We received this from Isabella today. She sounds amazingly well, happy, and I am so proud of her and her braveness to just go for it in sharing the gospel!
Hola Familia. i tried calling everybody that morning but i got some voicemails. please know that i love you and that your mail means a lot to me. please also write chris, and because i mention him in my letters doesnt mean that i have lost focus of why i am here on a mission. yesterday i arrived at san jose CA met my mission president and his wife the Jackmans. i traveled with one other sister and two other elders that where all planning on going to Brazil but for right now have a visa delay like i do. Elder Arroyo was told that he could only travel with one 42 pound suitcase because where he is going in brazil every transfer will be by helicopter or canoe which i thought that was awesome. Hermana Johnson is going to the poorest part of brazil and she is part filipino and has family there and Elder Temperini is going to the city of brazil.the reason why a mention these things is because even in the short time i got to sit an visit with them i could tell that they have strengths that are very much suited for the places they were served to call. My president jackman said that he knew that i was going to be able to serve in Bolivia so i will keep in mind his promise. i met my companion sister Crossley from spanish fork and she is like 6.1 really super tall, she is very humble and kind. i like her a lot she always has gospel music going and she always tells me my qualities it gives me confidence to go out with her and contact strangers. also i love the weather here, the Chinese food here is so much better than utahs and i love that side by side there are mexican mercados and asian plazas to shop at. i know i have only been here a day and some hours but it feels like i have been here a week. i think it feels that way b/c of all the meaningful things we get done. our goals here in the mission are to extend the invitation of baptism on at every lesson, two new investigators a week, and 1 baptism a month last month the mission had 65 baptisms. my companion tells me that our mission president said that right now there are always 5 more people around us that are ready to hear the gospel. and there are 195 or so missionaries here. so i am excited... the field is white already to harvest one thing that i would like to say to chris and jonathan (please forward this to jonathan and dear elder this to chris) is that the best thing for me right now has been to write down every person i meet down meaning everyone that i spoke with in a positive manner and then when i planned and through out today i have been praying for them and ideas have popped in my head of how to help them. my companion is awesome she always tells everyone we meet, and especially the belligerent ones "is there anything that we could do for you?" and i know that that gets recorded in heaven i know that the people we meet we meet for a reason if the experience is good then there is something that we should do for them even if its just knowing that sister missionaries are kind people. and i know that the ones that reject us have a hardened heart to God and thats not our fault. yesterday when i got on the plane i spoke to 3 people and couldnt get very far so i simply said that i represented Christ and his church the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. then when i got here i saw a man with his family and i felt prompted to contact him and i thought okay well his with his family and you know... then i thought why am i making excuses to myself im afraid. and this is about his salvation. so like my teacher at the mtc said i put my fear on the alter of sacrifice and i thought i need to just let myself be guided by the spirit bc if i dont listen and worse if i dont act upon the promptings that i get then i'll prove to be a bad tool in the lords hand and he just wont use me. and i walked up to the man and shook his hand said sorry for interrupting his lovely meal and asked him if he'd be so kind as to help me with my luggage and he smiled to my surprise and said yes of course and he helped me i was so happy but then i thought okay now how do i tell him about the gospel? and as soon as i thought that he said are you Christians and i smiled huge and said yes yes we are and there it began. turns out he has to friends that are members and i think we could have a family home evening lesson with him and his wife. also yesterday i felt promted to tell this lady that i knew that heavenly father knew her and loved her and therefore knew what she stood in need of and if she needed a job then we could help her develop her faith and teach her how to pray and that with those two thing her father in heaven would bless her with a job. i am so humbled by that experience because the lord told me what to say and it poured out of my mouth. and then i cant explain it but everything we do feels like a huge stretch but so possible does that make sense like i told my companion lets go knock on doors she said yeah lets go we went and the first house we knocked i told the lady look thank you for opening the door this is my first day in the mission and the first try at this i get to share this ever so important message with you and when i was done speaking i thought what! why did i say that did that make any sense? and instead she said with a smile yeah i dont even know why i came to open the door i was heading to bed and when i asked who it was no one answered so i was going to ignore it but i opened instead. !!!!!!! like that, that to me seems like such a stretch but at the same time so possible b/c this is the lords work. anyway i have to get going but i love you and please pray for me and all missionaries including the ones without the tag that this work may go forth and all men can come to know Christ, Mami te quiero much ya pronto te escribire. jonathan cuidese busque trabajo y dele un beso a mechas, joeson lo quiero consejos ayudan papa tambien mandamen experiencias, gina un abrazo. janice please give me a hug in your prayers, david send me more cookies :) and say hi to saddie may. please write chris.
Love you
one more thing... im at LAS COLINAS (the hills) ward spanish speaking. address is:
3975 McLaughlin Ave. Ste. A San Jose CA 95121 oh also my companion jana crossley is bishop crossleys cousin somehow i showed her the pic of him and she knows who it is. :) please also send the last email and this to crystal. and i would like jonathans address.
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