had a district meeting, which took up most of the beginning of the afternoon, and then Sister Osborn and I had to run to the library to write letters to President Wade. We were stressing out because we were supposed to write them on Tuesday but because of the temple and training we didn't have time. But it worked out great, because at the library, this man came up to us and said, "I'm a brother! I'm a brother!" Turns out he's a member of the church and has been attending different wards in the area because he couldn't find out where the Spanish branch in this area meets. But GUESS WHAT, he totally lives in our area! ... he was baptized about a year and a half ago. We gave him the details for our ward's meeting times and he came on Sunday! It wasn't by chance that we were there on Wednesday writing letters at the same time he was there. I can tell already that he's going to be an asset to the ward. The ward here struggles sometimes because there are not very many men who are active members, and the majority of the ward is made up of very recently baptized members.

"Thursday--Thanksgiving! Oh mannnnnn. What a day. We had three Thanksgiving dinners. Whew! Our first dinner was with the senior missionary couple in our ward. It was straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting--very traditional American turkey-n-stuffing type dinner. Our second dinner was with the Betances family in our ward, and it was "mixed"--mashed potatoes and such with Mexican side dishes and desserts. And then our last dinner--which I wish I could have enjoyed more--was straight up MEXICAN. Loved it! We had this really neat garbanzo bean soup, and tostadas, and beans, and this mango smoothie thing that rocked my world. Unfortunately, by this time, I was literally about to cry because I was so full. And one of the elders that was eating with us WAS crying because he was so full (and because he put too much chili in his soup, haha). The ward members here are fantastic and they take very, very good care of us missionaries. The one thing I missed out on here was pie though. It sounds like you all had a pie party! I was thinking about pie when I was eating Mexican fruit salad. :)

"Other stories from this week--Sister Osborn and I get hit on all the time, it seems. This week a drunk man kept asking us for our phone number. It was pretty funny. We gave him the number for the Oakland Temple Visitor's Center instead. :) Then we had a drunk guy try and get into a Bible battle with us about the words of Paul that say women shouldn't speak in church. A classic. And for the first time, someone literally slammed their door at us! It was kind of cool--like a rite of passage. People here are actually very, very nice, and they're almost never rude when we knock on their door.

"This week it's been really hard to find people to teach, and we feel bad because we feel like we're wasting time when our appointments cancel on us. But like Derek said, you just have to embrace it, give thanks for the opportunity to follow the Spirit and try something new, and then be sensitive enough to the Spirit to know where you're supposed to be when everyone cancels on you. It's a good lesson for me to learn--humility, and reliance on the direction of the Spirit.

"Big miracle this Sunday--we had a brand new investigator unexpectedly show up at church on Sunday. We were discouraged because that morning nobody came to church except our faithful [investigator]. Then, about 30 minutes into sacrament meeting, [a siter] and her two sons showed up for church! It was great! Rachel, you would love this womaan's youngest son. He's 4, his name is Eric, and he is the CUTEST child on the planet! He loved Primary, which is great, because we can tell that the focus on families in the gospel will be key for this brand new investigator and her kids. Such a miracle that she came to church!

"Other highlights of the week--Every day. EVERY. DAY. people think I'm Hispanic. And these are all Hispanic people! Their jaws literally drop when I tell them I'm half Taiwanese! It's really hilarious. Sis. Osborn says it's a blessing though, because people will be more willing to talk to me :D Um, also, our apartment has hormigas (ANTS). We've been battling them this week though, so I think we're good to go. Our house smelled like Raid for a while, but I think it's under control now"

"...I'm unfortunately out of time already. Man, this hour on the computer is the fastest hour of the week! I love you all!"

First week in the field!

We got a surprise today. Jessica's P-Day is Monday, not Wednesday. Here is some of what she had to say about her first week.

"So, this week has been crazy, of course. So right after we got off the plane ... we stepped into the airport and were greeted by a group of missionaries who are going home from the Oakland mission. It was such a blessing to have 3 sister missionaries (veterans) there to greet us as we got off the plane. We were all shaking in our boots as we walked off the plane, so it was great to have them there to show their enthusiasm and happiness for us newbies. Our mission president picked us up from the airport (all 14 of us) and took us to the mission home, which is just across the street from the Oakland Temple. My mission president and his wife are super young, and Sister Wade is actually expecting a baby in January. They also have a 16-year-old son, a 13-year-old daughter, and a 6-year-old daughter. Their kids are great. We went to the mission home and dropped off our bags, then took care of paperwork, and then went out to eat at a Chinese buffet. It felt like home :)

After lunch we went back to the mission home and met the mission office staff, took care of more paperwork, etc. Then we went to the Visitor's Center and listened to the Christus presentation. President Wade gave us a chance to pick a piece of the presentation that would be our "mission statement" for our time here. After the Christus, we went and walked on the terrace of the Oakland temple. You can actually go up onto the top of the temple and walk around the gardens there. It was beautiful. It was actually a clear day, so as the sun was setting you could see all the way across the bay to San Francisco. President Wade shared some thoughts about how he knows we're all in the right place, and that the Lord has called us to this mission for a specific reason. It was really great, and I hope I never forget that chat we had up on the top of the temple. After that we went back to the mission home and had dinner, and met our companions!

My companion is Sister Osborn. She's been in California for about 4 months, and she's been in this area (Richmond) for her whole mission, so she knows it really well. She's just amazing. She's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met, and she's very patient with me as I learn the ropes of being a missionary in the field. Our area is in the north end of the mission, and several missionaries called it the "promised land" of the Oakland area. We do have a car (2010 Ford Fusion!) and our apartment is actually pretty nice. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, giant bedroom, decent kitchen. Not bad!

Thursday we started working immediately. We have a gym in our apartment complex (HALLELUJIAH!!) so we go there every morning at 6:30 to exercise. Yep, late start for a Croft at a gym! :D After we come back and get ready, we have an hour of personal study, 2 hours of companionship study, 1 hour of language study, and then lunch. And THEN we go out and start doing other missionary stuff.

My first morning in CA, we had a miracle! We were walking to visit a 21-year-old investigator who lives in our complex. He has a baptismal date. We were going to go down a flight of stairs, but it was closed, so we had to go around. While walking the round-about-way, we ran into the investigator's dad. His dad told us that our investigator (we'll call him V) was actually in jail. Oooops. We were so glad we ran into him because Sister Osborn didn't know what had happened to V, and she and her companion hadn't had contact with him for a long time. So it was a huge blessing that we were able to figure out his situation and plan ways to help him out. Good news, V is out of jail now (he was there for an offense that happened a long while ago and caught up with him last week), and yesterday he came to church with us and went to the temple visitor's center with us. We had a talk there and he expressed a very, very sincere desire to make changes in his life and keep preparing to be baptized. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and he said, "I just feel so good, so relaxed. Jesus didn't use a lot of words, but He said a lot." And as we left the visitor's center, he said, "please give me homework. I want to keep reading [the Book of Mormon] because I just feel so happy right now." This kid is amazing.

And this morning, his dad called us and said he talked to V last night and was amazed at how happy V was, and how willing he was to change. So now V's dad and sister are going to start taking lessons with us too! So amazing. SO AMAZING. I'm just astounded at how people are so prepared to make changes in their lives, and at how willing they are to draw closer to God.

So, I'm getting sidetracked. Richmond is kind of sketchy, not gonna lie, but I've actually never felt scared while tracting. We don't tract at night, of course, so that may be part of it, but we do knock doors in some pretty run-down neighborhoods. I'm normally kind of a quiet person, but for some reason it's not hard at all for me to start talking to someone on their doorstep. Sister Osborn is thankfully a great example of talking to EVERYONE, and the Spirit helps me to not feel the intimidation or worry of talking to people. Aaaaand, I think my job at Vivint, where I was yelled at daily by random strangers, helped me thicken my skin toward rejection. Plus, people here are actually very very nice, even if they don't want to talk to us.

Other stuff... (sorry, this is not organized at all) We're also teaching a family--a daughter (we'll call her Susie) and her husband, and her mom and brother. They seem really eager to learn about the gospel as a family. We're having a hard time getting them to church, but we have an appointment with them tonight. Hopefully they've read more of the Book of Mormon

We also started teaching a girl who is best friends with a member of our ward. The ward here is amazing. Everyone is EXTREMELY willing to help with missionary work, whether that means feeding us (we have a dinner or lunch every day of the week) or coming to lessons with us. They really are amazing in the way they're so willing to serve. Anyway, we went to this appointment and started talking about the Restoration with this girl (who we shall call Dulce). She is super super receptive. She straight up said, "Yeah, I need this in my life. My family's been through hard times and I know this will help us. When you're not close to God, life isn't too bad, but when you're close to God, life is always better." Amazing. She's inviting her parents to come to our next lesson with her!

Que mas, que mas.... It's actually kind of cold here! It's a lot like Grayland in climate. It's not super humid, but it is kind of chilly. Apparently rainy season just started, and yep, it's rained a lot. I feel bad for the bike elders :p

I know you're probably wondering about Thanksgiving. Don't worry--we're taken care of. We already have THREE DINNER APPOINTMENTS for Thursday. Eek. Pray for me! I'm excited though, cuz one of the dinners is straight up Mexican, no turkey. :D"

"Other stuff..... uh... I don't know! I'm happy! I'm safe! I'm well-fed (REALLY well-fed. The members here go crazy at dinner.) and I'm glad I'm here."