Hi everyone

Pues. 

I know I pretty much suck at writing these mass emails... partly because I don't have time, but also because I don't know what to say... 

I'll try my best, though.

This cambio has been excelent. For those of you who don't know, I'm finishing my mission with my MTC companion, Hermana Concidine. Which has pretty much been the funnest thing ever because we're really good friends, work well together, and life is a constant party. In a missionary sense, of course. We both feel so content about everything we've done, both in our area and in the mission in general. 

There are so many mixed emotions in my head I don't even know how to explain them all. Haha it is literally taking me forever to write this email and I feel like it's the most pathetic email I've ever sent. :P

Basically, I feel like I've lived, or I'm living a separate life. Everything has just become part of my being, my identity here. I was born in Pueblitos to a goodly parent, my darling mama Hna. Villa. :) My district leader was Chilean who talked so fast I couldn't even understand a word he said, Elder Filgueira. I was born with a twin, Hna. Metler, and off we went. Learning to speak; crawling at first, then walking (the blisters were terrible); and slowly progressing and growing. 

At some point, I had to leave the crib. After my training I spent my adolencence in Guaymas. Trials came, each one harder than the last. I met people that fundamentally changed my life forever, and began to see the big picture of what it all meant. Sometimes, I felt completely lost. Sometimes, I lived such joy I thought I could burst. We cried, we laughed, we sang. We sat in solemn silence and lived experiences that no one else will ever comprehend. And my faith began to grow. I began to grow. Slowly, at first, and then faster and faster. I began to see how every little thing than happened in life, from the people I met, to the experiences we experiences, to my studies, to my desires, were shaping me to become the person I needed to be. God places everything so perfectly it's incredible. And I began to see Him, communicate with Him every day. 

Villa de Series was jumping into the adult world. Full of confusion, darkness, profound lonliness, and lessons that I couldn't understand until after they had already passed. A test of faith, and a strengthening of it as well. 

Satelite brought new light to life, and I began to streamline every experience and part of me, and strive to become the missionary I wanted to be. I had a daughter, Hna. Garcia, and had the oppot}rtunity to watch and help her learn and grow. We learned together, striving to be better every day. 

And here I am, in Jardines. Staring my death in the face. HAHA not really. ...but really. My time here in Jardines has been absolutely excellent. I have put everything to work that I learned for the entirity of my mission, and everything exploded. 

Now, I feel like it's all I've ever known. I don't really remember many, many, things about my past life in the States. More so, I remember remembering. I am a different person. I'm not Mexican, but I'm not full American now either. And more importantly than my customs, or my nationality, is my spirituality. I suppose my true nationality is as a Child of God. An identity that will never change, no matter where I am, or what country I'm in. And I have come to know that truth in my heart in a way that words can never explain. It is something personal, and truly profoundly sacred. 

Am I sad to leave? Of course. But, as Dumbledore said (if I remember this correctly), death is nothing but the next great adventure. So here's to another part of my existance. I've past through one stage, on to the next. But just as we transfer from area to area in our mision life; or go from spirits with our Heavenly Father, to this life here on eath, and after on into the great Beyond, we ever build upon ourselves, and everything we've lived or become. An eternal circle of progression that never ends, that is formed perfectly to help us reach every potential we've never even imagined.

I love you all. So very much. I'll see you all Sunday, August 9th at 9am in the Draper Stokes chapel. 

DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT DEAD YET. Still alive and kicking. Here's to two more weeks of hard work, heat, sweat, and experiences of a lifetime.

Hermana Day

Soy una profesh door toquer (toker?)

That's been our sentance for the last week here in Hermosillo... My companion loves to make fun of my spanglish when I talk to her, so I've been trying to be creative. I've learned over the course of my mission that I love making people laugh. I'm not too great at it still, nothing on dad's level, of course, but I'm trying. There are few things that make me happier than when I can make someone else happy, laugh and joke with them, especially my companions and other missionaries. 

I cannot express how much I love being a missionary. I am going to miss this so much, but I can't think about that! Haha :P

These last few weeks have been excellent! I love being with Hermana Concidine. We have a blast, work hard, and learn so much together. We're both fairly strong personalities, but with the time we have in the mission it's perfect because we call each other out on things we need to improve on and then we work on them, and become even more united. I feel like I've progressed so much as a person in these last few months, and every day brings more advances. It's incredible how literally everything that passes in our lives contributes to who we are and choose to become, and the way we accept these occurances or changes is essential. 

This week we had a couple really awesome experiences, but I'd like to share just one. I've had the opportunity to meet one of the coolest people in the world a few weeks ago. She just got home a few weeks ago from the mission (she served in the same mission in DF as Elder Dalley... shout out!), and she's been accompanying us a lot. Her story is incredible. She was this teenager agnostic who didn't believe in anything or anyone when she met the missionaries. She accompanied us the other day to a lesson we had with this spunky university literature professor (I pick my investigators good, y'all :P), who is also an incredibly fascinating person. The professor was talking about how for the longest time she didn't believe in anything, until she recognized the necesity of believing in something. It's something I've seen time and time again. As humans, it is absolutely essential that we believe in something. It's wired into us, and everyone is the same, whether or not they admit it. I remember a letter from Elder Morell over in Hong Kong forever ago that talked about how everyone over there says that they believe in themselves. Even if we just believe in ourselves, we have to believe in something. Hope is a vital part of the human experience. As this professor tried to explain us her concept of God, she struggled. We tried to teach her, help her out, explain God to her. As we left the lesson, I asked this RM if she had any advice, how we could get through to this investigator. What she said has had me thinking all week. 

More than anything, one of the greatest human necesities is to understand what God is. We see expressions of diety in every culture of the world to some extent. People struggle to understand what or who is this higher power, and what significance it has. One of the greatest misconceptions about God is that He is Something, not Someone. But he is not a espirit, or a prescence, or a power. He is a person. He has a body. He loves, he feels, he acts. When we begin to understand God, truly understand who He is, we begin to understand His plan, why He works the way He does, and our purpose in all of this. What people never seem to get is that we do not create God, He creates us. We do not define who He is or what He does. We do not put parameters or limits on Him. We are His creations and part of His world. He is not our creation, and nor does He exist in the world of our created perceptions. He is apart. He in indepentent, and it is so essential to try to percieve Him, to understand Him independantly of how we would like to define Him. We cannot define God to make our world more comfortable, nor can we un-make Him into not existing. He is indepentant of our desires, nevertheless is completely involved in our everyday lives, working and worrying with a love that passes all understanding. Despite the fact that we cannot define Him, that our most important job is only to seek to understand Him and follow His will, He is an essential part of us, and we are an essential part of Him. 

So I invite everyone this week to think about God. Not about who you would like Him to be, or how you would define Him, but about how He really is. And why that knowledge would be so important in our lives. If you don't know who God is, how He is, then study. Pray. Search. As my darling mother always taught me, those who seek for beauty and truth find it. 

Be truth seekers. Peace.

Hermana Day

PS Long awaited photos to come

Here is the quote that Elizabeth was talking about in the beginning of her last letter sorry it didn't work correctly

''Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped, into shape."

''Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped, into shape."

Hello, world. That quote's from a letter mom sent me back in September or so, from Elder Neal A. Maxwell in a talk that was given when she was on her mission. The full quote is actually this, and it's something that's really definied my mission (shout-out to my dear insightful mother):

"We gain knowledge through particular experiences, but only incrementally, 'in that thing.' (Alma 32:34.) Hence the ongoingness of it all, and perhaps we can be forgiven for wondering, 'Is there no other way?' Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped, into shape."

Today marks something inevitable, and thus pointless in ignoring, yet saddening nonetheless. In exactly 3 more months I shall be home. Next week marks transfers, and from that point I have 2 more transfers left. Time marches on, without heed to our personal preferences or desires. Not going to lie; it's been a little weird, especially since my companion goes home in a week. Nevertheless, it's made me cherish every moment more, as Hallmark cheesy as that sounds. I absolutely love being a missionary. So here's to living these next 3 months to the fullest, enjoying everything that comes in my path, helping as many people as possible, and learning how to become the person God needs me to be. 

I haven't written in forever, so here's a small update on things here in Sonora. I love my zone! There are so many newbies in my zone this transfer, and I just love being with them and taking in their spirit. I love going on interchanges with all the Hermanas and just learning about who they are. I absolutely love people. I love understanding them, listening to them, figuring out how they think, how they tick, their needs and wants and desires and fears in life. It's been one of my favorite things in my mission. Every spirit is so unique, so individual and special. It's amazing how humans all we really want is just to be loved and understood. We just seek to connect and relate to each other. Some are broken, some are hurting, some are hardened, others are easier, but it's all the same desire underneath. 

My area is full of culture. Yeah! We have a ton of Asians here for some reason, but we've also run into quite a few Cubans. We met this Cuban lady one day and I mentioned how it's basically just my life's dream to go to La Habana and visit all the music clubs and hang out with all the musicians on the street there, and then suddenly we started talking about the Buena Vista Social Club and I was like, I LOVE THEM. She was pretty surprised, but it was a super cool moment. When you seek to understand people, who they are, where they come from, you start making that connection, gaining that interest. It's fascinating. I love how I can enter a house and hear Bach cello suites playing, see African tribal art or (definitely one of the cooler moments on my mission) find some incredible Art Nouveau prints in some lady's house in the middle of the Sonoran desert. 

People love to figure me out too. People here in this area love to come up to us and tell us we're crazy for walking around so young, being Americans and all. The people in this area are surprisingly open. I've been called and labeled everything from an ugly Russian girl (drunk people during Easter weekend) to a Norwegian princess (I guess they got the northern-Scandanavian bone structure right?). Seriously, people. I'm asked if I'm German, and Canadian sometimes as well, but for some reason the American comment doesn't come around as much as you think it would. Go figure. 

I also had the opportunity to talk to one of the oldest members here in Sonora. His name is Nephi Villa, and his dad join the church in the early 1930s in Meza, Arizona. He was running around on horseback in a bandit band, drunk and stealing, when he found the church and was completely converted. He then went back to his home in Cuidad Obregon, Sonora, when he had the church send materials to his home where he taught his family and anyone else he could find for years. Another Mormon family showed up eventually, and they made the first established meetings of the church. They then travelled up here to Hermosillo to open up the gospel here, and this member, Nephi, was one of the first missionaries to serve here. I absolutely loved listening to his story. I loved that the entire church here in Sonora started with some rugged cowboy bandit that felt the Spirit and never looked back, devoting his life to the work of the Lord. It inspires me, and humbles me. It makes the changes I've made in my life and my devotion to God seem so insignificant. We can do better. 

I just end with sharing some thoughts about the Savior, as usual. The other day I realized something. Jesus Christ is a God, He is the great Jehovah. He is the Creator of everything, one with the Father, and has always been priviledged to be in His Holy presence. He is perfect and pure, clean and holy. So can we all take a minute to appreciate how absolutely terrible it would have been to leave that state of eternal holiness and perfection, everything He had ever known, and experience the darkest of the dark, the vilest of sins, the extremities of pain and affliction, the horrendous evils, the deepest sorrows and sadnesses. It is a difference completely incomprehendable. He dropped from the highest from the very, very lowest of all lows. As 1 Nephi 11:16 says, ''And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?'' (I like the Spanish version better because it uses 'comprehend' in the place of 'know') How could a being so pure withstand such evil? How could He experience and suffer such terrible things, being so perfect? I don't understand it, but I know that that has got to be an awful lot of love, to experience such pain and evil so that we would not be stuck in the eternal torment of our own bad decisions and situations. Love's probably the only thing that got him through such an experience. His love for us, and for His Father. So may we all love His as well, for what He did for us, and follow Him in every footstep.

I love you all. Have an excellent week. 

Hermana Day

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.

To: The world 

Hello World,

Guess what. This week (Thursday, to be exact) I turn one year in the mission. One. Year. It's slightly terrifying, and I really don't know what to make of it. I only have 4 more transfers left, which means I only have one more area left after this one. And probably only 2 more companions. Maybe 3. And I feel like I've learned so much, and helped people, and tried to be a good example and a good disciple of Christ and everything, but I still lack so much that it's kind of terrifying to think about. But hey, that's the thing. I just can't think about it, and I'll be fine. 

This year in the mission has probably been the most tumultuous year of my life. There's really no way to explain it. I feel only people that have served a mission understand what the mission is like, and even more, only people that have serve in Mision Mexico Hermosillo understand what this mission is like. I wouldn't trade these experiences for the world. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely. Have I learned bastante? Yes I have. I'm a completely different person, but I'm a better person because of it. I'm made my mistakes, and I learned about repentence. I learned what it feels like to truly be a disciple of Christ, and I'm happier because of it. I've felt the joy of helping a lost soul find his way again, and there are no words to explain the love and satisfaction. 

I suppose that I'm still young and inexperienced, but the way I see the world is clearer, with a little less innocence and a little more pessimism, but also with a lot more hope. Never before had I quite understood so deeply the necesity of the gospel. It is probably the strongest promise God has ever made to us- that if we will follow Him he will give us everything He has. Christ is the only way to happiness. It is so simple, but it is so true. Blessings in this life, blessings to come in the next, the point is that they only come through Jesus Christ. Sometimes I just want to hit people over the head with my Book of Mormon and yell at them, ''Would you please just listen to me (or better, to the Spirit) because I'm trying to give you Eternal Life here! It's slightly important. It's only the destiny of your soul.'' 

I`ve learned that the only thing that really has the power to change people is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the healing power that comes through Him. I've learned that we shouldn't try to change people to form what we think they should be, or what we view as perfection, because this world is full of an infinitely drasticly distinct humanity, each one of us completely different than the other, each one of us beautiful, individual children of God, and it`s beautiful. I've learned that the human heart is hurting, and is looking for something it thinks it'll never find or achieve, but that that eternal peace that we so desperately seek really does exist. We just have to accept where to look for it. I've learned that every human heart is broken in some form or another, and that everyone of us has a form of expressing ourselves and trying to heal ourselves, but the only real way to do it is just give in and let Him fix it for you. When we try to fix it ourselves it just ends up looking like an old cardboard box stuck together with scotch tape and sent through the Mexican mail system. Nobody can survive that. 

I've learned that the most important and profound things are really the most simple. That God loves us, that He lives and is an active part in our lives. And that anyone who begins to believe on that, however proud or stubborn or hard or hurt they may be, can feel that love and that presence. I've learned that there is nothing more important in the world than the primary answers- pray, read your scriptures, go to church, serve your fellowman. Listen to your primary children. They haven't been changed by the world, and they know what's up.

I love you all, and I wish you all the best. I'm sure you can survive 6 more months without me (haha), but if you can't, the good news is that Christ will always be there, even when I'm not. 

This video made me cry.

Gracias A Él (It's better in Spanish)

Because of Him (But here's the English version if you don't understand Spanish)

Hermana Day

Livin with the bonis

Hello All.

Well, I feel totally frazeled. Where to start? 

Saturday night we recieved transfers from our zone leaders... and the two of us gone transfered! Freaking transfers. We had just barely had 1 transfer in the area, and we had started from the bottom, learning everything together, and then after 1 freaking transfer they whitewash the area again! We were pretty angry because we had some pretty awesome goals for our ward this month, but whatever. The bad news is that they took us out and put Elders in. Probably a good thing, because our area was ridiculously dangerous and we almost couldn't work in it because of how dangerous it was... but everyone was pretty sad because now the ward will have only Elders again, and Elders are always a bummer. (That's a joke, Elders. Sort of. :P)

Sooooooo now I'm in Satelite. Wow. Where to begin. Satelite is one of the richest, if not THE richest area in Hermosillo, and it's the hardest area in the mission. They say this area kills missionaries. Not because they go home, but because it's so hard that they just stop working and die (figuratively speaking). Pleasant news. I'm now in Zona Pitic, with is the zone where the temple is, where Presidente and the Assistants are, offices, everything. Yesh. And, of course, every Hermana of Zona Pitic has to look super put together always. Ugh. Which means I can't just put my hair in a braid, or not put on a ton of makeup or whatever. Yup. Now I have to forget how to eat with my hands and remember all the table manners that mom pounded into me all my life. It's like a completely different world, honestly. I feel like I'm in a different country now, and everything seems so different. Today was really weird. I'm going to miss my areas where the only thing people had were tortillas y beans, but had hearts the size of the ocean. I'm going to miss the confidence we had, sitting on a plank in a tin shack, laughing as well as sometimes crying myself to death, loving these people like my family. It's different now, but I suppose that I need to remember that the people in my area are people too, and that, as always, there is a way into every human heart. 

The good news is that our District Leader (who is also in our ward) is one of the best singers in the whole mission, and he's super excited that I'm here, and I'm super excited that I get the chance to sing with him, so we're going to light this ward up with our voices and it's going to be awesome! 

Well. Yup. That's the news for this week. My companion is freaking awesome, and I feel good, honestly. I don't know, I just feel happy. I guess that's a good thing, right? Fruits of the gospel.

May you all have an excellent week!

Hermana Day

PS Boni in Sonora means some that is super rich, like, ''Ohmygosh, el esta biennnn boni'' (he's got a lot of money) or ''yesh esta area esta bien boni buena suerte'' (that area's super rich so good luck) I have no idea if this word exists in other parts of Mexico or Latin America. :P

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