Buckle in Because, Yea, It’s a Bit of a Ride

The goodbyes started picking up speed this week. First we said goodbye to our Preach My Gospel teacher. She was an incredible teacher, and the most genuine and kind person. Saying goodbye was very sad, but I am very excited for her because she was going to see her boyfriend who is very likely going to propose! I loved listening to her testimonies and stories. She has such a strong testimony of this gospel. 

Next we said goodbye to our Spanish teacher. He told us about Karl Maiser's circle of honor, which I low key had beef with, but his interpretation of it was so sweet that I might change my mind about it. Then to end the class we kneeled and he said the prayer. And while I didn't understand all of it, it was one of the sweetest and strongest prayers I have ever heard. And we sang “Para Siempre Dios Esta Con Vos” or “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.” And yeah. It went how you would expect. Lots of tears all around. We hand hugged (not handshake but thumb hug kinda thing) the Elders and our teacher and parted ways. Then at the apartment with other the Hermanas we chaotically packed and said goodbye. 

I said goodbye to the rest of the missionaries the following day after a day of waiting around for the next day when our flights were. It was rough until we realized we could do family history while we were waiting and then it was fine after that. 

I remember when we said goodbye to our STL's (Sister Training Leaders) and one kept saying how glad she was saying goodbye was hard because it meant it was good. And I am so glad all those goodbyes were hard because they are marks of how good— genuinely good—it was. And I definitely want to work on appreciating the good and opening up to others before everything is about to change. 

Traveling was rough because we had to wake up at 1 AM, drive to airport, say goodbye to Mexico, spend 5 hours in Dallas riding the airport train because we were bored, and then finally arrive in Missouri. The 16 other sisters and I spent the night at the mission president's house which was fun (the four Elders went to a hotel). 

My Trainer is named Hermana Wilkey and she is super nice! We went to our area which is very large—all the way from Kearney, Missouri to the Iowa border. The area is all Spanish speaking which i am very grateful for. We also met with some members and happened upon a really nice guy who loves God and we were able to refer him to English missionaries. It was a really cool experience because my trainer just went up and talked to him. 

My first Sunday in the mission I gave a testimony in Sacrament Meeting. It was very simple, but I talked about God's love and gave my testimony Book of Mormon. Since my companion and I are both new to the area, I hope having both of us bear our testimonies will help with the members getting to know us and maybe trust us a little bit. And that way we can get to know them. We got to meet a lot more members at church too. Afterwards we got to eat at a members house which was a little intimidating and interesting trying to switch between English and Spanish, but it was really cool and sweet. They were very nice, and patient especially as I tried really hard to give the spiritual thought in Spanish. 

And to end of a whirlwind of a week, we taught an english lesson. It was interesting to watch language learning but flipped. I am learning Spanish and now trying to help others learn English. Not only is it a nice reminder that Spanish is easier to learn than English, but also that effort and willingness go a long way. And it was cool to watch the member we had invited help him because he spoke English as a second language as well. And at the end of lesson we found out that he would be interested in doing gospel lessons with the English classes. 

Kind of a hectic and a lot to reflect on, but it was cool to see the gospel in missionary action. I'm very interested to see how everything operates and interacts—like Spanish in Missouri, or me and my companion. There's a lot to learn.

Herma... (sis)ter? d’Evegnee