Dear Fambly:

 

I read the second email about Mariah's experiences in India before I read about how and why she's there and it totally blew me away....I was a little confused. That's so awesome though! Man, she's so awesome. She'll be there for her 16th birthday? JEALOUS! I'm excited to hear more about how she's doing.....and to go with her :)

 

Ya know what else I'm excited for? TALKING TO YOU IN 6 DAYS!!!! We have church from 9-12, so what if I call around 3 our time, 4 your time? I'll coordinate with Hermana Quick and give you a call probably Saturday night to set it all up. It's so soon!! I can't even believe it!

 

Life is truckin' along...we found a SUPER cool family totally by inspiration this week....we tried to stop to see Melissa, our recent convert, after a lesson on Tuesday but she wasn't home. We started heading back down the stairs, but the roof of a distant building caught our attention (for no apparent reason) so we decided to go knock that house.

 

Lo and behold, the woman who answered had been praying for guidance to know what to do concerning church and was in need of comfort. We visited with her for about 2 hours, in which she told us all about what she feels should be defining points of the true church of God. Unfortunately, we had to leave shortly, but we set up an appointment for the next day when we met her daughter and her husband. They were very kind and VERY receptive. They had been attending an evangelical church for a number of years but became disappointed by a few of the members. That got them thinking about what should REALLY happen in God's true church and what should be taught...They miss their church very much and feel that it's time to come back to full activity in a congregation, but they feel uneasy about going back to their old church.

 

We had set up another appointment with them for this weekend, but when we got there, only the daughter was there. We had a number of close calls on the way there (I almost got hit by a car peeling out of the strip club parking lot...go figure) so we figured that Satan really didn't want us to be at that appointment. We stuck around and talked to the daughter for a long time, and even challenged her to pray about Joseph Smith as a prophet and about the Restoration of the Church. Please pray for them to recognize answers to their prayers and to follow the Spirit to do what is right!

 

Also, Tommy is getting baptized this weekend! Oh shoot, that might interfere with phone calls.....We'll get it worked out.

I love you more than beans and rice!

Con mucho carino,

Hermana Manzana

Love in Our Family

Oh my gosh you two are so stinkin' cute. I just love you.(Reference to a story about Mom&Dad holding hands in Sacrament meeting.)

I'm glad to hear things are going well around the house! where did you put that ornamental bush? I'd love to take a swing (ha. get it?) at the tree. But if you want to get it out now, please feel free. I won't feel gypped in the least.

Today starts my very last transfer in the mission! AAAAHHHHH!!! one of my roommates is going home this week, so it's been pretty weird to see her go through this process....I'm dejunking little by little....I only sent one box to you, FYI, so no need to look for another one in the mail yet.....

My brain shorted out a couple times this week, thanks in part to our elders who are having a grand ol' time helping me accept/encouraging the onset/just making me crazy by constantly talking about being trunky. (trunky=anxious to finally come home/dreading leaving the mission field.) I love them a lot. Most days. After dinner one night, they stole our bikes and left us their car, saying that they had an emergency that they needed our bikes for. We were all kinds of confused but met them at the church about 20 minutes later. Turns out they did it so that we could have a break and we wouldn't have to ride all the way to the church.

 

Also, Hermana Quick and I are staying together!! Hooray!!

 

We met a really cool family this week who had been taught by the Hermanas about 3 years ago. They lost contact with them when the family went to Mexico, but they have been reading from the Book of Mormon fairly consistently as a family and praying together as a family every night since then. How amazing is that? They're so sweet. We haven't met the husband yet, but he's excited to meet with us. We've started teaching another man named Jacinto who used to be a leader in an evangelical church but is looking to come closer to God after 15 years away from any church. He says he feels really good about our church and has been to 2 baptisms and church twice. AWESOME!! Also, Vanessa REALLY wants to be baptized, so she said that she's going to talk to Marlo about getting married soon so that we can help them progress spiritually. Betty doesn't want to be baptized again because she doesn't see the point, since she's been baptized 2times. we'll need to cover priesthood authority and the restoration again. We're finding so many people who are SO READY!! I LOVE IT!

I love you more than subjunctive form!

Hermana Manzana

I love it! I'm so happy for everyone! I sent Emma an email (Allison's best friend is expecting) but I'm not sure if she still uses that one anymore. She's been in my thoughts quite a bit. I haven't been able to write her since she's been moving everywhere.....but will you tell her that I love her so and that she is just beautiful and wonderful in every stinkin way? 

 

I'm sorry my blister sister is feeling crummy. But hey, you said it's a good sign, right? (Her sister is expecting, also.)

 I got my camera, thank you!!! I got a Sony cyber shot Carl Ziess DSC w650. I love it! One of our elders even crocheted a little bag for it. Precious. :)

 

We've been having SUCH good weeks! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! Dad, you're so right, we have major ups and downs, even within the same day, but this work is so fulfilling, so rewarding, and I feel awfully privileged to be a part of it. Melissa and her little sister Angie got baptized this weekend and it was so wonderful! Our whole ward came to celebrate with us and the missionaries even got to sing a musical number. They both looked so beautiful and happy. I'm so excited for their family to progress together towards the temple. Melissa is a very quiet girl but so thoughtful and kind. She's an amazingly hard worker and she's so willing to help in any way needed.

Thank you for all of your prayers on her behalf!

 

We're working a lot with a new family (I think I wrote about them last week) Betty, Vanessa, and Marlo. Miracle of miracles, they LOVED church, despite a super rambunctious little boy (I honestly have never seen a kid so hyper. I'm fairly certain he has ADHD or something similar. His 15 month old brother has a better attention span and listens to his parents better than he does) Vanessa's husband Marlo came too and he seemed to really enjoy it. They are praying about being baptized in May, so please please pray that the Spirit will touch their hearts so that they'll know that this is something Heavenly Father wants for them. Also, we're not certain, but they might not be married. Please pray that they will have no barriers to getting married. BODA!!!(wedding)

Ay. maybe I'm ADHD. My brain's going a mile a minute. oh look a chicken! Ha. just kiddeando. (Spanglish:  kidding)

 

Also, we had sister exchanges this week, and I got to go to the real ghetto in Canoga Park with Hermana Busch. She and I have been friends our whole missions but we've never actually gotten to be companions. It was such a beautiful day! We taught some AWESOME lessons, met amazing people, sweat our little brains out, and got to catch up and reflect on mission life. She's such a wise, insightful person and I look up to her a lot. I'm so grateful for people like her in my life! 

 

Their area doesn't look all that different from ours, but I think our area has more families, whereas they have a ton more single men in theirs. One of their recent converts gave Hna Busch's companion a knife as a welcome gift. So far as I know, they've never been physically threatened (president would take them out right away if that ever were the case) but they do lock their bikes 3 different times everytime they go anywhere. they've gotten a bunch of their bikes' tires stolen. Pobrecitas. (Poor girls) I got to meet a number of their recent converts who are single men who have such a deep desire to follow God. They are so wonderful! We've just got to find those bright, shiny needles in a dirty, sinful haystack. Haha! I remember when I first got to the mission, President said "Welcome to San Fernando, California. The media capitol of the world. Sin runs rampant here, but there are good people searching for God. We have to find them."

And it's true! Heavenly Father is preparing people every day.

 

Daddy, thank you for telling me how much you love me and mom. I love that our family is so expressive about our affection for one another. it makes life so much more secure, happier, peaceful. I love our family! We are so stinkin' blessed!

I love you more than all the 90+ days we've had this week!

Hermana Manzana

More success

oh boy I love you a lot!

I'm glad you've been having so much fun with family. It's the best! Thank you for letting me get a new camera...I'm super stoked! Hna Quick is a photography fiend so she'll be able to teach me how to actually take cool pictures. I'll try to print some of the neat ones she's taken soon.

We had a really good week with lots of milagritos. We went on a blitz( where a bunch of missionaries knock in one companionship's area) to help out some of our elders. The first door we knocked was a very old white man with beautifully brilliant blue eyes. He asked us where we were from and I told him I was from Guadalajara (everyone's been telling me I should say that because people will believe me) but he said , "No you're not..I'M from Guadalajara". Super cool. He's this super nice man who has been looking for the right church for quite a while now. He said he really likes the church he's at now, but he said "Maybe God sent you to me to answer my question.....which is God's church?" We got to share our testimonies with him and taught him about prayer, the Holy Ghost, and the Book of Mormon. He's so great and we're praying that he'll be sensitive enough to the Spirit to know what Heavenly Father wants him to know!

Also, we had 5 PEOPLE AT CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! It was awesome! Super exhausting and overwhelming, but great. We had taken a recent convert, Hermana Salegio, with us to an appointment with a couple of women named Betty and Vanessa. Apparently they already knew each other a little but they became best friends. Both of them came to church on Sunday (Betty opens up her church every sunday so she had to find someone to cover for her) and Vanessa brought her two little boys. Kids aren't allowed at the church they currently attend so I think they liked the idea of a real family church. one of her boys was very bouncy and rowdy though so I think she felt rather uncomfortable in Sacrament meeting. They didn't have anyone for the nursery so we tried to help her son enjoy Primary....that didn't go too well either. But the third hour, a few other mothers stayed in the nursery with their little ones and chatted with Vanessa aobut the church and our beliefs. I think they really helped her to see that a wiggly child in church is not a big deal. Everyone's got one! or two. or five. We're really praying that she will have good feelings towards her experience and that she'll want to come back. They're a sweet family and we're excited to work more with them.

 

Hermana Salegio's daughters are getting baptized next week! One is 8 years old, so she isn't actually our convert, but we're teaching her and her older sister Melissa to help them prepare to be baptized. Melissa was avoiding us for awhile, just because she's super shy and doesn't like the whole soul-searching aspect of what we do as missionaries. She really wants to be baptized though, so we worked it out so that we're apparently teaching Angie, but she's listening and lets us know if we need to review any information. Not ideal, but there's a change in her face. She's internalizing the things we're teaching and so even though we don't have a whole lot of physical communication, we can see the effects.....which is AWESOME!!!!!!! She was paying very close attention to the relief society lesson yesterday and seemed to be happier and more relaxed at church. Please pray hard for her!!

 

Also, we had a really good companionship study about continual progression....we have a couple that we teach where the man is a less active member but is wanting to come back to church, she is not a member, he is in the process of a divorce and so they can't yet get married OR baptized. They're sort of at a standstill because of the divorce and while they were doing great for a while with reading the scriptures every day, praying regularly, and coming to church, they're no longer doing any of those. We even see a difference in how they treat us and one another. They aren't mean at all, but just more sarcastic, a little more harsh than they were before. Hna Quick and I prepared for our lesson with them today by talking about the importance of goals. How setting goals, primary, secondary and all the ones in between is an act of faith. Of course things might now go exactly how we want or expect, but setting goals and working towards them is a way to show ourselves and God that Whatever it is that we're working toward is worth effort and sacrifice.

 

Just things to think about.

 

Love you more than birria de res!

Hermana B

Return Plans

Hello Beautiful Family!

Thank you for arranging flight plans...I'm way excited! Although...that DOES mean that the beach is mas o menos off limits. It'll be fine though. I'm just stoked to see you! It will be so fun to be with Ryan and Chelsea and the kiddos, too. I loved what Jo said about Chelsea helping families adjust their attitudes about cranial bands. Life is awkward. Why not have fun with it? I'm realizing that I've gotten super awkward over the last fews weeks, especially. I trust that you'll be gentle in helping me adjust to normal life again..

I'm planning on sending a couple of packages these next few days...they mostly have winter clothes and my blanket and they have the dresses in there as well.

 

HAPPY EASTER!!!! Wasn't it just wonderful?? We actually had fewer people at church, but one of our investigators (Tommy) who we had turned over to the elders (for questions of motivation and genuine interest) came to church AND to a baptism yesterday. We had the chance to teach him a little more this week (he's been having trouble meeting up with the elders for them to teach him) but it seems like things have changed. It just feels different when we talk to him. Before, he was very interested in showing off his knowledge of the Bible and other such things, so he wasn't actually progressing very much. But this week, he's been full of questions and there's a new look in his eye that wasn't there before. He really loved the baptism and is going to pray this week about a day that he will be baptized as well. YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I'm not sure why it felt so weird before but now the whole situation feels right, but it's wonderful! I love being able to see the change in people's lives and countenances as they come closer to God. It's the most beaufitul thing!

We knocked doors in a different part of our area this week and we found some REALLY wonderful people. Heavenly Father has been blessing us quite a bit. It's funny how even miracles are rarely an all-at-once thing. Even though it may happen fairly quickly, it never seems to be SO fast that we notice it right away. Heavenly Father works in very quiet ways. He's just amazing. :) We met one man named Sebastian who opened the door right away and began to share his experiences, thoughts and feelings about God. He's had a lot of trials, but has faith like I've never seen before. He is a very sincere, humble man and it was such a tender mercy to be able to talk to him and share that his "conversations with God" actually are prayers and that other ideas he felt that were all his own and that he would be ridiculed for are actually truths from God that He wants Sebastian to know. He said a few different times "You know, I feel really good around you two. That probably is a sign from God. I think something really good is going to come from meeting you."

GAH!! I love when people actually listen to the Spirit!!

 

I just love the Savior. So much. I was thinking yesterday about what other kinds of ideologies I'll encounter when I go home....seeing as pretty much everyone we meet with is some kind of catholic or other form of christian, it'll be interesting to go home to atheists.I thought about conversations I've had with people before where they have been very disparaging about any kind of belief in God at all and seemed angered by the fact that I was so "ignorant." How could I possibly believe in God? well, 3 reasons come immediately to mind. First, considering that generally, a belief in God helps people cope with tragedy, gives direction and inspiration for their lives, and helps them to do and be better is intriguing enough to make one wonder if there might be something beneficial about faith. But then there's the reason that Elder Nelson spoke about. This world is AMAZING! Not just the natural world, but our bodies, our experiences, our thoughts, our emotions, our capacities, our relationships...they're all perfect! They may not seem ideal in our minds, because they are difficult, to be sure, but always just enough to stretch us. Every aspect of our individual lives and characters is perfectly organized and planned. Even and especially the way we learn to control ourselves and our environments. When it comes to  beautiful buildings, events, pieces of art, etc....we ALWAYS acknowledge that there is a designer, a mastermind behind it all orchestrating everything. Why shouldn't life and nature be the same? What more beautiful masterpiece can there be than a human life?

But the most poignant, important evidence for me that there is a God, that He knows me, that He loves me, and that Jesus Christ is my older brother who in reality DID atone for my sins is simply that I feel it. I feel their love. I feel their guidance. When I've felt hopeless or alone, I've relied entirely on the Savior, not an imaginary friend or idealistic perspective, but a real person to help me. I feel that the more I try to get to know them through prayer and scriptures, the more I understand their characters, their kindness, their love. I feel it so strongly. Sometimes I don't pay enough attention or I become so selfish that I forget to look for them, but I know they are there. No one can take that feeling away. I know it and I love them. That's why I'm a missionary. I know that they want to have every other person in the world feel their love and rely on them to be able to make the most of their life masterpiece. They want to help us.

 

Happy Easter, beautiful family.

I love you more than jugo de sandia!

Hermana Manzana

General Conference Time

I love Heavenly Father! I love the Savior! I love that we get to hear their prophets speak! I am totally in love with General Conference. I think it's just the coolest thing to be able to have a modern Moses relay vital information from our Heavenly Father about our concerns, needs, questions, desires, etc. Please tell everyone you know about conference! It is such a sacred, special experience that we can't pass up!

 

Do you remember me telling you forever ago about Manuel? He's a man we met while knocking a year ago who became kind of Hna Waite's project. As missionaries, we generally seek out those that are ready to accept the gospel. We know because of the scriptures that He is always preparing someone for it. Usually when we start teaching someone, we can tell from their attitude and desire to learn and change whether they're ready right now. Manuel was certainly not ready at that moment and I wanted to stop teaching him forever ago. But we keep teaching him because Hna Waite wanted to...she kept saying "I know it'll take a long time, but we HAVE to help him!" My attitude at the time was "If we spent all of our time helping EVERYONE that needed help, we will NEVER find the ones that are ready and waiting." Kind of cut-throat and jerky, I know, but Manuel was NOT progressing, not wanting to change and very blinded by his own bitterness and prejudice. For whatever reason, we've kept in contact with him fairly consistently over the last few months and even though the sisters stopped teaching him while I was in the desert, we started teaching him a little more frequently when I came back. A large part of his beef with God stemmed from the fact that he had once been baptized into a church, but became offended by one of the members and left the church. He feels that God has been punishing him by ruining his eyesight ever since. Long story short, he's been improving his perspective on life and challenges over the last few months, he had a surgery which left him completely blind but offered hope of recovery, he made a pact with God that if God helped restore his eyesight, he would "search for Him" again and try to live a good life. The next morning, Manuel started to see light and shadows and recognized that as Heavenly Father honoring that pact.

We've been working a lot more with him to understand why both personal revelation as well as belonging to a church (specifically, the church of God) is important. He's making really good progress and we're going to share Elder Oaks' talk on the matter with him today.

Mom, I told him about how you had the same questions he had about which church to join. He loves everything we've taught EXCEPT Joseph Smith. Could you write me a letter explaining HOW you came to know that he was a prophet? I would love that and I think it will help him as well.

 

I love you all more than all the orange blossoms in NoHo!

Hermana Manzana

Recovering and Learning

Hey Mis Padres Bellos! (and in Daddy's case, belloso hee hee!!)

 

I'm better!! Not 100%, but I've been able to get out and about. That's crazy that Hannah had the same thing...we were just meant to be sisters. I love her an ocelot! Our elders have been super generous in driving us around this whole week...we went out last Tuesday or so just for an afternoon on our bikes, but my flu got worse, so the elders banned us from bike riding for a few days.

 It rained and rained and rained all day Saturday, and we got transfer calls! I'm staying, but Hermana Marquez is going up to Palmdale. I'm going to miss her so so much. I really love her and look up to her! I know that she's going to be perfect in Palmdale! My new companion is.......Hermana Quick! She's from Kentucky but her parents just moved to Spokane. She goes to BYU and is wanting to be a food science major. She's been my roommate the past 2 transfers, so I already know her fairly well and I love her stinkin' guts. This will be her 4th transfer. We're anticipating that she and I will be together  through the end of my mission.....that's so crazy! Since I've been at home a bunch, I haven't been able to work with our investigators a ton and I'm kind of bummed about that, but I'm super duper excited to get back into the thick of things.

 

I was feeling a little sad at church because we didn't have too many people there, including recent converts and less actives. I started to feel frustrated because there were so many people and so many ideas running through my head and I thought "oh man. I'm never going to be able to help them all. I won't even be able to remember these ideas after church!" psh. Silly me. Then I thought "wait a second, I can write the ideas down! What a concept!" Ay. Que mensa. But then in Relief society, we were talking about what truly makes us happy....of course family is the first answer, but what about family? I think that as a parent I will feel (and as a missionary for my investigators, I do feel ) the greatest satisfaction in those kinds of relationships (and any teaching situation really) comes from seeing people become independent based on the principles taught. My greatest hope as a missionary is to give investigators and converts the resources they need to always be close to Heavenly Father....to know how to find their own answers and motivation without my having to be there. When they truly establish a good relationship with Heavenly Father, They will always have that sure foundation in Christ that it talks about in Helaman. I was thinking about how key the scriptures and consistent scripture study are in establishing and maintaining that relationship, and lo and behold, we talked about scripture study in gospel principles class. We talked about how Elder Scott advised us to make the scriptures a cherished friend so that we can always have the words of Life constantly edifying our hearts, minds, and spirits. We also talked about how he advised us to write down ideas and personal revelation. Even just doing so shows the Lord and ourselves that we cherish the counsel He gives us and helps to prepare us for more. Go figure that Heavenly father would teach me that multiple times in one day. I will be more consistent about writing in my journal!

 

Also, one more sad bit of news: I lost my camera. I have most of the pictures saved onto discs already, but I've been lamenting its loss this whole transfer. Thankfully my companion and roommates are excellent photographers so most of the memories I would want, they have saved. Blessings!!

 

Thank you thank you for all your prayers! it's been good to have a little respite this week, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. It's helped me to renew my perspective of missionary work and I have a better idea of how to teach more effectively and I have the energy to do it! Please pray that we will be able to find and recognize the searchers of truth!

Thank you for the dresses! I'll be looking forward to them :)

 

Love you more than all the cough drops in my apartment,

Hermana Manzana