Email - July 21

   My companion and I  have had calls and crying from almost all the sisters in our zone. It is so hard because we try to help, but really there is nothing we can do. All three of the sister companionships, in our zone, live together and then we are 9 miles away in another house. President has tried not putting six sisters in a house together ,but they had to for this one. He doesn't think it will last long, though. It is just too much drama with even sister missionaries. One companionship has complete different personalities and they don't get along. There are 3 strong personalities in that house. A lot of the sisters in the house are just struggling with the decision to be out on a mission. I wish they could see the whole picture, I would do anything to be only 3 or 4 months out in the mission again, it is amazing and I don't think they understand how much it can bless their lives.  Last Wednesday, we went to the Sisters' home in the morning for studies and we tried to help them gain self confidence and see the good in each other. We felt like it went really well and that we brought the spirit to their home. Then we got a call from Sister Toone on Saturday, she told us to go have a sit  down talk with the companionship that just has completely different personalities on the next day (Sunday). But then, the sisters called us that night at 9 pm (we just got home) and told us to come over. We went over and were over there until 10:45, got home at 11 pm, got ready for bed and prayed. We woke up at 4:45 am for a meeting that we had at the Stake Center at 6:30 am. Remember the Stake Centers here are not as close as the ones in Utah, it is about 20 min from our home. We did a role play in the meeting, in front of all the ward mission leaders. We then had a meeting with our amazing Stake President, President Palmer. The wards are splitting soon so we need to make changes to our missionaries. So you can say that I was so dead yesterday, holy moly! Both Sister Savage and I are so chill, and never stressed, but it frustrates us when we can't help people when we want too, and are trying too.

   Well, I will let you know a funny story :) So we had a different meeting this week with our zone leaders and the stake mission leader. After the meeting we said to Elder Rackham and Anderle that we have brownie cookies for them. They like to speak Spanish even though they aren't Spanish missionaries. Elder Rackham is pretty good, probably better than me in grammar, but I know more words. So Elder Anderle said "Why are you giving us brownies?" and Elder Rackham said "Porque son nice..(because their nice), how do you say nice?" I reply "linda" he says "Porque son lindas" Sister Savage and I just start busting out laughing because "linda" really means cute. I said back to him as we were cracking up laughing "what you said was cute." He was all confused because he thought that I was calling him cute because he said that, when I meant the word he said was cute. It was so funny. Elder Anderle understood what I meant and was laughing. Later on Elder Rackham had to ask Elder Anderle what was going on, he was so confused. I didn't know he thought I was saying "what you said was cute" until he told me the next day. It was really funny.

   Today is the first day of school here, finally everyone in church is back from their vacations, hallelujah!

On Thursday we had interviews with President Toone. It was really awesome. We got to train again, so this time we did a kind of jeopardy game to mix things up. We also made chicken salad sandwiches, fruit and stuff for a lunch for President and Sister Toone because their stomachs are always grumbling. They have to stay so long at interviews with no food. They appreciated it a lot, but another Elder, I served with him in Yuma also, bought a footlong as well because he didn't know we made them lunch. We have had quite a few miscommunications with Elder Hiatt, it has been funny. He also stole our popsicles out of the freezer, but he brought us more on Friday, because we gave him a hard time.

   On Friday, we put a huge Santa in the Elder's car, it was funny. We are always doing random pranks to keep the work fun and enjoyable. Harmless pranks, don't worry.

   Lala and Paco are still so amazing!! We had a lesson with them about the Book of Mormon, I seriously don't know if I have taught anyone that is as interested as they are in the church. They ask so many questions and want to know so much. We hope a miracle can come with this family.

   My companion keeps on hurting herself every Monday... not yet today, but we still have a fresh day ahead of us. A couple weeks ago she slammed her finger in the car door. I help her laugh at her mistakes, haha. Last week it was a pretty cloudy day, so she thought she could walk outside to get the mail without shoes on, ya, she burnt her feet and couldn't walk on them the rest of the day, it was so funny, she was like waddling.

   We are still having some amazing teaching opportunities in this area, it is kind of blowing up with people to teach, it is really a blessing. We even got some members out with us this week to go to lessons, so that was cool. Claudia and Fernando spoke in church yesterday, they did really well for being brand new. Claudia was super nervous. 

   In interviews with President and me, I told him I am scared to go home. He said do everything I can to prepare to go home, so I won't have as much fear. He talked so much about marriage with me, as well, like a lot. I thought maybe it was a main theme in all the interviews, but I asked my companion and she said that he didn't in her interview. He said some very wisdomy stuff, though. I also asked him about how I don't feel my prayers are answered, he said he has struggled with the same question through out his whole life. He doesn't feel his prayers are answered either, but he has realized that the Lord must trust him to make decisions. He said he got powerful answers to the most important things like marriage. President and Sister Toone are so amazing, I love them so much!