First week in paradise!

First week in Las Palmas... good! 8/24/15
First of all, it's like wayyyyyy cooler here, but way more humid. Well, actually it's pretty much exactly like home. My hair is way crazier and harder to do, but I'll take it! My companion is fantastic. She is pretty much a replica of my life, youngest of 6, 4th to serve a mission, 8 nieces and nephews... There's more, but basically I'm just
saying she's awesome and we get along super well so far.


We are teaching such awesome people! Our investigators and our menos
activos are just the best. Ok. So, for investigators, we have S.She is from here in Las Palmas. She has a baptismal date for the 20 of September but we are going to change it with her tonight because that is stake conference. She's practically already a member. Her 2 girls and her niece listen to the lessons too, but their dad won't
give them permission to be baptized, so until they're 18, or until he has a change of heart, we're really just working hard on S. Also, she was a member reference. How cool, huh?
Then, we have V. She is the mother of our two sisters who are recent converts, C. and J. She wants to be baptized and loves the lessons, she's just trying to quit smoking right now. Her dad is a menos activo named R. and he is the coolest. He's going to take us fishing sometime. Those girls have really activated the family and are just what they needed. They are like my family here. They're seriously just the sweetest people I know. They are also from the islands.
Then we have L. from Honduras. She has a little girl named S. who is super cute, just super energetic and wild. L is living with a menos activo. They are thinking about getting married soon, but until they do, she's kind of stuck in limbo. But she's really great. She's slowly opening up to me. Little by little. C. told me yesterday at church that I was cool and that he was glad I was here. He had me sit next to the in all the meetings. We'll see what happens. Ideally, they'd get married, he'd become active again, she'd get baptized and then in a year they could go to
the temple together. We'll see! I have faith!
We're teaching this family named the M. They're so cool! The dad is a pastor for their church, but they are so genuinely interested. It's amazing. We taught them the plan of salvation yesterday and it was one of the best lessons I've ever had. They are reading from the Book of Mormon and praying, they just haven't come to
church yet. But I know they will for sure. 
We are teaching someone from Brazil named M. She's sweet. We invited a member from Brazil named E with us. It was fantastic! They talked in Portuguese the whole time, but they just loved it. About a third of our ward is from Brazil so first of all, I'm excited for Brazilian food, second, they are all determined to teach me Portuguese. We'll see.
The members are wonderful! I don't even know where to start with them honestly. They are just fantastic and for the most part are really willing to help us and also feed us.
We have a recent convert from C named Y. She is so wonderful. She is getting ready to move to the United States. She will be in Virginia, but hey, it's close enough! She's really fantastic, always helping us. Anyway, the islands are great. I love it here. It's gorgeous. We had a stake activity and I got burnt, for the first time all summer. But at least it was a good day, right? We went to Santa Cristina. It's gorgeous. Also, the elders all tried to teach me how to throw a football. Hilarious, but unsuccessful. Then today, we went to Roque Nublo. 


So pretty! It's the center of the island. We could see everything, including the neighboring island.




Fun facts about my district,


Elder Maughn from Springville, Utah is district leader, Elder Wagner from Colorado is in his 3rd transfer in the mission, Elder Sasso (you say it like sass-o, which is perfect because he is literally the sassiest person I've ever met) from Pennsylvania is white washing and training, Elder Holt from Pocatello, Idaho is in his first week in the mission, Hermana Clements from Spanish Fork leaves this transfer to go home and she was my second trainer, Hermana Judd from South Jordan was my CCM companion and my wonderful current companion from Murray, Utah. They're all great. Basically, I'm in paradise and I love it. It's like you get banished to the north and islands because they leave you there so long. This is gonna be a great 6 months or so!

I love you all. Have a great week!