Hello!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Heya familia!!

OK! Big news! I know you've been waiting for it, on the edge of your seat to know what is happening in the life of your favorite San Diego Missionary (OK... so favorite missionary serving right now) and the big news is ….. I'm staying in La Jolla! Wooohooooo! (Do you know how much I love this ward and these people? OK probably not exactly, but let me tell you I love this place so much. I feel like its my home)AND I have a new companion, Sister Pelfrey, and she is going home in 6 weeks... which means I'm most likely going to be staying in La Jolla for the rest of my mission. =D Crazy. I'll spend my entire mission in two proselyting areas. It kind of rocked my world for about a day... it feels weird to have knowledge of what is happening a transfer away, but now I'm happy and excited and not rocked any longer. I am so content to spend the rest of my mission here =) and either way- it’s all about the attitude.

It was kind of hard for awhile to not have Sister Tanner as a companion. 3 transfers.... I know that sounds really funny because she's still at the Battalion and I see her every morning at least, but I just love that girl so much. She's taught me a lot, we've been through a lot together and she'll always be one of my best friends.

So let me tell you about Sister Pelfrey. She is a gem, a real gem. She's the one I told you about whose dad passed away back in January. She is a strong missionary with a huge testimony and a hard worker and she reminds me a TON of Heather Dolan. It’s like being a companion with one of my best friends from the get-go. It kind of throws me off at times because she looks a bit like Heather too and I have to remember that it’s not Heather... it’s Sister Pelfrey so that's kind of funny. But we're going to have so much fun I can already tell. As this is her last transfer we have GOT to live it up. =D She has all sorts of funny accents and she really cares about people. It’s really fun. I'm going to learn a TON I can already tell.

Teddy has disappeared. I'm really worried about it. He has been doing great, meeting members, feeling the Spirit and in the last 4 days he's just... gone, for lack of better words. We don't want to be too pushy and kind of stalking but we also don't want him to fall off the face of the planet because if he doesn't get a job in the next five days he's going to be evicted from his house. Pray for him please, and for us that we'll be able to connect again.

However this week is looking real good. We have a lot of potentials that we have appointments with. Some look really promising and we have members going with us so they will have automatic friends. We've ALSO started to get member referrals. HUZZAH!! I'm quite excited about that one. I feel blessed to be able to stay in the ward, to be able to continue to see these people, and see James! He's awesome. We were able to teach a bit last week and testify and help others to come unto Christ. Also we've started taking the less actives from all the other wards who are YSA and have started calling them and inviting them to church and what not. I love being a missionary.

We got to do Mormon helping hands on Saturday. Phew. I'm a little sore (only my thumb) but we got to do INTENSE jobs. We exterminate palm trees (who knew that they aren't native to California??) and extricate shopping carts and wheelchairs and eliminate bamboo (also not native- who knew??) and it was work. Palm trees have roots that are like 3 times there size. The shopping carts had been there so long that tree roots have grown through them and there was more than an acre of bamboo that we cleared out. It was a blast. I have pictures! I was really sweaty and I was really happy. Also James came to it and we thought he might get poison oak - but he survived. We asked him about it later that night and he said "no I didn't get any. God bless me!" It was so cute. I've decided that my mission language is that I'm learning simplified English with a Chinese accent which is kind of funny.

We also got to clean out the courthouse. That was gross.... it was so dirty. I'll show it to you. We mopped and everything and did spring cleaning. It was actually pretty funny but gross and very dusty.

But anyway, I had the coolest experience at the Battalion. A lady came in named Velma and she just felt drawn here. She had a cool tattoo (and I know Tattoos are not allowed) but it said “faith” in one direction and “hope” in the other. Her brother had died a year ago of cancer and her faith had been rocked. She came here and was really interested in learning more, and about the plan of salvation and she thanked me a lot. I passed her off to the elder in her area right away so we'll see how it goes. But she is a really special person and I hope that she comes back and that I get to know the end of her story.

 

That's pretty much my week! I hope that you all are doing well!! I love you so much!!

Love,

Sister Tardiff