Monday-Sunday Breakdown

It sounds like you guys had a great Thanksgiving. Mmmm. I love food. I think I’m going to have to think about these letters a little more… I think I know exactly which teacher to ask, but I’m not sure how to get into contact with him…
Okay… where to start?!
Usually, you may have noticed, I don’t do a day by day accounting of my time here, just because it usually takes SO long to try and explain everything, since all the actions of the day are results of long, long preparation in advance and foreshadowing… but, I’m going to TRY. It might work this time, since I’m new to the area.
So…
Monday: Wrote you charming folks, very fun, then went and played with the English Sisters in our Zone. I’ve never had English sisters in my zone before. They’re hilarious. We went to the home of a member in their ward, and I took tonz of covert pictures of her house, her daughter is an artist and she’s done all the decoration herself. Gorgeous stuff. She taught us how to make lip-gloss and bath salts and sugar scrub. It was a very fun and girly day… We’re around Elders so much that I forgot how being girly can be a blast too… Then the Bishop ditched us for the family home evening we were supposed to have. Everyone forgot to tell us it was canceled, but it was okay, because we sat and chatted with the man who was doing some painting on his house and he seemed very interested in the church. We gave him the address and hope to hear from him soon…
Tuesday: In the morning we had an appointment with Ashley. Ashley is a less-active girl in the English ward who isn’t allowed to meet with Elders anymore on account of them continually falling in love with her. She’s ADORABLE and nineteen years old, and fascinating. Her life story will be a book; probably written by me. She started reading miracle of forgiveness and spent about forty-five minutes telling us how horrible she felt and how she couldn’t finish it because it was too depressing and making her feel even worse than she already did about what a terrible person she is. (She’s not a terrible person though, she’s actually really amazing.) Anyway, she literally threw the book away from herself dramatically and claimed she’d never pick it up again. We got her to agree to finish it by December 7th. The anniversary of Pearl Harbor, which she appreciated because she’s in the Army. (Or, she was in the army, that’s part of that amazing life story though, and I might have to explain all that later…)
Anyway, then we had some lessons fall through, which was lame because we had Hermana Medina with us, and she’s the best member missionary. But, it worked out alright because we ended up running into a family (Castillo) we’ve been trying to get back into contact with for a while. They were NOT doing well. They were about to get kicked out of their apartment and had no food and no money. We prayed with them and promised that we’d get them some food, at least.
So, our next lesson is with their neighbor and she just happens to have a couple pounds of rice/bread/tostados/cans of food etc. that she’s trying to get rid of, so, we had a quick lesson on generosity, and then she gave us a ton of food to give to the Castillo family. They were sobbing. Everyone was pretty elated and it was a wonderful experience for our Thanksgiving week.
We had several more lessons fall through that day, but we ended up doing a lot of good. We gave the Elders a ride home (they’re on bikes) and they gave us two referrals to check out the next day. It was a great day, but I was actually pretty ill… coughing so hard I was making myself sick. I ignored it though and now we move on to…
Wednesday: More stuff fell through, but we checked out those referrals the Elder’s gave us.
On our way there some guy very obviously checked us out, “Looking good ladies.” (eyebrow wiggle)
Eww. I was just about to give him a card but I was so shocked I ended up just standing there dumbfounded. I’ve never felt less cute in my entire life. I try to rock the ‘church-lady’ chic as much as possible, but seriously sir, what is your deal?
Hermana Russon and I got a pretty great laugh of it. Got lost in this huge apartment complex and found a burned down laundry room (why do the laundry room’s always burn down? Is it the crapy dryers in this state?) The first one explained to us that she had told the Elder’s to go away, but since they didn’t speak Spanish they didn’t understand her and so they wrote down her information as a referral for us. We offered to share our message anyway. She accepted after a minute of explaining that she’d catholic and she’s going to live and die a catholic… But we’ve heard that before.
She mentioned part-way into our plactica that she has a Mormon friend who just moved into the apartment complex next door, and that she came from Utah. We didn’t know of any new members in the area so we asked for her address and name, and then the doorbell rang and the son of this member happened to be outside. We asked them, “Are you guys looking for the church?” and he said, “No.” he corrected the information the woman had given us and said that his mother was home right now.
So, after our lesson, we went to meet Isaura, she opened the door and immediately burst into tears when she saw us. She was wearing a green tank-top over some very new looking garments. She invited us in and explained that she had just gone through the temple right before she moved here. She’s a recent convert to the church and is living with her daughter-in-law here in Houston right now. She’s got no way to get to the church building, no job, no car, no clue and she’d just been praying that someone could help her figure. So, we arranged for her to get a ride to the church. She showed us her collection of books. She loves to read Church literature and is part way through “El Milargro de Perdon” as well, and will probably be starting “Jesus El Cristo” pretty soon here.
Then, on the way home, Hermana Russon noticed some people struggling to pack up a car on the side of the road and suggested we stop to help, so I pulled over and we walked up to these people and they gladly accepted our ayuda. We started chatting with this one woman who was curious to know all about us. Her name is Maria Ester and she’s fun. She practically runs this fellowship and was telling us all about her beliefs and asking us questions about ours for about 40 minutes.
My favorite part was this.
“Do y’all believe in the gathering of Isreal?”
“Uh… Yeah.” (me, smirking, trying not to add, ‘that’s what we’re doing right now ma’am, wanna be gathered?!’)
Part way into this we both had the strong impression to give her a Book of Mormon. We did so, and she started asking us, “You mentioned that Jesus Christ visited the American people, where is that part?” so we marked 3rd Nephi 11, “Where does it talk about Faith?” so we marked Alma 32, and “Are there any prophesies about our days?” so we marked a number of chapters with that one, and then, “Where’s there a discourse on Baptism?” so I marked Mosiah 18.
Then, Hermana Russon, being amazing like she is was like, “There’s a promise in this book… right here (opening to Moroni 10) that if you ask God, he’ll tell you if these things are true, and he’ll give you a witness of them.” And Maria Ester folded the page over and said, “I’ll be sure to read that first.”
We had some more amazing lessons and turned in a little early on a result of both of us now feeling pretty crummy physically. I feel so bad, I think I got my companion sick!
Thursday (THANKSGIVING!) : Breakfast at Ashely’s. She made us an AMAZING meal. Blueberry muffins, pancakes, bacon and sausage and then some amazing tex-mex with tortillas. SO good. We enjoyed this feast and she started to tell us her story of how she really became converted to the church. She was baptized when she was ten, but fell away rapidly and remembered NOTHING and was pretty bitter as a result. After that she lived in Mississippi. You know. That place where missionaries aren’t allowed to go because they still occasionally get tarred and feathered? Anyway, she started her religious search when she was a little older as a teenager and before she joined the army. As she was telling us her story, I was repeated reminded of Glen Beck. She kept saying things like, “I did NOT want to be a Mormon!” and talked about all the deep questions she had and how she actually got kicked out of one church that she was going to for a while for asking too many deep doctrinal questions about the war in heaven and the role of Lucifer. She told us the whole story… which I’m still working on slowly since it’s quite long, but she’s really cool… for our lesson I pulled out my copy of Glen Beck’s conversion on CD and was like, “You need to listen to this guy”. Turns out that she LOVES Glen Beck, she’s been listening to his show for years, and her mom was listening to him even before he got famous, but she’d never heard about his conversion. So we listened to it and the whole time she was like, “THAT WAS TOTALLY ME!”
It was great.
We also watched a few scenes of the Testaments in Spanish and made fun of the dubbing while I parroted back the best phrases of the movie, like “Yo se tu nombre” and “DONDE ESTA MI HIJO?!” “Si tu no lo sabes, quisaz ya no sea tu hijo!” and we spent entirely too much time there, but poor Ashely was all alone for Thanksgiving because the rest of her family left town and she had to work from like 2 in the afternoon until who knows how late… so we spent some fun thanksgiving time with her before she had to go work and it was all very pleasant.
We had lunch with our ward mission leader and his adorable family. I started to feel pretty headachy and miserable, but toughed it out and ate tons while playing Mexican train with Hermana and two of the girls. They’ve got a very big, fun family and the Elders came too, so it was a great time. Then we had an appointment with Isaura. It was really nice to go over to her house. Her room is like a little sanctuary. She’s got all her books and her church music going and her window overlooks the little pound at their apartment complex. We visited with her for a while and made last minute plans for her debut at church… then, we were supposed to go to the Medina’s house for dinner. The Medina’s are those awesome member missionaries I mentioned.
By now, I was feeling really sick, but I felt like we were supposed to go to their house and like we couldn’t just go home. So even though I almost threw-up twice on the way there we showed up and met with the family and chatted for a while with them while I TRIED to eat but failed on account of being so sick.
It was good we went though, because part-way into it some in-laws of one of the kids showed up and Hermano mouths to me, “No son miembros” (They’re not members) they only speak English too, so some quick operations were put in order and they sat these people right in front of us and were like, “HAVE YOU MET THE MISSIONARIES?!”
“Err… no.”
We told them all about what we do and bore some powerful testimony. The spirit was very, very strong. As we were about to leave they asked us for pamphlets and how they could learn more. So we supplied them with some good stuff, and they were like “Well, we’re catholic…” but remembering the way they said it made me remember that line from ‘The Conversion of a Catholic Priest’ talk that I was listening to a while before, where the missionary responds to that same statement with “Sir, we’ve just shattered your faith so significantly that you just said that to reassure yourself.”
Good day. Powerful testimonies… Then, We got in the car and promptly pulled over after half a block so I could throw up a little.
Friday: District meeting was pretty groovy. We’re still sick, so we didn’t do much else that day except teach Stephenie, an amazing woman who’s just getting back into the church and whose husband is planning to get baptized as soon as he get home from Mexico in about a month and a half… we tried to do planning for the week, but we were both so ill we just ended up sleeping for most of the day—in between frantically running between half a dozen other appointments that all fell through. But. We saw a frog. He was big and squishy and I petted him and it felt weird.
And, I got an idea for a vampire novel. Hermana Russon picked out the name Phillip Graystone of Coventry for our main vampire hero. She is so cute. A little innocent thing, she’ll probably never read the book, or if she does it will be the “Hermana Russon edited version” that I will make specially for her and other sensitive readers who don’t need a lot of violence and intensity to keep their interest.
Saturday: Zone meeting, which we pretty much missed because part way into it my poor companion just about fainted and so we went out to where she could lie down and I wrote a rather brilliant little essay on why missionaries get sick and what the spiritual implications are, and I think I’ll have to share that with you later, because although it is great, it’s also long and this letter is already turning into a novel and I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet!
So, That night we decided to check up on our investigator Elena who last we heard had to cancel our appointment for work and because she and her husband got in a huge fight and she kicked him out. (they’re not really married, and she said it was because she’s sick of him doing drugs and drinking all the time) so we went by to see how she’s doing, but she wasn’t there, HE WAS! Edmundo was at their apartment, alone, drunk and crying hysterically because actually, what really happened is that Elena left him and took the kids and all of their possessions, so now he’s got no clothes, no furniture, no car, and he just lost his job and is depressed out of his mind, so we just sat there with him and let him cry for a really long time. We taught him a little, but I don’t know how much he’ll remember. I think it was just good that we were there, he kept thanking us for coming by and apologizing for being such a wreck.
We called his fellowshipers (The Medinas, who are sort of like main characters in my life right now) and told them about what was going on…
Sunday: Good day to come to church, all the lessons and everything was amazing, I could talk about them for a while, but I’m seriously running low on time and space… Anyway, Steven and Jackie came, a less active mom and her 12 year old son who’s going to get baptized as soon as we can finish teaching him all the lessons. Isaura and her nieto came with the Alvareses who also spoke in sacrament meeting and did a great job, and then the Medina’s brought Carmen and her two kids of the Castillo family who I told you about earlier. It turns out that while we were sick/in other appointments, the ward really stepped in to help them. They used the food they got to make a bunch of tamales and they sold them and got enough cash to pay the overdue rent. Huge blessing. And then like half the ward went by to visit them, so they FINALLY came to church. We’re hoping to give the whole family baptismal dates soon… so, that night, there was a baptism. I was playing the piano and Hermana Russon was leading the music, and then low and below, the Medina’s show up with Edmundo who looks sober and isn’t crying anymore.
It was a BEAUTIFUL baptism. The spirit was amazing and everyone was in tears. This woman is one of the Elder’s investigators and her whole family has been members for years and her husband finally got to baptize her. It was a very touching story.
So then, after she was baptized we went back into the relief society room for the rest of the program, but Edmundo was missing and so was the principios del evangelio teacher. We left to go find them, and walked in just as Hermano was explaining to Edmundo that he can get baptized as soon as he feels ready and that he just needs to talk to us about it. So I briefly explained the other requirements for baptism and then the Bishop came and told us to join the rest of the ward please. I sat down next to our district leader who asked me, “Do you want me to interview Edmundo for his baptism?” I thought he was joking at first, but after the program they both disappeared and when we found them, they were having a baptismal interview. So we straightway went and told Hermana Medina and there was much rejoicing and tears.
Edmundo was crying, he knows that this is the answer he’s been looking for and that this is how he can have a better life.
So. That pretty much catches you up on my week. It was a pretty cool week! I didn’t really get the chance to explain everything, or in very much detail, but I wanted to give you an example of what my days and weeks are like, since I really feel like my letters don’t do any of it justice… I LOVE being a missionary. I love Texas, I love these people. I LOVE the Lord and his work and I am so happy to hear from you guys, because really, that’s what it’s all about. You are my motivation to help these people a lot of the time, because I just look at their lives and I can see how much their missing, and I have it. I have exactly what they need. I’m out here doing this so that they can have families just like mine. So they can raise their children in a home with the true gospel of the lord supporting every step. I mean it when I say I miss you all like crazy, but that’s one of the main reasons why I love this so much, is because I love you and I miss you, and I want these people to be able to have the same eternal perspectives for their families as I do with you!
So… this letter is a little monstrous, but it does a pretty good job of hitting some of the highlights of my week. I didn’t get homesick at all this week, which is good, because I’d been warned I might. I hope you’re all happy and well, and doing as good as it sounds like you are. Os amo, besito, besito, BESO!
Hermana Lillywhite

Welcome to Bearcreek!

Hey fambly mia!
The members definitely will not let us sit at home and eat macaronis&cheeses on Thanksgiving. Especially not in this ward. In Sunday school, the teacher asked,
“How can we help the missionary work in our ward…?”
“Feed them?”
“Food?”
“Do we give them food? Is the answer food?”
“Have them over for dinner!”
So, after this array of cries from the class he turns to the missionaries in the classroom, “Sister, on a scale of one to ten, how much does feeding you help with the missionary work?”
“Err… Almost three.”
I had to be honest. The entirety of this message was translated from the original Spanish to English for the convenience of the English Speaking audience. A direct transcript of the event is available on request.
I LOVE eating with members. It is one of my favorite things. We’ve already got an invitation to come over for lunch on Thursday to the Salazar Familys’ place. I’m excited to get to know the people in the ward. I’ll never knock dinner appointments to much, because they are awesome. Not if you’re trying to lose weight, mind you. As said, it is not, as such, calorie counting food.
It’s good food too. I’ll have to make some for you.
OOOooo, I so want to see this picture that caused audible gasps from the class. I bet it’s gorgeous. I do so love your style Jensenbubby.
About graduate school… so, apparently I don’t take the test until after my mission. But in the mean time, I’m supposed to complete the other steps on the checklist. One of which is to get three letters of recommendation. I’m going to ask President Hansen for one, and then I was hoping to procure good recommendations for recommendations from you folks? Ideas? Who are they expecting these letters to be from?
Anyway, my new companion Hermana Russon is ADORABLE! She is one of the sweetest, nicest people I’ve ever meet. She’s from all over. Her dad is a chemist and they’ve moved a lot as he did work with different labs, I guess. She’s lived in Canada and Connecticut and Arizona and a bunch of other places and slip my mind, but right now her family is in Tooele. Of all places to end up, right? She’s sort of annoyed, because now when people ask where she’s from she has to be like, “*sigh* Soy de Utah…” like so many other people. The typical response to this answer is: “Oh. The factory.” Or, “Ay, la fabrica.”
She’s very cute. Me and Hermana Forsling used to mercilessly make fun of the hundreds of girls at BYU Idaho who were majoring in Elementary Education. But now I feel kind of bad about that, because that’s Hermana Russons major, and although, there are more LDS girls in training to be elementary school teachers than society will EVER need, given any sort of baby boom or what not… I’m pretty sure she should be the one to actually get the job. I think I want Hermana Russon to be my kids’ elementary school teacher, is what I’m saying. She’s so patient and kind, but she’s a very hard worker, and she’s very determined. She’s a bit hard on herself, which is ridiculous she’s already tearing it up out here, she speaks Spanish way more confidently than I did when I was her age in the mission and the little mistakes and things that she does make are hardly noticeable/easy to fix with a little bit of time and practice. She’s not really much of a greenie, I keep telling her, because she’s already got this.
The area is different from what I’m used to. I’m officially out of the ghetto. This place is actually pretty nice. Not like Woodlands, or anything, but life seems much more comfortable here. We’ve got some great people we’re working with. A little boy named Steven who’s twelve and whose less-active mom wants him to get baptized. We’re working with both of them… a man named Carlos who doesn’t think he’s ready to get baptized because he still uses bad words. And this great guy Eduardo who just went down to Mexico for a month and a half, but is going to get baptized when he comes back.
My district is a little weird. I’ve never been around so many very, very English missionaries. Usually, I like English missionaries. I was around them a lot at the office, but I don’t know if the APs really count. Especially since Elder Briscoe actually did speak Spanish, and was loco. But whatever happens and wherever I am, I’ll learn to get along with a love the Elders I serve with.
I’m glad you guys dug the CD I can’t listen to! I’m excited to hear it one day, and groove to it’s happy/peppy beats.
As far as B-day and Christmas goes… There actually are a couple of songs I have yet to have on CD that I’d like. There’s two Christmas songs that the Mormon Tabernacle choirs does, “What shall we give to the babe in the manger?” is I think what it’s called… I don’t remember if that’s the title exactly, but it’s really pretty and has a “tumtatumtum,” bit and a line about “him who will carry the tree” which I’ve heard dad say before, so I assume he knows it. And then I love their version of “Carol of the Bells” and I don’t have either of those. If you wanted to burn me a Christmasy CD including those two songs, I think I’d have a very happy Holiday season!
That’s all I can think of specifically right now… I know there’s a lot of essentials that I probably need. Make-up/footy-socks, I’ll probably need another pair of gel inserts right around my year-mark… But I’m living pretty light these days. There’s not too many places to put things. Food/goodies are always good… They don’t seem to last long, hehe. OH! And I just remembered, there’s a target and a Walmart that we shop at sometimes and also there’s a couple of restaurants where we can go, and I guess what some of my companions family’s do is they’ll get them like a gift-card for cracker barrel or Chilies or anywhere like that, if you guys wanted to go that route.
But whatever you wanna do! Lo que sea, como quiera, tal vex, quizas… ya.
A traffic ticket?! Mommy. That’s cute. And he didn’t knock of the miles because of oldosity, it was because you’re PRETTY! Duh. I’m sorry your record is broken. But now you’re just like the rest of us. You get traffic tickets too. One of my companions got pulled over a few months ago. I really alarmed the officer because he asked her to back the car up and I jumped out of the passenger seat to “hechar aguas” and he was like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” and I was like “I’M SORRY IT’S A RULE! We’re missionaries, we have really weird rules!” Because one of us has to be outside of the car when we’re backing up, to make sure we don’t run anyone over.
He calmed down and didn’t give us a ticket though. I think once he realised we were harmless church ladies and that the posted speed limit is hidden behind a tree he let it go.
I am so glad that Laney’s interested in Greek Mythology. It’s so fascinating, isn’t it? I like the image of her drawing Athena in church. Naughty little primary adorables.
Hey, has anyone seen New Moon? Did it come out this last week or is it not out yet still? Two little girls in Louetta, Mariah and Ariel were going to tell me all about it, but then I moved. They got to go meet “The Wolf Pack” and were very excited about it during our family home evening about missionary work. The lesson might have gotten derailed a couple of times. Just imagine you’re daughter being like, “Yes… and…Alice’s psychic abilities are kind of like when we get member referrals.”
No, I’m just kidding, it didn’t ever get that crazy.
The baptism and dad’s talk sounds wonderful and inspiring… Tell silly Jensen that she should always go to baptisms first and play video games later. Preferably with whoever just got baptized:) And could you send me a copy of daddy’s talk maybe? Si existe?
Well, that’s my letter this week. I LOVE you all, so much. I miss you like crazy, and I’m starting to get really excited to hear all your lovely voices on Christmas day. That’s pretty much the best present:)
BESO! Hermana Lillywhite

Transfered Again!

Hey family! Super fast letter this week, but there’s an explination.
My big news for this week is I’m being transferred again!
I’m headed to ‘the land of milk and honey’ as they call it. Katy Zone. Bearcreek area. My new companion is Hermana Russon, she’s adorable and still new. She’s actually the newest sister in the mission, aside from the Hermana who’s coming in Wednesday. She’s only been here two transfers. I’m her second companion in the field which either makes me either a ‘greeniebreaker’ or a ‘madrina/godmother’ depending. I really don’t know what else to say—this week was good, but crazy. We’ve found a lot of people recently and now I’m being sent away, so I’ll probably not get to teach them again.
Hermana Bastian is going to be companions with Hermana Gurney, and Hermana Willis is staying here, and Hermana Green is coming to be companions with her. It turns out so that a lot of my companions are companions with each other then. Very fun.
I love that you referred to Victor as a Mayan Prince. He’d love that. I think that’s very much how he sees himself. And how he acts. He’s really sad that we’re being changed up. He threatened to get a ball and chain to keep me and Hermana Bastian here. And Maya sounds really cool, I think I understand now.
I’m SO sad, I can’t see any of the cool stuff that Jensen has ever sent me. Every time she tries to send me one of her videos, I CAN’T open it. I don’t know what the deal is. I really want to see this tea-party! And the dancing bag of flour and everything else she’s tried to send me, but I can’t figure out how to get it to open. It’s very depressing. I’m happy to hear about your recent attempts to be more girly. I hope they are satisfying and fun. You need to try and talk to Mr. Darcy. Tripping on his front porch is totally acceptable.
Your getaway sounds like it was a lot of fun! I love the food. Still, I always love the food.
I’m glad to hear that my stuff all made it home… about those pics, maybe don’t put all of them on the internet. Especially not the ‘9 months’ tradition shots with the belly. Very silly stuff.
OH! My BYU grauduate packet arrived. It’s freaking me out a little. I guess I’ll have to look into working on that check-list, right?
I can’t believe I’m leaving so fast! I feel like I just got to Louetta and already it’s time to book it. Crazy. But I’m excited to check out another part of this amazing city. And to be companions with Hermana Russon. I hear great things about her. She seems very sweet. We’ll do a lot of good.
I’m so excited to hear about all the sisters who are leaving on their missions! It’s honestly the greatest thing. I’m so excited for them to go out and have these same experiences. It’s inspiring and wonderful, beyond description.
Another short letter:) I’m sorry again. I know that it must seem like not a lot’s happening. Don’t believe it, a lot is. It’s just hard to explain sometimes. I’m pretty sure that when I get back I’ll never shut up. Also, another explanation, it took me like an hour just to open my e-mail. Myldsmail is freaking out again. So I’m just about out of time already. Very lame.
I love you all so much and I miss you!
Hermana Lillywhite

Ailsa Mission Pictures

More pictures HERE.

Guess why July 28th is important.

Alright, I prayed about it, took it to the temple and talked with President and I’ve decided to go ahead and take the option of staying the extra transfer. So, my official date for when I’m coming home is July 28th. I’m super happy to have this time to serve the lord, so I want to stay as long as I can without actually screwing up transfers. YAY! So, make a note of that everyone.
Que es Maya? Why is Jensen playing with it? Is it fun? Que es? Thank you so much for the recipes and the funny comics! And for the inspired Job Scripture. I love that the sisters dressed as nuns. I wish we could get away with that, but no… hehee.
Laney’s drawing of dad made is great! I love how she label’s everything. So detailed. She’s a very good artist too.
Did you get the first package I sent as well? With my Ipod and stuff? I don’t remember you mentioning it, so I’m a little worried that it never made it home… If It did, know that I’m not sure the Ipod works any more. I tried to get it to start up again, and it did a couple of times, but then it just stopped working… So I don’t know what the deal is.
Please enjoy the pictures! And the videos, I’ve got some good ones on there.
We took our recent convert Victor out with us to a lesson for the first time last night. He did GREAT! He’s going to be such an amazing missionary. He’s got no fear to talk to people, and he shared a powerful testimony. It was really amazing to see. I think, I might have to make a trip back here in a year to go to his farewell… And Maria and Goyo’s baptism, as we’re all still waiting on the divorce to go through.
Aside from that, I don’t have much news, but I really love hearing about home and everything that you are all doing.
So, Jensen refuses to date her whole life and then meets Mr. Dracy? Typical. Not allowed to get married Jensen, until I get back, but you should probably ask Mr. Darcy out. “You’re English, right?” isn’t bad, but let’s see if we can’t top that. A job at the creamery sounds like fun. I wish I had more to say, I’m sorry, I promised myself once that I’d never become one of those missionaries who scribbles three lines home every p-day. I just really can’t think of anything else to say!
So, Grandma and Grandpa wrote me. I guess that Grandma is doing well, I’m so glad. And she gave me fun family news. I’m super excited for everyone.
I guess I could tell you all about food—it’s always one of my favorite things in your letters. I’ve been learning how to kind of cook for real, having had a couple of companions who knew how to cook and then a couple who didn’t. Real Mexican food is pretty different from Taco Bell, but I still like Taco Bell, weirdly enough. I had Papusas yesterday from an El Salvidorian. AMAZING! I must learn to make them. It’s simple enough, but easy to go horribly wrong. And then we had some tostados covered in pico-de-gayo (sp?) and avocado. Then some fun sort of taquitos that were filled with mashed potatoes instead of meat. Interesting, I liked it a lot. I’ve learned to make some pretty great salads, and Hermana Forsling loved it when I made her capreze (sp?).
Oh, and I have to make my district leader cupcakes because he finally agreed to call us on the phone and say “Hello Angels!” and then we answer back, “Hello Charlie!” but we all had to make him a separate treat. So worth it.
I’m sorry again, for this short, lame letter, but hopefully getting all that stuff from me earlier can make up for it. I love you all so much, and I missed you a lot this week. I had some weird post mission dreams. Very strange. I’m not sure how I feel about going home. Sometimes I feel happy and sometimes I feel really sad, and sometimes sick… But one thing is always the same: seeing all of you again is going to be a very sweet experience. I LOVE you. I’m working hard, and praying hard, for all the people of this city, and for all of you.
Love and kisses 7 HUGGLES! ~lovin’ you lots and lots~
Hermana Lillywhite

Yay!

Dear Fambly!

I’m so sorry you have a cold mommy! That’s awful… I started to get one this week, but I killed it before it could form… guess how. It’s pretty weird actually, I downed a ton of super spicy food. Two members made us soup with tons of peppers and suddenly I’m all better. I’ve heard that before, about eating a pepper to get rid of a cold, I think it might be true. Halloween sounds like fun. I LOVE Halloween. We get so many people asking us what the church’s stance on Halloween is. There’s a lot of confusion, especially in the Hispanic culture. But I still LOVE dressing up and eating candy, and spookyosity, so Halloween is for me. I’m glad Laney wore that 1870’s costume, I wants pictures! It’s such a great little outfit. I’m glad you had a lot of trick-or-treaters. I worry that it’s not becoming cool to do that, but tradition is so fun… Go beg for candy kids! What movie did Chantal and Jensen watch?
I can’t believe it’s November already either. I feel a little crazy to be honest. Such back in May right now.
I’m sorry that you’ve got no ‘free’ nights daddy! But you’ll be blessed for the work LINDSAY WASN”TA MEMBER ALREADY?! Dang, I missed that. We’ve got sisters in the ward now? Rock on. That’s okay about not telling—sometimes it’s better to keep in super secret like that. In my last ward, there was a baptism were the only people who knew were the guy getting baptized (dry Mormon for years, coming to church every week with his active family but refusing to get baptized) he finally decided he was ready. The only people who knew about it were the Sisters who taught him, their district leader (because he needed an interview) The brother baptizing him and his father in law. He got in the fount after another baptism and his wife burst into tears when she realized what was going on. I don’t know what a carbon fiber rear derailleur is, but I know what $735 is! I’m so sorry! Is that a fancy bike bit? That’s awful, I’m so sorry daddy.

Mommy, you’re costume sounds amazing. I LOVE Halloween. I think I’ve said that a couple of times, but not being able to dress up has made me realized that I LOVE Halloween! I’m dressing up as much as I can for the rest of my life, I think. I wore my English Nametag for a little while on Halloween and pretended that my costume was to be an English missionary. My district leader looked like he might shoot me. You’d like my district leader now, I don’t think I’ve talked about him or anyone much lately, because we always seem to be running late on P’days here (like today, again) but I’m sending the camera card home, hopefully today, and you’ll be able to see him on some pictures and videos and you might get an idea about his personality. I’ll have PLENTY of stories about him and all the other Elders in my districts later, I’m sure.

Thank you so much for that story about the minister. It’s wonderful to remember how the Holy Ghost can and does touch all of us and can give us spiritual promptings. At times, I get so frustrated with leaders of other faiths. It’s hard to be all lovely about it when you’re out here, because they just prove to be such a problem. But it really is true. In the end, they’re just doing what they think is best, and if they continue on that path then they’ll eventually make it home.

I made a list of topics…

OH! IMPORTANT! I need a recipe for Lemon marang pie/ banana. I I don’t remember which, or how it’s spelled, but my Companion needs this recipe by next week, and there is NO WAY that her family will ever respond to her request for one, so I thought mine might be able to help us.

SAN CLAMENTE 2010!!!! EPICOSITY! Yes. I reacted all crazy in real life last week, but I was super mellow in the email for some reason. I am so looking forward to being beach-bums. I made a list of happy-thoughts, that are specifically post-mission, in order to vencer the sadness that sweeps over me whenever I think about ending my mission. It’s not good to be all “lot’s wife” about it, right? I’m happy here, and it’ll be hard to leave, but if I trust in the Lord than I know that I’ll have a lot of amazing experiences later in life too. Like San Clamente

Remember when I once compared a couple of Elders I knew to Paul and Barnabus? Well, I still do that a lot. I’ve met a LOT of Book of Mormon characters out here. I’ve definitely met a Nephi and a Jonathon, and they other day I decided that my District Leader is pretty much Phinieus? (SP?) from Numbers. I’ve spaced on his name, but it’s something like that.

I love it when people look at me like they can see three very muscular Nephites standing directly behind me with their arms crossed.

I love you and I miss you all. I’m sorry my letter is so short again this week. I got totally giped, on account of time today and only got about 30 min to read and write my e-mail… it’s very sad, but hopefully things will be a little better next week.

MWAH/ Hermana Lillywhite