july 11

I spent $30 on medicine this week.
haha but don't worry, i am ok. i had like 4 little heath problems. well, first i was having headaches and a cold, got some pils for that, then i had stomach problems, had to take suero (dont know what it´s called in english, but it´s gross), then i started having a really stiff neck on thursday, friday it was even worse, it was so much pain, saturday i went the doctor, he said that i had slept on it wrong and it turned one of the muscles around. so he did some massages on my neck and prescribed me some pills. also i had him check my foot, i hvae eczema on it so he prescribed me some pils and some creams for that. so this week was kind of hard becuase both of were sick! But we are better now!

cambios are thursday! scared!!

the zone activity was playing soccer with presidente calderon. we didn´t actualy go because my companion was stil a little sick. we have mission conference every 3 months, but they do it in a few sessions, so you don´t see al the missionaries. we see president calderon a lot because we are pretty close to the centro and his office.- the assistants and secretaries work in the same stake as us.

sending pictures of the zone, and of my companion´s birthday! 22! we made her breakfast in bed and at night we ordered SAHARA PIZZA- american style pizza. it was sooo yummy.

well, anyways, the work is kind of hard now, we are not finding lots of people to teach, i don´t know why, so we are evaluating our contacts and teaching and obedience to see what we need to change. we know that the lord is preparing people here. just have to keep searching. Paola is doing well, she understands everything, but she couldn´t go to church yesterday so we were sad for that, but happy that she wants to keep learning and be baptized. Martha our convert is doing awesome. she gave her testimony last week in relief society. also she said one of the prayers in sacrament meeting.

i am happy and grateful to be here, and know that the lord will give me more oportunites to help eople if i keep trying to be obedient and do the best i can- that´s all he asks of me. it gets so frustrating sometimes to see people make bad choices and not hear this message, but they have their agency. i appreciate your advice that you give me each week. i told hna. larsen what you said and she said to tell you thank you! because it helped her too. i love you all! have a great week. i am praying for all of you. love hna. Tibbitts

July 4

hello again, it's just a normal winter day here in sta cruz. Sorry i am writing a little later than usual, we had a zone activity.

this week my companion was sick so we didn't work 3 days, that was sad, she is still a little sick, just with a really bad cold, the problem with the humid cold is that it is hard to get warm, and even if you're bundled up when walking around, the wind is strong. so far i have been ok, a little bit of a runny nose sometimes but overall i'm ok, just trying to take care of my dear companion and help her get better. we have a little more than a week before cambios so we are trying to take advantage of this time and really enjoy it. she has been a good companion, and she is my friend.

happy 4th of july! sure doesn't feel like it, haha, i think we are going to order american style pizza today to celebrate :)

Thanks for your encouraging words in your letters!! it always helps me! today it was exactly what i needed to hear.

I got my birthday package this week!! Thanks! I got it the 30th so it still got to me in the same month as my birthday! good job!! Thanks! I love everything i got. I also got a package from my friend Eechien, so that was fun to get 2 packages at once. I will think this week and let you know what i would like from the u.s. I have a millon stickers now!! so thats kind of fun.

We had a mission conference this week, with 4 zones, we presented our numbers for the last month and talked about the goals we have in the mission, were instructed, etc, it was really good, it made me want to be more obedient and try harder to learn the scritpures and PMG so that i can better help people be baptized, also it helped me have more HOPE that i can find poeple that are ready for the gospel, there was a companionship that had 13 baptisms in june, and also i'm happy to report that Hna. Castro, who is still in the same area, had a baptism about 2 weeks ago of a family of 4!! :)

Interviews with Pres. CAlderon are pretty short, he just asks how you are doing, what kind of things you have been working on personally and in the work, and gives you time to ask him questions, when we go the office we also have our area books and emergency money checked, and we have to do a little practice with one of the assistants, and repeat a few scritpure masteries.

Hna. Larsen went to el centro last monday, to send letters, and we also found a place to buy souveneirs, kind of a tourist trap place, we saw other americans there and it was kind of weird, the only thing i bought was a nativity set, it's really cute, hna. larsen bought these flute things for her family. it was fun to see what there was, never really had been to a place like that before.

Don't really have many stories about members or investigators because we didn't work much this week! We do have a new investigator named Paula who wants to learn more, and be baptized. the problem is that she is only 17 and president has a new rule that we can't baptize people under 18 unless their family gets baptized too or are members. so now we need to work on her family, she lives with her grandma and her aunt.

Love you all! have a great week! love hna. Tibbitts