Think of something exciting..

President & Sister Wilson with departing missionaries

Emily with President & Sister Wilson

Emily and former companions at the Temple together

Hola! So it is super dee duper weird that this is my second to last p-day in the mission. About my flight, that is a little worrisome since I'll be all by myself! They haven't told me about my flight plans or anything yet. It will be nice not to have to wait a long time between flights, but it will also be difficult, I'm sure, to have all my stuff and be like running through an airport I don't know all alone. Ugh. I haven't been alone in a year and a half. This will be awkward. 

I have been cooking a lot this week because we didn't have many member dinners and also I just wanted to. Plus I have to use all my food. And I realized that I am a really good cook. Not to brag or anything. But just saying. And I can make some pretty great Hispanic foods now. So I'll have to do that at home sometimes. It will be nice to have more ingredients. 

I went to the temple last week! Oh my goodness. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. It is a BEAUTIFUL temple, as you can imagine. And HUGE! It doesn't look that big in the pictures, but it is like 7 or 8 stories high! Not counting the spires and the Angel Moroni and stuff (side story from the member that drove me home: She used to live in a house with little decorative spikes that were only like 6 inches each, and her nonmember neighbor knocked on the door one day and asked her mom if the spikes were to attract Angel Moroni 's.) I will be sending pictures! It is SO AMAZING! And I finally saw one of the new videos and it was SOOOOOOO good! I loved it and I felt like I learned/understood so much more! I also received a lot of revelation. I feel like when I get back I just want to go like live in the temple. Hopefully everyone is ok with that. But anyone that wants to go, tell me and we'll plan a day. Anyone that hasn't been in a while, GO! There is no excuse worth what you miss by not going! Not being able to go for so long has really made me appreciate it so much. And then going with so many people that are so in-tune with the Spirit and having had so much time to prepare myself of course is a big help. And then we drove around DC a bit and drove past the Washington monument and stopped for a minute at the Lincoln memorial. They were way cool, too. Of course, they pale in comparison with the Washington temple, but still cool! And it was cool getting to go with 3 of my old companions. And a bunch of Sisters that I had served with also. I didn't know hardly any of the Elders. Just one was in my district right before going home. Elder Saunders, the one with red hair. 

The night before, on Tuesday night, we played ping-pong and Foosball and Apples to Apples (Bible Edition) as a group. It was way fun. Ping-pong can get pretty intense. We were playing the way me and Shawn and Ryan usually play, with no rules. We did 3 on 3, Elders vs Sisters. Two were up front, then we also had an outfielder who got a surprising amount of action. The table was just in President's garage. 

My new companions are Hermana Romero and Hermana Quinones (Key-niOH-nes). They have both only been out 3 months. They are great! Hermana Quinones is pretty quiet but super funny, and Hermana Romero is a bit of a diva and it is hilarious. We'll have a good time.
And yes, V is still set to be baptized this Saturday evening. I am so excited for him! We've got some stuff to work on with him (we went through the baptismal questions with him on Monday and it was hilarious - he doesn't like the idea of tithing ("I have to leave my check at the church?!") or leaving tea or coffee and he still has some doubts about Joseph Smith, but those things are things that he is working on.) He knows it isn't a game and he knows he has to follow the rules even if he doesn't necessarily like them if he chooses this church. He knows he can't just get baptized and then later decide he is bored with it and leave. So he knows what he needs to do and he is still willing to do it. The ward has been supporting him lots and I think it has helped a lot. It is a great ward. It helps that V is so friendly and will come to anything we invite him to. It seems like everyone knows him or has talked to him at some point, so they were all super excited (if a bit surprised) that he's getting baptized this Saturday. But I am so excited for him! This will change his life. And I know it will help his son too. I think that's still a big reason he likes this church. 

The primary program was this week here. It was hilarious and wonderful, as usual. 

Do you know what I will be speaking on yet for my homecoming talk? 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Emily Pratt

Ps I feel hesitant to send this because it means I only have one weekly email left after this. Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Weird. 

I love this!

"I love this!"

Fall in Virginia

Beautiful!

What is it??

At Al Carbon Restaurant

AHHHHHH!!!! This week has been crazy!!! I am staying here, but Hermana Gonzalez is leaving me! I am getting 2 new companions! And I am going to the temple in 2 DAYS!!!!! :D

But it is kind of awkward because I am going to the temple so my new companions will just go back to Charlottesville after transfer meeting on Tuesday (we still haven't found them a ride back from Richmond....) and I will stay down there. Who knows what I will be doing. And I won't come back until Wednesday night. Probably at like 8 or 9 I'll get back. Who knows. And I'll just work with the new Hermanas and show them the area for a couple weeks and then I'll leave on November 10th. It is crazy that I only have 3 weeks left. Crazy. And that Hermana Gonzalez is leaving me! How sad! She has been here for a long time. I am worried that V will not be so open when the new Hermanas come. He was really good friends with Hermana Gonzalez. Especially since he is from Mexico City and so is her dad. And I am leaving pretty soon after that... I just really hope the new Hermanas can connect with him really quickly!

And I am so excited for his baptism! It will be amazing. This week, on Friday, we had a really good lesson with him and his 5-year-old son, D.  D is SO CUTE!!! We used the Book of Mormon stories for children book and taught about when Nephi built the boat, and we brought J.M. with us, who is a super cute member who is 18 and going to college. She is way sweet. D loved the story and I think it really touched V how happy D was and how much he remembered about the story. He kept asking him about it later and he wanted to read it again so they reread it like 3 times. And D said the prayer at the beginning (just repeating what Hermana Gonzalez told him) and V was like about to get emotional. So I think that was really good for him. Everything is just helping him be firmer and firmer in his decision. We keep praying and working to help him follow through, because we know that this is the first step on the best path anyone can take!

...I don't know what else to write! Not a lot of other things happened. We got the car inspected this week, helped M clean out her house (which was like starting to go towards hoarding). She recently lost her father and her best friend who she took care of, so she has been really depressed. And she likes to collect stuff, so her house/yard just fill up fast. And usually she takes care of it or gives it away so it isn't too bad, but it has been getting a bit unfortunate. So we helped her clean some of it out and we found some cool treasures! Some various jewelry, a snowglobe/music box that plays "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins (when you shake it birds fly around :)), a box of ink stamps, and an amazing secret that you'll find out about someday. And a lot of other stuff. Those are just the ones she gave to me. She also had a stamp collection from her friend who passed away that would probably be worth like hundreds of dollars. So that's kind of cool. But she kept that, of course. But yeah, it was good. We only had like an hour though, so we only got to go through a little bit. But we should be going back this week. She also has like 3 super fat cats that are really funny. And she is like the coolest lady ever. She speaks perfect English, she also speaks Spanish (she's from Uruguay) and French (she lived in France for a while) and who knows what else. She never went to school, but she LOVES to read. That's what we were starting to clean out, was her bookshelf, so we could move it. I guess she is a nurse or something, because she also has like TONS of medical textbooks that she reads all the time. She is way smart. And she is teaching herself like 5 other languages. But she'd never tell you any of that, we only found out because we either saw her doing it, or saw the books/papers, or whatever. She is crazy cool though. And funny. 

But yeah. Who knows. Anyways, I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and go to the temple if you can! I'll be there too, finally!! :D

Love,

Hermana Emily Pratt

Ps Thank you everyone for the support you've been giving me! I have been loving all of your letters and I appreciate you all so much and I am praying for you!!

Ring Out, Wild Bells! Hymn #215

Oh my gosh this week I got my letter telling me about what I need to do to start getting ready to go home. Oh my gosh. Ugh. I will be coming home on November 10th. I will be going to the temple on October 22nd, with the missionaries that are going home like normal people on the actual transfers. (for those who didn't know, I'm going home mid-transfer). I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to go to the temple! I haven't been my WHOLE MISSION (except in the MTC). I haven't even seen any of the new videos. But mostly I am so excited to go to the DC temple! It is so pretty. And hearing everyone talk about it all the time is just like pouring hand sanitizer into the wound. Not really. But basically. It just makes me really want to go. But at least I get to go this time! And I will get to go with a bunch of my old companions! Hermanas Chambers, Hiebert, and Horton. So that will be cool! 

Also I have to stay "somewhere in Richmond" (probably at the mission home) the night of my departure. I will then have my exit interview. I have to whittle both my bags down to 50 pounds each, so that will be a lovely challenge. 

But now, back to the missionary work. V set a baptismal date this week! He wants November 1st. It is so exciting! I am glad he put it before I leave. I would have died. He is doing really well, all is good with him. 

So the saddest thing of all time happened this week. Remember when I said A was praying about/preparing to make a decision? Well, he did. He texted us on Tuesday and was like, "I need to talk to you tomorrow. Can we meet at 8?" and Hermana Gonzalez was like, "He is dropping us." But I was like, "No, I don't think so. He was talking to us so normally right before this, and is really cheerful and stuff. Hopefully not."

But then the next day we got there and were choosing what hymn to sing and he was like, "It has to be a really good one, because this is the last time we'll be meeting together like this. I've made my decision, and I can't leave my family." So we sang 'There is Sunshine in my Soul Today,' one of his favorites. Then he explained: "I know that eventually C will come around if I am patient with her. I feel that God will help me. And I will be able to get baptized. This isn't the last you've heard of me, I will be a member of this church one day. God is everywhere, but I know that this is His church." And we talked to him for a long time. Of course I was weeping, and he was weeping, and Hermana Gonzalez was weeping, right on the front porch (where we always teach him) and a bunch of people were walking by and staring at us (our neighbors, both sets of the Mandarin Elders, etc). It was awkward. I am so sad about it, but Heavenly Father knows more than I do about it. Maybe that is the right answer for A. I know that he will get baptized one day, but it is just so sad to see him give up for now. I couldn't trust him to anyone but Heavenly Father, so I am glad He is there to help guide him. But man, that was definitely the hardest drop of my mission so far. I hate goodbyes anyway, but especially extended ones. And especially with people I know I probably won't see again. So that was rough. It was a tough week overall. 

But oh well. 

On Thursday me and Sister Hansen went on exchanges, and that was when my week started to pick up. I went and worked in Rapidan with her, while Sister Theurer (pronounced Tire (who knows why)) came to be with Hermana Gonzalez. While she was there, she was super bold with V and she is the one that got him to think of a date to text to us the next morning, which he did!

In Rapidan I got to play with some dogs, which was great fun, and see the sweet recent convert lady who owns them and it was fun. They live in like Narnia though. We drove like five miles up the "mountain" on all these windy dirt roads in the dark, surrounded by trees and stuff. But it was worth it, because it was literally the only thing that didn't cancel on us all day. But Sister Hansen is hilarious, so we had a good time. She was waiting for a visa to go to Brasil, but it never came, so she just hit her year mark, which is when they officially decide if they will stay here or keep waiting. She is staying. So she speaks Portuguese, so we were talking to each other (me in Spanish, and she in Portuguese) all day. During lunch and language study we even played Battleship in our respective languages. Every time a ship was sunk, we had to read a scripture out loud in our language. It was fun. We ate at a Mexican restaurant which was really good. I left a card for the waitress, who was really nice. Who knows.
But yeah! Things are great here. I love you all! Have a wonderful week and don't let the chupacabras bite!

Love,

Hermana Emily Pratt

Conferring in Conference

This week has been a super good one. This may be a shortish letter because we just didn't do that much this week. We were mostly just reading the Book of Mormon and I was dying. At first just one of my ears were infected, but then the other one got infected also so I pretty much just walked around deaf and in lots of pain for a few days. So I haven't finished the Book of Mormon yet because sometimes I just had to sleep because I had a fever and was just feeling unfortunate. But I am in 3 Nephi, so I am almost done. Hermana Gonzalez isn't done yet, either. 

But you know who is done? V! He started on Saturday and finished reading it (for the second time, I might add) on Wednesday. He is like the best investigator ever. And you know what else? He went to 4 out of the 5 sessions of conference! The only one he missed was Saturday morning. He was late to all the sessions, but hey, he came and he listened! It was really good. He liked all the sessions but his favorite was definitely Priesthood session. He LOVED President Monson's talk. He kept saying how the other ones were good, but none of them were as good as that talk. I have to watch that one.... He hung out with the Elders during that one. They get along really well. And he even stayed for the potluck between sessions on Sunday. So he got to meet a few people and stuff. That was good. 

But the thing that just breaks my heart is that on Saturday morning we didn't think anyone that spoke Spanish was going to be able to come to that session. But we tried to set it up in Spanish anyways because there was a chance that A or V would show up. But it didn't work the way it had at the other building, where we just plugged a TV into a wall with a special cable and changed the channel. We only could get it in English on the TV. Then, as the conference was starting, A showed up, which was so exciting because it meant he was taking a step of faith that Heavenly Father would bless him that he would be able to watch the session before C got off on her break, which could have been anytime from 1-3:30 (the session was at 12 here). We were so excited and so was he because he watched a bit of the last conference and loved it, but us and the Elders tried and tried to get in Spanish and we couldn't. And he doesn't speak enough English to get much out of watching it in English, so he just had to go home. We were all about to cry, us and him. It was SO sad! Then for the rest of the sessions we were able to find a member to go get their laptop to stream it from the internet. But it was SO sad to have to send him away, after he had shown so much faith and sacrificed to get there! And it turns out that C didn't get on break until after the session ended, so it would have been perfect. And he couldn't make it to any of the other sessions because C was home and she doesn't let him to go to church and it causes a lot of problems between them. He wants to get baptized and do everything right and he has changed SO much to do it, but she doesn't even care that it is making him a better person. Her friends are like, "Wow, that is so cool that A doesn't drink anymore! It must be so nice." And she is just like, "It doesn't matter. The only difference is that we don't have a bunch of his dumb friends over anymore." And he's really been working on his temper as well and he has come like miles from where he was and she doesn't care about that, either. It just really bothers me how controlling she is. Sorry. 

We went over Saturday night to see if he could go to the Priesthood session, but he couldn't. But we did talk to him and I really think he is almost ready to choose. Prayers have really been helping him. We've been praying for him as a district but it would help if you guys could continue to pray for him, too. He is SO close. 

And V didn't even watch it in Spanish. He liked it better in English, although he still put the headphones around his neck and pretended to wear them. But It was really good for him that he came. He is receiving answers a little bit at a time. Some from reading the Book of Mormon again, some more from Conference, a bunch from Priesthood session apparently, and of course other times as well. He pretty much does everything like a member. He comes to everything, he reads the scriptures more than most people do, he came to almost every session of Conference, and he just is way cool. He could get baptized whenever he wanted, he just wants to be more sure. Whenever we ask him, he says "Not yet, not yet," and then says some joke or something. But I think he will be baptized in the next month or two, for sure. Hopefully ASAP. 

And I LOVED conference! I thought it was good. I did enjoy Elder Bednar's talk a lot, and I also loved Elder Hales' talk. I just feel like every time he speaks it is so clear and it just helps me feel so close to Christ. He is starting to be one of the favorites. I had never noticed his talks much before, but when I listen to them I can just feel his conviction. All the talks were good though! And I think it is way cool that people got to speak in their native languages for their talks. Since I got on my mission I had always wondered why they didn't let people do that, but I guess it would have been hard with the technology and stuff. But I loved it, and so did V and Hermana Gonzalez (of course). I thought Pres. Uchtdorf's comment was funny, about when people asked him if he would speak in German and he said, "No, but it may sound like it!"

I will send more about the Book of Mormon read-a-thon next week! But something I will say is that I have loved reading it fast like this! Things that I never understood before (especially about the various people - Zoramites, People of Zarahemla, Jaredites, Anti-Nephi-Lehies, etc.) have been a lot clearer. Also, I notice more. Like for instance, I've always loved the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, but until this time I never understood how culturally different they were from the Nephites. It is really cool how my mission has helped me realize that. Before my mission I never really understood how much of a difference culture makes in your life, whether they were born in the USA or not, Hispanics are culturally different than Americans, and same with all the other cultures I've met here. They were differences I never noticed before (not just because I lived in Utah which is not very culturally diverse, but partly). Mostly just from learning about one specific culture I have noticed that there seem to be characteristics that they all have that I thought were personal characteristics but actually come from their culture. It was just one cool little insight I had while reading; just paying attention to cultures a little bit more. 

Well, I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! Thanks for the letters you've been sending me and all the excellent support you have been giving me! I appreciate it so much and I will try to write back. If I don't, don't hate me... It isn't because I don't love you. Have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Hermana Emily Pratt