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

Well, here I am in Mexico! Life is pretty good I guess. I´ve been here since 11am in the morning, which is Arizona time. It was so fun to talk to the family this morning! Sorry I had to be so quick. But Monday is Pday, so here I am emailing! This letter is probably going to be short, though, because the Español keyboard is just different enough from the English keyboard that I can´t type fast at all.

Some thoughts about Mexico:

I honestly don´t feel like I´m in a different country. I could easily be in California or Arizona or something. Everything feels the exact same; the people, the buildings, etc. Maybe it´s just because I was pretty much used to Mexicans anyways when I came here. Who knows. 

There are lots of white Mexicans. I thought I´d stand out here, but as soon as I learn the language I think I´ll fit right in. Yay! I´m determined to be Latina.

The streets here are crazy. First of all, I´ve decided that I was born to be a cab driver in Mexico. Seriously, our cab drive to our house was the funnest, yet most terrifying ride of my life. Plus, there are no seatbelts. I probably shouldn´t mention that because mom is going to have a heart attack, but it just made the experience that much more fun. Another interesting thing about the streets is that they have these performers that come out into the middle of the crosswalk every time the lights turn red. They do al sorts of performances with hoola hoops or bean bags or pretty much anything else you can think of, and then they go around the cars asking for money, and everyone gives them money! Not too shabby. Some of these performers are actually Mexican Indians, of which there seems to be quite a bit here. I can´t explain what they look like; I´ve never seen anything like it before. Maybe I´ll try to get a picture.

There are Mexican cowboys all over. I love it. Also the land looks just like southern Utah, so I feel right at home! Okay, but seriously I love it here. And no, I´m not saying that to make everyone feel better. I truly love it here! It is beautiful, the people are beautiful. I´m excited.

It´s really, really hot here though. I´m kind of dying, and it´s only March. I was talking to the mission president´s wife and I asked her how terrible it was in August, and she basically just said we die. Well. Okay then!

Now, the moment you´ve all been waiting for.... how´s the Spanish? Not bad! Not bad at all. I can communicate with my companion, so that´s good. The mission president and his wife only speak Spanish, but I can understand what they say. They had one of the APs translating for us just for today, but from here on out it´s only Español! ¡Que bueno! Does my Spanish suck? Yes. But is there hope? Of course! It´s my first day and I´m not too overwhelmed. Although I´ve yet to teach a lesson, so we´ll see what song I´m singing when that comes around. But yeah, the Spanish is coming.

We went over to a member family´s house to get aquainted with them because our trio (oh yeah, I´m in a trio, the third Hermana doesn´t know any Spanish at all) is all new to the area. They talked so ridiculously fast! I recognized the vast majority of the words, but I couldn´t string them all together fast enough to translate. Ah well, I´ll get better. :D Also, the family was playing classical music in their house. I almost cried. 

My native companion is awesome. Her name is Hermana Villa and we were told on the side by the APs that she is one of the most amazing Hermanas in the mission, and that we´re incredibly lucky to have her as a trainer. Yay! Also, the area we´re in is famed for their awesome members who are awesome at helping the missioaries. No offense home ward, but I feel like that´s something we´re kind of not so good at. So I´m really excited to work with the members here, because nothing forwards the work more than willing members.

Well, I´m sure that next week I´ll have a billion more things to write about. I love you all. I´m sorry you´re not all living in Mexico, but the good news is that you can repent and move down here asap. Start packing!

Love, 

Hermana Day

As of Monday Elizabeth is off to Mexico! If you’d like to write her a letter, you might have heard that the mail situation in Mexico is less than ideal. The easiest and safest way to mail Elizabeth in Mexico is as follows:

www.dearelder.com

Type up your letter, it will safely reach Mexico unharmed, and Elizabeth will be able to write you back!

Pouch mail!

Rules about pouch mail:

Letter must be no longer than one page long, and only be written on one side of the page.

Fold the letter in thirds with the writing inside, and tape it down.

Write name and return address on the upper left hand corner, and place stamp on upper right hand corner.

Write this in the middle:

Sister Jane Elizabeth Day

México Hermosillo Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150

Like this:

Okay literally I feel like I've been in the MTC for a week. Anyways, off to Mexico!

This week was pretty awesome, as are all weeks in the MTC. MoTab has been fulfilling my classical music needs in Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday (never thought I'd say that one), including quite a bit of Handel, and some Bach. Sadly, I'm probably going to send my Baroque and Romantic piano books back home, along with my Hanon, because even classical music can be distracting on a mission. *sigh* I'm keeping my Chopin nocturne music, though, because there's no way I'm going a year and a half playing only hymns. 

That was a weird way to start a letter. 

Speaking of music, one of Tricia West's students, Hannah VanWagner (or something like that), entered our zone today! So that's pretty cool. I also see Hailey Heumann (Hillcrest) and Quincy Rassmussen (bishop's niece, Alta) at West pretty much every day. I also saw Corinne Parry (Hillcrest) on Main! Julia Orellana (Hillcrest) was also here on West, and she left for Tennessee on Monday. 

By the way, Russia is at war with Ukraine? Or Ukraine is having a civil war and Russia intervened? What's up? Unfortunately, my cravings for international events has not been curbed here at the MTC, so someone let me know what's going on! Soon WWIII will have broken out and I won't even know it.

Well. I promised I would be more spiritual in this letter, so here we go. While at the MTC, my life has been completely turned around. It's kind of amazing, really. There are a bazillion beneficial things that I have learned here, and I can't put one thing above another, really. But one thing that has been infinitely helpful to the development of my character has been the concept of learning how to implement the things I believe. Before I went on a mission, I knew a lot of things about the Gospel, and a few things about life, but I can't claim I ever fully implemented them. My grades were mediocre not because I wasn't bright, but because I didn't know how to work and act. I could sit around and philosophize about the Gospel, and I believed it, but when it came down to serving my fellowman and actively living the Gospel, I just sort of rode along at the back of the train. 

So. One of the greatest things I have learned in my time here is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about Becoming. We take the good things we have, and we turn them into great things through Christ. We learn to live up to our full potential and actually LIVE our lives. I've realized here that I have never lived my life before. I've studied many things, but I've never lived them. And so, this week, I go out into the world to live all the things that I know to be true. One of our teachers talked to us about intelligence, knowledge, and understanding. We all have intelligence, through which we gain knowledge. And then with that knowledge we seek for understanding, which brings us to a higher intelligence. I have some knowledge (and I also have the knowledge of how to gain more knowledge), and now I am going out into the world to truly understand. And through true understanding, I can truly become something; it can be ingrained as a part of my being. 

So I'm really excited. I'm excited to go out and really understand faith. I'm excited to learn about prayer and becoming more converted to the will of God, and less to the will of myself. I'm excited to become more like the Savior and help others become like Him too. I'm excited to be changed, I guess, and I'm excited to watch others change. If there's one thing that I've learned in the MTC, it's that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to fundamentally change people more than any other power on earth. True to my calling as a missionary, I challenge everyone reading this to try to understand how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can truly change them, for if you let it, you will never be the same. It is never too late, and it is also never too early. 

On a slightly different note, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of Evil, lately. Someone here somewhere mentioned that money is the root of all evil, which of course we've all heard before. I would like to politely disagree. Selfishness is the root of all evil. It may seem harmless at first, but it is poison, and the exact opposite of all that Christ stands for. Money, of course, stems from selfishness, but I think selfishness is the core. In the pre-mortal existence Satan wanted the glory and the power for himself. He wanted all that the Father had, and he didn't want to do any work for it. The more I look at Satan, the more I see how he embodies selfishness. He is so selfish that he can't even leave everyone else alone; he wants everyone to be as miserable as he is. Selfishness is thinking about what we want instead of what God wants for us, and His other children. So. As I examine my life, I have noticed that the aspects in which I am not happy are the aspects in which I have been thinking about myself. As I look outward and focus on helping and lifting others, everything seems to melt away. I cannot express how excited I am to devote my entire life to being unselfish, both on my mission and beyond that. I shall surely fail sometimes, but the good thing about the Atonement is that Christ makes up for our failures as we strive to come unto Him.

Well. I'm about out of time, but I love you all and hope everyone is doing well. :) I have yet to figure out how to attach all the pictures I've taken, but someday I will.

Love, Hermana Day

                                     
                                                                                                                                 March 5, 2014


Hello all,

Life is good here at the MTC. Nothing has changed, save I have become a better person and have gained more knowledge and understanding. Life is pretty good, and not tons has happened this week. Oh, and I have little more than a week and a half in the MTC. That's not terrifying at all.

I did, however, go to Vegas for my Visa. Whoo. No me gusta Vegas. I feel no regrets about never going there before. The moment we got off the airplane we were bombarded by slot machines and all manner of worldly posters and signs... :/ It rained the entire time, and the part of the city we were in was quite dirty, and the people were pretty sad. So. After being in the MTC for a while it was quite the shock, and it made me realize exactly how big of a shock mexico is going to be. Whew. It's gonna be fun. The Mexican Consulate was adorable, though. It was like stepping into a little piece of Mexico. There were little kids running around playing and talking in the most adorable Spanish, and I almost melted right then and there. 

I love Latinos. I don't exactly know where this love came from, besides the fact that they are extremely lovable. :P One of our "investigators" is this 60 year old Latina woman from Mexico. Oh my goodness she is the cutest. Every time  we teach her I just feel this immense love for her; I feel like a lot of it is because she's such a wonderful person and shows love herself. One of our teachers, Hermana Cabello, is from Peru, and it's the same sort of thing. She is so loving and hugs us all the time and we just love her so much! Some time I will tell the story of Hermana Cabello. She was an investigator for 4 years before she joined the church, and she was so Catholic she literally was planning on being a nun up until a week before she was baptized. Craaazy story. But now she is so into the gospel and is one of the best teachers we have. She also taught at the Peru MTC as well.

Anyways, Vegas was fine I guess. I heard that the picture the lady in the airport took and sent it to dad's phone is now on the blog! Yay. I look terrible, because we were literally in the airport from 2pm to 11pm. Our flight got delayed about 5 times, then cancelled, then a new plane was rescheduled at the last moment. We didn't get back to the MTC until 3am in the morning. And guess who had to wake up in just a few hours? ME! It was great. I made a tons of friends with the other missionaries that I was travelling with, including one Elder who is going to Hermosillo! We sat next to each other on the plane and he told me his conversion story and it was awesome. Have I mentioned there are a ton of converts at the MTC? Also, I loved how all over the place members were coming up to us and being so nice. :) When it was hitting 10pm at night and we were sort of hating it, some families even brought us some food. Mis Padres, never fear. There are people all around the world that take care of missionaries wherever they are. 

Speaking of which, news has penetrated even the MTC that Ukraine is in outright civil war, that Russia decided to play referee, and that they've moved a lot of the missionaries in the area. That's about the only news we've received here. What else is going on in the world? I can't explain how detached I feel.

The language is going well. I think I've finally understanding the grammar structure of Spanish, although it's definitely taken some time. Indirect and direct object pronouns and their place in a sentence threw me for a loop, but with much practice I finally understand it, and can create practice problems. I can only speak in simple sentences using that structure, though, so that's still a challenge. 

This week half of our zone left for their missions, so now it's just our Sistrict and a district of 3 Elders and 4 Hermanas. You can only imagine the problems this creates. All 3 Elders are now Zone leaders, and they also have to do the Sacrament with just the 3 of them. It's pretty sad, but yay Hermana power! :D

I've also met some pretty fascinating bus drivers at the MTC. Whenever we have to go to main we take a bus, and I've met some awesome people. One was a guy whose family was Jewish but then they converted to the church, and then he went on a mission to Armenia. That's a Mormon Message waiting to happen. "I'm Jewish, I speak and teach Armenian, and I'm a Mormon." Mom, you would have been so fascinated with his story. Another one of our bus drivers is a total ski bum. His attitude is so laid back and absolutely hilarious. It reminds me of Brighton and some of the kids I used to ski with. Man, do I miss skiing! :( I love how it dumps snow continuously after I go into the MTC. 

Well, I have no time. Sorry I have no spiritual thought this week, but I promise I will make up for it next week! I love you all!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Day

On Friday, Elizabeth went to Las Vegas to get her visa for Mexico.  A nice
lady who worked at the airport took these pictures and sent them to us

.