Waters of Mormon April 23

What a week i have had!! Well in short.. i cant remember all that has happened becasue it is all a blurrr!!! the good news is what is going to happen this up and comming weekend!!! On Thursday with our appointment with Jauna we talked to her other cusien who knows english and they told us some very good news!! that Jauna is her own person and that she can do what ever she wants to be happy and not to listen to "bato" that he is stupid and that his opionion does not count where Jauna is concerned. :) so ... Jauna is getting Baptized this sunday :)  also the Vazques Family are getting Baptized this sunday. and the Elders have one investigator geting baptized this sunday also, there will be a grand total of 5 baptizm this sunday. but that is not all.. we had a very powerful member lesson with Stephen... Ester his wife asked him if he would get baptized on sunday, he told us that he would think about it. On sunday he came into church looking so tired and beat, he told us that he woke up at 1:30 this morning and could not get back to sleep and that he had been thinking about baptism... thats all we could get in before church started... and then we taught Sunday school, and also Releif Society, and after we got out, Stephen was there waiting for us... he said that we have been forcing him to get Baptized and just as he said that we were about to say no, but he keep going and said that Ester would be mad if she missed the baptism and that he has to pick her up at 4:30 on sunday so he cannot get baptized... we came back with can you get baptized on Saturday where Ester has the day off??? and guess what!!! he said YES!!  So yes, Stephen is getting Baptized this Saturday... we hope... he just needs to pass his interview questions and he is ready!!! and that means that we have FIVE Baptisms!!!!! This Weekend!! So here in the deaf Brach of Fullerton... we are reopening the waters of Mormon!!! :)

 

So that is my week. We are beat... we had other lessons, we werer finally able to get in contact with thresea again... and start teaching her again!! :) and we also have a new Investigator Michelle, she is so cute and has a little two year old girl roxy. but i am ready for this up comming week where we will be working even harder!! :) it is going to be so much fun!!! :)

 

Thank you mom for talking to Diana for me about the mary kay stuff!! i love the product so much!!! and i think it looks really nice on me too!! Im writing her today i will tell her thank you!

 

Sandies Kids are getting older and older!! I hope all is well with Jessica being there... and that she is back to normal, or more say that she is nice to sandie and treats her nice. it makes me sad to hear that she is not nice to her!

 

I will tell dad in my letter to him to take his pills!

 

I will pray for amber and joe that they can be healthy... did you offer them a Priesthood blessing???

 

I will pray for chris that all will be will and that he can have protection!

 

I love you all so very much!!! :)

 

GOD BE WITH YOU TIL WE MEET AGAIN!!

 

Sister Longan

April 16th

Well, This week I got another Compaion Sister Tagge. She is amazing! she is from Holiday Utah, Salt Lake area. She is so much fun and she is a blonde, that now makes three of us, and we all have blue eyes too. So most of the week have been trying to teach her about the area. I cant Believe that i have been out here for almost 5 months CRAZY!!!! we have been praying like crazy because Satan is working very hard on my invesitgators... so please please pray for them!!! The Vazquez family is in a bind the mother of Sergio is kicking them out of the house and they are trying to find an Apartment ASAP, but that is hard on accounts that they are not citizens yet but they are in the process and just waiting to get approved, and we really cant help them as missionaries. And then Theresa wont answer our phone calls or call us back... and we havent seen her all week!!! But we have done a lot of finding... it is so much fun, and sad at the same time. I wonder if these people would slam the door in christ's face, cause they truly are doing that, it is day how much we can help them and they just say no. OH!! we had our first run in with a JW that was intersting... he tried to Bible Bash and we were kind and polight and he wanted nothing to do with us because we would not arrgue back, and he would ask us a question and we would answer and he didnt like that, and then he would give us the answer he was looking for... but he never got out of his car the whole time we were worried that he was going to hit our car. But all is well, we are just sad that we know he is looking for the truth but his heart is not ready to find it. OH and by the way i am almost finished with Alma... and because of all the wars they talk about all of my dreams are action dreams!! but i am loving it!!

 

So mom, Im happy you had fun at diana's and crystals. What books did you get me?? I really cant ready any of them... DVD's are better cause i can watch them in sign but we will see, i am excited though. :) Mom can you send my some fast cheap resipeas for dinner to make... we are sick of hot dogs... please!! How is Rufus doing??? Did you like any of the other pictures??? and guess what... I like my new pink skirt cause it is different and light... and i hate all of my cloths... we except my new ones... but it is hard to wear the same ones everyday!! I do hope you dont get sick!!

 

Jenni, I will Pray for you and for chris not to get robbed. that is horrible. It just taribble how the world is today.. more and more signs of the second comming. Tell me more about your kids!! I want to know more!!!!! and the pictures you send me i can only see little thumbnails of them... soo its kinda hard!! how is Ashley with the whole marc and v thing?? i wrote her a letter. that is crazy!!!! wow.. i hope it all works out for the better!!!! I hope all is well with you and i pray for you every night!!!

 

Crystal, a letter is comming... I am so thankful of all that you do for me!! :) Have you ever heard of Tagge's famous Fruit??

 

Sister Dallie!! - you are amazing!!! please tell me the names of all of your investigators so i can pray for them. I hope all is well with you and i pray for you every night!! Remeber the name who is on your name tag, he loves you through thick and thin! :)

 

Well thats all, I love you all so so much!!! God Be With You Til We Meet Again!!

 

Sister Longan

 

PS... please send some church music that is not MOTab!!! PLEASE!!! maybe some EFY music of children's song please we are dieing here!!!!

Random Pictures sent Home

April 9, 2012

This week was AmAzInG!! We started out the week with having a family home evening with a few members and The Vazquez Family. It was Amazing we taught about the true meaning of easter and everyone loved it!! the funny part was when the ward mission leader tries to explain that it was a lighting bolt that opened the tomb, he was serious... oh we love the branch so much!! FYI I do have pictures of that :) they will be sent. The reminds me... Sister Jackson and I have planed to get pictures done today... so there will be some in the mail :) Ok, Tuesday... Sister Jackson and I got a NEW VP (Video Phone)!!!! YAY!! this is so amazing!! we have the new version where we can leave messages on the other VP's and so calling members will not be phone tag any more :) Then we went out to teach the Vazquez family, and low and behold who is sitting at a bus stop... PAM!! our recent convert that we have not been able to contact in months!!! So what so we do... we taker her to our lesson :) poor Pam... she is dad's age... and well she wet herself... we love her so much... she has nothing, she is living in a shed, but she knows that the church is true and she knows that the Gospel helps her life. So we go to the appointment, and we are teaching tithing. Guess what!!! the Vazquez Family accepts it!! thank you jenni for your story about chris and buying milk for zayne, they loved that story, and before we left Ana-Daughter even asked if you can pay tithing before you are baptized :) So, on Wednesday we have president interviews... amazing, i will just say i love President Bowen so much, and I love that we can tell Sister Bowen what happens in the Deaf Branch and she just laughs and laughs and laughs. We Told her about Thomas... he is seven and he was praying before a meal with us and he had to pee really bad, so he prayed that his grandma would get out of the bathroom cause he had to go real bad, mind you this is all in ASL. And then when he got out he said it smelled so bad i almost throw up... oh we love thomas so much but he can say the darnest things and his parents dont have a clue cause they are Deaf. anyway... so after Interviews we have Dinner with Sister Ray, we had to cut it short so she could go met her son. And then Thursday, that was a good day too, we met a women we have been trying to meet for months, before i even got here, she said that she would text us when she has time to learn. AND then we had a Lesson with our new Investigator Theresa.... we also have our Relief Society President with us... she never stops talking... we love her... but it was the hardest to get a word in edge wise... but we taught her the plan of salvation... well the start of it, but she is so excited to get baptized we just love her so so much!!! And then Came friday, mission conference day. we go and we are told to be their early to be ready and then we were also told at 1:45 when sister Bowen walks in we are to stand up and show her respect... well when she walked in, her cousin is there with her too, and who is her cousin married to :)............ ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR! So yes, he came to my mission conference. Guess who got to help interpret for him me :) that means spots right up in front :) and Guess who got to shake his hand yep... ME!! I would have never guessed that he is a shorter man, but then again anyone standing next to President Bowen looks short. But it was so nice. He talked to us about being agents and objects, and the faith means action. it was so cool!! Then after that we had a lesson with stephen. it was amazing!! HE SAID THAT HE KNOWS THAT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE WORD OF GOD!!! But, that he is just not ready for baptism yet :( but alll is well that was a very very very good day :) Saturday, we had exchanges, and just let me tell you, i am so excited and happy that i am an exact obedience missionary! the sister who came with me is amazing but she opened up to me and told me all of her frustration,  and we were able to pin point why she was feeling how she does, it is because of not following the White hand book. There are so many Blessing that come from doing that, I cant even explain how much come, it is crazy! Well, also this day the LaHabra Sisters, Debbie they are in my district we drive them around every where and they know your nephew and his wife and in fact i am at their church building right now writing my email, they are with in miles of me... anyway so the LaHabra sisters had a Baptism that day, it was so nice, but guess who came to the baptism!! STEPHEN!!! he didnt even come to his wife's baptism, and he drove from Garden Grove, South of Anaheim to Lahabra, Way North of Anaheim, 45 mins to get to the Baptism. He almost didnt make it but right as we where going to the room with the font he came in :) it was amazing!! and we get to teach him tonight... we are going to teach him about Captain Moroni :) and the Title of Liberty it will be so much fun!! Sunday was nice too, sister Jackson and i ran into Sister Jackson's cousin on accident at a members home... oops :/ but all is well we now know not to go there on holidays. 

So that was my week. Crazy and it few by in the blink of an eye! Tomorrow we get a new companion Sister Tagge we even get to pick her up from the airport cause President it busy!! :) The weather is turning a lot warmer, i think it about in the 80's and has been staying there. I love hearing from all of you thank you so much for all of your letters. And once again... If you send me something from a blog.. i can not see the pictures and half the time the words are cut offf... so it is very hard to read but thank you for sending me them :) Jon and Greg also wrote me this week that was way cool to get :) Jon is having fun in Hawaii, well its the end of another transfer, I cant believe that another 6 weeks has gone by CRAZY!!! but i still love it here :) 

I love you all so very much sending you all of my love :) God Be With you til we Meet again :) 


<3

Sister Longan

.April 2, 2012

ok to clear everything up... to send me pictures you need to attach them to the email... not to a link... i cannot leave this email sit... so jenni all i can see of your pictures are little thumbnail ones and crystal i could not see it at all, but i could read what you wrote :)

 

Thank you to all those who send me an email so i had them waiting for me. It is so nice to open your email and have letters waiting for you, the missionary feels very loved.

 

Thank you Crystal for writing me, i very much enjoy both of your emails, and not that i have yours i can send you my weekly email as well :) I am happy that you are doing better though :)

 

Jenni, your dream about me and what i am wearing is intersting... all of my skirts have to be below my knee so, and i really really hope that i dont have to go home for any reason besides that i have served the lord well. :)

 

Mother. I am very happy that your health is getting back to normal and that you arrived safe in arizona... i should not tell you but you are now closer to me than you have been in months. haha :) so your first email made me cry, but i loved it still the same. tell diana congrats for carlie, who does she look more like gracie of sennia?? i hope that she comes home for the hospital soon too i will be praying for her. :) tell jason and diana hi for me and that i lovvee all the letters she sends me. tell grandpa hi for me too, where is he staying i thought he was staying with diana. I am happy that you are not hurting anymore.  the fat thing... well we hope it is all in the past... but deaf people are very blunt, they tell it how it is and they dont care, that is just the culture.. it is fun at times. :) I have started reading the new testiment and i am loving every second of it even if i dont understand it compleatly... but i love learning about christ :)

 

LETSSS SEE the good stuff my week :) ....

we had a sisters lunch this week, that means all the sisters in the mission get together and have lunch and have a training meeting, it was alot of fun. we went over the forget-me-not talk from president U. then we had asl class that night... i love teaching asl so so so much we had a lot of fun too :) then, for wedsday we went to another meeting, for all of the new missionaries and their trainers in the last two transfers. and that was so much fun we talked about compaion unity, we laughed so much, all i have to say is that i love Sister Bowen so so so much I am so thankful that she is my mission mom :) then we had dinner at sister rays home... she is the sister who working in the mission office, she feeds us once a week after she heard that we dont get fed often, but we also have compaion study with her and she lovvvvveeeesssss it! but this week the assistants to the mission president were also there that was an intersting dinner but very very very good, did i tell you sister ray makes everything home made and it is sososssssooooooo good :) Then on thursday... we had exchanges again :P this time i had sister Leautui she is so so soso much funn too. she is from somoa, she taught me so much and we laughed a lot too. when she came on her mission she didnt know any english... but not it is time for to to almost go home and she is so so so much better. but we had a fun experience... we went tracting, and this was the first time i have had doors slamed in my face, it was very intersting. but also we starting teachin a new person!!!! YAY!!! her name is thersa :)  she is hearing, but she comes to the deaf branch and so we can teach her. i love her so so so much and she has gone though a lot as well. she is black so i will get that out of the way. but she has been married twice and both of her husbands have been shot and killed crazy!! but all is well she is so so ready for the gospel and she accepted baptizm for april 29 yay!!! not a lot happened on friday.. . then we had GENERAL CONFERECE!!!!! that was so so much funn and the best part we didnt have to interpret it at all!! yay!!! and the vazquez family came to it on saturday and were able to hear the prophets voices. and then we taught them later that night... and it was more that they taught us the doctrins of christ. and they have moved their baptism to april 29 as well but it is all for the better. but ana have not brought up her weight again so we hope the comment is gone and dead. and then yesterday we were able to teach Stephen!! yay he is finally back from hawaii yay!! they showed us pictures and told us that it cost a lot but, not as much as if it were for us becasue his wife ester works at disney land and gets all sorts of discounts... but he most important thing... he knows that the book of mormon is the true word of god and we asked if he knew that the church is true and he said yes... and we asked if he wants to join the church and he said yes.... and we told the only way to join is through baptizm... he said...... he is not ready, but we know if we keep using and working out of the book of mormon that he will say yes to baptism. :)

 

well that is my week, and this up comming week will be very full as well.. we have a mission conference.. the whole mission will be there, and president interviews another day... and another exchange... it is going to so much fun!!!

 

oh also, i dont get my mail on mondays, i get it on thursdays, that is when i have district meeting. and mom i didnt for get... I LOVE LOVE LOVE my package!!! i love the clothes so so much and they all fit... and the skirts thank you so so so much i love them!! and the sunglasses how did you know that my other ones broke and they look almost he same... just the ones you sent me are pink and the ones that broke are black that is crazy but thank you so so much for all of it :)

 

well thats all for today i hope all is well! God be with you til we meet again! : )

 

- Sister Longan

March 26

This week has been just that. Sorrow, but we are moving on. I might as well start with the worst of the news... Jauna... we stopped by her house to tell her about her ride for Sunday, and we met her cousin, her caretaker, or the person who makes all of her decisions even though nothing is mentally wrong with her... she is just deaf... ugh!! anyway, we met him and times like this I wish I true-business knew Spanish... but after we told him that Jauna wanted to be baptized he knew and understood English!!! and he said NO! Jauna NO! NO! Baptize, "I preacher other church, NO!'' so... Jauna cannot be baptized, and her ride didn’t show up to pick her up on Sunday so she still doesn’t know. And then Ana- Mom, told us that one of the members in the ward told her that she is too fat to be baptized, he will go unnamed because this was said and accepted in the deaf culture, but it gave us a set back with the Vazquez family. And Stephen has been in Hawaii all week, so that is the report on all of our investigators.

The good news, We met TWO!!!! new deaf people, well sort of, we knocked on the door of a 17 yr old deaf girl and before we could even tell her, almost anything besides we teach about Jesus Christ, she said yes I want you to teach me!!!! Heavenly Father loves us so much he is putting more and more people in our path!! and the Half met deaf person, it is a man, so we gave him to the elders, but we were confirmed by two people that a deaf man lives in a trailer that we were knocking around! So we see a lot of miracles happen :) Also there is a women who is a real caretaker of one of our members and she wants to learn more about the gospel, but she is not deaf, but she comes to the deaf branch with the member and she brings her son. So we don’t know but we set up an appointment to start teaching her and see where that goes, but she also signed up to feed us, it seems like we get fed more by our investigators than our members, but do not worry, we have THREE!! dinner appointments this week, almost a record for us, thank you mom for always feeding the missionaries it is truly paying off thank you!!

I was sad to open my email today and not see that I received any from my mother, I hope she has a good reason for it!! mine for the late e-mails was because i was able to go to the temple, I hope that’s what yours is mother!! ;)

there is not a lot to say what happened during my week cause i emailed so recently... but i did say all that did happen!

OH!!!! guess what!! we are getting a NEW!!! Videophone!!! YAY!!!! this is such good news!!! the new one we can leave messages, and it will be in the church’s name, and all around better deal than what we have now!! we are so so so so excited!!

So mother, how is the family??? i know you drive/fly to Arizona soon. or you have already... well drive/fly safe. I want you to know my fast yesterday was allllll for you to get better so you need to tell me if you see a difference! but i want you to know that all is well and there is nothing wrong with me!!! :) oh and that I now know how to make an awesome milkshake with the cheap ice cream that we bought!! so YAY!! I should be sending more pictures soon. I will try!!!

Love you lots and lots!!

God be with you til we Meet again!!!!

March 22

I know you want to know why i have not sent an email... we it was because we went to the temple today :) yah it was so so so much fun!! the Newport Beach temple is in my mission, and it is so beautiful!! One room looks like you at the beach it is so amazing!!! :)

we my week... well I’ve had a really nasty cold... I think that the new season... well it is California... there really aren’t any seasons... but that didn’t help but it kind of went to my chest and I have been coughing a lot but i am almost better now so no worries... I did lose my voice good thing I am an ASL missionary :)

we had zone conference... that was so existing... sis Jackson and I interpreted for 8 hours... not very  nice on our bodies... but we had fun. and I got to meet a lot of new people it was amazing!! we were taught that no matter who you are you need to soften your heart and let the holy ghost take the lead. also we were taught that you and your companion, now and  your eternal one need to both be working to go to the savior separately and then the two of you will draw closer together... and last that conversion starts with me i can not convert anyone beyond my own conversion.

Stephen... oh Stephen... oh how we love Stephen... he said he knows that the church is true but he doesn’t was to be baptized till he know for sure that it is the true church, but him and ester, his wife, left for a week to Hawaii for vacation. But we cannot wait for him to come back.

Jauna... we she couldn’t come to church on Sunday because her family said no... and we had to cancel on her today because it is our temple day... but when we did teach her we followed up on word of wisdom and taught her follow the prophet, we love teaching her. she is going to be baptized soon, now that she has a steady ride for church!!! yay!!!!

Vazquez Family...  well it was really hard to teach them, Sergio the dad has been gone these past two weeks to LA for work. and only comes home on weekends, that means that we only get to teach them maybe if we are lucky twice a week, but they are still coming to church and excited for baptism, but we had to push their date back because President Jarmen( the branch president) said that there could not be any baptisms on Easter so... their date is now for the 15th of April which now gives us more time yay!!! we have started teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and endure to the end, but we are still working on that, but we had to follow up on the word of wisdom... they are struggling with tea... I hope the understand... also Ana the mom is very fascinated with family history yay!!!

there are a few others that we are trying to start teaching but no luck so far... but we hope to start teaching Merrie, Sherry, Thresa, and Anna... that is a lot... but that means more people will have the light of Christ in their lives and that is what is important!!!

Let’s see... Mom... thank you for everything you have sent me!! yes I got my ctr ring and I love it!! thank you so so so so much!!! wow!! you are doing so so so much that is so amazing that you have two quilts done, that is amazing, and I’m happy that you are staying strong with your diet!!! keep it up i pray for you every night!! i know you were not happy to not have an email on Monday, but look at the bright side... i got to go to the temple... oh that reminds me did Cindy ever get the stain out of the temple dress... the temple is so small they really would like if missionaries would bring their own clothes... so i thought if it is out... that would help a lot!! I cannot wait for conference as well!!! so so so soon!!! YAY!!! hmmm... tell Joe happy birthday for me... I was not able to get a card sent out in time i still plan on sending it but... today is my p-day and it is almost gone... so.. hmmm.. wow Vanessa and marc getting married... poor Ashley, i need to write her. oh when you go to Wisconsin I was some cheese curds too!!!! please!! :) I hope Cali is doing better!! I loved the pictures!! they were fun... as soon as i have time i will send more home... poor crystal i hope she is doing better if giving up James was for the best that is good, and Doug’s girls really have nothing to say... if they really care they would try and take him in, crystal never had to do it in the first place... I will keep praying for her. she is so good to me!! she just send me pictures of her family and I love them so so so so so much!!! I was so happy to get them :) I hope the family is doing well and I hope Jeff’s eye is better, what was he doing to get metal in it in the first place, and we all know that buddy is in a better place where he can’t chew on his leg anymore, and he is happy, he was always a very happy dog. How is Joe and amber??? Joe say anything about church recently?? have you given him the book of Mormon yet??? what did Jeff and Charity say about me giving one to Morgan??? How is dad, does he like it that I send him letters every week??? How is he doing???

Let’s see... you wanted to know more about my companion... Sister Jackson, she is from west valley UT, aka Salt lake... she graduated from BYU in English, she is so so so so much fun!! We both love musicals, it is banned to humm anything from phantom of the opera or Oklahoma or it is stuck in our heads all day... hmm... she makes me laugh all the time!! we have so so so much fun... ok story time... so on Saturday it was raining... not drizzling but raining... and we were walking on the side walk just knocked on a deaf door... and we were walking back to our car... there is no where to park in California, so we were walking on a busy street and a truck comes crashing by and we can see the wall of water heading straight for us... and I’m the one with the umbrella... I shield myself... and sis Jackson has noting for protection... does she get a drop of water on her NO!!!! the umbrella was useless... I got soaked!!! but we laughed and laughed good thing we were going home!!! but I smelled for the rest of the day.

This week I also went on exchanges... well they came here to my branch... it was so fun two sisters one from Australia... and the other from Tonga... and we had so much fun but we got so lost so so many times. but we had fun in the long run, we even went to a referrals home and it turned out to be a member... I really wish I knew Spanish... the sister was so so nice all we got was that if we ever need the bathroom or water... anything we could go see her... oh I love people who remind of me of Christ... they are so so blessed!!!

Well I love you lots and lots!!

Sister Longan!!