Christmas

Christmas was great!! It was so good to get to skype with you guys, for sure the highlight of my Christmas. After we skyped we met the rest of our zone at the church. We played some games and ate pizza and then we played volleyball for a while. After that we watched Ephriam's Rescue which was pretty good (it was so weird to get to watch a movie). Then we went over to a member's house for dinner. The dad had deep fried a turkey which was pretty good and they had a lot of their relatives over so that was fun. And that was our Christmas. The next day we got back to work. 

This week has been super hard to meet with people though since it has been the holidays. We did have a good lesson with the Blakes on Sunday. They committed to coming to church this week. We taught the plan of salvation and they asked lots of questions and they were really excited to open up their books of mormon and follow along with all of the scriptures that we used. It was great, I love teaching them!! 

We got transfer calls this week and Sister Le and I are staying here in Fountain Valley. I was glad because I feel like the work is starting to pick up here and so I want to keep working hard to hopefully get a baptism soon. We are moving into the Hoke's house (the members with the million dollar home), so I will send some pics once we are moved in. We gave short talks during the third hour of church because our ward mission leader was presenting the ward mission plan. Sister Le was really nervous to get up in front of the entire ward to speak but she did a great job (I was a proud mother). 

Also another Sister Le -ism, I was cold during morning studies so i had a hoodie on, my skirt, and some fuzzy socks. I asked sister Le what people would say if I walked around outside and she was like "Ugh, you look like mafia." So apparently mafia means weird in vietnamese, so now anytime we see someone doing something weird we're like "ugh, mafia." Maybe you had to be there but I think it is funny. 

Well hopefully this will be a good week! I am excited to keep learning and to have a whole year left of my mission to do work! Have a good new years!!

Love you all!!

-Sister Washburn

 

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This week we had our mission christmas conference. It was really fun. We got to watch the christmas devotional, the RS made lunch for us, and we had a reading of the living Christ which included some clips from the bible videos. We also had a white elephant gift exchanges with the other 100 missionaries that were there and I got a giant paper clip. Our mission president gave a talk about our mission vision for next year which is "discover what we can do." I love this because I think that I am at a point on my mission where I know how to do missionary work it is just pushing to become better and to see what I can accomplish. Also our mission has had 81 baptisms this month which is the most we have ever had in one month so far in this mission! 

 

We taught the first lesson to the blake's this week. They agreed to get baptized but wouldn't set a date yet. They are starting to love the book of mormon! They said they would start trying to read every night and to have family prayer. They seemed a lot more committed than last time so that is good. The holidays make it so that we won't see them for a while so hopefully they will get right back into everything afterwards. 

The ward christmas party was this week which was good. There is a part member family whose dad isn't a member but comes to church and we are going to start teaching him after the break!

Also this week we went on splits with 2 young women. It was a lot of fun and the girls really liked seeing how missionary work was since they are thinking about going on missions. One of the girls named Kaitlin is a recent convert and I think david usevitch taught her. We also went to visit a less active in the ward (sister curtner). She spent the whole day making tamales so we helped her wash her dishes and then she gave us a bunch of tamales and mexican food to take home. They are soo good!! And sister Le doesn't like mexican food so more for me. :)

Other than that this week was a little slow since a lot of people are gone for the holidays. Church on sunday was really good because they had a musical program where they just sang a lot of christmas songs. 

I am so excited for christmas!! Only 2 more days!!! Love you all!!
-Sister Washburn

Investigators!

Hello!

We have new investigators! It is a family! The mom Kim and her husband Nick were taking the lessons a year ago but stopped. We went by and they are interested in learning more. They were achoholics (you wouldn't guess though) and have been sober for 4+ months and so they are really looking for a new direction for their life. Also their 9 year old son Michael is awesome. I have never seen anyone so excited to see the missionaries. Also when we were talking about the Book of Mormon he ran into his room and got the copy he had and wanted to read from it. Kim's sister is a member so that should help too hopefully with getting them to commit. We have our first full lesson with them this week which is exciting! Basically I totally have a testimony of patience and faith. Sister Le and I have been working so hard this transfer. Last week I was talking to one of my zone leaders. I was telling him that I felt like we were working so hard but with no results, so I guess we would just have to work harder. He said that sometimes its not that we have to try harder its just that we have to keep trying. And the blessings are coming!

This week was really busy because there were 2 ward activities. I finally feel like I am getting to know a lot more of the ward members which is good. We also went on exchanges and so my sister training leader Sister Andelin came to my area. I always learn a ton from exchanges so it was great. Also we rode our bikes and it has been forever since I have been able too so it was kind of fun (minus the wearing a skirt part, that's still kinda annoying). Sister Le is still learning how to ride her bike better and so we don't usually ride them. (she has to get better before she is allowed to ride in California traffic) 

I also got to go on exchanges with Sister Perry. Their investigators that we taught were awesome! The 12 year old daughter was even taking notes. It was nice to teach a full lesson since we hadn't been able to for a while but now we have the Blakes (nick and kim) so we will be teaching a lot more. :)

Sister Le has made up language study goals for herself so I have been helping her with her english. Sometimes she says funny things like one night we were walking in the cold and she was like "I need to get a scrap." I was like "what?"  Well she meant scarf. And she calls hot chocolate, hot chocalek. It makes me smile. 

Christmas is the best!! I have been thinking about what an amazing miracle it is that Christ was born, that he lived a perfect life, and that he paid the ultimate sacrifice for us. Jesus really is the center of everything we do and it is only due to His sacrifice that we can return to our Heavenly Father and that we have the chance to become like him. I use the atonement everyday to give me extra strength, comfort, and to help me to turn my will into the Lord's will. I know that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world and I am so grateful that he completed His part in the plan because he loves us so much.

Love you all! I get to call you next week!

-Sister Washburn

Looking for Miracles

Thank you so much for the packages!!! I loved the tree and everything so thank you to everyone who sent the ornaments I loved them!! Basically I have the best family in the world, just sayin. This week was really busy. We had a great lesson with our investigator Ali! You could tell that she really recognizes God's hand in her life and how he has led her to where she needs to be. Also we assigned her a chapter to read and a few days later when we stopped by to see her she had already read it and wanted us to assign her more! But sadly she is singles ward age and since we know she needs the fellowship from people her age we had to pass her off to the singles ward elders (story of my life). But that is okay because I know we will find someone!! We had a really good training about helping members to invite friends to activities. In our mission 85% of the people that get baptized are members referrals. We talked about how a lot of times when people have the missionaries over and they ask for referrals the members feel really guilty and they don't know what they need to do to do missionary work. But all they need to do is invite their friends to something. Even if their friends say no thats okay, they still did missionary work. We aren't expecting members to have someone ready for baptism but to just invite people. Anyways christmas on the mission is awesome!!! You get to focus so much more on Christ since you don't have to worry about all of the extra activities. I already feel like I can feel the christmas spirit so much more because Christmas is really about the miracle it was that Christ was born and he lived a perfect life and he died for us so that we can have  hope to overcome our mistakes. Sister Le and I got Pho this week (its the most popular vietnamese dish) and it was really good!! Sometimes being a trainer is hard because I want her to become really good at everything. It definately makes me realize all of my weaknesses. But I think I am learning just as much as she is about becoming a better missionary!! Sister Le is funny sometimes she says english words wrong like she called her scarf a scrap and chef a chief. Its great. ALso I have to teach her words like chimney (she didn't know thats how santa gave the presents) and ghetto (a potential we went by lived in a more run down area). In vietnam they don't really celebrate christmas since everyone is buddhist so it have been fun teaching her all about christmas (she already knew some things). In our zone we have been looking for the miracles that happen everyday and at night we text each other our miracle for the day. It has helped me a lot to really notice all the good things that happen each day even if our numbers are low. LOVE YOU ALL!!! Merry Christmas!!

-Sister washburn

Thanksgiving and the Atonement

Hello everyone!

This was a crazy week. For thanksgiving we had our district meeting in the morning, then weekly planning and then we got to go to as many dinner appointments in the evening as we wanted. We went to a family in our ward name the Wells. The food was so good and they are a super great family. We also went with Sister Wells to visit a lady in the nursing home near by which was cool. Then after that we went back to their house and had pie and watched the kids play some games. Then around 7 we went and visited a less active. Her husband passed away a while back and she visited some family in the afternoon but she said she would be home alone in the evening. It was good to visit her and keep her company. We helped her make an apple pie and she told us that she considers us family, so that was neat. This week was a lot easier companionship wise since Sister Le is getting a lot more used to everything and we are becoming friends more. She has been able to talk to some Vietnamese people lately which is really cool. She is teaching me how to say the name of the church in Vietnamese. It is really long and sounds like Chinese so its kind of funny to say.  Our new investigator was sick when we went by this week. We ended up talking to her dad and uncle for a long time and answering a lot of their questions about our church which was really cool. We invited them to learn more but they said they weren't interested in committing to something right now. Even though it could change their life forever! (agency) We are working hard in our area so hopefully we keep finding more people to teach. This Sunday was kind of rough. An awesome family in our ward had their dad pass away suddenly from a heart attack (he was only 45) on saturday. At church there was definitely a damper on things and people would randomly be crying in class or in the hallways. It was really sad because he was an amazing guy. He would always shake our hands when he saw us at church and talk to us because he has a son on a mission so he loved talking to the missionaries. It just makes you grateful for the plan of salvation because without the gospel the loss would be so much harder. I am excited that it is December. People go way out with the christmas lights and decorations so we have seen a lot of cool houses already. Also today is my 6 month mark!! I can't believe I only have a year left, it really goes by fast. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about how the atonement really helps us in all areas of our lives. It really does help our natures to change as we focus on becoming like Christ and doing what he wants us to do. Its not just for when we sin but it is for helping us to overcome all of the obstacles that are in our way and all aspects of the natural man that we want to overcome. The atonement really can change our hearts and desires if we are willing to let the Lord work with us and to strengthen us. Well I love you all!!!

-Sister Washburn

With Sister Le