Easter pageant!

Good Day! I want you all to know that we are getting into the high 90’s this week and it is starting to feel like I can at least move around without freezing. Unless I go to church, where the temperature is kept at 60 or so degrees. So I freeze during church, and then when we walk outside, we think that it’s just warm and nothing close to 100. People here are strange…

So, because I am still in the Visitor’s Center, we had Easter Pageant start this week! Awesomeness! Which means that our schedule gets moved back about an hour, just like it did for Christmas lights. So I go to bed at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30. The good news is that my companion is not a trainer so I don’t have to stay here any later than normal. Lucky me! It gets busy too, which is what I like a lot more. Granted, it isn’t as busy at Christmas lights but it’s still a lot of fun. We had a dress rehearsal on Tuesday night and that was awesome. We always get to sit in the reserved seating. Sad thing is it isn’t the best seating. But I’m okay with that. I have met a lot of fun people and had some pretty good conversations.

One thing that is a little different than Christmas lights is that we are doing a photo line, where people can get their picture taken with some of the cast members. And that is also where we get the most people to accept missionaries, because the missionaries are the ones that are going to be delivering the photo. Sounds like some fun huh? I think it is. They only started doing this last year. So the people from Salt Lake are wanting to see if this is worth doing it. Did you know that the Pageant is put on by the missionary department of the Church? It’s supposed to be used as  missionary tool so that is awesome.

On Friday and Saturday we had the Pageant in Spanish so I was able to be somewhat useful! Unlike Christmas Lights where all I could do was say Hola. Yeah…I’ve come a ways. The turnout wasn’t as big as English nights, but there are a lot more people willing to accept missionaries. So that was a lot of fun talking to them. It’s nice being able to understand what is being said. I can understand it a lot better than speak it.

I had some really good conversations recently with one sister and a recent convert.

So Hna Rodio. Love her to pieces. She is just the happiest missionary but going thru some really hard times. She has helped me out a bit on my mission so I will always love her for that. Last transfer, she got called to an English area (we are short on English sisters) so she was slightly discouraged because she was called Spanish and thinks that that is the only place where she can be. That and she is having a hard time with her companion. Also, she isn’t very healthy (lungs and all that important stuff). So I talked to her for a  bit during dinner at the VC one night and I asked how things were going with her companion and so on. Eventually I got to the heart of the matter is that she doesn’t feel valued as a missionary (where have I heard that before, oh right, me) and that Pres Ellsworth doesn’t use her for anything useful or call her to be in any position. So all I could really say to her and felt that that is what she needed to hear was that the reason we are here as missionaries is to give up our will, for God’s. Just because she doesn’t have those callings doesn’t mean that she isn’t helping people out. She isn’t called there for a reason and she doesn’t see that right now, she needs to just focus on doing the small things instead of having a position to feel useful in the mission. So hopeful I conveyed that well to you and to her. A lot of the sisters here in the VC don’t like her and so she feels very alone. I feel so bad for her.

The other was with a Recent Convert (baptized in December). This young woman has gone through a lot in life and has done a 180 to become a member. She is such an example to me and is just so amazing. I am so glad I know her. She came in last night and was working on her application to BYU-I and so she asked me to help her write her essays. She is really concerned that she won’t get in, but because she is awesome and is willing to do whatever it takes to do what God wants her to, I think that she can get in. She is so sweet. We talked for quite a while afterwards. A lot about some of her experiences in life, a lot about my experiences on a mission. Changes and the Spirit. All sorts of stuff. I just love her and I love talking to people who have a strong testimony of the Church and will not let go of it.

Other than that I don’t have much more to say. The anti’s are having fun. We get pamphlets in the VC every once in a while. They aren’t allowed on temple grounds so it’s irritating watching them hand out their stuff across the streets. And I did see the Porters. That was pretty awesome. The kids have sure grown up a bit.

Haven’t had much time in the area. But that’s okay. God really does watch out for them. After Hna Chaca leaves and sister dewitt gets her Gall bladder out (this week surgery) I feel that I can really get to work here, because Escondido (the branch and area) really need it!

Love you lots and have a great day!