Rah-Rah for Sister Xia, Miss AWE(some)

This is crazy and cute Sister Xia from mainland China.  She is Sister Gong's companion, and both have been in the mission field for about 8 months.  She is the perfect fit for Sister Gong, because she's so patient, but hard-working and super fun and cute!  Sister Gong is finally starting to relax a little more under Sister Xia's expert care.  Sister Xia just expects to ride bikes everywhere, so she doesn't really care if Sister Gong doesn't feel totally comfortable on a bike.  They just do it anyway.  I absolutely adore Sister Xia.  She is one of the best people I know.  We've had some fun adventures, and she's doing super well at learning English.

She asked for a haircut.  Not a trim, but a haircut.  So we just plowed in and I cut it the length she asked.  Talk about bravery on her part!  It is totally unprofessional, but she loves it, and she's received so many compliments on her new "do."  The first thing she tells someone is that Sister Rounds is the professional haircutter.  BLAH!

Here is the brand new Sister Xia.  Minus the post-haircut wash.  But once she did wash it so we could see it dry, it really does look darling on her.  But then, when you start with a little China doll, little can go wrong with one so cute!











This week also provided an opportunity to take the missionaries to an early-morning L.A. temple session one day.  I took a carload of elders while Sister Martin took Sister duty.  We had a great time, even though we had to hurry afterward to still get to work that day. No time to take them all for breakfast, which is what we all really would have preferred.  Notice Awesome Sister Xia, sporting her new "do."  Totally awesome Sister Xia, right?

Sister Gong, Sister Xia, Sister Mann, Sister Huang, Sister Martin, Sister Rounds

And speaking of cute, here are some amazing elders, who like striking their own style of temple poses.

Elder Huang (The Greenie), Elder Fu (The Crazy), Elder Ng (The Handsome Brit), Elder Asenjo (Mr. Espanol)

Thomas is the latest baptism.  He is Echo's 9-year-old son.  Their family is coming into the church, person by person.  Still no Michelle in the picture yet.  Hopefully she will still be home soon.

Sister Martin, Elder Asenjo, Sister Rounds, Elder Ng, Thomas, Echo, Rebecca, Sister Xia, Sister Gong, Enthusiast

The Lovelies of my life presently.

Our latest p-day adventure took us and our mission office friend, Sister Beck, back to the Newport Beach temple and on to Balboa Island for a taste of the night life.  There was all kinds of Halloween pre-partying happening already.

Oh man!  They left their bodies somewhere!  Here are some sweet friends out lounging on the patio where hundreds walk past on the beachfront to see their skeletal remains!  How nakedly embarrassing!

There are many cool sites, ocean harbor with beachfront "cottages" complete with private docks, lots of walking and sight seeing, tasting, shopping, and our traditional chocolate-covered frozen banana on a stick.  I love this miniature "woody" car that was sitting outside a gift shop. PLUS, it sports a sweet surfboard on top.

Though I miss home and family dreadfully, I'm feeling the assurance of having been called here for specific reasons, some of which I may never know. I'm ever and always learning a lot, and perhaps catching on to what assistance I might provide for so many in need of personal self reliance. I'm enjoying many awesome things about this period of the mission in southern California and some pretty rah-rah awesome friends who have become an important piece of my life tapestry.