Saturday, June 30, 2012

June 18th 2012








Yup...that really did happen. The best family and friends in the WORLD! This week has been interesting but nonetheless adventurous. Yes...a guy we talked to on the street was with his friends and offered us a cigarette lol that has never happened to me and yet...it happened on my mission :) Welcome to L.A.! Nah, L.A. is great! People always ask me what the difference between socal and norcal is. The obvious points are the weather, the beaches, we got the bay, yada yada yada but....I think the people are incredibly different!!!! I don't know how to describe it...but the people. That's my final conclusion on the two parts of california.

Okay...so I was right. You didn't get my email from the 11th did you?? I just checked my sent mail and I only saw an email I wrote to daddy for Father's day. No wonder you are so confused!! So...my P-days will always be on Monday's BUT...every other transfer we will go to the temple to do a session and so our p-day will be on Wednesday but next time I'll give you a heads up about it! Dang it...I'm bummed that my email never went through last week! It's okay, it was a little pointless ONLY because all of our appointments didn't follow through and lol you don't get any time to go door to door when you are a VC sister so last week was a struggle on being productive. I think I made some jokes in the last email and told random stories...so maybe it's a good thing the email never went through :) Thank you for the letters/packages I received this week!: Elder Williams, Madz (omggg I was DYING when I read your letter!), Elder Vance, the package from Leslie (LOVED IT!) and the packages from my family (THANKS FOR THE GPS! And goodies! And letters! Chris...your letter was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s! Richie, your drawing was aight.)

Sooooooo Hermana Cole and I are in DYING need of CHILL HYMN MUSIC! We love the tabernacle choir with all of our hearts...but, we need some up-beat hymns haha. Like, the chill kind. I know they exist. I remember all of the Tongan and Samoan people always had the chill acapella/uke/upbeat hymn music. Sooo if anyone knows of any and wants to burn me a CD of some...we will love you f.o.r.e.v.e.r. :) oh and by the way, it's approved because as long as it's "uplifting music" then it's okay. But, please stick to hymns and if EFY is sent...make sure there is no "romantic lyrics" in it haha because we have a Hilary Weeks CD and we were listening to one of the songs and we realized that she was talking about another guy...awkward haha. OH MY GOSH! You want to know how "missionary" like I am now? So, last night we get in the card and press the volume key so our church cd will start. When it came on we noticed that it was the RADIO and a real life, normal song was playing!! We both looked at each other and did the most dramatic gasp ever and quickly clicked the volume and turned it off. These other sisters used our car earlier that day and one of them is about to go home and is always pulling little pranks so we KNOW that she did it so we would freak out hahahaha! Sadly, it was a song that Hermana Cole recognized so the temptation to put it back on was there but no worries, we stuck in our tabernacle cd and everything was good :) Oh babylon music...

One more random side note: Do you remember the Elder of the Seventy that came to our last Stake Conference at home?? Well, he came into the VC the other day! I saw him and knew that I had seen him before and the dots finally connected! I went up to him and we talked for a bit. I told him what stake I was from and he said, "Oh man, isn't President Cooper an amazing guy? And you have Bishop Johansen as your bishop. Man, he is such a great guy." He even talked about the Larson's and Josh and I was just so amazed on how  much he really does know about his areas that he oversees! It was a neat experience. He says hi to everyone!!

WE HAD 4 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! YEAHHH!! Honestly...best feeling in the world is when you look over to the entrance of the chapel and see one of  your investigators come in. Edvin (I think I've talked about him a little) has been consistent and this week we are going to try and do a family activity with another family in the ward so we can feel more included and see why it's important to keep the law of chasity and how important families are! Then we have a new one named Leo who has apparently been coming for the past 2 Sunday's but he has finals this week so we won't be able to teach him til next week. Then we had Jeffrey!! Jeffrey is 14 years old and is the most awkward yet adorable boy ever! The two phrases he always says are: "I'm sorry" and "I guess". He is so apologetic when we show up and we can't teach him because his parents aren't home and every time we have gone to teach to we have ALWAYS had a member present but it never works! Ahh!! One day...one day. But, he came 30 minutes late and I was praying so hard that he would come and then, I looked over my shoulder and him and his dad were at the entrance. His dad dropped him off and Jeffrey stayed the whole time! I even brought snacks for him :) haha yes, I still act like a mother. He was a little sick at church but was a champ and stayed!...but then we called his uncle who originally referred him and he informed us that Jeffery might be needing to go to the hospital...:( hopefully it's nothing serious! We are going to drop off cookies to him this week and hopefully he comes again. Apparently he had a lot of questions from what the leaders told us which is good! I hope he got along with the other guys. He reminds me SO much of Chris! Just his mannerism and how he's shy and has a lot of questions about the church. It's funny, there has been people that we have met that remind me of people from my own family. It's kind of weird, but cool at the same time. But Jeffrey reminds me of Chris for sure! Then we had Zach go to singles ward! Zach was given to us by other sisters who originally found him but felt he should go to a YSA ward (Young Single Adult) rather then a family ward because he's 20. He has been a hardcore drug addict and is doing the 12 step program to overcome his addiction. Step two of this program was to "find a greater power" and so he prayed for the first time in his life. Right as he finished the prayer...the sisters knocked on his door! So, now we have him but...he didn't really liked the YSA ward! The people were different and I guess he didn't have a great experience. I was persistent and made sure to get two teaching appointments with him this week at the VC so hopefully us finally teaching him and working with our Ward Mission Leader we can find the right people to fellowship him and help him like the ward because... I think he would do better here then a family ward since there is no one there his age. Hopefully this week goes well!

This week we have a general authority conference thing and I get to sing at it with Sister Davis (call her back! ;) ), Sister Mueller (she was the one who gave us a tour when we visited after disneyland!), my companion and I. We are singing "Where Can I Turn For Peace" and they want me to do a solo at the beginning. Yuck! I don't want to haha cause it's soprano and I don't like singing soprano but...we'll see. I told them I'd give my final decision on that tomorrow but I am really excited! This week has been wonderful and stressful but it's so worth it!! I watched the Mormon Message for Sister Dalton's talk "love her mother" and in her talk she says, "The most important thing a Father can do for his [daughter] is to love [her] mother." I thought and pondered about that quote and thought to myself, "The most important thing a missionary can do for their [Father in Heaven] is to love [His] children." I really want to strive to love my investigators. I can feel it starting to happen but because we haven't really taught them that much and one I can't even understand 80% of the time, it's hard to really love them! But, I know I can do it. If I was able to love my investigators in the MTC and haha cry to one of them because we couldn't baptize them, I think I can love these investigators :) Well I want to make sure to send home a few pictures so I am going to end. I love my mission! I'm struggling on loving certain parts about it but after having our interviews with President this week, what I'm feeling isn't something that he hasn't heard before from a VC sister. I just need to work harder, be more focus, and strive to be the best that I can be! I know that I am sent to the LA VC for a reason. It's hard to remember that at times but I know I am suppose to be here. I know that I will eventually know how to be confident in speaking Spanish! I know that I will be able to love my investigators! Why? Because I know that the Lord has trust in me that I can do these things, it's a matter of me having trust in myself. The Lord has a plan for all of us. Sometimes we don't like it but if we remember that there is a purpose in everything, we will come to accept the things that happen in our lives. I am so glad that Heavenly Father and I were finally on the same page and that a mission was the best decision for my life at this moment :) Oh, I love this gospel! How can it NOT be true!?!?! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love,

Hermana Baeza


P.S. "Listening is just as important as asking" - so true.
P.P.S. - MOM! So, I looked at the downeast magazine anddddd I need you to buy me some tops :) Can you get 2 Class Tee, WHITE, size:medium for me? But they have to be the classic NOT the wonder! I am in need for new whites!
P.P.P.S - we're going to target today... i might buy some tops ... :) but don't worry, only like, 2 or 3 and dad, you know you can trust me!
P.P.P.P.S - mommy! can you ask abby on fb for her address? i've been thinking about her a lot and i want to write her!

Pics:
1. my teachers at the mtc
2. me, elder gilray, and hermana marroquin
3. me and elder reid
4. me and elder shaw
5. my "companion" at the salt lake VC during training!
6. some of the sisters during VC training week (truman, you know one of them!)
7. elder petersen and i
8. sister kim (week long comp) and i!




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