What a Trickster

September 1, 2014

 

I can´t believe I'm saying this, but happy September everyone!!  

Sorry I didn't write a mass email last Monday. It was a Cray-Zee preparation day. But this week is much more chill! I even got to take a nap! Woo-hoo! 

Highlights:

-I have had a cough for a couple weeks. Nothing big, but combined with the heavy allergies I've been having, it's been way fun. But no worries because the ward is looking out for me! We were with some less-actives and they gave me the cure: A raw onion! Yes, I am eating it. And oddly enough, it's helped WAY more than the nasty medicine I’ve been taking for my cold. Weird.

-My companion and I are super cool and super focused. That means that on the really hot mornings when no one answers the door and there's no one in the streets to contact we do grown-up things like assign a Pokemon for everyone in our district. Judge us if you will. I have no regrets.

-I love doing service here. Usually it only consists of sweeping and mopping, but I don't care. This week we gave (ok, kind of forced, we just started doing it, because we knew she needed it. Her husband is recovering from cancer, and she's taking care of him at home after four months in the hospital) service to a woman who we are teaching, and it was really intense sweeping (I just said it was intense to sweep, what is my life?). When I say that I mean there was a ton of dirt, spider webs, old bottles, spiders, some unknown animal droppings, and the very strong odor of cat. We were sweating like crazy, but I felt super great. Helping someone in a way that they need and aren't expecting … it's really, really cool.

-This gospel changes people. Isaac is our 11-year-old investigator who is going to be baptized in less than two weeks and he is really different from when we started teaching him. He used to be a terror in the neighborhood – ding-dong-ditching and tearing signs off of storefronts among the least of it. But this kid is beyond excited for his baptism and it shows. He is inviting the whole neighborhood to the Family Home Evenings that we have with members, he had his grandparents buy him dress clothes to wear to church, and he always wants to come to lessons with us. And also he helped us, voluntarily, with the service to the other investigator. It's really incredible the change in just over a month. 

-So, it's stopped raining. And it's hot again. Really, really hot. That means that our wonderful AC unit can no longer cool our entire apartment. Just the bedroom. When the door is closed. Autumn is going to be super different here, I think. Maybe October will be nice....

-September 16^th is the 4^th of July for Mexico, and people and stores have already started to decorate. This nation knows how to party under normal circumstances; I can't wait to see what they do when they've got a national holiday to work with.

-We had transfers this week! All missionaries in my ward stayed the same! But I'm actually really happy about that because we get along with the elders and nobody flirts with anybody. It's perfect. Plus they're all really wonderful people and missionaries. And I get to keep working with the wonderful and oh-so-cute Sister Mendez!!!! Huzzah!!

That also means that these four dorks are going to be working together for another six weeks. 

 

OK, about the trickster title. For the past few weeks I've felt like I need to get ready to train – focusing on who I need to be and what I need to do to be ready. So I've thought about it a lot and made lists and such about stuff to ask to get to know a trainee in a constructive way and to know how to help her feel comfortable in the field. Well, last Friday Hna Medez and I were called to go to a special training. A training for Trainers. And after that I had an interview with the mission president and he straight up asked me, "How do you feel about the fact that the Lord has called you to train?" So, here I am, all ready to be a first-time mother (in mission culture, we call our first companions our 'moms' so that was a joke. Don't go starting rumors, por favor) and we get our transfers from the district leader, and like I said we're all the same! I dunno what happened, but all I know is that Heavenly Father's got this. He knows what I need, and He knows what each one of the 24 brand new missionaries who arrived today need. But I'm still convinced that sometimes He also likes to play little jokes on us. Hopefully that's not blasphemy ... if I'm struck by lightning this week, you all know why. 

Love you tons!

Hermana Anderson

 

Wishes and Good News

August 25, 2014

 

HI!!!!  

Happy Monday, everyone! 

Wishes:

Last week on our preparation day we went to La Lagoona – ooo, ahhh! It's one of the few things we are allowed to do, but it's still not much. But we made wishes, for the heck of it. Hna Mendez wished for snow in Obregon, and I wished that we could eat carne asada (grilled meat – it's beyond delicious and I could happily eat it every day).

The next day while we were defrosting our freezer for the first time in five years, I pulled out the big chunks of frost and threw them outside to melt. This is what it looked like:

To me, that looks a bit like snow. So naturally I called my companion over and we laughed and said "Well looks like we're getting carne asada this week, haha!" Well, we then left to study at the chapel before our district meeting, and this was on the board:

I said, "Heavenly Father, that's not funny! And that doesn't count!" And then we laughed some more and said "Well, fake snow, fake meat. Guess it's only fair." But we were WRONG! The next day we had carne asada for lunch! Moral of the tale, Heavenly Father listens to the desires of our hearts and wants to give them to us, big and small. And also I think he might like to tease us a bit. 

Good News:

I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Beto. Hna Martinez and I street contacted him and he's really funny. Not like he likes to make jokes, but he makes us laugh because he just really likes to talk. About everything and nothing. And his voice is really soft, which makes it hard to follow sometimes. But he has a lot of faith and is super excited to be a member. Also, this was the guy who went up to the pulpit during fast and testimony meeting and called us "Señorita Anderson" and "Señorita Mendez". Now to help him work towards the temple!

 

Other highlights:

-I'm spending lots of quality time with cacti-I took pictures of a flower that came from a cactus that only blooms once a year and only for one night. So basically it's really rare and really awesome. Also, it's cactus fruit season – that's called pitilla, and it’s really tasty. That's right; I'm all exotic down here, eating cactus fruit.

-My companion ate her first PB&J sandwich. Her face was absolutely priceless, and she asked, “This is really kid’s food?"

-When talking about the weather with someone, they said "In September it will be much cooler, like, 37, 38 degrees Celsius." Now go Google how many degrees that is in Fahrenheit and you can laugh just like my companion and I did.

-I was trying to tell one of the kids we are teaching that I am a vampire. He didn't believe me, because "Vampires don't have zits." I had to give him that one. 

-There are some really overly loving people here. Like the inactive woman who told us, "Yeah, my foot hurts because a mouse bit me. It obviously was really hungry, so I fed it a tortilla and some cheese." The best part was that she was in her bed when the mouse bit her. Guess who did not want to be teaching in that house anymore. This hermana.

 

Alrghty, that's all of the notes I have for you all this week. Know that I love and miss you all!

Hermana Anderson