14th Week—December 12-18, 2011

Christmas tree Connie won at the Relief Society Christmas Dinner.

Hermana Eva Vega, 6th Ward Relief Society President

Obispo Jose Estrada, Barrio Sexto

This sign is similar to many signs in L.A.--English, Spanish, and Korean

(Oops!  I forgot the December birthdays!)

So here they are:

Dec. 6 Happy Birthday dear Christi! (Are you 30 yet?)

Dec. 8 Happy Birthday Dear Charlie—5 yrs. old!

Dec. 10 Happy Birthday Dear Charles-- ???

Dec. 15 Happy Birthday Dear Grace—10 yrs. old!

(Eileen’s birthday is that day also—Happy Birthday!)

Dec. 28 Happy Birthday Dear Ben—18 years old!

          It has been a typical week with its ups and downs.  Monday was a “catch up” day because we were so far behind.  We (mainly Connie) cleaned the apartment, washed, ironed, studied, got groceries, wrote Christmas cards, etc., etc., etc.

          Tuesday we went to study with Jaime Olasaba and they weren’t home.  We called and no answer so we waited 30 minutes and left.  We had a really good visit with Jose Guzman and family.  He is really struggling with the beer addiction.  They came to church today and he looked better than he has in a long time.  We hope he can get over this problem. 

          Tuesday night after correlation meeting the elders taught Evelyn Ramirez. Her boyfriend has moved out and she now has a job.  She will be baptized Christmas day after Sacrament Meeting.  I sat by her in Relief Society.  She seems to be making friends in the ward. 

The 3^rd Ward had a Christmas program and then a nice dinner at 9 p.m.  That is late for me to be eating.

          Tuesday we met with Elder Panta and Elder Clements to visit Maria Perez.  She started crying and said she is going to the doctor for tests to see if she has cancer.  She is such a sweet lady.  Dale and the Elders gave her a blessing.  We stopped by Friday night to invite her to the ward Christmas Dinner and she said the lab results weren’t back yet.  She came to church today.  We will have to check on her.

          We went to see Xiomara Ramirez.  She has all but quit coming to church since she said she wanted to be baptized.  She said she still wants very much to be baptized and she said we would see her at the ward dinner and see her at church.  She didn’t come.  

          The Jaime Cruz Family has cancelled all their appointments with everyone.  We are wondering if they got their feelings hurt of if he is afraid to baptize his son or what. 

          Wednesday night at Relief Society I won a Christmas tree table decoration.  I was a little embarrassed because I felt others needed it worse than I do.  But I will keep it as a remembrance of our mission. 

          Thursday we had a little excitement here.  We were studying and getting ready to go out when we heard many gunshots.  A little while later I went down to get something out of the car that was parked on the street because they were stripe painting the parking lot.  There were many policemen and police cars everywhere.  We found out that someone had shot at the guard to the Chinese Consul across the street just one building south of us.  Luckily with all the shots the guard wasn’t hurt.  . They had the street roped off and closed; we couldn’t park our car in the garage until 10:30 p.m.  They later arrested the man that was responsible for the shooting 

We attended two ward Christmas Parties this week.  Friday at the 6^th ward we had two tamales, a roll, a very thick drink, and squash and cooked raisins for dessert.  The tamales gave us both upset stomachs and we turned down the dessert.  The 3^rd ward party Saturday we had stewed chicken and carrots, potatoes, rice, roll, and salad.  For dessert we had a very tiny piece of apple pie.  Needless to say we enjoyed the latter dinner much better.  They put on a terrific Christmas program.  They did the nativity and they asked the missionaries to be the angels.  Elder Filiaga, a football player from the U of U played the angel Gabriel who appeared to Mary.  He did a wonderful job.