Sister Eliza Stone: Palm trees are ugly, but the flowers are beautiful!

Hello Everyone!

I'm in sunny California, and it's not really what I was expecting. I love it though. I'm serving in Huntington Beach in the Cordatta Park ward. It's about ten minutes from the ocean. I can now say that I've seen the ocean. We drove past it from one of our three drives to and from Long Beach for training. It's super pretty, and, even though I'm not too fond of how palm trees look in the least, they are gorgeous when they are in the shade of a sunset and the ocean's in the background. It's even better when the waves are hitting the sand.

It's pretty cold out here. It's gotten down to the 50's this week. I might want you to send me a sweatshirt, unless I find a cool one down here. The ward's really nice. We get fed every day. I think I have probably eaten out every day except Sunday. It seems to be easier for everyone, or gift cards. It seems like the most common food for them to make is taco's. They're all pretty good. It's also hard to say no if they give you more food or desert. I feel like the coach on McFarland USA. I think I've gained some weight already which makes me sad. Especially since we've been running and doing weights every morning. I've been impressed with myself when it comes to running. Haven't walked yet and have been trying to run a little faster ever day.

My mission training companion is super awesome. Her name is Sister Garcia and she's from Cincinnati, Ohio, but her family's now living in Austin, Texas. Apparently they moved there after she left. She went to BYU-I for two years, but is still 19. Been out for 6 months.

Haven't really had a lot of time to go proselyting because of meetings, so we've only been able to go after dinner till 9. According to S. Garcia, Huntington Beach is one of the hardest area's to serve in, and it is. There's a lot of Baptists and Born Again Christians. They're super nice and will let you talk a little doctrine to them, but once you ask if you can meet with them again sometime they usually just say that they have all that they need and when they need to learn at their church. Then they tell us to go find others who don't have Jesus Christ at all in their lives. I don't even want to get started with the Buddhists.

There's a less active I got to meet and teach this week. He's super cool. His name is Lucky and is one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet. There's about 13 family members living in that home. He wants to come back to church, but it's hard because he works so late. He's a limo driver/body guard. He works super late. He's started talking to the bishop. It makes him nervous to even walk into a building, especially when he's not dressed in Sunday dress, but I'm so happy that he's taking such a big step to be able to come back.

We found a new investigator. Her names Devina and she actually lives right next door to Lucky. She's Baptist and super nice. We talked to her a little bit on the Restoration with prophets, Jesus Christ and eternal families. She was a little confused when we were talking about the authority Jesus Christ brought to the Earth. We told her that if it was alright to have another appointment to talk more about that authority. If we hit the spirit just right she could be my first official PI (progressive investigator). She's awesome. A 3rd grade teacher, loves animals, and has so many pictures of family around her house. I mentioned to her that her mom looked like Doris Day and Grace Kelley. She was taken aback when I said that. Probably wondering how I even knew who those people were. She then told us a story about how President Kennedy drove past her and just kept staring. It was fun teaching and talking to her. I am praying that this weeks lesson goes well. I want it to so bad, and I'm praying to find more this week.

For music, we can listen to almost any Christian music. They rule is, "Would you listen to this if Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father were in the car/apartment with you?" I forgot my hard drive. It's on my buzz lightyear lanyard (However you spell that word). Do you think you could put some music on it? We can hook it up in most of the cars. Speaking of which I can officially drive even though I can't actually drive yet because I'm still the greenie. S. Murray get's to be the DD (designated driver) in her companionship because her two comps are from Tonga and the Philippines.

By the way, I ran into Elder Hathaway (Bryce) and you'll never guess what his comps name is. Elder Stone. Apparently there was another Elder Stone who just went home. I kept trying to see if we're related at all. Too bad he's not good with his family history. He's from Florida. Super cool. They're a great companionship. It was funny. We were sitting next to each other for one of the trainings. He elbowed me and then open his notebook where there was a picture of the Tetons. I couldn't help but smile and then grab it out of his note book. That reminded me that you need to send me a picture of the house. You know exactly which picture I am talking about.