Thursday, June 22, 2017

Week 1

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