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