With Sister Le

the Vietnam Connection

Hello everyone!

This week I got my new missionary fresh off the plane! Her name is Sister Le (pronounced "lee") and she is from Vietnam. She has lived in Utah for the past four years so her english is pretty good but she still has a pretty strong accent. She converted 2 years ago and now she is on a mission! She is adorable!! She is really small and short. It has definately been a little different with training so far since she is a convert and some things get lost in translation sometimes since she is still learning english. It was really funny on the first day here she asked me "Trainer can we go to the American market?" (yes, yes we can go to walmart) Also the other day I made a comment about Harry Potter and then I realized maybe she doesn't know what that is so I asked her and she said she didn't. So I started explaining about how it is these kids who can do magic and they go to this school to learn how to become wizards. All of a sudden she was like 'Oh! Harry Potter (said in a british accent)" It was funny. One night this week we didn't have a dinner appointment so we went to a vietnamese restaurant near our house (there are a lot of those around our area) The food was really good! I got fried rice (one of the safer things on the menu) but Sister Le really liked getting to eat food she was used to. There are a lot of vietnamese people in our area so hopefully we will be able to convert them all now that we have Sister Le! Also training is going pretty well, it isn't as hard as I thought (even though there are a lot of things I could be better at but I've alreadt gotten a lot better at a lot of things). This week we got a new investigator! Her name is Ally. She was on our list of potential investigators and she said that she would like to learn more about our church. So hopefully she is open to our message! We are teaching her tomorrow and it will be Sister Le's first lesson. So keep Ally in your prayers that we will be able to teach her. For thanksgiving we can go to as many dinner appointments as we want in the evening so that will be fun. A less active family invited us over and also a really awesome family in the ward so we are excited! Sister Phillips isn't with me anymore and she got her visa so she will ship off to Brazil at the end of December. That's crazy that all of those boys are getting home. Have a good Thanksgiving!!! Love you all!!!

-Sister Washburn

                                         With a family in the ward

                             Sister Phillips, Me, Sister Robson-dinner at a member's house

There Is A Frist Time For Everything

So this week is transfers. We transferred every 6 weeks. And I'm training!!! I'm getting a new missionary that I pick up tomorrow. So it will be my first time training by myself, first time as senior companion, and first time driving. So it will be kind of crazy but I am excited. I am staying here in fountain valley so that is good. This week we just were trying to meet more of the new people in our ward. Some random facts about this week:

1. California drivers are crazy. Also they love using their horns. I have never seen so many people get honked at in my life.

2. Having a companion from the south is a lot of fun. Especially when she says things like "I'm more tired than a mongoose." or "She's wilder than a road lizard." Its quite entertaining.

3. Never put a breadstick in the microwave for a minute. On sunday I was hungry so I was heating up a frozen breadstick that a member gave us. Well it somehow caught on fire in the microwave but I realized that the microwave was smoking so I turned it off. We had to open up all the doors and windows in our apartment to get all of the smoke out. Then when we got to church people kept telling us that we smelled like burned toast. So yep that was a memorable experience.

4. Our ward mission leader is new (not the one we had in our old ward but he is awesome). He is a convert and he grew up in the Bronx.

5. One of the ladies in our ward makes really really good orange rolls. She  gave us some the other night and we ate them for breakfast. I love those so much.

6. One of our recent converts took us to this really good fish taco place that is down in huntington beach like a block from the beach. I've never had fish tacos before but they were really good.

I am going to pick up my greenie tomorrow. Also I am going to send you some pictures soon.

Love you

Sister Washburn

God Loves You

This week was kind of long and kind of rough. We have been trying to do a lot of finding and do even more contacting. We still haven't found anyone to teach but I know we will eventually. Our mission president is getting us all to make visions goals and plans for what we want to accomplish individually and as companions. This has actually been really good for me to see what I want to work on and to help our companionship to be more unified. We had a choir practice for when Elder Packer (the quorum of the seventy one) comes in a few weeks and it was fun because I got to see all of my friends from the mtc and other missionaries that I know. I really like our new ward mission leader, he is awesome!!! He is so fired up about missionary work and is really willing to arrange splits and to help us out however he can. It is kind of hard having to meet all of the new people in the ward but it is fun at the same time to get to know more people. This is the last week of the transfer so I am going to make it a good week so we finish the transfer off well. :) This week I have just been thinking about how awesome it is that Christ understands us so well. He knows exactly how it is to be in the situations we are and to go through the things we experience. I found a quote by Elder Christofferson that I love he says that we are "infinately valued, loved, and perfectly known." I love that. We mean everything to the Lord, he loves us unconditionally no matter what we do, and he knows us better than we know ourselves. This is one of my favorite things to share with people. To remind them that they have a loving heavenly father who loves them more than anything. A lot of people don't know that. They feel like they are all alone and they may feel rejected by th people around them. But no matter what circumstance they are in the Savior loves them and the atonement is there to remind them that they they don't have to do things on their own. One night this week we were visiting one of our less actives named Sister Curtner. She is a fun, awesome lady but she has been through a lot in her life and now that she is older things from her past sometimes get her down. We shared a scripture about faith and how when we believe and trust in the Lord things work out and we are able to climb the mountains that are in front of us. Then Sister Phillips bore testimony that God loves her and and he is there to comfort her if she just reaches out and trusts in him. The spirit was so strong and Sister Curtner started crying. I think that a lot of people just need to be reminded of God's love. As representatives of Jesus Christ we are the ones that get to help people realize and remember what Christ would tell them if he was here. I love that about being a missionary. That when we have the spirit we can touch people in a way that Christ would. I love this church. The people aren't perfect but the gospel is. When we do the little things to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ we will realize that it is truely through Him and his plan that we can find the most happiness in life. By doing His will and not just our own. I love you all and I am praying for you!! Have a good week!

-Sister Washburn

Change Someones Life, Every Day

This week has been crazy. I didn't realize how the ward boundary changes would bring so many changes. We had to trade investigators (sadly we didn't get any new ones), figure out who are the new less actives and recent converts in our area (we don't get a ward directory until next sunday), and meet over half of the ward since we don't know them. Also our ward got all new leadership and everyone got new callings on sunday so it is a lot all at once. I kind of feel like we are whitewashing the area (thats when two missionaries are put in an area that neither of them have been in before). So it will probably still be crazy this week but it will be good.

 

We have been doing a lot of finding lately but we still haven't found anyone new to teach. We had exchanges this week and i was talking to my STL (sister training leader) about how this area has been hard lately. As we were talking I realized that there have been some good things that have come out of it. I have gotten a lot better at contacting and using all of the different ways of finding. Our companionship has gotten more unified since we have been able to focus on our needs a little bit more like being more exactly obedient and making the changes we need to be a little better everyday. I still feel like the Lord really is guiding me and is mindful of me. Sometimes patience is hard to have but one of our APs told us that the numbers don't matter, what matters is if every day you can say that you changed a life that day.  I know that we really do influence a lot of people whether it is random people that we talk with on the street that we pray with or remind them that God loves them. Visiting with recent converts and helping them to learn more about the gospel and to aim for gaining a stronger testimony and eventually making it to the temple. Talking with less actives and try to help them re-build thier faith and commitment so that they can realize the potential that God sees in them.

 

Also today we went to the Newport beach temple (which is why I am writing on tuesday) It is a really beautiful temple in a really rich neighborhood. I love love love the temple! I wish we could go more as missionaries. I love how much peace I can feel there and how it really is a haven from the world.

I know that the Lord is preparing people and we will eventually find them!!! This area is great, I have a lot of pictures from people who aren't in our ward anymore (i promise that I have been taking pictures, one of these days I will find acess to a good computer on p-day so i can send some)

 

My companions are awesome. Sister Phillips is super motivated to get out and work everyday which I need since every once in a while I'm not that excited about a long day of work. Sister Robson and I are getting along a lot better. and have become really good friends. She has been through a lot and has come such a long way in just the time that I have been her companion. I feel like this transfer has taught me a lot and that the Lord keeps building me into the missionary that he wants me to be. I love you all!!!

-Sister Washburn