High Desert Winter

Hey everyone,

Did you know that in winter, deserts are really cold? Of course, I was completely aware of this before the mission, but for some reason I didn't remember when I was planning and packing for the mission, and only focused on how hot it was going to be. 

Well now it's freaking cold.

Literally, we just can't catch a break here in Sonora. When it's not 130F, it's 30F. There seems to be no inbetween. It's not too fun here, though, because nobody here has any sort of heat. Our house is built out of cement blocks and has no heating whatsoever. I sleep with 3 heavy blankets, and in a sweatshirt and sweats, so at night it's fine, but in the morning when we have to get dressed and study outside of our warm beds. :(

Christmas here was pretty interesting. Talking to the family was awesome, of course, although everyone needs to quit reminding me about how soon I get back. :( I don't want to leave! It was awesome to see everyone though, and everyone seems gigantic (in a good way). Christmas Eve dinner was pretty average. Nothing in comparasion to the Scandanavian feast that mom always creates, but we're used to suffering in the mission, so it's all good. :P Haha! Christmas in Mexico basically consists of lots of beer, loud music, parties, etc. Not exactly my kind of scene, but they seem to enjoy it. They also dance a lot. Latinos are always dancing. I was planning on sending a bunch of pictures of what went down, but the computer that I'm using doesn't want to read my memory card. So pictures will have to wait until next week.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, as well as the snow dump that everyone's been writing me about (trying not to feel trunky here). 

This Christmas I feel like I really actually understood what Christmas is all about. We kind of took the role of everyone in the Christmas story, and it was pretty cool. We knocked on doors like Joseph and nobody had any room or time to recieve us. We came from far away countries like the wise men to share our precious gifts of the gospel. We watched over our flocks of investigatores and members and less actives like the shepards and recieved the news of Jesus Christ with them. We sang to everyone we came in contact with, sharing the good news of Christ's birth like the angels who sang good tidings of great joy. And in a small way we were like the Christ child, young and innocent, watched over and protected by everyone else who knew we had a great work to do. 

This Christmas was different. We didn't have presents, or our families, or the food we're used to, or any of that stuff, but I was happy. Honestly we don't need any of the things that we usually focus on during Christmas. We just need the love of God and the peace of the gospel. (And our families, of course, but for that reason we got to talk to them on Christmas.) It sounds simple, but being on a mission in Mexico has taught me that it's actually true. I've become a little disenchanted with everything that exists in the States, and I'm just starting to realize how little everything that we have matters, and the things that really matter the most. 

I love you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year! 

Love,

Hermana Day

Big Changes

Well hello all. This week has been a week of big changes. Here we go.

First off, let's just get it out and over with that tomorrow I turn 20. Thanks for all the emails reminding me how old I am. Honestly, it's truly terrifying. As mom said, I never in a million years expected to spend my 20th birthday in Mexico. Well... moving on. :P

Other changes include that I am now in Hermosillo and not in Guaymas. This is probably the biggest change I've had so far in the mission, and it's been a little difficult. I was born in the north of Hermosillo, but honestly I never became super attached to that area because I was new and didn't know anything. :P But Guaymas was the place where I florished and grew and became the missionary that I am now... so it was super hard to leave. The members all cried, I cried too. It was... super sad. Like, I can't even explain so I'm not even going to try. 

So now I'm in Hermosillo. Which... sort of sucks, to be completely honest. Hermosillo is a huge city with tons of pollution, dirt, cars, a ridiculous amount of people, and lots of busy, bad attitudes. Haha. Also, the climate here is way drier than Guaymas because, well, I'm not living 2 seconds from the ocean every day, so my skin has really dried out and now it looks terrible. But everyone still loves me because everyone just automatically loves white people for some reason, so it's all good. 

Other changes include the quantity and quality of cat calls we've recieved... my companion is a short feisty (FEISTY) Dominican (again, I have another Dominican companion. I'm fairly certain that President always puts me with the Dominicans because I'm the only Hermana that has the eternal patience to handle their black sassy attitudes) who has this super cute figure and so that, combined with the fact that I am a blue eyed American calls for a lot of problems. This week has been worse than the entirety of my mission before. Yesterday was the first time I had actually been followed for a significant amount of time. Thank goodness I don't have blonde hair like Hermana Hansen in Chiapas, because the blonde American sisters here always have problems here and have to get special transfers to areas far, far away where their stalkers can't find them.

I feel like I'm freaking mom out again. Don't worry mom, I'm perfectly fine. The thing about being a white girl in Mexico is that after awhile you figure out how the system here works and can avoid the majority of the situations. With those you can't avoid, you learn real quick how to get yourself out of them. :D

Another change is that now it is super cold here. I guess I forgot the most important rule of deserts: they're either super hot, or super cold. Well, now we've entered the super cold period, and the drastic change in climate sort of killed me, so I'm a little sick. The good news is that I bought a good thick black sweater today, so that should hold me over for the winter. 

We also changed our house. Obviously. When we arrived, it was disgusting. Elders that are reading this, I have a thing or two to say to you. CLEAN YOUR FREAKING HOUSES. We know how terribly dirty they are because when we arrive at your old house and have to clean it, it's literally the most disgusting thing I've ever seen (this happened in Guaymas too). Also, your area books always suck. Fix them up, because they are completely useless. 

Yeah. That was my rant. 

Also, apparently it was Thanksgiving this week. I didn't realize until it was about 10 minutes to 9 on Thusday, and my companion was like, hey, isn't today like your day of actions of thanks or something? (That's how they say it in Spanish here.) And I was like, yeah... that's right... And we didn't have time to go by turky meat or anything, and the hot dog stand outside our house was closed... so we didn't do anything for Thanksgiving. Yup.

Also, speaking of changes, my brother Jed is literally the spitting image of dad when he was in high school. I was absoluely shocked with the picture dad send me of the kids. (The almost life-size cardboard cut out of me did add a nice touch I must say.) But seriously, everyone is gigantic. I'm not sure what's going on up there in Utah, but everyone needs to stop changing and go back to being small because I'm not prepared to come back to the house and have my three little siblings be raging hormonal teenagers. Haha :P

Well, there we go. Christmas is coming, and it still looks like summer here. Palm trees, green everywhere, sun... It's a little strange without snow. Speaking of snow, my last words in this email are thus: for those of you that would truly like to honor me and my beloved birthday while I am here in Mexico suffering without snow, I command (or invite, whichever offends you the least) you to sluff school or work, or both, and go skiing. I MISS SKIING SO MUCH. Trunky, trunky...

Love, 

Hermana Day

PS. I expect pictures from everyone this next Monday of their adventures in the mountains on my birthday. Thank you.

Hello outside world

You know, it's always sort of amusing how people seem to think missionaries live in a bubble of happiness and joy, trying to indoctrinate everyone with their messages so we can all live happy lives like swaying flowers in beautiful fields of gold.

The mission isn't like that.

Honestly, I'm convinced that as missionaries we get a view of how the world is more clearly than perhaps anyone else. We live to serve and lift and help others, and with that we enter into all walks of life, hear all sorts of terrible things, see all sorts of terrible things, and suddenly the rose colored glasses that our parents raised us with are ripped from our faces and we see the world for what it really is. 

The good news, though, is that the church is true. There's a cure for all this, and there's actually a purpose to all the suffering too. God has a plan, and while that plan may be impossible to understand at times, the good news is that this life was never suppose to be guided by pure knowledge in the first place. We're here so we can learn faith and humility.

Well, some of you might already know this, but I'm at the half way point in my mission. On 5 of November, I will have completed 9 months, and I will have 9 months more to go. The time has gone by ridiculously fast, and truthfully much of it is meloncholy and bittersweet, but I'm also content that I used these 9 months wisely, and that I'll use the rest of the 9 months I still have to continue serving the Lord. 

I've learned a lot of things while I've been here, but honestly I'm not sure how much good it would do to make a laundry list of them all here. The things I have really learned are things that have been integrated into my being. I'm not sure how to explain them in coherent thoughts or sentences, but I do know that I've changed. 

I guess the number one thing I've learned is love. Everything else really in secondary to that first eternally principle. Really, nothing works without love. It is the motor behind this work, the motor behind everything that God does. It is what keeps us, as missionaries going through the hardest days of our missions. It is also what keeps this world going despite all the terrible things that happen. It is the strongest source of energy we have, and everything we do should stem from the love we have for God, and for our fellow man. The purpose of our life is to learn that really, it's not our life. 

Well, I love you all. I am grateful for your support, your prayers, your words of encoragement, everything. I'm grateful for my parents, who really did raise me right. I'm ridiculously proud of them. :D And I'm greatful for God, who gave me this life as an opportunity to learn how to serve him. 

Cuidense mucho,

Hermana Day

Hello world. Today I'm not going to write anything, but instead send you some of the photos you've been asking for for months. Here we go. 

Hello Everyone

Dear goodness. I don't know where to begin, or even what to write. But here is my sort-of weekly email. We'll start with the easy stuff first.

We found a 9 inch long centipede in our house. I cannot explain how terrifyingly fat and gigantic it was. Its pinchers, stinger thingie was about an inch, inch and a half long. I don't know if I have ever been so scared in my entire life. Of course, it also had the amazing attribute of running very, very fast. So we opened the front door, and, screaming, tried to push it with a broom out of our house. The neighbors came running and took over, and we were saved. That was definitely the most terrifying moment in my mission. Knife fights, gangs, cholos, cartels, police, etc., nah. Nothing compares with giant centipedes. Remember in the 2nd Star Wars movie how the bounty hunter puts the two giant centipedes in the room of Padme? Yeah, that's how I felt. The broom was our lightsaber.

Speaking of Star Wars, I finally figured out why the DF Mexico Temple looks so strange and familiar- it looks like the Jedi temple in Star Wars. Call me crazy, but I'm serious about this. DF Mexico Temple is actually the Jedi Temple. Just saying.

These past few weeks have been... interesting. Basically, that word is just what I'm going to use to describe my entire mission to obmit any unecessarily negative adjectives. :P First off, every other day we get hurricane warnings and everyone freaks out and school is cancelled and then nothing happens. It's a vicious cycle. This last Sunday all the boats and ships were suppose to leave for the season, which has basically meant that everyone has been super, super busy. There were fishermen in every street mending their nets, and everyone from carpenters to secretaries were working to send the boats out. It's an extremely complicated process that requires the efforts of the entire city. They were suppose to leave Sunday, which meant that a lot of people weren't in church. Ah well. However, due to the hurricane that's spinning around the Sea of Cortez, they couldn't actually leave, which sent everyone for a loop. Stay tuned.

It's raining right now, which is so incredibly nice. Our new zone is not my favorite, but it's improved from last transfer, so that's been nice. The poor Elders got robbed again, and they also found bikes which haven't been stolen yet, which is a step up from every other story about bikes I've heard in this mission. Also, tonight is El Grito, which basically means that everyone and their dog will be drinking in the streets.It's actually the night of Independence Day, but any holiday in Mexico just means that everyone is going to drink themselves to death. This, and the supposed ''hurricane'' that we never see has caused President to order everyone in their houses at 7pm tonight. Which doesn't mean much to some areas because they have to be in their houses at that time anyways, but whatever. I can clock in a good few hours of studying.

Updates on me: I've finally solidifying the present subjunctive tense, which has been giving me fits for quite a few months now. I absolutely LOVE Spanish. It's is a perfect language. So much more beautiful and complete than English. Past Subjunctive is still hurting, though, so that's what I'll be working on for the next few weeks. Physically, I'm fatter, but fine. I can eat anything, on the streets or in the house, and it won't do anything to me. Score! Unfortunately, it's an attribute all the Americans have to absorb. Emotionally, I'm exhausted, but chugging along. Sometimes we thrive, sometimes we can't do anything but survive. Spiritually, I have never been better! I love this gospel, and I love this work. I love being a missionary and helping other people grow and progress in their life to realize the same eternal truths I know to be true. I love the way that God teaches me, and other people. It's never in the way I expect; always in a better way. Can we just take a moment to appreciate that it's a perfect being that runs this show? Imagine if it was a human, or something. Life would be a disaster. But the good news is that God is in charge and knows us completely. He knows exactly what we need, and the best way to give it to us. Sometimes, when my faith is weak, I remind myself to have faith in the faith that God has in me, in His plan for me, and in His infinite love. It helps a lot. 

I love you all, and I hope that this letter finds you happy, healthy, and well. 

Love,

Hermana Day

Hello all

Welcome to another day in beautiful Sonora! 

That was sarcasm. 

But really, I do love my mission. Not for any of the reasons I thought I would, or any of the reasons that other people seem to love their missions, but I love it here. I love learning about the gospel, I love progressing in my faith and knowledge, and I love helping other people progress as well. Such is the life of a missionary! 

I've really been enjoying all the emails I recieve every week from all my friends around the world. I recieve so much strength from all your experiences and faith. I don't actually know if any of you read this email, but I read all of yours, and here is a shout of from Mexico, to everyone else. I love you guys, I pray for you everyday. Sometimes the days aren't so difficult when one remembers that there are thousands upon thousands of us fighting every day in every part of the world. Also, for those of you who are recieving this email for the first time, it's because I stole your emails off the lists of other missionaries' emails. I hope you're doing well, and I'd love to hear from you. 

Also, does anyone have Sammi Lew's email? Can someone send it to me, or get on her facebook and then give it to me? I would assume it's just sammi.lew@myldsmail.net, but who knows. 

This week was full of lots of learning experiences, like every week, of course. Hermana Boitel and I have been really diving into our studying, learning a ton about everything. She's in the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi, which are always fun, and I study the Bible at night, which basically just means that I start reading where I'm at in the New Testament, and then get all caught up in the Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary, and end up reading that for the rest of the night. Seriously, though, Bible Dictionary is gold. We also have a few scripture scholars in our ward who are AWESOME. One of my favorite things to do right now is find a question that I have about doctrine, then study study study in the scriptures, then discuss it with my companion, study more, study together, discuss with scripture scholars, repeat. 

Of course, I can see everyone shaking their head at me and saying, and what, Hermana Day, does this have to do with your purpose as a missionary? Well, I'll tell you what. 

Everything that I've learned in this past week, in this mission, in the study of the scriptures, in everything, comes down to a few basic eternal principles. Everything we teach, everything we live for is centered around progression. The entire Plan of Salvation is just a big plan of progession, and the center of that plan is Jesus Christ. We have to fall to rise, to grow. We had to come to this earth, and we have to make mistakes. We have to sin. If we don't, we don't learn, and we can't progress. But the Atonement is absolutely necessary to cleanse us from all of this evil so that we can return back to the presence of God. Everything that the scriptures seem to talk about, every symbolism that they seem to make, seems to be caught up in all this. The gospel that we teach is nothing more than the way that people can be cleansed from their sins so that they can return to God and inherit eternal life. That's the entire symbolism of Israel, captivity and freedom. Physically, yes, but more importantly, spiritually. It's something that I still don't fully understand, but it's something beautiful. The Atonement is infinite and absolutely essential. If Christ didn't pay for all the crap that has happened in this world, there would never be any other way for any of this to work. We couldn't progress, we couldn't be cleansed, we could never leave to captivity of our sins. I don't know if you've heard, but it's kind of a big deal. 

And that, in a nut shell, is what we try and help people understand. Yes, our message is pretty. Sure, it will bless your life and your family. Yes, we know it's true. But these things are temporal. Infinitely more important is that your salvation depends on it. We want you to be baptized not because we just want to baptize, but because we know it's the only way you can truly apply the Atonement in your life to cleanse yourself from sin, to change your will to that of God's, and all of this so that you can learn and progress and return to his presence. It's kind of important. Actually, it's really important. It's more important than life and death. It's eternity. 

To close, I'd just like to say that the scriptures are absolutely amazing. We don't realize the wealth of knowledge that we hold in our hands. If you have questions, the answers are all in there. Literally. I really don't know how to express my love for the scriptures. I just hope that everyone can read them and feel this same joy that I want to share with everyone I meet. If you're not studying your scriptures, study them! Don't read them. That accomplishes absolutely nothing. You have to study, and study deeply. 

From a tiny internet shop in Bolevard Benito Juarez in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, Earth,

Hermana Day

You can't ever learn to be brave if only wonderful things happen to you.

It's been 3 weeks since I've sent out an email. I would ask for your forgiveness, but that implies that I've repented, which implies that I have forsaken this sin and will commit it no more, which is probably a lie because it's sort of inevitable that this will happen again, so everyone will have to deal with a simple, "I'm sorry".

These last few weeks in Guaymas have been, well, interesting. We had transfers, and lost all the awesome Elders in our zone and recieved a bunch of mediocre ones. That was pretty sad. We haven't been having the success I had hoped for when I came here, and that's been a bit hard as well. However, we were in a giant earthquake yesterday, and that was terrifyingly fun. The people reckon it was around a 5.0 or 6.0 earthquake. Yeesh. We were in the church in the morning, and suddenly the whole church was moving up and down and around for about 10 seconds. It was absolutely terrifying, and took awhile for everyone to calm down, but luckily the church is built very strongly, and we're all good and safe. 

Lately, I've been focusing on what it means to be a missionary, and how I can be a better one. Heaven knows that I'm nowhere near completing with the potential I have, and aside from being extremely frustrating, it's made me comtemplate a lot of things, and work hard to be better. Here are the thoughts that have been running through my head, that will hopefully be useful to some somewhere, and if not, at least they can provide some small entertainment for someone happening across my blog. 

Many times we make the mistake of thinking that we can become something simply be being in a situation or environment that we believe cultivates this thing we want to integrate into our being. What we don't seem to realize is that being is not a stale, dormate state of existance. It requires action and decisions; diligence, consistency, and desire. We can never become something if we don't first make the decision to work hard towards becoming. 

A mission call, or even a setting apart, does not a missionary make. We can spend our entire missions hoping to become the missionary we always envisioned and never make it. The problem originates when missionaries make the mistake of assuming that time and experience will cultivate a good missionary. This is not true. Time and experience can create a person that appears, act, and maybe talks like a missionary, but this person is not a missionary. 

Missionaries are created with careful study and application of doctrine, advice, and all types of teaching and instruction that one can recieve. When a missionary actively integrates all of these things into their being, more and more he comes to one great conclusion, one eternal truth: only God can shape and mold us into the people we have the potential to become, but He can only do this through our agency, as we allow Him to do it. Humility and consecration are two of the most important attributes a person, and especially a missionary, can develop. To be a missionary, we have to learn to do everything in the manner that God wants us to. We have to concecrate ourselves to Him. If we don't, we cannot ever truly become His missionaries.

A concecrated missionary is the missionary that almost everyone invisions, but never becomes. We expect to just arrive at being in this state as a missionary, but it is not so. We have to study, understand, and apply these things, and then work and work and work to actively sacrifice our will and desires to the great will and desire of God. 

Signing off,

Hermana Day

One more year

Dear everyone,

Today is kind of special because in exactly one year, I'll be on my way home. Due to some weird things with Christmas and a 7 weeks transfer and other things I don't fully understand, I will finish my mission on 21 July 2015, not 4 August. So, you know. There's that. It's kind of exciting, but also kind of scary, because I ONLY HAVE A YEAR LEFT. I've already completed 1/3 of my mission. Tomorrow, I'll have less than a year to go. Seriously. What happened.

It's been good, though. This last week has probably been one of the craziest, most dynamic and life changing weeks of my mission. I'm not going to share everything, but here are some hightlights. 

1. Roberto. Roberto is/was one of our investigators that absolutely loves the church, and especially the Book of Mormon. Our lessons are always hilarious because he always shares with us what he's been reading, and how it's affected his life. He was so impressed with Lehi's dream that he read it 4 times, and then we spent a lesson talking about it. He refuses to read or participate in anything that isn't in the Book of Mormon. We started off trying to teach him with the scriptures and pamphlets, but he just refused to read the pamphlets and straight out told us that they weren't interesting to him at all, and that if we wanted to teach him something, we had to do it with the Book of Mormon. It changed my mission because I suddenly had to learn how to teach the entire Plan of Salvation from the Book of Mormon, or different commandments, or the Restoration, or various other things. It's been amazing as a missionary, because now I have such a greater knowledge of the scriptures, and my testimony that the Book of Mormon can answer literally every question we could ever have is absolutely true. I love it when investigators have questions, and we can just be like, let's read about this in the scriptures! The words of God are so much more powerful than our own. The other funny thing about Roberto is that last Sunday he suddenly announced that he was reading in the Book of Mormon, and praying, and God told him to be baptized, so by golly he was going to be baptized that week. It was a little crazy, but he was baptized Thursday, and is well on his way to converting everyone he comes in contact with. Seriously, there's nothing like the referrals of a recent convert. 

2. I'm finally getting the hang of this Holy Spirit thing. This is going to sound strange coming from a missionary that has 6 months in the mission, but it's actually a pretty common thing, I think. As new missionaries, we seem to think that we just go out and teach, and the Spirit just likes to hang out with us all day and give us everything we need and ask for. Ha. Nothing worth having was ever that easily given. I've been working for months now and finally feel like I can let the Spirit speak through me. He will accompany the words I say, and touch the hearts of the people we teach. Our lessons, in some form or another, really took a turn this week, and I could feel the power. One thing one of the missionaries in our zone was talking to me about is that when he feels like he doesn't have the Spirit, he says a prayer in his heart and asks for it to accompany him. This really changed the way I think about the Spirit. I think a lot of times, as members and as missionaries, we just expect to have the blessings of God because we're being good people and trying to make good decisions. It doesn't work like that, though. We have to put more effort into the things that are actually worth having, and ask God to give us the things that we seek. We have to humble ourselves before Him and recognize that everything we have comes from him.

3. Speaking of which, I'd just like to testify that this is the Lord's work, not ours. We witness God gathering his children before our eyes, and it's not because of anything we're doing as missionaries. We teach people, and give them the tools they need to improve their relationship with God and become converted to His plan for them, but that's all we do. We are instruments, and just like it is impossible for an instrument to play itself, it is impossible for a missionary to do this work without God. When God works through us, we have the opportunity to follow His will and help Him in bringing His children back home to His presence. 

Well. I've got to go. Hopefully someone learned something from my incessant ramblings of the typical missionary who talks too much. Hehe :P I love you all, and have an excellent week!

Hermana Day

Another week

Dear everyone,

Did you know that this week I complete 5 months in the mission? Yup, July 5. Crazy, no? 

This week was... crazy. Monday night I was talking with the Elders on the phone, and suddenly I heard them protesting and fighting and then the phone cut off. It was probably the most terrifying 15 minutes of my entire life because we couldn't call them back, we had no idea where they were, and they are both fighters, so of course they're going to fight, and probably get killed. Luckily, they didn't get killed. They were almost at the point of fighting back when the Spirit spoke very strongly to both of them that they should not fight. So they didn't. And then they got a knife pulled on them. And then they were robbed of all their money and the cell phone. Revelation is real, people. Listen to the Spirit, because it might just save your life.

Anyways, we also had a cool experience where we set up a multifamily Family Home Evening with the Elders as part of our strengthen the dying ward project. We weren't sure what we were going to teach, so the Elders said, look, we're going to pray, and you guys pray, and then we'll call each other again in an hour with our answers. So we did that, and then they called us in an hour, and everyone was like, 1.... 2.... 3... ATONEMENT. Everyone recieved the exact same answer. I'm telling you, revelation is real. 

Besides that, this week was really hard, haha. :P Sometimes, missionary work seems pretty impossible because you can't see any progress. While there are never any doubts about the church or the doctrine, because it's as true as it's ever been, in these times you start to doubt yourself. Like, What the heck am I doing here? I can't change any of this. I'm wasting God's time. I'm not capable or spiritually sound or strong enough to handle this. Every piece of knowledge I thought I had is completely insufficient. I feel dead. I can't make a difference. I have no idea what I'm doing, and I have no idea where to begin. I am just so dang worn out and tired. 

I'm a person who likes to be in control, to have a firm mental handle on everything, and I'm facing problems greater than I ever imagined. It's impossible.

It's times like these, though, when you learn to rely on God, and He helps you out a ton. I testify that these thoughts come from the devil, and that they are not true. They only bring us down and take away our hope. We are given these hard, extremely difficult experiences not so we can fail, but so we can grow stronger in our faith in God and be triumphant over all. This week I remembered Moses 7:28-41. I read it every morning, and it gives me more peace than anyone can ever imagine. It is my favorite scripture story in all the scriptures, and I hope everyone will get out their scriptures after they're done reading this long, boring email, and read it. I won't bother to explain it, because it's a scripture that should mean something personal to everyone individually, and I'd like everyone to have that experience. 

Well, I'm out of time, but I'd like to close with my testimony. It's strange, because I'm not sure if I've ever done this in a letter before, which is very strange in and of itself. But here we go. First off, I know this gospel is true. I know it through every fiber of my being, I've known it for eternity, and I'll know it forever more. Nothing with ever change that, because it feels eternal. God is real. He exists and He hears His children when they suffer. He is a loving Heavenly Father and He weeps with us. He communicates with us, and loves us dearly, and nothing we can ever do can change that eternal love. I testify that Christ is the Savior of the world, that His role in our lives is more essential than the air we breathe, and that without Him there is no hope, but with Him there are no limits to our potential. I know that this gospel literally changes lives, both for people outside of the church, investigators, members for life, and less actives who haven't gone in years. This gospel is a gospel of change, and it is a gospel for everyone. There is no better way of living, no other manner that will bring greater happiness. This is it, and it is beautiful. I love you all dearly, and I feel your prayers beside me every day. Stay golden, and have an excellent week. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Hermana Day

Have you ever been so hot that you've bled from your eyes?

I really hope that title sufficiently freaked mom out. No, I did not bleed from my eyes. But a poor sister from Canada that just arrived here 2 weeks ago did. Apparently the change in climate was so drastic her body couldn't handle it and she started bleeding buckets of blood, but the blood couldn't leave fast enough, so it started seeping out of her eyes as well. 

Also they found a car full of dead bodies in the area of some Hermanas in Caborca. Just another day en la frontera de Mexico. How have you guys been?

Bahia, Guaymas is awesome. Our ward is pretty much impossible, and we're not going to baptize anyone in this transfer, and probably not the next one either. Or the next. Because this ward is, like, dead. We have to actually save the members and keep the ward floating before we can start anything else. You can't build a building if your foundation doesn't even exist. But it's been good. 

Hermana Boitel is awesome. We have a good time and work hard. The Elders in our ward are.... interesting Elder Ensey is a black wrestling champion from Oregon and Elder Contreras from the ranches of Celaya, Mexico. Whew. You never did meet such a pair of intelligent, complicated, powerful set of Elders. They have extremely strong personalities and quite a bit of pride. This ward has all the potential and tools in the world... but it's going to be extremely difficult, especially trying to balance all the strong personalities, but we are determined to build this ward from literally the dirt up. 

I keep seeing commercials and promotion for The Fault in Our Stars movie.That's been more difficult than it should be. :P Also, I eat sea food now. I've lost count of how many times I've had octopus, not to mention everything else. Our area is pretty interesting because it's right on the ocean, so we teach a lot of sea men, and also quite a few naval men as well. Everyone seems to be either in the navy or working on private ships. It's a completely different culture that anything I've ever experienced. The ocean is a 5 minute walk from our house! But I love it. 

NOTICIAS! I've been mistaken for a Mexican. It all started when I got here and everyone we talked to said I had a really good accent. And then we were at a multi zone conference and one of the APs was like, how many months do you have here? Your Spanish is excellent. And then one day we were walking in the dark, and we started talking to some people, and they asked where I was from, and I said Utah, and we kept on talking for awhile, and then they were like, wait wait wait, but you're North American, right? And I was like, well yeah. And they were like, how strange, because your accent it almost perfect. 

But then my pride started to grow and it was bad.

I'm no where near close to perfect, though. Yeesh. I have a Dominican companion, and I can understand about 50% of what she says. Her words are all weird, and she speaks through her nose. Love her to death, but I definitely prefer Mexican Spanish. 

Bueno. I have to go, which is really too bad because I always have more to say... but it's cool. There's always next week. I hope you all are doing well, enjoying your climate, and loving each other.

Hasta luego!

Hermana Day

I'M IN GUAYMAS WITH A DOMINICAN COMPANION

She's awesome. Now that I've opened this letter, I can't remember what I was going to write. This always happens on Pday. Anyways, I have an awesome companion who has a buttload of months in the mission and a really awesome reputation and I'm super excited because I have been given this opportunity to learn a ton and become a super awesome missionary. Shes's from the Dominican Republic and speaks absolutely no English, so I'll learn more Spanish fast. There are only 2 other American sisters here in Guaymas, so no more English for me. But seriously, my Spanish is going well. I just need to expand my vocabulary so I can speak more eloquently (dear heavens I've forgotten how to spell), and practice identifying every single word that people say so I can understand 100%, not like 85% or 90%. :P Yeshhhhhh I am so excited! Also I am excited because I am ON THE OCEAN. It's ridiculously, ridiculously humid here, with the heat of Hermosillo, so I live in a state of constant wetness, but it's all cool. 

Speaking of heat, did you know that Hermosillo reached over 53C last week? It topped the charts for the hottest place on earth. Yes, I was living, walking, and breathing in a place hotter than Death Valley, hotter than the Sahara. I'm not sure exactly what 53C is in F, but I know it's over 120F. We died. 

Things have been great, though. Our favorite family was all baptized, which is definitely the most beautiful thing I've seen on this mission. The dad was hilarious. Sunday night his wife and kids were baptized, and something changed in him. He went home, waited until everyone was asleep, and then started reading the Book of Mormon. When we came to visit, he had read 10 chapters, and was like, yeah, I would like to get baptized, and I recieved an answer and I know this is true, it's just a lot of responsibility, this covenant, and I have a little bit of fear. IT WAS SO COOL. He was baptized the following Saturday. It was terrible to leave this family, and Barrio Pueblitos, but I really feel good about what I did in that area, and that we left it much better that when we arrived. And now I'm in Hawaymas. Haha. That's what the people call it- like Hawaii and Guaymas. It's freaking hot and humid, and now I have to learn how to eat sea food, which is total karma, but it's all cool. I'm excited. 

Honestly I can't remember what else I was going to say. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your beautiful temperatures in your respective parts of the world. Also, that you all live in green places. I am sorry that I never seen to write anyone back. I get annoyed emails quite frequently. Sometimes I'm really good, other times I'll go for weeks or months without writing someone. No, I promise I have not forgotten about any of you, and you will get an email. :P Disculpeme. :D

Until next week! 

Hermana Day

PS Literally sorry this email is so pathetic. Hopefully my previous letter makes up for it. :P

If anyone would like to send an actual letter to Elizabeth we are going to mail a package soon! So if you have a letter get it to us by Thursday, May 29, 2014.

I said I'd finish my email from last week, so here I am. :) First things first. 1. If you want to contact me, you're going to have to do it though email. :P I just barely received a bunch of Dear Elders, a letter from Opa, and a letter from the YW of the ward. They were from March. Seeing as it is almost June now... I think we can all safely assume that email is the way to go. :) 

Last week I really wanted to talk about the Atonement and the Gospel in people's lives, but I didn't have time. But now I do! :D I cannot explain how heartbreaking Mexico is sometimes. I thought that since I was going to the north of Mexico, it would be a bit more Americanized and not as poor. Well, seeing as I've never been south of here, I still can't really make a comparison, but it's.. well, heartbreaking here. There are areas where I just walk down the street and I want to cry. The worst is the faces of the people and the children; you can tell they just exist because they exist, and have no real purpose in life. The contrast between everyone else and the members here is stark. I don't think anyone realizes what the truth gospel of Jesus Christ does to people until they've lived in a place like this. There are so many people who take the church for granted, or feel negatively toward it for the stupidest reasons, and sometimes I wish they would be transplanted here to Mexico, or anywhere, really, to see how the rest of the world lives. Haha. That was a little harsh, but I feel like that. There's a reason why the church sends all their youth on missions for 1.5/2 years of their lives. When you walk down the streets and see parents beating their kids in their houses, or men drinking themselves to death with sallow faces, or the terrible, terrible effects of drugs... When you see things that you don't know how to explain, and don't want to either,.. You realize you have a whole lot to be thankful for, and you realize what a blessing this gospel really is. Our message is truth, and it really does improve lives and bring happiness. It's not just a catch phrase to convert people. And we teach people about Christ because we love them and we want to share this happiness with them in their destitute lives, and bring them to change for the better, not because we're looking for more baptismal statistics. 

Throughout all of this, I'm just really greatful for the Atonement. I can't imagine the world without the Atonement. All of the terrible, awful things that pass, all the suffering of children and families and hopelessness in the world... the Atonement makes up for all of that. It gives all people hope now, and in the future. It is the only thing to bring balance and order and completion and fairness to this world. I never understood how necessary it was until I saw all that I've seen. A world without Jesus Christ and his Atonement is a world of hopelessness and nothingness. It is a world that, despite all the well-intended people that work so hard to make it a better place, will never be better, and will continue to degrade in sorrow and calamity. However, with the Atonement, we have a bright burning hope and knowledge that all the pain and unfairness in the world will be rectified. What a beautiful, unexplicable blessing that is. I cannot explain my feelings in words. I'm just very, very grateful. It's beautiful to see faith work miracles and literally change lives. It's beautiful to see terrible lives turn into great ones, and broken families and hearts become strong. 

It's beautiful to be a missionary, and it's beautiful to be a servant of God. 

Peace,

Hermana Day

I've been bitten by a Mexican dog.

I'm sure mom freaked out when she saw that title. Hehe! Yes, I was bitten by a dog. It was terrifying, and it hurt, but the good thing is that I was weaing fairly thick tights, so his teeth didn't pierce any skin, so no worries about infection or anything. I just have bite marks and a huge bruise on my leg. It was a big dog. :P 

Well, what a happy way to start my bi-weekly email! Just another week here in Mexico! :D This week was actually really awesome. I'm not sure exactly why, probably because the contrast between the week before was so terrible that anything seems better in comparison... but this week was cool. We taught a lot of lessons to a lot of really awesome people, and as always, I'm getting better at this missionary thing every day. 

Truly, I'm grateful I'm finally getting the hang of Mexico, because when I got here I just felt oppressed haha :P I couldn't express myself properly, and I felt like Sister Missionary Robot 2.0. It was terrible. But now in lessons I can be creative and express myself clearly and with the spirit, and seek to connect with people, and everything is better. 

We taught some pretty cool lessons this week. One was to these two young men who have been members for most of their lives, but know practically nothing about the gospel. They are studying and working here in Hermosillo and live with their sister, who is also a member. They're 18 and 22, and are from a ranch about 3 hours south of Hermosillo. They are the most good natured boys anyone has ever met. They are always early to church every Sunday and they help with the Sacrement, and talk with our investigators. They both want to serve missions but their dad won't help them, so the older brother is working full time to save up enough money so his little brother can go serve. Literally, I want to cry. They are so strong and good in the church, and we get the opportunity to teach them. It's great. It's like teaching investigators though, because they recieved the discussions when they were kids and don't remember anything. :P

We also have three niñas that we are teaching. They live right behind the church, and just showed up one day. It is literally the saddest situation I have ever seen. They live with their grandma, who is mentally ill, and their mom works day and night to support them and pay all the bills. Their house is the most erie, depressing place I have ever seen in my entire life. Their hair is in knots and they always have dirty clothes, but they go to church every Sunday because they love learning and being around people who will love them. This last Sunday before church we went to their house and brushed their hair out and washed their faces, and braided their hair in beautiful braids and took them to church. They were so happy and I cried about three times. We did get to teach their mom after church, however, so we're really, really hoping we can actually do something about this situation. 

I have no time and it's really frustrating because I literally have a billion more things to write! Well, consider this part one of this letter, and I will try to finish it next week! I love you all!

Hermana Day

Dear everyone,

Today I have three months in the mission! Literally, how freaking exciting

is this?! Although this also means that I only have 15 months left, which

is not nearly enough time. But still, really exciting.

Does anyone actually read this?

Well, life here in Mexico has been good. We had our first baptism Saturday,

which was exciting! It's hard to baptize here in the north, but we're

hoping we can baptize another family at the end of this month. Boy, are

they awesome. The kids in this family are definitely the strongest. They

know what's up. They have a testimony and they make their parents read the

Book of Mormon, pray together, and go to church every Sunday. Like wow.

Honestly, I can't think of that much to say. The work here goes on, and I

learn more and more about people and about myself every day. Some days are

long, some days are short. I love the people here so much. Our ward is

flippin sweet. Also I've picked up a lot of English slang from the Latin

missionaries. They love English slang. It's hilarious; don't judge. Did I

mention that all Native missionaries in my mission are required to learn

English? It's actually really helping my Spanish, trying to teach my

compañion English. I have to explain principles about English in Spanish,

explain the differences and similarities, and practice with her. My Spanish

really took a turn this week. I'm not fluent, obviously, but I can express

myself relatively well without pausing or thinking too much, and most of

the time I can understand people. I can understand my companion about 95%

of the time.

We had cambios this last week (I don't actually know what that word is in

English), which was sort of sad. Our District Leader went to Agua Prieta,

which is a sketchy border town, and we all miss him terribly. It's like

taking our dad away and putting in a step dad who doesn't know anything

about anyone who no one likes. Just kidding. I sort of like Elder Priest.

Our zone also split this cambio, which was kind of sad. It was giant

before, and one of our zone leaders was this Iraqi war vet. Feel jealous,

because he was literally one of the coolest people I have ever met. But he

finished his mission, and our zone split. Now we're in a new zone, with 4

districts. Each district has a set of Elders, one of them being the

district leader, the other his trainee, and then 2 companionships of

sisters. Literally, sisters run this town. The only Elders we have are

District and Zone leaders, and their newbee trainees. :P It's pretty

awesome.

Well, I haven't much time, but here is my spiritual thought of the week (or

2 weeks): I was thinking a lot about how the basic Plan of Salvation is

literally expressed in everything we have. First, the scriptures. Nephi

leaves his Father to go on a journey where he learns about faith and

keeping the commandments and enduring to the end. He knows he can't return

without completing what he was sent to do, so he does it, and returns

triumphant. There's obviously a lot more here, but Plan of Salvation,

anyone? And this pattern is in practically every story, fable, movie, book,

etc. since the dawn of time. It's even been mapped out in a pattern called

The Hero's Journey. (Look it up I'm not lying). But all it is is one big

Plan of Salvation. It's embedded into every essence of our civilization,

because these things speak to our heart. We know we left our Father for a

long, dificult journey, but we also know we can overcome it and return

triumphant. Okay. I'm out of time. There's my spiritual thought. Look for

patterns of the Plan of Salvation in your life. :D

Love,

Hermana Day

Dear everyone,

In case some of you may have noticed, I have started sending mass emails only every other week. This is because I just don't have enough time to do anything, and it's easier this way. Hopefully you guys don`t feel too offended. 

These last two weeks were actually crazy. Lots of crazy things happened. We taught a marine who sat there and calmly told us throughout the entire lesson that he liked to kill people and wouldn't hesitate to do it. We found a less active member who pretended not to be a less active member but and investigator, served us tea on accident, his son kissed a mortified Hermana Villa (normal Hispanic culture stuff), plus lots of other stuff I won't even go into. Oh, and breatfeeding is commonplace here. Which I am totally cool with, except for people don't use blankets or shirts or anything. Sometimes I question whether I'm in Africa. We had a lesson yesterday where a 2 year old just walked up to his mom, reached in her shirt, and started brestfeeding while she calmly listened to our message and didn't even blink. Oh, and a little kid went to the bathroom all over my backpack as well. Welcome to life in Mexico. :P We have fun. ;)

This week was great, though. Mexicans have something called Semana Santa, which is where they celebrate Easter week with no school and no work and everyone is on vacation. It's great. Easter was really cool. Sacrament meeting was AWESOME. This sister gave a talk about the meaning of Pascua, which is Easter in Spanish. Of course I can't clarify any of this, but she talked about how Pascua means change or transformation, and was used by the ancient Jews. In the days of Moses, the Jews spread the blood of the pascual lamb above their doors, and how this is a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ saving us from destruction, liberating us from bondage as the children of Israel. Of course, I have no google with which to research this more, but can I just say that I have never had such a desire to learn Latin and Greek than I do right now. I need to learn how to read the Bible in Greek. Seriously.

Well, naturally I have no time. But I love each one of you, and I am going to send pictures right now so hopefully those all go up on the blog. 

Love, 

Hermana Day

Hola everyone! Apparently lots of people actually read my blog. Wow. I feel loved. I hope you are all doing well and the lives of the American people are great. In case you did not notice, a letter did not come last week. That is because I forgot to send it! The internet here is ridiculously slow and has problems all the time. So this letter will be longer than normal, apologies. 

My language skills are slowly improving. My first week, I had a really steep learning curve, and it was great. My second week I felt really frustrated, and yesterday was the worse. Literally, why can I not speak perfect Spanish already!? This is laughable, of course, because I have only been here for 3 weeks. I have taken a good look at myself and decided that the attribute I fail the most at is patience. I am not a patient person. This includes myself too, however. I realized that the reason I always hated Spanish so much in school was because I could never see any immediate results of my studying. With any other subject I could learn rapidly and succeed with effort, even if I did not like the subject, but with Spanish I never saw that growth. Looking back now I realized that of course I improved, but it is frustrating. Ah well. :) One day, hopefully in the near future, I will be fluent. Right now I need to practice patience and be content with what I do know. So this last week I focused on patience as my Christlike attribute. It was actually very beneficial, and one of our investigators totally followed the Spirit to give me advice, although she did not even know it. She talked about how paciencia (which is patience in Spanish) is made up of 2 words. The first one is pac, or more correctly, paz, which in English is peace. The second word is ciencia, which I from what I gathered is like knowledge. So paciencia is the knowledge of peace in your mind, roughly speaking. I loved this! Patience is having faith, and a knowledge of peace. Patience is waiting because you know with time things always get better. This was awesome for me, and I feel like I have a ton more insights on patience. :)

Spanish is a beautiful language, though. The people of Hermosillo are known for speaking extremely fast, and have replaced all of the "cha" sounds with "sha". So kind of like Argentina, but not. So the word "mucho" would be "musho", and the word "ocho" is "osho", and the word "muchacha" is "mushasha". It is great. Also, it is said that the people of Sonora sing their language instead of saying it. The flow of the voices is so expressive and beautiful. The accents in words are drawn out and combined with the rapid speaking and sha sounds, it makes for beautiful music. And I get to learn how to speak it! Yay!

The culure here is great. Last P day we were in Cetro Hermosillo and Simon and Garfunkle's The Sound of Silence was playing, except for it was a cover of native Mexican pipes and awesome. I have no way to describe it, but it was great. The culture is like that here. They take American things that they like, and then make them their own. I also love driving in Mexican cars. We fit about 8 people in a 5 person car and take off! There are no crosswalks and no one follows laws except for stop lights, so it is a ton of fun. 

So far, I have only identified three things I really cannot stand here. The worse of all is the cleanliness. You know how you are not suppose to eat on the streets of Mexico? Well this is kind of a joke because I guarrantee the kitchens in the houses are just as dirty if not more so than the street. The other day we made lunch in a members house and there were ants all over her counters. That is normal. Our kitchen was so dirty that last p day I finally announced that I could live in mold no longer, and scrubbed everything for hours. This week I tackle the fridge and stove. Yikes. Pray for me. I also cannot stand the culture of tardiness here. Everyone is always late, and it is literally impossible to get around. Everyone from investigators, Mexican companions, the members, the bishop, and the stake president. Very frustrating. Life goes on. The last thing I cannot stand is this way that they make chicken sometimes. Haha! I do not know what they do, but they put this red chili picante stuff on it that is sooo gross. I thank everything that is holy for an abundance of beans and tortillas.

Update: I have pretty much gotten over the cleanliness, but I have yet to get over the tardiness culture. I do not think I ever will. But as Hermana Briggs says, you have to give and take. Yes, time is literally not in the vocabulary here, but it is okay because the people are so loving they will invite you into their house after 5 seconds of knowing you, feed you, offer you everything they have (which is very little), and love you no matter what. So it is a trade off. I am just working on being okay with it. It is impossible to be obedient when it comes to time here, and it bugs the American sisters to no end. Oh well.

My arms are covered in freckles, my feet have weird tan lines, my chest and back are peeling sunburns, and my face is just red. It is so hot here, I just cannot explain it. And it is not even summer. D: This week was pretty good, but today was terrible. I heard it was 100. Although that is not even bad, because it gets to be 130 here. 

One of my favorite things about Mexico so far is the family Duarte. :) They live one house away from us and are just the cutest. They actually remind me of a little Spanish family. It is amazing how the gospel just thrives in families here. They just take it in and make it a part of themselves. Both of the parents are converts, and their testimonies are fire. The family Delgado is also amazing. The ward here is practically run by young families of RMs. It is impossible to get people to go to church. They say that Hermosillo, along with Tijuana, Chihuahua, and Ciudad Juarez are the 4 hardest missions in Mexico, and I would like to add all of Latin America. We have missionaries from all over Latin America here and they tell stories about how in their countries, in the south, missionaries baptize every week. Wow. How would that be? But it's cool. :) There is a lot of work to be done here, and I love diving into it. 

Guess what?! The group of 4 sisters that I came into Hermosillo with is the 3rd generation of American sisters here in Mexico. The first came in December 17, not too long ago! There are only about 20 of us. Sisters, however, whether native or American, are not allowed in the northern boarder towns, so we rule the south. Our district is led by Elder Filguiera, who is from Chili, and his companion. And then the rest of the district is 7 sisters! Haha! 

Speaking of Elder Filguiera, this week I had a terrible experience. Elder Filguiera has been rambling on every time we see him about how he has discovered the best place in all of Mexico for tortillas de harina (flour). So finally between sessions of Conferencia on Saturday we went to check this place out, and I a pack of 12 tortillas for 12 pesos (which by the way, is like the equivalent of a dollar. It's ridiculous.) THEY WERE SO GOOD. But the reason they were so good was because they were about 90% lard and butter, and 10% flour. But I couldn't help myself. So I ate 8 that day. And then I felt really, really sick. And I have no eaten a tortilla since. Literally the though of flour tortillas now disgusts me. 

We eat breakfast and dinner by ourselves, and I have limited this to only fruits, vegetables, and cereal. It's been good, though. Lunch is such a big meal here that I really don't need more than that. Also, tang and soda is like a staple here. I think it might be because it is less expensive than purified water and also tastes better, but who knows. Our water system is pretty much like that of the cabin. We can't drink the water, but we brush our teeth, wash our dishes, and shower in it. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE! As always, I have no time. But general conference was freaking awesome. I loved every talk, and I am so ridiculously excited to get the Liahona in a month. We got to watch it in the clerk's office in English, which was really awesome. I loved the music of the first session, and I feel like the whole conference could be surmized in about 3 themes that almost every speaker talked about. One would be exact obedience to all commandments and truth, no matter what. What do you guys think the others are? Maybe it is just because I'm a missionary, but I feel like this conference was very important. I hope you all go back and review. 

Love you all!

Hermana Day

Hola family, friends, and other random people who may or may not read this weekly letter,

Well, today marks one week in Mexico. Wow. Crazy. Here is my life:

Mexico is really not that much different from the US. Yes, the people are way, way nicer. I really appreciate that. But I could easily be in a part of California or Arizona. It looks the same as the US, and there are a bunch of Mexicans. Nothing major. I feel like often times. people highlight differences and forget that we are all people going through the exact same things. Everyone wants to be loved, to be happy, and desires the world for their children. It is the same for Mexicans, of course! The people here are crazy because they are so ridiculously nice and interested. They will literally come up to us and be like, hey, Mormon missionaries, can you teach me about your church? I am pretty interested. The first few days I thought the whole thing was a big scam. It could not be real. But it is. We do not seem to notice it in the US, but there is such a sharp contrast between members and nonmembers in Hermosillo. The people notice it, and they notice how genuinely happy members and missionaries are. Boom. It is amazing.

Joke of the week: How many Mexicans can you fit in a camion (bus)? Hahaha :P This, of course, is a trick question because there is literally no limit to how many Mexicans can fit in a camion. You think I am lying, but I am not. If people need to fit on the bus, everyone will find a way to make it work. It is nothing short of a miracle, and absolutely hilarious. I wish I could take a picture, but there is not even room to move my arms up! I love the camions, though. We take them at least twice a day because our area is pretty big. I have learned that riding a camion is like riding a horse, or like skiing. If you tighten your muscles and try to use all of your own strength to keep standing, it just does not work. But if you make sure your legs are planted, and then let the rest of your body relax and flow with the motion of the bus, you will be perfectly comfortable. Just a small lesson for the mission, and for life. But, of course, you must make sure your legs are planted in a strong foundation, because otherwise you are just going to be toppled over.

Well, mom asked me a lot of questions in her email about how I was feeling, and I am sure many of you are axious (I know I spelled that wrong. My English is literally going down the drain.) to know, so here it is:

I am absolutely fine.

Seriously.

Yes, mom, you read that right, and no, I am not lying. 

I get enough sleep, I love my companions, I love the people. I have no eaten anything from the street vendors and nor do I ever plan to. I do not find it pretty here. Deserts can be pretty, and I love them because they are clean. But here there is only sand and trash, so no, it is not to pretty. But it is okay! I do love it here. I have yet to see a structure that is not made out of cinder blocks, covered ub stucco, covered in colorful paint. Literally, that is all that exists here. :P My favorite thing is the people. They are so ridiculously nice.

My poor companion Hermana Metler has had quite the trying time. She has never left the US, and I honestly feel like she has never left the intermountain west. Talk about major, major culture shock. I am completely fine. I do not know why, because all the other American sisters love to console each other and talk about how hard it is, but I feel fine. Today I washed my clothes by hand in a concrete sink. We walk about 10 miles a day, and is it like 90º here. Oh, and it will be 130º in the summer. No, dad, that is not a lie. It is possible. I have heard it from multiple people. Whew! I cannot explain how hot it is here. 

But I love it!

The ward and investigators here are amazing. One of our investigators had a friend come over during a lesson, and she taught her friend the first lesson, she was so excited to share! It was sooooo amazing. 

YIKES! No time. Love you all!

Hermana Day