Round 2

So, I started to write my letter, and it got deleted, or sent off or something, in the process of writing it. Good news is that I had only written a couple of paragraphs! So, I can't believe that it's coming up on the last transfer for the other Spanish sisters! It's crazy to think about how I could be going home this transfer! I would be on my last 6 weeks!

Last week, President got word that 2 of the 3 Spanish sisters, scheduled for August, got bumped up to the 3 week advanced Spanish program in the MTC, and are coming out tomorrow with the other Spanish sister! So, this means that EVERYONE is training. Sister Laird and I are staying together and we will be co-training a new sister. Tomorrow we are heading to the Mission office for an 8:00 A.M. training session, and then we will meet our new companions and begin training. We hear that they are all very accomplished sisters. President and Sister Jardine have apparently been praying for Spanish sisters just as good as the ones he has now. Sometimes I can't figure out how I got included in this group because the other Spanish sisters really are amazing! Anyway, so we are going to have a new little "daughter" to take care of. (Trainers and trainees have a father-son, mother-daughter relationship!)

Yesterdays unity activity went really well. There were a TON of Elders! The whole mission was there, and I signed up for basketball as my activity (surprise surprise, I know!) and so did probably a good 1/3rd of the elders, even though there was one basketball court and only a few lines to sign up on. We worked it out though, and the ASL sister played with me, Sister Shumway, and she's good. She played in high school, and she was fun to box out on! I realized that I haven't been playing real ball with the guys for a long time! Haha, you just can't box out the elders and the guys at home - half of them are married, so it's probably just best to avoid it all together! It was funny thinking about it and chatting with her about it! I like Sister Shumway. She's another great missionary.

Then we had a mission talent show. It was a lot of fun and some of the acts were really creative. One zone did a "drumming on plastic pipes" skit, moving the pipes in and out to make different notes; and another did a skit where they made themselves into glow in the dark stick figures with those glowsticks and danced around. It was very creative! We had a lot of fun, and everything ended with a few thoughts on "unity" from President and Sister Jardine, the mission presidency and then transfer "calls" or announcements. It was a very interesting day.

Next week, we have to prepare a 3-4 minute talk on how to feel greater unity with the Savior in this work; so if you have any ideas or scriptures that might be helpful in writing my talk, please email to me before Saturday. REMEMBER, next week we don't have a p-day because we have another p-day this Saturday! So... WARNING!

Sunday night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner with the Mullen family, an English family in the Elk Grove Stake. They are very gospel knowledgable, and I learned a lot from them just in the hour visit that we were there. I guess it's tradition to ask any "deep doctrinal" questions while you are there, and Bro. Mullens can answer most of them. They showed us their church library upstairs, and they have to have over 1000 church books; and he's read about 80% of them. One thing that they talked about really stuck out to me. We got to talking about the pre-existence and who we were before. Everything that we do in this life, every talent that we have, is a clue to who we were before. Some of us were more musically talented before, others had more faith in Jesus Christ - those are just some examples. It was so interesting the way they put it, but this life is a time for us to prepare to meet God and for us to perfect our talents and obtain new ones by our works. It was all really interesting and I guess it's something that really peaks their interest!

Another thing that I've been thinking about, since our visit on Sunday, is how little time we do have, and the words of the Prophets and leaders of the church today. We don't have the time to waste and just sit around. They have all had a central message that we must prepare and we must prepare now. We need to be doing everything, within our power, to help build the kingdom of God on this earth and to prepare ourselves, and our families and others, for that great day when our Savior will come again. I've been thinking a lot about the things that I'd be willing to give up to be a greater disciple of Jesus Christ. What are you willing to do? Something to think about.

Well, I love you all VERY much, and I look forward to hearing from you about your thoughts and ideas for my upcoming talk!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Hermana Bradfield