NEW as of Dec 15, 2013 - Sep 23

Sep 23

Dear Family,

 

Rachel, you are hilarious. So good to hear from you!! I loooooved your handwritten letter around the time of the wedding and my plan is to reply to it today if I have time...P-days are always interesting, and we'll see what my new companion's P-day expectations are :) I still can't believe that you are getting your learner's lisence and going to seminary and dances! Write me a hand-written letter that no one has to see about the real deal scoop about friends and boys and how everything is going. :) It'll only take half an hour. Haha I can tell that your new word is snazzy! I remember when Tyler used to have word phases. I remembered this week when we went to a Soup Kitchen to do service, that one of his words was soup kitchen. "What is this like a soup kitchen or something?" Remember that? :) Hahaha. I love you Rachy! Tell Emma hi for me and that I love her too and give her a big huge hug for me!

Sounds like a good week at home :) Happy Birthday Grandad!!! I love getting your letters, and especially this last one with the BIG news about you and Gran serving in Ghana!! That's crazy, and so amazing!! I still can't get over it, I keep talking about it all the time! Keep me updated on everything, but it sounds pretty certain! After reading the letter, I thought, how is Gran going to do with the heat? You two are going to be amazing missionaries and the missionaries there are going to love you! We love our senior missionaries here. I love you both and I'm so proud of you! Thank you again for all the letters, prayers, and support.

 

So this week, on Wednesday, I met my new companion!! She's a lot different than Sister Lawrence, but I like her a lot. She's from Orem (but doesn't know Pete/Kristi or the Ashcrafts, I tried) and her dad actually served his mission in the Alberta mission! :) So she's used to my canadian quirks. I'm trying to think how to describe her - she's tall, and she's kind of tom-boy ish. She loves sports and she loves cars. I told her she'd have to teach me all about them so that I could be my dad's dream daughter when I get home. She and her dad buy old cars and restore them like you and Tyler would, dad! She's great, and she has so much love for the people here. She had a rough companionship before this, so I'm trying to help her out with that...It's kind of stressful being the Senior Companion. I'm pretending I know what I'm doing, and some days it works out :) Other days I forget things at home several times or make mistakes and we roll our eyes, laugh, and go to plan B. We've had some really good laughs already :) She's funny, and fairly easy-going so far. She's particular about other things though. We work really well together though, and I'm most excited about her passion for giving her all for these people. I'm learning so much from her.

 

The most fun part is our Spanish. We're at about the same level :) I actually love it, because I get to laugh my head off several times a day at how ridiculous we sound, and we get to work hard together instead of one of us getting frustrated with the other for not knowing how to say something. The phonecalls are the most fun, because we put the phone on speaker so that we can both try and pick out parts of what the person is saying, and it's already super hard to understand anyone, even in english. A few times this week I've just laughed my head off after a phonecall. It's just so funny to me!!! We strain and close our eyes to try and hear better, and whisper to each other frantically during the phonecall to try and piece it together, and then take turns to try and speak to them back. It's hilarous. I'm just glad we get to have fun and be happy while we struggle. It makes life so great.

 

We've been really blessed this week with referrals and set appointments with new people - I feel blessed because we've been able to plan productive weeks with the Lord's help and little miracles along the way. We had a lesson with Raul and Irene and it went really well. Irene read the whole pamphlet before our visit (that's big) and she was super into it. They love their daughter a lot and know that this can better their lives. Please keep praying for them, especially that they will come to church! They are amazing!

 

This sunday I was so proud of our branch. Victor passed the sacrament for the first time, and also for the first time, there weren't any missionaries involved in passing/blessing the sacrament! All 4 were branch members. It was so wonderful to see. We're excited for general conference and we're praying that the branch members will attend/watch!

 

I'm praying for you all at home, especially those who are struggling. I love you all lots. Thank you for your letters - i love hearing about what's going on lately and how everyone is. Mom, how's your health doing? Dad, I hope all the car stuff works out...sorry that the car is a lemon. Emma, I hope school is going well and that you don't have too much homework yet. Your spanish word for the week is "loco" or "loca" for a girl which means crazy or insane. Use it nicely :)

 

Thank you for the letters Grandad, Mom/Dad, and Scott. Also, thank you so much for the package Jenny! I love the shirt you sent!!! I wore it to church yesterday :) I am the luckiest missionary ever!

 

Love you lots, and thanks for the prayers. Oh, and here's some photos. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Victor before Hma Lawrence left, last lunch before Hma Lawrence (my "mom"/trainer), the peach pie that Hermana Lemmon made for sleepover night (we pull our mattresses into the living room and have a make-shift sleepover) - dad, I thought you'd enjoy that, and one of me and my new companion! :)

Love,

 

Hermana Vance

 

Ps. So mom, the only thing about the shoes is that I don't think we'll have time to go find a pair...trying to keep companions happy on P-day can be interesting, and my new companion needs to play sports at the church in order to get through the rest of the week...So needless to say I don't think we'll be doing much shopping :) and at this point, I think I just need something better than the flat runners from grade 10 I have now...maybe you could just send me something, and it'll be better than what I have now? If not, I'll try to find time next week.

Pps. Can you maybe send me a fuzzy blanket? It's getting colder in the mornings and I kind of want one for during personal study. You can just choose one and amazon it if you like :)