04/23:
Dear Family,
>From Mum's letter, I hear that Tyson and Jana are want me to stay with them when I get back to Salt Lake. I WOULD LOVE THAT!!! It would be so much fun! Just make sure I don't mooch off of you too long : ) I feel so loved. Hey, so where do you two live? I'm fine with living on a couch and out of a suitcase. And Alayna says that you have my stuff in a storage place. Thank you very much for holding onto that for me. I'll be home soon to take it off of your hands.
We've had a lot of fun moments recently. We've had exceptionally good conversations with people, including three very put-together people hanging out by their house yesterday afternoon. Turns out the grandma has met with missionaries and had a good experience. The boyfriend and girlfriend were very impressed with the missionary program and were all for letting us share a bit of goodness.
We were driving by a building I've wondered about in the past and a big garage door was open with two GORGEOUS motorcycles outside. Sister William's dad is a Harley guy, so we had to stop. Turns out the guy who hand-makes all the bikes (big guy with tattoos and earings...just what you would expect) was friends with some of the elders a couple years ago and used to take them on their errands on preparation day because they didn't have a car : ) He never let them share the gospel, but it was mighty fun to hear. He even had the world's friendliest boxer with two spiked collars. I've attached a picture of me on a bike worth $150,000. We were careful not to scratch the paint.
There are also a couple pictures of a great view of St. Paul...and us enjoying it.
And for his 16th birthday last Sunday, we threw a mini birthday party for Andy. He's just waiting for his answer from God about whether or not he should get baptized. He believes in Christ and the Bible and the Book of Mormon and that the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith. He likes the people at church and hasn't missed a week since he started coming 2 months ago. He just wants a confirmation that this is what God wants him to do. We don't understand why he hasn't gotten it yet.
Tuesday was a particularly fun night. We went tracting and made friends with a cool guy about our age who had gone to our church with a friend a while ago but wasn't into it anymore. For all the other English people we met on the street, we spoke in British accents because Sister Williams wanted to spice it up a bit. Everyone was more patient and willing to listen than we anticipated, and no one asked us where we were from. Phew. We then talked to some guys who were drinking beer and digging up bush stumps, and got to share quite a bit. The one particularly mentioned that we were different from other church people and he felt a lot more comfortable. We then hit a low-income project and made friends with these two cute little boys, one black and one Somalian and both probably 2 years old. They both stood there smiling at us and waving : ) We got to talking to a Somalian woman whose response to our offer was, "What, do you want me to tell you about my religion?" Little did she know, we LOVE learning about others' religions, so we enthusiastically asked her to and we ended up talking for some 40 minutes. She eventually said, "Alright, now that I have shared, what do you believe? It's only fair that I listen." We started with Christ being the Son of God and she stopped us there : ) It was a really great conversation, though, and I learned a lot of new things. We then moved to the other side of the building and there were 5 kindergarten and first-grade girls doing exercises of some kind. We asked if they wanted to learn some dance moves, and they were thrilled, although they first roped us into a wild game of Duck, Duck, Goose. After a few rounds, and the addition of a few more kids, we made up some little dance for them and all did it a couple times. Then they pulled out the jump rope, and we got everyone jumping and dancing over the whole sidewalk. They were thrilled! When time came for us to go, they all ran up and gave me a huge hug, then ran to Sister William and did the same for her, then ran back to me, then Sister Williams. This went on for a while before someone stole our Book of Mormon and said we couldn't leave. We chased them for a while, then hit the road. We talked to three more people, the last of whom became a 30 minute conversation and return appointment. His name is Juventino and he was way into what we were teaching. He didn't seem to have any kind of religious background.
So there's a HUGE Cinco de Mayo fiesta in the West Side (our area) every year, and we're making arrangements to have a booth there. We stopped in for information on the last day to sign up, and got permission from the President who's going to pay for it. I'm hoping to get help from an amazing interior designer in Plymouth so it will really be something nice, and something they can use year after year. We put in an order for a ton more Spanish materials, and we'll probably get all the Spanish missionaries from the whole twin-cities there. I'm the most concerned about putting together a good booth since we have limited funds, limited materials, limited time, and (if Sister Simonette doesn't call me back) limited creativity. Oh well, everything works out just the way the Lord wants it when we put in the effort.
Oscar is hilarious. He has a dry, witty sense of humor that I LOVE. We do nothing but laugh in our appointments (exagerating. We share the gospel, too). He's really going strong and should get his first calling in just a bit.
We did a FHE with Los Chavos. We did the Preach My Gospel "attribute activity" and played spoons.
Last Saturday was a blast. Some members put on a barbeque and we got to invite los chavos and Oscar. We played soccor before and after and I found out that I can compensate for my lack of skill by pummeling people, instead. I played barefoot and next week I will send pictures of what was left over of my feet and nylons. I still have a couple cuts and bruises: battle scars.
I'll send another email after this with a couple pictures from Geovanni's baptism. I finally got my camera back (had left it at a member's house).
Sister Williams is getting better little by little, although she's still struggling. To help out, we've been super, super goofy. We make everything into a musical. I hope nobody notices.
We chalked a less-active's driveway with a scripture from the Book of Mormon. Those pictures are on Sister William's camera, too, so I'll send them next week. Now that it's good weather, we've decided we're going to teach the Plan of Salvation on people's driveways with chalk and make them actually walk through it.
That's more or less it. Love you all!
Erin
>From Mum's letter, I hear that Tyson and Jana are want me to stay with them when I get back to Salt Lake. I WOULD LOVE THAT!!! It would be so much fun! Just make sure I don't mooch off of you too long : ) I feel so loved. Hey, so where do you two live? I'm fine with living on a couch and out of a suitcase. And Alayna says that you have my stuff in a storage place. Thank you very much for holding onto that for me. I'll be home soon to take it off of your hands.
We've had a lot of fun moments recently. We've had exceptionally good conversations with people, including three very put-together people hanging out by their house yesterday afternoon. Turns out the grandma has met with missionaries and had a good experience. The boyfriend and girlfriend were very impressed with the missionary program and were all for letting us share a bit of goodness.
We were driving by a building I've wondered about in the past and a big garage door was open with two GORGEOUS motorcycles outside. Sister William's dad is a Harley guy, so we had to stop. Turns out the guy who hand-makes all the bikes (big guy with tattoos and earings...just what you would expect) was friends with some of the elders a couple years ago and used to take them on their errands on preparation day because they didn't have a car : ) He never let them share the gospel, but it was mighty fun to hear. He even had the world's friendliest boxer with two spiked collars. I've attached a picture of me on a bike worth $150,000. We were careful not to scratch the paint.
There are also a couple pictures of a great view of St. Paul...and us enjoying it.
And for his 16th birthday last Sunday, we threw a mini birthday party for Andy. He's just waiting for his answer from God about whether or not he should get baptized. He believes in Christ and the Bible and the Book of Mormon and that the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith. He likes the people at church and hasn't missed a week since he started coming 2 months ago. He just wants a confirmation that this is what God wants him to do. We don't understand why he hasn't gotten it yet.
Tuesday was a particularly fun night. We went tracting and made friends with a cool guy about our age who had gone to our church with a friend a while ago but wasn't into it anymore. For all the other English people we met on the street, we spoke in British accents because Sister Williams wanted to spice it up a bit. Everyone was more patient and willing to listen than we anticipated, and no one asked us where we were from. Phew. We then talked to some guys who were drinking beer and digging up bush stumps, and got to share quite a bit. The one particularly mentioned that we were different from other church people and he felt a lot more comfortable. We then hit a low-income project and made friends with these two cute little boys, one black and one Somalian and both probably 2 years old. They both stood there smiling at us and waving : ) We got to talking to a Somalian woman whose response to our offer was, "What, do you want me to tell you about my religion?" Little did she know, we LOVE learning about others' religions, so we enthusiastically asked her to and we ended up talking for some 40 minutes. She eventually said, "Alright, now that I have shared, what do you believe? It's only fair that I listen." We started with Christ being the Son of God and she stopped us there : ) It was a really great conversation, though, and I learned a lot of new things. We then moved to the other side of the building and there were 5 kindergarten and first-grade girls doing exercises of some kind. We asked if they wanted to learn some dance moves, and they were thrilled, although they first roped us into a wild game of Duck, Duck, Goose. After a few rounds, and the addition of a few more kids, we made up some little dance for them and all did it a couple times. Then they pulled out the jump rope, and we got everyone jumping and dancing over the whole sidewalk. They were thrilled! When time came for us to go, they all ran up and gave me a huge hug, then ran to Sister William and did the same for her, then ran back to me, then Sister Williams. This went on for a while before someone stole our Book of Mormon and said we couldn't leave. We chased them for a while, then hit the road. We talked to three more people, the last of whom became a 30 minute conversation and return appointment. His name is Juventino and he was way into what we were teaching. He didn't seem to have any kind of religious background.
So there's a HUGE Cinco de Mayo fiesta in the West Side (our area) every year, and we're making arrangements to have a booth there. We stopped in for information on the last day to sign up, and got permission from the President who's going to pay for it. I'm hoping to get help from an amazing interior designer in Plymouth so it will really be something nice, and something they can use year after year. We put in an order for a ton more Spanish materials, and we'll probably get all the Spanish missionaries from the whole twin-cities there. I'm the most concerned about putting together a good booth since we have limited funds, limited materials, limited time, and (if Sister Simonette doesn't call me back) limited creativity. Oh well, everything works out just the way the Lord wants it when we put in the effort.
Oscar is hilarious. He has a dry, witty sense of humor that I LOVE. We do nothing but laugh in our appointments (exagerating. We share the gospel, too). He's really going strong and should get his first calling in just a bit.
We did a FHE with Los Chavos. We did the Preach My Gospel "attribute activity" and played spoons.
Last Saturday was a blast. Some members put on a barbeque and we got to invite los chavos and Oscar. We played soccor before and after and I found out that I can compensate for my lack of skill by pummeling people, instead. I played barefoot and next week I will send pictures of what was left over of my feet and nylons. I still have a couple cuts and bruises: battle scars.
I'll send another email after this with a couple pictures from Geovanni's baptism. I finally got my camera back (had left it at a member's house).
Sister Williams is getting better little by little, although she's still struggling. To help out, we've been super, super goofy. We make everything into a musical. I hope nobody notices.
We chalked a less-active's driveway with a scripture from the Book of Mormon. Those pictures are on Sister William's camera, too, so I'll send them next week. Now that it's good weather, we've decided we're going to teach the Plan of Salvation on people's driveways with chalk and make them actually walk through it.
That's more or less it. Love you all!
Erin