Hola a todos <Hello everyone>!
I want you all to know that I’m honestly so happy right now. Things feel like they’re actually working out and hopefully we can actually start to get this area moving. Too bad it has to be right as transfers end. 🙁 We’re pretty sure we’re going to stay together for at least another transfer, this area is still sooooo fresh and new I can’t imagine leaving it now!
To explain why I’m so happy, let me start by saying why I wasn’t so happy for a pretty long time. Well, it wasn’t really all that long but I had about 7-8 weeks where I could say I fell into a depression of sorts. When they say that this work is hard – BELIEVE THEM! I honestly felt so frustrated with the work the last few weeks I was in Carolina because we weren’t having any success and we couldn’t find out what was wrong. I was in such a crummy mood because I wasn’t sure if I even knew how to be a missionary. Fun fact: I still don’t! It’s such a tough job that I honestly can now say that without Dios and the Holy Ghost I’m really so utterly lost.
Then at the start of this transfer, I realized that there was no way I was who I needed to be to get this work done. I stressed myself out so much over the smallest little things that I wasn’t sure if I could do what Dios needed me to do here. I basically finished the training of Hna Zimmy and I put myself down just about every day for felling like I wasn’t the best example I could be for her.
But thanks to the small tender mercy of all the cute girls I live with, I learned something that pulled me out of this self-deprecating hole in the ground. Dios wants me to be happy. He is the only way I can BE happy and if I’m not happy… why? I found that when I listen to these negative thoughts, when I tell myself I am nothing, it’s not possible for me to have the Spirit with me! Satan is the one who tells me these things, and really it’s just a choice of who I’m going to listen to: Dios or Satan?
Chacho <used for a bridge between thoughts>, sorry for the fun little rant, but do you see why I’m so freaking happy now? I finally get it (thanks to the infamous Hna Verde). It doesn’t mean I won’t have sucky days, but I’m so thankful for these people in the house I’m in now because I know that without them I would probably be in a pretty icky place for a while longer.
But hey – it does help that I’m finally seeing some success in my works now. 🙂 Our main investigator named Jessica is actually prepping for a baptismal date! We had a great ayuno <fast> and tons of prayers answered in a pretty crazy lesson this last week and the Spirit told us that she was going to be ready. I really hope we can do our part. Dios is already doing His. 🙂
We have a few others like Dally who is a real cute old lady who reminds me of a lassy I knew in my other area. She had a really hard life and she’s been really looking for God lately. She’s convinced we were sent here by Dios to help her right now. Maybe one day I can tell you guys about her life story. It’s pretty crazy. But she’s prepping for baptism too; just for a few weeks later than Jessica. I really don’t want this to go downhill. We’ve been without success for so long I just want to do what God needs me to do. I just hope I’m doing it right. 🙂
Fun fact: I cut my hair this week. Well, I didn’t, but Hna Verde y Hna Zimmy cut it. Hna Santos was very helpful with washing my hair too. Honestly, I just wanted a change. I needed one, lol. And besides, it hot here. 🙂
Yes, I’ve got just the luck to take this picture upside down, but it’s decently done. 🙂 I think it looks nice.
How many hermanas does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: 4. One to be the footstool, one to swing around and get the light bulb out, one to spot them in case they fall over, and one to look cute and take pics.
I also bought a new shirt today. It has crabs on it and I love it. I also match really well with this house. Well, Bueno <good>. Someone’s going to have to repaint and it’s not going to be me.
Other fun things:
- I ate monkey bread for the first time on the mission. The only difference is that they fry it here. That’s PR for you.
- I fed a horse a starfruit. It didn’t want it but I was very insistent and was pretty sure it wouldn’t eat the mints in my bag and it looked hungry.
- They had a Fiesta de Pesca’o <fishing party> last week. It was cool. Lots of music, dancing, and fun things. I bought some tiny shell earrings for myself. They whisper compliments to me (name that movie reference). Also, they said they would have fresh sharks caught and all bloody just hanging up on the dock on Sunday morning (it was like a competition or something???) too bad we couldn’t go bc Dia de Reposo <because day of rest> bruh.
- I have officially eaten too many turkey sandwiches. It’s one of the few foods my picky eating comp will eat. I’m tired of eating sad food.
- I found out what pineapple plants are and they’re cuter than newborn babies and puppies and Brad Pitt all put together. I love little pineapple plants so much.
- I was compared to Betty Crocker and Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep this week.
- I gave a talk in church and got given mad props for my ability to speak Spanish. They told me they could tell I was studying the scriptures in Spanish, speaking it at every chance, and I was fully immersing myself in the language. Woo-hoo.
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Keep beach city weird
Hermana Thelin