Hasta Pronto Espanol, Howdy English

(Written Monday, August 17, 2015)

Well Friends and Family,

The transfer has come to a close and so many changes are about to happen it's not even funny.  My pattern of staying 3 transfers in an area and then moving on to somewhere else has continued as I will now be switching areas once more. I must say that I really grew to love this ward, this has been my favorite area thus far because we have had the sacred privilege and blessing of reaping from the Lord's harvest so fruitfully here. This past transfer, I watched 8 wonderful people and beautiful souls follow the example of their savior, Jesus Christ and make the first step to receiving eternal life through baptism. I feel like I have done what the Lord needed me to do here and we closed on a good and strong note by seeing the De La Torre family get baptized.

Many of these people have become a second family to me and I will be so sad to leave this area, but I must go where the Lord wants (and needs me to go) When our bishop announced it in sacrament meeting he had us all come up and I watched many people look so sad with tears in their eyes as we got to share our testimonies with them. I know this is the Lord's work. I know the next sisters will be able to do things that we couldn't do here, they will have a different gift with people we could not help. I know this is the Lord's work and not mine and it will continue on when I leave, but I still wish I could have done even more here. This area is the coolest with so many prepared people and it's been very nice having the temple 3 minutes away from our apartment. The spirit is strong in the Sunrise Stake. It's been a blast and I know we did a good job here.

So, you might ask, where am I going and what is happening. Sister Haycock and I are both getting transferred out of this area because both of us have been asked to be Sister Training Leaders which for those of you who don't know, I will be a leader in a zone of missionaries for the sisters. It's like the girl version of a Zone Leader. Which also means, that I will have to leave Spanish behind and speak and teach and serve the English folks. I'm pretty sad about it because I have grown to love this lyrical and romantic language. I don't know when I will have the chance to serve again as a Spanish speaking missionary because all of the leadership positions only speak English, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan and I'll still be able to study Spanish for an hour a day. it's just going to be way different. My next area is just north west of here and is called the North Zone. I will be serving in two English wards and I will do exchanges with the other sisters in my area quite often, I will have other meetings to attend and hopefully will learn, grow and change a lot! I don't want anyone to recognize me when I come home.

Last Friday we had the privilege of teaching the Rodriguez-Garibay family what a family home evening is and how it can strengthen their family. We thought it would just be the family, but as you can see in the photo, literally all the neighborhood kids came over and there were like 20 of us (including Jaime who came too) So we started with a song, I am a child of God and all the kids loved it, we talked about our families and why they are so important and then we acted out stories from the Book of Mormon with a bag of random props. Sister Garibay said at the end "Okay! Everyone come to my house on Monday and we'll do it again!" This family is incredible at sharing the gospel with others and helping all those kids feel as though it was a refuge at their house! We are excited to go again tonight and celebrate Emely's thirteenth birthday and do more fun activities! I think I will miss this family and Jaime the most, but I am grateful for this time I have had to serve here.

Serving a mission is the best thing in the world! Be prepared to continue to hear about crazy miracles in the transfer to come!

So much love,
Hermana Alayna Nelson