alrighty. good morn friends and family. this week was crazy. happy Martin Luther King day yesterday. P day was today because all the libraries were closed down yesterday. and since we still dont have ipads, we have to do emailing the old fashioned way and work from computers. some of us have library cards...(gasp!) i dont but others do.

to start off we had an awesome lesson with luz and her family with the crump family. they are awesome but sadly they still drank coffee we learned this yesterday. but they then again realized why its important to follow and keep God's commandments. so hopefully there will be improvement!

went on exchanges after that. i spent tuesday in YSA work. thats tough. its hard trying to look for a certain age group, but these troopers are troopers. i tracked for the first time. eee! it wasnt as scary as i thought. the worst part for me was we went to a mall and tried to contact people there. we usually dont have a hard time finding investigators in our area. they usually come to us. but in YSA its more difficult. so we tried contacting there. i was scared out of my mind. but i dont know why because it wasnt even that bad. im just a pansy.

we also had zone conference this week and i learned how to teach the Restoration in 4 minutes! both in spanish and english!

also we are going to have a spanish conference this week. actually its tomorrow. so all the spanish speaking missionaries are all getting together to have a conference. but thats not all...me and my trainer hermana mendez are actually teaching a class!! what?? about culture and proper etiquette. which is just common sense along with everything hermana mendez taught me...sooo we will see how it goes tomorrow. we made a bunch of funny videos to lighten the mood. its gonna be great.

cute vane our mini missionary that comes out with us sometimes surprised us with pizza, tamales, AND champurrado!!! i love her.

this week was pretty good. luz and her family went to a baptism to see how it is and everything. they liked it. we will be re-putting them on date soon. we also had an investigator come to church! yes! his name is Ramon and his circumstances are sad. he doesnt really have a job but he works at a resteraunt to pay off his food that he gets there. hes so skinny but he was so happy to be at church. and i almost cried. we also had 3 of our less actives come to church after us visiting them! that made me almost cry as well! it was such a good fast sunday on sunday.

so if you remember that on thanksgiving i cried at breakfast because i got to hold a little kitten from Tijuana and we named it Estebien. because with Estebien, everything esta bien (its good), but im so sad to report that he was killed by the members dog soon after. i almost cried again. full of ups and downs. so Estebien is not esta bien. well now he is because he is in kitty heaven.

i also tried arroz con leche for the first time. its like a warm milk with cinnamon and rice. its so good. and then also pan dulce! translates to sweet bread! wow it was so good. ug.

like always this week was full of growing, learning, spiritual experiences, laughs, stress, and love. i am so happy to be here. yesterday was actually my 5 month mark. so ill be here for a while longer. but i am so happy to be here because i love the person i am growing up to be. I am so happy and grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. I love growing my relationship even stronger with my Savior. and I am so happy and blessed to have this sweet gospel in my life.

thank you guys for everything. i love you all so much! i hope you have an awesome week!

 

the best meal to have on an empty stomach

stake conference

smiling through the pain of no jimmy john's

us

me looking like the definition of a sister missionary

sweet family perza flores y vane after arroz con leche y pan dulce

hermana balcazar's first subway...also we have to settle for subway because there is no jimmy john's (tear rolls down cheek)

 

Happy new year !!!

Things i am learning. patience. prayer. love. control. I've been studying how i can better understand myself so i can deal with my weaknesses and strengths better. i refer to my patriarchal blessing and the bible and i love it. I've been learning to let some things go. and how to better use my time and keep tidy.

we are still teaching the less active and her kids that have a baptism date. they wont be baptized this week :( because they aren't ready:( we have been focusing on less actives because when they convert, they have to be converted to the gospel not the church. we've had a hard time finding and teaching other people. but we have a ton of potentials and formers and referrals. we just haven't gotten around to visiting them yet. there's so much to do in such little time. 

just this past Friday an elder i know really well lost his dad. my heart breaks thinking about something happening to you guys. please be so safe or i'll punch them with a strongly worded email. it makes me so sad that the world is tearing apart the family unit. family is so important and special. 

we taught an English class this week. it was awesome because people actually came! its awesome! 

we had to be inside the apartment by 7:30 on new years eve. i was super sad because i didn't get to see the ball drop-_-.  i had tamales on nye and they were super spicy. 

my mission president is awesome. he kinda knows dad so that's cool! 

we had a 15 year old come out with us everyday this week. her name is vane. she's so cute and cant wait to be a missionary!

i miss Bubby. i miss doing things with him. i will do as much as i can when i come home will all of you guys.

i love you so much. thank you for everything.

ooo mom, will you please send me my knitting needles and my yarn? is for fun (nacho)

i miss quoting movies. i used to a ton with this other elder when we would play morning sports, but he moved away. i miss my movies!

i love you so much. you're the best in da whole world (nacho)! time is going by so fast!

have a wonderful week and day! give everyone a big hug and kiss for me!

love, your missionary, kiara 

te amo mucho mamasita!

Christmas Skype with my family