I take it back.
¨It´s raining¨ is actually kind of good excuse for not coming to church.
Not really, there are no excuses for not going to church, but thank goodness it never rains like that in the morning. Can somebody please look up the word "monsoon" and tell me what it means? I think it might apply here... SO MUCH WATER. Rivers in the street. I was very grateful for my rain boots, and for the family of 15 children (only 12 living, and only 6 in the house at that time) who let us in and gave us corn coffee and listened to us politely but disbelievingly as the lights went out and we explained in the dark that they really can live together as a family after this life.
A Change
So... I have a new companion!
Normally missionaries are in the same area for the first 12 weeks because there's an infield training course we do more or less every morning. You have the same companion for all that time too.
But... guess what? There are girl leaders in the missions now!
They take care of all the sisters in a zone (group of 25 or so missionaries), go on exchanges with them (where you switch companions for 24 hours to learn from the more experienced sister), and are in charge of this training course.
My companion mysteriously left me in a trio with other sisters on Monday and went to Reu to meet with the president... and came back with this news. We went to the temple on Tuesday, and on Wednesday at the transfer meeting I said goodbye to my first mission "mom" y hugged my second.
Her name is Hermana Martinez. I love her.
She's so short that when she sits upright in a chair her feet don't all the way touch the ground. She's from the mountainous, cold part of Guatemala, like three hours away, serving here until her visa comes and she can go to Merida, Mexico. She's quiet but nice, and incredibly obedient.
She brought one suitcase.
And does't know any English at all, except ¨we are walking to the house¨ because I taught that sentence this morning.
We entered the CCM at the same time, but she left four weeks before me, because she already knows Spanish. She also knows K'iche', a popular dialect here. She is so cool.
A Reflection
So, I'm learning a lot here. And like any worthwhile experience, it's painful. I miss you guys a ton, and I think I cried during every hymn yesterday at church. Our super positive investigator that was going to get baptized this weekend ran away on Friday and still isn't answering her phone. I feel bad because I can't make small talk to my companion as much as she deserves, and don't want her to feel like the atmosphere in our house is heavy... I just don't have the words yet to say lots of things, and sometimes get real bored of uttering ´´come se dice´´(How do you say...?)
But I'm praying a lot and I can promise you all that God is THERE. Really there, watching over me and answering my prayers. Yours too, if you just search him. Really LOOK for him and his presence in your life. Do what is necessary to be able to feel Him.
Okay, sorry for preaching - The members here are incredible. I don't remember what all I promised to write about last week and didn't, but I will just tell you about Candy Alvarez, the lady who cooks lunch for us five days a week.
An Inspiration
She's this little woman (like everybody here) and real sassy and witty, quick to crack an on the edge joke. She has two young daughters, Abish and Sesia, and she's raising them on her own in a two room house with peeling white paint and pictures of the temple on the walls. She was married in the temple to a man who was the bishop in the ward a few years ago, until he cheated on her, broke some other laws, and got excommunicated. She moved, got a job, and became a counselor in the Relief Society.
One day we found her missionary nametag in the house. She served a mission 13 years ago, a year and two months after being baptized in the church, which she did 15 days after first meeting with the missionaries. One day she told me her mom died when she was six and she grew up in a bunch of mostly familial foster homes, and there was a long dot dot dot after that, like some stuff happened then that she didn't want to talk about.
Watching her teach her littlest daughter to pray warms my heart all the way up to my nose. Her lessons in Relief Society make me cry and think, and her testimony in lessons with investigators always makes them understand things better.
I don't know how she got where she did, but I'm going to try and find the relationship with the Savior that gives her the strength she has.
A P.S.
I would like to thank Tora Knapp for her profound words of wisdom. Grandma, I got three of your letters at the same time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER SAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S 17 TODAY, EVERYBODY GIVE HIM LOTS OF LOVIN. Be smart, kid.
The church is true, and I love you.
So... I have a new companion!
Normally missionaries are in the same area for the first 12 weeks because there's an infield training course we do more or less every morning. You have the same companion for all that time too.
But... guess what? There are girl leaders in the missions now!
They take care of all the sisters in a zone (group of 25 or so missionaries), go on exchanges with them (where you switch companions for 24 hours to learn from the more experienced sister), and are in charge of this training course.
My companion mysteriously left me in a trio with other sisters on Monday and went to Reu to meet with the president... and came back with this news. We went to the temple on Tuesday, and on Wednesday at the transfer meeting I said goodbye to my first mission "mom" y hugged my second.
Her name is Hermana Martinez. I love her.
She's so short that when she sits upright in a chair her feet don't all the way touch the ground. She's from the mountainous, cold part of Guatemala, like three hours away, serving here until her visa comes and she can go to Merida, Mexico. She's quiet but nice, and incredibly obedient.
She brought one suitcase.
And does't know any English at all, except ¨we are walking to the house¨ because I taught that sentence this morning.
We entered the CCM at the same time, but she left four weeks before me, because she already knows Spanish. She also knows K'iche', a popular dialect here. She is so cool.
A Reflection
So, I'm learning a lot here. And like any worthwhile experience, it's painful. I miss you guys a ton, and I think I cried during every hymn yesterday at church. Our super positive investigator that was going to get baptized this weekend ran away on Friday and still isn't answering her phone. I feel bad because I can't make small talk to my companion as much as she deserves, and don't want her to feel like the atmosphere in our house is heavy... I just don't have the words yet to say lots of things, and sometimes get real bored of uttering ´´come se dice´´(How do you say...?)
But I'm praying a lot and I can promise you all that God is THERE. Really there, watching over me and answering my prayers. Yours too, if you just search him. Really LOOK for him and his presence in your life. Do what is necessary to be able to feel Him.
Okay, sorry for preaching - The members here are incredible. I don't remember what all I promised to write about last week and didn't, but I will just tell you about Candy Alvarez, the lady who cooks lunch for us five days a week.
An Inspiration
She's this little woman (like everybody here) and real sassy and witty, quick to crack an on the edge joke. She has two young daughters, Abish and Sesia, and she's raising them on her own in a two room house with peeling white paint and pictures of the temple on the walls. She was married in the temple to a man who was the bishop in the ward a few years ago, until he cheated on her, broke some other laws, and got excommunicated. She moved, got a job, and became a counselor in the Relief Society.
One day we found her missionary nametag in the house. She served a mission 13 years ago, a year and two months after being baptized in the church, which she did 15 days after first meeting with the missionaries. One day she told me her mom died when she was six and she grew up in a bunch of mostly familial foster homes, and there was a long dot dot dot after that, like some stuff happened then that she didn't want to talk about.
Watching her teach her littlest daughter to pray warms my heart all the way up to my nose. Her lessons in Relief Society make me cry and think, and her testimony in lessons with investigators always makes them understand things better.
I don't know how she got where she did, but I'm going to try and find the relationship with the Savior that gives her the strength she has.
A P.S.
I would like to thank Tora Knapp for her profound words of wisdom. Grandma, I got three of your letters at the same time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER SAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S 17 TODAY, EVERYBODY GIVE HIM LOTS OF LOVIN. Be smart, kid.
The church is true, and I love you.
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