A Third Part

November 3, 2014

Helloooo!!

Another week down!

I don't have much time so here goes: 

Highlights:

-During lunch this week, out of nowhere one of the elders asked me "Sister, what does ratchet mean?" Other Americans like to use/teach such words to the Latino missionaries and then not explain them. I, however, am much more forward than that and explain what others have not. But to be honest I nearly died laughing because I'd forgotten all about that word.

-I ate meatloaf here for the first time and learned that it is called pastel de carne which literally translated means meat cake. I thought of Sage in that moment and really had to work hard to not just burst out laughing. 

-Some guy on the bus randomly asked us what religion we were from. We explained and he said, "Oh the Mormons! Cool. My name is Lehi. I also have a brother named Nephi and Moroni." 

-I learned that rated R movies don't really exist here. I dunno what the rating system is, but it's not the same. I was happy to learn this because it all of the sudden explained why such awesome members thought it was ok to watch such awful movies.

-A sister in the ward told us about what it was like for her kids to go on dates. I don't remember all she said but the only word that came to mind was "awkward," because she went on all the dates with them. All of a sudden potential dates having to recite D&C 4 or the Oath and Covenant to my dad doesn't seem so bad...

-Last night it rained really hard for the first time since August and, after a stressful week, of course I went and played in it! But it was weird because this time I was almost, almost but not quite, cold. Weird, right?

-Children here don't say "trick or treat". They just say "Halloween" or "We want Halloween." I had a good giggle at all the munchkins running around yelling "¡queremos halloween! ¡queremos halloween!"

 

Alright; an announcement! I officially have less than a calendar year left on my mission. Can you believe it? Nah, me neither. This time next year I can talk to you all face to face. Or Facebook to Facebook. Either way, I am one-third of the way done with my mission. How crazy is that? 

-We took dramatic mission photos at sunset. This is how I look when I am receiving revelation. Just kidding!

-We also celebrated Hermana Capp’s birthday!

 

-And we took a super awesome Zone photo with the balloons for the youth dance. Best part is the blurry guy on the left with the mop is one of the Assistants to the President. The other ran in shortly after with the bucket. 

 

Other announcement!! This transfer continues to be difficult! Not a surprise to me but there was an unexpected blessing, namely an outpouring of love from my leaders. Like … all of them. I got a random happy text from my STL (the fabulous Hermana Mendez!), a call from both my zone and district leaders, and a visit from the Mission President and his wife. And they brought cookies. Don't worry, nothing dire happened, I was just, well, living the mission life, which is rough and we can't do alone. To be honest the only ones who actually knew I was struggling was President and his wife. But I was super blessed to receive the comfort and council that Heavenly Father knew I needed.  

Never forget that Heavenly Father loves you and that He is so willing and ready and waiting to help!  

Love you all!!

 

Hermana Anderson

Happiness Might Be Spelled C-o-o-k-i-e

October 27, 2014

'Ello lovelies!

Is it just me, or is it a really long time since I wrote you all? Probably just me, but it feels soooo long since last Monday, which is really weird for a missionary.

Sochiloa is back to its usual self again. It's still very different but it feels a bit more like the area that I am used to. That is both a good and bad thing. Anywho; happy Monday!

Highlights:

-I am becoming one tough lady. This week while we were teaching, a little baby cockroach ended up on my hand. Recently-arrived me would have freaked or gasped. Right-now me just swatted it real quick and kept going with the conversation.

-My companion and I have been working on her English and this week we've had a lot of fun with it. The best moment – well, one of them – was when I was trying to teach her how to pronounce 'faithful' and she said, "It's like baseball?" Wait, what? No! Then I laughed. A lot. And so did she, once I explained it.

-Cool thing about learning Spanish as a non-native: sometimes I teach natives things like the "vosotros" form of speaking (in a few words, it’s how you talk informally to a group of people, but they don't use it here in Mexico any more. It's kinda like using “thee” and “thou” in English). But one investigator was reading from the Book of Mormon and asked if it was a different language. I almost told him yes, but then realized that didn't really apply to him.

-I had the thought yesterday that getting all the investigators and less-actives to come to church sometimes feels like herding cats. Except you are also trying to change their lives at the same time. Ay caray.

-I got to do some really fun service the other day. A sister received a message from someone who seems, well, a little lost. So I was a good missionary and tried to help her out :)

-This past week, Ben and I reached our five- year anniversary (yes, we are still a thing). I celebrated by painting my nails for the first time since before I left. And I worked really hard as usual. Then took the nail polish off the next day. 

Something cool this week! We held tours of the church as a district! We all got together early to clean the chapel; I helped with the baptismal font again, which was super gross, otra vez, but all of the bugs were dead this time! Here's a photo of me getting rid of the last of the nasty water (it smelled like a fish bowl. Yum) by getting paper towels wet and squeezing the water out into a bucket, Elder Tanner, who actually did most of the work, and Hermana Capps, who I love and who is just so cute. She helped too, but mostly she just handed us the broom and mop, haha.

There wasn't a ton of success from this, but there were some really neat and powerful experiences. Plus we all learned from it.

And also we had a party! Elder Tanner had his birthday last week but didn't tell anyone, so we threw him a surprise party and it was pretty much the best, because he had no words in either English or Spanish.  

To sum up the week, I have one more story. It was a really hard and really hot afternoon on Tuesday and I didn't want to work. I felt like all the responsibilities of the ward were on my shoulders. I felt pushed and pulled in every direction and didn't know where to start with anything. While we were walking from a failed contact to an appointment that later fell through, I was thinking about everything – feeling miserable and nearly to the point of tears – when someone called "Hermanas!" It was a man we didn't know who ended up being a recent convert from the other ward that shares our building. A happiness radiated from him as we talked for a few minutes, and that alone made me feel better. Just before he left he asked, "Will you let me give you these cookies? I'm just so grateful for missionaries." This is rough; I know it, and Heavenly Father knows it. But He also loves me, and is taking care of me, and does things like give me cookies when I feel really bad. What a great dad. :)

Love you all!

Hermana Anderson