Transferred Again!!!

So this week was awesome. Basically the Lord is amazing and knows
everything and so yeah. :)

Primero, let's start off with Elder Bowden's inspired goal of
contacting 350 people as a district this past week. It was awesome. We
contacted like 30 people in one day once while still having planned
member present lessons and dinner with members too. SO COOL. PERO, In
an effort to be cool and get out more on the streets we went biking!!!
Which rocked!!! I love it so much!!!! We went biking Thursday-awesome.
Went biking friday, went to our appointment, fell through, went to
contact this lady at her apartment, left our bikes like 10 feet
away-we had to walk up stairs to talk to the lady and we had a great
lesson, and I'm praying to close, and during the prayer I'm kind of
thinking mmm the bikes....close the prayer, saying goodbye to the lady
and she's like Oh Oh!! Turn around this chick is on my bike,
so I book it down and chase her but she had already gotten a head
start. So yeah. My bike. Got stolen. Second day. At like 8:15 at night
in a sketchy part of town. Bikeless. Hahaha, it was the bomb. I yelled
after her HEY are you joking?? Are you kidding me?? Really we all kind
of felt bad after. Like she had a bad feeling, she just laughed so
loud and it was like eerghh gross. Zero spirit.

But yeah, having your bike get stolen is a great conversation starter,
and people believe you because you have your helmet to prove it and
the other people with you are holding tight onto their bikes hahahah.
So I still need to call ctr....Elder Bowden said they should probs
give me a new one if I tell them my sob story. You sent me a bike with
a thrashed inner tube, i fixed it, then it got stolen while I was
praying. Give me a bike.


Arandi came to the baptism on Saturday and that was so cool. She totally
felt the spirit and she wants it. She said August 29 sounded close
and I was like NO!, haha in a nice way to invite the spirit and just
testified of how the spirit will help you prepare as you keep the
commitments we give you and the spirit will be there for you all the
time after. It was cool.

Then that night we got transfer calls and we all got together as a
zone and found out who's staying or leaving and Hna Kaaa is
training!!!!! Yayy!!!!! My awesome comp is training!!! She'll be so
awesome. And Elder Speakman who just finished his second transfer is
training too!!!!! He's the bomb, I love the mission. Everything is so
inspired all the time haha.

Sunday was good, took pics with everyone, Arandi came to church <3 and
after we talked with her parents and everything is good :) So that's a
relief, and oh yeah, we're all leaving!! Hna Kaaa is staying close by
though, still in the zone, diff area. But yeah it was sad. We're
leaving everyone.

Sunday night we took a zone pic and our district sang Para Siempre
Dios Est Con Vos for Elder Bowden since he's dying on Wednesday!! Wow.
So that was awesome, and then we packed like crazy.

Monday we went to the mission office at 11, and they announce your
area and your comp on the projector screen thing in the chapel so
that's cool. I'm with Hna Burke who was just ET-ed out of East Sac to
Rancho, and we're shotgunning/whitewashing into Elk Grove, which is
north of Rancho? Idk hahaha. So the elders were covering their half of
the stake and the other half last transfer? So they're happy to have
us, and they said the branch has been asking for sisters too hahaha.
So we have no area book yet #ipad probs, and they didn't update the
area book much for our half-it sounds like all they did was drive
around last transfer, which is frustrating, I feel for them. But I'm
excited to come to it and Do Work!!! Yeah!!! Hahaha

So that's all for now :)

                              

Even More Miracles

This week was so great. Even more miracles. I don't really remember what happens every week--sorry if I repeat things. Also my English is slipping away hahah so it's whatevs.

We had 9 member presents this week!! Do you know how awesome that is!! SUPER AWESOME hahaha it made such a difference. Huge.

Also we set a goal as a district last thursday to contact 350 people by next Friday and it's the coolest thing ever. I love it. I love talking to people, even though testifying in English is getting harder and more awkward since Spanish comes first now in gospel situations hahaha, it's kinda funny. I literally have to choose every word in English when it's anything Gospely mas o menos. If it's just normal English- secular hahaha- then it's fine, English is number 1. But for church stuff, Spanish is usually what comes out first, it doesn't always sound good hahaha, but it's definitely not English. 

So Arandi is on date and that is the coolest thing in the whole wide world. She's our 14 year old coolest person in the world haha. 

Transfers are coming up next week, so we'll see what happens, I'll probably just stay put. Haha, which is cool. There really aren't than many options left for Spanish sisters in the mission haha, we're so tiny now, and so yeah. haha, whatevs. It's cool. A ver.

We fasted this last Sunday as a zone and that was awesome. It was just a fast of gratefulness for all the success we've been having and all the blessings we've seen and it just felt good. That was probably one of my best fasts ever. For real. It just felt good. Didn't even get a headache hahaha, granted we broke it early because we ate with a member, but it felt good to feel good the whole time, and to stay focused and not get off track or be grumpy or whatever.

Also haha, I've been singing my companions to sleep every night and it's just cute. They're so sweet. I hope they don't mind Bob Dylan, the Lumineers, or Hymns in random keys.

  

Love you all! Every one read your scriptures and pray all the time!! And hey if you're not a member (Susan, Kelsey, Diana shout out) please tell Dilon Dickerson I found the Mormon version of him from Canada and it's the coolest/weirdest thing. I'm not allowed to hug him, so I don't know how authentic the twin level is, but it's pretty close)  And also invite the missionaries over, just go to the mormon church next Sunday haha, and talk to them and set up at least one appointment with them. Just so you know how awkward and awesome my life is on a daily basis hahaha. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

la semana milagrosa! I made up that adjective, I hope it's real haha

Anyway, lots of miracles this week is what I'm trying to say haha

The other spanish Hermanas had a baptism this weekend and that was so amazing!! we did a special musical number and I got ot play the guitar, so that was awesome, basically the best part of the service...hahah no, the baptism was awesome. He just lit up afterwards, and when he came out afterwards he did a little leap and shout for joy. The gospel is real. It should make everyone feel like that. And the week before that- I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, our district leader had a baptism, and that was awesome as well. Baptisms are the BEST!!

So anyway, we were thinking in our trio, because sure teaching and stuff is great, but we want baptisms, that's our new standards of excellence, Find, Teach, Baptize. And so after zone training and starting planning on the iPads we've tried to focus in our companionship on the spirit and committing to do the small and simple things that bring blessings, and we've been working really hard at talking to everyone and trying to follow the spirit, and this week was the coolest.

We went to find this woman the elders who had our area before had met, and she answered the door, but was like " hola, espera." so she just said, hi. wait. and then left and brought her 14 year old daughter to the door. And we were like well uh ok. Btu turns out this girl had been given a book of mormon by the elders about a month ago, AND SHE READ THE WHOLE THING!!! And we set up a return appt with her and she freaking rocks!! She accepted baptism and she says that this book feels different and she can really vizualize everything it says, it's so deep, and it's just amazing. She says she feels warm when she prays, and that she's seen too many signs to deny that God knows who she is. IT's totally awesome to have the Lord just give you someone who is so ready. Hopefully we can start teaching the rest of her family soon. She's coming to church next week hopefully too :) :) :) SO EXCITED

Then we added another family the elders had found before, but they'd had trouble teaching them because the husband wasn't alwasys there so they couldn't go in., But we're sisters, so hopefully thigns will work out better this time.

We've also seen a lot of progression in a part member family. The sister who is not baptized, has a brother who is super active recent convert, and also his wife. And then her own husband was baptized a few months ago, so she just told us about how much he's changed, and how she has changed towards the missionaries, and she wants to get baptized, but she wants to change first. So hopefully she'll understand when we teach that baptism is what helps you achieve that change, and she doesn't have to keep waiting. It's just cool.

WE added 5 investigators this week, so that just makes us feel good haha. Hopefully we can keep them all and get them progressing. We've also been able to send a lot of referrals recently, so that just feels like good karma hahahah, it's got ot come back to us sometime, haha it' already has. That girl - her nickname is Andy- is the coolest. Teaching teenagers is actually really fun. I like it a lot.

Mkay, that's all mas o menos

LOVE YOU!!!

Hermana Nube

The comps are amazing!

Right now our investigators are eh. We have one family that is Amazing.  But they kind of refuse to get baptized right now.  And everyone in my last area who were on date, I don't even know if they have gotten baptized.  Jose was supposed to be baptized on the 4th, but the last I heard, the sisters didn't have a GPS and haven't been able to find any of my old investigators, so that was really hard.  I hope everything is okay and that they find them.  The Maldonados are on date for the 18, and so I'm gonna ask about them, and Rebecca on the 11, this Saturday, so I need to know if that's happening. It's kind of really really sad.  We have no one date here in East Sac. 
The comps are amazing. I love them so much. It is a little harder to keep focused though with three of us haha, but I think we're getting better.  We talked about it and stuff, so yeah. 
Hermana Kaaa is so great. She just cares a lot, but doesn't get discouraged. She is a perfect example of Christ like love without letting it get too personal.  She's personable, and she really loves the members and investigators, but she doesn't take anything they do or don't do personally--so that's awesome, that's how it should be. 
Hermana Vergaray is just funny, she's this short half Peruvian from Washington near Everett. She can rap and stuff, but is really friendly and has a really great testimony. Some of her siblings are inactive, so I think she's really strong, and knows the difference between gospel/non-gospel life.

Alright. Love you!

Good Times in East Sac

Buenas Dias!! Life is great. We had a wicked awesome district meeting last thursday all on failures. It was really great. Our DL is from Canada, I think we might try and do something exciting on July 1, I've been told it's Canada Day or something? haha. But anyway failures. So cool. There are three kinds, bad failures which are a result of our disobedience, decided lack of effort, our own agency, lameness etc. Then inevitable failure, which just means you can't control it. Other people's agency, natural disasters and stuff haha. Things that are going to happen no matter what you do or don't do. And then Good Failures which are innovative, and mean you are trying new things and progressing, like new teaching or finding methods, or teaching with new scriptures, or planning lessons differently, you might not really succeed, but you're not staying the same, and you're progressing and making changes to try and move the work along. It was so cool. He's a cool kid. Going home soon to his beloved Canada in a couple months haha. Then exchanges. Wow, so I got to drive which was really fun. Chevy Cruzes kind of have no guts until they get into like....3rd gear I would guess? Haha it's just funny, I was all excited in the morning, and then by the end of the day I was like please give me back the Toyota Corolla hahaha. But exchanges were great. We taught a ton of lessons that really helped me learn a lot. Hermana Clark- our Sister Training Leader is the missionary I want to be. She's amazing. And we got one of our investigators on date when she was with us and it was just awesome. AND she loves the Killers. So yeah. We're basically best friends now. She just gets the Gospel so much and is good at explaining it so simply, but powerfully. Church was jolly. We went to primary with the daughters of our investigator Isidro. And I love those girls, but wowza. Primary man. I will take a pass on that calling. I mean wow. I was just sitting in the back row, and I was tired and worn out after the first hour. Then we had to go to class, and again. WOW. Kids are crazy and it must have been the 6/7 class or something? I don't know how old they are. Maybe the oldest is 8? I don't remember. But wow, they were so done like 20 minutes in. And we had ran around outside for the first 8 minutes or so hahaha, so that was rough. I mean it's tough on them too because they hardly speak English, so I was translating, but still, if you can't understand what the teacher is even saying it will get old fast. That's me in sacrament meeting sometimes still haha, I just look around and think about the members and less actives and oh time for closing prayer hahaha. It's not usually that bad. don't worry. Anyway. life is great. I love the Hermanas we share the ward with, and I love our Investigators. I wish people would understand that marriage is important though. It really throws a wrench in baptism stuff if no one is/wants to get married. Silly gente. I'll show them. hahaha, just force feed them this last april conference and we should be good. You can always bet on the Prophet. LOVE YOU ALL!! ooohhhh also, I was given a commitment like 3 weeks ago hehe to give you all my testimony and why I'm on a mission. So I'll make this short and sweet!  Pues, Primero, I know this church is true. There have been too many evidences in my life to deny it. I have seen the blessings that have come to me personally, and to my family and those I love by being obedient to these laws nad principles that I am teaching now. I have felt the Holy Ghost testify to me of the reality of Jesus Christ and his atonement for each of us. I know that our Heavenly Parents love us dearly and want us to come back and love with them and our families for Eternity and that is why we are here now. I know that we can always be forgiven and that through the Grace Of God we can change. we can change our hearts and our desires and even our whole nature of being. I know without the Gospel I would feel utterly lost and life would be a blank. I know that this is why I am a missionary right now. I know that since I have enjoyed these blessings and seen the mercy of God, I have to share it with others. I know that I would seem ungrateful if I didn't share with my brothers and sisters the Restored Gospel. I know it's true, so I have to share it. It's as simple as that. I testify that Christ and God love each of you, and so do I! Con Mucho Amor Hermana Katie McCloud

Trio Time

I'm so happy to be out here, for real. Sometimes I think about all the stuff I'm learning and it kinda feels like I just want to take it all home and apply it right now, but I kind of have to calm down, and refocus, and then it's great. I love it. 

My new companions are Hermana Kaaa, and Hermana Vergaray. Hna Kaaa is from Hawaii and has been out 9 months and Hna V came out with me but I'm a month older. We live in a house which is awesome, and the area is pretty small but it has lots of Hispanics. The move was crazy. I'm a little scared we left Rancho a mess for the sisters coming in, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Life is good :)  I'm loving the trio.

This crazy Bulgarian lady we contacted took us to her house and fed us this gross milk and powder stuff, but then gave us apples and bread from Trader Joe's haha so it was good. She takes care of old people, and it was just kind of sad to see people as old as they are, and know how much the Lord loves them, but they don't want the gospel. The one lady was really straight forward and told us Joseph Smith must have made it all up.  The other lady wasn't super coherant, but had lived in Utah and been baptized once, so who knows. Another lady who was older than they was really sweet, but I don't know how much she actually cared. We're going to get her a Book of Mormon though. I just hope she can read it. 

This week was crazy. We met a guy who had gotten out of jail recently and he had been in for 18 years and 2 months and it was so spiritual. It was just a contact, and we had a member with us and our appt fell through and she was like let's just go tracting haha, so we went and contacted this guy, and he had read the Bible in prison for years and was very well versed, and everything he believed was basically what we believe, but he wasn't sure about accepting the Book of Mormon, But it was so amazing to see how peaceful he was about having been in prison for so long, and he was really into obedience and change and the Lords will and it was super spiritual and we all cried a little bit. It's crazy as a missionary how much people will tell you. But we gave him a Book of Mormon and he was kind of like ehhh I don't kno,. maybe, ehhh, non-commital etc etc, but I looked him straight in the eye, and I told him That this book is true. I know it's true. Please read it. You have to read it. And when we were leaving he said he's going to read it, so I hope he does. I really hope he does. 


A group email I sent didn't work.  Idk why, so sorry about that.  LOVE YOU

The Zone in Rancho (first area)

This Week Has Been CRAY - TRANSFERS!

	So let's just start with we did service at Habitat for Humanity and that always drains me like nothing else. It's wicked hot, and I'm working with two grown up versions of Garret Hendershott hahaha. Like the one version was in the navy or something and has tattoos and a barely visible kind of mustache thing, and the other is the one that's like a perpetual boyscout who looks like he's about to go build a cabin in the woods and hike around. I love them both, but it's just really weird to see that hahaha. For those of you who knew Garrett Hendershott that will sort of make sense. Anyway, so like 3 hours at Habitat doing random things in like 90 degree weather. And a ton of missionary work stuff. Making calls, taking a gazillion pictures with people for Hermana Sanchez (and I was like eh, maybe I should take some too in case I get transferred, eh probs won't but just in case), teaching English classes and whatnot.  It all came up to Sunday where we got two of our less actives to church!! And so I'm copying down my talk from my ipad onto paper and our kinda crazy less active just kind of blurts out her question of if Joseph Smith had a ton of wives back in the day, do modern day prophets still do that? And we're all like...uhhh porque ahorrita? Poor teacher. She handled it really well, but the whole room went off and it took a while. Haha. Anyway, then I gave my talk!! YAY me! It went pretty well I think. I think there were a couple parts where my verb tense was a little off, but I just kind of said those really fast hahaha, otherwise I think it went quite well. Our recent convert came up to me after the meeting ended and gave me a little note that said it was really nice and that my Spanish was pretty and she loves me and she drew my name <3 Hna and then a giant cloud SO CUTE.  And then Monday was a normal day since transfers and it was rough. We went to mail our parking ticket we got a couple weeks back when we went to Old Sac (lame) and I put my bag on the floor of the car, and went to get out to mail the envelope, and ha! instead of walking like a normal person I kind of flew out of the car onto the pavement because my bag strap had caught my foot. It felt like I leaped out of the car with the purpose of landing in the gutter. I promptly stood up-didn't swear- and mailed that darn envelope and got back in the car. Hna Sanchez thought it was pretty great. I even hit my knee getting back in the car too. And then later we visited a family and they rescued a pigeon and it pooped on my skirt. It came out fine, but when I was in the bathroom to wash it off, the daughter has dyed her hair and I thought I got some hair dye on my skirt, but I think it's okay. And then FINALLy we got transfer calls and we were with the maldonados, just Rosa, Ana, and Carolina, and we go the call and I'm leaving Rancho!!! WHAT leaving. me. rancho! so they all kind of teared up but they promised to come to english class tonight so we can take one last picture. I'm going to miss them so much. We have so much going on here in Rancho! We have 5 people on date, and Jose might bring his kids to church this sunday, and we just added a family as investigators!! Transfer miracles, happens every time I hear. Ah well. Yep, so I'll be going to East Sac. I've heard great things about it. I think we live with a member? and I'll have 2 copmpanions!! Trio Time for Hna McCloud. We'll see how this goes kids. Craziness. I've met both of them before but I don't really know them. Craziness. Can't believe it.  Anyway, love you all!!! <3 HNA MCCLOUD