Wow!

Hello po!

Thank you so much for the correspondence! I haven't wrapped my mind around the time diff yet and there's a lot else to think about, but i think yesterday when i was looking at the clocks in the mission office, the one for salt lake time was three hours behind our time. and i was confused. so i asked someone about it and he confirmed that when it's 6 pm here, it's 3 am there... i think. how's that for crazy? yes! super duper, indeed.

wow.. days here. sundays are good. we had no comp study yesterday bc we left early for an appointment before church. church starts at noon, but we're there very early to greet--hopefully--our investigators and returning LA members. we had an investigator with a baptismal date come! she's the house help of a family who is LA. she rocks! she's a mother of 5, single, and her 18yr old daughter is going to be baptized too! she rocks too! the only sad part is that she was just hired as house help too and didn't come bc she was taking care of little ones at home. her children live out in one of the provinces and she only sees them once a month when she goes home. but the family is very good to her, which i love.

oh so sundays. we have a couple meetings after church, so we don't get done til late.. like around dinner time. this is not a favorite bc i really would prefer to be out teaching, but it's just how things roll. we didnt have coordination meeting this week, though we need it so that we can have the ward missionaries come with us. the hope is to always have members present in our lessons so that these people have fellowshippers. it's hard bc these ppl are often busy with work or school and they need that money, of course. but they're great! the bishop is very sincere about his calling and works very hard to meet the needs of this ward.

i keep waiting for a "normal" this and a "normal" that... i don't know if there is a normal. like last week was general conference here, so sat and sun weren't normal... but this sunday there was a sister with mumps... so sis gupta and i sat with her in the office for a long time bc the assistants to the pres. --AP is easier, though the white handbook says... whatever. i'm writing, not speaking. the APs :) had a baptism and they took her to the hospital, so we kept her company in the office until they could take her. they said she's doing fine. poor girl. she got it from a member--and they didn't even touch! they just visited outside for a second! strange.

teaching is good. it's different. it's not exactly cookie-cutter like in the mtc. you have to be more flexible. it's trickier. but it's all good :) we love the ppl we teach. we found this awesome girl while looking for someone else on the records we have. she's only 18 and insanely full of faith. she loves God so much and wants to do what He wants her to do. Her mom is devout Catholic and wasn't super interested in our message, though they sure like a good "bible study" 'round here. we always have to make it clear that our intention isn't just to study with them. bless their hearts. basta (anyway/whatever). she wanted to come to church, but to our dismay, her mother was against it. dagnabbit. it was so sad. but i have high hopes for her. she's fantastic.

there are lots of members that need to come back to church--and also lots who have never even heard our message. it was amazing, our blessings this week. when i got here, we had 4 pending BDs. sweet! but due to various circumstances and exercise of agency--what a tremendous gift--our dear souls may not be able to get baptized soon. it's out of the hands of one of them, it's the choices together of 2 others, and it's the apprehensions about circumstances and requirements for another. but we won't lose hope! no one is beyond hope. each soul is so important.
when we went to an appointment with the sister and her daughter before extending the baptismal invitation, we ran into a member in the same apartment building! she has a niece and nephew whom we are now preparing for baptism! so the four we had before were reassured by four more BDs in just 2 hours time!!!! how amazing is that?!?!?

i realize that the whole mission won't be this way and that most things are not this easy. there is so much work to be done! but this was a great blessing from the Lord. and i didn't do a dang thing to deserve it. and i honestly don't. i think this is mostly for S. Gupta. Bc she's so selfless and loving and serious about this work. And i can't believe she's going home after our 2 transfers together :( dang flabbit.

dear family, i write my letters to you and to my friends all week in my head and then i get so frustrated when i can't remember half of what i was going to say. i have forgotten my towel so many times when i take a shower. in the mtc, 2 or 3 times. here in the field, already 2 or 3 more. poor s. gupta. bless her. how will i ever remember all of these ppl and their backgrounds and information!? there are SO MANY! and they need me to remember them and about them.

maree, i have thought about you and missing your graduation a lot. i wish i could be there. but i want you to know how proud i am of you and how excited i am for you to go out and explore. you will love it! and you are so capable! you're ready, girl! go out and get em! this will prepare you for a mission like nothing else i can think of.

alyssa, i played the piano in sacrament meeting yesterday and i so wished i'd spent more time practicing hymns. at an appointment last night, the family brought out a little keyboard and sat it on the floor for me to play. i fumbled through one of my favorites as i tried to sing alto, too, and i cursed how poorly i adapt to different keyboards. then i made Twinkle play for us. she's so pretty and she has a cute baby and we're teaching her husband.. kinda. long story, but they're great. and she played---guess! there's only ten seconds left in my bwain... guess! river flows in you! i missed you so! and sis gupta's cd has the My Redeemer song we love to hear you play. every time it makes me so happy. every morning. and i saw a cool david archuleta mix here in a store! and i heard 2 or 3 of his songs in diff places. love it!

joseph, so many ppl play street ball here. there are always groups of kids from down the street playing in a small hoop they set up somehow. it's funny to walk by and see them all stare bc we're foreigners. they love white ppl lol. i don't know why bc everyone in america just wants to be tan. we're never satisfied, are we? but i think of you often, especially when we teach this great family with 13 and 14 yr old boys. i wish you were here to bring them to church. you'd be a great friend to them.

becca, you crazy awesome girl, how is choir? is it fun to sing with everyone? are you excited? how is your class? you know, you are such a lucky girl! you are so loved! do you know that? we are teaching a boy who is 9 and we want him to get baptized so badly. he's so nice!!!! he has an allergy to sun and dust, so his skin has strange spots all over and it makes him embarrassed to go outside. but he's so cute! he has a beautiful smile and he's so sweet! thank you for being a good friend who would not make fun of someone like him. you are such a good girl!

dad, i keep hearing The Promise when we go in the grocery store!!! how crazy random is that! i love it! and mom, you have no idea how perfectly-timed your words of wisdom are. they are so great. i always need them.

i need to go, but i love you all! i'm not supposed to miss you, but i surely do! i need to work harder :) i need to figure out how to get my letters to my fam and friends in the states. tell aaron i was SO excited to hear about sis. jael knowing him! did she tell you how bad my tagalog is?? yeesh. scary.

xoxoxxo!

sis r