Missionary work is "Sweet", especially at the Albanese Candy Factory...

Hermana Escobar and I at the
Albanese Candy Factory on P-Day

Buenos Dias Queridas Familia y Amigos! How is everyone doing? Hermana Escobar and I had another amazing and interesting week. Things are going great and I really do love being here and being with Hermana Escobar! Here is my novel for the week. :-)

Monday for P-Day we hung out with 6 other sisters. We ate at Chick-Fil-A and then went to Albanese Candy Factory. After our P-Day we spent sometime proselyting on Facebook because we couldn't afford the miles it would cost us to drive to Chicago Heights.

We live in Indiana and work in Illinois,
so we cross the border all the time!

Today was a terrific Tuesday! We spent the day in Chicago Heights trying to see potential and new investigators. We were able to catch a few people at home and set up some appointments with them. But we still burned through our long list of people to see very quickly. We were able to spend some time figuring out what all Hermana Escobar needs to do to get an Illinois Drivers License because it is going to be too hard for her to get a new Utah one because she can't appear in Utah in person. She gets to take the written and driving tests as well as we get to drive clear to Wilmette sometime to get her passport from the mission office. She is super excited about all of that (sarcastic face)! We had a crazy story happen at the DMV. We were getting ready to leave and Hermana Escobar was getting ready to back me up. As I was getting ready to back up, she yelled "Hermana" and I looked at her to see her holding a HUGE wad of cash. At first I was really confused where it had come from and then she explained that she had just found it lying in the middle of the parking lot. We went to take the cash in to the DMV office and as we were doing so, the Secretary of State police officer as well as some other people we had been talking to earlier told us we should just keep it because it wouldn't do anything to turn it in. We insisted and went back inside to turn in the money. As we were waiting in line, a little girl came up to us and asked if we had found a big wad of cash in the parking lot. She explained it was hers and she had been in charge of holding it for her mom. We gladly gave it to her because you could just tell that she was telling the truth. As we walked back out we explained what had happened and all the people that had told us to just keep it were amazed and very impressed with us. It was really cool and we were so glad that there was never any question to us of what we should do, it really made an impression on a lot of people! Tuesday night we had a dinner appointment with a member. She made us really good enchiladas and I found out she is the sister of an Hermana that I used to visit a lot in Midway. It was so neat to have that common ground with her and I could completely tell they were sisters. We played the Plan of Salvation game and it went great.

We spend a lot of time in the car
as we travel to our assigned area

Going for a pattern, today was a wonderful Wednesday. We had a really good District Meeting about "Talk with Everyone" and "Teach when you Find, Find when you Teach". Hermana Escobar and I learned about a lot of things we can better implement as a companionship. We then ate our little sack lunches at the Church and checked Facebook for a couple of minutes and then headed to Chicago Heights. Unfortunately the appointment we had wasn't home. So instead we decided to put into practice exactly what we learned at District Meeting. We went tracting and started teaching as soon as someone answered the door. Chicago Heights is kind of difficult to knock because it is mostly black and white with pockets of Hispanics here and there. You just have to pick a random street and go for it, hoping there might he Hispanics there. That is one thing you definitely learn on the mission is to look for clues that signify that Hispanics live there (the biggest give away is Christmas lights hung up, if so, you know it is Hispanic!). This particular street happened to be completely white Lutherans. We got rejected at every house. It was so hard and sad, especially when they told us things like "You don't focus enough on Jesus" (His name is on our name badges!) or "I'll be praying for you that someday you may see the light and learn the truth". It was a tough street but I learned so much from it by watching Hermana Escobar. She is truly such a powerful teacher and testifier. She shows love and joy and really connects with people and is able to follow the Spirit so well, it was amazing to watch and I hope to learn to follow her example. We then had a dinner appointment with a member and it went really good. We played the "Scale of Righteousness" game with her, her son, and her two grand kids and it seemed to make a big impact on them. As we were getting to leave, she told us about a less active that she used to see with the Elders sometimes. She said she hadn't seen her for a while but that she lived just a few blocks away. We told her we would check with the Elders and see if they were working with her. Since we had a little extra time we decided to just stop by and see this less active member because we were right there. We got on the Area Book app on our iPad to check the address and see if the Elders had met with her recently. As I was driving there we saw from the area book record that the Elders were actually scheduled to be in an appointment with her right then! We were so glad that we checked before we knocked on the door and awkwardly found them there when we were in their area without permission to stop by one of their less actives. We headed for home and creepily texted the Elders telling them to tell the less active member hello for us. They were very confused about how we were stalking them :-)

Thursday was interesting. We had apartment inspections and that went well because our apartment was nice and clean. We then worked on weekly planning for several hours. After spending a little time at the library on Facebook, we went to our eating appointment with a member in Whiting. She made us some really good food, it was weird because it was almost all Americanized; we had ham, potatoes, rolls, and then...pinto beans. The beans helped it feel more normal :-) We had a good little lesson on "the scale of righteousness" and how the power of repentance allows us to change. We then hurried to MCM because we were late and it was in Gary. Hurrying was hard because the road was not a road, it was actually just potholes hooked together by a little bit of asphalt. We were trying to hurry and my poor companion was extremely nauseated from the food (she is allergic to gluten and a TON of other stuff) and the ibuprofen she is taking (which she is also very allergic to) because of her ridiculously painful and messed up back. Needless to say, it was a very interesting drive. MCM was good, except for my companion was also pretty loopy from all of the Ibuprofen so that was really interesting. We then thankfully made it home so that Hermana Escobar was able to rest.

We had a VERY busy day on Friday! We literally spent all day running from appointment to

Uncle Paul, this photo is for you. Since you enjoy water
towers, this is one that we often pass by in our area

appointment. It was so great to be so busy but we were sure exhausted! Our relief society president really wanted to come out with us so we met up with her and then drove to an appointment with a investigator. She is very Catholic and doesn't have too much interest in changing. But her husband is Christian and does have interest. The only problem is that he is never home so we are trying to teach his wife so that we can teach him. But when we got there with our relief society president, the husband was there and so we were able to teach mainly focusing on him. We shared the #BecauseofHim video and talked about Christ and about the Book of Mormon and how it is evidence that all of this is true. We then went to another appointment with the relief society President, this time a family that is less active. We shared the video again, it really has been such a powerful tool for us to use. We talked about the Sacrament and how it is such a gift for us. After that lesson we hurried and took the relief society president back to her car and then hurried to an appointment we were pretty late for with our investigator and recent convert family. They are the cutest little family. A father and his daughter were baptized at the end of March. We are working a lot with the mom to help her recognize how this is the true and living Church. She is very actively involved and attending two churches right now and is finding it difficult to receive her answer. She fed us some really good pasta and carne and then we shared the Restoration video. It was a powerful lesson and it was going really good. Then her pastor came in and the mom had her daughter hurry and hide the Book of Mormons that we had been reading from. #exasperatedface  We have taught the mother so much and she believes it is true, she is just waiting for her answer and is a little scared to take that step, but she will get there. Next we got in a little bit of Facebook proselyting time before going to meet with a Chicago Heights ward member who speaks Spanish and who we had set up an appointment with.  It was going good and we had been talking with her, getting to know her, for just a couple of minutes when she was like, "It's been great to meet you and all  but we are going to have to reschedule, I have other company. " We were kind of kicked out of her house and we were both kind of confused about it, but that is okay because we go back later. We then had a great dinner appointment with a member and her kids. We had a great, if not kind of crazy, time talking with them. They are a great family and I really enjoyed being with them.

Hermana Escobar as the "novia"
during a skit for the branch activity

Hermana Escobar and I have officially decided that everyday is interesting with us, and Saturday was no exception. We did our studies and the drove to Chicago Heights. We tried to contact some PNI's but they all said some other day. We did a little bit of Facebook proselyting and then went to our appointment with a less active family. When we knocked on their door someone who lives there told us that they had just left to walk their dog. The crazy thing is that we had just confirmed with them an hour before and the Hermana even said she was making us food. We waited for a while and tried calling them, but nothing. 

It was really strange and kind of sad, but we just headed to the 

The Elders serving in our branch
in their skit costumes for the
branch activity

chapel to help everyone get ready for the branch activity. It was a branch talent show and it was so

 much fun. A lot of people participated. There was some amazing singing and us missionaries ended up doing 2 skits. One we wrote because they asked us to and the other was one that Presidente saw of some other missionaries do and thought it would be great for us to do. It was called, "Querido Juan" which means "Dear John" :-) It was super funny and a little bit awkward, especially for my companion, the novia (girlfriend) of Juan, our District Leader. It was a really fun night.

Sunday Hermana Escobar happened to check the phone as we were getting ready to start studies and we found out that we had a meeting at 9:00 with the leaders of the Branch and President Cabrera of the Mission Presidency. We had enough time to hurry and get ready and then run out the door to the meeting. It was a really good meeting and President Cabrera really got everyone excited about participating in missionary work. He suggested we start holding a branch Noche de Hogar, he mentioned how successful it has been in Midway in the Chicago Stake and I was quite proud. :-) The rest of Church was good and then we went home and did studies before going to Presidente's house for dinner. It was a nice end to the week.

Time really is starting to go by faster, it is kind of crazy! I hope you all are doing good. Please remember how much I love you and miss you! Have an incredible week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea