LETTERS! Hay dos! cha-chacha...

(MY MISSING LETTER FROM AUG. 31st! I accidentally sent it to Toddlillywhite@totallynotevenareale-mailaddress.com which was very silly of me, but at least the e-mail and everything is working alright. I’m just a dumbbunny.)

Fambly,
Stake conference this weekend. What a rush! Sadly, this may be my last stake conference in Spanish, since they announced that they’re taking three of the wards in the stake (including the two I’ve serve in) and meshing them up with the English stake down the pike. NO idea why they didn’t just split the stake in two. It’s MASSIVE. There are like 15 Spanish wards, (well, 12, now) and they’re all HUGE wards. Anyway, so, the stake conferences from now on are going to be in English with ‘spanish-rooms’ in the building where there with be translators (probably us).
It was a great experience, three of the speakers were English, so they had a translator come up and translate the whole talk. It was very fun, and funny. Hispanic people are so casual, whenever he couldn’t think of the English word in Spanish he’d just look into the crowd and say, “Como se llama?” and like twenty voices would shout out the word he was searching for, from this massive crowd of Hispanic people. So fun. President Hansen spoke. He bore his testimony in Spanish (and did very well) but his talk was in English with some random Spanish words thrown in for funzies.
Then, I had the WONDERFUL experience of getting to go to a very special Baptism. Do you remember the Ecuadorian family I told you about ages and ages ago? The one when I requested help in finding a handsome, sweet, funny, smart Spanish speaking return missionary who would like to marry an adorable spunky Ecuadorian lady with two small children a mother and two teenager sisters to take care of? Remember her? Her name is Carolina and she and one of those teenaged sisters, Marisol, just got baptized last night. It was WONDERFUL. I think I owe Elder Dorian cookies or something, because he came into City View to take over after Hermana Frieszell left and he’s really trying hard to find and work with all the people who we were teaching there. It was SO exciting and I’m so happy I got to come and see them finally get baptized, after all the months and months and months… I think they were like my second lesson with investigators ever. My first week here I taught them. Nelly and Maria Jose still need some time, but I know that mi Padre Celestial has been preparing them for a long time to have this. I’m sure it won’t be too long before I get to go back for another baptism for this family. I’ll be sending pictures soon.
Hermana Frieszell’s parents came to pick her up—their spending about a week down here in Texas, we just went to Breakfast with them, for P-day. They’re super sweet, nice people. It was cute to see them trying so hard to communicate with the ward members in spite of the language barrier. I even got to jump in and translate for a second there. Very fun.
But Carolina and Marisol’s baptism was perfect, beautiful. I was so happy to go. They are so happy! The ward has really stepped up to the plate to help this family. The little kids are so cute and I’m positive that Nelly and Maria Jose will be joining them soon.
I sure do miss you guys, I hope everything is well. I’m so sad to hear about Grandma’s heart! But that’s good that they were paying attention enough to stop it at the last minute. I’ll be praying for her. Laney will like Mr. Evan’s class, it’s good to hear about them. That’s so cool that Alejandra gets to drive to her mission with her mom! I’d love that so much. Yeah, we had to do the same kind of thing with a guy in the other ward. He wasn’t legal either so they had to take him straight to the mission by car. I LOVE Complete Works-Abridged, it’s so hilarious. Have fun and tell me all about it please! Jensen is such a little stress-buggy. Jensencita. CHILL. It’ll be okay, I promise. Her classes sound like fun… Mommy, you must tell me all about school and your class and how prospy is doing these days!
I loved getting your letter from the campout. It did smell like campfire—very fun, and it sounds like it was a great little trip. I’m glad to hear that you and missy and Sarah are enjoying Sifu’s class! I remember coming home covered in red marks. That was soooo divertido. I love hearings about you all having a blast, I do hope you’re taking every chance to enjoy yourselves thoroughly. The article about Gary Ceran was really inspiring too. I’m glad to hear that he’s still working hard, I know he’ll be rewarded for it. Are they almost done with those blasted malls yet? What’s the deal? I got into a rant the other day about that whole situation because somebody made a comment about political leaders in Salt Lake and the church and it got me off on Rocky Anderson and then the sky bridge and the mall and what a ridiculous design the gateway is and a lot of other subjects that probably aren’t even connected, but seemed relevant at the time. It’s amazing I still remember stuff like that after they shoved another language in my head in nine weeks. I do think I may have forgotten how to walk in high heels at least. Which is an unnecessary skill at the moment anyway.
I don’t think there’s anything left to talk about right now… Just that I owe some serious pictures, but it’ll probably have to wait another week, since we don’t have the miles to go to Walmart. We’ll just have to shop at Food Land, as suspicious as it is.
I adore you all with your lovely, lovely faces and celestially sprinkled spirits!
Hermana Lillywhite (todavia una poca rara)

Dearest Darlingest Fambly Whom I Heart Mucho,
I miss you!!! I felt soooo sad all week thinking that you hadn’t gotten my letters! Sister Chestnut gave me a call last Tuesday night to let me know that there was an issue with my letters. But, the issue turns out to be me just not having a brain—so there’s the letter that I accidentally sent to a non-existing e-mail address above. And I’m very, very sorry. Muy sorry.
This week we had zone conference and some more fun, fun things. We’re going to play softball today. I really like softball a lot I decided. You stand there at the base and everybody moves in real close and starts to yell things like “Here’s the out!” then you swing and miss at a murderous ball for a few minutes until you’re out, then you sit down and write in your journal until the inning is over and then stand in a field for a few minutes and avoid the white ball and it all starts over again. Softball is cool. My kind of sport.
Actually, I’m finding I actually do enjoy sports a lot more than I realized I did. I’m just no good at them! And playing sports as a missionary is a little weird. I’m not sure I give my full approval. But hey—I’m going to play today at least.
Oh wow, so I do have a little bit of cash! Cool. I need to be smart about this though. Working at the school itself sounds like a good idea… and if I can get into BYU I could try to work at the MTC. Every return missionary applies, and few get the job, but I might as well try. Otherwise, those options you talked about sound really good. Tell daddy I’m sorry if I’m spending too much! I’m really trying to be smart about it… I think I might need to warn you in advance about this week though. We’ve got temple this week and there’s a couple of investigators/recent converts who need presents, for their belated/upcoming baptizes. I’m going to TRY to be prudent, but yeah… also, The church has asked us to buy the new translation of the Spanish Bible that they’ve just put out. I don’t know how expensive it’s going to be, but they are THICK books. I saw the “cheap-give-away” copies and they’re way better bound than the other books we give away because they’ve got so many pages. So, I’ve got to pick up one of those and some other stuff as well…
BABY KITTEN! Ahhh! CUTE. Cute.cute.cute.cute.CUTE! She sounds AODRABLE. I want to cuddle. Send me pics pronto! I must bask in the cuteness described.
Kimber sounds like it’s turning out to be really wonderful! How many students do you have in your class? That’s so cool that Jensen and Shazi got to share their experiences at the school. I can’t think of any really great stories right now, but if they come to me later I’ll tell you about them. Oh! It’s already come in handy to know the hook-dates on my mission. Good stuff. You’re going to do great, and I bet you can help to make the school a success.
That’s sad about Sister Noyes and Brother Davies, but I’m sure they’ll have the support of the ward and daddy to help them and the families. Pancreatic cancer’s very painful isn’t it? It’s hard to see people suffering, but we’ve got an advantage in the church of having an Eternal Perspective. Still, that’s pretty terrible, but it won’t last for any longer than it’s supposed to and eventually, everything will be alright.
That’s funny about those dreams Alejandra’s mom had about her, also very revealing and interesting… I love hearing about people’s dreams. Some missionaries get exasperated and start mentally rolling their eyes when an investigator/member starts talking about their dreams, but I love it! I know that God speaks to us through dreams. And often times, the spiritual language of dreams is very personal. It’s funny sometimes, sure, but it’s also sacred revelation for these people—so that’s very neat. I’m glad that Alejandra and her mom are doing well. This is a rough time for both of them!
My stock of thigh-highs seems to need constant replenishment, but it’s gotten better since Sister Hansen made a new rule: we no longer have to wear ‘medias’ (Nylons) unless we’re in a situation in which the Elders need to wear their suit-jackets. So much of the time I’m actually wearing those little footsy-sox underneath my shoes! You know, the kinds that just go around the foot, and not even up to the ankle? It’s hard to find kinds that stay on, but the ones they sell at Kroger and Fiesta just hanging around are pretty good. I’m wearing a pair with ‘ositos’ (little bears) on them that Hermana Castillo gave me from her last trip to Fiesta. So… If you happen to come across any of those, por favor!
As for my opinion on kitty names, these are all REALLY good. The only real reason to use Luna or Bellatrix is to keep in the Harry Potter theme though, since Bastet & Miss Moppet are such GREAT cat names. Bastet is nice and intellectual. Also, any Goth kids will think we’re one groovey Adams-esque family. Miss Moppet is totally classic. But Luna also has some “kitsch (sp?) cache” with the anime crowds who remember Sailor Moon and her little black cat Luna… and Bellatrix is awesomely Harry Potter and also a round-about reference to Helena Bonham Carter, who is awesome… I don’t know , these are some fine choices. You’re probably going to have to give her all of them, but in what order?
Well, I’m going to keep this letter shorter today as well, just because you’ve got my letter from two weeks ago too! And also because I’m hoping I’ll get to chance to do some hand-written funzies today while I’m hanging around in the dug-out.
2nd Nephi 31… Excellent choice
Tengo bastante amor para vosotros. BESO!
MWAHMUCHO/Hermana Ailsa Chrisitan Lillywhite