Things have been pretty busy...

Temple Day!!

Family Ties <3

Hello! Sorry it's been a week since I've written. Things have been pretty busy.

Right now I am waiting for Sister Bauer to get ready so I thought I would tell you how my week is going so far. I'll have a longer letter in the mail by the end of the week!

Today is Wednesday morning (8/14/13) and I am sick...my stomach is upset so I think I have a virus and the last few nights I have been the worst. I toss and turn all night.

Yesterday (8/13/13) was my 4 month anniversary since going through the Temple for the first time! It was also a hard day because I was so sick. We woke up and walked a mile and then I crashed on the couch while Sister Bauer was getting ready. When she came out, she checked my head and said I had a fever. She called Sister Luft who told me to go back to bed. I felt bad doing that but they both insisted, so I did. I slept on and off until 10:00 am and then I got in the shower and got ready because we had a lesson at 11:00 am with Susan. Susan is really cool and she would make an awesome Relief Society President, but I don't know if right now is the right time for her to accept the Gospel. We are not giving up though. We talked to her about Joseph Smith and she said she believes that he did see God, the Father and Jesus Christ, but she doesn't believe that he was the only one who was told to "create" a church. She thinks that Martin Luther and others were also called by God. She is almost too open minded...

After Susan, we came back to eat lunch and study Preach My Gospel. I hadn't eaten anything yet so I decided to try some chicken noodle soup, which I still can't decide if it helped or not...

At 3:00 pm we taught Sherry the Plan of Salvation, and Pearl was there! It was a good lesson. The first time we taught it we weren't able to cover the whole thing so we needed to go over it again. Sister Bauer has a Plan of Salvation packet with visual aids, so we used that and it was fun. 

Dinner was with Sister Taylor. She makes interesting food which I like and I think I would have really enjoyed what she made if I wasn't feeling ill. I forced it down though because I didn't want to make her feel bad. 

The Relief Society pool party was last night and we got to stop by for a couple minutes because Sherry was there. We got there a little late and when we arrived one of the ladies we are teaching was really upset, so she left. We walked out to the car with her and found out that she was upset because she was sitting at a table with a bunch of women and not one person talked to her. She said she tried to get in on the conversation but no one would talk to her. I felt for her because Heaven knows I have been in many situations like that and it makes you feel like crap. Although I am sure none of them realized what they were doing, it made me realize that we need to be aware of people around us who are in need. This lady swore up and down that she would never go to one of the ward activities again...which makes me sad :(  The Church is perfect, the people are not.

We stayed at the party for about a half hour and had fun. Then we went to the Mission Home to get some music for Sister Bauer. She was asked to sing in church on Sunday. We spent about a half hour there. We talked to President Tew and Sister Tew. Sister Bauer sang for them. Their son and his family were there so we knelt down and had family prayer with them. It was a nice visit.

We needed to stop by Sister Luft's apartment to get some notes that the "mini-missionary" left for us so since we where in the area, we did that real fast and then Sister Bauer let me drive home :)

On our way home we made a pit stop at the Goodies to say hello and shared Moroni 10:32.

I really tried to be a good missionary even though I was sick.

In and Out

Delci at Seal Beach

Monday after emailing we went to In and Out and then to the beach --Seal Beach, which I think is the beach the Goodman's took Dad to...I'm not sure. We aren't allowed to go on the beach or the pier but we were able to sit on the bench and look at the water. I was fine with that. The ocean is my peace and it was really relaxing. That is what we did for most of our P-day. During emailing we had a picnic with the mini-missionary, Sister Pito, before she went home (a mini-missionary is someone who lives the mission for 1-2 weeks to decide whether or not they want to go on a mission). After the beach we went back to the house to switch out our laundry and get back to work.

Monday was a good day.

I don't know how to cast my burdens on the Savior. I am really trying to figure that out. I am working on not running faster than I have strength. 

Thank you so much for the book. I love it.

AJ, Emma, Sam, Luke...good luck on your first day of school! I want to know how it goes :) I'll be thinking about and praying for you.

Mom and Dad, How are you? How is work? Has anything fun been going on?

How is Jansen? I miss him!

I've been really thanking Heavenly Father for all of the blessings He has given me --the biggest being my family. So many people don't have what I have and I realize it more and more everyday. Thank you for being my family <3  I love you all.

--California

The church is true!!