Hola! Como estan ustedes? I am doing great! First of all, we got transfer calls this week and Hermana Francis and I are staying together for her last transfer! I am so happy. :) We have been working so hard with investigators and with members of the rama and so being here for another transfer is an answer to our prayers. Also, Elder Linford got released as our district leader and is now going to be one of the new spanish Assistants. We are so excited that he gets to stay in the district and that he will now be in our rama. Hermana Jensen is staying in her area too. Which made me super excited! :) When we told Marili that we were staying she hugged us and started crying in relief. She told us that she remembered that transfers were every 6 weeks and that it was coming close to time. She was so worried we were going to be leaving. She had tears in her eyes as she told us that us staying was an answer to her prayers. We love her and the other girls so much. This week they all accepted to be baptized. :) Pray for them to be able to go to church. They really want to go but haven't been able to go for the past month.
Happy to get to stay together!
Alright last Monday was such a crazy day! The elders in our district decided they wanted to do a district activity of getting pedicures. haha. Oh man it was pretty funny to see them there. It was sort of for Hermana Jensen's birthday last week (it was on Halloween). Then that night we had the baptismal interviews with the Soto Family! They all passed and Valentina danced all night long because of it. :) We also went to a pumpkin patch and carved a little pumpkin for Halloween! It was so fun.
On Halloween there were two Hermanas in our district who went to the departing missionary temple trip. So, Hna Francis and I did little mini exchanges with their companions. I got to go with Hermana Jensen for her birthday! It was so fun. We taught a lesson completely in spanish together. We were so excited to see how far we have come since the CCM. It was a really good confidence booster for the both of us. We also got to go serve in this awesome place called the Gibbon's Center. Gibbons are a type of monkey from Asia and they have a little conservation center here in Santa Clarita. It was so fun! Those monkeys are so active. Much better than the zoo. And boy do they scream and holler. Those that work with and study them live there and I don't know how they get any sleep. haha. And, the best part, we got to bike together in her area! She taught me the how to gracefully get off the bike in a skirt! We also went to sushi for her birthday lunch!
After exchanges, Hermana Francis and I went to go teach Peter and Rebecca to get them ready for their baptismal interview. They were so cute and in their costumes...all ready to go trick or treating. We had an early curfew of 7 on Halloween. President wanted us to deep clean our apartment and so we did that the rest of the night. One of the hermanas in the rama even let us borrow her vacuum because ours is terrible! So the floor actually got vacuumed and our apartment is sparkling. I got your card Halloween night too - right before curfew, so I didn't get to go get donuts. But thanks for thinking of me in that little family tradition. :)
November 1st was Valentina's birthday. She turned 8! Hermana Watts' mom sent some hand me downs to her to give to some of the girls in the ward and there was a beautiful white baptism dress! She wanted us to give it to Valentina. Oh she was so adorable in it. We also got her a pretty white bracelet for her to wear at her baptism the next day. She had a little birthday party with friends from church. She was Ana from frozen and had a tres leches cake.
So here comes the best day of them all: Sunday, November 2nd. The baptism day of the Soto Family. :) They were so happy! The spirit was so strong in their service. So many members from the rama came to support them, there weren't enough chairs! Hermana Francis sang "yo se que vive mi senor" and I accompanied her. Then we had the baptisms! :) Our ward mission leader baptized them. My heart was so happy. We also did the confirmations yesterday because next week we are combined with the english ward for the primary program. The joy on their faces was so special. The korean sisters, who first knocked on their door, got special permission to attend the baptism. We are so grateful for their faith and prayers as well! It was the best day so far. :)
Now here comes the craziness. We had dinner after the baptism with the Brans. They fed us panza, which is stomach. Oh my! You could probably see the fear in my face as I took my first bite. Hermano Bran kept saying, "hermanas, tienen miedo?" and laughing. It was okay...but I definitely will try to avoid it in the future. This dinner definitely beat out half cooked chicken for my craziest mission food. They have a saying that goes "pancita llena, corazon contento." (full stomach, happy heart). Boy was our pancita llena de panza. Hna Francis and I were trying not to think about it the rest of the night. We had to stomach that one. (haha ;)
I love you all so much. I love missionary work! And I loved helping people come to Christ through baptism. Greatest week ever. :) And we have Peter and Rebecca's baptism this Saturday. :) Angel can't be baptized anymore. I guess the dad changed his mind about letting him get baptized. We are pretty sad about it, but we are so happy for the Chavez family. Hermano Chavez is even preparing to go to the temple now!
Have a wonderful week!
Con carino y mucho amor,
Hermana Buxton
Headed to the baptism!