Busy Times on Both Ends - Baptisms! 26 June 2011

Man alive, SO MUCH NEWS!!!

Please tell Sister Holub and Brother Wood congratulations! I must admit that it totally took me by surprise, but tell Sister Holub that I think about her every time I use a pen, sticky note, and any other little knick knack that she  gave me:)

 

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to Micah and Victory! I'm so excited to meet baby Liberty. She's awful cute! Does she have a Corwin head? (Corwin babies always have huge heads.)

 

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to Jennifer Prusse! I'm so happy for her! (Engaged to be married.)

 

Also, Sister Barnum wrote me and told me not to write her back (pfft. Like I could NOT.) but she filled me in on their family's happenings and I just love Celeste to little tiny bits. Also, I hear that Emma and Patrick are moving in September? 

 

I'm pretty bummed about the Pecos fires, and that a fair number of our family won't be there to play, but it'll be the best part of the year anyway...it always is :) (We always hold our family reunion in the Pecos Wilderness in Northern NM, but it's closed to prevent fires.)

 

I'm so stoked that Vanessa and Raz will be so close!

 

Mission time is going crazy fast...and I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, THIS is what I've been waiting for for almost my whole life and I'm having incredible experiences and meeting the most amazing people and becoming a better person every day (some days faster than others), but on the other hand, progress in the rest of my life is waiting. But I'm learning so so much that I have no doubt will help me be the best person I can be. Buh. Anyway....enough of that.

 

I have an appointment with the endodontist on the 6th... I think....but it IS an endodontist, I promise. Sister Martin takes VERY good care of us! It's the lower right first bicuspid. Or thereabouts. It hasn't given me any trouble since the beginning of the month, but if it still looks suspicious, I'll have it checked out, anyway.

This week:

CARMEN GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was so so great! Presidente Maldonado (our branch president) baptized her, Sister Erickson and I sang, Carmen's husband Ric was all smiles and has made some friendships in the branch, and they scored a bunch of free sunflowers that they gave to everyone who came to the baptism. We had some trouble finding a jumpsuit that was the right size, since she's a very petite person, so she ended up wearing an overlarge man's jumpsuit. She was so cute! I helped her come out of the font (kind of) and she had the biggest smile on her face. She said "I just wanted to jump in the water, but i couldn't because my pant legs were too long!" She kept saying "I feel so good! I feel wonderful! I've been waiting for this my whole life! It's so overwhelming and wonderful!"

I love her.

We're trying to plan a temple baptism trip with her and her daughter Amanda sometime within these next few weeks. That would rock my face off.(This comment is so Allison!)

Carmen's other daughter, Alexis, came to a Young Single Adult fireside with us where she met some really sweet girls and she ended up going to a dance with them that very night! Hooray!! i love the members in our branch!

 

OH MY GOSH!! ALSO!!!! ERICK IS GETTING BAPTIZED! maybe I haven't told you much about Erick. He's from my old area, came from El Salvador a few years ago, doesn't have much close family around, loves the church and the members and is basically a rascally 24 year old kid. I love him to death. He's getting baptized sunday. I definitely almost cried when Elder Banuelos called to tell me. 

 

Yesterday was a series of a million fiascos and tender mercies....it was kind of overwhelming. I won't bore you with all the details, but I accidentally locked us out of our apartment with our car keys still inside when we were trying to get to ward council yesterday. Thankfully we had our phone and THANKFULLY the branch president's wife came to pick us up, but we had to hop the fence of our apartment complex in our sunday clothes because we didnt' have keys to open the gate. Whoops. 

 

Also, I'm becoming more and more grateful every week for the sacrament. I'm realizing that I enjoy being oblivious far too much and that leads to me making really dumb mistakes that make me feel very small and crummy. BUT! I get to take the sacrament every week and promise Heavenly Father that I'll be better. It's the most amazing thing. I love being able to say to myself, Heavenly Father, and everyone at large "I was someone else last week. Now I'm a new person and you can expect better things of me." It's the most liberating feeling!

Oh my goodness gracious I love the Gospel.

And I love the Savior SO much.

I hope you know that!

Love you more than all the people on your end who are getting married and all the people on my end who are getting baptized!

Hermana Manzana

Excitement in Palmdale (is this possible?) 20 June 2011

 (A note of explanation:  Allison's oldest brother, Jared "Beans" Beauchamp is preparing to propose to his girlfriend and he is planning a wedding in the Los Angeles Temple.)

OH MY GOSH!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'm so stoked for my Beans! After we talked on Mother's Day, I casually mentioned to Sister Martin that you had asked about me being able to attend the sealing and she told me to ask President. I think I heard a rumor of someone being able  to do that....but I just sent him an Email asking him anyway. We'll see :)

Jared I LOVE YOU!! Guh. He still hasn't written me!!! There's a missionary in our zone that reminds me so much of him, it's crazy.

Speaking of other crazy things. Holy Mountains of Babies, Batman! (Our family is expecting three babies in a month here this summer.) I'm so so so excited to see pictures and such! Did Ryan and Chelsea mostly decide on  (the name) Audrey? And have Micah and Victory decided on a name yet (or rather a dictionary full of names)? That's so crazy about  Lauren's potentially damaged cranial nerves...when did she start noticing? And is she still going to the Broncos physical therapy place (or whatever it is...)? I'm so so sorry to hear about the Pecos. ( wilderness areas are being closed daily because of very high wildfire danger.) That's totally heartbreaking. I really hope we can go next year! I know it's the people and not the place that makes family camp so special, but Holy Ghost Campground has a very special place in my heart.

I'm so glad you had so much fun with Vanessa and Raz. I'm super excited to meet him and play with my Ness. Daddy, did you get my card?

Anyway, I don't know that I have all too much to tell...I spoke at a funeral on Friday....We went hiking last week...Carmen is still progressing amazingly well, her husband is too.... and so is their daughter Alexis! They're a really remarkable family and I'm so excited for all of them. Carmen's baptism is on Sunday and she's asked us to sing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." I'm slowly overcoming my horrible fear of singing....I love growing up. Most days, anyway. Carmen will be my first investigator that has remained "mine" that I'll be able to see baptized and confirmed. I'm so so excited for her! We talked a lot this week about experiences she's had that have brought her to this point where she understands the importance of the Gospel and has the desire to apply it. She has had/ has INCREDIBLE spiritual experiences and she's just the sweetest, strongest woman. I'm so so grateful for so many great examples in my life! We go over, planning on teaching her certain principles, but she ends up teaching us so so so much more!
Mom, I think you talked to Sister Martin this week...I didn't go to the dentist but I'll probably go and get my...whatever....abcess? checked out.. The other dentist said it's strange that my dentist at home didn't catch it on my x-rays before I came. 


Love! 

Hermana Manzana

June 14, 2011 Palmdale, CA

I can't remember if I wrote about this family last time, but a young mom got baptized right before I got here and we started teaching her parents. Her dad was super skittish but we had another 3 hour lesson and her mom said, "Well.... I think I'd like to be baptized." I had no idea what to say, I just wanted to jump and scream for joy! Her husband was totally dumbfounded and said "This is news to me!" We got to teach them Lesson 2 with some of the English elders who have been feeling low lately because of their lack of work and miracles, so I hope we fueled them up for a bit :). Ric and Carmen LOVED it. Ric was still stubborn about it, but he's so smart and Carmen kept saying these amazing things about premortal life and the celestial kingdom. Holy Cow. She told us a little bit about how she received her answer about the truthfulness of the gospel, and man....the spirit was so strong. It was AMAZING!!

We had gone tracting with the English Elders one afternoon to help them out, but it was pretty discouraging, poor guys. HOWEVER. We knocked on this one door that had a huge tortoise sauntering around the yard and some old lady came out and yelled "Porkchop! get in here!"  I guess when the tortoise was smaller, she thought it was a porkchop that had fallen on the floor. My pets will NEVER have normal names. I'm determined. 


We also keep running into these two men who are a father-in law and son-in-law duo and they both really love everything we teach. I'm super stoked!

Mama, I'm so so sorry about your Uncle. I remember you always speaking so fondly of him and I 'm so grateful for the understanding that we have about life and death. It offers so much comfort and understanding. I'm so proud of our family members. They're just so dang impressive, every one.Tell Ness and Raz I say hi and that I love you. I was thinking the other day that Raz (a friend from Israel) must be having quite the American experience. Tornadoes, wildfires, garage sales, Mormons everywhere you look, Boulder for goodness sake, and I'm super jealous that you all get to go to camp.

There may be quite a few gangs around here, but honestly compared to NoHo, it feels quite safe. Everyone knows us and most people love us. OH! OH!! We were wandering around an apartment complex the other day and we started giving a group of 10-15 little kids passalong cards and we taught them about prayer. It was the BEST!! and we taught an awesome smorgasbord lesson to some 15 year old punks the other day. They were very polite and had great insights.
I'm sorry but I've got to run!
Love you more than all the prayers of thanksgiving we've gotten to say this week!

Hermana Manzana
P.S. My friend elder Mortenson says hi to you all

Photos of Fun from May with Hermana Manzana

Here I am a victim of a hot cookie tray, thus demonstrating once again how tough I am!

Rappelling in Veteran's park.  No broken bones, no girlie screams, especially from the elders!

Familia Ascencio & Hermana Beauchamp  May 2011

Manuel Aguilar, May, 20100

More to come!

First Week In Palmdale, CA 5 June 2011

Hey Padres whom I love:

First off, I DID get the package. Secondly THANK YOU!!! I'm super stoked about all the books, the clothes, and the other knick-knacks. I'm excited for you and Dad and your amazing scripture study :) I'm pretty excited to join you both for it and get my mind blown by both of your intelligence. I know it'll happen. It will rock.
Ok. So.

I love Palmdale. People here are great. Yeah it's the desert and it's certainly not as pretty as Santa Clarita, but it reminds me more of CO. Plus they tell me that there are some great hiking spots around here. 

We had a super busy but amazing week. We had a few lessons in which the Spirit was so so strong, it was amazing. We had a lot of opportunities to teach in English, which was strange but way fun. A lot of the Latinos in Palmdale speak English, sometimes better than Spanish, but they still have the culture of being very open and receptive to anything about God.

We got a referral from one of our investigators early on in the week....her daughter has been super busy with school and work and has been very stressed as a result, so her mom said we might be able to help her out. She agreed to meet with us ( a miracle in itself, so her mom says) and we had an awesome lesson about how our trials and experiences in life refine and shape us. She told us that she had been very angry at God and quite bitter, but within the last 2 months or so, something changed. She couldn't place it, but she's wanting to come closer to God and make Him a more integral part of her life. At one point, she said "Man, where were you guys a year ago?" We told her that she may not have been receptive until now, and that we came at just the right time. She completely agreed and she wants to come to church and meet with us more. !!!!!! AAAAHHH!!! I'm so happy!

We had an appointment this week, but the anticipated potential investigator wasn't the one who answered the door. We taught his son-in-law instead and he absolutely loved it. He told us that he is almost never home and that he never answers the door, but he kept feeling something telling him "answer the door, answer the door!" SO cool. I love the Spirit!

Also, the day before I came, they had a baptism of a young mother who lives with her parents and her husband, all of whom are getting more and more interested in the church. We had an almost 3 hour lesson with her parents on Friday in which we taught a super in depth lesson about the Restoration and watched the video. We invited them to read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and pray about it to see if it's true. The father seemed unwilling, so we asked him why. He said " I think......I think I already know what the answer is. And I don't want it." I asked "Because that means you would need to change some things, right?" He nodded. "How about all the blessings that will come to you and your family as a result?" He was silent for a second and said "Now, I hadn't thought about that." Oh my goodness, sir. I'm so so so so so excited to share blessings with them and help them realize how much God has in store for them!!

I've got to run soon, but Dad, I think you should look up the songs "Horchata" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend. I do believe you will enjoy greatly.
Love you more than all the all-star investigators we've got!

Hermana Manzana

 

 

 

 

Transfer to Palmdale, California, May 31, 2011

It's true, I'm outta NoHo!  (North Hollywood)..completely heartbreaking but amazingly exciting at the same time. I'm now serving in Palmdale, CA with Hermana Erickson who came out to the mission just a transfer after me....so I'm technically senior companion....oh my goodness... (A 'transfer' is a period of six weeks.)

I'd always heard amazing things about Palmdale, and they just didn't do it justice. I got here at 6 pm yesterday, we had 3 appointments with what I would have termed Golden Investigators in NoHo (A Golden Investigator is one who is very eager to learn about the Church and the Gospel of Christ.) They are so beyond awesome. Our mission average goal for lessons taught per week is 20 lessons, but Hna Erickson and Hna Thomas have been teaching about 30 lessons a week....Even when they were terribly sick one week, they taught 23 lessons. Watching them teach and seeing people here, there is no question that they were top-quality lessons, too. Even for just being here...what.... 18 hours....it seems like the people here are even more open and receptive to the message of the Gospel than all my favorite in NoHo. This is big!

It was pretty tough saying goodbye to the members and investigators, though. We taught Milagro on Saturday after we had gotten transfer calls and she was just so sweet. She said "You two would be pretty happy if I got baptized into your church, wouldn't you?" Oh my goodness gracious. I told her I would cry with joy. She's so great. Even though we started pretty slow with her, she's been reading little bit by little bit in the Book of Mormon and it's incredible just to see the change....She understands the concepts that we teach her really well and she has a marginal desire to change certain aspects of her life so she can do what she needs to to become closer to the Savior, but it seems like she's not quite sure how to accomplish those things or how to maintain the motivation to do them. I got to share with her some of the things I've learned about setting goals and how faith works in conjunction with those things. When we were leaving I told her to invite me when she gets baptized, and she said she will :).

    Oh! And! maybe I mentioned this last week, but Daniel started meeting with the missionaries in an adjacent ward, hit it off super well and even set a baptismal date for July. There was some kind of scheduling conflict, so the missionaries asked if they could do it another day, adding in their confidence that he is ready to be baptized. He told them he'd pray about it, then called 10 minutes later asking if he could be baptized the next Sunday. Holy cow!

Okay. So Daniel got baptized on Sunday, and it was so so so wonderful. Because of all of the goodbyes I was pretty emotional as it was, but Daniel bore his testimony about Joseph Smith and how we have a living prophet to lead and guide us. That was the aspect that he had the hardest time with, so Hna Waite and I were bawling in the back row. Hna Strong came to visit for a different baptism, but got to be at Daniel's as well and she was also totally floored by the change they saw in him. I'm so so happy for Daniel and I'm so excited for him to learn even more and gain more confidence in his testimony and role as a child of God. 

I'm glad to hear that things are going well at home, and I loved the veni, vidi, vacuum. Please tell everyone I love them buckets.

Love you more than all the lessons we'll teach this transfer :)
Hermana B
(Editor's note:  Coincidentally, Cousin Monica and her husband Ammon lived in Palmdale one summer while Ammon did an internship at the superb weapons research facility called the  Skunkworks. Not only that, Allison is living in the same
apartment complex in which Monica and Ammon lived!  Small world! )