1/31/2011

I don't have much time today, but! I would like to start by saying, once again, thank you for every single prayer that has been said for me while being out here. I don't even know who all does think to pray for me, but I feel the strength of all of your prayers, and I pray for all of you too!
  This week has been a crazy week. And I have learned that your attitude is truly what makes or breaks you. It is what controls you! But! At the same time, you are the one to control your attitude.
  Welll. Our main investigator, Lucy, has been on vacation in Italia for the past week.. whoop whoopp ! Soo on the flipside. We haven't been able to teach her :/ so prayers would be WAY more than appreciated!
  Last P-day, we were able to go to the Saddleblanket.. it's this place that takes a BUNCH of different things imported from Mexico, like saddles, moccasins, ponchos, sombreros, TURQUOISE JEWELRY..which is huge haha, and SO much more! I have a grip of pictures we were able to take there.. ....like Gringas haha. But it was so much fun. And I got this Native American bone bracelet for $4!

  But not to sound like that's all I'm here for, this church is so true. There are so many things people can say to go against this Church, but alll in all, when you take a breath and look outside and just listen to every positive thing this world has to offer, you canNOT help but to notic

e it. It's right here for us! And I am SO! Very grateful for every trial that helps me to feel Heavenly Father's love for me evennn more. It's amazing.

Les quiero MUCHO! No hay nada mas importante que La Iglesia de JesuCristo. Nada.


La Hermana "B"


p.s. I really AM sorry this e-mail has like. close to nothing to offer. But I promise I'm working hard! A for effort. haha

Enero- Dinero! Ha. 1/24/2011

Buenas tardes mi familia favorita !

  So this week has been another week as a missionary. Out here, you really canNOT tell what is going to happen. It's like a different lesson in every day. But there are some cool things that happened !

  So the other night, our appointment for dinner cancelled, so we decided to go where we heard has THE BEST horchata en el mundo.. it's the Pro's Ranch Market. And apparently they have a lot of these mercados en Mexico, but they're stores that have ALLLL kinds of stuff in there. Liiike at this mercado, there's an entire restaurant on the inside, an agua fresca bar, which sells all these different types of fresh juices and fruit, and there's a Cremeria section which has homemade string cheese and yogurt and everything.. and it's all CHEAP! It's like walking into a fiesta on the inside. We're going there tomorrow for correlation so we could get on some more horchachacha haha, so if I;m allowed I'll take pictures of the inside. Como una. FIESTA I am not even KIDDING you! hah
  But on the more spiritual side, our main investigator who keeps progressing in the English ward, Lucy, is on vacation in Italia right now :o! She left on Thursday I believe, and we had a lesson with her on Wednesday. We were planning on teaching her the Gospel.. But she just says, "Sooo. Is it true that we can't have coffee?" so. To answer her question we're all, "Ya. We can't." haha, so we were talking about it, and I was able to talk about how mom had to give it up, so it IS possible ! So she's gonna try to give it up. But I felt I should ask her if that means she's found her answer on whether or not she should be baptized, and she says NO! She hasn't even prayed, but in HER words she's all, "But honestly, I think it's because I already know what the answer is, I'm just afraid of it." We put ourselves in her shoes, being completely without her family, leaving them for church and everything, so we're just trying to help her see that NOthing! But good comes from this church. This gospel!
  There's also someone we tracted into, Jesus. And he has been having some MAJOR problems in his 18-year marriage. And he's desperately trying to fix it. DESPERATELY. So we taught him the 1st lesson, and he would just break down SOBBING, from the hardships in his life, and how he just wants to feel 'good' again. He has had SUCH! A hard life. So! He agreed on a baptismal date, but we called him on Sunday to see if he was coming to church, and he told us he had been kicked out of his house by his wife, and so now we can't meet with him because he doesn't have a permanent address. But he's been reading the Book of Mormon and 'LOVES it!' and praying also. We just can't do anything much, other than wait and pray and have the faith that everything will work out with him. Because we DO have an eternity to find what it is we are ALL looking for.

haha, the Elders are getting haircuts, and they're just sticking their heads through trash bags to cover their white shirts.

ANYway. So those are the main things that have happened this week. Actually though, we went to Vista, the grocery store right by us, before we came here to e-mail. And do ya'll remember Raul?? One of the first people I taught as a missionary whose wife called us threatening us, sooo we dropped him ? Welll. He works at Vista now. And I saw and recognized him and we said hi to each other, and I had NO clue what to do. There's nothing in the missionary handbook on what to do if THAT happens! So long story short, we go in and shop, then go to the truck and he comes to get the cart from us, and I looked up and saw him, and he asked me how I've been and everything, and we just talked for a little. He apologized for what happened, anddd. After a little bit, we said bye to each other. Anddd. I just got in the truck and drove away. Just. Hopeless isn't the word I wanted to use. But I didn't know what to do. There I was. Just driving away from someone who had helped me so much to see the potential in others. And I wanted to say something, I really did. But I had NO idea of WHAT I should say. It's like having an ex-boyfriend who you have so much you want to say to them, but when it comes that time to say it. You have nothing hah. That's the closest thing I could compare it to. But I haven't stopped thinking about it! He's doing well! And there's just SO MUCH Heavenly Father gives you as a missionary to see in others, and you just want to pick them up. Even if you don't have what it takes. Even if you yourself don't have the strength, or much to offer them once you try to pick them up, you want to do it. And you want to have every right word to say to dry their tears, and chip off every layer of hopelessness they have, and give them something to look towards. It's just so hard. Walking away.
  On that note though, at least we know where he is! We can redeem ourselves, and who knows? Maybe if it would help getting the Elders over there, we can try THAT too. So hope is what it's all about. It is ALL about your attitude. ALL. About your attitude. Which I am working SO hard on. Because it is honestly what will carry anyone, is how they take everything. Every trial. I'm not the best example. But I'm learning this hah.

  I hope ya'll are doing well. I hope you are looking every single day to find the lesson life has to give you, because everything that happens is a possibility for us to learn something new. About ourselves, about our purpose for being here, about our Heavenly Father. About our Savior, Jesus Christ.
  Ojala todos ustedes tienen buena salud este mes, y este ano. Espero que todo este bien con ustedes. Saben que estoy aqui para ustedes, aunque mi casa ahorita esta un poco lejos. Estoy orando por ustedes, y yo se que los angeles estan sobre ustedes, para levantarles en sus aflicciones.

I love you!

La Hermana "B"

From the 'Most Festive' missionary in T.X! 1/17/2011

hahaha, so this past week before transfers, our incredibly amazing District Leader Elder Jordan passed out these BOOTleg presents for 'mosts' of the District.. you know, how they would do 'most likely to..' or 'bests' in the yearbooks ? So. His companion, Elder Jenne, pulls out a Santa Pez dispenser and Elder Jordan says, "Forrrr most festive.. Hermana Batchkoff!" cuz I like bringing glow sticks or cake or something to all of our District Meetings.. or as Elder Jordan likes to call them, 'District Councils'.. haha. They called it most festive, OR the party animal. Haha whatever I'll take it. :)
  So! Transfers SO happened this past weekend. ANYthing could have happened. I mean absolutely ANYthing. I had that nervous stomach all.day.long. Because I truly felt that I was NOwhere near ready to leave, because of the people we've been trying to help. And I hear that when THAT happens, that's when you get transferred. So I was completely FREAKING OUT. But we get the call. And we're all staying. haha. So I'm here for another 6 weeks at least! JEAH. I wouldn't want to be ANY.where else. Honestly. I feel so lucky. So so soso SO lucky!
  I have a cool story for you. This past Saturday we went tracting for a little while, and we tracted into this man. And his name is Jesus, and he's separated from his wife right now and things are.NOT looking good with his wife. So we started talking to him about the gospel of course, and how it can heal ANY family. ANY! family. And how he can be together FOR ETERNITY with his family. And in happiness too. And

after we were done talking to him, he was telling us that he really WAS gonna call for the Together Forever DVD.. and would you CHECK THIS OUT. HE DID! We got a referral text from today because he called for it. That is RARE. RARE. I am telling you. So! Guess who we are gonna see become a family forever! Well. We need to see how our appointment with him goes tomorrow, but prayers would be WAY more than appreciated for him. He's really trying to fix things. It's so heartbreaking how desperate these people seem to fix something that has spiraled and become so broken before their own eyes, without them even realizing it. And now they're just trying, with all they have, to hang on. To give all they have to not completely fall into what could very well be something worse than what they're experiencing now. The gospel really IS the only thing that can lift and create something out of nothing. AbsoLUTEly nothing. And so now! It's just up to them. It's up to them to hang on to what has been given them by their Heavenly Father.
  Lucy's doing well! We had to have a DTR.. the "Define the Relationship".. as Elder Jordan would quote it.. "We really love spending time with you.. but we want to be more than just friends.. .. ..... .. ... we want you t

o be baptized." hah, so. We were kind of afraid that Lucy started seeing us as more of 'friends', and less as servants of our Savior who were trying to help her. So we were trying to come up with what would help her. And we came up with. Repentance! Because friends don't just talk about repentance. But servants of the Lord do! So. We did, and it went well! But it came time for Sunday. Anddd she wasn't at church. But this amazing mission got texting this past week. !!!!!! So! We texted her! It turns out she woke up late and said sorry.. but this woman speaks Spanish too.. so we wrote back telling her she could always come to the Spanish ward at 1. So she did! Anddd she loved it. Anddd she's amazing. Just aMAZING. I wish words could describe it. We heart-attacked her house on Saturday morning, and she showed her entire family, who isn't even wanting to learn right now, and THEY loved it, her Jehovah Witness husband even liked it, and she took a picture of it on her phone and has been showing EVERY.body! And she still has the hearts up on her door. In her ritzy bling blingy neighborhood. It's so incredbile, how much she has materialistically, but how she has truly been STARVED from everything she deserves because she has been so focused on everyone else around her. But she's finding so much love in this Church, and it has "taken her away".. truly. incredible.
  So those are the main people we are working with right now. We still have our Clark Family we absolutely l

ove, and prayers for them would be appreciated too ;) This week has been an okay one. More has happened. Hermana Jarman, my roommate in the MTC, was attacked by a bulldog, so long story short, Hermana Good was sent to go care for her. Which I believe was why we were in a trio all along, because Heavenly Father knew that was going to happen, and wanted everything to be alright if Hermana Good had to go. So! Nowww. It's me and Hermana Newbold. She's WAY amazing. And we have to ROCK it this transfer. We absolutely LOVE the people here. they're like noone I ever would have imagined I would have been blessed to be able to meet.
  I'm not gonna lie family, this mission is TOUGH. Everyone is dealt with a completely different stack of cards as a missionary. There are no 2 missions that are alike. Because none of us, as God's children, are completely alike. We just need to be here for each other. Yesterday was Ward Conference, and the Stake President out here, President Anderson, gave us a lesson in Relief Society about how what we should do should be like we are doing it to our Savior. Like the scripture that says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"... I have heard that before, but I never really realized that WHAT I DO is what I'm doing to the Savior. So all morning, I've been looking at EVERYthing I do for others differently, wondering if I'm doing it because it is what I'm doing to the Savior, or if I'm just doing it to be a good person. Or if I'm doing it for the right reasons at all. It's made me look at others differently. Do things differently, with a different attitude. Everything! So that would be what I have to say to you all this week. WhatEVER thing we do, no matter how big or small, is what we are doing to the Savior.
  Welll. I hope that picture by the border freaked you out ! ahhah I'm kidding. Don't let it freak you out. I PROMISE it's civilized out here :)

I llove you all, and pray for you SO MUCH. Let me know if there is ANYthing. ABSOLUTELY ANYthing! that I can do for you. ..That's free. Cuz um. That's what I CAN do. haha

Oh! And Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! MY MAN! hah, I'm not even sad that we don't get mail today. Go look up MLK Jr. quotes today, ya?? He's a truly amazing man. And brought so much. We can all become ANYthing if we let God make us into it. With Him, we are bigger than we could ever be.

  La iglesia de JesuCristo ha cambiado mi vida. No hay NADA en este mundo que pueda cambiar corazones y mentes, y VIDAS como el Evangelio de JesuCristo. El poder de Dios esta en todo que yo vea, y necesitemos buscar por las manos de Dios en cada carga, en cada tiempo de oscuridad. Sus manos son la luz que necesitemos buscar por.

Les quiero!


La Hermana B.. ... ..

1/10/2011

Pues! Feliz Ano :o can we even beGIN to believe that it's 2011. And I was thinking about this the other day.. 2005 was 6 years ago. OH MY GOSH. But anyway. I'm not e-mailing to talk about time. Because um. I don't have any of it haha. So let's get this started k!

  Well. This has been another crazy week. When I begin to e-mail, I don't even know where in the entire world I am supposed to start with 7 days worth of what has happened. Each and every single day, every moment of every day I've realized, has something new for me to learn about myself. About what kind of character I have exactly. Because being away home with complete strangers surrounding you, and trying to hang on to who YOU are in a place where YOU'RE the complete stranger is tough. You're given no other influence but what you have learned as you have gone through life, and what you have learned about the Savior's life. Because that IS who we're striving to become like. It's weird, because there are SO many times where I realize I am in a situation I have never been in before.. not a 'bad' one, just one I've never experienced- and I try to use what I've grown up with, but it gets tough having no idea how to react with everything that happens throughout the day. Not that I'm trying to complain. It really is just a humbling experience, every single day. I honestly have not repented more than I have been, every single day, trying to be the missionary, or just the daughter that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. How often do we take for granted the feeling that we get after we repent? How often do we forget that Heavenly Father will forgive us.. no matter how bad we may feel about ourselves. No matter how bad we may NOT want to pray and face Him.. but at the same time, how often do we forget to realize that everything He does is with love? That the only. ONLY! feeling we can feel whenever we DO mess up is love, is we just come to Him. But anyway. I don't wanna go off on a tangent. It's just one of those 'blessings in disguise', being able to repent. It can be uncomfortable at first, but I feel like the best prayers are the ones where we totally and completely let Heavenly Father in. No matter how much of a failure we may feel like, no matter how much we feel we may be able to handle any little thing by ourselves. We may be able to try, but I truly believe that we can't feel the kind of love that our Father in Heaven can make us feel. And through the hardest times in these past 4 months as a missionary, I have NEVER felt as close to my Savior as I have in the hardest of times. Or the times where I have felt like nothing but a sinner. Like I do nothing but wrong everywhere I step. But He takes it ALL away! All of it. It's unexplainable. I hope that's a word. But it's possible. It's only possible from our Savior.

  But let me go on with the rest of the week. Sooo Thursday was El Dia de Los Reyes in the Hispanic culture, where they believe the 3 wise men got to baby Jesus. So it's a tradition to make or buy this Mexican 'pan dulce', or sweet bread that's in the shape of a HUGE necklace. And there's a little action figure type. thing hidden in it, and whoever's piece of cake has the little action figure in it has to throw a party for everyone else. So! We were at the Clark's that day, and lowww and behold. The 7 year old boy Joaquin got the little action figure. He gets to throw a party for everyone else. hhhhaaaahah.
  Andd what else! oh! So! Friday was Elder Jordan's and Hermana Knight's quinceanera.. they're 15 month mark. They had colors picked out and everything haha, so we decorated alll UP the relief society room for all of them for District Meeting.. or. As Elder Jordan calls it. "District Council." Beeecause. That's cooler. haha :) Itwas so fun! Elder Jordan forgot his dress.... but we improvised!
  Umm what else happened. OH! I did this for mom. I went on exchanges this past Friday right, and the area I happened to be exchanged into goes RIGHTT up to the border. And so guess what we got to do! During tracting, we got to go to the border, right by our lunch appointment. And I got to take a picture in front of it.. which I'll send. But check THIS. There are gaps in the border! Like. Huge gaps that could problly fit about 30 cars.. at LEAST, in between them. With ONE border patrol SUV just chillin there haha. But um. Apparently they know what they're doing! It's just weird, how I could just walk into Mexico if the Border Patrol wasn't there :o


  OH! And! I realized this week exactly HOW IMPORTANT members are to missionary work.. members ARE. the missionary work, I am TELLING you! They really are. Ya'll can just go with the Elders tracting, or to houses, or ANYwhere.. especially if you know less actives they can go visit. ANYthing. You really make it happen for us. We're just following your lead. Really.
Well anyway! Time's going quick. I love you all, and I pray for you likE LOCO. I'm a letter away. you know that. Shine that light!



La iglesia es verdadera!
Hermana Lia Batchkoff

1/3/2011

Welll! Do I have some stories for ya'll this week! It honestly feels like it has been for.EVER since Christmas.. or even New Years' Eve at THAT. We went to church on Sunday, and everyone was telling us "Feliz Ano!" ....making me realize. It's the Ano Nuevo. haha who knew :o

Welll ANYway! I hope everyone's week was good! And New Year too. I was in bed at like. 9:45 that night. Soo. I figured everyone else was too. Please. Correct me if I'm wrong haha, but this week was different!
  So we have our investigator Lucy.. she's golden. truly. and completely golden. As in putting going to church in front of the fact that all of her family is in town, which she did yesterday, and last week, we decided to call her out of the blue.. apparently Hermana Newbold had been thinking about her all morning. So we just called and left a message. And she called us aback a few minutes later, and apparently! We had called at JUST the right moment :o! She had just been called by the job that she had accepted, and they told her she wasn't qualified. And she was in her lowest of lows when we called and she said that everything that has just been going together with the gospel has been incredible. So we offered her a blessing! Because, you know. Who WOULDN'T want one! ;) So she accepted it, and the next day we all met at the church for a blessing, at 2 in the afternoon, and the Bishop and his son came to give it to her, in their white shirts and ties and EVERYthing that one usually wouldn't be wearing in the afternoon :) so she got a blessing with oil right, and this poor thing. She grew up Catholic, and we learned that they don't wash off the oil with a blessing or something, because it'll wash the blessing off. ..So That was Tuesday that she had recieved the blessing I believe. Andd yesterday at church-Sunday- we had found out she STILL hadn't washed her hair because she didn't want the blessing to go away! AND she was on vacation the entire rest of the week! OH MY GOSH THAT POOR THING. I felt HORRIBLE. haha, but I'm prettyyy sure. She's washed her hair by ow. After THAT disaster of us not even realizing that was what Catholics believed. ..MAN she is such a sweetheart though! She is such a motherly figure and is REALLY into HER family, so she always makes sure I'm wearing a jacket when it gets cold outside so I don't get sick and all of that haha. And yesterday, I went up to bear my testimony in the English ward, and she was sitting next to me during sacrament meeting. So when we all came to sit down from bearing our testimonies, she puts her arm around me and gives me this huge hug. Like a complete natural. OH MY GOSH she is so ready to get baptized, it's ridiculous. There is no one who I have seen completely soaking up every single blessing that the gospel offers. It is truly incredible. She doesn't seem to be taking ANYthing for granted in this. Not one thing. Which makes me wonder. Shouldn't we all be taking advantage of this? For the very people that DON'T have this. It's like how we take shoes for granted. We have them to wear. To protect us from everything outside as we take every single step in the outside world, and we take it for granted. We start caring about how nice they are, or how much they were, or how many people like them. Rather than just recognizing the fact that we have what will protect us. With the gospel. We just start taking everything for granted. Rather than realizing the true importance of it. And the true protection that it provides us. There was someone who said, "When we see things so often(or in this case, have something in our lives so often) we see them less and less. HOW TRUE is that.

  So on Saturday, we had dinner with the Juarez family, a family in the Spanish ward. And we walked into the most humble home I had ever been in since being on a mission. The dining room was this tiny room right when we walked into their home that had a plastic table and these plastic crates set up for the 3 of us to sit on. Hermana Juarez served us POZOLE! That she made. THEEE BEST soup in the world. ;) And I asked Hermano Juarez if he had eaten, and he said that if there was leftover, he would have some after we leave. It was an amazing meal that I could see they STRUGGLED to provide us, which made me feel bad at first. Because I would MUCH rather sit there and watch THEM eat, knowing I have cereal or something at home I could just have. But they wanted to serve us. They recognize the blessings that come from this, and they just wanted to see US being provided for. How truly incredible. By the way! I tried coco-flan there for the first time too.. it's like. The bottom half of the cake is chocolate cake, and the top half is flan. Who ever would have thought of that! IT WAS. GENIUS. hahah :p

  So you know my absolutely amazing less active family, the Clark family? Welll yesterday, they weren't at church. Except for Pablo, the 18 year old son that would go by himself every single week. HORRIBLE feeling, I know. So Sister Knight leans over to the Elders in sacrament meeting and asks them to go sit with him. So they get up and walk out to try and be smooth. And then they walk back in, and elder Evans, the UNSMOOTHEST Elder out here haha, is in front of Elder Driggs. And they're walking back in and Elder Evans just STOPS and obviously looks for Pablo, then keeps walking and they go back and sit with him hahah. Soo. Disaster or not, they got back there. Haha by the way, me and Elder Evans have started making up dances for everything. EVERY.thing. Liiike. We have a happy dance when investigators come to church of course, I have a walking in the door dance, he has a '1 point for Elder Evans' dance. GOSH could we be any more cool. hahahhhh. I'm totally kidding. I could DEFINITELY. Be a lot cooler. Considering, you know. I'm not :)

But anyway! I think I'm gonna cut it here. I really hope all is going well. I hope the w

eather's hotter out there... than here. On Friday I think it was, it was like. 30 degrees ALL DAY LONG! And sunny, which was WAY weird. Apparently out here in Texas, sunny doesn't mean warm. Like in California. Who knew. haha.
  Well. We have a Savior. If there is anything to get out of this. No matter how incredibly hard or hopeless life seems to be getting. Who understands our every thought, our every moment of weakness. But only through and WITH him can we recognize the miracle of having happiness and relief in a world that doesn't have it.


I love you so much. INCREDIBLY. I pray for you all, and I hope you all know I'm here for you. ALWAYS. I am here for you. :)


Con TODO. mi corazon. Yo se que hay muchos caminos que JesuCristo mos

tre Su amor para nosotros. El sacerdocio es una GRAN bendicion que tengamos en esta vida. Es la manera que podamos ver las manos de Dios en nuestras vidas. Es el camino que podamos sentir el amor de Dios tocando nuestros corazones, y el camino que podamos sentir los cielos en este mundo.


I love ya'll. I really do. Dios vive.


Hermana Batchkoff

12/27/2010

Welll! These are the words to that Feliz Navidad song nobody ever knows hahaha..
"Feliz Navidad, prospero ano y felicidad" ..="Prospering year and happiness"
..Isn't Spanish so much more interesting hahah.

Sorry, I'm on kind of late today.. but it was because we went to a member's house this morning to do this WAY cool project.. and I did it and am going to be sending it to you..so don't hate on this late e-mail YET! You'll LOVE what you're gonna be sending.. I almost wanted to keep it hah. But! I'll be sending it aroundd next week, soo don't expect it TOO quick!

Well I'm not really sure what to put in this e-mail, since I had that one amazing.. AMAZAZing opportunity to skype the coolest family and neighbors 2 days ago! Ya'll are really TRULY incredible. It was weird, because you seem to be exactly how I left you! Well. With more wisdom. not age ;) hah but it was like I had never even left. It COULD be because it's only been 4 months, but it was SO good to know how good YOU all are. How strong you have been since I've been gone.. not that I really know how much I am to leave haha, but you're all happy. And that's what makes me happy. :) How noo MATTER what, Heavenly Father always has us in His hands, taking the best care of us we could possibly ever be in.
  Soo any new lessons I have learned this week. Well! I've learned that Satan never ever EVER stops working. This week especially, it just seems like he was trying to push me farther and farther away from what the Lord wants me to do. And if you think about it, he's been watching me this entire time I've been on Earth. So he knows exactly what pushes my buttons and really gets at me the most. So he's been trying at every single cost to push them! I got a blessing yesterday though, and I realized that even though he may know me for the time I've lived HERE, Heavenly Father knows everything. Every single thought, every single intention I have had, and every single thing that I need right this second to make me feel better. That blessing was everything I needed. WhoEVER is reading this, Heavenly Father loves us so much. More than I could ever imagine. More than ANY of us could ever imagine. And whenever life gets rough-which I remember Sister Deyo saying awhile ago, "As long as the weather changes, we will have trials"- Heavenly Father would NEVER. Quit on us. So how could we quit on Him? It doesn't matter how much I do or don't want to do something. What matters is what Heavenly Father wants me to do, because in the end THAT is what will bring me the most happiness. Which is why I'm here. Which is why you are waking up every Sunday morning to get ready for church. Which is why we do the things we do and make the sacrifices we make. Because Heavenly Father KNOWS. What will bring us the most joy. And His other children. The capacity

we have to be answers to someone's prayers, or a guardian angel to save a life as long as we listen to every feeling we get to do good, is inCREDIBLE.
  So! Before I start going off on crazy tangents. Isn't this gospel all that!


  I have another story right quick before I get going too..
so. You wanna hear something cool? So I got a letter from Josh Lopez a week or so ago right? And he told me about this couple who were DINERO investigadores that he was teaching in his mission, but they moved to El Paso! So! We 'made a call' to our Zone Leader and found the Elders whose area that family is in, and this past Wednesday I found the Elder, Elder Moore, who would be their missionary. An I talked to him, and he already called them, AND he said they were WAY excited to know that there's missionaries out there too! hah who EVER would have thought that would've happened.. so this couple might get baptized because of the

hookups the missionaries from Mo Val have haha


  by the way... Sister Newbold's brother lives in California, and she was talking to him on Christmas and asked him about Mo Val, where I'm from, and he's all, "Oooo ya I know exACTLY where she's from.. DANG that's ghetto!" ..hah. Everyone out here thinks I'm from the HOOD hood. Whatever. :p


  Well anyway. I hope you all know how much I love you, and pray for you. Es un poco loco los

nombres que viene en mi cabeza por el dia, pero yo tomo la oportunidad a orar por cada nombre de yo pienso! Ustedes estan en mis oraciones. Estoy bien aqui! No tengan miedo! jajaj ;)


welll. It's way weird trying to type Spanish, because I'm pretty sure I get it wrong haha, but know that I mean well. Read your scriptures. Do what God tells you. Life's way WAY way too short not to. :) I love yoU!




Con todo que yo tengo,


Hermana Lia Batchkoff/"Batchkok"/"Backwash"/"Backwash"/"B".... bueno. hahaha

buh buh buh BAM! Navidad!

It's the week of Christmas and it doesn't feel like it AT ALL. What! The hey ! But I dunno. Maybe it's a good thing ? It hasn't really hit me at all that Christmas is this Saturday.. because honestly. Everyday is just missionary work. Nothing really different, just different people. Different experiences. It's like waking up with the sun shining even though we 'technically' go through all 4 seasons. It just doesn't feel like it. Ya digg !
  Welll. SOOO so much has happened this week. So we had District Meeting on Thursday right? And we have this new District Leader, Elder Jordan. The super incredibly active Elder that has show and tell and everything, and THIS week he brings like. This 3 foot long stocking full of Christmas presents to hand out to us hahah! Then on Friday was the ward Christmas Party in the Spanish ward. And it was so cool! They had all of the youth going around to everyone's tables, taking their drink orders and bringing us everything out no trays.. like we were at a restaurant hah! It was SO COOL. The things the Hispanics come up with. I. am TELLING you. Make me feel about 1,000% LESS creative than I'm already not haha. But that's okay!
  So our main people right now.. I THINKK I told you about the Clark family already. For SOME reason that I may never understand, I can never speak much Spanish when I'm at their home.. like. Less than usual haha. But for some reason I will never understand, I just absolutely have this feeling for them that I haven't felt for everyone else. Their family is so incredible ! And! They're less actives, and they
1. invited us over for dinner for homemade flautas :O on Wednesday
2. went to the ward Christmas party
3. Went to. ALL 3 HOURS OF CHURCH ON SUNDAY!

I have a picture I got with them that I'll be sending to you.. when we were at their house, it was both of my companion's idea to sing Joseph Smith's 1st vision to them, and if we all know me.. I for one, don't sing. And for two, was just. not really into that sentimental kind of idea. Just because I'm not like that. But I figured if there is any time to go spiritual beyond what I'm comfortable with, it's as a missionary! So we did it, and then one of my companions asked them how they felt. So they asked the 18-year old son Pablo, the only one who would go to church every single week before, how he felt. And he's sitting their with his little brother, getting those manly tears and almost crying. It was SO incredible. I thought MAN. If that was MY son! How extremely proud of him would I be. He's going on a mission. I hope he understands that. ahaha

Soo who else. Oh! LUCY MARTINEZ. So I have this thing, where I put the people who are incredibly MONEY investigators in my journal, with all of these ugly squiggles and stars around their names all big hahaha. I've done that with Angie and with Lucy. We've been seeing Lucy for awhile now, and she is SO. Amazing. Words couldn't describe. She's VERY work-oriented, and she has every single thing lined up for her to really be ready to accept the gospel. Every single lesson we have with her she starts crying in the end because of the strong spirit that is always there, and she is honestly just soaking up every single thing we teach her. She REALLY needs to feel how much she is worth, because she's been shorthanded so much in her life. And accepted it. So she reads and reads and prays and prays, and yesterday we had a fast as a District to find more Spanish people to teach.. and evennn though Lucy's in English, I fasted for a miracle. That she'd be able to come to church, SOMEhow, SOMEway. Because her husband's not really down for us AS OF YET I don't think..he's an inactive Jehovah's Witness. But! It comes aroundd 12:55 or so, before the English ward starts right? And like a movie I'm NOT EVEN kidding you, I 'see her from afar', ALL dressed up in church clothes, with her fellowshipper's scriptures that she lent Lucy in her hand, looking like a R.S. President ;) and I have GOT. To say. That has to be theee BEST Christmas present I have ever gotten. IN MY LIFE. To see someone I've been able to START teaching to walk into church. So she got to sit next to me, and every single hymn, she was singing at the top of her lungs with me, like she truly belonged there.
  BUT! FUNNIEST STORY EVER. The next class was Gospel principles right! So we go in there, and the teacher is one of the other Hermanas this time, who happens to know A LOT. of doctrine. And likes to talk really deep. And so. Of allll topics that could have been the lesson, it's. The Millenium. So the lesson starts going off on ALL of these different tangents, liiike. The Urim and Thummim. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Which I think I've HEARD of like. Once in my life. I started getting lost. hahaha, so Elder Evans is sitting in front of me, and we keep giving each other THEE MOST PAINFUL LOOKS because of what's happening. I'm sitting here, trying so hard not to laugh because of how completely UNcomfortable everything was. So there was one point where I just raised my hand and said, "So basically, everyone who does good will be saved when Christ comes?" And the answer was 'exactly'. but then. Another 20 minutes went by of uncomfort. I couldn't really explain it to you. But I have never experienced one of the longest 30 minutes of my life until that class hahaha. But it's okay! Because LUCY (with squiggles and stars) soaked it all up. Like the amazing woman she is. And she loved every bit of it. So prayers

for her! Lucy Martinez! :D
  So we went to the William's home, from the English ward, on Saturday night for dinner. And Brother Williams had a mouth of STEEL when it comes to spicy. So we always talk about different spicy stuff. And we started talking about habanero peppers. These tiny peppers that are. you know. NOT unhot. So he asked me if I would try one if he went to the store and got some right then. So I said ya ! So he comes back and we each get some peppa, and we count to 3. and we eat it. And I'm cool for a second. Then I start realizing that once there's no flavor in it it IS NOTHING but heat!! So I'm drinking the milk he had allll ready for me, and he gave me, and he gave me a bread roll to just stick in my mouth. And what's the coolest part, is that after about 20 minutes my mouth went from on fire to completely numb anyway hahaha! Hermana Good got a video of it. It was SO FUNNY. So um. Habaneros. try them. ahahh
  So I did my first 'heart attack'! to somebody who is investigating, but we haven't been able to get a hold of her in awhile. And so we went on Friday night with all these hearts with good things to say about her (Hope-prayers for her would be coo! :p) and we went all quiet like complete

hoodrats to go stick them all over her door. It was cool! It was like ding dong ditching. But like a missionary! And. without ding-donging! haha
  Soo THAT was pretty much what was the most interesting about my week. If there's anything I'm forgetting, it'll proooblly be in the letter I write home. So many great things have happened this week, but it has been a HARD week too. I'm trying to figure out how I can be 'me' to be able to mold me and missionary into the same person. Because after living for 21 years in the world, it's really hard to just try and 'leave' it, if that makes sense. It's not easy living on a higher standard, without any of the things that make it easier to 'escape' feelings, and problems, and everything that goes along with those. There was a point last week, where I just felt Satan trying to pull, and pull and pull, and make me want to not be here. And I realized that I wouldn't be able to even study with everything that has been going through and clouding my mind. And so for about half of personal study, I just prayed. And prayed and prayed and realized! That I just need to give everything to Heavenly Father. Which takes A LOT of faith, to give all of you to something you can't even see. It's like you have a REALLY expensive. vase. Or something f

ragile. And you're told there is a hand that you can't see that will catch it when you drop it. So you have to drop it trusting that it WILL actually be caught. It is SO HARD to trust in that hand. But everything I am has been because I have been carried through my life to get me through to this exact point that I'm at right now. It's just been one of my struggles, trying to figure out exactly HOW to keep being able, from day to day, to have enough faith to know that I am being carried every single second to what will bring me, and most importantly everybody ELSE, the most happiness.
  So this week has been tough! But I would be lying if I said I hadn't felt amazing at those moments when I get to see the Lord's hand. But we all can if we look! That's what's SO cool about it!

 

Entonces, este es el mensaje por ustedes hoy. Tengan la fuerte que necesiten cada dia, y

buscan por todas oportunidades a levantar loz brazos sin esperanza en el mundo. Pienso que mis sentimientos no estan correcto, pero espero que ustedes pueden entender mis palabras haha.

I love you all! Anddd for my family. I'll talk to youuu. In! A few days what WHAAATT!

Feliz Navidad. Recuerda de orar y dar gracias a nuestro Padre Celestial por nuestro Salvador, la razon que estamos aqui

I love you! I don't think I could say it enough, but I'm getting clingy! Okay. Lata ON!