And probably getting gorgeously tan in summer‏

 The Pioneer Day picnic with Elena

 Sometimes In and Out is a tender mercy, especially when the closest one is out of your area

Riding into the sunset

And by gorgeously tan I mean gorgeous tan lines. It has been hot this week! And that means that we were out in it. We have been slathering on the sunscreen and drinking a lot of water, and also enjoying watermelon at every chance we get. Fortunately people feel a little bit bad for us and so will at least give us a bottle of water when we knock on their doors even if they don't let us in. And so the work continues.

We had a full week, starting with a family home evening with our recent convert Lorena and her family. They also invited our branch president and his family and another family from the ward so it was a full house. We did an activity about the iron rod, where the challenge was to hold on to the rod while blindfolded and make it to the end while not listening to any tempting voices, aka Presidente Tehuitzil and Hno Meza. It was a good object lesson, and was a good way to show
that the Lord has given us His word, and we need to follow it, no matter what everyone around us is saying. Then of course there was food afterwards, tamales, various salads, and almost every type of dessert imaginable. There were tons of left overs, and so of course the missionaries benefited from that.

Another highlight from the week was interviews with our mission president. I love that every three months or so we have the blessing of spending one on one time with this man. He is honestly one of the most loving men I have ever met. You can tell that he cares about each and every missionary in the mission and wants the best for them. I also was able to spend a little time talking to Hermana Villanueva. We talked about her family and experiences from her mission.

And then there was the Pioneer Day picnic on Saturday. We brought Elena, and she loved it. It was an interesting mix of people because the stake has 2 Spanish congregations, the Samoan congregation, a Chinese ward, a Korean ward, and then various English congregations. So what that meant was a lot of people, and a lot different types of food. I love the diversity of Southern California, and I love meeting and talking to all of the different people that have been brought
together by the gospel. It really is a unifying factor no matter where you are or what language you speak.

Then of course there are the investigators. Elena is loving everything we are teaching her, and can't wait to get her drivers license (she's taking the test today, pray for her!) so that she can come to
activities and give rides to all the Hermanas. She can see the difference the gospel is making in her life, even though she is making sacrifices. We also started teaching the sweetest little girl named
Yuri. She's nine years old, but hasn't been baptized yet because her mom doesn't come to church. But Yuri loves church and the gospel and so comes to church with her grandma every week. She honestly knows so much about the gospel, and has so much faith. We asked her when she wanted to get baptized and she said as soon as possible, and so we set a date with her for the 31 of July. And knowing her she will be completely ready!

I hope this week finds all of you healthy, happy and staying out of the heat!

Hermana Christensen