The BEST Christmas Present Ever!

Well, no email from her this week as we got to have our Christmas call! 

We got to see and talk to her on Christmas evening for about 45 minutes. She looks and sounds great. The time went by so quickly and since then I've thought of so many things I wish I'd have said and asked.
Here are a few highlights:

• Her finger does look bad but does seem to be healing. It is still twice the size of normal but the pain is getting better. She goes back next week to the Orthopedic doctor for a checkup.
• She is not homesick! When Itu asked her if she was feeling homesick anymore, she said "Sorry, but no!". There were no tears - even at good-bye - just smiles.

Yep - It's broken!

This week was a busy week! 

Last week I hurt my finger pretty badly playing basketball. I thought I had just jammed it but it kept getting more painful and bruised so finally last Monday the mission nurse and my companion said I needed to go to urgent care.

We drove all over town to find one that would take the mission insurance and we ended up seeing a really great doctor. I found out I have 2 bad breaks and had to see an orthopedic surgeon.

This is my actual x-ray. We saw him Thursday and he didn't like how close the break was to the joint. He said he would have to do surgery if it got worse. Thankfully this morning I found out I won't be needing surgery! I go back on January 3rd to make sure it's still healing and won't require surgery. Can you believe I played sports for this long and now is when I break my bone! Haha.

Other than all that craziness life has been good. We had our ward Christmas party which was fun!  Here I am with my new brace. The doctor said the little splint wasn't enough support.

A lady we are teaching was struggling with coffee and we told her we would have to change the date of her baptism. She got very disappointed and I guess that's the motivation she needed! She gave us her coffee to throw away and she hasn't been drinking since. What a miracle! She has so much faith! 

We got to go to the temple with our recent converts. It was an amazing experience. We did baptisms with 2 Hermana's from the Long Beach mission which was cool. They brought 2 recent converts and it was cool to see how happy everyone was!

 I am excited my next p-day will be Christmas! Looking forward to calling back home! 

Her mailing address is:
Hermana Lily Pita
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Road
Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@myldsmail.net

This is the direct link to her blog.

Broken Finger?

This week was a good week. It rained a lot and we got to tract in the rain which is always an adventure.

 

 I think I might have broken my finger playing basketball. We went to Target to find a splint but they don't carry them so Hermana Edgel got 2 plastic spoons, broke them and they have been a great splint.

I got to go on exchanges and get a new companion for a day (see picture above). We had so much fun. We went to a member's home for dinner and she made real Mexican empanadas. She let us help make some which was fun. 

That night we had a lesson with someone preparing to get baptized. She explained how she was really struggling with her life and knew that she needed to get baptized and wanted to show her love to God but that she was just so discouraged. I was not sure of what to say. I could tell that this young family was going through a lot. It was amazing as my new companion for the day and I taught and talked, the Spirit was very present and God was putting the words into our mouths. It was one of the best lessons we have ever had.

The Church puts on an activity where all different religions come together and have choirs perform and all different nativities are on display from around the world. We got to go and it was very beautiful. 

The work here is great and I am loving it. I hit my 2 month mark and time is flying by! My companion made me chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate.

Thanks for raising me in the ways of the Gospel. Love you so much! 

Her mailing address is:
Hermana Lily Pita
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Road
Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@myldsmail.net


This is the direct link to her blog.

Someone's Knocking on the Door

This week has been a really good one!  We have had a lot of success this week, thankfully. 

Monday I went on exchanges because Hermana Edgel had a leadership meeting. She is the Hermana trainer. I got to go on exchanges in Oxnard. My companion was Sister Rabin. 

It was funny. We were tracting and knocked on a door. We always knock 3 times and then move on. At this particular door, we knocked a third time and then the lady came to the door. She didn't open it but was like "Why are you banging on my door? Do you know what your doing?". We said sorry and moved on.

There was a lady watering her grass and we came up and said "Hi". She started spraying her hose in circles and saying "No, I don't want no witnesses". We go, "Oh we are not Jehovah's Witnesses", and she goes "No, I don't want to be converted". My companion for the day is super goofy and was kind of staying because she wanted to see if she would spray us with the hose. She didn't and we walked away.

 Then, all of the sudden, we see a lady outside the house we knocked who got mad at us, leaning on a broom waiting for us. She points at us from across the street and goes "You two come here now!" We crossed the street nervously. My companion goes "I hope we get run over by a car right now" Haha. We went over and the lady continues to yell and says "Jesus help these sisters! Forgive them". We were apologizing and then she saw our nametags were in Spanish. She told us how her kids are half Hispanic and then we talked about Spanish and became friends and had a good conversation. It was crazy how her heart changed. She actually apologized to us and told us to have a good day. It was very weird but funny.

We had a baptism Friday it was a great day! 

Saturday got to hear from Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the Tweleve Apostles. 

Last Monday a member made us Tamales! They were sweet corn tamales which were awesome. 

I'm excited for this week. Ana, the new member, wants to go to the temple this week to do baptisms. I love you guys so much. Can't wait to email you next week!


Her mailing address is:
Hermana Lily Pita
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Road
Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@myldsmail.net

This is the direct link to her blog.