Week 16 Gridley CA

Hola mom!

Well this week was a very busy one. Lot's of things happened, yet I can't really remember most of it... rip...

But I guess I'll start with the big event, the fire. I'm sure you've heard about the fire in Northern California. Well that is all going down about a little over an hour north of Gridley. So I am safe, but things have still been kinda crazy... The fires started Thursday, and it was a little smokey out, but I didn't think anything of it. It was also super windy that day, so I just kinda assumed the wind had kicked the dirt up from all the fields. But then we slowly started to hear about all the fires that are going down... It was really sad. I've been to Paradise one time before, but it was a really pretty little town. There were trees everywhere, and it was paradise!! So it's sad to see it all burn down... But along with that it has just affected so many people. All the missionaries from that area had to leave immediately, so 4 elders lost all of their belongings. We now have 23 elders in our area usualy there are 2 others) because they had to evacuate all the people from Chico and Orville, because it threatens to move down there. As of now it is 25% contained, and 6,000 homes have been lost... It's really sad... but the weird part is being a missionary we don't get to go online and watch the news. So we just kinda hear what people tell us. But it was really sad to hear about that... I was just up in Chico last week, so it's sad to hear all those people I was working with had to leave their homes, and hope they have a place to go back to. 

But that has been the big thing of the week. The smoke has come down here though. On Friday it was kinda like minecraft, cause it was just smokey and you couldn't see very far... it was pretty crazy. But with that extra layer of smoke, it has made it a lot coder out here... Like last week it was usually in the mid 70s, but recently it has been in the mid 50s. I know that doesn't sound very cold, but that's a big drop! I'm used to the Cali heat,  so this cold is killing me... But I'll survive. 

But like I said, I really don't remember much of what happened. We visited a lot of people, and found some more people to teach. We didn't get to see Paul this week which was sad, but We'll see him this week. But I've been tired a lot this week, so hopefully I can get back into it and not be tired. 

But now for the food part... I ate some weird stuff this week. First off, we had more Mole (chilies and chocolate on chicken) and it was the best mole I have had! So that was awesome. And then I tried Lengua (cow tongue) taco. that actually wasn't too bad. The texture was just a little weird... and finally, I ate a bug... this was an accident. I was eating my cup of ice like I do every night, and then home boy just flew in my mouth! Like how rude! I didn't ask for this. No gracias. But other than that the food was pretty dang good. And I learned how to make Pazole (Mexican soup) and it's realy easy and really good!

We have had a few returned missionaries come back from their missions this week which has been fun! One was from Ecuador, and the other from North Carolina, both Spanish speaking. And then someone gets home from Dominican Republic next week! So there are so many returned missionaries and it is great. You get more excited for those kind of things when you are a missionary, haha.

But I will share something cool I got from my studies this week. So currently I am reading the Book of Mormon, trying to finish it by the beginning of December. I started in Alma, and am now hooking back around and I am in 2 Nephi. But someone in the branch shared the different ways he read the Book of Mormon. He said one way was he looked for the first time Christ's name was mentioned. It doesn't happen til 2 Nephi. It was just cool to think, that before these people even knew Christ's name, so much of their lives depended on him, and he was a part of them. I have been marking all references to Christ, and there are many even before we know his name. So this made me think about our own lives. There are many people who do not know Christ. Maybe they know his name, but they don't really know him. However, that does not mean that he is not a part of their lives. He is always there waiting to help us, waiting for us to grab his hand. I thought that was cool, so I thought I'd share :)

But yeah that was the week! It was a good week, but sorry for the lame letter... I'll work extra hard to have something big and interesting happen to share next week.

Love and miss you!

Kiley
Hermana Atkinson