"MOM! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS WHITE PEOPLE WHO WERE COMING!!"

Well friends, happy start to a new transfer. I'm still going to be hanging out here in the Hondo Pass ward in El Paso but Sister McKendrick is getting transferred, which means that I am getting a new companion from the north, but that's all I know. Sometimes you can kind of figure out who is going where but not this time! At least not as far as the people I know are concerned. So we'll just have to wait and see. I have a good feeling though that she is going to be pretty awesome.

A big part of our week was taken up by moving and preparing to move. We moved out of our old smoke infested apartment into a much nicer one a few streets down. The only downside is that we were supposed to have a washer and dryer. Now we have a washer and dryer hook up but... that's not quite the same. And yes, yes, I know, I should be grateful that we're not in Africa and have to use washboards and I am but it's still a bit of a bummer. Oh, last night was also a blood moon and so everyone was freaking out about it being the end of the world and signs of the times and all that junk. So that was interesting. We had to watch out for crazy people in the street on the way home a few times. 

This week we were able to have a few awesome lessons with Judy, Ron and Teresa and the Camachos. We also picked up a new investigator named Tonya who has a slightly racist son. He's just a kid but when we went to her house the other day and walked in the door he just looked at us and yelled "MOM! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS WHITE PEOPLE WHO WERE COMING!!" and then stormed away. Well... sorry kid, not much I can do about that...

Ron and Teresa are doing really well; we just need to get them to come to church. I think they're just nervous to come especially since Ron has been inactive for so long but once they do I wouldn't be surprised if Teresa got on date pretty quickly after that. Thankfully conference is coming up next week and we're hoping that will be a good stepping stone into church. My birthday by the way has been a fantastic excuse to get people to watch conference. Yeah, we'll come over and celebrate and... listen to the prophet! Ha, ha.

 This week we also met a man named Jared who is in a part member family where the wife and kids just started coming back to church. He insists on calling everyone who's a member a Mormonite. It's actually pretty great, I sort of wish we really did call ourselves that. He's also not super impressed with the role of a Bishop. He comes from a Catholic background where apparently the Bishop does a lot of talking and stuff during the service. He told us "I could be the Bishop! All he ever does is sit there and check his watch. Seriously, sign me up for that job. I'll come open the church building 3 times earlier than he does!" His wife dared him to tell our Bishop that. Hopefully he doesn't but, that would be quite the sight to see. It's true though, it's hard to explain what the Bishop does and how busy it really is.

This Saturday as I'm sure you all know was the Women's Conference meeting. If you haven't seen it you should watch it, especially President Uchtdorf''s talk at the end. It is fantastic, and apparently, he has some pretty strong opinions about cats. I would love to see the memes people are making about that one. That's still a thing right? BYU memes was on a bit of a downward trek when I left though so who knows. Anyway, the talk was on finding happiness and being happy and I really enjoyed it.  

Something else I have been thinking about recently is keeping the Sabbath day holy. I know, it's something people have been talking about for forever! The interesting thing about the Sabbath is that it is entirely why we are doing something and not what we are doing that makes the difference. To some extent that is true of all of the commandments and things that we do, but just talking to people about the Sabbath has made me think more about why I do and don't do what I do then. Even with the standard things we do, like not shopping or playing sports, the why influences it. For example, I had a conversation with a friend a while ago where he told me that he was getting a movie from red box on Sunday and I told him that I was going to the library. In both instances we thought the other person was in the wrong on the same principle, not working/spending money on Sunday but for different reasons. His interpretation of it was that we don't spend money on Sunday so that we don't make other people work. So going to red box was find because it wasn't making anyone else work but going to the library was bad because even though you weren’t spending money, you were making people work by going there. My interpretation of it was, that we don't personally work, and we don't spend money because money is, in many cases the pure essence of worldliness, which is what we are trying to avoid on the Sabbath. So, going to the library was fine because I wasn't working or spending money, but getting a movie from red box was bad because it was spending money. Anyway, who was "right" I don't know, if anyone, but it was interesting to see how much the why influenced the what, even though the rule (don't work or spend money on Sunday) was the same. I don't have any cool answers or insights to this I guess, just something I've been considering as people have been talking more and more about the Sabbath day and how and why we keep it holy. In the end, ask God, and think about where your heart is, and if it's something you could do on another day if there's a question. So... yeah... sorry no wisdom here.

Ha, well, anyway...

Hope you all are doing well and talk to you soon!

Love,

April