So, you're in your new area. Third Area. I loved my third area. It was also, probably my hardest, if you don't count the fact that in my fourth area I went crazy. But, I also went crazy in my third area too. But enough of the downer. I know you are out there for the right reasons. You have come to love the people in your last two areas, now you can have fun and serve the Lord in these testing grounds. Perry was my third area. You probably remember the Pace family, the ones that let our family stay at their house the night. Sister Pace was my favorite. She really touched me. Before she even knew me, she knew of me from her daughter Melanie. Well, when she heard I was going to serve in Iowa, she told me that she prayed for me to come to her area. It was definitely a testament to the tender mercies and miracles that the Lord brings to pass. Of course, I never served in the city city. I was in my third area for a total of three transfers, and each transfer I got a new companion. First, I served with my MTC companion, Elder Delgado. Then I served my hardest transfer with Elder Porter. And, when I thought I was going to be transferred, the Mission President (and the Lord) threw me a bone and sent my trainer, Elder McLaws, to serve with me. It was all one big miracle. I'm sure you feel the same way about your areas and your companions. Life in the mission is crazy rewarding and testing.
It's been a great week.
I subbed for the Last time in Mrs. Raymondo's SDC class on Monday. It was super bittersweet. To be at my favorite school at the close of the 17/18 school year in probably one of my favorite classes, it was an experience. I have come to make friends with teacher and students alike. I hadn't gotten a job for Tuesday and Wednesday, mom Wanted me to pick her up from the airport.
Before I go to far, let me tell you, I haven't watched the French Open Men's final yet. Believe me, I am excited to see if Nadal won his undecimo (11th) FO title. He played against Thiem for the final today. I hate that they have it on Sunday...you know how I feel about that. I don't think you will have gotten the updates, but as soon as I know, I'll let you know who won, most likely Monday. Sarah and I have watched a few points here and there. One disappointment I had is that Sharapova and Serena didn't end up playing. Serena has a pectoral muscle issue. So that showdown didn't happen. We were watching Halep against Kerber on Wednesday. We just saw the first game, and Halep was losing. So Sarah thought she was the underdog. Well, it turns out she came back to win the next to sets, and go on to win the Women's French Open Final yesterday. Sarah was happy. She and I predict that Nadal won, but who knows, crazier things have happened.
We actually played tennis a couple times this week. I taught Sarah the rules and method of playing the game. She was excited to do some rallies and play an actual game or two of tennis. We played a total of three games. Sarah won 1. It definitely got Sarah excited to play some more. We played until dusk on Monday. And because she knows how the game is played, she's been interested in watching actual tennis games. We also played on Friday. Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration the amount of heat outside. It was actually terrible. Sarah practically suffered from heatstroke headache. We played in the shade, and Sarah did her best to learn how to serve. I honestly am not a good serve teacher, because I don't even know how to serve correctly.
I was able to pick up mom on Wednesday. I actually got to Long Beach sooner than expected, so I went to the mall that had a Target and walked around. She took Sarah and I out to eat for my birthday (so it truly was my birthweek). I chose to go to Sizzler and get a steak and fries. Good stuff. Later that day, mutual activity was learning how to run properly as taught by Luis Guillen. The leaders watched mostly, but I did participate in the sprint, which I got 2nd place next to Joshua Mondragon, the long distance race (which practically killed me), and some suicides. The only one I didn't participate was the last thing. Then we played knockout.
Last Sunday, Sarah invited all of her primary class to a movie night on Friday. The movie of choice was The Prince of Egypt, or Moses, which is the theme of her next couple of lessons. Well, not everyone showed up, but it still was a good turnout. Sister Garcia let us have the movie night at her house, which was so nice of her. They even had a huge movie play room. We had Dania, Isauro, who are some of the Western's adopted kids, Ella, Luis, and Issac, who are all three brothers and sisters, and we had Jacob Garcia. We had pizza and fruit. We gave rides to the families, since we had two cars.
The primary had an activity at the Stake Center the next morning. It was an mini-water balloon Olympics. One funny thing is we were telling the siblings about it on Friday and Ella said that we were going to clean the stake center. Well, she was confused. The word for olympics in Spanish is Olimpiadas. And the word for cleaning is limpiar. Olimpiadas/limpiadas. She thought the activity was cleaning, haha.
Sister Najarro (primary president) had organized the activities and had me head two groups. They had like three games with water balloons, and one bean bag toss, and one sack races. Then they went crazy with a water balloon fight. I got soak, to say the least. All the balloons were bouncing off me and the people, so we either threw it at people's feet, or pop threw it to get maximum soak. Then they had hot dogs and hamburgers.
That same Saturday, we went to the temple. We decided to go for sealings. We were able to get in on a sealing session in Spanish with several other people. Sarah and I asked the sealer about specific wordage and he gave us an answer. Then we went into the Celestial room to talk and say prayers. We were in there for like thirty or so minutes. The we went to La Bufa with mom. It was nice being to eat and talk with her.
I signed up in a temp agency. I am going to go to multiple places looking for hiring. Hopefully, I get a soon. Pray for me.
I did end up going to Redlands for the fun of it. Actually, I was looking for the movie. They have a new Distribution Center and Deseret Books in the area. They didn't have the movie, but they did have hymns made simple, so I got those. Also, I went out with my Father-in-law Arno, to visit him. We went to McDonalds together. He told me that he has been invited to go to Japan to visit his Son, her wife and four kids. He also told me he was considering taking Sarah. The ticket would be free. Sarah really wants to go visit her favorite Sister-in law and her family. It is now on our list of things we want to accomplish.
Well, I hope you are doing well!
Love you,
John
Before I go to far, let me tell you, I haven't watched the French Open Men's final yet. Believe me, I am excited to see if Nadal won his undecimo (11th) FO title. He played against Thiem for the final today. I hate that they have it on Sunday...you know how I feel about that. I don't think you will have gotten the updates, but as soon as I know, I'll let you know who won, most likely Monday. Sarah and I have watched a few points here and there. One disappointment I had is that Sharapova and Serena didn't end up playing. Serena has a pectoral muscle issue. So that showdown didn't happen. We were watching Halep against Kerber on Wednesday. We just saw the first game, and Halep was losing. So Sarah thought she was the underdog. Well, it turns out she came back to win the next to sets, and go on to win the Women's French Open Final yesterday. Sarah was happy. She and I predict that Nadal won, but who knows, crazier things have happened.
We actually played tennis a couple times this week. I taught Sarah the rules and method of playing the game. She was excited to do some rallies and play an actual game or two of tennis. We played a total of three games. Sarah won 1. It definitely got Sarah excited to play some more. We played until dusk on Monday. And because she knows how the game is played, she's been interested in watching actual tennis games. We also played on Friday. Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration the amount of heat outside. It was actually terrible. Sarah practically suffered from heatstroke headache. We played in the shade, and Sarah did her best to learn how to serve. I honestly am not a good serve teacher, because I don't even know how to serve correctly.
I was able to pick up mom on Wednesday. I actually got to Long Beach sooner than expected, so I went to the mall that had a Target and walked around. She took Sarah and I out to eat for my birthday (so it truly was my birthweek). I chose to go to Sizzler and get a steak and fries. Good stuff. Later that day, mutual activity was learning how to run properly as taught by Luis Guillen. The leaders watched mostly, but I did participate in the sprint, which I got 2nd place next to Joshua Mondragon, the long distance race (which practically killed me), and some suicides. The only one I didn't participate was the last thing. Then we played knockout.
Last Sunday, Sarah invited all of her primary class to a movie night on Friday. The movie of choice was The Prince of Egypt, or Moses, which is the theme of her next couple of lessons. Well, not everyone showed up, but it still was a good turnout. Sister Garcia let us have the movie night at her house, which was so nice of her. They even had a huge movie play room. We had Dania, Isauro, who are some of the Western's adopted kids, Ella, Luis, and Issac, who are all three brothers and sisters, and we had Jacob Garcia. We had pizza and fruit. We gave rides to the families, since we had two cars.
The primary had an activity at the Stake Center the next morning. It was an mini-water balloon Olympics. One funny thing is we were telling the siblings about it on Friday and Ella said that we were going to clean the stake center. Well, she was confused. The word for olympics in Spanish is Olimpiadas. And the word for cleaning is limpiar. Olimpiadas/limpiadas. She thought the activity was cleaning, haha.
Sister Najarro (primary president) had organized the activities and had me head two groups. They had like three games with water balloons, and one bean bag toss, and one sack races. Then they went crazy with a water balloon fight. I got soak, to say the least. All the balloons were bouncing off me and the people, so we either threw it at people's feet, or pop threw it to get maximum soak. Then they had hot dogs and hamburgers.
That same Saturday, we went to the temple. We decided to go for sealings. We were able to get in on a sealing session in Spanish with several other people. Sarah and I asked the sealer about specific wordage and he gave us an answer. Then we went into the Celestial room to talk and say prayers. We were in there for like thirty or so minutes. The we went to La Bufa with mom. It was nice being to eat and talk with her.
I signed up in a temp agency. I am going to go to multiple places looking for hiring. Hopefully, I get a soon. Pray for me.
I did end up going to Redlands for the fun of it. Actually, I was looking for the movie. They have a new Distribution Center and Deseret Books in the area. They didn't have the movie, but they did have hymns made simple, so I got those. Also, I went out with my Father-in-law Arno, to visit him. We went to McDonalds together. He told me that he has been invited to go to Japan to visit his Son, her wife and four kids. He also told me he was considering taking Sarah. The ticket would be free. Sarah really wants to go visit her favorite Sister-in law and her family. It is now on our list of things we want to accomplish.
Well, I hope you are doing well!
Love you,
John
