CRAZY WEEK! SENT MY COMPANION HOME AND BEGAN TRAINING MY GREENIE

December 20, 2017

Wow, where do I begin!?!

Things were crazy this week as my companion was going home and doing lots of farewells all over the place! He was to be picked up on Monday at 5:00 in the morning. We get home Sunday night and he hadn't packed and the house was kinda dirty so my comp packs all his stuff up while I clean the house and get things ready for my new missionary's arrival. After all, it's not like I was gonna be able to sleep with my comp packing.  I finally got to bed at around 3:30 in the morning. I don't think my comp even slept. We went to bed, but I think he went downstairs and drank máte. The poor boy was anxious. 

He left at 5:15 am and I went to bed to get up at 7:30 am to go to my training for becoming a new trainer. At 11:00 am, I got my new comp, Elder Contreras!  He's from Houston, Texas, and both his parents are from Honduras so he speaks Spanish pretty much perfectly! He's also pretty good on the bikes so things are just awesome! I was pretty dead Monday, though, from the lack of sleep and just going hard all day. When we got home, I went to bed pretty quick and still felt like I was pretty tired the next day. It was a TOUGH day. We looked for tons of references and contacted a lot of people and no one would let us in, but we did get some return visits. 

It's out third day together and we've worked a TON! I hadn't been able to work so much because of the craziness with my previous comp so it's really awesome! We're getting back in contact with our investigators and we've got the week pretty full with appointments in just a couple of days! 

Marjorie is doing really well. We taught her about temples and she said that she thought that going through the Temple was a great goal! We hadn't even said anything yet! 

I'm really, really sorry that I don't have any photos yet; my camera died right before I got my new companion and it was my last pair of batteries. I'll buy some more, though, and we'l get some dank pics of us, our tree, the Christmas conference, cookies, hot cocoa and Christmas. 😀

Ok, I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something, but I'll figure it out and then include it in next week's letter! I'll probably even do a recording! Love you all, Chao!

-Elder Sierra

SOUPY COOKIES AND A BAG OF SWORDFISH!
December, 13, 2017

Dear Family,

So this week was kinda cool, I guess. Actually, I guess it was pretty dang good; Marjorie got confirmed! 

And then we made those salted caramel cookies at her house with another member as an FHE. Unfortunately, when we made them, we threw in too much margarine and it was a bit melted so the dough was a bit liquidy and we had to put it in a cupcake pan! Then they turned out kinda weird... still tasty but like a cookie with a 'cakey' part on the bottom. It was pretty funny and we had a good laugh. We also taught Marjorie about temples and she thought it was awesome and cool because she said while she was in the baptismal font, she felt the presence of her grandmother who had always been a big spiritual influence for her while she was growing up. So, she wants to do her proxy baptism!

My companion has been a bit.... anxious; the poor fella's going home in, like, 5 days. If you ever get the chance to be with a missionary ending their mission I wouldn't quite recommend it. Homeboy's been a bit crazy. I am training this next transfer though! That's gonna be rad! There's a 80% chance he'll be a latino, which is chill, but I kinda feel like I can help an American more because their experience will be closer to my own. It's gonna be tough for the poor guy because transfers are a WEEK before Christmas! What a struggle. Actually, on top of that, my two other house mates are kinda lame and don't "feel like" decorating the house or doing any Christmasy! And my current comp is going home! So, when my kid arrives we'll get right down to planning some Christmas stuff to do Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm thinking of a Christmas Eve dinner and then some peppermint popcorn with Elf or something in the morning, if I can get permission from President!

A funny story: the other day while we were doing a contact, talking to this one woman, another woman exits her apartment with a bag of swordfish and gives it to the woman we were talking to. Then we start talking to the other woman and she says, "You boys want some swordfish?!" and we're like, "Uh, yeah!" so she gives us a whole kilo of swordfish and we baked it that night with cheese and spices on top! Pretty bomb! 

There's not too much to tell this week because it was kinda slow with a bunch of meetings for my companion and a zone conference, but this next week we have a lot of stuff we're doing so I'm pumped! Love you all and have a great week.  Enjoy the Christmas Season and #Lighttheworld!!!

-Elder Sierra