Hi Y'all !!!!!!

Hola Familia!

 

It was great to get your e-mail Mom! I am glad Dad that you enjoyed the Father's Day card. I picked it out because it was a dog fishing and I like that song! So I am super excited that you liked it. I'm glad you all had a great Father's Day but I hope that Jason and his family can start feeling better now that they have moved into a new apartment. Yesterday we had Dinner at a member's home and they are vegetarians and so they grilled us regular hot dogs. It was super sweet of them to do that for us. and then after that we had great night visiting the less active families in our ward.

One family was the Hernandez family. They are So sweet!! He is from Mexico and she is from Peru and they have three kids. They came to church yesterday for the first time in 6 months which is Awesome!!!!! The father really wants his family to continue to come to church so they just need to get out of the habit of not coming. So when we visited with them last night we asked them if we could teaching them the lessons in Spanish so that we could get the practice. Because I am in an english area and so I hardly ever get to use my Spanish. And they Loved that Idea! It will help us practice with native speakers and it will hopefully get them active again and wanting to have the gospel more in their lives. Then the father asked if we could also come over sometimes and read The Book of Mormon with them in Spanish. He feels that it will really help their family. So I am super excited! Also super nervous because of my struggling Spanish skills but the cool thing is is that when we left Hermana Wright turned to me and said, "You know, this is one of the reasons you are here, to learn the language from the Hernandez family and also to help them grow in the Gospel." So I am super excited to meet with them again.

This week has definitely been something else. We had quite a few member present lessons scheduled but all of the appointments feel through. It was discouraging but I know that there will be days and week like this one has been but I know that if I continue to work hard and do all I can, the Lord will take care of the rest. So needless to say we did a lot of knocking doors this past week but we met some nice people who said we could come back and meet with them again. So I can't wait to see what this week brings.

Today for p-day we are getting together as a zone and we are going to Enchanted Rock. I guess it is a cave somewhere but that should be fun. So I will have to take a lot of pictures and send them to you. Tonight we have dinner with a couple where his is a member and she isn't but they are super sweet and so we are going to have a bbq with them tonight and also do some service for them. They are both in their 60's I think and he has some health problems and so we try to help them in anyway we can. Also tonight we hopefully will be teaching the first lesson to this guy named Dakota and his family. We tried to see them yesterday but they were busy and so they asked us to come back tonight.

So something really cool that happened at church yesterday was that Sister Riding in our ward came up to me and asked me what my parents names were. I told her and then she asked me if I knew Kent and Sherry. I freaked out and said they were my Aunt and Uncle and she got super excited. When Sister Riding and her husband we newly married they lived in Kent and Sherry's ward and they loved that ward and I guess Lisa baby sat for them. Well Sister Riding loved Lisa so much that she named her second daughter after Lisa. Isn't that cool!! So she wanted me to tell Kent and Sherry that so if you get a chance let them know that Bob and Valarie Riding say Hi! We have dinner with them on thursday so she is excited to talk to me about them. This is one of those times when I wish I knew my extended family better.:)

So to answer some questions, yes I am doing the twelve week program and if I leave from Argentina this next transfer then I will finish the program down there. And so no I haven't heard anything about my Visa but I think they will probably just tell me if I have it or not when transfer calls come so I need to be prepared.:)

We had a little rain last night and supposedly we are to get rain tomorrow and the next few days but I doubt it. The days have been a bit cooler lately but it is still super hot! And everyone I meet tells me that it will just continue to get worse. Que Bendicion!!! Also we have a car but we usually go to the area we are working in, park and walk everywhere until we have to leave that area.

Thank you all for your letters and Dad, for all the advice you give me! Thank you so much! I am always so excited to hear what is going on back home. I hope that Utah can get some rain to help with the fires. We talked to a guy a few days ago who predicts the world will end by the end of this year because of all of the signs that are coming true in the Bible. It was quite hilarious to listen to him. He went on to talk about how the Mayans and the different people in the Americas had to have been visited by some God because how else could the have been so advanced and I guess there are some carvings of a God that they worshiped that had long hair and a beard and his so he said it had to be Jesus. So we told him yeah it was and that is what The Book of Mormon is about and once we told him that, he was stumped and said he would have to think about that. It was so Funny!!!!! Oh the people you met!

Well I hope everyone has a great week and I hope to hear from you all soon!!! Thanks again for all of your love and support and I can't wait to tell you what this week brings!!! Enjoy the dry heat!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

Greetings from Texas San Antonio Mission

Hey Everyone,

 

I have officially survived my first 5 day in Texas. The heat is killer but everyone's air conditioning works really well. I have so much to tell you but its hard to know to write in my e-mail and what to save for the letter. So on wednesday when we got off the plane and met with President Jones and his wife we got to go back to the mission home and have lunch. It is so nice to have real food again! Then they talked to us about the mission and I felt kind of out of the loop because they kept referring to things they had asked the missionaries to do before they came and me and Hermana Morgan had no idea what they were talking about and so President Jones would turn to us a say, "Oh you don't need to worry about that." They are both extremely nice but I now know what my teacher meant when he said we are kind of in limbo right now. Then we got to go to the Alamo. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be but it was cool to see. It is right downtown in the middle of San Antonio. We then got to split up and go place our first Book of Mormon. There were only 3 sisters so we all went together and the one sister who is staying here totally took the lead and talked with this lady for 25 minutes. We were able to give a Book of Mormon to her but neither Hermana Morgan or I got a word in. But all in all is was a good experience. After that we went back had dinner and then slept over at some sisters apartment. Then on thursday we went to the transfer meeting. My trainer's name is Hermana Wright and she is from St. George. She has just been hear for 12 weeks and she is already training! She is awesome and I am so excited to work with her! Our area is Encino Park. Its not a very big area and its just outside the city limits of San Antonio.

On thursday night we were supposed to have a dinner appointment with a family in the ward but they weren't home when we went over so we dicided to knock some doors. Knocking doors is quite a nerve racking experience! Most people are very polite in telling us they are not interested. So we knocked a few doors and we knock on one door and a man answered the door and he and his wife let us in. They are both Catholic but they aren't happy with where they are at and so they are looking for something different. So right there we taught them the first lesson!!! I was so Nervous!!!!! They both agreed to read the Book of  Mormon and we get to meet with them again this week! Hermana Wright said I did great but I know I can improve a ton! Later that night we met with a couple and he is an inactive and she is not a member. They are Awesome!!! I will give you the details about them in the letter.

We are extremely blessed, we get to live with a member! In a House! It is the greatest thing Ever! Her name is Billie and she has 3 dogs!!! I love it so much!!! The members are also so Amazing! They feed us practically ever night and they are willing to help anyway they can. My first sunday was great and it was fun to be in a normal ward again.

I hope I can adjust to the heat soon or it may kill me!:) I may be buying a few cheap but cool shirts because a lot of what I have is too thick. The mission refunded me for my luggage and also the overweight which is Awesome!!!

I am excited to hear that everything is going well and I hope things work out with Jace and Emily with their apartment. I am glad they are all feeling better. Also its exciting that Derek and Kimberly will be leaving in a month! I hope Dad can get work off so you all can have a little Vacation! I really want to see dads new duds!!

Well I hope to go into more detail in my letter. Thanks so much for all of you love and prayers. They mean everything to me! The mission has been really hard so far but I know that this is where I need to be! I hope your week is amazing and have fun in the nice weather. I will never complain about Utah heat again! I love you all so much!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

p.s. here is the address you can write me at. :)

2318 Park Farm

San Antonio, TX 78259

Hola Familia!!!!

I am super excited! I found out this morning that I am getting temporarily reassigned!!! And I know where!!! But You will be getting a call from me around 5:45 tonight so I will tell you then!! So I am super excited to be going to two different places!!! This e-mail will probably be really short, sorry. And really scattered.

So my companion Hermana Nelson got re-assigned to Washington DC south!!! So you know where she is going but that is not where I am headed! She is going there with Brittany Pasquale. She is super excited!

So this week has been great but also difficult with not knowing if I would get my visa or where I would be off too. Its been hard to focus but I have learned a ton this week. My companions and I studied Alma 4&5 this week trying to find what Pure Testimony is. It was really Amazing! So I am inviting all of you to do the same! Its awesome what you can learn when you look for a specific thing.

It was fun to see Sister Wilson at the Temple! I'm glad she e-mailed you about that! So another person I just saw yesterday was Elder Hall!!!!!!! I didn't host yesterday but I saw him at dinner and talked to him for about 20 minutes!! It was so fun to see him!!! I was really happy that I was able to see him and I hope that I will see him more before I leave.

So It was fun to get an e-mail from both Kimberly and Emily! Thank you two for writing!!! Its great to here that Natashia got a job here! But I probably won't see her because I value my sleep more that yoga at 6 in the morning.:) And I can't believe how mobile Dylan has become!!! That is so fun to hear!!! Also Emily I am excited to hear that you are thinking of going back to school! I think that would be awesome to do as soon as you felt you could! Its also good to hear that everything is going well for Jace and work! Also I am excited that you got to work with Callie!! I miss that girl so much!!

So the tuesday night devotional was great! Elder Zwick from the seventy and his wife did a great job! They both talked on the importance of the Book of Mormon and Elder Zwick's testimony was just so Powerful!!!!

.Sorry this e-mail is so scattered but I need to go and I can't wait to call you tonight!! I love you all so much and I hope this week goes amazing!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

Alayna has been temporily reassigned to San Antonio, Texas and she flies out next Wednesday, June 6th. I will post her address there as soon as I know what it is!!