Finally leaving... :,(

Picture taken on Christmas Eve before singing at the zoo

(Nice antlers on Hermana Pratt)

So, this week is transfers, and both me and Hermana Chambers are both getting transferred. I can't believe they are whitewashing the area! I am so worried about our investigators and recent converts!  I hope these new missionaries are great. 

So, side note, no one send anything to 8742 Shadymist dr anymore. I might get it eventually, but not for a long time. So just send it to the mission office. I don't have that address, but mom, you probably do. So if you wanted to like stick that in here and pretend like I knew it, that would be great. I'll know where I'll be living pretty soon though. I'll let you know next week probably. Or like in a letter or something. 

My letter will be a bit short today, I have a few other things I have to do on the computer today. Sorry. 

We said goodbye to the H family last night. First time I've cried on my whole mission. It was really hard. But I am definitely going back for the baptism. There is no way I'm losing contact with this family.

So Christmas was great! I already kind of told you about when I skyped you, but yeah. We had breakfast at the A's, which was fun. 

Christmas

The Elders forgot to tell us to bring our presents there to open them though, so they all had their presents and we had already opened ours. But the A's are so cute they had presents for all of us. They got the Elders all a new white shirt and tie, and they got us some nice makeup. They are wonderful. 

Christmas

Then we went to another home. They are CRAZY. The first time I went to their house I had like the biggest headache of all time. It was a bit better this time. Two of their kids and all the missionaries played some bible mad gab and then we played apples to apples bible edition. That was pretty funny. It was a bit hard because you would have like a really funny card or something or a good one and then someone would put in like Jesus or the Atonement or something. Which is like sacrilegious if you don't pick it. But it was super fun and we were stuffed by the end. 

THEN we went to another house. They were married the weekend before in the temple. He has been the 2nd counselor in our bishopric. They are a great. Her family was still over from the wedding. It was really good. 

And the H family is so cute. When we went over there yesterday they had presents for us. They told us to open it at our house. Inside were precious/adorable notes and a pack of really cute earrings. I am SO sad to leave them. I am very glad that I am serving in a place that I can pretty easily come back to visit someday. 

But yeah, Christmas was good. New years will be good. We are having a zone p-day today, then we have to be inside by 6:00. Tonight will be all packing. My stuff is ALL over the house. That will be annoying. That is my least favorite part of going places. Packing. I despise it. Oh well. 

They didn't tell us where we are going this time. They have done it differently every time I've been here. They just tell us whether or not we're leaving. It is stressful. I hope I have a good companion. And am in a good area. I'll miss Hermana Chambers, too. She is great. Even though we're so different, she is one of my best friends. As President Wilson told me in an interview (then quoted to the whole mission. Thanks Prez.) That is a sign of maturity. He was like, "You know, one of our sweet missionaries was telling me in an interview, when I asked about their companion, ' you know, I think we just disagree on everything. But she is still one of my best friends and I just love her so much!!'  (President Wilson-ified) And you know what I told that missionary? I told her it's a sign of maturity. If you can be together with someone so different and not only get along but be friends, that is what God wants from us."

And afterwards I shook his hand and he was like, "Did you like that story?" and it was funny.  Goodness. In front of the whole mission. Thanks lots. Oh well. It's not like he said my name, which was good. That would be embarrassing. And it takes a lot to embarrass me nowadays.

But anyways. I hope you all have a happy new year and a wonderful day!

Hermana Pratt

Ps sorry I haven't written any letters lately, I've been way busy. I am planning on it though. And yeah.

Pps to everyone that sent me Christmas money/stuffers thanks a lot! I really really appreciate it. Love you all!

Dreams....

"Dad, I won"  (after breaking the wishbone we sent her from our turkey)

80's hair!

So this week has been super boring. Almost everything cancelled on us. We had like fifteen lessons planned and we weren't expecting all of them to happen because they never do, but we only got four lessons this week, and five with less actives/recent converts. So this week we've been doing lots of tracting. 

So lately I have had a lot of questions about revelation through dreams. I don't know if the hispanics are rubbing off on me or what, but I've been having some crazy dreams. But the really crazy things are the dreams I had before my mission. Then I got here to the mission and a lot of the dreams I remember very clearly from before took place in some of the random places I've seen on my mission. Like houses, fields, shops, etc. It is super crazy. Like one dream I had was like the scene of a zombie apocalypse sort of thing and then in my first transfer I drove past the house and I remembered in the dream when I saw it that there was a super pretty river to the right. So I looked over and there was the river, before I had even seen it in real life! And tons of other stuff just like that. And also, the strangest one was that I had a dream, either before my mission or very early on (like MTC), that I was helping this woman and her family move in around Christmas time. And then a couple weeks ago we were tracting and we met the same lady, and her family, and all the details that were in my dream were mentioned. We didn't actually help her move in, but we talked about it, and she told us her husband spoke a bit of spanish, and in my dream he did too, and her two kids were playing dress up in both, and just a lot of other crazy things. Also I had a dream about a house that we saw the other day and we've been knocking that house a couple times. In my dream we met the family, so we keep trying that one. But once again, the details in real life were the same as in my dream. Does anyone have experience or know anything about revelation through dreams? I haven't had a lot of experience with it before my mission, but now it's like I get a new one every day! Seriously. It is weird. And I'm pretty sure Hermana Chambers thinks I'm crazy. Well, not really. But kind of. 

Anyways. If anyone knows anything, let me know.

Christmas on the mission really is great. We never have all the distractions removed like this again. This is the only Christmas I have to really focus only on Christ and serving others and I have loved it so far! Something that President Wilson said that I loved: "If we make this Christmas about us, it will be a terrible Christmas. But if we make this Christmas about others, it will be the best Christmas ever!"

He is great. Oh yeah, we had a mission conference this week that was great, also. We had missionary speakers that each talked about one of the Christlike attributes in Preach my Gospel and in between each one there was a beautiful musical number. Hermana Chambers did one, she played the violin. She is so cool! That's my companion!

Also, we all sang the EFY medley (twice) and everyone was like weeping. It was so funny, it was right before the prayer and the whole prayer was interspersed with sniffles and stuff. President and Sister Wilson kept getting all choked up during the song. But it really was powerful. 300 missionaries singing that song is really something cool. 

Also they gave us a stalker book, with everyones pictures, home addresses and phone number. And full names. Some of them are hilarious. But yeah. The pictures (starting with my group; the groups before had a photographer) are horrible. On our very first day, after waking up at 2:30 and packing and being on a plane and being super stressed out and everything is new and crazy and stuff; at the end of that day, they pulled us all aside and took our picture. Seriously? So a lot of the pictures aren't the greatest. Mine is unfortunate. But oh well.

Well, anyways. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Remember the reason we have Christmas. I've been reading all the past Christmas devotionals and they are fantastic. I want you all to go read them. One part I liked from the last one, from Pres Monson (he's great), "To catch the true meaning of Christmas, we need only remove the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ." 

Love you all! Talk to some of you soon! :D

Hermana Emily Ann Pratt

Guys. Christmas is coming up. How exciting!!!

No, I haven't gotten my haircut yet. I think I'll probably have to get it cut soon. At least into a grow-outable style, because I don't think I'm going to cut it again. It is getting long. Or so people keep telling me. It's probably like four or five inches longer. I don't know, I haven't measured. But it is getting long. I straightened it yesterday, and it is starting to cover up my tag and stuff, like a lot of other sisters. Sister missionary problems!

Dad, the other day I thought of a Knight and Day quote, but now I can't remember it. I enjoyed the Thor quote. It is so good! I always think of Thor quotes and sometimes I say them out loud, but no one gets them. So I just sound super awkward. Oh well. 

My awkward radar has been dwindling rapidly. I like barely even think anything is awkward anymore. I'm just always talking to Hispanics and Southern people and being like, Hey, I'm in your trailer in a dress and I can't speak your language very well. Want to hear about Jesus and how he can bless your life and family? And it's like not even weird anymore. I am most definitely going to be one of those super awkward and weird returned missionaries, so just get ready. 

Speaking of that, the other day Hermana Chambers and I were talking, and we were just like talking about how unfortunate it is going to be to have to date again and not repel boys and such and how we're going to have to find husbands and such. If any of you have seen the District, when Elder Moreno and Elder Christensen are teaching German about Chastity and they teach it really bad and he thinks it means you can't date, and Elder Moreno is just like, "You can definitely date, I'm dating when I get home, I'll never get married if I don't date." And he was like laughing a bit when he said it, but after he finishes, his smile just like drops off his face and there is a visible gulp; and you just know he was thinking, "Oh shoot... I have to date..." and when we first saw it we were laughing at him and stuff, like, "Oh my gosh, what a loser." But now we are both just like, "I totally understand! I feel just like that!" 

And then the next day Hermana Chambers was just like, "Hermana Pratt. I was thinking last night; and I think that being alone with a boy again is going to be the most uncomfortable thing of my life." And it is so true! There is always at least two other women around when we talk to guys. After my mission, someone is going to leave me alone with a boy and I'm going to like start hyperventilating and probably start screaming and run out of the room. If that happens, you know why. So yeah, basically I am just really not excited to have to date again and I have to actually try to not repel men. Man, that's going to be unfortunate.

So this investigator that we had been starting to think of dropping because she hadn't been progressing came to church!  We had a perfect member present with her on Wednesday night.  Like, really perfect.  I wanted to hurry and cal the people that filmed the District and get them in there.  It was about acting on faith, and it was a person we hadn't really used before, because we had tried a couple times and she was always busy.  But this time we got her to come and she shared a beautiful experience about how she and her neighbor were arguing and so she prayed for he Lord to take away her bad feelings and stuff but then she also did something about it and served the neighbor and like brought her flowers and cookies and it was all resolved.  Then our investigator told us how the exact same thing was happening to to her and her sister and she didn't know what to do.  The Spirit was so strong and there was so much love from the invite  And also the member followed up on Sunday and I saw them talking to her and stuff.  It was so great.  Miracles are real.  Especially with exact obedience.  I had an experience this morning where I was exhausted, more than usual, and so after getting up for a minute or two at  6:30 I got back in bed and was about to go back to sleep for a while, but then I just felt the Spirit whisper to me, "If you do this you will be breaking your covenants. "  And right before that I was thinking about how great it was to take the Sacrament again and renew my covenants with God  And so that just hit me really hard.  Also, there are a lot of parts in my Patriarchal blessing that ties a lot of great things to keeping my covenants.  So it was really powerful.  Needless to say, I got up and got ready.  It was good!

Sickness & Freezing Rain

Hola! 

So this week I had a horrible cold that really slowed us down a lot. I couldn't go to appointments for the first half of the week because all of our investigators have kids and work and stuff and I really didn't want to get anyone sick. Also I was just like dead. And Hermana Chambers still wasn't feeling great either. But I'm much better now, so we're doing our "week of finding" this week because we really need new investigators. We started knocking Sunrise apartments, and Suburban Village, which is a trailer park. We spend lots of time in them. We were trying to contact a referral from some English Elders that they gave us ages ago that we haven't been able to contact, and she lives in this super nice neighborhood.  But I was there, and the houses were probably about the size of our house, or maybe a bit bigger, but not out of the ordinary at all. But to me they seemed HUGE. Like, why would anyone need that much room ever? We meet like 8-12 person families living in a 10'-30' trailer and they are happy. It is way too crowded and I used to have a bit of a panic attack in places like that, but now it seems normal. For the most part. And then we see these like single white people in a six-bedroom house that is super flashy and nice and it just seems backward to me. But oh well. It was just something I noticed the other day.

Mom, we don't have iPads yet. We can't do facebook. But we're supposed to be getting them next year, along with iPhones.

I got  the copies you sent me of Annie's blog letter, and Brooke's. They are funny! It is so interesting to see how different each mission is. It sounds like Brooke never teaches in Spanish, and I only teach in Spanish. And Annie is just in a different part of the world... I didn't starve on Thanksgiving! I thought I was going to explode! Oh well. I don't mind. We've already been invited to 2 things on Christmas Eve. Already. And one on Christmas. I hope not to explode on that day. Pray for me. 

That is so sweet about the little boy at Walmart! Little kids are the greatest. They all love the missionaries and they all want to talk to us. They are usually the ones that remember our names. 

So you know what is funny? Our little recent convert, Said. We went over there, but Elba (his mom) wasn't home, it was only him and his dad and Korina and the other kids. And usually we would go inside, because Korina is a responsible adult basically, but we found out they have to be over 18. And we were just outside and at first Said is usually pretty irritable when we first come over that he has to stop whatever he is doing but he always warms up. We were asking him if he'd read the Book of Mormon and stuff and mentioned the temple trip that was coming up and he was SO jealous that Korina could go in and he couldn't. Their 11 year old cousin (I think) was there and Said was like, "You're lucky! You can go to the temple soon!" and we were like, "Actually you have to be baptized." and Said was like, "Well, he's so much closer! All he has to do is get baptized and then he can go in in like a year." and it was really cute. Then he realized we were just standing outside and he was like, "Come in! Don't be cold!" and we're like, "Oh, we can't, it's a rule..." and he was like, "Don't be shy!" And it was just really funny coming from this little 9 year old boy. And another time we went by and Elba wasn't there and we had a conversation something like, "You guys can come in." "Actually, we can't if there isn't a woman." "Korina is here." "It has to be an adult." "Come in." "We still can't." "Come in!" "Said, it's a rule." Come in!!" and then finally Korina just stepped outside to talk to us and shut the door. And Said stuck his head out and kept telling us to just come in. It was cute. He's a funny one.

They went to the temple on Saturday! We haven't seen them yet, but Said and Korina both went and Said was going to go to the Visitors center with some investigator families and Korina did baptisms! It is so exciting! I am really sad that I couldn't go with them. Why does the temple have to be so far away? I miss it lots. I am going to go lots when I get home.

Yesterday there was freezing rain all day. It was super pretty (I was going to take pictures but I forgot). Unfortunately that meant church was cancelled and the missionaries can't drive, which in this area means we just have to stay inside and study all day. I finished Jesus the Christ (Yay!) and started reading True to the Faith. It is such a cool book! It is just very simple and clearly laid out as to like everything we believe. I gave mine to an investigator that wanted one, but I stopped by the office and got a new one. The old one had my name in it though... Including my first name... Now they know my name... Scandalous!

Well, anyways. It's been a pretty good week. Super boring, just hanging out inside all week, but good. I look forward to getting your packages so I can put them under the tree and such!! :)

Love you! Have a great week!

Hermana Emily Pratt

The Day I gained 25 pounds

The size of each of the plates we had for "Thanksgiving dinner" 

So this week nothing at all really happened. Hermana Chambers wasn't feeling well all week and then on Saturday I started getting sick. On Sunday I was like dying. And also today. I just have a horribly stuffy nose and lots of congestion and basically I'm just a disease right now. But I really hope to be better very soon because this week is a mission-wide finding competition. And I love finding, it is one of my favorite things. Hermana Chambers doesn't really like it, but I love it so it is a good reason to get out and find extra this week. So keep me in your prayers so I can get better, because we haven't found any strong new investigators for like 3 or four weeks and the work is kind of slowing down. So yeah, we hope to get lots.

So for Thanksgiving, we thought we were only going to have the one dinner with S and O at 6:30, but then on Tuesday the C's invited us over at 1:00 an we were excited. Then on Wednesday the Elders texted us and told us the A's had invited us over at 3:30. Then on Thursday we got a ride with the other Hermana's and they had another dinner at 8:00 and there wouldn't be time to drop us off. So I had four Thanksgiving dinners. I have never eaten so much food in my life. I was trying to save room because I knew I had a long way to go, but I was comfortably full after the first dinner. It was delicious. And definitely the most American. They had turkey, potatoes and gravy, Kale (which was interesting), sweet potatoes, pumpkin bread, etc. And a delicious desert that one of their little girls made. And they were the only ones that let us serve ourselves, besides the very last one. Then we went to the A's. They served us each a heaping plate with turkey and ham and salad (which is super rare in the Hispanic world) with rice and sweet potatoes and stuff. Then we played some fun games, like fruit basket and signs and "se murio Juan" which is that game where you have to not show your teeth at all so you have to talk to people with your lips covering your teeth and say, "se murio Juan!" (which is like "Juan died" ...Sort of.) and then you have to react and try to get the other person to laugh and yeah. It was super fun and I was very grateful for the small break we had. 

Then we went to S's house. They had a few other ward members there that they had invited (I'm surprised their house didn't explode - 8 missionaries plus 3 kids plus 6 adults all in a fairly small apartment thing) They had some turkey that was delicious, some rice, and this weird like potato and beet thing that I just couldn't bring myself to eat. When I sat down and there was a giant glob of bright pink stuff that looked just like mom's puke jello that no one likes, I couldn't do it. I did try a few bites and it wasn't terrible, the color was just really disconcerting and my stomach was already packed. They also gave us this super delicious drink that was like a bunch of like fruits and it was hot like cider and it had pieces of sugar cane that you chew on and it was awesome. Also, their little son K remembers my name still from when I taught him like my first transfer. Then we went to J and A's house. They are having the hardest time ever right now but they are so faithful. They are super inspiring. But they invited the Hermana's to Thanksgiving dinner anyways along with a couple from the ward that is getting married in a couple weeks and two nonmember friends. He had us teach a lesson to his nonmember friends and then bore a super powerful testimony to them. The Elders are going to teach them. 

And yeah, basically it was a super great Thanksgiving. All the people were awesome, it was fun hanging out with other missionaries and ward members in a more relaxed way, and we ate SO MUCH FOOD. We were eating from 1:00 to 9:30 without stopping. But it was worth it. 

Oh we will probably set up the Christmas tree that is in our house today. Hopefully it is a Christmas tree and not just a Christmas tree box. That would be unfortunate. I've really been enjoying the Christmas music lots. I also really miss Christmas movies. I watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas because that is one of the few movies I can watch and it made me think of you, mom. You and your hallmark movies. I'm excited to watch some with you next year! :)

I'm really glad I'm only missing one Christmas and one birthday on my mission. That is really good timing. Speaking of which, this week is my 6-month-mark. How weird is that?!! Time has been flying. I cannot even wrap my head around the concept that I only have one year left. Exactly one year from tomorrow I will be on a plane home. Super weird. Time seriously does not exist on the mission. 

Well, let me know how things are going with you all! I'm excited to hear from you at Christmas and whatnot! It will be great. Love you!

Hermana Emily Pratt

Thankful List and More

Hola!

How are things with you all? I want to hear from people... I did hear from the ward a week or so ago! Tell people thanks! :)

So about that spider. I wouldn't have gone within 34 feet of it. Except it had one of it's legs caught in the door. So I poked it with a stick until it's leg fell off. Then I hurried and squished it. It was disgusting and I could feel it squish through my shoe. Not like into my shoe, but it was a big one. I also probably wouldn't have killed it, except I didn't want it to get into that person's house. You're welcome, mystery person. 

So it has been super cold the past few days. I think I will stop at target today and get the super warm and wonderful sweater they have there to wear underneath my coats. And without coats. Whichever I feel like. But yeah, layers are important.

My companion has been sick the past few days, so we've mostly been staying home. But I got the General Conference DVD of the last conference that I ordered from the office! It is fantastic! I've been watching a few of the talks over again the past few days while Hermana Chambers has been sleeping. And reading the Conference Ensign/Liahona during studies. If you ever see a spanish conference liahona, you could send it to me! They only give us one per companionship of those too, and Hermana Chambers has been studying the Liahona during language study lately. I have been reading the Book of Mormon during mine, and it is way cool to read the scriptures in a different language; because it really helps clarify the scriptural language they use and see the scriptures from a bit different perspective. There are a lot of different insights I've gotten reading the same scriptures I've read a million times in English just by reading them in Spanish. I'm really glad I'm a Spanish speaking missionary. Also the Spanish people are great. They have really given me a big appreciation for other cultures and how much different they really are. But at the same time, how unified we all are. I don't know. It's hard to explain. But it's cool!

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving. Yeah, we have a dinner. I'm not exactly sure what it will be like. There may or may not be turkey. Thanksgiving is kind of an American holiday, and the person we are going to is Hispanic. But she is a really good cook so I'm sure whatever it is will be great! And it isn't until like 6:00, so I don't know what we'll do the rest of the day. But it is one of the two days of the year when all the missionaries in the ward can eat together (the other one is Christmas). We have a rule in our mission that only one companionship can be at a dinner at a time. Everyone hates that rule (especially the members) but it does make a much more effective use of time. 

Ummm..... I don't know what else to say. So I'm going to make a grateful list! Here we go! I'm grateful for:

!. My wonderful family!

2. My companion

3. The Gospel!

4. A car

5. Food

6. Humidity. It is doing great things for my hair. It has been more manageable than it ever has before! Yay! Also it is growing much longer with less split ends. Even though the humidity makes it super hot or super cold. 

7. Virginia Fall

8. Computers to use so I can email you all.

9. President Wilson and Sister Wilson

10. Coats/footpillows/blankets/warm things/my mittens! Also that almost all hispanic houses are SUPER warm because they all hate the cold. 

11. Children

12. Ponies

13. This ward/my home ward

14. That I didn't get transferred right before the holidays

15. Chickens.

16. The scriptures

17. A prophet/apostles/general authorities

18. I'm a Spanish Misionera!

19. Money

20. The blue house. It's adorable.  (This is where she is living now)

21. Prayers

22. Church/the sacrament

23. The mission library/church books/church movies

24. Our investigators

25. This area. It has a ton of potential, and we are finally getting more time freed up to go find new people.

26. The Holy Ghost

27. That my parents taught me how to be independent and work

28. The opportunity to be a missionary at this exciting time. It is helping me learn and grow so much and prepare someday to be a wife/mother/whatever else I will be doing with my life. 

29. Jesus Christ/the atonement

30. A Heavenly Father who loves me!

31. Leaders of the church, here and back home and everywhere else.

32. Education that I've received. Teaching hispanics really makes me realize how good I've had it there. We've taught people who can't even read at all. "E", our investigator struggles with it. Her 9-year-old son reads better than her. But she loves reading anyways. Education is good. 

33. Air-conditioning/heating

34. That I'm prettier than a turkey. They are really unfortunate looking. 

35. My senses

36. Pictures

37. I can play the piano! But I hope I will still be able to by the time I get home. I never really have time to practice. Or a piano. 

Yeah, 37 is probably enough for now. But that was lovely. 

Oh, by the way I'm finally driving now. Elder Burton (who is the senior missionary over cars) told me I could drive for a while if I wanted. Which is great, because I've missed driving, lots. This car has kind of touchy acceleration and brakes, so It seems like I'm a spazzy driver, but I'm not, I promise. Also It has really fast acceleration, which I'm not used to, so that doesn't help. When you go from driving the Nissan and a Suburban around to a fairly nice newish (sort of) car, it is a bit strange. And our car is the 2nd oldest in the whole mission. Well, I don't know about oldest, but it has the 2nd highest amount of miles on it. It doesn't even have 62,000 on it, but usually they switch them out before now for brand new ones. They've just had a lot of expanding going on. But now that the mission is about 50 missionaries over its maximum, they finally are only letting in the same number as leave. No more 37 new missionary transfers. Which is good for everyone. But yeah. 

So yeah. Those are basically my thoughts this morning. 

How are things with everyone? Tell me stuff. Ummm... yeah. 

BYE, LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a good day....

Hermana Emily Pratt

Hermana Pratt, Korina, "M", Said, Hermana Chambers

District - November 2013

Hermana Pratt with one of her trainers - Hermana Brown on her last day

So yesterday was the baptism for Korina and Said. They are so great! Both of them have such strong spirits and testimonies. I have really high hopes for them. But yeah, the baptism was so great! The Spirit was so strong the whole time. They were confirmed in the service, which is unusual for converts, but if they hadn't been they would have had to wait a whole week. But in Said's blessing, it said that he was going to be a missionary someday! And Hermana Chambers and I were both super excited and she was crying and it was funny. And Korina was crying too. They are the greatest! It was really cute how nervous Said was and he wanted to practice everything a lot. We went through the baptismal interview questions every day this week with him and after the interview he told me and Hermana Chambers separately "thanks for teaching/helping me!" He is so precious. And Korina has so much faith she would stop drinking water if we told her it was against the word of wisdom. It was really funny teaching Said fasting. Telling a 9-year-old boy he has to go without food for any length of time is really hard. He was practically in tears. He finally told us he'd go without breakfast on fast Sunday though. It was good. 

The reason I didn't write much last week is because not much happened that week. And not a lot happened this week either. Mostly just things fell through. Except for the baptism. 

Oh, there was one funny story though. So we were tracting this apartment complex where several Spanish speakers live and this guy answers a door and he looks white and speaks English too us, but he was clearly struggling and had an accent. So we spoke Spanish to him and he was really relieved and we told him about us and the church a bit and he got really excited and told us he was going to come to church and bring his kids and he wanted to change his life and stuff. So we set an appointment to come back and teach him (it fell through later though) and left. We started knocking other doors and then "B" (the same guy) comes outside and tells us that all the Spanish speakers were at work, so we were like, "Ok.... Well do you have time for a lesson?" And he said sure, so we went over and he invited us in and we asked if there was a woman in the house and he said no, so we explained that it is a rule that we can't go in unless there is a woman in the house, but we could do it outside. And he's like, "Oh, ok. I understand." Then we asked if we could start the lesson with a prayer to invite the spirit and he said, "Yeah, come on in!" and so we explained again. Then we finally said a prayer and he was like, "Ok, see you on Sunday! Thanks for coming by!" and we were just like, "Ummm.... Ok, bye!" and it was really awkward. He clearly wasn't doing it on purpose, I think he was just really confused. But it was funny. Good try, but not really that good of a try. It was almost a lesson. So close. Oh well. 

Ummm.... Let's see... I translated for President Wilson at the baptism after ours. It was a lady that has been taught for 3 years and has wanted to get baptized for 2 of them, but couldn't because she wasn't married. But they finally got married a couple weeks ago and tonight she got baptized! But yeah, it was interesting translating. Man, they talk so fast sometimes! Poor President Wilson probably missed half the service. I also kept doing awkward direct translations, like instead of Holy Ghost, I kept almost saying Spirit Holy because in Spanish it is Espiritu Santo. And lots of other things. But yeah, it was lovely and both the services were fantastic and there were a lot of people at the first one, with Korina and Said and "M" (the other Hermana's 9 year old investigator, but she's the daughter of some less actives that are coming back). Like more people than were at church. It was awesome.

Well..... I don't think anything else really happened this week.

The largest of spiders you've ever seen in your life. Oh my gosh it was so terrifying. And it may not look huge in the picture, but it is HUGE. Like the size of my hand. Well, not that big. But bigger than my palm.

 It was a good week!

Love you all lots! Eat lots of chicken... And hot chocolate... And soup... And basically whatever you want. Bye!

Hermana Emily Pratt

Emily is on the front row

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

How are things? Things here are lovely. It is finally starting to get really cold. It has frozen a couple nights out here. Not as cold as Utah, but oh well. There are SO MANY leaves everywhere. We raked a member's yard the other day, us and some other missionaries, and it took ages. Well, not that long because there were lots of us, but there are like a ridiculous amount of leaves.

Ummm.... Not much has happened this week. And I'm SUPER tired today for some reason. So my brain isn't quite working. So if this letter does't make sense, that may be why. 

Oh, yesterday we had someone from the Seventy come talk to us. His name is Elder Sitati. He and his adorable little wife are from Kenya and they have cute accents. She talked about our companion and how to get along with and love them and stuff and why we have them and whatnot.

He talked about the missionary purpose. It was fantastic. He split it up into 8 parts:

1. Invite others to come unto Christ

2. By helping them

3. Recieve the restored Gospel

4. Through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement

5. Repentance

6. Baptism

7. Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost

8. Enduring to the end.

It was really good. He talked about how each one has a verb in it. Then we talked about and found at least two scriptures for the why and the how of each of them. I learned lots from it. It was extremely long though. About 6 1/2 hours with only a half hour break for lunch. 

But one of the things I wrote down is how he talked about plants and compared them to the Holy Ghost, first you have to make an environment where they can grow, then you have to nourish and care for them and then just be patient and wait. You can't force it to come, but once it finally breaks the soil, it is wonderful and a miracle. 

And yeah. Mostly we just spent a lot of time finding scriptures for each of them and breaking down each part and stuff. He said some really cool things about repentance and how true repentance means turning our hearts to God. He compared it to when a little child puts their hand in yours they are willing to go wherever you take them and they are putting complete trust in you. Someone also read D&C 19:15-19 and made a comment that was like, "We can choose Christ's manner of living, or Christ's manner of suffering." And I really thought that was cool. If we live like Christ, the Atonement will apply to us and we will be able to be happy. If we don't choose to live like Christ, then we will have to feel everything for our own sins and pains and have to suffer like Christ, "Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit - and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink."

And yeah, basically I loved it. I learned a lot and the Spirit was so strong the whole time. Maybe that's why I'm so tired. 

And yeah, Corina and Said are getting baptized next sunday. Corina is 13 and Said is 9. They are super funny. And oh my gosh Corina is the sweetest girl. We like barely even mentioned fasting in the lesson before fast Sunday and she asked what it was and literally all we said was, "fasting is when you go without food for 2 meals or 24 hours and you are praying during that time with a purpose in mind. It's like a super powerful prayer. We usually fast on the first Sunday of the month." And then the next day she came to church and mentioned that she was fasting. This girl is golden! 

Things are great here!

Love you all! Thanks for your support and such!

Buenos dias!

Hermana Pratt

Some fall leaves. It is like that everywhere here. Every road. 

There are prettier places, but I haven't gotten good pictures of them.

The gorgeous tree in our front yard. It is even prettier now, but I didn't take another picture yet

A Turtle statue that I enjoyed

Me and Sandra, a recent convert in our ward that is so sweet! She has adorable children too. 

(Or childrens, as Dina would say)

Our very soon to be baptized family! Well, Corina and Said (on the ends) (Pronounce Said like Sigh EEED)

On Saturday we had our ward Halloween party/trunk or treat thing. They told everyone to bring Chili, but unfortunately some Hispanics don't know what chili is or how to make it. So there were some interesting chili imitations. Also, no one trick or treats in Virginia. It is weird. Like we saw about four groups of kids outside the whole night. How unfortunate.

But yeah, things are good. I can't really think of anything else that has happened. 

Oh, we taught a new investigator the other day. His name is Ivan and we taught him the restoration and he actually like listened and asked questions and stuff. Most of the people we teach are either dead silent the whole time unless you ask them a direct yes or no question, or they literally talk for an hour for every sentence you say. We now have two investigators that are a nice balance between the two. He seemed a little nervous when we gave him the Book of Mormon and found out that we were the Mormons (I wonder what his preacher has told him) but other than that he is way good. It was a very spiritually powerful lesson, despite it being outside on his front porch in the middle of an apartment complex (there wasn't a woman in his house).

So things are great here! I loved the pictures and everything else in the package. It is starting to get cold some days here. The leaves are changing and they are gorgeous. I will send some pictures that I took for you. Love you all lots!

Hermana Emily Pratt

I always love to read the hymns during sacrament meeting. It works better if you try to take the tune out of it and read it like a sentence, because sometimes the pauses and stuff of the song take some of the meaning out of the words. But the hymns are beautiful.

Since I've been here on my mission the sacrament has had so much more meaning for me. Since we teach people about baptismal covenants and how the sacrament renews them, I've understood them so much more. We have to do three things (Keep the commandments, always remember him, and take his name upon us) all of which benefit us more than they benefit God. And in return, God promises that we can ALWAYS have His Spirit to be with us. Every moment we are worthy of it, the Spirit will be with us. It is a promise. Every time it uses the words "will" or "shall" it is a definite promise. It has been more interesting to read the scriptures every since I realized that. It changes things and makes them more powerful. I want to get a dictionary someday, because the wording of the scriptures is really so powerful, and I think sometimes we are just so accustomed to scriptural language that we don't always realize how strong the words actually are. For example, "A broken heart and a contrite spirit." Broken is a strong word. When you are broken, it means you are like not functioning. It doesn't just mean you feel a bit sad. It means you are like at the end of your rope and have realized that you cannot do more yourself. Contrite means we are sorry. Really, truly sorry and willing to change. When we come forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, it means we have done all that we can and have found out that our way doesn't work. And it we realize that God's way is the only way, and so we humble ourselves and basically admit that we are nothing and that God knows everything and we put ourselves into His hands so that he can change us and tell us what to do. But we need to do it with "real intent," which means that we are willing to act on whatever  answer we receive, not just go back as soon as things get good again. I've been reading the Book of Mormon lately and highlighting pride in one color, and the consequences in another and the same with humility (but different colors). It is extremely interesting. Also, I've noticed that so many times, the really bad pride that leads to destruction started with the wearing of costly apparel. I don't know what that means, but it is interesting.

We had a super cool miracle this week.  We were on exchanges and I was with Hermana Carn, one of the sister training leaders, and we went to go knock an apartment complex that we've been working but we found a bunch of mormon.org cards everywhere in English, so we figured they must have just been there.  So we decided to leave and come back in a few days.  But as we were driving away, I thought I wanted to go check up on a family that we found last time we were there that seemed interested.  They weren't home, but we decided to knock on a door that looked Hispanic that wasn't home last time.  So we knocked and this little boy who was probably 8 or 9 answered and said his parents weren't home, only his siblings and his grandma.  We asked to talk to her, so he went to get her.  Then he told us she only speaks Arabic, because they are from Egypt. We were about to leave after talking to them for a couple more minutes (I don't think she really knew what was going on) so we handed them a Jesus pass-along card and she immediately said, "Jesus!" and started to kiss the card and cry.  We were a bit confused, but she waved us inside and her grandson Joseph told us her son had died when they lived in Egypt 4 years ago.  She was still crying and telling us thank you for the card and she left to get a tissue and Joseph asked, "How can I get more of the Jesus in me?" And we asked if he wanted us to teach him how to be more like Jesus.  He got really excited and said yes, so we asked if we could send some missionaries back with stuff in Arabic for his grandma and stuff in English for him.  He told her and she was super excited too, when we said she could be with her son again someday, forever.  We couldn't talk to her very well because Joseph had to translate everything we said, but they are such a miracle.  We said a prayer with them and they were so excited and told us to come back soon.  Unfortunately we had to give them to the English missionaries, so I don't know what else will happen with them, but I hope they take good care of them.  But yeah, that was super cool.  And we were fasting that day too.  It really does bring miracles.  God really knows His children.  If there is one thing that I have learned on the mission, it is that God loves and knows each and every one of His children personally and by name and He only wants the best for them.

The leaves are just starting to change here; most of them haven't yet. I'll take some pictures and send them to you when they start to change more. There really are trees EVERYWHERE here. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a tree. Like almost literally you can't, unless you're standing in the middle of the road. Which would probably be a bad idea. Even though people here are WAY better drivers than in Utah. In some ways. Utah is just a place of terrible driving. The thing that people do here though is they won't let you change lanes. The instant you put your signal on, they speed up so you can't get in. You pretty much just have to start going over before they back off. It's super annoying. But aside from that they are usually better drivers than Utah. Unfortunately I won't be driving for a while. I miss driving. I'm not the designated driver in our companionship, because Hermana Chambers knows the area better because she's been here and extra transfer, and she's the senior companion. So unless I'm like training next transfer *knock on wood* then I won't be driving for a while. Oh well. Someday. At least Hermana Chambers isn't a crazy driver at all. If she was I may have had to ask President Wilson if I could drive.

Yeah, our member dinners were pretty good this week. One of them they gave us soup. Hispanic soup is not like real soup. It is just like quartered vegetables and chicken legs/meatballs/mystery meat in broth. It is weird. You can't just eat it with a spoon. You like eat the stuff out of it and then drink the broth. But it tastes good, usually. If you don't get too many bones.  Also, I tried Columbian food for the first time this week. The Hincapie's, the parents of the two boys that just left on their missions last month are Columbian and they are like the sweetest people ever. The Columbian food was super good, except these like fried banana things. Those were nasty. But the rest was great! And they are like the nicest people and all they want to do now that they have missionaries out is spoil the missionaries here. It is funny. They just want us to come over and stay for the whole day. He was like, "Come over sometime when you don't have appointments afterward and we'll watch a movie and have popcorn and my love will cook delicious Columbian food." It is funny. They're adorable. 

We have one lady and she was dropped 3-4 years ago for a weird reason that isn't really a good reason to drop someone, and she was never picked back up. But, we went over there and she still lives there and we had a really good restoration lesson and her son, who is probably in his 20's was there.  At first he was playing with his phone and not really paying attention.  She seemed just a bit skeptical but when we started talking about Joseph Smith, her son started looking super interested and when we asked if they would read the introduction and gave her a Book of Mormon he asked if he could have one too, in English so he could understand it better.  We have high hopes for him, and for her too.  Unfortunately someone else got home right before we were about to challenge them to be baptized, and they all got super distracted and both of us felt it wouldn't be right to invite them after that, but we're going back next Saturday and we're super excited!

But yeah. Not too much else is happening. Things are good.
Love you all! You are the greatest! Thanks for your support and love and whatnot!

The church is true!

Hermana Emily Ann Pratt

Cars, Sickness and Random Pictures

Most of the district before transfers

Penguin porch statue

Scary dog

Interesting bumper sticker

Emily & her first trainers

Sombrero!

Today we went at like 9:30 in the transfer van with Elder Burton (the senior missionary that is over cars) and got five brand new Chevy Cruzes. The one we picked up and drove back to the mission office only had two miles on it when we go it. Unfortunately, we have to keep our old (not really that old but old for a mission car) Chevy Malibu that has like 60,000 miles on it. It has been having some problems lately, so that is irritating. It keeps telling us "ESC off, tires low, traction low," etc. We were a bit jealous of the new cars. 

PS I really miss driving. I haven't driven in over 4 months. My companion doesn't even really like driving. Oh well. I'll get over it. 

Nothing really exciting has happened this week. Actually, like nothing has happened this week. Mostly Hermana Chambers was sick so we were just at home except for when we had appointments. And I wasn't feeling great either, but I wasn't as bad as she was. But yeah. This week was boring. Also, most of our appointments cancelled. And none of our investigators came to church, because of the rain. I don't know what it is with Hispanics and rain, but church attendance goes down by like half when it's raining. It's weird. 

Oh, and we have lots of member dinners this week. They replaced some of the Hermanas in our district with Elders, and one of them is brand new, so they sent him and his companion into relief society with the food calendar and made him ask them to sign up. And Elders are always acting super pitiful and starving to get member dinners, but all the women fall for it. This new Elder, goes in and was like, "Hola... Tenemos... Hombre...?" Because he didn't know Spanish. What he meant to say was hambre, but what he said means "Hey, we have men." So yeah. It was pretty funny. He is a bit of an awkward person. But oh well. Maybe he'll get over it a bit when it isn't his first Sunday in the ward. But anyways, all the relief society women thought it was adorable so there were at least two people signed up for like every day for the next week or two, and a lot of them are in our area, so we have like three or four dinners this week and next. We're a bit worried because the people here are fairly poor, so a lot of times we really don't know what we're eating. But they are trying. Sometimes I'm pretty sure they just put the whole chicken in the pot after plucking it, and smother it with hot sauce and then put a bunch of rice on the plate. And I'm kind of joking, but at the same time I legitimately think that may have happened a couple times out here. But of course, sometimes it is actually awesome food. You just never know. But luckily I won't need to buy as much food this week.  I can't even tell you how many times I have eaten at places where I don't trust the cleanliness of the plates/food. Sometimes it is really scary. I rarely know what I'm eating. It's just... Great. 

But anyways. Yeah, this week has been uneventful. This next week we already have lots of appointments set up, so it's going to be pretty busy. Hopefully we're up to it. We're still not quite back to normal yet. Working on it.

First Baptism!!

Some excerpts from a letter Emily mailed home a few days ago: 

I like teaching, especially Hispanics. They love Jesus.  I went to a dinner at member's house the other day and taped to the door and also on a shelf next to the door were two of the Jesus pass along cards that had probably been there since the missionaries had taught them 10 years ago.  They never throw away or hide pictures of Jesus.  If you want to ensure that something stays in a Hispanic house put a picture of Jesus on it. We've done it a few times and it hasn't failed yet!

Our ward mission leader resigned (and decided to quit the church), so we don't have a ward mission leader right now which is bad timing since we have a baptism coming up between the Saturday afternoon session of conference and the Priesthood session.  

At the Zoo "Cute"

Feeding the parakeets at the zoo on P-day

"Slimy"

Giraffe's have really long tongues!

Her E-mail from Monday October 7, 2013

Howdy! How are things? Things are great here. Man, Conference! I love it. It is pretty much the greatest thing ever. 

So first, the baptism. The M family are the greatest! Everything went off great. I said the opening prayer and Hermana Chambers sang a song with another missionary that was here teaching them last transfer. They sang "How Great Thou Art." It was really good! We managed (with lots of help) to get everything together; clothes, filling the font, the program, the speakers, people to baptize and confirm them, etc. Also, we got our recently resigned mission leader to speak.  Despite the fact that he quit the church. From what I understand, preparing the talk made him realize he needed to come back. He didn't look good though, and neither did his wife. The fire was gone. We're definitely going to be trying to help him out more. We were a bit worried he was going to go crazy and tell them not to get baptized or go off about the church or something. You just never know, even before they quit the church. But his talk was actually really excellent. No false doctrine was preached, the Spirit was there, and it really helped him feel it too. Which is good. And the M family really liked it too. Two birds with one stone. Also we had one of the young women speak. One of the M family brought a secretary from her High School that she is good friends with. She is going to be the greatest missionary someday. And she really wants to go, too. Almost every lesson she asks us a question like, "What made you decide to come on a mission?" and stuff like that. It is super cute. And their little niece/granddaughter, Yarid (to be pronounced like Jaddy, sort of) is five and she was CONSTANTLY telling us she was going to be baptized with them, and was super sad when we had to tell her every five seconds that she still had three years. But she really loved watching them get baptized. She is the cutest little girl. 

So yeah, they were baptized and then confirmed, and they all loved it lots and the girls were crying and the boys were both super excited. There was a visible difference in them. The Spirit works miracles.

The "M" family

The "M" family with the Bishop and one of the counselors

So, conference! Greatest thing ever, right? I just realized I should have brought my notes with me to the library. But unfortunately, I didn't so I'll just have to share what I remember and maybe next week I'll try to bring them.

I loved President Uchtdorf's talk! The quote that said, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" was super inspiring to me. I am definitely going to work on that more. Also, Elder Holland's talk was super interesting to me. I've never heard a General Authority speak on that before. It was much needed to many people, definitely.

I also really like Elder Bednar's talk. It was applicable not only to tithing, but pretty much every commandment. I loved his analogy about the windows of heaven, and how windows allow natural light to fall into the room, which is like subtle blessings that come into our lives that are easily overlooked. Also he talked about how rather than change our circumstances, God changes us to be able to deal with them. I never really noticed what he said about how the Stripling Warriors prayed for strength and were given faith, hope, and love and stuff like that. Not exactly what a warrior might think he needs, but God knows us well enough and will not leave us without the tools we need to handle any situation that is thrown at us.

I felt like there were some major themes to conference this year that like everyone mentioned. For instance, it was very geared towards how men and women (women especially) have their own roles to fulfill and both are needed to have the kind of home that God wants. I loved the quote by Elder Christofferson about how we have enough women that are tough, we need more that are tender, etc. I don't remember the whole thing, but I definitely want to get it. I REALLY want this conference on video. In English and Spanish. 

Also, another theme was like preparing more and more because hard times are coming. I got goosebumps when Elder Hales was talking about how the saints in the early days of the restored church were terribly persecuted, but we are not. Then he said, "It will not always be so." And almost everyone talked about some way to protect the home, and how important it is to have a Gospel-centered home, read the scriptures, build Spiritual stamina and strength, and stuff like that. Everyone talked lots about protecting the sanctity of the family, and it reminded me of the "They Saw Our Day" Cd and how almost every prediction talked about families falling apart right before the craziness. It is so important to build strong, Gospel centered families and testimonies that can last through hardship.

Elder Nelson's talk was wonderful too. I loved how he combined science and the Gospel in his talk. I feel like I can never get enough of that. The other day I was reading in Abraham about the creation and thinking about it scientifically, and it really brought a lot of light to my understanding of it. I found it interesting to hear an Apostle talk about our bodies and how amazing they really are. They truly are incredible. Like none other. There can be no other explanation but that they are from God. Would an explosion in an ink shop produce a dictionary? I think not. There had to be someone behind it who can see it all and who knows how to do everything.

So yeah, I just really loved Conference. It was fantastic. I'm dying for the Ensign to come out so I can read it again and highlight parts I like.

Also, listening to conference (especially the Australian guy and the thing afterwards about missionaries in London) I realized how long it has been since I have heard any sort of accent except Spanish accents. And I haven't even heard that many of those because usually I'm speaking Spanish to them, not them speaking English to me. But every once in a while there are people that will come up to me and speak their adorable little broken English to me and it just goes to show how great people are. Even though they know I speak Spanish (Ha... Ha... Funny) they will make themselves uncomfortable and try to help me out. I love those people. Also, invariably those are the ones who never make fun of my Spanish and are always telling us how great we are doing speaking Spanish. 

But yeah. Things are great here, I'm thinking this week is going to slow down lots. Last week was all scrambling to get ready for the baptism and visit them every day but still visit all our other investigators too. 

Love you all! Have a great week! Write me letters... They are the most exciting things ever on a mission. I never knew til I got here. But they really are. 

Adios!

Hermana Emily Pratt