Knockin trailer parks like it's our job (because it is)

Hola todos!

This week so many odd, hilarious, and inspiring things happened I don't know where to begin. Well first of all I just want to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM on Wednesday! I hope she has the best day ever!! I'm counting on all of you to make her feel like a million bucks so let's do it right.

Second, I'd like to quickly thank the crew. Last pday we played signs with some other missionaries and you guys would've been so proud! I was throwing signs left and right and wow I wasn't even the worst one. So thank you for making me suffer because I've come so far.

Trailer parks are our favorite places because you get all sorts of lovely wackos and you get to talk to soooo many people. It's great. I gave a Book of Mormon out to a drunk guy well let's be real, Hna Meredith did most of the talking. He seemed super interested but told us it's all the booze talkin. I mean everyone needs the gospel, even if you're not totally sure what's going on, right? Also a little disclaimer: the tips I gave last week about being a Hispanic trailer are not 100% reliable. Sometimes an angry white person answers a trailer with Christmas lights or frogs and yells at you. So if any of you ever happen to be knocking a trailer park using our tips and get yelled at, don't blame the Hermanas.

I want you all to meet Leanor. She is an old lady (I don't even know how to guess her age) straight from Spain. We have the pleasure of visiting with her in her nursing home weekly because she is very old, frail, and really doesn't remember much of anything or anyone. She is hilarious and has a voice of a robot. This week she threatened to get a catholic lawyer if our branch president doesn't visit her.

Quick update on George that I talked about last week, he is doing so good! We had really great lessons with him this week. My favorite thing was when he was fumbling through the Book of Mormon and opened to Ether 4:13-14

13 Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief.

14 Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief.

Then he was like, "wow this is a special book, isn't it?"

YES GEORGE IT IS AND YOU SHOULD FOLLOW

Also I had my first zone conference this week and I learned so much for real. I liked when President Barney said "Work smarter, not harder." This is so true becuase sometimes we are working so hard just not it the best ways. I also learned a lot about obedience from the Zone leaders. Someone shared a quote that said, "If you serve out of fear you will find relief, if you serve out of duty you will find peace, but if you serve out of love you will find joy." It is so true! There are so many commandments and rules we are expected to follow but when we serve out of love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ it is so much easier!

I'm feeling so grateful for the knowledge I've had my whole life that somehow I have taken for granted. It's so cool to watch people realize the truth. It's like sit down people, you're about to get your mind blown because God has a plan for you and He even knows you by name.

I have sooooo many funny stories this week but I am out of time :( So I will just share one. This week we had an appointment with a Pentecostal Pastor. We were sitting there and he kept looking at my hands until he finally asked if I was married and I was like lol no way and then he proceeded to ask us all about our previous love lives and if any of the Elders are our boyfriends. We explained that we don't date the Elders. Then he told us about a tradition in El Salvador where you wear an anklet on a certain ankle if you are single or taken (keep in mind this is all in El Salvadorian Spanish and could be translated completely wrong). It was just an odd and not very common conversation and we found it quite hilarious.

Oh and yesterday I bore my testimony in Spanish to real Spanish speakers which was quite terrifying! Also we are trying to get the branch more motivated for Spanish work so I basically asked the whole branch for referrals from the pulpit in Spanish like wut, who am I? I am thinking about it now and I def said a lot of things incorrectly and I was also hiding behind the language because I would've never said that in English but yay for the opportunity to be BOLD!

Quote of the week: okay I have two because I forgot last week.
1. "We can pray I guess" -Hermana Meredith
2. "You know I've seen a lot of pink socks but I've never seen pink pants before." -Sister Barney (during zone conf., while talking about the Elders dress code)

That's all I can fit in one email this week but I hope you all have a happy week full of sharing the gosp!