3 months!‏

GUYS, IT'S OFFICIAL. I survived my first transfer here in the wonderful state of California! I can't believe how fast that went by! I've officially been out 3 months, which also means I'm 1/6 of the way done with my mission... Whaaaaat? When I first came out, I kept thinking "good thing I'm not an elder, 2 years is too long." But now I'm starting to wonder, where's my extra 6 months?! Seriously, I love the mission so much. I'll be completely honest (sorry, someone told me missionaries aren't supposed to be honest in their emails home? ....Whoops.) anyways, some days I can't believe how much time I have ahead of me and I wonder what I got myself into. But the other 97% of the time, I am completely in love with this work and can't believe how quickly time is flying! All the rejection, lack of sleep, and discouraging moments are nothing compared to those incredible and indescribable experiences of watching someone you teach come closer to Christ and light up through the gospel. 

Speaking of those experiences, I want to tell you about a family who I have completely fallen in love with. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the Garcias before, but they're a family of investigators that we're teaching right now. There's Maria, the mom, and then she has 4 adorable kids ages 3-10. So we were teaching the plan of salvation last week and we had pictures of everything, so at the end we showed them pictures of the 3 kingdoms with the sun, moon, and stars. So we explained how the celestial kingdom is highest and all the blessings of going there and then asked them after which kingdom they wanted to go to. Her twin girls said "we don't want to go to the sun, we like the stars!" Not really the answer we expected... Haha so then we asked her 3 year old where he wanted to go, and he said "Mexico!" So ya, we didn't quite know what to do with that... But hey, they're still trying to work towards baptism, so they're on their way to the celestial kingdom whether they like it or not!

Also this week we went to black bear diner, which is basically the best place on earth. And their serving sizes truly could feed a black bear. So the elders convinced me to order a plate called "the gritz" with them, which is basically a huge breakfast platter. They bring you out 2 plates full of pancakes, ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and eggs. There was so much food, could have been set for days! So I ate about half and was completely stuffed. Then elder smith said "I bet you can't finish that. Actually, I know you can't." So naturally, I had to finish it (duh). Worst decision ever? Probably. But I did it! Haha I was pretty proud of the fact that I proved him wrong, although I still have absolutely no idea how all that food fit in my stomach. To top it off, they talked me into ordering a shake for dessert cause they have the best shakes ever and they wouldn't really let me say no. Haha and people wonder why missionaries gain weight? This is why, people! But hey, a member told me this week that if you gain weight, that just means the members there love you. 

 

A few random thoughts from the week:

1. Practically everyone here is drunk right now.. I guess they're preparing for cinco de mayo? I don't know. But because of that we've had some pretty hilarious contacts. We met one guy this week who couldn't even get a word out cause he was laughing so hard at me. When I asked him what was so funny he just pointed to my face and kept laughing... thanks dude?

2. I forgot to tell you about our new elders. We got elder Parker from South Carolina, and he is two transfers away from going home. Then we got elder Acosta from Mexico/Southern California (I still don't exactly know), and he's pretty new. Not as new as me, but it's whatever. I've decided the greenie days are fun.

3. I won't be writing next Monday because we're going to the temple!! I am STOKED. But ya, I think p-day will be Thursday.. I don't really know. I guess we'll see.

4. Happy Mother's Day!!! To all the moms, future moms, grandmas, all of you. Thanks for all you do. Seriously, you are incredible and I'm so grateful for you!

5. Pictures: 

1- okay so I didn't get a picture of my dinner at black bear, but I got a picture with my shake outside after. So that's me and my new black bear friend.

2- our district before the elders left on Tuesday! Don't mind the fact that we don't have shoes and the elders are wearing sandals.. We're a homely bunch.

3- I finally got to make cupcakes!! It was Hermana Peña's birthday this week so we took them to her party. Basically the best day ever. I miss baking!!

4- we went contacting at the plaza this week and I just thought this stream was pretty. Enjoy 

5- my lovely family sent me a huge bag of crispy m&ms and I was just too excited to not share! And yes, I'll probably eat them all myself 

Okay, sorry that was more than a few thoughts. I always try to keep my emails short but they just end up so long! Sorry! Thanks for putting up with me, haha love you guys!!

Hermana Suzanna Lewis