Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Had to say goodbye as these close friends head off to Arizona on their missions.
La Cocarach!
Hola Familia!
¡Mi bonita amigos les amo!
Well week 5 at the MTC is over and time is flying by. I can't believe that I only have 6 days left here. Although I won't lie I am getting antsy to get out and get to work. I am anxious and excited to get to Nicaragua and start falling in love with the people and learning more of the language and doing what I set out to do. :) My week was... well kinda interesting. haha I think you will all enjoy this email but beware it might make you cringe.
Tuesday: It was a pretty regular P-day at the good ol' CCM we took a nap and cleaned and did laundry. Then I was in charge of giving the opening prayer (in Spanish) at the devotional and it was our Area 70 speaking. So it was kinda a big deal. Luckily no one is judgmental about prayers but I killed it anyway. I had a member of the 70 compliment my prayer. It rocked. I am kinda a big deal. ha ha you know you all love that.
Wednesday... oh man.. so we were at lunch and I was doing the usual routine you know gettin my tortilla and my beans and rice to go with the chicken they gave me to make myself a nice little taco. (I was talking to Hermana Ricks and not really watching what I was grabbing) So we sit down and I start making my taco real nice, little bit of chicken little bit of rice then some beans (still not watching what I was doing..) and I got to take a bite and Hermana Rick´s eyes started to bulge out of her head so luckily I stop and I asked her whats up and she grabs my taco out of my hand (I am starting to get really confused because this Hermana just swiped my taco) opens it up and points... So now I start freaking out... As I looked a little closer, I saw a cockroach... In my beans... Ya I hope you are all gagging. Needless to say I didn't eat much lunch that day. Hahaha I took my plate to the MTC presidents wife and she took it back to the cook and I don't even want to know what she said to them. I am staying away from the beans for the rest of the time haha. Later that night we got to do service and our service for this week was to vaccum all the chairs in the auditorium haha I was actually really fun, I enjoyed it.
Thursday they gave us sandwiches and I almost cried. I was so excited hahahaha I just realized how hilarious it was that I was that excited for a ham sandwich. Oh man how different life has gotten in just one month. :) I love it. Oh hahaha I just looked at my journal from this day and recalled a story. We were walking to class in the morning and all of a sudden I see this bat flying around so I start watching it, and I watched it start to come closer and then all of a sudden it flys right into Hermana Kent hahaha it was so funny! Holy cow my life is hilarious. Anyone that says God doesn't have a sense of humor just needs to read my letters. Oh boy.
Friday was our last time teaching our investigator Fernando. Bittersweet.. but mostly just sweet. During lunch we pranked the other class in our district and we took all their desks and chairs and made a huge tower in another classroom. It was pretty sweet, they loved it. ha ha. OH it is a good thing I have these notes, I keep forgetting to tell you that there are so many parrots here and all different colors too. They are so pretty, really annoying, but pretty. I will try to get a picture, but so far it has failed to happen ha ha.
Saturday we practiced doing approaches and it is probably one of my favorite things ever. I love talking to strangers, I find people so fascinating. I even talked to a janitor and invited her to come to church. She is a member but it was fun anyway ha ha. I seriously love just talking to people and finding out about them. Love it. It was a hard day to focus.. It feels like the last week of school all over again ha ha. It is becoming a problem. BUT my wrist is healed so I got to play volleyball again :) I was so happy. Then as we were trying to go to bed Mexico City decided to party, so I fell asleep listening to Mexican dance party music and it incorporated itself into my dream, really weird but it lead to my first dream in Español!! Which was really awesome. :) I was at a Mexican dance party teaching about the Church ha ha. Weird..
Sundays.. I wish everyday was Sunday. We had a devotional from Elder Holland and we got to watch "The Testaments" Super awesome day. I really love my district too, we do so much together and it is really fun. Our elders sang in the devotional "homeward bound" look it up on You tube right now and watch it. Great song.
Monday we had another earthquake ha ha I think I am getting too casual with the earthquakes.. We had just gotten to breakfast and I was starving so I had my bowl and I was walking over to the cereal when the alarm went off. So naturally I run and get my cereal and then took it with me to the safe spot. I figured that if we were going to have to stand out there for 20 minutes I might as well have some fruit loops. Ha ha ha it was just a little tremor anyway. No biggie. It rained from 6:00-9:30 just pouring rain, there were puddles at least 2 inches deep I was happy because for a second it felt like I was swimming again. Good news is my umbrella works great! Ha ha. It was a bittersweet day as I had to say goodbye to a lot of the friends that I have met here. I have been so blessed to be able to meet so many great people and grow close to them.
Today we got to go to the temple for the last time here, for me it will be the last time for 17 more months. I was really impressed because I could understand so much more of the Spanish than the last time! It was such an awesome feeling! Such a pretty temple too. Then we came back had some lunch (chicken in case you were wondering. I know you all love my meal updates.) and did some laundry. Oh and I took a tally of hot dogs consumed this week... we had corn dogs 3 times, then they came up with something new and now they steam the hot dogs with the veggies.. hahahahaha so we have had that as a choice for a side for the passed 5 days and hot dog soup once. Hahaha oh man every time I think about the hot dogs I laugh out loud. I think it is so stinking hilarious. HAHAHAHA. Hot dogs.
Anyway, as I was sitting in the temple these were the words that came to my mind, yes they are in Spanish.. go figure. Ha ha. Sorry for those of you who don't speak it you can ask someone to translate or use google. :)
Asombro me da el amor que me da Jesús confuso estoy por su gracia y por Su luz, y tiembio al ver que por mí Él Su vida dio por mí tan indigno, Su sangre Él derramó. Me cuesta entender que quisiera Jesús bajar del trono divino para mi alma rescatar que Él extendiera perdón a tal pecador y me redimier y diera Su gran amor comprendo que Él en la cruz de dejó clavar pagó mi recare no lo podré olvidar. Por siempre jamás al Señor agradeceré mi vida y cuanto yo tengo a Él daré. Cuán asombroso es que por amarme así muriera Él por mí. Cuán asombroso es lo que dío por mí.
¡Les amo!
Hermana Willardson
¡Mi bonita amigos les amo!
Well week 5 at the MTC is over and time is flying by. I can't believe that I only have 6 days left here. Although I won't lie I am getting antsy to get out and get to work. I am anxious and excited to get to Nicaragua and start falling in love with the people and learning more of the language and doing what I set out to do. :) My week was... well kinda interesting. haha I think you will all enjoy this email but beware it might make you cringe.
Tuesday: It was a pretty regular P-day at the good ol' CCM we took a nap and cleaned and did laundry. Then I was in charge of giving the opening prayer (in Spanish) at the devotional and it was our Area 70 speaking. So it was kinda a big deal. Luckily no one is judgmental about prayers but I killed it anyway. I had a member of the 70 compliment my prayer. It rocked. I am kinda a big deal. ha ha you know you all love that.
Wednesday... oh man.. so we were at lunch and I was doing the usual routine you know gettin my tortilla and my beans and rice to go with the chicken they gave me to make myself a nice little taco. (I was talking to Hermana Ricks and not really watching what I was grabbing) So we sit down and I start making my taco real nice, little bit of chicken little bit of rice then some beans (still not watching what I was doing..) and I got to take a bite and Hermana Rick´s eyes started to bulge out of her head so luckily I stop and I asked her whats up and she grabs my taco out of my hand (I am starting to get really confused because this Hermana just swiped my taco) opens it up and points... So now I start freaking out... As I looked a little closer, I saw a cockroach... In my beans... Ya I hope you are all gagging. Needless to say I didn't eat much lunch that day. Hahaha I took my plate to the MTC presidents wife and she took it back to the cook and I don't even want to know what she said to them. I am staying away from the beans for the rest of the time haha. Later that night we got to do service and our service for this week was to vaccum all the chairs in the auditorium haha I was actually really fun, I enjoyed it.
Thursday they gave us sandwiches and I almost cried. I was so excited hahahaha I just realized how hilarious it was that I was that excited for a ham sandwich. Oh man how different life has gotten in just one month. :) I love it. Oh hahaha I just looked at my journal from this day and recalled a story. We were walking to class in the morning and all of a sudden I see this bat flying around so I start watching it, and I watched it start to come closer and then all of a sudden it flys right into Hermana Kent hahaha it was so funny! Holy cow my life is hilarious. Anyone that says God doesn't have a sense of humor just needs to read my letters. Oh boy.
Friday was our last time teaching our investigator Fernando. Bittersweet.. but mostly just sweet. During lunch we pranked the other class in our district and we took all their desks and chairs and made a huge tower in another classroom. It was pretty sweet, they loved it. ha ha. OH it is a good thing I have these notes, I keep forgetting to tell you that there are so many parrots here and all different colors too. They are so pretty, really annoying, but pretty. I will try to get a picture, but so far it has failed to happen ha ha.
Saturday we practiced doing approaches and it is probably one of my favorite things ever. I love talking to strangers, I find people so fascinating. I even talked to a janitor and invited her to come to church. She is a member but it was fun anyway ha ha. I seriously love just talking to people and finding out about them. Love it. It was a hard day to focus.. It feels like the last week of school all over again ha ha. It is becoming a problem. BUT my wrist is healed so I got to play volleyball again :) I was so happy. Then as we were trying to go to bed Mexico City decided to party, so I fell asleep listening to Mexican dance party music and it incorporated itself into my dream, really weird but it lead to my first dream in Español!! Which was really awesome. :) I was at a Mexican dance party teaching about the Church ha ha. Weird..
Sundays.. I wish everyday was Sunday. We had a devotional from Elder Holland and we got to watch "The Testaments" Super awesome day. I really love my district too, we do so much together and it is really fun. Our elders sang in the devotional "homeward bound" look it up on You tube right now and watch it. Great song.
Monday we had another earthquake ha ha I think I am getting too casual with the earthquakes.. We had just gotten to breakfast and I was starving so I had my bowl and I was walking over to the cereal when the alarm went off. So naturally I run and get my cereal and then took it with me to the safe spot. I figured that if we were going to have to stand out there for 20 minutes I might as well have some fruit loops. Ha ha ha it was just a little tremor anyway. No biggie. It rained from 6:00-9:30 just pouring rain, there were puddles at least 2 inches deep I was happy because for a second it felt like I was swimming again. Good news is my umbrella works great! Ha ha. It was a bittersweet day as I had to say goodbye to a lot of the friends that I have met here. I have been so blessed to be able to meet so many great people and grow close to them.
Today we got to go to the temple for the last time here, for me it will be the last time for 17 more months. I was really impressed because I could understand so much more of the Spanish than the last time! It was such an awesome feeling! Such a pretty temple too. Then we came back had some lunch (chicken in case you were wondering. I know you all love my meal updates.) and did some laundry. Oh and I took a tally of hot dogs consumed this week... we had corn dogs 3 times, then they came up with something new and now they steam the hot dogs with the veggies.. hahahahaha so we have had that as a choice for a side for the passed 5 days and hot dog soup once. Hahaha oh man every time I think about the hot dogs I laugh out loud. I think it is so stinking hilarious. HAHAHAHA. Hot dogs.
Anyway, as I was sitting in the temple these were the words that came to my mind, yes they are in Spanish.. go figure. Ha ha. Sorry for those of you who don't speak it you can ask someone to translate or use google. :)
Asombro me da el amor que me da Jesús confuso estoy por su gracia y por Su luz, y tiembio al ver que por mí Él Su vida dio por mí tan indigno, Su sangre Él derramó. Me cuesta entender que quisiera Jesús bajar del trono divino para mi alma rescatar que Él extendiera perdón a tal pecador y me redimier y diera Su gran amor comprendo que Él en la cruz de dejó clavar pagó mi recare no lo podré olvidar. Por siempre jamás al Señor agradeceré mi vida y cuanto yo tengo a Él daré. Cuán asombroso es que por amarme así muriera Él por mí. Cuán asombroso es lo que dío por mí.
¡Les amo!
Hermana Willardson
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
¡Hola Familia y Amigos!
Como le van? I hope you are all well :) First things first, I want to thank all of you who prayed for my health. I am glad to report that I am 100% again : ) Thank you thank you thank you! Man so this week didn't have too many exciting things happen but there are a few cool experiences I will share with you all.
Tuesday: We got to go to the México City temple and it is seriously so beautiful. I love it because México city is very dangerous and kinda scary and just driving through it again was another big eye opener. We are very lucky to have such a beautiful place to study in in the middle of such a sketchy city. Anyway the temple sticks out like a sore thumb obviously and has very high security ha ha. But it is beautiful and even though everything was in Español I was still able to feel the Spirit very strong. The Church is true regardless of what country you are in. Then we came back and only had a couple minutes before dinner that I hurried and used to email a couple more people. After dinner we watched a devotional that was being broadcast live from the Provo MTC from Elder Ballard. It was life changing. He is such a good man and a real Apostle. It was cool to have it broadcast for the first time. It was being broadcast to 5 different MTC´s for the first time but I can´t remember which ones they were.
Wednesday was pretty normal I started to feel a little better which was a big blessing. We were supposed to have service again but no one was there to tell us what our project would be ha ha. I think eventually they will get it all straightened out. Hopefully :) We got spaghetti for dinner and it was so delicious. I loved it.
Thursday I decided to break in some of my other shoes, so my feet are a little sore ha ha but not nearly as bad as that first week so its all good. I was feeling about 65% by this day until they gave us hot dog soup for dinner ha ha ha. Ya you read that right, hot dog soup. Mmm delicious. :) We also got to teach members again but there were not enough volunteers so we ended up just teaching other missionaries.
Friday we had coaching with our teachers and Hermano Sanchez told me that in our lesson today he wanted me to leave Hermana Kent hanging so that she would have to use her Spanish. I was scared because I didn´t want to make her mad. But it ended up ok once I told her afterward why I left her hanging. Ha ha ha we were on our way to teach our fake investigator and this super loud alarm went off and people started running to the meeting spots that I told you about the first week so I started panicing because I was certain that it was for an earthquake. So picture 1000 missionaries plus teachers standing in these green circles looking super confused and scared. Turns out it was just a drill but at least it is good to know what the alarms actually sound like. The funny part is that there are light poles around alot of these circles so if it really were to be an earthquake those poles would fall right into the middle of these "safe spots" ha ha I love México. Then for gym we did splits because Hermana Kent wanted to run and you all know how much I love running... Not. So I made a man in the sand of the volleyball court with Hermana Maughan it was super fun. I would send a picture but H. Maughan took it on her camera so I will have to hunt her down. It was the cutest sandman I have ever seen in my life.
Saturday my hunger came back with a vengence. And guess what they served for breakfast? Corn dogs :) You better believe that I am starting to really love them... ha ha. not.. But it´s all good. Then we got meatballs for either dinner or lunch I can´t remember. THEN WE GOT ICE CREAM!!!! I won't lie I took two. It was so good. Then that night I woke up at 4:00am because there was the most putrid smell coming from our bathroom. I kid you not I believe that it was a decomposing body in the drain. It was so awful. I wish I could have captured the smell in a bottle so that you could have smelled it. It was so so so awful. ha ha ha anyway we opened our little window and closed the bathroom door.
Sunday was pretty normal until we got to the devotional after lunch (corn dogs) and I am just sitting there in my nice comfy seat and I look up to see that it is a devotional from October 2012 and I remember that Tyler my sweet cousin was in the MTC at that time so in my head I was like "oh hey maybe I will see him when we sing the opening song" because they usually show the audience. So we start singing and we sing in Spanish as they sing in English and I look up to see a close up of TYLER!!!! I almost screamed I was so excited, it was so awesome to be singing along with him even though that was almost a year ago. I love that I get to share these experiences with quite a few of my cousins. We so awesome. Then as the devotional went on. Sister Bednar invited an Elder Mansell up to the stand and I was like huh I wonder if it is someone I will know. Lo and behold it was Darren Mansell. Apparently he stayed with their family for like 6 weeks when he was on his mission. Basically the Mansell side rocked that devotional. It was weird ha ha but I loved it.
Monday ha ha ha oh Monday, so we went to the computer lab in the morning to study and we finish up and go to head out. Well somehow we had gotten locked in.. Ya don't ask me how. So we were like well crap what are we supposed to do?! So we realize our only way out is through the window that has probably a good 6 foot drop. Now keep in mind that we are in skirts. So we were like well we don't really have any other choice. So we get a chair and jump out the window. In skirts. After we had gathered ourselves we looked up to see two little Méxican Janitors laughing their heads off at us. Instead of coming and unlocking the doors they just sat there and watched us jump ha ha. I got a good laugh out of that one. Then we had to explain why we were late to class and our story brought our teacher to tears. So then we carried on with the day and Mondays are really like Fridays here because Pday is Tuesdays so we were all pumped for P-day and kinda struggling to focus and study. What else do you expect from teenagers and young adult right? But we had a good time and it was good to laugh. Then for dinner they fed us hot dogs ha ha. I think it is so funny. Seriously every time they feed us either corn dogs or hot dogs I laugh out loud.
Anyway that is about all for this week, thank you all again for your love and support and prayers. They are felt and appreciated. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Oh also!! This is important. If any of you have the desire to send me a letter send it to Nicaragua. I only have 14 more days here and I most likely will never get it if you send it here after today. Much love!!
Be good and laugh often I love and miss you all!!
Hermana Willardson
Como le van? I hope you are all well :) First things first, I want to thank all of you who prayed for my health. I am glad to report that I am 100% again : ) Thank you thank you thank you! Man so this week didn't have too many exciting things happen but there are a few cool experiences I will share with you all.
Tuesday: We got to go to the México City temple and it is seriously so beautiful. I love it because México city is very dangerous and kinda scary and just driving through it again was another big eye opener. We are very lucky to have such a beautiful place to study in in the middle of such a sketchy city. Anyway the temple sticks out like a sore thumb obviously and has very high security ha ha. But it is beautiful and even though everything was in Español I was still able to feel the Spirit very strong. The Church is true regardless of what country you are in. Then we came back and only had a couple minutes before dinner that I hurried and used to email a couple more people. After dinner we watched a devotional that was being broadcast live from the Provo MTC from Elder Ballard. It was life changing. He is such a good man and a real Apostle. It was cool to have it broadcast for the first time. It was being broadcast to 5 different MTC´s for the first time but I can´t remember which ones they were.
Wednesday was pretty normal I started to feel a little better which was a big blessing. We were supposed to have service again but no one was there to tell us what our project would be ha ha. I think eventually they will get it all straightened out. Hopefully :) We got spaghetti for dinner and it was so delicious. I loved it.
Thursday I decided to break in some of my other shoes, so my feet are a little sore ha ha but not nearly as bad as that first week so its all good. I was feeling about 65% by this day until they gave us hot dog soup for dinner ha ha ha. Ya you read that right, hot dog soup. Mmm delicious. :) We also got to teach members again but there were not enough volunteers so we ended up just teaching other missionaries.
Friday we had coaching with our teachers and Hermano Sanchez told me that in our lesson today he wanted me to leave Hermana Kent hanging so that she would have to use her Spanish. I was scared because I didn´t want to make her mad. But it ended up ok once I told her afterward why I left her hanging. Ha ha ha we were on our way to teach our fake investigator and this super loud alarm went off and people started running to the meeting spots that I told you about the first week so I started panicing because I was certain that it was for an earthquake. So picture 1000 missionaries plus teachers standing in these green circles looking super confused and scared. Turns out it was just a drill but at least it is good to know what the alarms actually sound like. The funny part is that there are light poles around alot of these circles so if it really were to be an earthquake those poles would fall right into the middle of these "safe spots" ha ha I love México. Then for gym we did splits because Hermana Kent wanted to run and you all know how much I love running... Not. So I made a man in the sand of the volleyball court with Hermana Maughan it was super fun. I would send a picture but H. Maughan took it on her camera so I will have to hunt her down. It was the cutest sandman I have ever seen in my life.
Saturday my hunger came back with a vengence. And guess what they served for breakfast? Corn dogs :) You better believe that I am starting to really love them... ha ha. not.. But it´s all good. Then we got meatballs for either dinner or lunch I can´t remember. THEN WE GOT ICE CREAM!!!! I won't lie I took two. It was so good. Then that night I woke up at 4:00am because there was the most putrid smell coming from our bathroom. I kid you not I believe that it was a decomposing body in the drain. It was so awful. I wish I could have captured the smell in a bottle so that you could have smelled it. It was so so so awful. ha ha ha anyway we opened our little window and closed the bathroom door.
Sunday was pretty normal until we got to the devotional after lunch (corn dogs) and I am just sitting there in my nice comfy seat and I look up to see that it is a devotional from October 2012 and I remember that Tyler my sweet cousin was in the MTC at that time so in my head I was like "oh hey maybe I will see him when we sing the opening song" because they usually show the audience. So we start singing and we sing in Spanish as they sing in English and I look up to see a close up of TYLER!!!! I almost screamed I was so excited, it was so awesome to be singing along with him even though that was almost a year ago. I love that I get to share these experiences with quite a few of my cousins. We so awesome. Then as the devotional went on. Sister Bednar invited an Elder Mansell up to the stand and I was like huh I wonder if it is someone I will know. Lo and behold it was Darren Mansell. Apparently he stayed with their family for like 6 weeks when he was on his mission. Basically the Mansell side rocked that devotional. It was weird ha ha but I loved it.
Monday ha ha ha oh Monday, so we went to the computer lab in the morning to study and we finish up and go to head out. Well somehow we had gotten locked in.. Ya don't ask me how. So we were like well crap what are we supposed to do?! So we realize our only way out is through the window that has probably a good 6 foot drop. Now keep in mind that we are in skirts. So we were like well we don't really have any other choice. So we get a chair and jump out the window. In skirts. After we had gathered ourselves we looked up to see two little Méxican Janitors laughing their heads off at us. Instead of coming and unlocking the doors they just sat there and watched us jump ha ha. I got a good laugh out of that one. Then we had to explain why we were late to class and our story brought our teacher to tears. So then we carried on with the day and Mondays are really like Fridays here because Pday is Tuesdays so we were all pumped for P-day and kinda struggling to focus and study. What else do you expect from teenagers and young adult right? But we had a good time and it was good to laugh. Then for dinner they fed us hot dogs ha ha. I think it is so funny. Seriously every time they feed us either corn dogs or hot dogs I laugh out loud.
Anyway that is about all for this week, thank you all again for your love and support and prayers. They are felt and appreciated. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Oh also!! This is important. If any of you have the desire to send me a letter send it to Nicaragua. I only have 14 more days here and I most likely will never get it if you send it here after today. Much love!!
Be good and laugh often I love and miss you all!!
Hermana Willardson
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Half way through the CCM Week 3
WOOOAHHH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE WOOOAHHH LIVIN ON A PRAYER!!!!
Hahaha sorry that was necessary. I know it isn't a church song but it is so applicable to my life right now that I am sure God understands. Haha. So Friends and family this marks my halfway point of the MTC. I am super super excited to get out and to Nicaragua. Don't get me wrong I love love love the CCM but I am super excited to actually apply the things I have learned and speak Spanish and get to know people whos lives I will be changing! I am so so stoked! We get to go to the temple today which means we will venture outside of the walls. I am excited :)
So here is what my week was like. Not much to report.
Tuesday: We emailed and did our laundry and cleaned our house because tile floors show everything and it was gross. Then we decided to write some cards for the Elders in our district so thanks to Sarah Young I actually had thank you cards and they had the perfect amount. It was awesome. It was a pretty good day. I got to take a quick nap and then we had pizza because that is what they feed the "noobs".
Wednesday: Was pretty normal we had class and we didn't teach that day so I decided I wanted to study outside. It was a super nice day and I studied under a palm tree :) what more could this girl ask for right? Haha we had these awesome tacos too they had like mashed potatoes in them.. ok that sounds disgusting. BUT they were really good I swear. Please excuse my English grammar. I am starting to forget how to spell in English. Mom you might want to proof read these before you send them out. haha. We did service and our job was to help clean the Kitchen. So we stacked plates and filled up the cereal containers and then I got to mop. But it is Mexican mopping. Which basically means you fill up a bucket of water and soap and dump it all over the floor (they have drains in the floors don't worry) and then take a broom and sweep it to the drain. Haha I found it quite humorous. I will send a picture of me Mexican mopping.
Thursday: We had this thing called TRC where we teach real members from México and I loved every second of it. I had to ask her to speak a little slower a couple times but it was cool that I could actually have a conversation with her. It was awesome and we will get to do it every Thursday. So while we were practicing teaching a reporter for the church news came and asked if he could take our picture. He said his article will be out by Saturday SO LOOK FOR ME I AM FAMOUS! Hahaha I told him that my Mom would probably pee her pants if she saw me in the news so he had to put it in. :) hopefully he will. If it isn't in the actual article in the newspaper he said it will for sure be on lds.org so look for me :) Also I forgot to tell you, watch the stuff in between conferences this October, You will see me :) We had corn dogs for dinner haha
Friday was one of my best days here at the MTC. I got my first letter as a missionary (Props to Cody Hilton) and I got the Dear Elders that my mom send on the very first day haha. Silly mailing problems. It is seriously so awesome to get mail as a missionary. People would always tell me that but now I really do believe it. Then I got really sick, but its ok. You learn how to deal with it and you move on. So I was in the cafeteria and guess what they had, MANZANITA SOL!!!!! For any of you that really really know me you will know that I love this drink. It is so so so so so good. If you haven't ever had it go to your local A-Fresh market and drink some in my memory. I am not even joking. It was such a blessing. Then to top things off they gave us ice cream sundaes. You can bet that even though I was super sick I had myself one of those. There was another mini monsoon this day and I got drenched even with my umbrella. I will send a video of it if I can get it to send. Then they were fumigating the building for mosquito which is silly because everyone leaves the windows open during class anyway... haha oh well.
Saturday I was really really sick so I went to the Doc. and I have a bug that makes me sick every time I eat. So that isn't fun but I have learned to deal with it :) I knew I was going to get sick sooner or later so it is all just part of the ride. Then we were playing volleyball, which I am pro at. And I had this super nice spike lined up that actually won us the game. Unfortunately I sprained my wrist real nice while winning. Haha so I got to go back to the Doc. and he told me no more volleyball :( sad sad day. I am praying it just heals really fast so maybe my last day I can play again. :)
Sundays at the MTC are always great, but this one will make you laugh. Someone decided to tell the MTC president that I really really wanted to give a talk for sacrament meeting. So my branch president called me into his office and told me I was to give a 15 minute talk on the Fall of Adam all in Spanish, with only an hour to prepare. So it was definitely interesting.. I mixed up my words and instead of saying that Adam fell so that we could have joy I said Adam fell that we could have fat. Hahaha the good news is that I caught myself and the natives found it hilarious. So that was exciting. Then we had some corn dogs for dinner ha ha nothing like a corn dog for Sunday dinner. And they ran out of Ketchup so it was a delicious plain corn dog. I should find out how to say corn dog in Spanish.. Anyway, we were sitting in the auditorium waiting for the devotional to start and it was a recording of Elder Ballard at the Provo MTC and for their opening song they sang "Consider the Lilies" I was overwhelmed with emotion as I sat and thought about my Grandma (This was her favorite song) and I instantly without doubt felt her arms around me. This is a really spiritual moment for me and I wasn't going to share it with everyone but I wanted to let you all know that I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt that the plan of salvation is real. We will be reunited with our families again in the next life and I am so grateful that I have this knowledge. We are truly loved.
Monday was another Christmas morning because I got the package that had all the letters from the family reunion :) It was so nice to read those and I was definitely rejuvenated
And now here we are, on Tuesday again :) halfway there. Some things that I found out this week that I wanted to share; The Peru and Argentina MTC's are COMPLETELY FULL. Which means we will be receiving a lot more today and we will double or triple our numbers by the time I leave. Holy cow. That is a lot of missionaries ha ha. This MTC will shortly become the biggest MTC in the world. That is pretty crazy, and I got to be here only 3 weeks after it opened :) The dear elders are starting to get to me but they take a little while.
Thank you all so much for your love and support. I feel your prayers. I love you all and miss you but I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here. It is where I am needed without doubt.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Letter Number 2
¡Hola mi familia!!
First and foremost I would like to give a couple of shout outs! Annie Craig!!! Holy Cow I am so freaking excited about your mission call! Brazil!! What?! That is seriously so so so exciting! Mr. and Mrs. McQueen congratulations on your wedding! I could not be happier for the two of you! I wish you the best and wish I could have been there! Happiest of birthdays to my awesome brother in law Chris on the 8th and to his sweet daughter and my cute niece Rachie on the 12th!
Well kids that is all for today. Hahaha nah just playin.
Tuesday was P-Day and it was definitely needed. I finished my laundry and took a nap. It was the best nap I think I have ever taken in my life. Then I got to sing at the devotional that night and it was incredible. Then that night while I was showering our hot water decided to go out. That was a big surprise if you could imagine. I hyperventillated as I washed out the rest of my conditioner. It was quite cold.
Wednesday was awesome, we committed our fake investigator to baptism. Which is a miracle in itself that I was even able to communicate that in Español haha. When we sat with the natives at lunch they gave me some great compliments on my Spanish which was totally nice of them. We were supposed to have a service project to do but things are still a little unorganized here and no one knew what we were supposed to do. So we got an extra hour of gym time :) it was so nice. We played volleyball (I am becoming pro) and ping pong with the Elders. Lets just say I should have stuck with volleyball. Ping pong is not a skill of mine. When we got back to the casa they had fixed our water so I turned it on so I could make sure it was warm and the most disgusting brown water came shooting out of the shower head. Ha ha I laughed pretty hard at that because it was so disgusting. Not only did that happen to the shower but it happened to the water in the sink and in the toilet as well. I tried to get a picture but they didn't turn out.
Thursday was a day of miracles. When I woke up and put my shoes on I noticed something was different so I looked down at my feet and I kid you not they were completely healed. Honestly it was a God sent. Then when we got to breakfast they had these scrumptious burritos. In class I was able to understand everything my teacher said even though it was spanish the whole time. For lunch we had Carne Asada.. Holy cow I cried it was so good. Then when we were teaching "Fernando" I didn't have to use my notes at all!!! I was so happy. Then for dinner we had fried chicken and I went back for seconds because I didn't know when the next time would be that I would love every meal ha ha. Then the rain stopped just in time for volleyball! It was a fantastic day. Thank you for your prayers in behalf of my feet I can testify that prayer does work!
Friday was stressful, I feel like after every good day comes one that really stinks. Our "investigator" became our teacher and he is super intense. Which is good at times but mostly it is just really overwhelming. For breakfast we had this like omelet thing but instead of using eggs they used hot dogs ha ha. Sometimes you just have to laugh at that. Anyway I was just kinda having a bummer day thinking about a lot of things and I wasn't in the mood to play volleyball so I was sitting on the grass watching the sunset and it turned into the prettiest sunset I have ever seen in my entire life. Palm trees with a orange, red, and pink back drop. It was something you would see in a travel magazine. And as I was sitting there in marvel at this sunset D&C 121: 7-8 came into my head and pierced my heart. Which I think we all know, but it says "7. My son (daughter) peace be unto thy soul: thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." And it brought a feeling of such a deep peace. It was unlike anything I have ever felt before.
Saturday was better. We had cereal for breakfast and then meatballs for lunch that definitely were not cooked all the way ha ha. Its ok I prayed for them ha ha Then we started our fast at 1:00 that day. My first 24 hour fast.. ha ha ha so anyway since we didn't have dinner our district played hang man and just kind of relaxed for a second. It was much needed. That night there was this really loud mosquito that kept waking me up and I didn't sleep much at all. Its all good though, I killed it in the morning.
Sunday was very good as always. We didn't have breakfast because we were still fasting which meant we got more study time. It was great! Then we had the usual, relief society, Sunday school and sacrament. Testimony meeting in the MTC is unreal. The spirit was definitely present. Then we got lunch and it was delicious. They somehow got ham inside of chicken.. don't ask me how haha. and we got Ice Cream. I love ice cream so so so much. Then we watched a devotional by Elder Holland. Boy that man sure can give a speech! ha ha We are all hoping he will come to Mexico to speak to us. Then we had dinner which I can't remember what it was.. but then we got ice cream again!!!!! YES YES YES! I love ice cream.
Monday way intense again, we got a new investigator and I get to carry most of the lesson by myself since Hermana Kent is still working on her Spanish. She is definitely progressing though. After we taught I got super sick from something I ate. Don't worry though after 4 trips to the bathroom I felt much better. Anyway I didn't have lunch because I was still feeling pretty sick but for dinner we had Pasta. It was good. Our old investigator\new teacher complimented my Spanish :) It was awesome.
So yes that was my week, to answer some questions. No I have not received any mail except email yet. My tan has completely faded. We do get to go to the temple on P-Days unfortunately it has been closed for cleaning since we got here. Hopefully it will be open again next week. The milk here is super sweet. I don't really think it is milk.. but I drink it anyway ha ha. My Spanish is coming along really well. I feel like I have a really good grasp on it which is a miracle no doubt.
That is about all from me this week, Thank you all so much for your prayers and letters. The days here feel like weeks but the weeks feel like days. Its some sort of weird time warp. I love you all so much and miss you dearly, but this work is good. I am becoming the kind of person I have always wanted to be. :) don't you worry though I am still myself and have silly moments. Which reminds me of a funny story that I want to tell you really quick. One night last week there was this super loud noise in the middle of the night that woke me up from a dead sleep and I thought for sure someone was breaking into our house. So immediately I hid under my bed, I think it is the fastest I have moved in a long time. Anyway I was hiding under there for a good 15 minutes when I finally decided to move a little and see if I could see anything. As it turns out my calender just fell off the wall. Hahahahahaha I had a good laugh at myself and went back to bed. Seriously though for a split second I thought I was going to die that night. It was hilarious. I also often wake up in the night because I hear someone talking. Only to realize it is just me, I sleep talk a lot here. I am not sure why, luckily Hermana Kent sleeps like a rock and never hears me. I think it would freak her out.
Anyway I love you all! Have a fantastic week and I will write you again next Tuesday!!
Con amor,
Hermana Willardson
Friday, August 2, 2013
July 30 From the CCM
¡Hola Familia!
Man this week has been crazy! I have so much to tell you I just hope I can get it all in! Since there is so much, I am just going to start from the beginning!
So first things first, the Book of Mormon story. While we were sitting at our gate, there will probably about 49 other missionaries with me so we were all trying to start off being righteous so we all had out something to study. So I whipped out my B.O.M that I had the impression to pack just that morning. As we were waiting the woman next to me started asking about it and so I basically gave her the whole first lesson. haha It was kinda funny because I just kept thinking, man the Lord really doesn't waste time. So at the end I was actually even able to give her the B.O.M and i gave her the whole spcheel on reading it and praying to know it is true. It was a miracle that I had packed that one extra B.O.M that morning. So that is the very moment my mission started. When we landed in Dallas I had a minute to call you Mom and tell You I was safe. Then we got some lunch and the people at McDonalds thought all of us were in one family hahahahahhaha He probably thinks Mormons are loco. Anyway when we finally got to Mexico the airport was crazy because people thought I spoke spanish and they kept saying something about a green button or a red button and I remembered pushing a red button but I guess what it meant was that I had something in my bag that they needed to look at so then the airport police came over to search my bag haha it was hilarious because I couldn't tell them I wasn't a terrorist. hahahahha. anyway this very nice gentleman that knew English and Spanish finally helped me sort out the situation. Apparently when I pushed the red button there was a sign that turned green and that lets them know I am not a terrorist. haha. I still think it is hilarious. I hope you are all laughing at that language barrier issue. Mexico City... holy Moses.. it is unlike any City I have ever seen. There are houses upon houses everywhere you look. Seriously if they see some place they want to pour cement and build a house they do. So we are driving through the streets almost killing everyone we pass and we finally approach this gate with armed guards and high tech security. When we got in it was so beautiful.. it is spacious and has palm trees and the buildings are white and ahh man. Just polar opposite of what is outside the walls. We got our companions and our house numbers. My companion is Hermana Kent. So then I wrote you and went to bed.
On Wednesday the fun and craziness started the sweet cooks here in Mexico want to try to make us Americans feel at home with the food. Unfortunately the way they thought was best to do that is with hot dogs.. Luckily as the week went on the food got better. But for breakfast they gave us corn dogs.. yummy.. and then sent us on our way to class. Class was... interesting. From the second we walked in to the second we walked out they only spoke to us in Spanish.. I thought I was in a dream. They gave us a tour and went over the rules.. but I maybe understood half of it. So if i accidentally break a rule I probably wont even know. Any way then for lunch they gave us rice and beans and tortillas. I like it a lot more when they feed us Mexican food. It was delicious. So then we had some meetings that were good and they went over being modest and such, so ya. Anyway then we went to dinner which was some unknown meat.. so I stuck to the fruit because it is always so freaking delicious.
Thursday was a hard day, we had class again and I was struggling with the language and with homesickness. They fed us tamales for breakfast but they were odd.. so I had fruit loops. haha there was alot of study time so I spent it studying spanish because I wasn't getting anywhere not knowing what people were saying, we also had to start preparing our first lesson for our fake investigator Fernando. All in spanish. My mind was hurting and it was a struggle of a day. For dinner we had hot dogs hahaha our first lesson actually ended up going a whole lot better than I thought it would. Big surprise.
Friday was much better, it was just a reminder that if I ask my Heavenly Father to help me he will. I just need to not be so stubborn and actually ask, that is a hard lesson for me haha. Anyway I was finally starting to understand Spanish and speak back. No I am not professional but I can pray and bear my testimony and talk to the cooks and find the bathrooms. Thats all you really need anyway right? haha. We had another lesson with Fernando after our breakfast of corn dogs haha. Then we had fried chicken for lunch. It was like Christmas. That is sad.. haha anyway, as we were studying I realized I knew a lot more in Spanish than I was giving myself credit for. We have a lot of study time every day so even though I don't talk about much that has happened that day just know the whole day from 630 to 1030 is all full. We had our first gym day and I got to play volleyball it was so fun. I loved it.
Saturday was another hard day, I had gotten confident in myself and not in the power of the Lord so he had to teach me another lesson haha. its all good though. Our lesson went well again, I usually do most of the talking but we invited him to come to church with us and he said he would so then I was all sorts of excited. For breakfast we had EGGS!!! YAY!! NO HOT DOGS!!! and for lunch it was delicious chicken but for dinner we had burritos and it made a lot of people really sick. By some miracle I was not one of those people.
Sunday, praise heavens for sundays. Best day of the week for sure for sure. In relief society we sang "Tu me has dado muchas bendiciones, Dios" which is because I have been given much. And it totally put me back in perspective. I remembered the reason I was here andit made a huge difference. Then they some how found out I knew how to sing and told me I had to be in the choir haha so I will be singing later tonight for a Devotional. I definitely don't mind though. I love music. It is an outlet of stress for me. Then we watched a devotional from Elder Holland. Freaking heck I love that man. He is so powerful. And then we got to watch the movie "Legacy" Is that who Eliza is named after? I kept wondering.
Monday was a day sent from the heavens. The gift of tongues is REAL I have no doubt about that. I was able to invite our fake investigator to baptism and he accepted. I have never been more happy in my life. The funny thing is that something I had eaten that day was making me super sick and I didn't know if I would be able to make it through the lesson but I toughed it out and right when we walked into the room that we teach him in I felt 100% better. I have seen miracles. It was unbelievable.
And Tuesday is today and we get to email. Seriously I logged in this morning and it felt like Christmas morning all over again. Sooo many loving emails!!! YAY for mail!!
I haven't recieved any Dear Elders because I think they actually send them in the pouch, not print them off here. So there was no outside communication. It was rough. There are TONS of mosquitos here but for some odd reason they do not bite me. Another Miracle. usually they love me. Anyway to answer some of your questions, The MTC is beautiful, seriously so so beautiful. There are palm trees and everything. It is pretty cold for Mexico though, I am wearing the only sweater I brought everyday. Strange. There are a lot of police sirens coming from outside the walls and at night the dogs bark a lot and there are stray cats that roam around the streets here. My spanish is definitely progressing. I can understand what people are saying and at lunch time we sit with the natives so I can practice. Hermana Kent likes to eat in silence though which is fine haha I get spanish practice. Dad, NO I DO NOT LEAVE THE WALLS OF THE MTC! I would be snatched up so fast! It scares me out there. My poor feet... the shoes I got were not broken in and my feet decided to swell and are very blistered and bruised, please pray for them. PLEASE. They are still trying to figure out the kinks of the MTC so we are Guinea pigs for a lot of things but I don't mind. Thank you for the letters you snuck in my suitcase and mom and dad thanks for the notes rolled up in my underwear haha. gross. OH I forgot to write down any addresses or emails haha typical me. So if you want to hear from me personally you're going to have to write me first.
Yo se que Jesucristo es el salvador y yo se que Su Exiacio´n es verdad. Yo se que si usted orar con sinceridad corazon puede sabe la verdad. Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es las palabras de Dios. Te Amo mi Salvador.
Until next time my sweet family and friends. Thank you for your prayers and emails.
I love you all so much and miss you all everyday.
Con Amor,
Hermana Willardson.
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