Investigator found a year later, exchanges back to the City, parking skills!

Hola! Buenos Dias Queridas Familia y Amigas! This week went by so fast! I can't even believe it! We worked a lot and had some great experiences!

Indiana shirt T-shirt just like the ones
that I sent to my family to wear at the
family reunion this weekend.

Monday: We had a REALLY good P-Day today! As we were finishing up our preparation day activities this morning, the Rensalear Sisters, who were going to carpool with us to Chesterton for the Zone Activity, showed up.  We drove to a park in Chesterton. I enjoyed being able to drive with Hna Escobar and tell her about everything that was going on in the area. It was an awesome Zone Activity. We started by all playing Ultimate Frisbee, and that was a lot of fun. Half of us then played volleyball while the other half played soccer. I really loved playing volleyball, I had so much fun. I hadn't realized how much I like it and how I am not completely awful at it! We then played kickball for a while to finish off Zone Activity. It was so fun to be there with everyone, even though it was pretty hot!  When P-Day ended at 6:00 I started working on our population map and Hna Whitney worked in our area book. At 7:00 we started teaching one of our investigators who is out of town, over Facebook. He asked some amazing questions about how the Book of Mormon can help him with a certain situation he is dealing with in his life right now. We were able to teach and testify and really help him understand. During this lesson, which dragged on for a long time because he took a while to respond, one of our recent converts that we talk to and teach a lot over Facebook came online and messaged me saying hello. He then proceeded to tell me that's was afraid he had some thing bad to tell me. He told me that he was going to have to leave the Church for while. Astounded, because he had been SO solid, I asked why. He told us that he couldn't explain it to us. I couldn't believe it and of course just did the best I could by bearing testimony of prayer and reading scriptures and how the Father could help him through his struggles. Then it got crazier. As soon as he was done messaging me, he deleted his Facebook!!! Now, Hermana Whitney and I are so afraid for him, but all we can do at this point is pray.

Latino Express buses. I just think they are so fun!

Tuesday: Busy, long, hot day today! But we did a lot of teaching and finding, so it was good! We started with studies. I had a really good time studying in Enos and then in comp study time we planned our lesson for one of our investigator families. We headed to Chicago Heights where we tried looking for a few people with no luck. We parked in some shade at the library by the park and had our lunch hour and ate the sandwiches we had made at our apartment and brought with us. After lunch we continued down our list of people to try to contact. For the most part, no one was home, which was really sad because we just wanted to teach. Even one of our part member families that we visit often were not home. It was a pretty warm day today, about 97 degrees with a fair amount of humidity, just a tad different from the negative 50 degrees that we experienced this past winter! :-) After trying to find a lot of people, we went to the library and worked on contacting and proselyting Facebook. I posted about prayer and the story of Enos that I studied in personal study this morning. After we finished our time working on Facebook we went looking for more people to contact and teach, with no luck until we found this lady that Hermana Whitney had met and taught when she served here previously. We knocked on the house twice with no answer and were leaving with a young girl came out. We asked if this specific lady was home and the girl told us that the lady we were looking for had moved. Saddened, we headed back to our car. Right before we got in the car, we noticed an older woman walk out of the same house. So we go back and find out that this lady is the one we were looking for, the one that Hermana Whitney had taught a little bit a year ago. She let us sit down and we talked about the Restoration. She is quite an older lady so she doesn't stay on topic super well but we tried teaching her. In the beginning, both Hermana Whitney and I didn't think that she was too into it. But as we continued teaching and testifying, she agreed with us and seemed to understand. Then we gave her a Book or Mormon, and her eyes lit up so much and she hugged it tightly to her chest. It was so amazing to me to see such a reaction to the Book of Mormon and it really made me think, is that how I feel about the book? It is how I should feel because he Book of Mormon really does bring us that peace! It is the key to our religion, it is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. To see this lady so overjoyed at receiving a Book or Mormon made me want to make sure that I always act the same towards this precious book. After giving her the Book of Mormon, we put her on date for baptism for August 30th and she readily accepted! It really showed both of us that we can never judge who is or isn't ready for the Gospel. She is very prepared to learn and we are so excited to work with her more. After that we went to visit another part member family. They fed us pizza and we enjoyed talking with them, and sharing  a lesson with them about love at home. We started with two questions for them that I love and I think can be applied to everyone everywhere: How would you feel if Jesus came to visit us in our home (or mission, our life)? And: Would we want to change the way we act toward each other with Jesus present (or how we act in general)? These questions really make you think right?!?! They are definitely questions that I want to remember throughout my life to make sure that I am on the right path and am focused on what really matters. The rest of the lesson went good and then we left and tried to find a couple of people before our next appointment with an investigator. We found one man who is a former investigator that Hermana Whitney knew. He invited us back next week to teach him so that is great. Unfortunately our next appointment wasn't home so we went to our backup plans and tried to find a few other people to contact.  That evening one of our less active branch members that we have been working with called us and let us know how his doctor appointment went today (after being in the hospital last week). He is going to have surgery at the end of this month to remove the tumors in his stomach. He was so amazing about it on the phone through. Just how he was putting it all in God's hands, and if it was his time to go he accepted it. He also asked if we could possibly come over and visit with him before his surgery to give him strength. Yep, he is just amazing!!! 

Wednesday: I had a really good personal study this morning reading in the Book of Mormon, PMG about humility, and a talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith. We then had just a little bit of companionship study before we had to get ready and head out for the District Meeting. We had to be there just a little early so that Elder Bringhurst, our DL, could inspect our car. We then had a really good District Meeting where we learned about Elder Warner's conversion story (which was very powerful), ordinance invitations and role plays with that, and then the Fourth Missionary. It all was so good. Hermana Whitney and I then went to the chiropractors. He helped Hermana Whitney a lot and adjusted me too, although I really don't think there is too much wrong with me! We drove home for lunch and language study and then headed to Chicago Heights. We started by contacting people via Facebook in the library. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a lot of people that have been former contacts over the years. Unfortunately most of them didn't answer their doors or don't live at the address we have for them any longer. We did get hit on several times by several guys today, it was great. #SisterMissionaryProblems  Today was also a complete flip flop, from yesterday. Yesterday it was 95 and really humid. Today it was 70 and cool and breezy. Because we weren't able to get in with anyone, we went through our plans really quickly. After trying all the names we had planned, we decided to try and contact some people in the trailer parks. Again, no one was available. We had just a little more time so we had the thought (really an inspiration now that I look back) to go and try and see our investigator who had missed her appointment with us last night.  We found out that her phone wasn't working last night so we had no other way of contacting her. We stopped by and she was outside with her kids! We were able to talk to her and she explained she had needed to go to the doctor with her mother and felt so bad she had missed our appointment yesterday. We were able to set up another appointment for next week to teach her.

I love getting to go back to the city, which I was
able to do this week while on exchanges with
the Sister Training Leaders

Thursday: We cleaned the apartment a little bit this morning for apartment inspections and then we started personal study. I read Omni in the Book of Mormon today and then kind of continued my study based off of vs. 26 about offering our whole soul unto God. This is definitely something that I have been trying to do my entire mission. I feel like it is getting better, but I am not quite there yet. Knowing me and life, I will probably get there on the plane ride home! :-) But it was a super good personal study. It was interrupted part way through because the Kings showed up to do the apartment inspection. She just took a quick glance around, because she knows that everything is already clean, gave us 100% and left us brownies, so it was a success!!! :) We then had companionship study, We read a really good Ensign article about living in this land, or trial, or situation, as though we will be there for years and just making the best of it. We also read in Doctrine & Covenants to try and help Hermana Whitney get as far in her D&C challenge as possible.  For language study I read in el Libro de Mormón. All of my studies were so amazing today because in each one I felt like I read and learned things that I really needed to hear and that I feel like apply directly to what I am working on right now! We had lunch and then started baking treats for one of our investigator's birthday tomorrow. The Sister Training Leader Hermanas showed up really early to do exchanges so we talked for a little bit and then I left with Hermana Kinghorn to go back to Midway. The drive up was pretty long because traffic was really bad, but that was okay because Hermana Kinghorn and I had a good time talking. We got to know each other because we had never served around each other and didn't know each other at all. I absolutely loved the drive because I got to see the city and my old area, it was so awesome! Once we were in Midway, we stopped by their house to drop off my stuff then we walked to our appointment with an investigator family. A Hermana ward member that I knew well from my prior service in this ward came to the lesson with us and it was so great to see her again.  She was super excited to see me too! Unfortunately, the investigator family wasn't able to listen to us then but said we could come back the next day. We walked around the Sister Training Leaders proselyting area contacting people to find someone to teach. It was great to walk around the city again, I sure do miss the vibe of the city!  We went back to their house to get the car and stop by one more person, who wasn't home. We went and picked up another hermana from the ward to go with us to a teaching appointment. It was fun because I knew the area and where she lived so I was able to help Hna Kinghorn get there. The member hermana was so happy I was there and it was so neat to actually understand and be able to talk to her a little better than I ever could when I was serving here. We then went to our appointment with a less active member. I had never actually met her when I was serving here because she goes to the Blue Island ward instead of Midway, but I had heard so many stories and good things. We had a good lesson (it really was just us talking because she loves to talk and had a lot to talk about) where we read the talk "Your Wonderful Journey Home" by President Uchtdorf. She really liked it a lot. She also made us huge sandwiches, which was awesome because we both were so hungry. After finally getting out of there, we took our member hermana home. She insisted on getting a picture of me and her together because I didn't get one with her when I was transferred, I wasn't complaining! :) We then drove home and had nightly planning.

One of the great hermanas from the ward I previously
served in who I was able to see again while on
transfers with the Sister Training Leaders.

Friday: Waking up and realizing I was in Midway was so neat. It is just so fun to go back to one of your old areas (basically) and see familiar things and people and places. We had our studies, comp was really good and then we had language and then got ready to go. We then had lunch at a super good taqueria that I had eaten at with the Hermanas before. We had tacos and it was so good to be able to eat in a real taqueria and have real tacos again. We drove to Chicago Heights to meet back up and exchange back. We arrived at the library in Chicago Heights with enough time for us to go in and do some Facebook contacting, and so the STL could check my iPad. We exchanged back and Hermana Whitney and I went to one of our investigator's homes for his birthday. Once again him and his wife were kind of surprised that we actually came as we told them that we would and that we brought cookies and cinnamon rolls.  He was very glad to see his "daughters" as he calls us and Hermana Whitney even called him Papi :) They were getting ready to go eat out for his birthday so we just dropped the goodies off and talked for a couple of minutes.

A Tres Leches Cupcake that we made for one of our
investigators who had a birthday this week.

Saturday: Another long but really good day! It seems like we have a lot of those! :) We had studies and then went to the library to teach one of our investigators over Facebook. Unfortunately he never came online as we had schedule with him, so we just had to drive to Chicago Heights. We parked our car and then started walking around trying to find people. No one was available to listen but we set up with a lot of people to come back tomorrow so that is good. It was a really warm day and walking around felt so good. We went to our appointment with a branch member who just got back from being in Puerto Rico for 7 months. She is such a fun person. She made us lunch, fish. Yep, I had been waiting for the day on my mission when someone was going to make me fish because I don't like fish. I have been surprised that it didn't happen sooner honestly, I count that as a tender mercy from Heavenly Father! :-) But just before eating I prayed REALLY hard that Heavenly Father would help me eat and enjoy the fish. When I took my first bite, it wasn't too bad. I was able to eat two whole pieces of fish. It definitely was not my favorite but I am so grateful I was able to do it. We shared with her a short message with the Because of Him video. We went to our lesson with one of the less actives that we have been working with. He is really good and is super calm and ready for his big surgery to remove a tumor in his stomach next week. He truly has the faith and had put himself in God's hands and is ready for whatever happens. We talked about enduring to the end (we thought that might be an appropriate topic) and he was very glad that we were able to visit him before he left for the hospital. After that Hna Whitney and I went to see our newest investigator to see how she was doing and if she was still good to attend Church tomorrow. She was really sad and said that the letters in the Book of Mormon were too small and she couldn't read them. We read from the introduction to her and talked about it. She really like talking with us and enjoyed telling us stories of her life. She said that she will come to Church tomorrow and we arranged with a branch member family to take her. Before we left we felt that we should sing her a song so Hna Whitney and I sang "I Am a Child of God" for her and she loved it. We headed to Whiting for our dinner apt with branch member hermana. Apparently Whiting is having a Pirogi (Polish food) Festival right now and so there is nowhere to park, unless you are willing to pay $15. So when we got there the hermana came out and moved her van forward about 6 inches which gave me a spot to parallel park in a spot that was just the size of our car, which means getting our car into that spot was a lot of fun! I have never really needed to parallel park before but we got it in there, after 10 times of "move forward 1 inch, cranking it, and backing up 1 inch"! I was pretty proud of myself afterwards though! We had a great spaghetti dinner with her and shared a little message about conversion.

My parallel parking job in Whiting, my Uncle Joe
who is a Driver's Ed teacher would be so proud of me!

Sunday: By all accounts, I should record today as a HORRIBLE day. If you look at it straight on, then yeah, it was a pretty bad day. But it never actually occurred to me to look at it as a bad day, instead I feel like it was a good day. We started with personal study which was really good. I read in Mosiah 2 and then studied about what a successful missionary is in preparation for our upcoming mission Sister's Conference. We then finished getting ready and headed to Church. The first sad thing about Church is that our new investigator wasn't able to make it. The branch member family that we had arranged to have her ride with had gone by and had talked with her but she told them she couldn't come because her children had left her to babysit her grandchildren. She did tell them that she really liked what we talked about with her and that she hoped to come next week. Then, Presidente pulled us into his office and told us that the new member who has been less active lately who had messaged us over Facebook this past Monday, was not doing good at all. Presidente then explained that he had actually talked to him that morning and that he had told him he wasn't going to come to church. He is having some pretty bad problems right now and so we are going to do the best we can to help him out. We then were able to have a mini MCM with the Elders and Presidente. It was great because Presidente is so willing to help and support us in any way he can.  Another recently activated family was at church and their 12 year old son that we had taught and he recently received the Priesthood did a great job passing the Sacrament. After Church we went to Chicago Heights to contact people. One thing that made today very stressful and overwhelming is that we were under a 1/4 tank of gas and had less than 70 miles of range. Between going to Griffith for Church, and then to and from Chicago Heights, it was a little iffy it we would make it without running out of fuel. But we prayed a lot and we ended up making it everywhere we needed to go today! But yeah, today looks like it was a very overwhelming and bad day. But really, I haven't even been looking at it like that and so it has been fine! That is definitely I have learned to apply a lot as a missionary is to always look for and see the positive in everything and everyone.

Wow! I am pretty long winded this week, sorry about that! But it was a really good week, the downs just made the ups so much better! I love being out here and being a missionary! I love sharing the Gospel and seeing the joy that it brings. It is hard, but it is so worth it! I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! I love you!

Hermana Allyse

Baptismal Date Set, Zone Training Meeting, Vines & Fruit...

Hola Queridas Familia y Amigos!!! I hope that you all are having a wonderful day! I have had another really great week here in Indiana!

My mom will be happy to know that I found a Fazoli's!

Monday: I have yet to figure out how P-Days can possibly go SO fast. Yep, I have no idea! But they do, and here I am at the end of another very quick P-Day. After studies, emailing family, shopping and spending the rest of the day preparing for our week,  we then went to our appointment with a branch member hermana and her family. It was so good. She made us some really good spicy meatballs and rice, she is an amazing cook. We enjoyed talking with her and her daughter that is our age who has a little boy. We shared the "Your Potential, Your Privilege" video and Hermana really liked it because she has seen the potential and blessings she has in her life because of the Gospel because she can see the difference of before she had the Gospel.

Zone Conference Snack Kit
Red "Vines" and "Fruit" Snacks

Tuesday: Today was a very long but super good day! We got up earlier then our normal missionary time so that we could get ready to go to Zone Training Meeting. We got to the Valpo Stake Center about 8:00 and practiced the choir number with the rest of the Zone. We sang "I See Our Zion". It is such a beautiful and powerful song. President Woodbury actually wrote it. After practicing, we had our Zone Training Meeting. It was so good. We started by listening to a dynamic sister who is the perfect example of a member missionary. She taught us about how we can build trust and better work with the members. She is such a funny and amazing person. I definitely want to be a member missionary like her after my mission. We then performed our song, it went really well. President Woodbury then spoke to us. He talked about building Zion, gathering Israel as missionaries. We learned about being the pure in heart and about D&C 27:30 and the qualifications of baptism. The way that we become the pure in heart is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We then listened to the Sister Training Leaders. This was really neat because my trainer, Hermana Toney, was called as a STL and she is the one that came to our Zone Conference. So I got to see her and talk with her a bit which was awesome. Her and her companion, Sister Hone, taught us about the recent adjustments to missionary work and specifically about teaching PMG Lesson 5 to investigators. Our Zone Leaders taught us about the power of the Book of Mormon by having us role play and have the faith to just open the Book of Mormon and start reading and be able to have the answer to our "investigator's" question of the soul. It was really neat and really helped reinforce to us how vital the Book of Mormon is in our work. We then had final closing comments from President Woodbury: The Atonement of Jesus Christ heals ALL pain. Definitely a very personal message for me and everyone else in the Zone! My family sent another Zone Meeting Treat Box with red "Vines" and

Zone Meeting Snack Kit Package

"Fruit" snacks. They referenced John 15:4-8, where Christ explains that he is the "Vine" and we are branches and if we abide in him we will bring forth great "Fruit".  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the message and treats. In the afternoon we had President's Interviews. Hermana Whitney and I ended up being last on the schedule. So we went and had a super yummy lunch at Fazoli's and then went to the chiropractor. Back at the Church we finally got in for interviews. President thanked me for the love and care that I gave Hermana Escobar and that he knows I am going to have a great transfer with Hermana Whitney. We then headed home and then had studies for the rest of the evening. I had a really good personal study reading 2 Nephi 9.


Wednesday: Our first appointment was with a young man that missionaries have been looking for since February 19. Hermana Whitney had contacted him when she was hear on exchanges one time. He had been looking so sad and depressed but lit up when she contacted him and told him a little about the Gospel. But since then missionaries had never been able to meet with him. He would text us random questions but would never want to get together to talk about it. He always continued to ask if Hermana Whitney was there, but she wasn't because she had been here on exchanges. Then, the night of transfer calls a couple of weeks ago, he texted asking if Hermana Whitney was there.  This was about an hour before we got the call saying she was being transferred in. We said she wasn't right then but would he like to meet sometime this next week. He said sure and then we got the call that Hermana Whitney was coming back. Coincidence? I think not! It ended up not working out to meet with him last week but we were able to make an appointment for today. He walked/ran for 30 minutes to a park to be able to meet us! It was so amazing because he has such a desire to learn and know. He is searching for truth, he truly is hungry for it and it is so amazing to see. The lesson on the Restoration went really well. He had so many questions and we were able to help explain some of them to him and it was just so good! He told us that if he could ask God one question, it would be to know what he will be doing from now (he is 18) until he is 25. We promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon, he would find his answer. Then, he accepted a baptismal date for August 16. Oh! It was SO good! Both Hermana Whitney and I came out of that lesson grinning from ear to ear.

After that incredible lesson we stopped by some investigators we had been teaching when I first got here but then they just disappeared for a while and we hadn't been able to get a hold of them. We found them at home and were able to talk to them a bit and make an appointment for next week!  We were also able to see another family that we are working with and was able to talk with them for a little while as well.  We did some Facebook contacting and also stopped by some other contacts looking for opportunities to teach. We baked a tres leches cake for one of our investigators who is having a birthday tomorrow. I was kind of nervous to do it on my own because I had always had Hermana Escobar to help me, but it all turned out just fine!

An example of what my mission journal looks like

Thursday: We had some good studies this morning and then had lunch. After that we did weekly planning. It is so long sometimes but definitely pays off! We are working on planning really effectively and really going by the needs of the people we are working with. I finished up our tres leches cake and then we headed to Chicago Heights for the afternoon. We first went to an investigator's house for his wife's birthday. We took our cake and they both couldn't believe that we actually came and that we brought cake! They were super excited and immediately invited us in and to eat pazole with them. We had cake afterwards and they absolutely loved it so that made me happy. His son was there too. We had such a good time talking with them. The hermano is SO funny and entertaining. He told us how he felt like even though he only had 3 kids, he felt like God had finally sent him 2 more daughters, us! He nicknamed us "Whitney Houston" and "Miniatura". Like I said he is super awesome. We read a little bit from 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon with them.

After that awesome lesson we went to our lesson with a less active family. It went pretty good. We taught the Restoration with emphasis on Priesthood Authority because we wanted to help their son understand the Priesthood a little more since he just received it a few weeks ago. The son has so many questions and sometimes it is hard to keep everyone on topic, but it was a good lesson and I think they learned a lot. After that teaching appointment we tried stopping by a potential investigator who told us yesterday that she would be home all afternoon today, but sadly enough she wasn't. On our way home we stopped by a former investigator's house who once had a baptismal date. But they told us they weren't interested right now because they are going to another church.

10 Months of  filling my Mission Journal

Friday: 10 Months!!! I actually didn't even think about it being my 10 month mark until the evening. Isn't that so crazy? Didn't I just barely have my 9 month mark?!?! Today was a good day though. We went to our lesson with one of our investigators and her kids. But they weren't home :( We were so sad because we had been planning on talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and planting some flower and cucumber seeds with them to explain faith. So instead we went to visit one of our investigators with a baptismal date set that we hadn't been able to contact for a little while. She was home and so we were able to go in and share a little message with her. She hadn't had a chance to read in the Book of Mormon so we read part of 2 Nephi 31 with her and discussed baptism. She thinks baptism is very important and is something she wants to do. She did tell us that the closer church building with an English speaking unit would be better for her though so we will have to hand her off to the English Sisters now. We tried to find some other people after that but no one was home. We drove to Dyer, Indiana for our lunch appointment with a less active. It was really good because she figured we didn't often get to have fun casual American food and so she grilled us some hot dogs. They were way good and we had a good time talking with her and her daughter. We shared the video "Because of Him" and talked about the Atonement. After that lesson we went to our next lesson with one of our other investigators on a baptismal date. Unfortunately she wasn't home so we tried catching some other potential investigators.  We went to the library and did some proselyting and contacting on Facebook.

Saturday: Today was a good day, a long and busy day, but a really good day. We had studies in the morning. Then we drove to Chicago Heights to see if we could meet with one of the families we are teaching with some little girls. The mom wasn't home so we weren't able to teach them them so then we headed to another investigator and her family. They were home but we weren't able to teach them because they are getting ready to move. We helped them pack a little bit and then went driving around Chicago Heights to try and find them some cardboard boxes to pack things in. We found a few at Jewel Osco and then were able to stop by a branch member's house who had a lot of boxes. When we took the boxes to to this family they were so happy and surprised because the husband hadn't been able to find any boxes.  We had an appointment with a member who isn't able to come to Church too often because her daughter has special needs. She was so sweet and made us some AMAZING spaghetti, and lots of it! We were soooo full after that appointment.  We were able to teach a less active hermano and his niece.  The niece really took a liking to us. We talked about the Liahona with hermano because he wants to get his patriarchal blessing and then we talked a little about the Book of Mormon with the niece.  They said that they would come to Church tomorrow if we could find someone to give them a ride, we are so excited!!! After searching for a few more contacts with no luck, we headed towards home. We had a sad conversation via text with our new investigator who has a baptismal date set and learned that he is leaving in the morning and will be gone for at least 2 weeks. That is sad because he has so much potential, but we will do what we can.

Sunday: After getting up and getting ready, we headed to Church for our MCM meeting with our branch mission leader. But, literally 2 minutes away from the Church (it takes us 30 minutes to get there) he called and canceled :( So instead we worked on reporting on lessons and planning for this next week. All of the craziness of trying to arrange rides to get our less active hermano to and from Church paid off when he actually came! For the first time in more than 4 years he was in Church and was able to take the Sacrament and renew his covenants. Watching the less actives that I am helping take the Sacrament are some of the best moments or my mission because I understand the meaning and the importance of the Sacrament so much better now. It makes me so happy to see that I am able to help these people in some small way to come closer to Christ and to progress once again on the pathway back to our Heavenly Father. We also had a really awesome surprise when a hermana come to Church who has been in Puerto Rico for 7 months, I hadn't ever met her before! She finally got back this week and she is so great, plus she lives in Chicago Heights so that is gong to really help us with having member present lessons. Sacrament Meeting was interesting. The first speaker talked for about 40 minutes, until about only 5 minutes of the meeting was left. Then, the counselor conducting had us sing the intermediate hymn (ALL of the verses), had his grandson speak (who had to talk in English and then have the counselor translate to Spanish every word), and then the other counselor stood up and talked too!!! Needless to say, that meeting ran very late! But our less active hermano felt very happy and welcome in the Church, so that is all I was worried about! After Church we drove to Chicago Heights to look for a couple of contacts and we went to help a member with some paperwork. We read in Alma 32 with him and then helped him know what the papers were asking him for.

As you can see it was a super good and busy week! We did a lot of teaching and finding. This week is looking even fuller than last week so we are excited and happy about that! The work in this area is definitely hastening and there is so much to do! Thank you all so much for your love and support! I love you all so much!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Transfers... it is hard to say goodbye, it is exciting to welcome back a Hermana!

Me and my awesome new companion, Hermana Whitney

Hello SUPER Family and Friends! I have had another really good week, a week of changes, but a week of goodness! I hope all is going well for you and I am excited for you to read about my great week!

Monday: Last day with Hermana Escobar. I was so sad, it was a hard day. But it was also a VERY busy day. We started studies at 7:00 so we would have a bit more time to do everything. We then went and emailed for a bit. After That we went to the mall and I got my ears pierced. Yep, I am nearly 20 years old and I just got my ears pierced for the first time, Hermana Escobar talked me into it. It didn't hurt at all and I think I am going to like these a little bit. We then did a little shopping at the mall because we found some cute stuff on a super good sale. I got some fun earrings that will be great to have. After that we drove to Valparaiso and ate at the pretzel shop and got cupcakes while waiting for the chiropractor to open. He adjusted both me and Hermana Escobar and we both left there feeling really good. We then drove to the Church building to use the computers there to finish up emailing and some other things we needed to do before Hermana Escobar left. When P-Day ended, we went to our first appointment with a branch member family. They fed us and we had a really good time talking with them. They were so, so sad to see Hermana Escobar leaving. There were a lot of tears and pictures. We then hurried over to another branch member family. That was absolutely heart breaking. They all were so sad to see Hermana Escobar leaving. 

A wonderful branch member family saying goodbye...

They love the missionaries and they have basically adopted Hermana Escobar because they are that awesome. She spent some time showing the girls her journal and writing them little notes on Chicago post cards she had made for them. When the time came to say goodbye, it was one of the hardest things I have ever watched. As we were leaving, Hermano gave her an envelope. On the way home she opened it and found a very heart felt note and a very generous surprise. We were both very emotional the entire way home because of that special family. It was a very sacred night to share with her because she felt such love from these families that she has served so well. That evening we spent getting Hna Escobar all finished up packing, I cleaned the apartment a bit, and set up Hna Whitney's new desk with a few little fun surprises. We got a Dominos pizza delivery courtesy of my amazing family and that made a fun end to a crazy evening and the most amazing companionship.

Saying Goodbye to Dear Hermana Escobar on Transfer Day

Tuesday: Tuesday was our crazy and sad day. We got everything loaded up finally, our poor car was soooo packed. I don't think I could have gotten anything else in there, and I know how to pack a car, my Daddy taught me well :-) We ran by the English Sister's apartment to get someone's transfer journal and then made our way north through Chicago to transfers. The transfer meeting was really good. It was so crazy for me to see only 4 new missionaries come in because I came in such a large group. Poor Hermana Escobar was having a really hard time during the meeting because her muscles kept spasming and hurting so much. We had to walk out a couple times. I was able to massage some of the knots in her arms a little bit and it made me so happy and so sad to be able to help her out one last time.  Then it came time to move things all over the place and say goodbye. Saying goodbye to Hermana Escobar was one of the hardest things I have had to do on my mission since saying goodbye to my family. We have become so close and I am going to miss her so much. But I am so excited to have Hermana Whitney as my new companion! We stopped by the mission office for some supplies, things for Hermana Escobar, and to drop off her cousins' birthday present (Hermana Escobar has a cousin in the same mission!). We then started on our long drive back to Indiana. We did just a little bit of shopping at Walmart and then took Hermana Whitney and her stuff home. We unloaded the car, got her a little situated, and then went a did some Facebook contacting and then headed to our appointment with a hermana from the branch. She has been out of the country so I didn't really know her at all so it was a good evening getting to know her. She made us some really good Mole (pronounced mole-A and is made from chocolate, chiles, peanuts, and bananas, it is a spicy and sometimes sweet sauce that is normally served over chicken.) We shared a message with her and her less active grandson about missionary work and shared Mosiah 28:3. It was a really awesome first day with Hermana Whitney and I can tell we are going to have a great transfer together!

Nice to find out that District Meeting was in Valpo
today instead of in Griffith...

Wednesday: My first full day with Hermana Whitney as my companion was really good. We had some good studies and then drove to Griffith for District Meeting. We walked in but couldn't find where our District was so I called the Elders to ask what room they were in. Elder Angeletti told me, "the one where we had Zone Training Meeting." I was so confused because we didn't have Zone Training at the Griffith building. Then he was like, "District Meeting is at Valparaiso today." And we were like WHAT?!? He said that they thought they had texted us about it, but we didn't get a text. So we grudgingly got back into the car and drove clear over to Valpo. We got there just in time for the last 30 minutes of District Meeting. It was good though. We learned about ways we can work better with and involve the members more. After that we drove home and had lunch hour before spending some Facebook proselyting time at the library. We then drove into Chicago Heights to work for the afternoon. We did a lot of stop-by's. A lot of people weren't home but some were. We went to potential new investigator's house. He was home and stepped outside to talk to us for a minute. He went off for a long time about how great he thought it was that young people like us would go out and help make people happy. He explained that he is super busy and doesn't really have time to listen to us now, but maybe someday. He was really nice but it just breaks your heart when people don't feel the need to listen to your message and they don't realize what they are giving up. But he has a seed and someday he will want it. We also tried to find some less active members but a person at their address told us that they don't live there anymore. After looking for a some other people, we headed home to have dinner and language study. Hermana Whitney made us pasta and we had a good rest of the evening talking and studying. Today was kind of hard for me though. I missed Hermana Escobar sooooooo much! It really does feel like my best friend and my sister has been taken away from me. Her and I became so close and now I hate not being with her. It is one of the hardest things about my mission so far honestly. It is a similar feeling to when I left my family. But I know it is the Lord's will though and He really does know what is best for us and more importantly for the people and for the area. I am excited for this new adventure with Hermana Whitney!

Thursday: We had a nice full morning of all of our studies. I had a really good time studying about Zion in preparation for Zone Training Meeting. In companion study we planned our lesson for one of our investigators and then for language study we read in el Libro de Mormón together. We then had our lunch hour and then started weekly planning. I made our list of all of the people we are working with and then said the "big prayer", it took 20 minutes which is pretty typical. We then started planning for the rest of this week and next. It is taking a lot of time because it is my first time doing it without Hermana Escobar and I am doing all that I can to make sure that no one falls through the cracks. After some time of that, we went to the library and did Facebook contacting. We the drove to the chiropractor so that Hermana Whitney could get some relief for her pretty messed up back. After a very interesting scenic and back roads tour of every small town from Valpo to Hammond, including Gary, (thanks to our GPS) we arrived at our appointment with a branch member family just in time. It was such a good appointment with them. We ate and talked and laughed. They really are the most amazing family. The three girls are so cute. One of them was eating all of this lettuce and then decided she was a rabbit so she went and got a tail and acted like a rabbit. It was so fun! We had a great lesson with them and shared the "Your Potential, Your Privilege" Mormon Message. They really liked it and we talked about how we have so much potential because we are children of Heavenly Father and how we can't ever forget it and we need to help others recognize it as well. We then had a good discussion with one of the hermanas of the branch about how we can help strength the other hermanas of the branch. After that really good appointment we hurried back to Gary for MCM. It went really good.  We had a really good, long report to give the branch mission leader so that made all of us really happy. His wife then fed us tacos and Hermana Whitney and I and the Elders who had just eaten a huge deep dish pizza gladly accepted the food, even though we were already stuffed, because that is what you do as a missionary. We then went home and and completed our nightly planning. 

Friday: After having studies we went to Chicago Heights to meet with an investigator.  Unfortunately he wasn't home because he had to go work so instead we went and visited an investigator and her kids. It was so awesome because when we first got there she told her kids that she didn't have time to meet with us right then. But her children pleaded and told her that we were bringing the word of God, of course she had time to listen. Mind you these kids are 8-14 so that was really neat! We were so amazed and excited to see that not only had the kids read the chapter we left them, but they had highlighted things they liked too! We taught them the Restoration using the pictures in the pamphlets and they really liked it and understood it. It was a really good lesson and it felt like Hermana Whitney and I were able to teach together with a lot of power and unity. We almost were able to put them on date for baptism, but the mom understands what a big commitment that is and wants to wait just a bit so that she can know this is the right path for her and her family. After teaching them we went to see an old investigator of Hermana Whitney's that we had been trying to get in with for a while. She was home and let us sit down and teach her the Restoration. Again, I felt like the lesson went really well and she agreed, although a little hesitantly, to a baptismal date! We then went to our lesson with a part member family we have been working with.  It was...well...frustrating and sad. The hermana (our investigator) gave us watermelon and we were talking with her about her husband Francisco (recent convert). She told us how he has lost all desire and excitement for Church and just doesn't want anything to do with it, they haven't been to church in almost a month. Whenever he hears that we are coming over, he leaves. It breaks my heart to hear that because he was so solid. Then things got even worse when one of her evangelist friends showed up and sat in to listen. She was a fighter and wouldn't let us get in a single word without telling us how we were wrong. It was so frustrating and sad. It breaks my heart to know that I have a message that brings such joy and happiness, but that I can't share it sometimes. Needless to say, it was a rough lesson as we tried to read the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It got a little better when Hermana Whitney and I sang "I Am a Child of God". But I still left that lesson so sad for that family. We then headed towards home, stopped and worked on contacting some people via Facebook for a little bit, and the went home and had dinner, language study, and did some more weekly planning.

Saturday: Today started a with a beautiful rainstorm that lasted through the entire morning. I absolutely love the rain here. It is just so crazy because it comes down so fast that everything floods. We had studies and then drove to Chicago Heights to meet with an investigator. But when we got there he told us he had a problem because someone had asked for his help because their basement was flooding. He told us he would be back in the afternoon so we rescheduled for then. We went to the library and did Facebook proselyting and then had a quick lunch at Burger King. After that we called our investigator to see if we could come by then but he said he was actually at the doctor's for a checkup so a bit later would be better. We then went looking for a lot of old potential investigators that had been on our lists for a long time. We found out that a lot of them no longer lived at the addresses we had. That is sad but also nice because it helps us clean up our records and keep everything accurate. We were able to get a potential investigator out of it so that was great! We were also able to get some return appointments with people for this next week so that was great. Once again we called our investigator again to see if we could pass by and he told us that he was on his way to the hospital in Chicago because he had super high blood pressure and some other things going on. He told us he was okay but felt so bad he wouldn't be able to meet with us. We told him to not even worry about it and that we were praying for him. We then decided to look for some former investigators in the trailer park that Hermana Whitney used to know. We found a hermana and his wife, who are actually the parents of one of our investigators. They were so happy to have us in their home and we spent quite a while talking and discussing. We shared a little message about the Book of Mormon and they told us that we are welcome in their home anytime. They listen to anyone who brings the word of God. They aren't interested in changing...yet, but they were so fun and enjoyable to talk to, we think we can warm them up to the idea. We then went and saw another former investigator of Hermana Whitney's and he was so happy to see us too. We talked to him for a bit, well he loves to talk so he mostly talked and we mostly listened. He is another person who listens to anyone preaching the word of God. He is very nice and we will try stopping by him occasionally. After that we were able to make contact with a potential investigator that missionaries had been looking for for months. He was home but too busy to listen at that point but gave us a time next week we could go back. After that we tried the house of another potential investigator but no on answered.  We headed to Whiting and our dinner appointment with a hermana branch member. It was really good. She cooks really good food and made me eat seconds, then we had ice cream too! I was so full :-) but being in the Spanish program, you definitely learn how to stuff it down! We showed her a video about the Temple and talked about the blessings of the Temple. She enjoyed talking and telling us her life story. A lot of people like doing that and as missionaries you learn to be very good listeners. We then helped her set up some fans before we left. Back at home we had language study and then nightly planning.

Sunday: We had a SUPER Sunday! This morning we were able to get in a little bit of personal study before heading to Church. Everyone was so excited to see Hermana Whitney back in the branch and it made my job a lot easier because she knew mostly everyone. Unfortunately our part member investigator family didn't come, which was really sad. But the another investigator family  as well as another investigator of ours did come to church, so we were way excited. The Elders also had a few people there so we were able to help them out. For Sacrament Meeting one of the speakers was from the Stake Relief Society Presidency, and she doesn't speak Spanish. So the Branch Presidente asked Hermana Whitney to translate. It was quite the experience. It is really hard because you have to listen and translate what they are saying and say it plus at the same time be keeping up with what they are saying so you know what your are supposed to translate next. It was crazy but she did a really good job! Finally, 45 minutes after Church ended we were able to say goodbye to everyone who was excited to talk to Hermana Whitney again and head home. We had lunch and then did our studies. After studies we called a few people, did some planning, tried to scout out some places nearby we can go knocking, and then drove to our appointment with the Branch Presidente and his family. It was so much fun to be with his cute family and talk with them and watch their two adorable daughters. We had a good dinner and then shared a video about the Temple and talked about the blessing we have from the Temple. Back at home we had comp inventory and then nightly planning.

I am learning, although I always knew it, that change is a part of life. Things cannot ever stay the same because we cannot stay the same and still return back to our Heavenly Father. We are here on earth to change, to stretch, to grow. I absolutely loved the time that I had with Hermana Escobar and I KNOW that we are going to be friends and hermanas for eternity. But now I am so excited for this adventure with Hermana Whitney. I am excited because I know it means I am going to learn and experience new and different things and I am going to change and grow. I hope you all have an amazing week and please know how much I love each one of you and how grateful I am for you in my life!

Eternal Love, Hermana Allyse

Shhh, please don't tell my mom I got my ears pierced!  :-)

Happy 4th of July, Transfer Calls with a twist!

Hermana Escobar and I on Independence Day

Hello Dear Family and Friends, it has been a crazy and busy week...

Monday: We had a pretty normal P-Day today. We were able to email for quite a bit and then went and did the shopping we needed to do at Walmart, Aldi's, and the Dollar Store. I had no idea before my mission but have definitely learned how awesome the Dollar Store is!!! :) We then had a little more emailing time and then spent the rest of the afternoon at home because Hermana Escobar wasn't feeling too good and we wanted her to rest up good for our crazy day tomorrow. That evening there was an INSANE storm. I had no idea how much crazier Midwest storms are than back in Utah. It was blowing and raining so hard, I couldn't believe it. That evening as I was going to sleep, I watched the room light up literally every 2 seconds as lightening flashed. It was so crazy!!!

Tuesday: CRAZY day today!!! There is so much to tell, I better just start from the beginning. We had studies and then got ready to go to Chicago Heights and our appointment with a hermano investigator. We headed out and quickly discovered that the storm last night was much, much worse than we had thought. We realized this as we got to a stoplight where we needed to turn and found that the stoplight had no power and that half of it was actually, in fact, lying on the ground. Needless to say, that road was closed and we had to take a detour. Nearly all of the stop lights were not working and we had fun driving all over the road trying to avoid the branches and entire trees lying in our path. It was SO crazy! We were finally able to get back onto an open main road, but we were going to be super late to our appointment. Luckily, he texted asking if we could meet this afternoon instead, which was perfect for us. We finally got to Chicago Heights, it took 1.5 hours verses the regular 30-40 minutes, and we discovered that the damage from the storm was even worse in Illinois than it had been in Indiana. None of the stoplights were working and most of the area didn't have any power at all. We decided to try our luck with some stop-by's. We went to one of our investigator's homes and found her there with her 6 kids and with the power being out, they were bored to death. So we played the Plan of Salvation game with them and they really enjoyed it! They asked a lot of questions and we had a lot of fun. I felt really good about the lesson because I felt like I was able to contribute and teach a lot. We then hurried back to Dyer in Indiana to have a lunch appointment with a less active hermana that surprised us by coming to Church last Sunday. It was sooooo good! She was so nice and made us some super good food. We enjoyed talking with her and getting to know her and her kids. We shared a scripture and she said she would love for us to make it a weekly thing to visit them, which is just fine with us! After that really good appointment we drove back to Chicago Heights and had a little bit of Facebook contacting time at McDonald's. It ended with Hermana Escobar getting hit on by one of the employees and we had to leave real quickly. #SisterMissionaryProblems. After that we had a great lesson with another one of our investigators. We read in 3 Nephi 11 with her and discussed baptism. That night we went to a less active family's home. We had scheduled a lesson with them but when we got there they were too busy cleaning up from the storm. So we convinced them to let us help them. We ended up stripping copper from wire for them so they could sell it, and we got some great blisters from it! That night we went home, had dinner, and had language study.

No Hitchhiking, especially as Sister Missionaries!

Wednesday: Wednesday was kind of a rough day for both Hna Escobar and I. The medicine that she is on started causing her to have severe panic attacks today, not fun at all! They were kind of scary and just made it super rough for the both of us. But we went to District Meeting where we learned about how amazing the Book of Mormon is at answering questions of the soul. After a Priesthood Blessing that helped Hna Escobar so much, we headed to Chicago Heights. We were able to have a short little lesson with a hermana investigator and her kids because their power was still out! We talked about Faith and used seeds to help them plant to teach them, it went really good. We then went to our appointment with a less active. But she was asleep so instead we ended up playing the Plan of Salvation Game with her daughter who is 8 and not yet a member, and her cousin who is the same age and absolutely loves us! We had a lot of fun and the cousin, was really interested and had such a sincere desire to learn! That night we had our branch mission leader and his wife come out with us to a couple of lessons. We saw a less active family and were able to share Helaman 5:12 with them. We hoped and prayed that lesson went okay because Hno walked in there and just started calling them to repentance and talked a lot, but we think they took it okay :) We then had a quick lesson with them and one of our hermana investigators. It went good and she was really happy to talk with our ward mission leader and his wife, they are from the same place in Mexico so she gets along really well with them. That is so important because she needs all the support she can get right now!

Our Awesome July 4th cake
that we made and took to the barbecue

Thursday: Happy Birthday to my most amazing Mom!!!
Today started out VERY stressful. We hadn't been able to find the phone the night before to plug it in so we assumed it was in the car and just planned to get it the next morning. Well, that morning after showering I went searching for it. Hermana Escobar was still asleep because she just was not feeling good at all. After looking for it for nearly 2 hours, cleaning the ENTIRE car and apartment 3 times, I concluded that the phone was not in either place, just a slight problem. I finally had to wake her up to ask if she had any ideas where the phone could be. She didn't have any ideas of places that I hadn't already checked for the phone in 5 times already. So we had to wait for the apartment office to open so we could call the English Sisters and get their address to go over and use their phone to try and locate our phone. The English Sisters would not answer their phone because they didn't know the number we were calling from, even though we called them 7 times in a row. Thankfully the Hebron Sisters did answer and we were able to go over there. We used their phone to call our phone. Someone picked up and said something really garbled but then didn't respond when we tried to talk to them in English or Spanish. We tried calling the two families that we had been at last night, but neither answered their phones. So we headed to Chicago Heights to retrace our steps and try and find our phone. We stopped at the first family's place, and it wasn't there. We went to the second family we had visited and couldn't find it in their trailer. As we were getting ready to leave, at this point wondering if we would actually get our phone back, we decided to check where we had been parked on a field the night before. We hadn't checked there earlier because they had been mowing the field, a fact that had worried both of us. Hermana Escobar walked up there and found the phone lying in a field, just a couple of feet from where they were mowing!!! It had a little water damage but after a little TLC in a bag of rice, it is just fine! We couldn't believe it! We still don't know how or who answered it when it was lying in the middle of a field, but we are just so grateful that we found it! Heavenly Father definitely loves and looks out for his children!  We stopped by one of our investigators to see if they needed any help in preparation for their mom coming today. They didn't so we headed to Hermana Escobar's doctor appointment. This time it was with a general practitioner to see if he had any ideas. He did. After talking with her and looking at all of the symptoms and tests, he agreed with us that fibromyalgia is VERY likely. He basically diagnosed her with it. Fibromyalgia is just hard to diagnose because it is basically a last resort diagnosis, meaning if you don't have anything else, than it is probably that. We had been thinking about it for a while and her symptoms and background match up so perfectly with that. He wanted to prescribe her about 5 different medicines right there, but she is just going to go with the headache medicine he prescribed, the psychiatrist he said she should see, and wean herself off of the medicine from the neurologist, then we will work from there. It is so nice to finally have someone that agrees with us and takes us seriously about what we have been thinking. We still don't have the answers yet, but we are headed in a direction which is definitely a plus! After that doctor's appointment, we went home and spent the rest of the evening letting Hermana Escobar rest because she wasn't feeling good at all and had a SUPER bad headache.

Friday: Happy 4th of July! Happy Independence Day!  It was such a special day to be serving a missionary because I think of all of the many sacrifices that have been made, are being made, and will be made to protect us and the freedoms we so enjoy. Especially as a missionary, I recognize that I would not have this incredible opportunity to preach the Gospel if it were not for all that has gone into our liberties and freedoms and for the Lord's guiding hand of our country. I know that it is not perfect, nothing ran by man can be. But we really do live in the most blessed nation. I love this scripture: "And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose..." (D&C 101:80) God really does bless the USA and I love how this talk explains more about this Promised Land in which we live: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/our-divine-constitution?lang=eng

Great members who hosted us for their 4th of July BBQ

Spelling out "USA" for a photo on Independence Day

Today was a very different, but very good, 4th. We spent the morning at home, studying and such because Hermana still wasn't feeling good at all. Then we realized we had promised that we would bring a Tres Leches cake to the barbecue we were invited to and we had totally forgotten. So we had to run to Mejier (pronounced Myer, a huge Walmart type store) and get stuff to make the cake. We made the cake together and studied then headed to the barbecue. They are the same family from the English Ward that we spent Memorial Day with. On the way there, we had the idea to decorate our cake to look like an American Flag. So we stopped at Mejier again and got stuff to do it, then Hermana Escobar decorated it on the drive there! The English Sisters were there too.  It was a super fun afternoon. One of the brothers was incredible! He bought each of us Sisters a super good $12 steak and we got to choose which cut we wanted and then he grilled it up right there for us! I had a New York cut and it was SO good! We also had other really good barbecue food and I definitely ate my fill! It was fun to talk with everyone and watch the kids light off fireworks. It is so crazy how different it is here compared with Utah for fireworks. Here, fireworks are sold and lit year round. The family we were with just bought a HUGE box of all types of fireworks, most you can't even use in Utah even during the 7 days around the holidays! Of course as missionaries we couldn't have anything to do with them, but it was fun and sometimes a little scary to watch! The English Sisters also had an investigator come and he brought a chess board. Everyone had a lot of fun playing him. Although he definitely didn't let on to how good he was and he beat everyone! I also got to drive the lawn mower tractor this time, so that was fun too! When President gave us permission to go to this barbecue with the English Sisters, he asked that we stay for only 2 hours. All too soon that time was up and we had to leave. We stopped to post on Facebook really fast and then got home just in time for our July 4th 7:00pm curfew. We spent some fun time taking pictures for Facebook and then had our evening inside. I was able to see a few fireworks from our bedroom window but we definitely were not in the right place to see them real well :-) it was such a good 4th of July and I am so thankful for the special significance it was to me this year as a missionary.

Saturday: Nothing too interesting happened today. Oh I forgot, it was TRANSFER CALLS day, that was a little interesting :) We were actually at home all day because Hna Escobar wasn't feeling good at all. But that was okay because we ended up having plenty to do! So, we get this call at about 11:00 am. To our surprise it was President Woodbury, our mission president. He was calling just to check with Hna Escobar to see that what he was thinking was okay with her before he finalized any transfer stuff. Yeah, in case you are wondering, that doesn't happen very often!!! Actually, like never! But as I have learned, she is a "special" case! :-) JK But yes, my companion is being transferred :-( We had kind of been expecting it but I had been praying that it wouldn't happen because I love being her companion so much and am learning tons. But, the Lord has called her somewhere else. She is going to be serving in Rensselaer, which is actually the only other place in the Valpo Stake that Hermanas can go!!! So she is staying close, which is such a blessing to me. It is actually an English branch but they translate for the Spanish Speakers and teach in both English and Spanish. It is crazy because we met a member of that branch yesterday at the barbecue and he was like, "Maybe we will be seeing one of you sisters down in Rensselaer sometime!" So we found out she was leaving at 11:00 am but President was too rushed and couldn't tell me anything about my new companion. The rest of that day was quite painful, just waiting knowing we were changing but not knowing who I was going to be getting. Hna Escobar decided that since we were home, she might as well pack. It was so sad but I am so excited for her because President told us it is the best place in the mission for healing because the Branch Members are SO amazing. She was completely packed within an hour! We spent the rest of the day talking and preparing everything for her to leave and me to take over the area. Finally at 9:45 that night, we got a call from AP Elder Jacobs telling us what was going down with transfers. You will never believe it! Hermana Whitney is coming back to Griffith (she was here a year ago) to finish her mission (she has 1 transfer left) and she is going to be my companion!!! I love her so much and am SO pumped to be her companion! The craziest thing happened right before we got the call. We had a random number text us asking if Hermana Whitney was there. We said she wasn't but asked if we could take a message. We found out he was a potential investigator she had found here 4 months ago but hadn't ever been taught because he always wanted Hermana Whitney. Coincidence? I think not!!! So yeah, I am so sad to be losing Hna Escobar, but this is the best possible outcome I could ever think of!!!

Sunday: Was a super busy day filled with a lot of goodbye's for Hermana Escobar. Church was good, the less active family that we are working with a lot, were at Church and their son passed the Sacrament for the first time! It was the coolest thing ever! It was also amazing because the other deacon in the branch, was also there and so we had two deacons passing the Sacrament for the first time ever in the history of the branch, it was the coolest! Everyone is so sad to be seeing Hna Escobar leaving, they truly love her and she loves them so much! That afternoon we went to Chicago Heights and stopped by a lot of people to say goodbye and let her take pictures. We then had our dinner with the branch Presidente and his family. They are such a cute little family, we love visiting with them so much!

Happy 4th of July!!!

So that was our CRAZY week! A lot happened and a lot is about to change! I am so excited and also so sad that Hna Escobar and I won't be companions any more. I have learned so much from her and we have been through so much together. I don't think and hope I won't ever have a relationship like this with another companion on my mission! We are tight! Thank you so much for all of your love and support! I love you all! Have an amazing week and I will talk to you all and tell you about my adventures next week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea