Monday, December 16, 2013

December 16, 2013 - Redwood City

Wow this last week was one of the best weeks of my mission! It was super busy which is probably why it was so good. The two days that I was waiting for my trainee to come in I was in a trio with my roommates who work in the English program. Spending just two days with them made me realize that we work in completely different worlds. I couldn't even believe that we were in the same city! President Watkins talked to us about how Menlo park pays the highest amount of tithing dollars in the world every year and I definitely saw evidence of that. The few houses that we went to were unreal! He related Menlo park to an hour glass and how at the top there are a ton of really rich people and then the middle of the hour glass is the few middle class people and the bottom is a ton of poor people. It was a fun and interesting change for a couple days but I definitely like working with the Spanish speakers :)
 
Anyway, my new companion is Sister Baird (yes, just one more letter than my last companion) and she's from Massachusetts. She's 19 years old and came from the Mexico MTC. She's SO adorable! I love her so much already. She's really willing to try anything and just brought so much enthusiasm (greenie fire as other missionaries call it) to the work.  We've already seen so many miracle! This is why I love training!
 
On Saturday we planned Yaser's baptism and everything went great. I'll send pictures if I have time. His girlfriend spoke and gave a perfect heartfelt testimony at the end. She's planning on going on a mission and I hope Yaser starts considering that as well. His mom came and was crying during part of it so maybe she'll be ready for the gospel one day as well.
 
On Sunday we took Melissa up to the Oakland temple to see the Christmas lights. I saw Scott's sister and her family there! I don't know her name but probably the only sister he has that's living in California. They were sitting right behind us and I turned around and recognized them as the Fitzgeralds! What a small world! But anyway, Melissa is progressing very quickly and is excited for her baptismal date on the 28th of December.
 
We found a new investigator this week named Roberto and he seems really solid. He said the prayer at the end of our first lesson and told heavenly father that he would be coming to church because he had promised him (god) a long time ago that we would go back to church the first time someone invited him to go. When I heard them say that I was SO grateful that we had stopped him on the street to invite him to church. Sure enough, he showed up on Sunday! He even turned down a job offer so that he could come.
 
Remember Enrique? We started teaching him my first week here and he came to church on Sunday for his second time! He wants to get baptized when he gets back from mexico in January. So many people are just SO prepared I can't even believe it. I feel like I can barely keep up with all the work that there is to do. And to make it even harder to keep up, we got put on bikes again. Which I'm secretly very happy about...it just makes it harder to get to more appointments. But I know the Lord will make it all possible.
 
Christmas is coming so soon!! As far as Skype plans, our bishop invited us over to his house to use their computers in the afternoon. We're having a Christmas breakfast as a zone at 1030 so I think after 12 will be the best time. Does that work with everyone's schedule? And where will everyone be? Texas? Utah? I'm planning on using my google account (kristenhope1990@gmail.com) to do a google hangout again. Hopefully that works for everyone! Do you need a specific time?  Maybe we can finalize that next Monday. I can also call you Christmas morning to finalize plans if needed. I can't wait to see everyone!!
 
Speaking of Christmas, a member gave us a huge Christmas tree to put in our apartment. It has lights and we decorated it with pass along cards and it spins in a circle. Life could seriously not get any better!
 
Well I love you all and I'm looking forward to seeing all of you on Christmas!!!! NEXT WEEK! :)
 
Love, Hermana Billings

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