Cupcakes!

Family, 

It was so great to be able to talk to all the family for Mothers Day! I can't believe that the whole family will be in California this week! [for Brock's medical school graduation] You will all be so close for a few days!

So many wonderful things are happening here in Simi Valley! One of the great things of this week is that I got to show a family how to decorate cupcakes! We had such a great Mexican dinner with them for Cinco de Mayo, and then we decorated cupcakes with the girls! I made my frosting and I showed them how to frost them like a rose and such with bags and piping tips that I brought. It was really so much fun! I think I enjoyed it a little too much!

Our little cupcake party :)

We had some great lessons this week. We were able to meet with G. Our Young Womens president has been arranging for some of the girls to come with us to her lessons now, which is very helpful! Two sisters that are 11 and 13 were able to come with us this week! The 11 year old was really entertaining us with all of her stories she would tell. We taught Follow the Prophet, the Law of Chastity, and the Word of Wisdom. 

The 11 year old was especially great because she would tell examples about modesty and putting up with bullying. She also told us "I wish that everyone at my middle school watched Conference. My school is so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if one day Heavenly Father decided to bomb it." Hahah, I really wish we could have these 11 and 13 year olds at every lesson because they are so entertaining and they know way more than you might think! I was really trying so hard not to bust up laughing the whole time! It was really so great to have both of them with us! 

G is still doing really well and is getting really excited for her baptism! Her mother is still on fire. She told us that she talked to a woman at a restaurant who was going through a hard time. She asked her "Do you want to live with your little girl for the eternities?" Then she ended up telling her that she needs to meet with the missionaries and they will explain how that can happen! She is just an incredible woman and has such a big heart. She still impresses me every week how she is trying to convert and reactivate everyone she can think of!

A groovy van we found out and about one day!
I'm glad I happened to match the van that day too!

We also had a great lesson with L this week! We had a lesson on baptism and following the prophet. We showed her a video clip about baptism and we talked over everything she thinks about it. She still wonders if she fully believes everything we teach her, and she worries that she won't have enough time to devote to this church. We talked about everything she is worried about, and we were able to set her with a baptismal date for July 5th! She is still reluctant and it is more of a "see until we get there" date, but she is making great progress! She has found that she loves reading the Book of Mormon on her phone, and studying it by topic.

She has kind of a hard time because she was raised culturally Jewish. She is used to Jewish traditions, but she wasn't very religious for all of her life. We have told her that this gospel isn't as different as she thinks it would be, and that we're really here to help her learn more and come closer to the Savior.

She has been coming to ward activities and really has great friendships in the ward, which is wonderful! She told us that she came to church yesterday even though she wasn't feeling like it. She really loved coming to church but her schedule hasn't allowed her to come for all three hours yet. She is doing so great. I know that she might take some time, but she is closer than she might think!

It's getting hot here in Simi! It reminds me a lot of summers back home!

This week we had a lesson with S and her son. We taught her the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom. She sometimes pushed the subjects off of her and told us that her returned missionary son should be the one being taught these things instead of her. She is such a wonderful woman. She really doesn't have any Word of Wisdom issues, but she still holds on to her coffee every so often. She told us that she would quit when she had "a good enough reason to quit." She has such great potential and her member son and daughter are such great examples to her! We are just hoping for a miracle that something will happen in her life where she will really know that God is there for her and she will have a greater reason to make little changes in her life and be baptized!

Her husband actually came and taught a little of the High Priests lesson on Sunday. He told about the experience he had with his son on a mission. We were able to talk to him for a little while after our block and he told us something wonderful. He said that every time on the way to his job in Beverly Hills, the light always turns red and he gets stuck right in front of the Los Angeles temple. He was telling us that maybe God was trying to tell him something! We told him that he is right! It is just great because he is such a nice man, but hasn't been too interested in sitting in on the lessons with us. Who knows, maybe soon all of that will change!

Sister Di Liberto (my trainer from Italy) is getting married August 1st!
Crazy, but I am so excited for her!

We also had the chance of setting J and B with a baptismal date for June 28th! J told us that he has really been thinking deeply about the things that we have been teaching him, and he is really close to being ready for baptism. He is just a sweet man and I am excited. His friend B isn't as enthusiastic about what we teach them, but we are hoping that one day something will really click for her just like it did for him. They are both doing really well and they love coming to church! I am really excited to see what the next weeks have in store for them! 

Look what we have in my area! A Corner Bakery Cafe!
Mmmm, we got to eat here this week! I was too happy!

So many people came to church this week! We had 9 in all, including a new investigator couple. It was wonderful! The ward has really been reaching out to everyone around them. They are a wonderful help with the missionary work! This new couple is a friend of a member in our ward, and they have talked with them a lot about the gospel. The wife has already read the whole Book of Mormon in Tagalog (from the Philippines), and the member has already talked to them about baptism! We are going to really start teaching them next week. We are just so excited that wonderful people keep coming out of nowhere!

We also met with this wonderful woman C this week. She is such a sweet lady with such a strong belief in Christ, and she has been through so much in her life. Besides that, we are continuing to have incredible things happen all the time here. We are still moving along with some other great investigators and helping all these others prepare for their baptisms! We also met some incredibly interesting people and also some rude less-actives. But hey, that's a typical week!

At dinner the other night we got to play with little chickies!

All is well here in Simi Valley. Sister Proctor and I are doing really well and we just keep trying to push ourselves and find better ways of doing everything. I can't tell you how much I am in love with Simi Valley! I don't think I will want to leave at transfers next week, but I am just content with the fact that I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen out here! This mission is a whole game of trust with Heavenly Father. I feel so blessed that I have been able to see so many incredible things here on my mission!

Much Much Love,

Sister Mason