EMILY'S RANDOMNESS

This is a picture of a finding activity we did. We set up a table at a flea market and it had 

a bunch of pamphlets and DVD's and Books of Mormon and stuff. The picture is our district 

(Except it might be missing one companionship of Hermana's) and the Zone Leaders came too. 

Zoomed in shot of Emily

So you probably can't tell, but this spider is ridiculously large. 

Like with it's legs spread out, it was at least as big as my palm. Probably bigger. 

We found it tracting, in front of someone's door. That's terrible. 

So this week lots has happened. It has been a week of finding new investigators, according to our mission president. It was like a competition thing. We kind of failed miserably, but it was for good reason. We already had a bunch of appointments with our other investigators and a lot of stuff to do. One day we had sister's meeting, which was pretty fun. I didn't get much in the clothing exchange. Like one shirt and one blazer that I realized afterwards is dry clean only. It is super cute though, so I might keep it anyways.

For the past few weeks our car has been telling us to "service airbag." So last week we took it in and they told us that we had to set up an appointment for that. They also told us that until that light goes off, the airbags won't go off, even if we wreck or anything. So this morning we took the car up to Henrico, which is out of our area - but we had permission. Our District leader Elder Pedraza and his companion Elder Steiner followed us up there and drove us back home and we're spending P day with the sisters we live with. And the Elders will probably drive us back to pick up the car whenever it is done. We don't really know what is happening yet. Oh, speaking of Elder Pedraza, he's Mexican, so we've been learning lots of Spanish from him. Which is good because I need to practice more. 

So we have one family that is set for baptism on the 28th of this month. The Mom, Ana has 3 kids (actually she has a lot but we're only teaching 3), Alan, who is 18, Dina, 17, and Brian, 14. Alan didn't come to church this week, so we have to push his date back again. We've moved them back a couple of times. But Dina and Brian at least are ready to move on, regardless of if Ana or Alan are with them. But Ana is pretty solid right now, so we're hoping it stays that way. 

Also, one of our other Investigators, Elba, we set a date for October 26th. She is super cool and so nice. She has a daughter, Corina, who is 13, who is also great. She hasn't set a date yet, but we're hoping that now that her mom has, she'll follow.

So crazy experience last Wednesday. We were at District Meeting, and as soon as it ended one of our investigators, C calls us and tells us that they have her mother and brother hostage in Guatemala and they are going to kill them if they don't pay them money. We called the bishop and stuff and referred it to him, but there isn't really anything anyone can do. We told it to Elder Pedraza and he's like, "Yeah, that happens all the time in Central America. There isn't really anything you can do. If you pay them, they just take your family another time and ask for more. If not, they just kill your family." He like wasn't even surprised. Man, that is terrible! The second coming should just happen so all that can stop. 

I miss hiking in the mountains. I could go hiking here, if my companion wanted to come with me, and if I wanted a million ticks and Lyme disease and stuff. It is super pretty. I want to sometime, there just isn't really any good time. 

I have to sing a lot on the mission. We start every lesson and companionship study and stuff with a hymn. I've decided I might want to like take voice lessons or something when I get back maybe, and improve my voice. It could definitely use it. Too bad it will be too late. Maybe I will just stand on street corners and sing and attract myself a husband that way. 

So, the other day I made a pun. In Spanish. I was really excited. As you might imagine. I miss puns. No one ever laughs when I make puns. They just look at me like I'm a freak. But it's fine. I'll never stop making puns.

Yesterday I read the story of Saul/Paul being converted and it is super great! I would recommend it. Also, me and Hermana Chambers (who is from Kansas City, Kansas, ps) have started reading a section or two from D&C during our companionship study and I like that a lot because we just get to talk about the Gospel and read stuff and all that goodness. 

P.S. you know what is funny? Saying goodbye to a hispanic. Every time, they try to slip in as many goodbye's as possible. You can't just say goodbye and leave. It's always like, Bye, take care, have a good day, we love you, see you later, bye.  So yeah. Hispanics are hilarious. It doesn't even matter what country they are from, they all do the same things. But anyways. Bye, take care, have a good day, we love you, see you later, bye. Love you!

Hermana Pratt and Hermana Chambers (companions as of last week)

This one is Hermana Pratt, Hermana Williams, Hermana Brown (previous companions), 

with a recent convert named Norma Munoz. She is awesome.

This is humorous because it says "human hair"...

Then there's a picture of that filthy large spider that wasn't really dead. 

That's a quarter next to it.

Hermana Williams (former companion) sitting on "Nessie." 

The Elder's decorated a room for Hermana Brown's birthday 

and we put all the balloons into a Nessie shape. 

So I had an extremely cool experience with prayer the other night. We had just taught the Matamoros about prayer, and how to recognize the Spirit and stuff, and as I went home and prayed, I prayed for something that I've been praying for every night for a long time and I finally got an answer. It was extremely powerful and strong and it was a huge testimony builder. I won't go into specifics now.

Also, the night before, I had a really unfortunate dream and woke up and was really scared for a little while and then suddenly the image of Julie came into my head and I could feel her presence and I know she was there. And I knew no sort of evil could stand up to her wonderful and feisty little spirit. I don't know why she came to me, but she did and comforted me and in the prayer that I mentioned I asked God and thanked him for it, and I got a very strong confirmation that he had sent her to me in that moment. And it was a big confirmation to me that the church is definitely true. Julie is still doing the Lord's work!

I'm so glad I have this time to serve the Lord and do so much to advance his kingdom! Last night before bed I watched the talk "Of Regrets and Resolutions" By Dieter F Uchtdorf. It was a fantastic talk. And it was very good and I want to avoid the three main regrets that people mentioned. My biggest one is that I often anticipate the end more than just living in the moment. Sometimes I feel like I am just doing something with the anticipation of the end in mind. I sometimes get anxious, especially if we have somewhere to be or something to do, and don't enjoy the moment like I should. Especially with my mission. Not that I'm not enjoying the moment, but I feel like I think things like, "Well, when I get home, I'm going to do this..." Or, "After my mission this is going to happen." Not that those are terrible things to do, but sometimes I feel like it draws me away from what is happening now and I just don't enjoy or concentrate on what is happening now. That is definitely something I need to work on. He shared the analogy of him and his wife riding bikes and how you don't go on bike rides just so you can get home or be the fastest or whatever. You go to enjoy the journey and the company of friends. He is funnier than that, but yeah. 

Well, I'm running out of time again. I better wrap it up. But thank you for all the wonderful encouragement and things! You are all the best!

Love, Hermana Pratt

Rain and the Gift of Tongues!

Hola! How is everyone? 

It rains REALLY HARD here. Like I've never seen it rain in Utah like it does here. A week or two ago, we were driving to an appointment in La Mancha (It isn't actually called that, it is just a nickname because it is sort of a dangerous place and has tons of people) and it started POURING. And I don't use the word lightly. For like twenty minutes it was dumping buckets of water everywhere. Like on the way to the door I moved my umbrella for literally about two seconds to step inside the house and was soaked. I felt bad dripping all over her floor. Of course we had to get out of the car and make it to the house. I had my bag on my lap as I prepared to get out and I forced opened my umbrella and stepped out of the car into about 8 inches of water (my poor shoes) and.... My bag strap came undone. And it also fell into the water. I had it out in like one second, but the damage was done. So that was a little of my expenses that you mentioned. Luckily though, my scriptures were somehow protected. I don't know how, because everything else was wet and it's not like the cloth case I have protected it. Everything else got wet except my scriptures and my hymnbook (Actually that got a bit wet too, but not enough to do much damage). And my camera, but that was in a more protected spot. It was cool. But now my bag smells weird. I'm going to try to do something with it, because I like that bag better. 

Yes, I've played the piano a few times since I've been here. Not much, but I have.

I got transferred last week. I am still in the same ward (actually all three of us are) but a different area and with a different companion. Now I am just in a duo. My companion now is called Hermana Chambers. She is awesome She has only been out one transfer longer than me. As you can imagine, the Spanish gets very... Creative. And we don't have a lot of experience with what to do all the time, so we call the other missionaries lots. But it does really help us rely on the Spirit a lot more. I think I'm going to learn lots this transfer.

But my companion is great! She is 20, and we have a lot more in common than my last companionship. I loved them, but we had absolutely nothing in common. There was a 7 year age gap between us all, and Hermana Brown had been married at one point and had had a career going and stuff, and Hermana Williams was very into like extreme sports and had been in college and stuff, but Hermana Chambers and I have much more in common. She's cool.

On Sunday we went to go have a lesson with the Matamoros: Allen, Brian, and Dina, who have a baptismal date set for the 20th of this month, but their older sister Ana was there, and she's never been taught. She also had a friend, Jose, with her. But she was SUPER interested and asking tons of questions and learned lots and Jose was too. So we got 2 awesome new investigators who are both super prepared! It is amazing how much God knows his children. And also in that lesson, Dina, who is 17, asked when she could go on a mission because she thinks it would be an awesome thing to do. and yesterday we saw her again and taught her about missionary work, which was cool, because we actually went to teach their mom (who is also named Ana) but she was in the shower. For like 40 minutes. But Dina was super interested and was getting excited and stuff and it was great!

Oh and my address changed, ps. It is now 8742 Shadymist Dr, Richmond 23235. I think. You should look it up to be sure, maybe, but I think it is in Richmond. We live in a blue house. Remember that one old show that I used to watch, Bear in the Big Blue House? I have thought of that more, since my house has been blue. It is a pretty nice house though. I haven't even found any massive spiders or anything. 

I have definitely been receiving the gift of tongues since I've been in this companionship. It is super crazy to hear these words just like coming out of my mouth. Everyone is always like super shocked by when I tell them I've only been learning Spanish for 3 months. I tell them the truth, that there's no way I could do it without God's help. But it is pretty funny to see the looks on people faces when we are like store contacting or anything and we are speaking Spanish to each other or when we talk to Hispanics we find and they do this like incredulous little double take, like, "What's with these super white girls speaking Spanish?"

We teach the Matamoros kids in English, because they speak better English than we do Spanish, and when we taught Ana (I'm just going to call her Ana the younger from now on) and told her we speak Spanish, she was like, "Oh, that's cool..." and kind of moved on. Then later her mom came in and we were speaking Spanish to her and after she left Ana the younger had this like shocked look on her face and said, "Wow, you really do speak Spanish! I didn't believe you. I haven't really seen any Americans that know Spanish." It was funny.

I'm working on the money thing, but it is difficult with transfers and stuff and now we're in an area where people feed us even less. I haven't had any member dinners in almost two weeks. So I have to buy contact solution and soap and hairspray and laundry stuff and all my food on top of those things which most areas don't have to do. However, it does mean I don't gain as much weight. People in some areas gain like 30 pounds because they get fed twice a day. And there is no such thing as healthy hispanic food. Everything is fried. Even like noodles, I think they cook in oil. And you don't really get any veggies. There are some really... Interesting things we get fed. Well, not really anything way crazy yet, but some things that are just not that good. Like tamales. No me gusta. But we get fed them lots. Ew. But then some things are amazing and you could eat them all day. Like pupusas. They are awesome. If you ever get offered pupusas, especially like real El Salvadorian pupusas, don't turn it down. 

Well, I better go. Have a great day! The church is true! it is the best! I've been reading the Old Testament along with Jesus the Christ and it is SO GOOD. I definitely recommend it. Adios!

Hermana Emily Pratt

Spiders & Visions

So remember our pet spider Frederick? Well, he disappeared. Let me tell you the story.

So I was eating my lunch of tomato soup (go figure) and Hermana Williams was downstairs for some reason and she makes a weird noise so I was like, "What's wrong?" and she's like, "There is something really big down here and I think it is a spider." I don't know if I told you guys, but this house used to be infested with really freakishly large spiders because the house was uninhabited for like 3 years.

So I ran downstairs and sure enough, curled up on the floor on its back looking dead was this MASSIVE brown spider. I took a picture, but I forgot my camera today so I'll show you next week. Curled up it was as big as a quarter. We went back upstairs and then I was driven by some morbid curiosity to go look at it again. So I went to look at it and I blew on it and it's legs moved a little. Now, I didn't want to smash it because:

1. I didn't have shoes on and 

2. We wanted Hermana Brown to come identify it to see if it was the same type of spider.

And anyways, I just figured it was like a death spasm. but just in case, Hermana Williams suggested that we put a container over it, so we did.

Well, Hermana Brown identified it and then left it there and later I went down there to look at it again (I find spiders interesting) and it was back on its stomach. I moved the container and touched the spider with it and it didn't really move, so I put it back and grabbed the lid and then very hurriedly scooped it up and put the lid on. It was mostly dead and indeed died like two hours later, but I was just looking at it and playing with it and it was SO LARGE. 

Then it was suggested to feed it to Frederick, so we opened the window from the top and Frederick didn't move in his web. I looked away for a second and grabbed the container and dumped the big spider in and shut the window and Frederick was gone! It only took about three seconds, I don't know where he would have gone. Sad day. But not that sad because it is just a spider.

Anyways. 

Yeah, we had another lesson by Sister .. yesterday. But luckily there was minimal false doctrine preached today. She did make one of our recent converts cry though because she is a single mom and basically said you have to be married to get anywhere near the celestial kingdom. And then at the end she started telling us about a vision she had about Judgement and how Satan is going to be there telling people that the Plan of Salvation didn't work, but I believe that was the only false doctrine preached. 

It is amazing how many people in this ward say they've had visions. Like everyone in every lesson we teach or they are teaching is like, "I had a vision!" and they say it super dramatically and then usually go into this weird thing that they supposedly saw. It is strange. But you know what, if the vision tells them that the church is true, it works right? 

One kind of cool experience though. There is a woman named Maria Ramos that is an investigator of ours, she told us about this dream she had that was basically Lehi's dream about the tree of life. We read it to her out of the Book of Mormon and showed her a picture and she's like, "Yes! That was my dream!"

And then she started telling us about how she sees things sometimes before they happen. Like she was in her kitchen the other day, and she saw a bowl of rice that was on the counter, and she had a thought that it was going to fall. And then it fell. And we're just like, "...Ooookay. Well that dream about the tree, that's cool, huh?" And she sort of thinks she's a prophetess. But we're working on it.

So Enrique, our guy who was going to be baptized on the 31st, was in New York for 2 weeks and then yesterday he texted us and told us sorry, but he is moving there. But he's going to give us his address so we can send him missionaries there. But too bad I don't get to finish teaching him. He is golden, too. Oh well. 

Oh also transfers are this week. We hear whether we are staying here or moving tomorrow. Who knows. But I've almost survived a whole transfer! That's exciting.

I have been enjoying the mission more and more every day! Thank you so much for your support and love! I hear about so many missionaries home stories, being companions with the sister training leaders,and I have it awesome.  Have a great day!

Ward differences....

We got fed three times this week, which is way more than normal. It is all thanks to the Elders in my district. They took the food calendar around and acted super pathetic like they were starving and everyone was like, "Aww, pobrecitos!" (Poor things!) and now like a bunch of people signed up. But still it isn't as much as a lot of places. A lot of areas get fed at least once a day. Which I actually don't think I would want. But still.

Prayers really do work Dad! That is a great testimony builder. I have a similar experience here. I hate it when it is just so hot and stuff, so I've been praying for it to cool down and to rain lots and stuff and it has been probably only like 70 degrees for the most part and raining a little every day for the past week - ever since I started praying for it! Sweet, huh?

Want to hear a story? I thought so. 

So our ward is crazy. And it like runs on missionaries. For some reason, the bishop only trusts like a few families. There are like ten people that have like 5 callings and give all the talks and prayers (Also missionaries do every week) and then like thirty or so active, great people that really need a calling or something to do and have nothing. It is weird. Oh and the Bishop barely speaks Spanish, he is American.

But anyways. So this crazy white lady that doesn't speak Spanish that is only in the ward because her husband is the ward clerk is a Relief Society teacher. Now, relief society has some very... Interesting teachers. One of the lessons, for instance went like this: She started out by saying she hadn't read the lesson. She started the lesson, then a little ways in she asked, "How many of you actually read the lesson?" And nobody raised their hand, and she started fake crying, and started like chastising everyone because she couldn't believe she had to teach such unrighteous people. She was like, "I have read this whole book and I am so close to the Lord because of it. I call you all to repentance!" 

And so on and so forth. That is a typical lesson for this teacher.

Now, back to (The white lady). 

So the lesson was on this great talk from last general conference by Elder Bednar, called "We Believe in being Chaste."

She started out the lesson by showing people the STD pamphlets she had brought because she used to teach teenagers about this and stuff and telling people to take them so they could give them to every youth they knew pretty much and "educate them."

Oh, PS, Hermana Brown was translating this into Spanish for her as she was talking, so be sure that I did not misunderstand. Unfortunately.

Then, she started talking about Adam and Eve. And she went into this hypothetical thing, saying, "If Adam and Eve and been able to have children in the Garden of Eden, they would have gotten back to Heavenly Father, right?" and everyone sort of just like mumbled and Sister Jones was like, "So whose plan was it that everyone get back to live with Heavenly Father? Whose plan?" And everyone was just like, "...God's plan?" And she's like, "No! That's Satan's plan! Satan wanted everyone to get back to live with God in the Celestial kingdom!"

So there was some nice false doctrine going on (poor Hermana Brown was doing her best to subtly signal that this was wrong) and then Sister Jones started like ranting about the youth, and how boys are scum ("Every boy with go as far as the girl lets him go!") and stuff, and how parents don't know what their children are doing, and how they are just always trying to get away from their parents so they can hang out with boys and horrible things always happen.

Then she like calls out this guy by name. This poor kid that just left on his mission to Brazil, and she was like, "You all know him, he spoke in Stake Conference last month.  He came up to my daughter at a school dance and asked her if she wanted to go make out." Now, I don't believe this at all because her daughter is extremely shy and not that type of person at all. I doubt she was even at a dance, that's not really the type of thing she likes to do. 

Then she starts going off about how girls need to go to college with a useful major and not go to college to get married and waste your money and get an "MRS degree" because if they do that, they are just going to end up pregnant and on welfare every time. 

So yeah, that is a typical lesson for her. 

...

Well, at least we know everyone that comes must be REALLY faithful. 

But anyways, I'm running out of time. We hope to have another person on date soon, we're just waiting for her to get married to her less active (He's coming back now though) husband. They were waiting on his mom to be able to get papers to come here, and they brought her to church yesterday!! So hopefully on tuesday she'll tell us their ready to get married and baptized. Her name is Paty, by the way. She wants to get baptized so bad. She has been waiting so long for it and just waiting on Rafael and his mom and hopefully she'll finally be able to set a date!

Well, the church is still true. Love you all! Have a great day!

Hermana Emily Ann Pratt

My Schedule and other little tidbits

I've heard Utah is having like the hottest summer ever. Is it true? It can't be as hot as here though. Actually on the days it rains it isn't super hot (except it is) but on the days it doesn't it just makes you want to melt. 

Yes, there are tons of Subways (the fast food place) here. They are usually smaller, not as many stand-alone buildings, but they are still everywhere you look. In any place you could ever possibly want a sandwich, they put a subway. Actually, that's a lie. But if you want to eat a sandwich every mile or so you drive, Subway's got it covered.

Hahaha that is so funny with the bees! Dad, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to side with Mom on her version of the story, despite your Knight and Day references. I can't remember half of the things you mention. My memories of everything like that are slipping. Including my memory of how to speak English (I just tried to spell that Inglish), which is bothering me. Things should just be spelled phonetically. I do agree that bees are filth though. They have ridiculously large and filthy colored ones here. Like black and red ones with their abdomens separated from their thoraxes with filthy strings of filth connecting them.

There is another spider that lives on our garage door that is also ridiculously large. It is kind of shaped like Frederick, but like three times bigger. We named it Kohor. And I imagine it speaking in the voice that Kohor has in the Testaments, trying to entice bugs into the house of Kohor. And then he eats them. It is such a large spider. But apparently not as large as the ones that infested the house before I got there. From what Hermana Brown describes, I think they were Brown Recluses. The house was uninhabited for 3 years before the missionaries started living in it. There was all sorts of terrors lurking there.

Thursday was car-fast day for the mission. We got a member to drive us to one appointment, but then she had to go somewhere so she dropped us off to visit someone like three miles from our house. They weren't home. So we walked all the way home in the blistering heat on roads with no sidewalks. I thought for sure I was going to get run over. Then we walked to a family's house who are in El Salvador for a few weeks and we're taking care of their plants and back. That was another mile or two. Lovely. I had zero liquid in my bones. Oh well. Who needs it?

So you said you wanted to know my daily routine, right? Well, here it is. 

I get up at 6:30 (ugh), exercise (well actually I'm not usually awake enough to do anything so I just do like stretches and stuff and sometimes sit ups) and then shower and stuff. We do personal study for an hour, companionship study for two hours because I'm getting trained (normally it is one hour) and then language study, then lunch. Then we go to various appointments/stalk referrals we got because it is harder to just tract out hispanics in America. Luckily my area has lots. But still. 

Then if we have time we go home for dinner, if not we just usually skip it because we don't have that much food. Unless we have a member dinner, which is often extremely unpredictable if it isn't scheduled. We only get like four or five a month, which is pretty low for our mission. It seems like people usually only feed us on the days we already ate stuff at our house. Every time. 

That is another problem. Our budget they give us for food and stuff is with the expectation that we get fed a lot more than we actually do, so we never have enough money in this area.  I have enough for food, but nothing else. Like soap and those other luxuries. Oh well. 

Then we usually come back and plan for the next day and go to bed. Lovely, isn't it?

So turns out that baby was named after me.  They blessed her yesterday and when I heard the name I just got the biggest smirk mid-prayer, sitting all by myself. I was sitting by someone, but they had to leave for something. 

The church is true! It is the best to help other people see it too :) I've been reading Jesus the Christ and it is fantastic to learn more about Him and His life. I've also started reading the New Testament today.  It is great.

Oh ps I have like two minutes left but all of you go read/listen to "They Saw Our Day." It is soooo crazy and it gives me goosebumps! It is about Indian tribes and various other people who have predictions of our day and like the second coming and histories and stuff and it is crazy cool. It is from a Mormon but given to non Mormon audiences so he doesn't actually relate it to the Book of Mormon but it totally is.

Love you all! Buenos Dias!

Hermana Pratt

Emily and Osman, Sofia and their daughter Michelle.  They are recent converts/ward missionaries

 that they visit a lot.  They are Kenyn's parents (see previous post)

Hermana Stoddard and a lion statue

Another Lion statue!

This week we've taught some lessons. I'm feeling more confident about my Spanish so I try to talk a little more. It doesn't always go well, but I'm working on it. When people ask me things I always have to ask them to repeat it and I understand them about half the time. Which is pretty good, I think.

Not a ton has happened. We taught Enrique the word of wisdom and he loved it! He told us he doesn't drink much, and he doesn't smoke except when his friends offer him one, but he says he'll stop that. He also doesn't drink soda, which is really unusual for a Hispanic. They all come from countries where you can't drink the water so they think you shouldn't drink it here either so they mostly drink soda and juice. But still. It's good. He's going to be out of town for two weeks, so we moved his date to the 31st of August. 

I love studying the scriptures! The past few days I've read 3rd and 4th Nephi, Mormon, and most of Ether today. It is really sad but also really interesting to see how much the cycle accelerated all the sudden because the Nephites turned away from God. Don't do that. But I loved reading about Christ (always) and like the 3 Nephites and stuff. Crazy to think about.

This is right by Martin's house. He is super cool. He's a member that was less active for a little while but now he's back and he is hilarious. It is tradition for all the missionaries to take their picture next to it. I don't think the people in that house know about it...

Lovely seahorse statue - there are a million weird lawn statues here

 So we have a problem with our sink. And our dishwasher. Whenever we use one, the other one backs up. This time though, my companions were at a meeting because they are the sister training leaders and I was with the English sisters we live with and one of them put dish soap in the dishwasher instead of dishwasher soap. Fail.

The second one is the front of the thing on our key ring to the church. 

the other one is the back. In case you can't tell, someone is running over a baby with a lawnmower and its foot is being hacked off. Isn't that something you'd want to have on your key ring?

Who knew otters climbed? Not me. 

Feeding a giraffe at the zoo!

                                               I was talking to a parrot. It was talking back.

This is Kenyn. He is five and one of the most adorable little kids ever. We gave him our nametags and he put them all on and was so proud of himself and had the biggest grin on his face. He is very funny. He knows a bit of english but mostly Spanish so it is funny to hear him speak English because they are just random phrases he learned from his brother Daniel who we teach in English or from TV. His parents are awesome too.