Hey world how's it going today

The more I see the less I know.

Name the song, anyone?

Well, everyone and their freaking dog decided to email me today. Not really sure what happened... but here's a shotout to all of you who wrote me for the first time I've been on my mission, or for the first time in awhile. The truth is that I really don't have time to answer everybody individually today, although I do promise I'll get around to it. Yes, I know the blog has not recieved a letter in awhile now. Yes, I know I've been a big slacker about writing people. Deepest apologies. Sincerely. But hopefully this email can rectify a bit of the hunger you all apparently have for my words. :P Ha!

Truth is, the mission has been awesome. Latest happenings on the street are: 1) last transfer I got called to train my hija, Hermana Garcia, 2) we had an amazing transfer and worked really hard and had a lot of success, 3) They sacked me out of training her in the middle of her training this transfer, and 4) I am now a sister training leader. Yikes. My new companion's name is Hna. Ray from Indiana... get it? Hermana Day, Hermana Ray.... it's going to be a party, basically. She's is just a big bundle of energy and fun. I'll be killing her off (she goes home in 6 weeks), which will mark my second assasination in the mission. (I killed Hermana Beltran awhile back.) I think I'm getting pretty good at this. So now I'm in a ward called Jardines, which is in the northern part of Hermosillo. It's right next to the Pueblitos ward, where I was born, so that'll be pretty fun. I'll get to go over to my old ward on interchanges with the other sisters so maybe I'll be able to see some of my old families and converts.

Other news includes that they opened up the city of Nogales to sister missionaries this transfer... which is nuts because it's a border town. That's never happened before, and they're starting with Latinas only just to test the waters, but we're all super excited. The work shall go forth! Also, this transfer it seems like everyone went home. My trainer, all of my old zone leaders and sister training leaders and some of my best friends I've made here on the mission. So... that's been pretty depressing. Life goes on. :)

I guess the most important thing that's really been going down in my life is how much I've been cultivating the ability to just love. Specifically speaking, love God, love the people, love the scriptures, love the gospel, and love being a missionary. Those 5 things have probably defined my last few months as a missionary, and they're all so interlinked that I can't seem to mention one without mentioning the others. I really started hammering out the scriptures this last transfer, not just the Book of Mormon, but D&C and the New Testament. The greatest part is that I'm barely in, which leaves so much learning for the future. I absolutely love the scriptures. It's incredibly how clearly God speaks to us, and how every word, when understood correctly, is nothing more than another evidence of His love for us. It's incredible how perfectly complete this gospel is, how everything fits together like pieces in a puzzle, but the design is so simple a baby could understand it. And then in comes my love of being a missionary- when you take everything you've learned, everything you've studied and felt, all of God's love, and you give it to everyone else. And in that process, you learn to love them. So much. You learn to care about them in an indescribable way. A way that make you want to help them, a way that makes you want to be a better person so that you can better help them. You start to see the love God has for them, all of their potential, start to really understand them and see why they are the way they are, why they've suffered the way they've suffered and how it's affected them... and then in the best way you know how, with the tools and the Spirit you have, you give them the best medicine in the world. The only medicine that actually works perfectly. 

Basically, I'm just having a ton of fun, and I love what I'm doing. Every day brings new challenges, new opportunities to grow, new puzzles and problems that make us think outside the box and expand ourselves to better understand and help the needs of others. 

I've been promising pictures for awhile now... but I left my old memory card in the house. So I'll send a few today, and then send more later. 

I love you all! :)

Hermana Day

Photos

1. The first photo is the missionaries from my generation that are in my zone when we completed a year. Elder Leany, Elder Phelps, me, and Hermana Metler, who is my twin. (we were born together in a trio)

2. After zone meeting with Elder Bigger, Elder Valle (our district leader), Hermana Beltran (my companion), and me. They're also in our ward, and the zone leaders too, but we didn't end up getting a picture with them.

3. This is called a percheron. They're literally like.. more than a foot long. Like a burro, or a burrito, but like a million times bigger and full of tons of crap. Literally, any kind of food you can think to put in a percheron is probably in there. And it's all wrapped in a flour tortilla the size of a table. No joke. The Elders have contests to see who can eat one in one sitting, but as Hermanas we just eat one half one day and eat the other half another. Best thing in the world, though.