HELLOOOOO EVERYONE!!!!! I love you all so much!!! Happy father’s day, Dad. I love you so so so
so so much!! Wow! First off, I LOVE IT HERE!!! I thought I was really going to
struggle. But I have been nothing but happy!! I have already seen so many
blessings and God has blessed me so much! I love being a missionary for the
Savior!! Ok, I’m not sure where to start--so I’ll start with the airport!! I
was blessed to not be too sad about leaving, and then I walked in to the
terminal and there were SO many missionaries!! It was so cool to see all these
people going out to serve others!! We
met one of the mission presidents and his wife.
I’m not sure why they were on our flight but it was awesome! The plane
was great. I talked to so many people
and helped people feel like they had a friend, and, ya, I loved it! I sat next to Elder McChesney on the plane,
and he is also in my district. I’ts way nice to have someone from home!! When
we got to Mexico, it was so cute. We all
kinda followed the mission president and his wife around like little ducklings,
hahah! Also three fourths of our flight
was missionaries! Also, I guess there
are no traffic laws in Mexico because everyone just kinda does what they want.
It’s super funny and also sometimes stressful. But I haven’t once been scared
here. Anyway, first day was great but
overwhelming cause they had so many people they kinda left us to figure things
out, hahaha. But it was still super fun!
I LOVE my companion, Hermana Slabaugh! She is from Colorado, but
basically everywhere cause her dad was a surgeon for the military! As I’m typing this, there have been 15
gunshots, not kidding. But I have never felt more safe. Wow! OK, they keep going off. Hahaha. OK don’t worry we are safe. But wow,
there must be a fight or something going on.
Anywayyyyyy, I love it here!
Hermana Ostenson (from Lone Peak) and Hermana Weber are in our casa and
district, and I love them. We just laugh
all day long it is so fun here!! And our
district is so close!! I’ve also been
really blessed with the language! The
gift of tongues is real, and I’ve been very blessed with patience. I love everything here and I have so much to
tell you, but so little time!! Also,
Hermana Slabaugh and I were called as sister training leaders for our zone last
night, and it has already been a great experience being able to serve and be an
example of Christ. Spanish is rough
sometimes, and the first lesson we taught was awful. But we just were blessed
to laugh for an hour instead of cry about it, hahahah! But as I said, learning a language is kinda
hard and you sometimes get mixed up. Haha. So here are some funny mess-ups:
1. I accidentally said, “Will you read verse God through 11,”
instead of, “10 through 11.” haha
2. Hermana Slagbaugh
said God has a body of flesh and eggs instead of bones. hahah
3. I said, “Reading
the Book of Mormon will help you become a woman,” instead of “your relationship
will become better.” Hahaha. So funny
Also, the pinky still hurts. But I got a splint this week,
and it has helped!!
Ok, spiritual experiences of the week:
We were in our 3rd lesson with our investigator, Miriam. She
had 10 minutes, so not a lot of time. Hna Slagbaugh lived in Italy, so her Spanish
is better than mine cause it’s kinda like Italian. So she is able to teach. But
the night before the lesson, I couldn’t sleep for a while. But then the phrase
"I don’t know what you’re saying, but I do know Christ is real, He is our
savior, and He loves you" came into my head in Spanish. At the end of the lesson she said we need to
wrap it up, and I was able to say that phrase, and the spirit FLOODED the room,
and we were all crying and it was so powerful.
I don’t know Spanish perfectly. But I am still a missionary. And because
I represent the Savior, there is power in my words. It was way cool. Also, one of our teachers shared something I
loved. She said when we are in a lesson,
forget we are gringas and don’t know Spanish, and remember we are missionaries
and there is power in that. I love it
here.
Also, the food is great! I have so much more to say. But you will hear from me next week(: Also we
got to go to the temple today and it was so much fun!! I love you all!!! Have
an incredible week!!!
--Hermana West
