Hi Everyone!!

So first of all, sorry for not giving you the heads up that my p-day would be on Tuesday instead of Monday. It was kind of a last minute thing so I didn't really know about it. Anyways it was because here in Maple Valley the church has this huge Christmas event at the stake center and they wanted the missionaries in the zone to help set up for it on Monday. So since we spent a lot of time doing that our p-day got moved to Tuesday. The event is Friday-Saturday and we've been inviting everyone we talk to. It's pretty popular and people come from nearby to go to it. There's supposed to be tons of different kinds of nativity sets, music, a cookie room, and a live nativity where you can dress up and take a picture. It should be tons of fun and I think our Hispanic group is planning on going together. So yeah, A lot of the missionaries in our zone helped set up and it was a lot of fun and it felt good to do service! Hermana Mitchell and I put up a lot of Christmas trees!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! All of the missionaries had three hours to play sports and games the morning of Thanksgiving so I was able to play volleyball and basketball which was fun. I also saw Elder Brown so that was cool! Hermana Mitchell and I spent our Thanksgiving dinner with Brother and Sister Blad and their family! It was really good and I enjoyed it! They have such a wonderful family!

This is the last week that I have with Hermana Mitchell and I'm really sad about it. She's really amazing! I'm just so lucky I had her as my trainer. It definitely helps to have a companion that is truly consecrated at the beginning of my mission.

As Hermana Mitchell and I have worked it's amazing the miracles we see!

So the other day we were driving to an appointment and we saw a Hispanic boy walking on the side of the road. Sometimes it's hard for us to find Hispanics that we haven't already talked to so we were really excited! But we didn't have time to talk to him so we kind of just followed him home to see where he lived. That probably sounds creepy but we just wanted to get his address so we could try going and teaching his family later.

Then this morning Hermana Mitchell and I hiked Mount Peak and when we were at the summit I started talking to this man to see if he would be interested in hearing a message from the missionaries. Then Hermana Mitchell told me that right when I started talking to that man the English sisters texted us a referral. And guess what....it was the same address of the boy we followed home! Small world right? Lol

The man I spoke to wasn't interested in hearing a message but he did say he would go to the Christmas event in Maple Valley. Even though he wasn't interested in hearing the gospel we spoke to him and were blessed with a referral.

Oh another funny thing that happened! So we went to visit one our investigators, Leonor and her daughter Alice. Now this visit was totally in Spanish. Well Leonor was talking and saying that Alice had a "pajaro" that was like family and that she should bring him out to meet us. "Pajaro" means bird...but what I heard was "pareja" which means couple but people here use it all the time to refer to their boyfriend or girlfriend. Haha! I was so confused! I was thinking Alice is only 13, how can she have a boyfriend and how could Leonor already be saying he's like family. And then Alice brought out her new pet bird...the pajaro. Hahaha! Oh it was hilarious! Maybe you just had to be there but it was funny!

Oh and also just yesterday sweet Brother Blad brought us a real Christmas tree for our apartment! He wenrt and cut it down himself and everything! He is so great! I love him!

Before I go I want to leave you a scripture I just read and now live.
It's D&C 112:28

"But purify your hearts before me; and then go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel unto every creature who has not received it."

I am so glad that I am a missionary and that for this short time I can focus on the gospel literally 24/7. I hope that as I learn more I can continually work on purifying my heart. I know that the closer we come to Christ the more pure our hearts will be and the stronger our desire to share the gospel will be as well.

I love you all so very much!

Remember to check out the short video He is the Gift that the church put out! It's amazing! It's at christmas.mormon.org

I also love the Because of Him video they put out for Easter at easter.mormon.org

My next p-day will also be Tuesday because of transfers so until then!

Hermana Soliz

So I have a lot more pictures from this past week but I forgot my camera cord. So the only one for this week is a picture of the zone that was sent to me. Sorry...but there will be a lot next time!