Hola todas! Como estan??? I should be getting better at this, but I'm not. I'll try to squeeze this week into this email quickly but it'll be tough. I should probably just stop apologizing.
Monday - Last night in Castro Valley. We tried contacting a few people but couldn't get a hold of them. We had Family Home Evening with the Schaffer family - they have three teenage daughters. Actually, one of them is only 11 but she looked like she was 15. My sister Mia is 11 and she definitely didn't look like Mia's age. It was good because I didn't have to say goodbye to any of my investigators; I already did that - twice - and that's one of the hardest parts of being a missionary. They're a great family though - we talked about the doctrine of Christ. One of their daughters is planning on serving a mission and another is struggling with her testimony. We discussed all the steps of the doctrine of Christ: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We wrapped it all up by watching this video and talking about missionary work. It was a very powerful lesson and the Spirit was so strong. If you have a minute and haven't seen this video, watch it.
Tuesday - Transfer day. Always crazy. It's fun because we get to see a lot of people but packing and moving and switching all your luggage to another car and unpacking - it's all a little draining. And that afternoon, we were out and about having lessons with our investigators. First we met Ramona. Her son joined the church a while back and referred her to us. She has a lot of health problems and her husband is abusive. I was expecting a sad woman but she was in pretty good spirits and we were able to teach her all about the Restoration and she prayed out loud! Teaching people to pray here in Spanishland is difficult because most of them are Catholic so they are used to saying memorized prayers. We also met with a recent convert, Rosa, and another investigator, Raquel. They both have the most adorable kids EVER. Rosa has three kids - Rosita, Valeria and a bebe (I don't know his name). Raquel has FIVE kids under the age of 10, single mom and PREGNANT. But she's amazing - she has so much faith. We're teaching her and her 9-year-old son Giovani and they're getting baptized this Sunday! We're so excited. Planning baptisms is a tad bit stressful but they are the greatest experiences.
Wednesday - All of our plans fell through. We did go running around Lake Merritt for our exercise - it's about 3 miles around and we're hoping to get to the point where we can run around the whole lake. But it means we have to wake up a little bit earlier......so we'll see. Nothing super exciting happened Wednesday, but we had an awesome tour at the Visitors' Center that night. Some missionaries brought in their investigator Wilmer. His girlfriend of 12 years is a very less active member but she has two kids serving missions right now. It was a very powerful tour in which she bore her testimony and her desire to return to church. It's so amazing to see how the examples of her sons brought her back to the fold - missionary work really blesses everyone. During this tour, Wilmer also accepted a baptismal date. I'm not comfortable with Spanish yet - nowhere near as this is my first Spanish area - but the Spirit makes up for the words I lacked and I was able to feel it so strong in that room. They came all the way from San Fran so I'm not sure if I'll see this family again, but it's amazing how helping everyone come closer to Jesus Christ creates this immediate bond of love. I'll never forget that tour.
Thursday - Jueves. Ay ay ay. So....we woke up and left the apartment to do exercise - and found that our car had been broken into. In our parking garage. So no exercise for us that day. They had broken the drivers window, and they stole our GPS, a 72-hour kit and - we think - our map. Our elders live in the apartment complex right next to ours so they came and cleaned it up all the glass for us. So that just started the crazy day. We had a district meeting after our shift at the VC and then we were late to dinner with Elder and Sister Wiese, one of the senior couples that works at the VC with us. They actually attend our Spanish ward even though they don't know any Spanish. They're the best and they invited us over because Sister Ivey's birthday was the next day. After we went and bought a map and decided to go home and do our weekly planning - driving around at night without knowing where we were going didn't sound like a good idea haha.
Friday - Today was Sister Ivey's birthday!!! I didn't plan for it very well because transfers were crazy and I didn't even think about it, but I made her breakfast. I wish I could have done more, but it was fun to be companions again for her birthday! We're also going to be companions for our halfway mark at the end of this transfer! So it's fun. We've been working hard but we've had a lot of fun. The elders in our area give us a lot of referrals for single women because they can't visit them and they realize we have limited time to contact in our area because we're always working at the VC. So we have tons of people to see all the time and we're keeping busy. But her birthday started off pretty well. We saw Ramona - she wasn't as happy as before. We brought her a big Libro de Mormon to read - she hadn't been reading because it was too small. Unfortunately, we found out that she's moving back to Mexico in one week. We're going to continue talking to her through the Visitors' Center, but we're so sad to see her go! One thing that I REALLY love about working in Oakland Spanishland......most of the Spanish speakers that come to the VC live in Oakland! We met Maria and Maria Esmeralda (everyone is named Maria in this place) at the VC. Maria already had a Book of Mormon but wanted a large print, and Maria Esmeralda wanted a Book of Mormon. We're going to stop by this week and set up a time to see them! We are SO blessed in this area - and there are prepared people everyone, but the Visitors' Center helps us find them easier :)
Saturday - I don't really know where to start with Saturday. So many things happened. First of all....news from Celestial Valley. The lady that we contacted by finding her stray dogs? My old companion Sister Li and her new companion Sister Pena set up a return appointment to go see her! I'm excited to see what happens there - I definitely felt prompted by the Spirit to turn down that road so we'll see what comes out of it. Also...my recent convert's friend Noelle, who I taught when I went back to Castro Valley, is getting baptized June 15th! I'm so excited - I'll get to go back for it! I absolutely love baptisms. Also, my aunt Jami and cousin Daniel came to the VC. I didn't expect to see them at all so it was a nice surprise! Daniel leaves in August to serve a mission in the Dominican Republic - that's so crazy! That'll almost be my year mark! I don't want to think about that right now. Another VC story - two Hispanics came to the VC after trying to get into the temple. The temple workers sent them to us to "learn how to get a temple recommend". So that's how we met Orlando and Veronica. They live in Oakland and they want to come to church even though they know NOTHING about it - they just want to go to the temple. They didn't make it to church this Sunday but the elders are going to contact them. Miracles happen all the time at the VC, especially when you work in the Oakland Spanish program! We taught Raquel a quick lesson about the law of tithing - she had no problems with it. She's so ready for her baptism, it's not even funny. Last but definitely not least......I finally got to see a Latino party. Holy. Cow. Everyone says they have crazy parties, but I had no idea! Our ward had a party for Mother's Day - they had a DJ, professional dancers and stand-up comedy (which I couldn't understand). TONS of people showed up, and a lot of them weren't even members. We were there for three hours, and have a few potential investigators as a result, but when we left it was STILL going strong. I couldn't believe it. Our ward is going all out for the 30th anniversary of the creation of the ward next month and I just hope I'm still around for it!
Sunday - Mother's Day started out perfectly with a call home. It was so good to talk to everyone. It was a little hard to snap back into the work after starting the day talking to my family but that quickly changed. We had meetings and then church from 2-5 where I met way too many members and I couldn't focus well enough to understand what everyone was saying. Then we had the VC. We gave another Spanish tour for missionaries who brought in their investigator who was preparing for baptism, along with his recent convert wife, and his mom and brother who are both non-members. Once again, I felt the Spirit so strong. I know that when we rely on the Lord to make up for those things that we can't do, we can feel His guidance in our lives. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and teach in Spanish. It requires a lot of prayers but I've felt the answers to those prayers as I lose myself on the work here. Remember, it all starts with prayer.
Gracias por leer! Que tengan un buen semana!!!
Hermana Hunsaker
