Monday, November 29, 2010

11/29/2010

hahaha ohhh my GOODNESS I have stories for you this week. But first I have GOT! to say, your Thanksgiving sounds like thee FUNNIEST disaster ever. MAN I wish I was there. But I guessss. I'll start from the top and make it to Thanksgiving. coo ?

Sooo we went tracting all day last Tuesday in Sparks right? Sparks is like THEE GHETTO.. like a little city within Horizon, if that makes sense. And so we made Tuesday more or less 'car appreciation day' as Schwartz and Manwill would call it. And I had my pedometer from Kaiser on, which I use everyday and we walked 24,000 steps.. what whaatt ! Ahha, so we were walking visiting former investigators, and this dog. This GORGEOUS dog across the street gets up and starts walking over to us. It looks kind of like one of those half wolf dogs. GORGEOUS. So I'm saying 'Hermana, ..Hermana..' and the dog just comes over to us and just stays next to us like our bodyguard hah. And the ENTIRE rest of the time we were walking the dog, who I named Dil, would just follow us to every single house we were going to. It was cool, he was like our own Dumbledore or something, just walking past all the dogs that were going CRAZY at us but everything was okay. And if a HUGE dog would start barking, Dil would walk over to me and kind of nudge his head into my leg haha. He reminded me of Buffy :p
 So then it's Wednesday night right ? And we get a phone call during dinner, so we called the number back and it's...DUN dun dun. "RAUL'S WIFE". And she starts going buckWILD in Spanish about how her and Raul are splitting up now since he's started listening to the gospel, and she's all threatening us saying she knows our names and she's gonna be looking for us and everything. Sooo. needless to say. We can't go back there :/ .hm. I should have asked if she knew the name under ours on our name tags :p hah. That probably wasn't funny.
 So Thanksgiving! We had a dinner appointment at aroundd 1ish at a Spanish home, and I got to help make mole tamales! BAMB. But those were the last of the tamales-there were liiike 5 different kinds or so. And so it's time to eat right? And it's us and Elder Pearson and Anderson. And so I start eating my tamale and there's like. Nothing buy spicy gooey funk in mine. So I'm just eating it, and I look across the table at Elder Anderson and he's looking at my tamale while he's eating and trying not to laugh. And so he looks at me. And we look at each other. With only one of us realizing what I'm really eating. And so we just both look down and I just SHOVEL like it was the last thing I was gonna do, and after we got out of there, I asked my companion what it was. And it was chicharon (?)..pig skin. That's just cooked and it's basically like chewing the fat off a steak throughout a tamale with spices in it. It wasn't HORRIBLE. It just wasn't you know. Necessarily. Turkey. hahaha
  So we ended up visiting some people later, and I had some chocolate silk pie and this one member's house, only because it made me think of Mom and Gina and how much THEY like chocolate silk pie. Andd we had another dinner at an English member's house later that night and ended up talking gospel til aroundd 9:30. And it is SO CRAZY!! In our area, there are cement adobe houses that were built by the Lamanites that are talked about in the scriptures! So prettyy soon we're going to try and see them. It's incredible, the dad REALLY knows his religion. And he said that this is the only place in our mission where these Lamanite homes still are. So we have GOT.! To put that on our list :p

oh! BTW hah, I'm sending ya'll Christmas packages today.. open them! Cuz the presents inside are wrapped :P
  Umm what else! OH HEY! BAPTISM this Sunday! This SUPER sweet 18-year-old girl Celali. She's had SUCH a rough life. She kind of gets thrown around to live wherever with her family, like the leftover. But she's getting baptized, and I am SO! Excited for her. I've never EVER met somebody that wants it as bad as she does!! So if you could pray for her that would be. SO appreciated :)
  Ummm! More. I guess this week has just been reallyyy. REALLY different. It's weird, the days go by as a missionary, but when a week passes by I realize exactly how much has really happened. I've had a REALLY hard time focusing this week for some reason, and I started letting myself think that because I was letting myself get distracted, that I came here for the wrong reasons. But I started thinking about how I just wanna do good. And who knew it could be so difficult to just try and do good! I don't get it! But Satan wants not ONE good thing to happen. And I read that I wrote down in one of my notebooks from the MTC that Satan has been watching us for YEARS. So HE KNOWS what pushes our buttons, and what weakens us. So no matter how hard he tries to get me to think I'M out here for the wrong reasons, I need to recognize and think about how happy I've been when I have seen somebody's life helped from me being here. Of all places I could be helping Heavenly Father iN THE WORLD, He chose me to be here. So if THAT'S not drive to find what I'm out here to do, I dunno WHAT is!!

  Welll familia. Life isn't the same without you. But it is always amazing with the gospel. I know these holidays are gonna be WAY weird, but hold on to the rod! I'll probably e-mail more right now and send pictures. I've just lost my train of thought in this e-mail hahaha

Jesus loves you!.. Hermana Batchkoff

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Monday - Thanksgiving week

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. I thought I'd be A LOT more homesick, but I think it's because every day as a missionary just kind of goes.. it doesn't FEEL Thanksgiving-y at all as we go throughout the day, even though they deck it OUT out here with the decorations :) even though it's not getting any cooler really. It's like Mo Val weather here! Last night it was 60 when we were driving home haha :o
  So I have stories for ya'll! I've been working harder on trying and trying and TRYING to figure out exactly what it is Heavenly Father has guided me to do in this exact spot right now, because of all the places in the world that I could be, Heavenly Father wants me HERE. So I've been searching and searching to try and figure out what He wants me specifically to try and do for Him that could help His children. So guess what! We went tracting the other day right, in this 'ritzy' neighborhood right next to our apartments. And you'd think these people are 'too rich for religion' right. Well! We knocked on this one door of this home, and a woman opens up the door, and says, "Hey!!" so! We just started having a conversation with her and she's all, "Well hey! What's up, come in come in!" ..and this was in English. There's actually been a GRIP of English this week :o but we come in to her AMAZING mini mansion of a house hah, and we just started talking to her some more, and she's telling us about her family, and her life and everything. And her name is Lucy by the way. And she's is SO COOL. She just seems so happy and so willing to talk to us. It was like she was expecting us to come over or something. She started telling us how she met missionaries passing by outside of a store a few years back, but she's never had anyone in her house. And so I asked her why she just let us in, and her eyes get a little teary and she's all, "Well. I just really believe that answers come in many different ways." .....ohmygosh could she BE any more ready ??! ahah, she just seems like she's been ready for someone to ASK her if she's looking for something more so she could SAY something! Thing is though. She didn't come to church yesterday. So we'll have to see what happens this week with her :o
  So remember Raul!! We had a lesson with him, that was SO AMAZING we had to stop back at home afterward and I wrote in my journal so I wouldn't forget it. haha. Missionaries and their journals. WE ARE SO WEIRD. But check this out. So we go to his house and re-taught him lesson 1 because it had been awhile since we had been able to go over there. So! We're teaching him right, and he starts telling us about when he was in jail, and HE was asking US about church, because he's never been to a Mormon church and "wants to try it", THEN! At the end of the lesson, THE MOMENT..or one of THE moments I've been waiting for to happen since I've been a missionary. He prayed FOR THE FIRST TIME. And he was trying to follow the prayers that we say before and after the lessons. And it was such a simple yet SUCH a heartfelt prayer. INCREDIBLE. He prayed. ! He had a conversation with Heavenly Father! ...though he didn't go to church yesterday either. Actually. We only had one investigator come to church this week. Which is like daggers in the corazon I am TELLING you. But nothing we can't keep pushing for ;)
  So Jimmy. I dunno if I told you about him, but he's Sister Greave's nephew who lives with her, and he's 19. And he used to be a party boy and has been coming back to church now. And he's been smoking-free for almost 2 1/2 months now :O!! BUT. On Friday night we called him, and he was AT.HIS.BREAKING POINT. And was SO CLOSE to just giving in because he just lost his job and really wanted to smoke and is trying to do what's right and he hasn't seen the blessings, so we race over to his house because he was literally an inch away from smoking. So we start talking to him and he is about ready to just LOSE it. But I couldn't remember what I told him, or anything that we really said, but it was something along the lines of how much Heavenly Father has in store for him, so every single trial and weakness we go through builds our character to be able to make us strong enough to do what Heavenly Father wants us to do. His life before church was so much like mine, and I started telling him about every experience I've had that could relate to his, because HE IS NOT! alone. And at the end we're all crying, and his aunt is giving him SUCH good advice. And afterward, we gave him a talk to read.. Jeffrey R. Holland's from this past conference. And the next day he went with us to teach a lesson right. And h was I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU a COMPLETELY! Changed person. COMPLETELY. It was so crazy to see. To think that I could have had even the littlest part in helping someone. Even the littlest. And guess what else! Yesterday we went to his house, and he said he cannot even VELIEVE that person was him on Friday night. He said that it's so scary to think that Satan could blind people so much to make them feel and think differently than they should. So we were all scripture studying and he was applying all the scriptures to himself and EVERYthing! AND, Bishop offered him a calling in Sunday School. THAT'S why Satan was working so hard on him! Cuz he is BOUND to be amazing C: A completely different person. And it showed me that no matter HOW far anyone thinks Heavenly Father is from them, he is that much closer. He knows our weaknesses and struggles and will only push enough to make us stretch ourselves and hang on to Him with ALL. we got. Jimmy's cool. haha
  So those are our cool stories this week :). I FINALLY get what everyone says about Hispanics feeding us the whole kitchen ! On Saturday night right. We go to a Hispanic couple's home for dinner and the wife made us tortas.. they're like Mexican sandwiches. But THESE she slathered in butter and fried, then put a GRIP of avocado and mayo and shredded beef on for us..and they weren't bad! But they were as big as our plates I am NOT even lying! And so she said we were each gonna have 2, but I thought she was kidding. .
she wasn't kidding. . . . ... . .    . So. I ate 2 HUGE tortas, THEN she starts scooping us out Coldstone's ice cream into cups for us. And my heart's beating so fast because I never in my LIFE have eaten 2 sandwiches at once, much less for each of these to equal 1 sandwich. with a tub of butter each. So I ate like 4 sandwiches on Saturday night. And yesterday I felt like I was in recovery all day ahahahh. My life.
  But ya ! That's pretty much my week. The leaves are finally starting to change so it's not like springtime here anymore haha, and this week we have 4 people we're visiting for Thanksgiving, including the Greave's :) our actual Thanksgiving dinner, though, is with the Palomares family.. a Spanish family, and 2 Elders, Elder Anderson and Elder Pearson, Cara's husband I'm just saying, are going too. So that's my Thanksgiving family this year hah :p I'm gonna learn how to cook with Hermana Palomares! BAMB. Maybe it'll be better than that disaster of a Thanksgiving dinner I tried to make last year, where w just ended up going next door to Lionel's and eating their food haha! WE'RE SO COOL.

Anyway family! I know Mom's worried about me.. DO NOT WORRY. We can see fires in Juarez from afar..hah afar, afar ;).. but everything is okay over here. We're actually like. So well taken care of it's insane hah. I love you! Let me know if there's anything that you need. I'm trying to work as hard as I can to make ya'll proud. I think the hardest thing so far has just been trying to stay completely focused. It's tough when the world surrounds you and we need to just be.missionaries. It's tough. But these tough things are what are what are making me realize what I need to do to come closer to Christ. I guess, being the person that would say the things Christ would to these people keeps me trying to be better and better.. not that it makes it easier. IT DEFINITELY! Doesn't. but. it's worth it.

I love ya'll so much. soooososososo much.
Let me know if there's ANYthing! You need prayers for. Mo Val. HANDLE IT!

FELIZ DIA DE GRACIAS mi familia. Eat good. Tell me what you do. :)


Hermana Batchkoff



Monday, November 15, 2010

Email - 11/15/2010

So. Harry Potter's coming out this Friday don't you act like I don't know life in Texas! haha Sister Greaves, who Dad got to talk to on da phone, was talking to me about it cuz I was all WHATT! When is it again??! And she's all, "It' okay you're in the service of the Lord and IT' THIS FRIDAY!" ahhah, but that's okay! I get to e-mail ya'll! HOW ARE YOU. I miss every single one of you so much. Missions are so insane. There isn't really ONE thing I could pinpoint, but being on one just tests me every single day to just 'push'. And to keep pushing. Yesterday NONE of our investigators came to church. NOT ONE. And I have GOT to tell you, it had to be THEE MOST disappointed I've been in a MINUTE. Because you give so much, and you're SO sure they're gonna come. But you know what I realized? It's like a breakup. If you spend so much time dwelling on what you may or may have not done right in getting them to stay with you (or in THIS case. come to church hah), you may very well pass by every single opportunity throughout the day to shine the light that God gives you to find others who ARE willing to listen to what you have to say. We cannot waste one second not showing the world how happy we are to have this gospel !
  I kind of left the whole breakup part at the end of that haha. But you wanna hear this story from tracting? They're always fun hah. SO. We'r tracting the other day right. And we walk up to this house, where a band is practicing in a closed garage. And it's one of those scream-o bands (....?) and you know. not to judge. But they WERE HORRIBLE haha. It was alll electric guitar and everything, and the front door's RIGHT next to the garage. So we go up anyway, and this 16-yr. old or so answers the door. So my companion's in front of him, YELLING to him about the church so hecould hear, and THEN. The singer, or screamer of the band, just starts SHRIEKING. Or whatever it is.. because I don't have that kind of sound on any of our cd's in the car .. ....and so she keeps yelling louder, and the kid's listening like there ISN'T a band right next to us that's making it nearly impossible for us to hear each other. SO! It may not sound very funny, but I felt SO BAD standing there, having to cover up my mouth with our Book of Mormon or cough to cover up my laughing hahaaaaha :)
  But anyway though! So I thank you for the package I got :D Ya'll are ONIT! And all the quotes in the inside flaps, which I'm guessinggg Gina made ? LOVE THEM. haha, WE LOVE the Kudos bars too. Rememba those?? Except. They seemed bigger when I was little. BUT then again. I don't remember the '100 calorie' phrase on the front either ;) these are better!! haha, so! I neeedd to think of anything else to type, because so much happens, but I am not EVEN kidding you it all seems to be such a blur now :p
  The other night-Friday night- we went to visit a grip of people, and NOBODY was home! And THEN we remembered. Well. como se dice(how do you say) DUH. It's Friday night. But to missionaries, it's just another day hah ! LAME. So we finally went to see Brother McDurmed and his family. He's an older man, but his family's younger and they all live together, and his wife just died 2 months or so ago. And he's been strong, but when we visited him he just looked a WRECK. He just got over being sick, so he's lost weight, and he's been working because noone else in the family works, so I think when we saw him it was one of those times he got to himself, where everything came to life, and he was just having a HARD TIME. So we just talked to him, and he really just needed someone to talk to I think. And before we left, he told us about how we bring sunshine to their home-'even at night!' hah, it's cool though. After getting rejected all day, it's nice to see someone who is still happy to see us. And not just us, but the gospel in general. i don't think I would realize had I not decided to serve a mission exactly how important this gospel is. But! IT IS.
  SO. That being said. I hope you're doing aiight family. Thanksgiving's coming up.. or. El dia de gracias. :p we have dinner with a Spanish family allllready set up. And hey! I think my Spanish is getting better! And even if it's not, I've realized if I just talk like I know what I'm saying, people will listen to ME more, NOT to what they could help correct me on. ..imagine that. hahah
  I don't wanna log off! OH! We tracted into this family! The dad's name is Chris, and he's in the Army. And they lived in Hawaii and got to see the Christus ? And said it was WAY moving. I'll write more about them in the letter, but I LOVE THEM. They were so friendly. It's just surprising how much English I'm speaking. It's tough switching abck and forth too! Props for the bilingual hijos running around the chapel here that can do it like NOTHING. hahah :p
 
Pues, mi familia, ustedes soon muy cerca a mi corazon. Pienso sobre ustedes cada dia, y espero que ustedes estan fuerte ahora! Hay muchas personas que necesitan que les tienen. POR FAVOR tienen una sonrisa cada dia! Vida es tan corta. ajaj mi espanol es horrible :)
 
I hear there are new changes on Facebook. I wish it would just stop til I get back hahaha. J/k :P
 
I LAVA YA'LL!
"The Spirit is something that if you don' t feel, noone around you will feel" Elder Anderson
 
Hermana Batchkoff
 
p.s. could you tell me if the pictures I send come out? Cuz if not. I have A LOT to print! hah

Monday, November 8, 2010

11/8/2010



Heyyy now ! We don't get that much time to e-mail today, sooo HOPEfully! My pictures can say 1,000 words. BUT FIRST. I DID make a list of what I wanted to specifically tell ya'll hah :)
I love you! I miss ya'll a lot, but the people out here make me feel SO COMFORTABLE. And by the way Elder Munk. I do NOT! Know how you can get so much into an e-mail in such little time haha.. but here's my list:
sooo. we started teaching this guy Raul right. He just got out of prison, and he's trying to better his life. We contacted him twice in one week..on accident haha, and both times he said he wanted us to come over and teach him. So we did! We taught him the first lesson, and I just felt like asking at the end how he felt, and he's all, "I dunnooo, I feel like. Relaxed, and calm. I don't know why! But I like itttt." ....:O! :D he's sosososo amazing. And in the end before we left we asked him to read and pray, and he's all, "Ya! Ya, I'll do it. I'm gonna read it. I want to" ..so we meet with him tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. His other friend was getting tipsy on mouthwash while we were teaching them haha, so I guess tomorrow should be something ! hah
On Saturday, we went to a Spanish baptism for these 2 8-year-olds because Sister Good had to play the piano(Kira Good by the way-Facebook her :P hah) and I was just sitting in a chair when a lady walks up to me, asking me if I could give a talk on the Holy Ghost in Spanish and lead the music, because those people who were going to weren't there ! SO as a missionary you can't say no to those things! So being the whitegirl, during my talk there was a point where I had to stop and think about what I was gonna say for a second. And it.was.silent.i'm.not.even.kidding.you. Every baby's mouth was shut. And I wanted to scream ME?!??!?! ahhah, but it wasn't that bad ! Just one of those experiences for the journals. I guess. hah
I heard about the money problems too, so don't worry about sending me anything! All I need is a pair of shoes, which I'll send money for.. ya'll are OFFF! THE hook!
You know what I notice being on a mission, that's been the hardest thing for me so far? Being on a mission, I am shown every single weakness on a daily basis, which is what I expected. But it's hard having to act as a disciple of Christand being an example for others of a strong person or as someone that could help and NOT being discouraged realizing every single one of your weaknesses. It's like walking and getting punched and spit on, like Christ even, and just keeping your head up and NOT getting discouraged, knowing that it's part of the chipping process to make us overcome our weaknesses. It's like mindwarping in a way hah. Just staying positive to help others see JUST WHAT the Atonement can do.. EVERYthing ! So ya.
I have another quick story! Yesterday was fast and testimony right ? And in the Spanish ward, the Bishop was up giving his testimony, and WHILE he was giving his testimony, SO MANY PEOPLE were walking up and FILLING IN the choir seats to wait to go bear their testimonies. There was not ONE GAP in between people giving their testimonies, because there were so many people. And there were little kids going up without their parents sharing these EXTREMELY heartfelt testimonies, it was SO AMAZING. To see their faith, and to see how many people wanted to go up and be FEARLESS about sharing their testimonies. SO COOL!

Welll. I'm gonna let this end quick. I hope ya'll are doing well, and I HOPE these pictures go through so that you can see them ! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Thank you for the letters. The first week where I didn't get any from anyone got me a little worried, so I'm glad to know you're okay :)

choose da right ! Haha Elder Pearson just said I'm "Un poca loca!" ..a little crazy! It just sounds funnier in Spanish :P PAYCE !


Hermana Lia Michele Batchkoff

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Another Email! :) 11/1/2010


OH MY GOSH I HAVE SO MUCH TO TELL YA'LL IT IS RIDICULOUS. haha there's the red squiggly line under 'ya'll'.. not one person has EVER told me that ya'll isn't a word. ANYway though ! So how in the world are "you all"! I'm justtt about done with my first full week as a missionary, and DO NOT FREAK OUT MOM. But of all places I could possibly have been sent to in the New Mexico Albuquerque mission, I'm in El Paso.. and not just that. I'm in this city Socorro, and I'm 10 minutes away or so from Juarez,Mexico, where at LEAST 12 people are killed a day from everything that's happening in Mexico. It is SO SAD. We visited a less active lady a couple days ago who didn't come to church this past Sunday because her brother was killed in Juarez :(. And even crazier, I have can see Mexico outside the window of my apartment haha.. Mom DO NOT freak out!! We're okay out here. And we get to drive and our apartments are like the 'townhouses' of this city. So the biggest thing to worry about are the dogs. Because there ARE some ghetto parts here.. more ghetto than not. So of course I COMPLETELY understand why people would have big dogs. But I don't think anyone really got the message that we were coming. Cuz the dogs don't like us haha.
  SO that being said, could ya'll send me that pepper spray that I WAS gonna bring, but decided not to? I also kind of need a dog whistle.. you know the one Elder Stones had that people can't hear but dogs can and it scares them away? Not to scare you, I haven't been threatened or anything by them. It would just help. :) I am gonna try and get one at Wal Mart today, but I'll let you know if there aren't any. One of those would be grand. Just grand. hahahah
  Well ANYway! So I need to tell you about my first week, and I have A LOT of pictures to upload for you that I will in another e-mail. But my companion is Hermana Good, and she goes home in January! She's the "oldest" sister in the mission right now, and I'll mosttt likely be killing her off out here I'm guessing. Her Spanish is WAY amazing hah, and it makes me feel so good to know that she is there to help me because she has been in every place I have been with every thought and fear and struggle as a new missionary.. it's just different having to learn to look to someone for help for me though ! Because I would always try and figure things out myself mostly.. ....
  But here's the deal. We're over 2 wards, a Spanish and an English ward. And the Spanish ward I AM IN LOVE WITH. Yesterday I had to go up and bear my testimony, and afterwards people were coming up to me telling me that my Spanish is 'perfect', which we all know is completely not true haha, but they are SO loving, and SO willing to help it's incredible. And the English ward is TINY, but they remind me of our family. Because it is SO disfunctional hahah, but they love each other so much ! Like yesterday was the Primary Program, and I'm not kidding you, when the kids were going up there to take their seats on the stand it was SO LOUD, it was like how our ward is after sacrament meeting. hah ! But I noticed it's allll in your attitude. Yoiu can't love the people unless you truly just smile about everything, and love everything for exactly what it is. And for what you see it as too! Hah and they call sister missionaries the 'missionettes' or 'Elderettes'. HOW COOL IS THAT.
  So we found this man tracting the other day named Alberto. And he has some kind of joint problem I think, because his knuckles are huge, and his elbows.. just where his joints are. And we knock on his door , and he starts making his way over to us ever so humbly to help us get seats, and keeps telling us over and over how glad he is that we came, like he was expecting us... ? So we sat there talking to him, and set him up with a baptismal date ! I'm not sure if he truly understands the importance of it or is all there, but for his conditions he is SUCH a humble man and has SUCH great faith, it is truly truly incredible. We're also seeing this young mom named Hope, who I absolutely LOVE. We've only gone to see her once since I've been here, and I don't really know how her progression is. But she's an exotic dancer who has had SUCH a tough life. And she's such a sweetheart, but it's so hard trying to get somebody to realize that the ONLY way to be happy is in the gospel. THE ONLY way ! SO.FRUSTRATING. But I think a big lesson I've learned is that we can never give up on anyone. So I've made it a goal to not give up on ANYbody, unless the Spirit tells me to.

 So happy birthday Diddy what are ya'll gonna do!! I reallyy REALLY hope you liked my package.. I told you it wouldn't be much :/ but I promise I was thinking about you the entire time! It's just difficult having one bookstore in the MTC with. Not much in the way of birthdays. But know I was thinking about you! Hey! I need AJ's address too! And how are my neighbors doing I haven't heard about them in awhile!

  Well, I hope ya'll know I'm okay. I am honestly being taken care of SO WELL. And I hope you aren't worried about me or where I am. BUT I DO have a question! Possssibly. For Christmas or something, could you send me a pair of Tom's in like. Navy blue or dark red or something? They've worked THE BEST for me out here, and you can take money out of the mission money we got from our ward. Or if you need me to send you money let me know! I just need some. like bad. :)

  I feel like this letter hasn't gotten across everything I've wanted it to, but I get to write you after this! So I'll try and cover whatever I couldn't there :) and could you, if this goes in my blog, not put the names of the people we're teaching ? Just cuz I don't know if we're exactly to do that.
  But anyway. I love it here. It's like a mini Mexico forREAL, with SO much to learn. I appreciate every one of you reading this, and I am so glad you are all in my life. This is truly the safest place I could be because I know angels are around every single missionary, and prayers are said for us in the temples every session, every day. So! Don't worry! I'll write everything else I can't remember right now in the letter!

Thank you for da L-U-V. The church is true! Help out the missionaries they need members to go with them to appointments! haha I LOVE YOU

Hermana Batchkoff

Monday, November 1, 2010

11/1/2010

Rely on the Lord for EVERY SINGLE THING and I PROMISE you He will be one step ahead of you, even when you don't realize it!

and here's something to lift your spirits a little.. yesterday during my testimony I mentioned I have 5 cats that I don't really like, and afterwards this Hermano came up ato me and in Spanish and said, "If you don't like your cats, just have your dad send them here and we'll make them into tacos!" ...... HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA !!

one more.. last night we were at our Spanish Bishop's house for dinner and it was about 7, and kids were knocking on the door to trick or treat. But noone opened it since it's a Sunday, so they weren't celebrating. And so we were all just standing by the door until the kids walked away, and Elder Anderson, who reminds me and LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE ELDER BELL I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU THIS IS SO HARD, just yelled, "Ya I bet you know how WE feel now!' hahahh

I.LAVA.YOU