Since Yesterday Everything Has Changed

October 13, 2014

 

Wow. OK, remember how I told you it was transfers? Well in Spanish, we call them cambios, which literally translated means 'changes.' Well, President told us, more than once, we're not going to have a lot of changes this transfer. 

 

Ha.

Ha.

And more ha.  

Nearly everything changed!

I might be developing some trust issues here …

So, I am now the only remaining missionary in Sochiloa from before. Elder Bloxham has finished his mission (hats off to an excellent missionary and friend), Elder Miranda is going to a pueblito in Sinaloa (the other state that's in our mission), and Hermana Mendez is hopping the borderline into the neighboring zone. I honestly feel like I lost three siblings. We cried – even the elders, even a little bit in front of us. Yesterday Hna Mendez said that it felt like a great band was breaking up, or Los Chicos del Barrio (in English, that's the name of the TV series, the Kids Next Door). Never did I expect to be so sad to see people leave that I have known for so short a time. But with everything we've been through here in Sochiloa, I can't help but love them all. And I miss them already :'(

 

So, I will now be helping not one, but three missionaries learn the area. And, oh! Fun news! I'm a stepmom! (That means that I'm training.) AH! And guess what the zone leaders didn’t tell me yesterday when they called us. That I would be training. Sheesh.

But here she is! 

 

Twenty years old and from Peru, I will be helping Hermana Gonzales to finish her training as a missionary. I will also be leading our area, helping the elders with theirs, helping the ward, trying to find new investigators, trying to help the recent converts gain a pure testimony and prepare for the temple, trying to forget all of my weaknesses and trust that everything will be ok, and all while being a happy, knowledgeable representative of Christ. Stress levels rising ... At least I'm not an STL and I don't have to teach anyone Spanish ... Ni modos, this will most definitely be a growing transfer in a very big way.

 

Highlights (apart from transfers that is):

-The moon has been super cool this past week, just a really big ball of orange and wonderful to look at. A true Harvest Moon and I love it!

-Music continues to be a weak point for me. On our hardest day this week, our Relief Society President gave us a ride as she accompanied us to do a visit, and on her radio was playing "Come With Me Now" by the Kongos. I love that song and it makes me think of my mom, because she also loves it and sings it with passion.

-I am becoming Mexican. I made spaghetti for dinner, and for sauce we only had this boxed (not canned, boxed) tomato sauce that tastes like Chef Boyardee. So I added salsa to it. Fairly normal. But then once it was ready, I added hot sauce and lime juice. And dear goodness was I content :)

-While doing service this week, raking and sweeping, I saw Hna Mendez walking to the other side of the yard wielding the 12-foot pole that is used to cut mangos from the really high branches. When I asked her what she was doing she just very calmly said "What? There's a spider." I laughed until I cried.

 

Alrighty, I think that's it for now,

 

Love you all!

Hermana Anderson

Another Transfer Done??

October 6, 2014

Hello, loved ones! I can't believe it, but it's the last week of transfers! Who knows where I'll be a week from now. Crazy, right? 

Alrighty, here we go… 

Highlights:

-We were looking for a less-active member's house that we had never been to. We thought we'd found it, but with the crazy Mexican house numbering we weren´t sure (there wasn't actually a number on the house – or the one next to it – and they do not always go in sequential order). So we asked the neighbor if so-and-so lived there. Thing is, the neighbor was a 90-year-old who was hard of hearing. And the other neighbor was blasting 60s rock ballads. It made me laugh, and then miss my dad.

-People keep bugging me to use an umbrella. I don't want to: it's not that hot anymore and my arm gets tired.

-I ate liver for the first time this week, which is weird considering I'm from a family of hunters. Definitely did not love it, but I have eaten much grosser things in my life.

-Also, I dodged a bullet and did not have to eat cow stomach this week! Almost five months in Mexico without eating that or chicken feet. I feel very proud of myself.

-One of the really cool things about serving and doing divisions with other companionships is that I get to work with people from literally all over the world. This week I did divisions twice, one day with a sister from Peru, and another with a sister from Argentina. They are wonderful, bright, and incredible missionaries, and I feel so privileged to get to learn with them.

-During one of the lessons I had with the sister from Argentina, Hermana Franco, things went so smoothly I felt like I was in a video from The District. It was quite surreal. Then I went back to my area and things went back to normal.

-Happy October! The super-cute Hermana Mendez keeps calling the month Halloween and it's adorable! Part of me wants to be here another transfer with her, just so we can celebrate it together!

-We went to print photos today and while I was waiting for Sister Mendez I found that my fingers were tapping along to the song in the background. Wouldn't you know it – it was Single File's "Zombies Ate My Neighbors." Really. REALLY?!! I love that song. I miss music. A lot. A lot A lot. SIGH. Only 13- months left ....

-I ate a fun dessert this week. It was two cookies with margarine in the middle. But there was caramel on top, so it was ok :)

 

OK, cool experience. We went to visit a semi-active member because it had been a few weeks since we'd seen her. When we got there her sister opened the door and said, "Well, she's here but she's in bed because she broke her leg last week." Wait … she did what? No one knew about her broken leg – not us, not her visiting teacher, not the Relief Society President, who is her good friend. No one. But now all these people know, are visiting her, and are helping her as she is on bed rest for six weeks. Oh, and did I mention that her other sister had died the week before she broke her leg? Yeah, guess who felt like an instrument in the Lord's hands, in a very surprising way. I've heard of experiences like this from other missionary friends, but to live it is … humbling. Because I am being entrusted to help this woman feel better and strengthen her faith in Christ amidst a very real, very painful set of trials. Whoa. No pressure, right? 

Love you all, and next week I will try to write about Conference and all that fun-ness. Like people speaking in SPANISH over the pulpit!!! And me understanding them!

Hermana Anderson