Hola a todo!!  Juan and Wilber are doing good dad and are still progressing! It's kinda hard to believe that they are progressing this fast because I've never seen anyone progress this fast... I didn't believe they had interest at first but it's true! Oh, and btws, there is a young couple in our ward who I'm working with, Junior and Yiara (she served in the same mission as the oldest Valeriano girl! They were companions) and they say hi to all of you! 

Hahaha thank you for your emails. And before you all freak out about our phone situation, let me just tell you something ...

We found our phone. Yups, it was quite ... idk, in the moment I was too tired and numb of any feelings to really be happy, upset, or anything. Yeah, the entire time it was in the bag of my companion.  ... no, no it wasn't an aprils fools joke hahaha although it got you all good. But it's okay, everythings fine now :D So, no worries, our house is still 90 percent secure and no one robbed us. But we did learn some lessons ... maybe a good one about not blaming our neighbors ... 

Aaaaanyway, this week ... the highlight was general conference! Yeah it was super good. Our chapel is the stake center, and we live only 5 minutes walk away, so we went to watch it there. I watched 3 of the 4 sessions in Spanish. I understood a ton more than last time, but the translators from spain have a, uh ... different accent. So it was a little harder to understand. Plus, when I'm looking at the faces of these english speakers, knowing that they speak english, yet hearing it in spanish, its a little difficult. But the 2 spanish speakers were really good! I understood theirs perfectly! And I thought of you guys a lot too! I was like "wow, I'm still watching conference with my family, even though we are an ocean away!" It was a great conference and though I didn't understand word for word everything, I was able to recieve a lot of much needed personal revelation :) It was great!

A few other things that we did this week was 1) April fools. So me and hna McFarland decided to pull a trick on the other two sisters. We thought about making it look like our house got robbed, but after our whole phone situation, we thought it wouldn't be too nice to freak them out again haha. So we switched their desks around and their beds and dressers, nothing much. We were lucky enough to be home when they got home. hna Hernandez (from Mexico) didn't understand what was going on (we heard everything because we were hiding in our bathroom) but Hermana Gingell (from Utah) got it right away and immediately came into our room to do something saying "okay, that's what they want to do. So let's see what we can do here ..." No worries, we jumped out of the bathroom before she did any damage hahaha but it was good :D They were all sour after hahaha!! and 2) We dyed easter eggs! A wonderful family from my ward sent me an egg dying kit and we were able to dye eggs :) It was a first for Hermana Hernandez and another sister who came over yesterday. But it was super fun. I'll send pics as soon as I get the chance. 

And yes, I hit my 9 months this past week. It feels like just yesterday I was coming out of the MTC ... It's weird how slowly but quickly time flies. And no, I haven't done anything to celebrate it :) unless you count the ways the Lord's blessed me in these past 9 months, then I guess those are the gifts I've received! And they haven't been few. The mission, yes it's so hard, but I wouldn't trade these friendships and experiences for anything! I've realized that the mission isn't for the missionary. I mean, yes it is, but it really isn't. The entire time, the missionary should be focused on what the Lord wants done and what the people need. And in the process, they see the blessings the Lord has, in turn given them. I hope that all those who are of age really think and pray about if serving a full time mission is the right thing for them to do and their time to do it. There is nothing and never will be anything that can compare to your mission experiences, nor is there a better way to serve. Whether we wear the plack or not, we should all be that missionary, because we are in the mission. We still take upon ourselves the name of Christ and promise to always remember Him. And I can't think of any better way to do that than through missionary work :)

I love you all and thank you for all of your love and support for all the missionaries! Keep sharing the gospel and I know that the Lord will continue to bless you and your families. Love you all and take care! 

Love, aloha, y amor,

Hermana Ho