Week 18

Another awesome week here in OC. It felt a little long and I wasn't in the greatest mindset, but my mom must've somehow known that because I got a package with a variety of general conference quotes that say "Be of good cheer." If anyone sees her, tell her she's a superhero.

Our area isn't on the coast but we had a ward party at Doheny so we got to be by the ocean! I miss seeing it everyday. Cricket came to that and absolutely loved it. We have such a welcoming ward and it's awesome how missionary minded the youth are. After, we went and visited someone named Vickie. Her daughter was baptized in March and her/her husband listened in on all the missionary lessons. They've been to church many many times and Vickie has even read "Heart of the Matter" by President Nelson like what?! We'll help her realize the time has come for baptism.

We had a few more lessons with Luisa! I love her. We taught her how we pray, and at the next lesson she said she's been praying like we do and feels "complete." She came to church and when they asked to raise a hand for sustaining she threw up both hands like hallelujah. I could not keep it together. I was silently shaking next to her but I don't think she noticed...

Cricket is on date!! She is the best!! Her sister Scarlett has been sick for the past few days so we haven't been able to teach her, but hopefully she will want to be baptized with Cricket. There were so many miracles that surrounded the lesson where we put her on date. Our member canceled so we had to scramble for a new one which happened to be a youth who got baptized 3 years ago when she was 14. She shared her conversion story and it was powerful. At the end of the lesson, Sister Miller told Cricket we'd been praying for her and feel September 28th is when she can be ready. I was so proud and the spirit was SO STRONG. Cricket couldn't keep her excitement in haha she wanted to know all the details for how the day will go. Our member showed her pictures from her baptism and they talked about white dresses. She was like "this is perfect because I'm getting a white dress for the blacklight stake dance this weekend." (She did indeed end up going to the dance with a bunch of the youth and loved it). 

The amount of cyber trucks and telsa's in this place is crazy. Finding is more challenging than before because non-ysa people tend to think we're naive and tell us to listen to what they're saying but alas, the work continues on. We love those people anyways and know we were one of the touches they needed. Moroni 9:6.

Oh my goodness I could write so much more but our Bishop took us to this nice Mexican restaurant called "El Adobe" in Camino Capistrano and wow it's cool. Very old, traditional San Juan. It was actually a jail and they used to have a real mummy in one of the cells but it scared people too much. Today or next pday we're going to explore the rest of that area because there are historic tours you can do. I'm so excited.

Anywho I finished the Book of Mormon this week yayay. First time on the mission. I'm hoping to read it through at least twice more while I'm here. I've been reading lots of general conference talks in preparation for this upcoming conference and I love "Jesus Christ at the Center of Our Lives" by Elder Jose L. Alonso. He says, "As we diligently seek spiritual guidance, we embark on a deeply transformative odyssey that strengthens our testimonies. As we comprehend the vastness of our Heavenly Father’s and Jesus Christ’s perfect love, our hearts are filled with gratitude, humility, and a renewed desire to pursue the path of discipleship." It's hard for my human brain to comprehend the vastness of their perfect love but wow when I try to, I am filled with these feelings of gratitude, humility, and a renewed desire for deepening my discipleship.

I will stop but happy Fall to you all. There aren't typical seasons here but you can definitely tell we've started moving into Fall. I love everyone so much and am always praying for my friends/family!!