It´s great to hear from you! I love
hearing how everything is going up there. After another great week of
activities, I hardly know where to begin!
First
of all, after you told me that Brother Walker baptized Hermana Diaz, I
decided to look for her and I found her after she came back from the
temple (which wasn´t too difficult because there are only ever about 80
missionaries here maximum). I told her in Spanish that I knew Elder
Walker and after a small gasp she said, "¿Inserio?" She was so happy
when I told her that, and we made sure to get a picture together before
she left on Tuesday. The native Spanish speakers only spend two weeks here, how crazy is that?
Fortunately,
I do get to print out my emails, but I do only get an hour to write.
It seems like it should be a long time but you should just hear the
sound of all us missionaries typing like our lives depend on it!
The
temple was amazing--I mean, I hardly understood anything and I was sort
of wide-eyed the whole time but nonetheless, I can´t wait to go again
today!
Haha, yes, I´ve been drinking plenty of water, and yes, my back is doing just fine.
As
all of us new arrivals have adjusted to our life here at the CCM, I´m
starting to notice more how my introversion affects me. It seems that
most missionaries are extroverts--which really makes sense if you think
about it. But it does sorta make it hard on the few introverts. I pray
for the strength I need to make it through the high stimulation of
being surrounded by people constantly. As I´ve been practicing speaking
Spanish, I´ve had this experience that my mouth gets all dry from
trying to talk so much! I don´t think I´ve talked so much in my life!
(Okay, that might be a stretch).
The latinas who stayed in our room for two weeks also left on Tuesday.
It was so sad! We loved them so much! Hermana Fascanando was hilarious:
on Halloween she carried around a broom and dared us all to not do our
hair in the morning. We taught her to say "I was born American!" in
English because her accent is hilariously thick. But she made us all cry
on Monday
night we she bore her testimony. She and her companion sang a hymn to
all six of us roommates and left us with red eyes. We sang a Child´s
Prayer for them in response.
The computers here
don´t have an SD port, but Hermana Chamberlain has this cool thing
where you can insert an SD card into a USB port. That would be cool to
have in the field! Also, if you could mail me a sheet of American
stamps, then I can use pouch mail to send you letters! Pouch mail is
much quicker than normal mail--I still haven´t received your letter yet.
This Saturday
is going to be my first time Proselyting! I´m sorta nervous, but more
excited than I expected considering the minimal amount of Spanish know. I
love the message of the gospel with all my heart; I know it will come
through despite of my broken Spanish.
Hmm,
something spiritual-- I was reading the testimonies of the witnesses in
the front of the
Book of Mormon and I wondered, "Why did some of these
witnesses get to have an angel show them the plates but the others
didn´t?" My question was answered so quickly when I was reading the
scriptures! I was amazed! If you read in Ether you will see that it was
prophesied that an angel would show three people the plates. You should
look it up! It was very powerful to me.
As
always, I love the CCM! I have opportunities to teach more and more, and
the language is starting to come to me more quickly. I love this small
environment, the CCM president's wife, Hermana Willis, made us all
snickerdoodles the other day! It was quite the treat. She's a second
mom to all of us.
I´ve been blessed that the
weather has been much more bearable lately! But apparently Christmas is
the hottest day of the year, can you believe that? My days here are
super busy, but I never feel like there´s enough time in the day to
study! Hopefully 18 months will be enough time ;)
I
love you all and I think of you guys every day! I told my district that
the Oregon beach water is super cold and they didn´t believe me!
(They´re all basically from Utah, heh).
Until next week: Over and out!
Let the spirit guide!
Love, Hermana Autery
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| Paiges group with the other North American roommates. |
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| Attempting to take a self-timer picture with the "funny" Latinas. |
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| Hermana Diaz |
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| Where she'll be heading in 4 weeks. |
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