Dear Family.Well, you were right about Transfers! Sister Lawrence is getting transferred to Vallejo - just a little bit south of Napa. We still can't believe that she doesn't have her Visa for Argentina yet! I feel lucky to have served with her for 12 weeks, when she should have been in Argentina this whole time.I'll be staying here in Napa (same address). and I will be getting a new companion on Wednesday named Hermana Underwood. I've never met her but I know her name, and an Elder in my branch said she restores cars or something :) I might even be able to have some car conversations with her, depending on how much I've learned from Grandad and Dad! I'm excited to meet her and excited for the change. Even with an awesome companion, being together 24/7 for 12 weeks straight can be hard at times. It's all part of being a missionary :) Hermana Underwood, like Hermana Lawrence has been out 6 weeks more than me. I will be the Senior Companion because I know the area (or should), so I'm a little nervous about that! I'm also a little nervous about the Spanish. Hermana Lawrence is pretty much fluent (and Mexicans compliment her accent all the time), because she took 5 years in High School and is great with languages. After being out 12 weeks and realizing that it's not normal to be that good, I'm a little nervous to see how Hermana Underwood's spanish is, and how lessons, etc. are going to go! It was very easy to rely on Hermana Lawrence. It could be interesting :) Please pray for me!Yesterday I gave my first talk in church. I was nervous, but it went pretty well! I felt blessed. The assigned topic was General Conference, so I was so excited. I can't wait for general conference and I wanted to get the branch excited and ready for it. It's hard because most of the people here work all the time. Hopefully more people will make time for it. I know that when the Apostles and Prophets speak, they are speaking the words of the Lord. I love all the promised blessings we hear in conference. I'm so excited to watch it in 3 weeks! Did Rachel give a talk in church yesterday too? :) Also, Rachel - I can't believe you are DRIVING! What is going on? How did you get so old? How is seminary going? How is school?
Emma, how is school going for you? Do you get lots of homework? Did you use your spanish word from last week in a sentence? :) I love you and miss you lots. You should send me a photo of you!I thought I'd continue describing the missionary schedule from last week :) I think I left off at breakfast. After breakfast, starting at 8:00am, we have an hour of personal study. This is one of my favourite parts of the day, but it always goes by way too fast - I never thought I would be saying that about an hour of study! I'm suprised that I don't get tired, but I usually don't, which is a blessing. This is when we study the scriptures, Preach My Gospel (which is amazing!), general conference talks, etc. for ourselves and our own testimonies and knowledge, as well as for our members and investigators in preparation for teaching them. We pray individually before we start and to end it as well. Oh, and we pray in Spanish, even in our personal prayers in our heads! Sometimes I use spanglish :) I'm glad Heavenly Father can understand everything. At 9:00 we pray as a companionship and do companionship study, where we usually do two practices of "30 seconds", where we practice explaining gospel principles simply, in 30 seconds, and "3 minutes" where we practice teaching a principle together, using questions and scriptures and commitments like we would in a real lesson. Sometimes practices are annoying and sometimes they are awkward because we pretend to teach investigators or the DVD player, but in the long run they are really helpful so that we can teach simply. We watch a Preach My Gospel short video clip about teaching, and then we do more practices. Tyler, did you use the Preach My Gospel DVD's? After watching the clips a bunch, we pretty much have them memorized, and we quote them all the time! We find ways to entertain ourselves :) After that, we have 12-weeks program, which is another hour of companionship study during the first 12 weeks of your mission. This week, I "graduated" haha and so did Hermana LeMmon, so we are going to go out for burgers tomorrow :)Mom, can you please pray for Raul and Irene as well? (Please don't think you have to pray for them every day!) They are an amazing couple who have a 6 year old daughter who is soooo sweet!! They are SO prepared, but want to move slow, so we are going to be teaching them slowly but surely. We have an appointment with them this Thursday and I am so excited! They are a miracle.We have dinner with Victor today before Hermana Lawrence leaves. He has been doing so great! He recieved the Aaronic priesthood this sunday :) and Hermano Perez (our 1st Cousellor in the bishopric) texted us to let us know that he was going to take him to the temple to do proxy Baptisms this friday!! We are so excited for him. It is so wonderful to see him progressing in the gospel. He is going to be a great leader in the branch.Thanks for asking about the facebook/skype thing mom! There's a lot of different ways we can do it. In order to have a video lesson, the person needs to have Skype or Facetime (so an iPad, apple computer, or iphone). For a facebook lesson they need to have facebook. One thing you could do is just have them add me on facebook and I can talk to them. To add me on facebook, they just need to search "Hermana Becky Vance" and add me as a friend. I can also add people too, so let me know (anyone) if a friend comes to mind and I can add them! I can only add active members in my own area, and then less-active and non-members anywhere around the world! We taught a facetime lesson yesterday to the less-active friend of Hermana LeMmon (Hermana Lawrence was in a meeting so we were on exchanges), and it was awesome!! I feel so blessed.Well family, I love you lots! I have felt so grateful for my wonderful family this week. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us in our lives. There are so many who don't have it. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly Christ's church restored on the earth today, with all of Heavenly Father's blessings available to his children.Love you all!Hermana Becky VancePs. Yes, size 7 1/2, just a tad smaller than your feet - I told dad 8 but 7 1/2 is the right size! Thank you so much for the tips! You're the best.Pps. Rachel and Emma, send me your favourite youth videos! Have fun on your trip Rachel!
Ben here. Please feel free to write Becky a hand written letter. I am pretty sure her things are slowing down for her in the "letter" area
Sister Becky Vance
1260 Trower Avenue
Napa, CA
94558
U.S.A.
or e-mail at rebecca.vance@myldsmail.net or click reply to this e-mail and I will forward it on to Becky.
Also, I know that she would LOVE some of you to "add me on facebook and I can talk to them. To add me on facebook, they just need to search "Hermana Becky Vance" and add me as a friend. I can also add people too, so let me know (anyone) if a friend comes to mind and I can add them!"
I am not a facebook person but that would really mean a lot to her. I don't think anyone has done that for her yet. (see details above)
Her blog address is http://sisterbeckyvance.blogspot.ca
