I'm in San Diego!

HELLO FAMILY!!!

 

Thanks for all your e-mails! And thank you to everyone else for the letters!! It was a happy surprise today to get them all =) Tell everyone I am dreadfully sorry but I had ZERO time to write letters last week or this week so I didn't write any... I'm in the middle of writing one... dang it... so hopefully I'll have time to write next week. I owe Eldon, Melissa, Jordan, Teri, John Rhoden, and Chad from the top of my head. I owe a lot of people letters, and hopefully they don't think I've forgotten about them because I definitely have not.  Oh by-the-way, the mailing address in my last post/email is wrong.  It is the Mormon Battalion Historical Site address!  So please mail letters to the address below as I do not want to miss any of your letters.

Sister Stephanie Anne Tardiff

California San Diego Mission

7404 Armstrong Pl.

San Diego, CA 92111-4912

 

ALSO! I've realized I hate calling people for referrals... which means I need to learn to love it. So if anybody has any referrals please send it to me! Muchos gracious!

SO.... that's pretty much the logistics....

 

NOW ONTO THE ADVENTURE!

 

My trainers name is Sister Virgin! She's on her last leg so I'm going to be killing her off which is super sad. She's from Lehi, Utah and she's AMAZING! She's around my height with blond hair and really happy and enthusiastic and obedient!! I love her! We get along really well. We have very similar personalities. We're both happy and outgoing. She knows exactly what's going on. She also has very open communication with me. I love her! Forever. =) She'll be going to BYU, Provo in the fall so that will be fantabulous! I am already learning so much from her!

 

San Diego is GORGEOUS! I'm still in awe... when I came down in the airplane I really felt like a little kid in an amusement park, ha-ha. There are palm trees! And cactus! OH! So the limo story, I was sitting next to this older gentleman and his younger daughter and just started talking to her. I brought up the Church so we had a good little conversation about that and about my beliefs and how they differ from other Christians. She told me I should call her mom and go talk to her and brighten her day and so she gave me HER number to call her mom. She then gave me her card and said that any time I was in the LA area I should look her up and get a free ride in a limo! I love making friends! Ha-ha, I'm going to call her sometime this week so I can get her mom's number from her. But perhaps we can take her up on it when you all come down. =)

 

The Mormon Battalion is really sweet! Our schedule is never the same from day to day. However, on my third day here I gave my first tour on my own. I love history! And talking... heh-heh. So it was pretty easy for me to pick it up. I won't tell you anything about it so that when you come you will be suitably impressed and surprised. It's a super cool site though! I recommend all people to come check it out! Yesterday I took a tour with someone who'd been through the tour a lot and she told me that out of all the tours she'd been on, mine had been the most well done/ natural. =) That made me really happy!

 

I met someone who knows the Ottesen's! It's Mike and Braden Richards. Braden is apparently Tyler's age and in his stake. That was fun. Also Jason Anderson's mom came in! That was so fun! She's so cute! We took a picture together! She's bubbly and happy as well. =) She told me to yell if I ever needed help. I'll have to holler really loud to get her attention, he-he.

 

My proselyting area is Chula Vista. It's in the southern part of San Diego, a little bit above the border and it's really pretty. Elise, Melissa, Susie, Jason - you are right. California is awesome. =D However, the work is a bit slow... we don't have any progressing investigators so hopefully that will speed up sometime soon. =) We did speak to this amazing woman named Lilia. We had a "survey" to get us started talking to people and she had such a sweet testimony of Christ and personal revelation, but she's hardcore Catholic. We're going to go back sometime this week and talk to her again.

 

Also we had something on a miracle on Sunday. A man came up to me in church and introduced me to his friend, Theresa, who just moved into the area. She asked golden, golden, golden questions. She seemed really excited about the Church, how we baptize, how we say prayers etc. and said she wanted to meet with us but then she didn't show up. =( I hope she's alright.

 

Teri did you have any miracle stories?

 

San Diego mission is very... special. We're running a pilot program right now to get greenies the ability to train after only 12 weeks. However, it means we have an extra hour of study... which would be really exciting except for the fact that we already don't have much proselyting time because of the Mormon Battalion. We're working it out though! And if anyone has any good ideas on how to find people without door knocking let me know... because we're not supposed to do that.

Also we have texting... weird huh? We also have a DVD player in our apartment to watch the district DVDs. I live in a very high tech mission, ha-ha.

 

Hmm... I have more stories but not much time. I know the church is true! I know that the temple in San Diego is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen! I know that God answers prayers! And I know that all things happen for a reason. =)

 

I also know that the Mormon Battalion site is super cool! And I love it!

 

I was super happy to go shopping today! Yeh for fresh food!

 

I love you all and I miss you lots! I'm definitely where I am supposed to be! And I'll give you pictures of me next week. Today was just super hectic. I can't believe I didn't have time to write letters. =( Its all good though! Forward!

 

I think that's my mission motto, which wasn't what it was when I made it... but my blog says "following footprints" and now that I'm here my motto is to follow in Christ footprints, to walk where he walked and to walk where he would have walked to today. =) Hope! =D

 

Well! I'm out of time! But know that I'm thinking about you! And I love hearing from you!! More stories next time!! =)

 

Love you!!!

 

Sister Tardiff!