Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 Letter

Dear Family and Friends,


So it is official I am in my new area. This area is called, Hafer. It is called Hafer after Hafer road where the mission office is. Yes, the mission office is in my area. I am in the Houston Zone now in the Houston 6th ward. My previous ward was Woodlands 3rd ward. It broke off of this Houston 6 ward. My new ward is a lot bigger than my old ward. We actually fill the chapel. So they will have to open the overflow whether they want to or not. I say this because Latinos always seem to sit so close to one another. We have some great members here. But more than half of the ward is not allowed to go out with us. Because when they changed bishops the last time. There was a member who wanted to be bishop and started gathering a following. I am serious. Like he was gathering a group who were going to not listen to the bishop and do what they wanted to do instead. Uprising, how dramatic. The ward is all together. The stake put those members in their place. But it was crazy from what I hear. So my companion and I and 2 Elders serve in this ward. We cover the west side of the ward and they cover the east. It is nice not to be the only missionaries in the ward anymore.

Also this ward feeds us on a regular basis. We have weekly dinners with like four families a week. The same families. They want to feed us and insist that we come over. There would have been more, but we aren't allowed to go over to those families who were involved in the uprising. So my new companion's name is Miriam Rodriguez. She is from Guatemala. So needless to say her spanish is amazing. She is helping learn a lot more. I am grateful for her help. She is a very chill kind of person. She is the youngest of 2 children. She has an older brother. Her mother and father and brother now live in California. But she and her brother were raised in Guatemala by their grandparents. Her English is pretty good. I actually help her with that as well. So we help each other with the language. She has a fiancee in Guatemala named Angel Eli Rodriguez. He asked her to marry him right before she left on her mission. He is waiting for her in Guatemala. She plans on marrying him about 6 months after her mission. She has been on her mission now for 10 months. She goes home the end of September. We are getting along pretty well. We keep working hard teaching and finding.

My new address is
14131 Cornerstone Village Dr.
North Bend Apartments #1003
Houston, TX 77014

I love you all and miss you all. Be safe and stay close to the Lord.

Love,

Hermana Alaina Mills