Here We Go

January 5, 2015

 

Hello!

Well, happy 2015!! It's weird and freaky to think that this year I will come home.

I hope you all had a fun (and safe) New Years. My companion ate some bad chicken that day so she got sick and went to bed early. So I did the area book, looked at the sky a little bit, and also went to bed early. Woo.

 

Highlights from last week:

-We were crossing the street when a couple and their son approached us to ask where the church was. They told us that they were new and in order to find out when and where church is they decided, and I quote, "to look for elders because they'll know." Whatever works works, I guess.

-Fun cultural differences: Church Christmas activities that are supposed to start at 7:30 but don't really start until 8:45.

-Want to make yourself nervous? Sing an English solo in front of a cultural hall full of Mexicans 15 minutes before you have to be in your house for the night. We signed up to participate in the talent show for the Christmas activity, but since they started super-duper late it was...a bit stressful. But it turned out great: one girl thought that we were a CD, and we made people cry. The good happy cry.

-People here have once again started to try to guess where I am from. One asked if I was from Canada, "because I just look Canadian." But there was this other guy on the bus that came over and asked "Excuse me, are you Mexican?" "No, I'm not. (OK; how do I turn this into a contact?)" "Are you European? Because you look German, or French." "No, I'm American (here we go), and I'm a missionary." "Oh, that's good. OK here's my stop bye." "(NO! I can't contact you if you leave!)"

-Winter is here. While it's got nothing on Colorado, I keep getting cold. And I now wear the coat that I didn't think I would touch until my return flight.

Highlights from this week:

-I'm pretty sure that in only a Latin culture will a man have the same name as his mother. We went to go find a former investigator named Jesus Acosta. We get there and start talking to a man at the address named Jesus Acosta. We asked him about when he talked with the missionaries before. He says he hasn't talked with us before – other curches but not ours. Then a little bit later he says, "OH! It's because my mom's name is also Jesus Acosta." Jesus, Maria, and Guadalupe are all unisex names here.

-That really funny moment when you are in your zone meeting and the sister in her first transfer calls you Hermana Dallyn. This was because she wanted to tell me that she read my blog before she came and I guess my first name stuck with her. I laughed.

-This week, when we were talking to an investigator and I told her I was from the U.S., she was surprised. When I asked her where she thought I was from she said Chihuahua. That's a really cool thing, because a lot of the Mexicans from Chihuahua look American. So basically she thought I was Mexican because of my Spanish.

Like a Boss.

 

OK; my fingers are tired. I wanted to add more pictures, but my camera ran out of battery. So I'll send them next week.

Love you all and have a wonderful week!!

 

Hna Anderson