"Wish Fairies?"

The bishop and wife's youngest son is serving a mission in Washington I think. So it's just them and the two of us missionaries in the house. They’re a fun couple! Today is his birthday.

I don’t miss the new mattress because the bed I have here is good. I’ve slept so well this past week. Our bedtime and rising routine has been perfect except for one night. Yeah! I feel so good!

We don't have enough members for a Branch yet. In fact all our members are less active and most deal with addictions. We’re working on getting an Addiction Recovery Program started. It’s a long process. Hermana Anderson has been trying for months. This is her first area. Last transfer she had an English missionary so she’s been doing all the teaching by herself. We’re working on teaching together. It’s so much fun! We’ve laughed hard every day!

Our teaching pool is pretty big considering they didn't have very many people just a few months ago. When Hna Anderson first got here they had 2 people at church. Yesterday we had 4. Last week there were 8! The people we are teaching are great. We have a baptism scheduled for Saturday. Yeah!

Herman Anderson is from Chicago. She’s just a transfer older than me. We actually met in the MTC. When I came in we met in the hall in passing and talked for maybe 10 seconds. She’s' amazing! I've learned so much from her already! It’s been the best week of my mission.

I’m still an online missionary. I wish you could see my Facebook page. It’s easier to update that then my blog. I’m working on an entry though. I need to get into a routine. That and figure out what to write about. I think I’ll have a lot of miracles to report on this transfer. Both Hna Anderson and I feel that something great is going to happen this transfer! It’s been such an amazing week. The Spirit has abounded and I feel I’ve grown more in the past week than I have in the past three months.
Which reminds me... tomorrow is my 5 month mark. How did that happen? This transfer I’ll complete 6 months. Which means I’m 1/3 done with my mission. Crazy! It goes so quickly!

Our house is a mile from the Stake Center, our chapel. We meet with the 5th Ward at 11:00 am. We go to church with the 5th Ward and then right after Relief Society we have Sacrament meeting with the Spanish group. I gave a talk this Sunday. I was informed an hour before. I followed the Spirit and talked about Alma 5; keeping our testimonies burning bright and sharing it with others.

Our group leaders are amazing. They are brethren that served Spanish missions and they are so willing to help. Throughout the week they'll go visit the less actives and our investigators. Amazing! The ward and stake are so willing to help, too. This zone of missionaries is pretty tight. We’re like a little family. Well, there are about 14 of us. So I guess not that small.
Last night we had a special fireside with the Stake Presidency and just the missionaries.

On Friday I got to work with Hna Clayton!! Hna A and two other sisters had to go to Santa Rosa for leadership training so I got to work in Napa with Hna Clayton! She’s doing so well! We also had a new missionary as of last week from Japan with us. She’s really cute and we had fun as a trio for a day.

So one lady we talked to asked if I was from France. I was kind of confused, but she explained that I sounded like I was from France. Han A said that she has thought that a couple times, too. So I guess I have a French accent when I speak Spanish!!! Now every time I speak Spanish I ask Han A if I sounded French. I haven’t sounded French since that day so I’m not sure what it is that I say that sounds French! Hna A said my talk was really good and I didn’t sound French, so I don’t know. I wish I could hear myself speak Spanish with a French accent. I’m sure it would be funny!

We eat dinner with the 5th ward elders and their member. It's a big change from eating with Latinos. It was very strange at first. But I’m enjoying it much better now. It’s nice to have familiar food. The members are so good. I’m enjoying getting to know them. It was also nice to hear church in English. I almost cried when I heard the sacrament prayers in English. It’s nice/cool to hear and understand things in another language, but it's something different entirely to hear it in your own language. It means so much more.

We do laundry at the Monson's (bishop. I know! so cool!). E-mail is at a library. So hopefully the Internet works better/faster.

The other day we were walking down the street and a boy about 10 years old asked if we were girl scouts. We told him we were missionaries. He must have miss understood because he said. "Wish Fairies?" It was so funny! I’m still laughing about it!

I think the zone is going on a hike. The elders want to try and catch the mountain lion that was running around Browns Valley this past week. Just kidding! We also might play tennis. I don’t now how many racquets there are though. We’ll see. But it's beautiful and sunny, so hopefully something outside.

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun playing MagBlast with the elders. And have fun with school this week. I’m so happy to hear all is going well. I’m happy your FHE’s are working out to be more meaningful. That’s what I’ve been working on too. Making my studies more effective and meaningful.

LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Your
Hermana Whitney Stephenson

over and out :(