April 1, 2013 - Livermore

Well surprise surprise I'm getting transferred :( But the real surprise is that I'm going to be training!! I do not feel ready to be training a new missionary. At all. Especially white washing a new area...(extra prayers the next couples weeks will be needed). I'll find out tomorrow morning around 10 where I'll be transferred to and then Thursday morning I'll meet my trainee :)

 

This whole week has been soooo busy. More than usual. Sister Barker (roommate) had to get surgery on her hand so we had been driving back and forth to take her to the doctor and then we were in a threesome with Sister Fuimaono. So the three of us were covering four wards for a couple days and it was insane. On Thursday we had four dinners all back to back of eachother. But two of them were with investigators so it was well worth it.

 

Well another surprise that I experienced this week was getting proposed to. There's a first for everything right? I just didn't think that would be something I experienced for the first time while on my mission. Remember Luis? We hadn't seen or heard from him for awhile so we called him as we were about to head out. He said he had been thinking about baptism a lot and that he wanted to be baptized. I was SO excited.....until he asked me to marry him. I told him that it was very inappropriate (well that's what I would have said in English but since I didn't know how to say that in Spanish I just said "Hermano. Eso es muy muy mal" And then I told him what our purpose is as missionaries. I told him that if he still wanted to learn more he needed to call the Elders and he actually took it really well and said he would still like to learn more from them. Sister Wallace thought it was the funniest thing ever and could not stop laughing about it. And she still makes fun of me for it! I didn't find it very funny at the time...but I've been able to laugh about it since then.

 

We've been teaching a woman named Lupita -she's the one that got mad at me for implying that she should find a new job that allows her to come to church on sundays. She said I don't understand because I'm white and I have papers etc.) Anway, we've been teaching her ever since I got here. She has been meeting with the  missionaries for years and tells us every day that we go over there how much she wants to be baptized. She reads the book of mormon and bible with out fail EVERY single day.The reason why she isn't baptized is because she can't come to work on Sundays (work) and isn't married to her "husband". We've been trying to take baby steps with her but she won't even consider coming to church because she doesn't want to lose her job. Sister Wallace has wanted to drop her every since we've been companions but I just didn't have it in my heart and yesterday she came to church!! I was SO shocked to see her there. We hadn't even visited with her this week. She even made her very catholic husband come with her. It made my last day in the mocho branch so much better! It's always worth having hope in something that seems hopeless :)

 

After church I had the worst experience to date on my mission. We were walking outside the mexican tienda and a Jehovas Witness man came up and started talking to us. I know I shouldn't stereotype the religion with how this man was but if I were to never meet a jehovas witness again I would think that they are all horribly mean people like him. I decided that I always have to be a perfect example of how I want people to view the church. If I'm the only church member they every meet I better leave a good impression.  He immediately drove the spirit away and we tried leaving several times but he kept asking us if he could ask us questions. Then he told us that we were way too young to know what we were talking about and that we're too young to know the bible etc. Towards the end of the convo he asked us a question that neither of us really understood. We said sorry but we didn't understand what he was asking so he threw his hands in the air and said we shouldn't be preaching in spanish if we can't speak it and all this other horrible mean stuff. Maybe I shouldn't have said this, because I was angry, but I said "well I'm sorry that we're not perfect but neither are you sir" And then we left but he was still trying to get us to come back. I've never met anyone so mean in my life. And the thing that made me so mad is he was pretending to be nice. Uhhh I'm getting angry even thinking about it again!

 

Well I don't think I"ll have time to write anyone today because I need to finish packing. I'm sending lots of pictures in the next email.  I'll send home my new address in the next weeks email. Letters can be sent to the mission office too:

 3975 McLaughlin Ave Ste. A

San Jose, CA 95121

 

Andrea: HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Sunday!!!!!! I'll get something in the mail next week. But I hope you have an awesome birthday and I can't wait to hear all about it :)

 

Love you all mucho mucho!!

Hermana Billings

March 25, 2013

Although our numbers don't show it...this week was great! First, I want to talk about someone we just barely started teaching. Her name is Graciela. One night, we met the Elders in the McDonald's parking lot to pick something up from them. Right when we got there, Elder Perez said he needed to use the bathroom so we were waiting in our car for them to come out. About 10 min later we got a phone call and the Elders told us to come inside and we met Graciela. She told us she had talked to missionaries before and we asked if we could come visit her. She didn't seem very interested but she said we could so we set an appt for Tuesday @ 130. On Tuesday she went to her friends house to help sew and was debating the whole time while she was there if she should go back home in time to meet with us. She wasn't sure what to do so she said a prayer. She didn't really feel like she got an answer but then at 1 o'clock she said she just stood up to leave. Her friend asked her where she was going and tried to get her to stay but she said "I have to go meet the missionaries". She got home at about 120 and waited for us to get there. She said if we didn't show up by 2 that she was going to leave. Luckily we came and I'm SO glad that we did. Before we knocked on the door I saw a sign that says (in spanish) "This house is Catholic and we do not accept propaganda from any other sects. Jesus Lives (with a picture of mary)" So my thoughts were that this appointment was going to be a waste of time. But I was so wrong.

 

 We explained to her about the book of mormon and she immediately fell in love with it. She said "I KNEW that God was taking care of the people over here too" She told us that she had heard about the Book of Mormon but she didn't know that it was a history of the people who lived here anciently. At the end of the lesson we invited her to prepare for a baptismal date and she ended up talking herself into it. We didn't even have to. It was very humorous actually. She said, "Oh no I can't be baptized I was baptized in the catholic church" Silence "Well I am going to Mexico for awhile. I guess I could get baptized when I come back" Silence "Or Maybe I could meet with the missionaries in Mexico and get baptized there" Silence "Actually I think I want to get baptized before I go back to Mexico" It was awesome. We're not sure when she'll be moving back to Mexico...so we haven't set a date yet. But we're meeting with her again tonight. Since she's moving to mexico she's trying to sell her house so all the missionaries have been helping her paint and it's been a BLAST. And she absolutely has fallen in love with the book of mormon. We'll be painting in one room and she'll be reading in the other and then she'll buy us lunch and we all talk about what she read.

 

On thursday, we were leaving from our lesson with blanca and marco and told them that we were heading up to help someone paint. Marco said he wanted to come help and brought a ton of helpful painting supplies. It was so nice of him to volunteer. It made her so happy to have so many people in her house -her husband recently passed away. I have a huge testimony of service after this week. I could see the impact our service was having in her life. It was like she changed over night. And she said she had never thought to pray before she eats before she met the missionaries but now she does it on her own. Anyway...I could go on and on about her but I'll leave it at that. She's actually the Elders investigator because she lives in their area. But we'll probably end up teaching her a lot since she lives alone. Keep her in your prayers!

 

Oh...One last story about Graciela. The english sisters came with us to paint one day and there was a bottle of green leaves on the table. Sister Barker leaned over to me and asked what it was. I didn't know so I asked Graciela "que es eso?" and she said "Marijuana" and I've never seen Sister Barker's eyes so big haha But don't worry....she only uses it for the outside of her body.

 

On Saturday we had a missionary conference with all the missionaries in my mission and Elder Holland. It was so awesome. We all got to shake his hand and meet him. It was really amazing to receive counsel and guidance directamente from an apostle of the lord. I wrote down a ton of things that he said that I liked but my favorite was "There is no other reason in the world to be here on a mission besides the fact that it is true" It just made me realize that everyone has their reasons for serving a mission. But the only thing that matters is our testimonies of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. It really is all that matters.  Elder packer of the first quorum of the 70 also spoke and he told us that he has committed to giving away one book of mormon every week for the rest of his life. He prays every day to receive an opportunity to give the book to someone and then he asks them if they'll read his favorite book. I definitely want to have a goal like that after my full-time missionary service is over.

 

In district meeting this week, Elder Perez invited us to write a letter to Heavenly Father. As missionaries, we spend so much of our p-day writting letters to family and friends and it was such a neat experience to pull out a piece of paper and write Dear Heavenly Father on it. It changed my perspective with my prayers a lot. It's something I think everyone should try!

 

Gisel and Arturo said that they got to talk to mom and dad. Were you able to find tickets for them? Unfortunately, our branch president didn't know that he could request tickets. That'll be SO awesome if you get to meet them. They're an awesome family. Arturo is the reason why Gisel and her whole family got baptized. He's an awesome missionary and her family is now one of the strongest families in the branch.

 

Mom, Blanca gave me a whole bunch of information that she wants me to send you..health stuff. It reminds me of melaluca. It's called Nature's Valley or Sun Valley. Something like that. But I'm working on getting it in the mail. Also, you should check out the website detoxinista.com I haven't looked at it but a member told me all about it.

 

I spent too much time writting about Graciela so I have to go now! But  this week was great and I can't wait to hear from everyone SOON!!! :)

 

Love, Sister Billings

March 18, 2013

Good morning/afternoon!! Hope everyone had a happy st. patrick's day. Apparently it's not a holiday that the latinos celebrate. I tried to explain it to one of the members in the branch and then I realized that I'm not even sure why we celebrate it.

 

 We finally got to take our bikes out for the first time this week. It was a blast!!!! It's honestly almost as good as going out for a run. The only bad thing is when we get to our appointments we're usually all hot and sweaty. And of course my face is usually bright red. People keep telling me I need to use sun screen and they don't believe me when I say that it's just because I'm hot. So our first day on the bikes was Tuesday or Wednesday (I can't remember) and we had gone about 20 ft when I realized that riding a bike in a skirt is NOT easy. My skirt got caught in the back wheel about 7 times that day and it now has 3 huge burn holes in the back as well as black tire marks. Believe it or not I'll probably keep wearing it too! Also, that same day as we were riding home to get our car for the night a bird pooped on me! I felt something wet hit my leg so I looked down and sure enough...bird poop. I think I made a really good impression on the people walking down the street when I turned around and said "HERMANA! A BIRD JUST POOPED ON ME!" Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how much I love the bikes. No just kidding ....they're wonderful. We told President how much we loved them so he's going to get two more for our apartment (we live with 2 other sisters) so that we won't have to fight over them. I think having four bikes and two cars in our one apartment is a sign that the area might be spliting. Or something. But we'll see in 2 weeks I guess.

 

We had zone conference on Friday and president announced that the first presidency changed the email rules. We now have more time to email on p-days and we can email whoever we want. If we're emailing converts or someone of the opposite sex  living in mission boundaries we just have to get permission from president (ah-hem Matt).  So feel free to give people my email address!! I think I'll still write hand written letters when I have time or in response to those who still write me hand-written letters. But I think emails will save a ton of time.

 

Jessica I do have your new address and I found your letter this morning so I'll write you back today! I hadn't even read it until today!! Letters are like gold...I don't know how I lost it.

 

I can't believe Braden Hess is leaving for his mission. I feel way too old to be out here. Where is he going?

 

Andrea I got your pdf file and it is currently downloading. Hopefully it'll be done downloading so that I can look at a couple pages before my computer time is up. And I got your other letter. Probably the same day that you got mine. I told sister wallace that you lapped me in letter writting and she said "of course you would use a track reference for something like that" I'll write you back today but I won't send it until you comment on my last letter.

 

I'm already out of stuff to say. I guess this week wasn't very exciting! The only thing that I can remember is one of the lesson we had with Blanca and her husband marco. We had a member over (which means the member talks for an hour about everything and anything gospel related...usually starting with tithing or the word of wisdom. Just get it all out in the open is their philosophy I think) and he said that even if they have doubts that it's normal and they're making the best decision etc. and then Blanca cut him off and said "I don't have any doubts" and then she bore her testimony and it was amazing.

 

Oh I forgot...we started working with the YSA in Livermore this week. It was a BLAST. I already really enjoy working with them. We met with the YSA coordinators and I just realized how much help the spanish branch needs. THey're seriously barely staying alive. It was like a breath of fresh air to talk to some of the leaders in the YSA ward. They have so many resources and everyone is so eager and able to help. We've been reallly discouraged with the branch. And now I think even more so. But the branch has the potential to become a properly functioning ward as well. As a spanish speaking missionary I have a feeling that I won't get the opportunity to work with YSA again. So I hope it lasts for a least another transfer. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

 

Well that's it for the week. Feel free to email me and I"ll actually have time to email back!! Have a good week and I love you all :)

 

Love, Hermana Billings

March 11, 2013

I saw and ran a track today for the FIRST time in SIX months! It was absolutely wonderful!!! But it made me miss track a lot. Speaking of track...dad or mom will you email or mail me the news of how the WSU track team did with indoor conference? And other meets throughout the season if you can find them. They'll probably have stuff on the website. Thanks so much!

 

Okay now about the important stuff....We went to the temple with Blanca and her husband on Friday and it was perfect. Blanca got dressed up in her nicest dress. Her husband has only listened in on a couple lessons. Random ones too. I think he was there when we taught tithing and part of the plan of salvation. But at the temple we watched the Joseph Smith movie and afterwards he couldn't stop talking about it. He told us how he had helped build one of the catholic churches when he was young in Mexico and he liked how everyone helped with the temples. He also told us that he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he wants to be baptized with his wife!! It was so unexpected. We haven't set a date yet because we are still trying to figure out their divorce/marriages. They both came to church on Sunday too. Dad wrote me a letter right after we found out that Blanca couldn't get baptized and he said that maybe it was a blessing in disguise so that her whole family could accept the gospel too and I thought "ya right" because they hadn't shown ANY interest at that point. But this really will be such a good step for them to make together. They were both so happy after the temple and so were we.

 

We're still slowly progressing with Ana and her family. They didn't come to church on Sunday though...and they promised us they would. They go to Catholic mass every Saturday, and the kids don't like it so I think it's hard for them to want to sit through 3 more hours of church the next day. But they both know they're going to be baptized. We invited some members of the ward to come visit them with us one night and they asked Ana what made them open the door to the missionaries and Ana explained the "coincidence" of how we met and then said "opening the door to these missionaries was opening the door to christ". She said there was one week that we didn't go visit them at all and she told her husband that she really wanted us to come over. He told her to call us, so she did and we came over the very next day. I was happy to hear that because I sometimes feel like we're intruding. But then I remember that their salvation is at stake.....and that makes me feel less annoying.

 

Every week our goal is to contact 150 people with some sort of pass-along card or invitation etc. and one day, as we were waiting for our car to get an oil change, we contacted a lady sitting on top of a small hill. We gave her a card to receive a free book of mormon and then as we turned to leave sister Wallace tripped on something...not really sure what happened....but she fell over and rolled all the way down the hill to the side walk. It was  a small hill...but still. I think we left a really good impression on her.

 

I think I'm almost caught up with my letter writting so hopefully I'll get back to everyone. The weather here has been AWESOME! Is there still snow there? I think I got sunburned today at the track. By the way, I got pulled over for speeding yesterday. First time in my life! Definitely learned my lesson. The officer was so nice though and didn't even check my liscense, registration or insurance. Then I tried to shake his hand....apparently officers aren't allowed to do that.

 

I hope everyone is doing well and I can't wait to hear from you! Have a good week :)

 

Love, Hermana Billings

March 4, 2013 - Livermore

Thanks for the emails and pictures! The kitchen looks AMAZING!!! I'm excited to see it in person...one day. And I'm sorry that I haven't written anyone the past couple of weeks. There never seems to be enough time, but I'll hopefully get to a couple letters today.

 

This week was really good. I'll talk about Blanca first (but I don't pick favorites). We had a really good book of mormon lesson and then we talked about her baptism and she said she doesn't want to ask her husband to marry her because he should do it. She said "would you propose to your boyfriend?" She made a good point. Then he showed up about ten minutes later and we awkwardly started a conversation about the law of chastity. I never thought I would teach something like that to 50 or 60 year olds. Oh and their 16 year old son was there too. Anyway....he didn't really get it until we said that Blanca couldn't be baptized until they were married. He asked her if she wanted to get married and she said "well I want to get baptized...so yes" then it was silent for a minute and he said "well I don't want to get married" super awkward silence after that....and then he started laughing and said "okay let's get married". The marriage part won't be hard, it's the divorce papers in mexico that will be hard. But very possible. Oh also, we asked marco (blanca's husband is named marco polo...honestly) how he felt about the baptism, meaning blanca's baptism, and he said he wasn't ready YET but that she should do it now. He's super suportive and he loves the members of the church. Blanca had a class for her work on Sunday so she couldn't come to church but marco came all by him self. That family is amazing it makes me so happy. And we have a trip to visit the oakland temple planned this week!

 

As for our other investigators we got a new baptismal date with a woman named maria alforo. We had our second visit with her on Saturday and after we told her about Joseph Smith we asked her what she thought and she said "Well I think it's true". After she said yes to be baptized on March 30 (easter weekend!) she was just glowing. It'll be hard for her to come to church 3 times before her baptism though because of work. But not impossible.

 

I don't have time to talk about all of our investigators so I'll give a quick update on Ana. We dropped by last night and taught them about repantance because she has told us that she feels guilty for a lot of things that she has done and she doesn't know how to forgive herself. We talked about the steps/conditions of repentance and then shared Moroni 8:24-26 where it says the first fruits of repentance are baptism. It was a super super spiritual lesson and the spirit was really strong. I think people forget or don't realize that baptism is the FIRST step to a very long journey. They can't progress without baptism. So many people want to learn more before their baptized but they have their whole lives and eternity to learn what they need to after baptism. Their 9 year old daughter gave the closing prayer and it was sweet and simple but afterwards I felt really strongly to ask Ana to offer a prayer as well. So she did and  I think I felt the spirit stronger during her prayer than I have during any other time on my mission. In her prayer she asked God to help them be baptized soon and then she said really soon. We've asked her so many times to pray about baptism but she never would. I think she was scared about the answer they would receive. Now we just have to help Luis receive his own personal witness as well.

 

President bought us bikes!! We came home from church yesterday and there were two cute blue bikes by our beds! I'm so excited to start riding them around. We still are going to have our cars but he just told us to use them when we can. I'm guessing that they'll start spliting areas pretty soon and more missionaries will need to use the bikes. As soon as we buy helmets I want to ride them to every appointment possible! (I've been craving exercise since Sister Green left)

 

Okay last thing....funny story: Sister Wallace called the dentist to tell them that her teeth have been hurting. They didn't answer so she left a message. She meant to say molars but instead she said (after saying that she was a sister missionary) "I'm having problems with my morals" I started laughing so hard. She tried to say that her morals were fine but she was laughing too hard.

 

Thanks to everyone for the letters/emails. They always make my week! I love you all -les quiero muchisimo!!!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

February 25, 2013 - Livermore

Well this was an exciting week! So remember how I said I would be working in an English ward now as well? We were assigned to the tri-valley YSA ward. Who's surprised that it's the same ward Matt Budge goes to? At this point I wasn't surprised. But of ALL the wards in the world how did we get put in the same ward?? So crazy. Anyway, president knows the situation so he said I'll probably be transferred next transfers. I've been begging him not to transfer me though because I love it here! I'm sure that's how I'll feel in every area that I serve though. I'll let you know in 5 weeks!

 

This weekend we went to three baptisms and they were all awesome. The first one was in Redwood (about an hour away) so that took up most of our afternoon on Saturday. It was for one of Sister Wallace's investigators before she came up here. The next one was later that night for a YSA and we brought Luis (one of our new investigators). He said he enjoyed it but he didn't understand most of it because he only speaks spanish. But our president talked to him afterwards and made him feel really welcome. It was so funny...during the service the YSA bishop asked all of the YSA to stand and Luis stood right up (he's like 60) and sister wallace kind of tugged him back down and said that it was for the "solteros" (singles) and he said "well I am single!" Even if he didn't understand the whole service...the spirit speaks the same language for everyone!!

 

After the baptism president took the two zones (pleasanton and livermore) out to dinner at chilli's. He's such a nice guy! But we stayed out until 11! I couldn't believe president let us stay out that long. I was getting so anxious too because we still hadn't planned. Sunday morning at 8 we had our third baptism and it was soooo special. The spanish elders have been teaching him and he's actually been investigating the church for 7 years. I'm not sure what condition he has, but he stopped breathing once for 2 hours and he's not supposed to be under water (because he's not supposed to hold his breath) so he was so scared to get baptized. He's also very old and can't really support his body weight. They had to let him sit on a chair in the water and he was really embarrassed so he only invited us and the person doing the baptism (somehow other people found out about it from the branch and showed up too though). Anyway, they had to re-do the baptism a couple times because he was too scared to go all the way under. Plus, the man doing the baptism is 4'11 and the man getting baptized is over 6 feet tall. Eventually one of the witnesses got in the water too to help. It was a very intimate and special and spiritual baptism.

 

Sunday was absolutely awesome! We had 6 investigators at church! Blanca hasn't missed a week but when we walked into Sunday school she wasn't there and I was so shocked/sad. So I called her to ask where she was and she said she was coming but they were going to be late because she was not leaving her house without her family this time. Sure enough, 15 minutes later Blanca showed up with just about her whole family. She is so awesome! I don't think any of them were very happy that they were there...but she was determined to bring them. She doesn't want to wait any longer for her baptism so she told us that if her husband comes to church she knows he'll want to get married in this church (not in the temple...blanca just wants the branch president to do it in the chapel). At the end of sacrament her husband was going around hugging everyone and saying "Hermano!" So I think he liked it?

 

Another neat thing about church this Sunday was one of the members that we have been working with paid his tithing for the first time! His 7 year old daughter has been setting a very good example for him with this and when he asked us for help to pay his tithing I just about cried. Hopefully he'll be ready to baptized his daughter in October.

 

As for the rest of our investigators they're all progressing at different rates. Ana and her family have pretty much reached a stand still but we're not giving up. We got a lot of new investigators (6) this week that we're excited about. We had an awesome member present with Poli Sosa (the short man that did the baptism on Sunday morning) and Luis. Poli bore his testimony about how to receive answers to prayers and said that the only place he could pray, when he was investigating the church, was in the bathroom. He said everytime he goes into the bathroom now he feels the spirit so strong. It took every muscle strength I had not to laugh at that. Luis keeps saying that he wants to be like the members of the church but that he can't because he drinks/smokes sometimes and Poli pointed out that just about every single member of the branch used to be alcoholics/addicted to drugs including the 2nd counselor.

 

I have so much admiration for the members of the branch! They've gone through so much not only to get here to America but to be members of this church. I've heard lots of stories that I wish I had time to share but I don't...so just know that they're amazing. And so are our investigators that are trying so hard to change.

 

I'm working on writing people back...I'm super behind I'm sorry! But I absolutely love hearing how everyone is doing and I hope to hear from you all again soon. Thanks for everyone's support and prayers...you're all in my prayers as well as the prayers of a lot of people here (they pray for our families all the time!) I hope everyone has a good week!

 

Love, Hermana Billings

February 19, 2013 - Livermore

Hello Family! I swear all of the holiday's fall on Monday so we have to wait until Tuesday to email. Yesterday was so busy though! I don't think we would have even had time to email. For our zone activity we did a BBQ at the park by our apartment and it took pretty much all day. We also had to go to the chiropractor because my hips have been hurting...and now after going to the doctor to fix them they hurt 10 times worse! I'm so sore!!. Dad did you pass your bad hips on to me? Actually, he said it's my I-tband (iliotibial band) from running. He told me to come in and use their foam roller as often as I can. Too bad I didn't pack the one that Matt gave me for Christmas!

So first of all, last week I bought myself a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day because I didn't think I'd be getting anything. I didn't think anyone would remember me on such a wanna-be holiday but I still really wanted chocolate! But then I got Mom's package of chocolate and the card and it made me SO happy!!! Thanks so much Mom and Dad :)  Andrea I did get your letter and the heart from Boston. Tell him I absolutely LOVE it. It's in my journal now. I read your talk during personal study one day and I really enjoyed. It was a really good talk! And I learned a lot so thanks for sending me a copy. I also got a special delivery surprise from Matt (I'll send a picture of what he sent). However, with NO letter. I realized how awesome gifts are as a missionary but how letters are so much better. Feel free to forward that on to him somebody? (Oh, also someone tell Matt that the other Sister Billings got transferred today so hopefully there will be less confusion! haha His bishop met the other sister Billings and thought it was me). But anyway, thanks to everyone for remembering me on el dia del amor :) 

We found out this morning that we get to cover another ward. I'm so excited!!! We're going to have so much more to do...I hope. Right now we teach a lot of the same people as the elders who cover Mocho Branch with us so hopefully this will help. But it's an english ward...which is fine because we'll still be involved alot with the Spanish. And hopefully, with a bigger area (we're covering the tri-valley now aka livermore, dublin, pleasanton and san ramon), we'll contact more latinos in the surrounding area. 

Okay as for our investigators: we got three new awesome investigators! The first one is Luis and he tells everyone that he meets that we wants to be like the members of the church. Every time he tells us that he wants to be like us we remind him that he really wants to be more like Jesus Christ. And he gets that. But he calls us his angels. I think He'll progress really fast. He texts or calls us almost every single day to ask when he can have another lesson and he's reading the book of mormon like crazy. However, we assigned him to read Alma 32 the first time we met with him and the next time we met with him he just kept saying "Who's Alma??!" Apparently starting from the beginning of a book is the practical thing to do. Who would have known? But we learned our lesson. 

Our other new investigators are Maria and Patricia. I don't have time to talk about them much but they're awesome! Blanca is still doing wonderful. I don't know how I'm going to be able to leave her so hopefully it's not anytime soon. The elders (who are teaching Blanca's son now) said that they're really surprised how much he knows about the book of mormon already. They think he was listening in a lot to our lessons with his mom. Awesome! Maybe they'll end up getting baptized together. We're still working on her husband though.

I just have to tell this funny and slightly inappropriate story real fast...we were eating dinner at a members house and they have a dog. Someone asked them (in english) "does your dog shed a lot" but to latinos "d" and "t" sound very similar so he went on to talk about how often his dog goes to the bathroom. Everyone was laughing. 

Dad thanks so much for your letter! I really like hearing about your and mom's stories. Especially because you two were about my age when all of it took place so I like putting myself in your shoes. But I laughed so hard when I read the first line. Elephants??? hahaha

Last thing, a light bulb finally went on in my head about my purpose in the mocho branch. I kept getting frustrated because there are so few people willing/able to help with visits and activities etc. and how even the really active members don't see why it's important to come to church/pay tithing.I felt like the missionaries were doing everything but then I realized that I'm not here for them to help me...I'm here to help them. I guess I thought my purpose was to bring new people into the branch and the current members had the responsibilty to help us to do that. but then I realized that I'm here to help this branch. It changed my whole perspective. If onliy I had realized this 2 transfers ago!

Well we have to go but thank you so much for everything! I hope to hear from everyone soon. I didn't have time to write any letters yesterday but I will try to next week. 
Con amor,
Hermana Billings

February 11, 2013 - Livermore

Hola mi familia! Mom thanks so much for sending the baptism picture. I showed it to Blanca and she loved it! I'm going to get it laminated so I can always bring it with me. I also really really liked your letter with your baptism entry. And dad, I'm looking forward to getting yours. Thanks to both of you! And yes, I still need you to send letters to Matt. I sent one to his mom in January but I haven't heard back from him yet. The next one I write I'll probably send to you guys so that not one person has to do it every time. But who knows...maybe I'll be transferred! Probably not though. We have transfers next week (week 5) because......I'm not sure why actually. All I know is this transfer is only five weeks long. Something to do with all of the new missionaries coming in.

 

This week was really productive and yesterday we had 4 investigadores at church! :) I was so happy. Blanca came...she hasn't really missed a week but I still love to see her there. Her husband and son are starting to take more of an interest in learning the gospel. The elders have been teaching her 17 yeard old son so I hope he starts coming to church as well. Ana, Luis and Diana were the other investigadores that came. It was fast Sunday (because of stake conf) so they got to hear a lot of really good testimonies. I felt like everyone who bore their testimony said exactly what I felt like Ana and Luis needed to hear. They said "next time we come, we'll wear nicer clothes" I didn't care that they were wearing jeans I was just happy that they said "next time". And most of the active members in the branch wear jeans to church so I didn't even notice that they weren't dressed up.

 

 

Blanca seemed really happy that there were other "new" people at church. When she saw them walk in she asked me if they were new too. I said yes and she got a huge smile on her face. Then she leaned over and told Ana "I'm still learning too. We're the same." It was so nice of her. Then she asked me how many people we teach and I said we try to get 25 lessons every week and I showed her my list of people and pointed out her name and she got an even bigger smile and said "Oh I'm number 1!" She reads more than a few chapters from the book of mormon every day and is learning SO much on her own. And she's already made friends with several people in the ward. Blanca invited us over to a members house for dinner this Thursday and I was trying to figure out how the tables had turned. But it's great!  Oh and apparently there is something wrong with my pancreas? That's what blanca tells me just about everytime she sees me. She works for some health company (it's kind of like meleluca. And the owner is mormon) so she said she's going to get me something.

 

Ana and her family will hopefully have a baptismal date this week. They know the Book of Mormon is true and they know they need to be baptized but they're not ready to commit because they know that means they have to give up a lot of stuff. But I'm happy they're at least taking baptism seriously. When they do decide to be baptized I know they'll be strong members.

 

We got a surprise baptismal date from a woman named Patricia. We met her in the parking lot leaving one of our dinner appts, got her address and then stopped by a few days later (yesterday). She was baptized in the catholic church but has never really gone to church or read the bible. She has really strong faith in christ though and prays everyday. She's been through SO much but is still so happy and didn't let her trials become her. She's used the atonement in her life without even knowing it. We taught the restoration, and to be honest it wasn't our best lesson. We were jumping around a lot and barely even mentioned Joseph Smith but somehow the spirit was really strong. We intorduced the book of mormong, asked her to read it, invited her to be baptized on march 16 and she said yes. I'm so amazed at the faith these people have! Getting them to commit to baptism is not hard...getting them to church is another story.

 

Martin is still the happiest person in the world. Super excited to learn and be baptized but he works SO much. He makes an honest effort to meet with us as often as he can and he's going to try and get work off every other Sunday. We might have to move his baptism date but for now it's still March 16.

 

There's a talk that I want to recommend for everyone. It's called "The Hesitant Missionary" by Elder Uchtdorf. He talks about how anyone and everyone can and should be a missionary.  I don't know where the week went...I feel like we did so much but I can't think of anything else to share.

 

Well Dad said he wanted to hear more about my companion so here it is: (I'll send a pic today) She can do any type of accent and it's hillarious! She always makes me laugh. She's VERY dramatic and loves to exaggerate. She loves to talk, especially to tell stories and make people laugh. She hates to run. Especially outside (we've been doing exchanges with the other Sister Billings sometimes) but she has done a couple of treadmill workouts with me too. She always makes me a fruit smoothie in the morning while I'm exercising. She makes super yummy mango salsa. (Side note: I learned how to make floutas! They're the best thing ever. Mom especially would love them. I'll make them for everyone in 14 months) And she's been helping me a lot with my spanish. Hopefully that helps!

 

I pray for everyone every day and I hope all is well back home! Can't wait to hear from all of you :)

Love, Hermana Billings

February 4, 2013 - Livermore

Yesterday was my four month mark! How can I only have 14 months of my mission left? Well first things first....Blanca didn't get baptized :( But she will one day really soon. We spent the first half of the week planning the baptism, making tons of phone calls and getting everything scheduled. Then on Wednesday as I was praying before starting my personal morning studies I just all of a sudden knew that she wasn't legally married to her husband. We had taught her the law of chastity and asked if her and her husband of 20 years with children were married and she said yes. So we weren't worried. But I told sister wallace what I felt so we called Blanca and asked her if they were legally married and she said no. It was sad to tell her that she couldn't be baptized especially because she is so ready. She reads from the book of mormon everyday and always picks up on the things that usually we have to point out to people. For example, she said "well in the book of mormon it says there really are only two churches. The devils church and Gods church. And I want to belong to Gods church." Anyway she was supposed to talk to her "husband" yesterday to find out if he is legally divorced from his first wife. If he is, they'll get married and she'll probably still be baptized this month. If he's not....I might not be here for her baptism. But she came to church yesterday and her son is going to start meeting with the elders.

 

As for some of our other investigators...we have a new investigator named Martin that is just the happiest person in the world and every time we teach him or talk to him I just want to smile. He accepted a baptismal date for March 16. People seem really willing to accept baptismal dates and believe in living prophets and read the book of mormon but they don't understand the importance of coming to church. Especially why they need to go to this particular church. It's frustrating. They believe everything we say and everything they feel but they don't act on what they've learned. As of right now, Martin is the only baptismal date that we have. His work schedule just changed so that he has to work on every sunday. So unless there's a miracle and he comes to church 3 times before March 16 we'll probably have to drop/change his date too.

 

We were teaching one of our investigators named Lupita, who has been investigating the church forever and wants to be baptized in THIS church only but will not come to church and we tried everything we could think of to get her to come but she just kept saying "nope I can't. I have to work" We talked about asking God to provide different work, or for a way for her boss to let her have some/all sundays off etc. and finally she just looked at me and said "all this is so easy for you to say because you're white, you speak english, you're young and you have papers" It made me feel so bad because she's right. It's so easy for me to live the gospel because I can find jobs that will allow me to go to church every sunday. Especially in Utah. So I feel blessed. But at the same time I wish there were something I could do for those that don't have the same opportunity to just quit their job and work somewhere else. In her mind, going to church is the difference of having food to eat and a place to live. They're never going to take my word for it that they just need to have faith that god will bless them if they go to church because they know I don't understand the risk.

 

We visited another man named Angel who is actually being taught by the elders right now. He's been receiving lessons from them a lot but he said he felt something different with us. He said he thinks, because we have had to learn spanish so quickly (Elder Perez is native) that we have a lot of faith and humility. It was a really spiritual lesson. But as we were leaving I went to shake his hand and he gave me a big hug. Oops...and I reacted in the most awkward way ever. I didn't know what to do! Nothing too interesting has happened with many of our other investigators. We had an AWESOME lesson with ana and luis and they promised to come to church...but they didn't come. We've been spending a lot of time in Dublin and Pleasanton (the 2 surrounding cities of LIvermore) because as our mission leader said, "Livermore is just a bunch of dry wells" The elders only cover Livermore so we've been trying to find new people to teach in the other cities. No luck this week...but we have hope for this next week.

 

Yesterday, we had stake conference and Elder L. Tom Perry spoke about missionary work. It was awesome! I hope everyone is helping the missionaries in your wards: giving referencias, dinners etc. It really helps a lot. And he talked about the importance of knowing Ch 3 in preach my gospel. Look up the scriptures etc. and learn how the missionaries are taught to teach lessons. Preach my Gospel really is awesome and so helpful. Anytime our lessons stray from what it says in Preach My Gospel, I don't feel the spirit as strong.  The members really need to be the full time finders so that the missionaries can be the full time teachers.

 

I think I'm finally getting to the point where Spanish comes easily. I still have a lot to learn though. But we were walking through a parking lot one day and I contacted someone in English. I got about half way through explaining the Book of Mormon and my brain completely switched to Spanish in the middle of my sentence and started talking in Spanish. I realized that I was talking in Spanish but I couldn't remember how to say anything in English. I just stood there in silence for a min until Hermana Wallace came to the rescue. It was so embarrassing. Luckily the guy was nice.

 

I got some letters from the youth in the home ward and they made my day! Dad make sure to tell Brother Peters thank you. I remember writing letters to the missionaries when I was in YW and I never thought I would be on the receiving end. Plus I feel like I was in YW just last year. Time goes by so fast. Will someone also tell Karla and Aysia thanks SO much for the stamps. They are perfect gifts :)

 

Andrea, will you send an email with a picture of that elmo cake you made for Boston's birthday one year? A sister in my branch wants to make one for her sons birthday. I gave her your blog address but I don't know if she'll be able to find it.

 

Mom, you don't need to send the whole journal from the tan family. Unless it's small. But some pictures would be good. And you could just type in an email some of the things I wrote like you already did. I'm excited to hear about your baptism. Maybe dad could said some of his journal entries from his baptism too. They'd be interesting to read.

 

Dad I thought you might like this quote because it talks about how in reality our bodies are just housing our bodies. It was for some word of wisdom youth acitivity they did at the church "If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?"

 

Okay well I think that's all I have for this week. Can't wait to hear from everyone soon! Have a good week

Love, Hermana Billings

January 28, 2013 - Livermore

Hola famlia! This week went by faster than any other week in the mission I think. I think time speeds up the longer I've been out. If I would have had an entire mission like my first 3 months I would have said missions are easy but the past week proved me wrong. As far as investigators go, no one really is progressing. Besides Blanca. She is still planning on being baptized this Saturday (Feb 2) so we've been busy planning for that. I hope everything works out and goes according to plan. Extra prayers for Blanca are definitely welcome!! Our last lesson with her (tithing) was with her husband and he readily accepted paying tithing. I think one day soon he'll like to investigate the church like his wife. And I hope he makes it to her baptism. Blanca bore testimony about Joseph Smith to her husband and it was awesome! Did I already tell you that she chose the stake president to do her baptism? I still think that's funny. But when I asked him, he was more than willing to help out.

We got a lot of new investigators this week- I think about 9. All of them were former investigators that we found in our area book. Hopefully there will be some baptismal dates coming up soon. Erika (who had a baptismal date) didn't come to church on Sunday so we had to drop her date. And we haven't heard from Pedro since Christmas. It was actually kind of funny with Erika on Sunday. I texted her to see if she was coming to church and she said "Ya I'm going to church at 12" but our church starts at 10:15 so I asked which church she was going to and she was like "Oh it matters which one I go to?" haha she thought she could just go to any church. She ended up not coming to ours because it was too long of a drive (10-15 min) and she wanted to go closer to her house.

I had my first zone conference last week and it was a really good experience. My mission president really is awesome. He talked a lot about finding the lost sheep and said "whether you bring them in (baptism) or brring them back (re-activiating), it's the same." Especially in our branch there are SO many less actives. Everyone that we have visited has such a strong testimony but they aren't converted enough to come to church every Sunday. The day of zone conference it rained all day! We were walking down the street that night and I stepped into the biggest puddle because it was pitch black and looked just like the road. I think it almost reached my skirt.  I also dropped our huge area book with 10 years of important information in a puddle the same day. And that was actually one of the best days of the week!

Actually today was the best day of the week....we played indoor soccer for our zone activity! The assistants also made me copies of p90x so I've been doing that every morning and I love it!

Even though the work was hard this week, I still love being out here as a missionary. I just hope I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. As far as I know, I am. Mom do you have a picture of my baptism? If you do, could you send it to me? I don't know if I kept a journal back then, but if you find a journal entry of something I wrote that day (Sept 5, 1998) I'd like to have that too. I have a few memories of that day but I'd like to share more with my investigators.

Dad thanks for your email this week. It sounds like Texas was a lot of fun...and very busy with home improvements. I remember every time I would watch the "tim the tool man taylor" show I would always think of you. I'm glad you are able to do so many home improvements for our family though. It definitely comes in handy! And oddly enough...I've had the EXACT same thoughts about left and right. But I've never really been able to explain it. Sometimes I just feel exactly like what you said "a spirit having a mortal experience".

I have birthday presents for Ethan and Boston...and Alex. Even though it's not his birthday I don't want him to feel left out. I remember how traumatizing that is as a kid! But I"m not sure if I'll have time to send them off today. Well I hope everyone is doing great and I can't wait to hear from all of you soon!

Love, Hermana Billings

January 22, 2013 - Livermore

Last week felt like THE LONGEST week ever! And So much changed. So first things first....I really miss Hermana Green. I didn't realize how much I loved her until she left. It was so easy to do anything and everything because we always had the same opinions/desires/attitude etc. But I know I'm supposed to be with my new companion for a reason and Sister Green is supposed to be in her new area. I've already learned so much from my new companion in this one week. Her name is Hermana Wallace from Alpine, Utah. She has 8months in the mission. Her Spanish is really good and we only talk to eachother in Spanish so I know that will help me with the language a lot. She is a theater major at Utah State. We're very different in almost every aspect but we still get a long fine.

 

It sounds like Texas was a lot of fun. Thanks for the email/update mom. I'm excited to see pictures! So is the kitchen completely done? It sounds like it. It's starting to warm up here. How's the weather in Utah? Still cold and snowy? And how is Justin doing? Jessica thanks so much for the piano tips! They are really useful. I teach Thursday nights about 10 kids (they only get 15 min each on the piano and then sister wallace teaches them beat and rythm for 15 min). I'll let you know if I have any more questions. They're all pretty beginner though. Tell Ethan thanks for the picture! I loved it. And it looks exactly like Mom and Dad's house...I was impressed. Tell him yes, my car is white. I have been saving up all the mexican candy I get to send home to the nephews one day. I'm not sure they'll like it....they put chilli powder on everything.

 

Speaking of the newphews- my president said that I can listen to recordings of them on my pday and watch videos of them. I don't know how you'd send that though. But if you figure it out...be my guest! I would love to hear peoples voices. I don't know if I'd be able to send anything back though.

 

Okay so here's an update of my week: Blanca wants to change her baptismas date to February 2 instead of February 16. We're still trying to get it worked out because that's the same weekend as stake conference. I'm happy she's so eager to be baptized though. I had a big zit on my forehead one day and she looked so concerned and asked Que paso!? (what happened?!) haha I didn't know how to say zit in spanish. But she taught me. She's really into health and medicine so she told me how to get rid of them. It went away before I could try it though. I'll try it next time and see if it works. I think it's hot water and garlic? Anyway, blanca will be going to slc for a conference for her work (her boss is lds and served a spanish speaking mission) the same weekend as general conference. So I want to try and get her tickets and it'd be awesome if you all got to meet her! I don't know how likely that is. And you definitely wouldn't be able to communicate with her unless someone knows how to speak spanish and never told me. Hopefully we can figure out the details for her baptism today because Febrero 2 is soon!

 

One thing I learned about the mexican culture is if they invite you to dinner/lunch/breakfast it is a HUGE insult to pay for yourself. A member invited us to mcdonalds for breakfast so I went up, ordered and paid and he was so offended. I felt bad. I told him that it's different with Americans (which I don't know if that's even true) so he felt a little better. But he stil gave me cash for my breakfast. Then he said "If a mexican wants to buy you food, let them buy you food". Oops. Now I know. Speaking of food....I ate cow stomach. Gross? Yes. It's called menudo. And it's rubbery and gross. I like most of the mexican food now but that is something I don't think I will ever like no matter how many times I eat it.

 

This is random but every time we're in the church I see the plaques for all the missionaries serving and I'm so sad that I don't have one. Dad can you ask someone about that? And everyone always talks about their "plaque scripture" and when they ask me what mine is I don't have one.

 

We are not going to teach Apolinar anymore and he dropped his baptismal date. He said he wants to read the entire book of mormon before he gets baptized. He loves scriptures. I think it's great that he wants to read the whole book of mormon. Maybe not neccesarily before he gets baptized but I think it's still a good goal. Anyway our lesson last night with him was horrible. The elders were there too so that they could take over and none of us knew where the lesson was going. To be honest, I"m not even sure what we talked about or what our purpose was. It was so sad. Whatever the lesson was it definitely wasn't from preach my gospel so I didn't feel like a missionary. Then we didn't get home til 945 because we lost our phone. Last night was the second time we've been late for curfew and I hate breaking the rules!

 

Ana and her family are still reading the book of mormon but they haven't come to church. It's interesting because at first Ana was progressing really fast but louis wasn't that interested and now it's switched. I've been surprised at how well I know the area without Hermana Green. Plus the GPS helps a lot too obviously. I finished my journal already! But I had a package of refil paper so when I need more I"ll let you know.

 

Well I hope everyone is doing great! You're all in my prayers and I can't wait to hear from you soon.

Love, Hermana Billings

 

ps- are we in a third world war? We saw protesters on the street that said "impeach obama stop WW3" ??? I'm so out of the loop!

January 14, 2013 - Livermore

So nobody warned me about transfers!! We got a call Saturday night saying sister green is being transferred :( I'm so sad! And she cried all night...and all day at church yesterday too. We were so shocked because she's my trainer and training is supposed to last 12 weeks. I'm so nervous to have to teach someone else about an area that I don't even know very well yet! Extra prayers this week please?? :) We are going to San Jose tomorrow to meet our new companions and then I'll return back to Livermore and Sister Green will go to her new area with her new companion.

 

Other than transfers, this week was really good. Oh I have a funny story...so my bed doesn't have a frame it's just matresses stacked on top of eachother so they slide around a lot. One night I had one of those falling dreams except I really did fall off the bed and my matress fell on top of me. Sister Green woke up and we both just started laughing our heads off. It was funny, but in the moment I was scared to death!

 

We started piano classes last week and it was so fun to teach the little kids about piano. I'm definitely not as good of a teacher as Sister Johnson was with me though. We also started volunteering at English as a Second Language classes and I absolutely LOVE that. There are people in there that speak all sorts of different languages but most of them speak Spanish. I love being able to speak both so that I can help and I can't wait to learn more Spanish. It made me want to be a teacher....maybe I'll teach elementary spanish? Who knows. Also,  The relief society president was telling me about medical translating and it's definitely something I want to look into when I get home.

 

My 100th day in the mission was on....Friday? I can't remember which day...but one of the days. We celebrated by making the gluten free pancackes that mom sent with the yummy maple syrup :) Sooooooo good. I love mexican food but the american food really hits the spot.

 

On Thursday we went down to San Jose for a Sister's Retreat. I told you President spoils the sisters right? We listened to some talks about sisters and then had "exercise time" (yoga-- which is not exercise. At least not how we did it.) And then we had lunch. Sister Watkins made a salad that tasted comparable to zupas! Loved it. Then we got our pillows and blankets and listened to stories about Joseph Smith. Sister watkins went to a whole bunch of stores and bought tons of new clothes. They were on a whole bunch of tables and we could just choose which we wanted. So I got lots of fun new clothes!! It was like shopping for free.

 

Okay now for our investigators....Blanca is doing AWESOME and we asked her if she'd like to move her date up. She's been to church twice and she told her teacher this last Sunday that she has to miss all of her classes on Sunday so that she can come to church. She also came to a baptism with us on Saturday so she could see what they're like. It was in English so she didn't understand very much but at least she got to feel the spirit and see the ordinance. Everytime someone would ask her when she's getting baptized she would say "feb 16 or sooner". So she's definitely considering moving it up but she's worried she doesn't know enough. She makes really awesome comments during church though and we've taught her all of the lessons. We got a surprise new baptism date with Erika. I don't know if i've even mentioned her before. We hadn't seen her for awhile but we felt like we needed to. We taught the plan of salvation and the spirit was really strong as we were talking about the atonement. She said she doesn't even remember her baptism because she was a baby. We shared moroni 8 with her and then invited her to be baptized and she said yes! And I was lucky enough to extend the invitation. It was definitely a prompting from the spirit. Something that I'm recognizing more and more everyday. Her date is feb 16 also. Two other investiagators accepted baptism but without a date- Eva and Sylvia. I'll tell you more about them once we get a date this week. It's impossible to get lessons in with Sylvia. She just likes to cook for us. Her food is my favorite though! We met with Ana and her family and really stressed the importance of the book of mormon and baptism. THeir 8 year old daughter said she wants to be baptized and the parents were so shocked. I think it softened the heart of louis though and he was almost trying to talk ana into it. But neither of them commited and we haven't heard from them since. We're not giving up though. Haven't heard much from Apolinar either but we're giving him to the elders because we can't meet with him unless we have another sister so it's be more beneficial for him to have the elders teach him.

 

Yesterday I gave a talk in Spanish for 20 minutes! I used to not even be able to do that in English haha but I prayed for help and I know I received it. I honestly don't know what I said or if I even made sense but I did my best and that's all I can do! It was fun though and I enjoyed it. I also played the piano for a musical number  (6 elders sand brightly beams our father's mercy) in the departing missionary devotional in San Jose last night. All of the departing missionaries bear their testimonies and it was really neat to see. The ones that speak SPanish usually bear their testimony in Spanish and one elder started bearing his in Spanish but was throwing in words that aren't really words just like jibberish so everyone that spoke Spanish was laughing and all the English people were so confused and then a cute litte grandma sitting in front of me said, "All the jokes are in Spanish!" haha it was so funny. I think that's exactly what the elder was trying to do and it worked.

 

Jessica thanks for the pictures! Your house is so cute :) I can't wait to see it when it's done and the boys look so grown up! How funnnnn! And I hope everyone in Texas is enjoying the warm weather. It's probably warmer there than here for sure. Can't wait to see pictures of the trip and hear everything you did. Andrea I sent a letter to your old address last week so I hope you get it but I have your new address now. Thanks for the letter :)

 

Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Love, Hermana Billings

 Pictures to come in the next emails!