Hello, hello family!
Sorry my email last week was so short, I just have no time to write! But I will try my best to make up for it.
I feel like I haven't really given you a feel for where I am. We live in Redlands and cover all of Highland, Loma Linda, part of San Bernardino, and the single women in Redlands and Mentone. So... our area is HUGE! I'm still struggling to recognize the streets and where I'm going and how to get there. Thank goodness my companion has a GPS because I'd be so lost without that thing.
I forgot to mention to you that I had the lovely opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting last Sunday, they asked me to speak for 7-8 minutes just sharing my testimony of missionary work. So that's what I did! I shared an experience that I had in my very first area (Fontana) where I knew NOTHING about being a missionary but how I was led by Heavenly Father to be where I needed to be right at the exact time I needed to be there to help a family.
We got to do exchanges a few times this transfer, I got to spend a day with Hermana Jepperson, Hermana Eardley and Hermana Ramos, all of which are amazing sisters! I am really hoping that one day Hermana Jepperson and I get to be companions, but that's for the Lord to decide. Hermana Eardley is headed to Panama this week, she came to California to wait for her visa and it came so she's off! Glad I got to meet her and spend some time with her though. And Hermana Ramos is brand new to the mission and it reminded me a lot of how I felt at the beginning and how hard it was for me to learn Spanish. But she's so great and she got baptized when she was 18 too so we got to swap stories :) I am very very lucky to get to meet all these great sisters.
I also got to have an interview with our mission president, President Van Cott the other day. Usually he interviews every missionary once every 4 months or so but I'm a few months behind. Luckily he had time to have me in for an interview and it was so good to get some input on how I'm doing, how I can do better, how I've changed and how I can improve more. I really lucked out as far as mission presidents go! President Van Cott is such a great man and he teaches us so much about the scriptures and conversion, he has sacrificed so much to come here and serve as a mission president and his family gives so much of their time to help and support us. Serving in Redlands is great because I'm so close to them and get to see them more often. Today for example, our zone went to their house for an activity and we just did crafts, played with the pool table, played volleyball, ping pong, basketball, ate ice cream, all kinds of stuff! Sister Van Cott is so great and so loving and takes such good care of us :)
Anyway, this week has been great, as always. We are working hard and trying to make a difference here in our gigantic area. I feel like we're doing a good job of touching the hearts that we can but of course we could always do better. I love this area and I know that as I get more and more familiar with it I'll love it even more!
On Tuesday Hermana Lauaki-Sablan went to a meeting so she was gone for a pretty big chunk of the day so I stayed here and worked with a member named Kaytlin who just got home from her mission not too long ago, she served in Chile and was excited to come out with me for the day and practice her Spanish! I was so glad she was able to come spend the day with me so that we could go visit the members and investigators in our area while Hermana Lauaki-Sablan was gone. Then that afternoon we taught an English class.
Every Tuesday we teach English classes at Family Services which is just a community center here in Redlands. It's not affiliated with the Church so we can't bring religion into it at all but it's so fun to get to meet new people and help them learn. And I think it's really great that there are community centers like this one that have such great opportunities and free classes and meals for those in need. We get to do a lot of service activities there!
Oh and it rained like CRAZY this week! Mostly Wednesday and Thursday I think were the days that it rained the hardest. I almost didn't know what to do with myself, I'm so not used to that! But I got to break out the rain jacket which was exciting :) And it was good because boy, does California need the rain! I hope Arizona got some too!
We're still trying really hard to find new people to teach. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to find people in all the area that we have but it's still challenging. But I know that as we keep working hard and try to do what the Lord would have us do, we will be in the right place at the right time to find those that are looking for the gospel right now.
Well I feel like my fingers are going to fall off by now but I hope this makes up for my short emails these past couple weeks, I love you all and wish you could be here experiencing all these amazing things with me! Hope you all got the chance to watch that video He is the Gift. I loved it and we've gotten to share it with a lot of people lately! I love and miss you all and I'm so excited to see/talk to you on Christmas!
Love,
Hermana Granado
I keep wanting to send this but just forget. The Phoenix temple was finished and the open house was a success so it was time for the cultural celebration and dedication! A lot of the youth around Phoenix got to prepare and practice then perform dances and different things as a cultural celebration. The prophet and some others went to Phoenix and were there to enjoy the celebration by the youth. Then the Prophet, President Thomas Monson dedicated the temple which basically means he said a prayer and dedicated the building to the Lord. So from that time forth it will be used for special ordinances, like all the other temples. Here is a little short video of the cultural celebration and dedication and it explains a little more, probably better than I can.
Also, this weekend there was a Christmas devotional! I didn't get to watch it this year but I've seen it a few times and it's always so good! here's a link if you'd like to see it!
