1st week in San Jose

Tomorrow we get to video chat with her! We are all very excited.

Here is how her first week in the mission field went:

Hola mi familia y amigos de San Jose California!

I would like to start out from arriving here in San Jose because I have a lot to say and not that much time to say it.

Right after our 2 hour flight to San Jose my mission president, President Mella and his wife picked us up and took us to lunch at Olive Garden. We were able to talk about what we would be doing for the rest of the day and also about the mission. After lunch we had some boring orientation and safety stuff to do and then we got to go to dinner at the Mella's home. They had this adorable golden retriever who totally reminded me of Sundance because of the way he acted. I was so happy to be able to pet an animal again! We were able to watch "Meet the Mormons" as well. Which was pretty cool because it was only first day in the mission and I got to watch TV!

The president had us take a video of ourselves so that we can watch it on our last day here! That will be cool to see in a year and a half! Except I was crying the whole time!

The next day I got my companion and my area! Her name is Hermana Killian (she's Irish... like her ancestors are not like she was born there)! I am in Menlo Park! It is a pretty beautiful place, even though it is a huge city! We first planned our day and then went out to various appointments. It was raining all day! Poor Hermana Killian's feet were soaked through! Luckily I wore my boots! I got to meet Isabel who is a less active with 3 little boys! She was so sweet! Also I go to to meet Humberto who is a recent convert who has an amazing testimony of the gospel! He is really funny and teases Hermana Killian a lot! We also contacted one man named Osmand (we think) but we haven't been able to see him since because he hasn't been home. He is from Guatemala!

One embarrassing moment that I have gotten over now, so I will share it is that I peed my pants! Or my dress... It was terrible! Hermana Killian was in the bathroom and all of a sudden I had to go! I hope you all get a laugh out of this! It was so embarrassing because it was only my second day knowing her! But she was totally cool with it. She even apologized for hogging the bathroom! She is great!

We met a cute older lady who is German and moved to Chili when she was little! She was so happy to find out that I was German too! I got to meet Hermana Killian's most recent convert who she taught, Arturo! He is so awesome and funny! I wish I could understand what he was saying better!

This day just kept getting better and better because first of all we had trouble with the parking meter not taking our money, just to find out it was past hours that we needed to pay! Then I was texting the wrong Arturo so some random person was getting our texts about where we were going for dinner so Arturo was late! Then we were going to talk to a man who would be waiting for the crosswalk with us and he ran into the street instead... I was happy we didn't kill him! Then we texted Arturo the wrong address, so he was still running late (he was in a small neighborhood walking around... in the dark... alone! I felt so bad!) Then Hermana Killian walked in on someone in the bathroom! Then I found out that the word that one of the Branch Presidency in the MTC that was supposed to mean groovy DID NOT mean groovy! And then our waiter asked us if we wanted Cocaine! Ya that was an interesting day! Arturo said that I was a white Mexican because I didn't know the word for goat so I said Una Chupacabra come estos (A chupacabra eats these). He thought it was cool how I knew what a chupacabra was!

On Saturday we helped Ann Minnie move a couch. All I will say is that she is an interesting person... but that is who Ann is! :)

We met an old man named Jesus who is totally adorable! He has great faith is God! We are going by to visit him and give him the first discussion sometime this week!

We had an amazing ward party! There was Mexican music and dancing! Amazing food! Those paper decorations and piñatas! I had a blast!

On Sunday we had a ward council! I barely understood anything that was going on. But one cool thing that happened was that the English ward had a giving tree to give money to and they raised over $8,000 dollars. They bought a ton of Target and Safeway gift cards for everyone and we get to hand them out to the poorer families in our ward! I can't wait!

I didn't have to speak in Sacrament or anything and that made me happy! We did have to go to two Sacrament meetings because Arturo can only make it to the English meeting at 3. So I got two Christmas programs :)

Humberto fed us dinner last night and we had to eat on the back porch, in the cold because the other lady that lives there wasn't there! It was fun to talk with him though! He taught us how to tie a tie so that we could teach Arturo how.

Well that is all I have time for right now. Hope you have a Merry Christmas, I love you all!