Cali!

Family!!!

So I'll try to answer your questions...first of all those pictures were ADORABLE!!! Ella and Reese look so big!!! Ella looks like a little person and Reese looks like she is a lot taller. Alyssa your hair looked really cute. I having pictures when I check my email thanks mom. It was so good to talk to you all! I was freaking out b/c my calling card wasn't working so sorry for the tears, haha they were happy tears. Just send mail to the mission office for now is good since we are moving and I don't exactly know.

So my companion is Hermana Prince, she is from St. George! She is soo soo nice! So patient and explains everything to me and is so encouraging. I am in the area called North Hollywood. Mom I haven't seen Carson I don't know what area he is in. We live in an apt with another companionship but we just got a phone call last night and we are going to move into our own apt because more missionaries went home than came in this transfer so they combined our area with another one so the apt the missionaries were living in in the area that we got combined with is empty so the president wants us to move there...I just barely unpacked haha!

So basically....I...do...not...understand...ANYTHING!!! haha oh man sometimes I am just laughing inside because I honestly just have no idea what is going on! I decided I would write down words I heard that I didn't know while I was listening at church...whew I wrote a novel! And I was just going off of what I heard so when Hma prince was helping me define them some of them she was like..uh that is not a word! haha. So I kind of feel like I have regressed haha. LIke I don't even recognize words when people are talking...even when Hermana Prince is talking slow to me! After she repeats it about three times then I recognize like the main idea but I don't know exactly how she means it haha. Then she tells me and I am like wow! I learned that why is my brain not processing anything. But I decided I am not going to get discouraged because .... I don't really know why I just decided I am not going to haha. I think this week was just a lot! Just too much change. I wasn't retaining anything, I really feel so bad for my companion, but she is the sweetest about everything. I can't remember anyone's names or any spanish i've learned or where we are or what we did haha. We were having language study together and we were going through some verbs. We had like 20 I didn't know any of them. She would say it in English or Spanish then I would say the opposite. We went through them a couple times and I wasn't remembering any of them. So we decided to make the pool smaller, so we went through five at a time and by the time we went through all five and got back to the first one I couldn't remember what it was! Haha I am laughing so much because I don't want to freak out! I am trying to learn and want to but for some reason I cannot remember anything! So I am doing all these thigns and meeting al lthese people but I am kind of just there I don't feel like I have contributed to anything a whole lot. I am making it really hard on my companion because she has to do everything plus explain it to me. She is so cute though because she"ll translate what is happening so I can bear my testimony or something when it would be way easier for her to just do the whole thing on her own. So that night where I couldn't remember a word right after she told me what it was she just stopped and was said do yo uwant to go get a treat and go to bed early? haha so we went and ate some chocolate and went to bed a little bit early.So being honest...this is not the perfectionist in me, I honestly have no idea what is going on and I feel like I can't even remember things I felt like I knew, and I cannot remember anything! Its ok though I am still having good experiences, I just feel like everything is centered around helping me not me helpng anyone else so I feel more like a hinderment not a help right now.

So a really cool experience happened on my very first night here! After I met Hma Prince we went straight from the mission home to dinner with some members where she made me give the spiritual thought and then we went to a lesson with an investigator. As we got out of the car I told hma prince, I am way scared and freaking out inside I jsut want you to know that. haha. This mans name is Noe...my FAVORITE person in San Fernando!!! He is from Mexico, his wife and two kids are still there and he is here working he lives with his sister. So we got there and we sat around the kitchen table. First we sang a hymn and then hma prince asked him to pray. He said no, he is super funny, like laughing a lot and just so so nice, but he was really embarrassed to pray. He did not want to at all. I was not planning on saying anything really...plus I had no idea what he was saying, I couldjust tell by the body language and how they were talking back and forth that he was not wanting to pray. I could just feel my heart pound when I should say something. So after he explained for like the fifth time he didn't want to pray I tried to say I can understand how he is nervous to pray because I am so nervous about speaking spanish...so if he would pray then I would say the other prayer. Haha then we folded our arms and bowed our head without saying anything else and waited for a minute and he prayed!!! Then at the end of the lesson when she asked him who he wanted to pray he really did make me pray haha. But the other cool thing that happened was we watched the restoration video and afterwards I felt my heart pound again...they were having a conversation but I had no clue what was being said haha. I assumed it was about the video. ...But I felt like I should invite him to be baptized....then hma prince wrote something in her planner and nudged me, I was so nervous I didn't recognize any of the words the first time i looked, but then I looked again and it was the baptismal invitation. Haha so I invited him to be baptized and he said yes! ...well when we were walking to the car I asked hma prince to make sure that is what he said haha. We have been back to teach him once since then and he prayed without us begging him to! But he told us he is moving to find work in San Francisco...so Im not sure what will happen with him, but we get to teach him tonihgt and I am really excited because I don't know he is just my favorite person we've met so far.

So it is definately a different culture here. Some way funny things have happened! We were visiting people hms prince has met before but hasn't taught and this lady spoke english and she asked us if missionaries live in temples! haha. Also we went to this cute little restaurant that has food from El salvador. It is really small, and everyone was staring at us, I think because we were white and dressed different. But really they just stared at us while we ate. Haha everyone is always so surprised when hma prince starts talking spanish with them and they really like it. This random guy with super long hair goes up to this microphone in the corner and starts playing the guitar and singing...haha it was so funny! I think it was planned, like he was a performer or something. When we clapped and hma prince said something to him in spanish he was surprised and I think thought it was cool haha so he sang us a song in english... I couldn't understand that either. Our ward is soo friendly and loves missionaries. It is different because all the latino women hug you and kiss you on the cheek even when they just meet you! That is a little uncomfortable for me because I am not a touchy person but they are just so welcoming and friendly right off the bat. They all say I am going to learn spanish so fast here! I don't understand them when they say that but thats what hma prince tells me they are saying. They are also from everywhere! Mexico, peru, el salvador, guatemala. Our zone leaders are latino so they play soccer in the mornings we have gone to play with them, they are so good it is really fun. The cutest thing EVER is when the little kids speak spanish! Oh my gosh I don't know why it is so cute but it is the most adorable thing, haha I don't understand them either, but the kids here speak english too. My name is the so hard for spanish speakers to say! haha. So making phone calls is so scary for me to do because I don't understand them in person...but I have to call in the car b/c she is driving...I am proud of myself for being willing to try these things and not getting discouraged when I totally fail because I have been making phone calls and it scares me a lot! But we write down posible thigns I could say first then call them...usually ends up with hma prince talking on speaker though b/c I just can't understand it! A lady gave us this huge grapfruits from the tree in her front yard that was pretty cool.i am trying to figure out how to not gain 5 hundred pounds we get fed a lot. haha!

My favorite quote I have been trying to remember is "humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking less about yourself." I have been trying to do that. Not thinking I can't do things when we are out but trying not to think about my spanish or my worries when we are talking with people and try to think about them. California is awesome!! And I love being a missionary even though I'm not really sure what is happening yet! haha!!! Love you!!!!!!!

Love,
Hma Mulliner