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

.

Ye people of the outside world,

This week marks the half way point of my time in the MTC  Gah. Not good. For some reason time moves really, really fast in the MTC, even though it seems like the days are as long as centuries. There is not enough time to learn everything! I don't know what I'm going to do; I am so thankful for continued study in the field.

This last week as been pretty awesome at the MTC, as to be expected. On Sunday we had a really awesome devotional that just focused on missionary work, which seems like it would be a common topic, but it's actually not (for devotionals, that is). The speaker had everyone who had been a member their entire lives stand up, and then asked a few of them if they would be baptized if they were non-members and approached by the missionaries, and why. Then he had all the converts of the MTC stand up and asked a few of them why they had been baptized. Wow. There are a LOT of converts in the MTC. Hearing their experiences were amazing. There was one Elder from Samoa who went to church for 3 years and never got baptized because his parents wouldn't let him. He finally was old enough to be baptized, and then he went straight on a mission. The third group he had stand up were people who had either left the church and come back, or had been inactive in some way at some point. Wow, were there a lot of those as well. Their stories and testimonies were so powerful. The thing about the MTC is that it's not full of people who have easy testimonies. I say that in the best way possible, of course. But it seems like everyone in the MTC, at some point in their life, really had to sit down and figure out what they really believed, whether they were raised in it, a convert, or had left it at some point. Eventually, we all have to figure out our priorities, find where our faith really lies, and what truth really is. 

My district here is great. I realized no one knows anything about anyone except my companion, so here's the run down. My zone has 4 districts. I have no idea if that's normal or not. Each district has between 5-8 people in it. There are 2 districts of Hermanas, 1 district of Elders, and 1 district of 3 Elders and 4 Hermanas. I am part of one of the Hermana districts; we call ourselves sistricts. Get it? :P In out sistrict we had me (naturally), my companion, Hermana Concidine, Hermana Weeks, Hermana McMurray, Hermana Clay, and Hermana Horne. Hermana Weeks is 1/4 Samoan, 1/4 Black, and 1/2 Mexican, and is literally the funniest person I think I have ever met. She's sassy and intimidates all the Elders haha :P She's from SoCal and knows the most Spanish out of any of us, although she disagrees. Hermana McMurray is her companion from Las Vegas, and is the 2nd funniest person on the planet. The 2 of them combined make for some very hilarious and embarrassing times. Hermana Clay is from North Carolina and is the only one in our district not going to Mexico- she's going to the Twin Falls Temple Visitor's Center. She is simply amazing and is going to BYU, so we will definitely be friends when we get back. :) Hermana Horne is from Orem, and has no sense of humor haha :P So we're always playing practical jokes on her and teasing her. She loves us, though, and we love her. She's probably the most innocent out of all of us, and I have no idea how she's going to survive in Mexico, but she has such a sweet spirit:) I just love them all!

Our branch (zone) presidency is also ridiculously awesome. All of them are converts to the church, and have served various missions in different places, as mission presidents or otherwise, and have THE COOLEST insights and stories to tell. I feel like my knowledge is expanded just by being around them.

During my time at the MTC, I've learned a few things. First, that ties are used as currency at the MTC among the Elders, and can be used to trade for other ties, food, or needed items like socks, etc. However, not all ties are created equal, and some are worth much more than others, depending on a lot of different characteristics. Overall, I find the whole situation hilarious, and it gives me constant enjoyment and amusement, listening to the Elders talked about the latest trends in tie economics. 

I've also learned that missionaries are the only reason the US Postal Service is still in business. Seriously. I bet if they got rid of missionary letters, the PS would flop in a month. :P

Also, not everyone does everything with a companion in the outside world. It's gotten to the point where I have a heart attack any time I see someone walking alone, and a double heart attack when I see a guy and a girl walking together. Heaven knows I'm going to be extremely odd and weird when I get back off my mission. Hopefully someone will be willing to go everywhere with me, because I don't think I'll be able to handle being alone. 

Friday I'm flying to Vegas to get my Visa! :D This will be pretty interesting, since my family avoids Vegas like the plague, and I've never been. I'm excited, but also a little apprehensive. 

For all those worrying about my knees, they are fine! This week I was very careful with them, and just did a lot of stretching. Which turned out great, because now I can touch my toes for extended periods of time, which I've never been able to do in my life. So that's been cool.

There was a point in time this week when I sat in my class room and was listening to class, and I thought, I just can't believe that God trusts the Salvation of His people, or the world, to 18+ year-olds. We aren't qualified, we really don't know that much, and our communication skills really aren't that great. But then I realized a few things. 1. Because God is God, if he says we can do it, he's right. 2. It is our youth and (hopefully) humility that lets the Spirit work so closely with us. 3. This work really has nothing to do with us. A few days ago one of our teachers pointed out that whenever the Lord talks about the gathering of Israel, He always refers to Himself doing it. He never says, "I'll send my missionaries out and they will gather Israel." He always says "I am gathering Israel." Seriously. Look up every scripture you can find about the gathering of Israel, and you will see. Missionaries are simply the facilitators that help people on their path towards God. As another teacher said, the best missionaries aren't the ones who are the best teachers, or the best at speaking Spanish. The best missionaries are the ones the most like Christ, and who never stop trying to be more like Christ. So. While we are on missions trying to heal people and help them feel, know, and understand the truth, our biggest job is simply to bring them to the Great Healer, who is Jesus Christ. Think, this week, about what it means that Jesus Christ is the Great Healer. That characteristic is rapidly becoming my favorite thing about Him, and encompasses all that He stands for. 

Well, I have no more time. But I hope you are all doing well. :) I love hearing from each of you.

Only if you are unafraid of the truth can you find it,

Hermana Day 

Well. Here you go. I've officially been in the MTC for two weeks and I have
four more weeks to go. Time has flown and I don't know what to do because
there's so much to learn and not enough time too learn it all. But the good
news is that learning never stops. :)

Nothing's changed here, much. The schedule is the same, the food is the
same, the teachers are the same. Except the teachers seem to be getting
exponentially more awesome every day. Of course this doesn't make any
sense, but seriously. Every day their awesomeness doubles, and my mind is
blown. I am so blessed.

The language is coming. Sometimes I get really frustrated and just want to
run out of the buildings screaming HAY MUCHOS TACOS EN MEXICO, but luckily
for everyone I've refrained. It's been a bit weird, though, because English
sometimes looks like a foreign language to me. I don't know how to explain
this, but it does. And I'll spell English words like Spanish words. And
I'll pronounce English words in a Spanish accent. And some phrases have
just become a daily part of my life. Which gets a little complicated when I
go up on main and start talking to the Tongan Elders in Spanish. Whoops.

We love Main Campus. It's like Christmas every P day. My district is doing
well, although it has become apparent that some Hermanas want to work
harder than others. Luckily, my companion is gold, and we're both hard
workers. It's been interesting. Also, I lied. My companion is from
Glendora, California, not Glendale. :P

My knees decided to start acting up this last week, so that's been fun.
Luckily I had the foresight to bring my knee braces, so I took a few days
off from gym and wore my braces as I waited for my knees to deflate from
the size of balloons... fun times. Good news is that there are athletic
trainers and physical therapists on West Campus, so I'm going to be okay.
Hopefully I'll build enough muscle mass so I don't die in Mexico.

Did you know Morgan Freeman is a senior missionary at the MTC? Yes, it is
true. Okay, maybe it's his twin. But still. I saw Morgan Freeman.
Devotional on Sunday was SUPER AWESOME. Elder Holland's son, President
Matthew Holland of UVU, came and spoke to us about the life of Joseph
Smith. I learned some things I never knew before, and it was just a really,
really cool experience. I haven't always had the strongest testimony of
Joseph Smith, but boy, was the Spirit strong in that room that night.
Joseph Smith is a prophet, and not just because the Book of Mormon is true.

Well, I don't really know what else to say about this week... I'm a little
sad some specific people haven't written me. You know who you are, so if
you're reading this, get on it! :D Also, does anyone have Rachel Owen's
contact information? I'd appreciate it if someone could send it to me. :)

OHMYGOODNESS BRECKLYN IS GOING TO BANGKOK. Literally I screamed in the
computer lab when I read that. For all of you planning on going on a
mission sometime in the near future, I seriously, seriously recommend you
make sure you read the entire Book of Mormon cover to cover a least once.
And then do it again, and then read the New Testament. And then read the
Old Testament. And then read D&C. Basically just make sure you're always
studying the scriptures. For those of you not on missions but not doing
that, do it. There is no better way to improve your life and become closer
to God than reading the scriptures and praying.

For those of you who don't think a mission is for you, or aren't going for
whatever reason... I beg you to take another look. There are a million
reasons why going on a mission is the best idea you'll ever have, including
that it will define the rest of your life, especially your future family.
And no, that's not my branch president talking, that is solely Hermana Day
talking. I cannot imagine raising kids in this world without having the
knowledge I've gained thus far. And I'm only two weeks in. But the most
beneficial thing about a mission is that you learn that life really has
absolutely nothing to do with you. You think you understand this before you
go, but you don't. I've learned that life is not about me, that the entire
purpose of life is to devote your life to serving other people and aligning
your purpose with God's purpose. There is no better place to learn this on
a mission.

Lately I've really come to love the word Charity. The Church always seems
to use the words Love and Charity interchangeably, and it's always bugged
me a little bit, because I saw a distinction. But I've realize that Charity
is simply the highest form of love. You just give and give of yourself. Of
your time, of your talents, of your property, everything. That's what
charity is, and isn't that exactly what Christ did?

I'm also really intrigued with the word Convert. We tend to think that the
word "convert" is the same as the word "people baptized," but of course
this is not so. To convert is to change from one thing to another. In my
view, to "convert" to the gospel is to give up your will and what you want
to do to the will of God, and follow Him wherever. As we convert to God's
purpose, it's also easier to see things as God sees them, not as the world
sees them, and to serve as God would have you serve.

Anyways, this probably doesn't make any sense anyways, but I hope someone
somewhere got something out of that. I really love it here. It's changed my
life in a million ways, and made me see things that I never saw before.
More than anything, it's taught me how I really want to live my life, and
how my greatest focus should be on helping the world, not myself.

I love you all so much, and I hope everyone is doing well!

Hermana Day