On the Lord's Errand

Friday – Hermana Christensen left us and went to Immigration. It is very sad because she is not with us anymore, but she will be great in the field. We still had fun though. We got to take a nap and then we washed our clothes. We went to La Tienda and bought some treats, had lunch and played volleyball – we got to play on sand! I’ve missed volleyball so much! The courts are sooo nice here! Then we had dinner and lessons about the Book of Mormon. We had a cool lesson on how to be like Nephi. I am feeling better about understanding the language and everything is going good.

Saturday we taught Jose again. The lesson was really good and we taught about covenants and having the Holy Ghost with us all the time. I was able to bear my testimony about how much the Holy Ghost has helped me as I am trying to learn Spanish. The Spirit was really strong and it was a good lesson.  And then I asked him if he wants to be baptized. He was hesitant and I kind of didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, my awesome companion jumped in and saved the day. And then he was like “Ok, I will be baptized.” I know it isn’t real, but it feels real and the Spirit is really there when we teach. It is awesome to know that we are teaching with the power of God while we are missionaries. And it’s also cool to learn how the Holy Ghost speaks to me and understand all of that better. Then we played volleyball. All of our 6 weekers leave tomorrow, 123 people are leaving the CCM. Crazy!

Sunday – We had a normal Sacrament meeting. We have all been preparing talks because we may have to speak every week. I was super stressed about it but my poor companion Herman Harvey, who bore her testimony last week, had to speak, play the music for our musical number, and lead the music too! She’s such a good sport. We sang a song in Spanish, Nearer my God to Thee. It was good. We watched a couple of devotionals. Elder Bednar talked about being more Christ like and focusing on the outward instead of the inward when things get rough. He shared a story about a lady who called him regarding 3 girls in their ward who had been in a car accident. She asked him to come to the hospital to help identify the bodies. He did not know that this sister was also on the phone – at the same time – with the hospital who said one of the girls that passed away was her daughter.  She was continuing to serve and help others even when things are bad. It just made me want to focus less on myself and really be a good missionary that looks to the needs of others. Elder Holland’s talk was super legit too. He spoke more about falling away after your mission. His theme was “Peter, if ye love me, feed my sheep”. He was saying like, “we are going to ask you to work hard! And we are going to ask you to study and pray, and we aren’t going to feel bad about it!  You are helping the children of God find Salvation. Why would we apologize about that?” He’s just so awesome! It totally pumped me up. I keep forgetting I am on a mission and it is so cool to be able to look down at my name tag and know that I am on the Lord’s errand. To be able to grow as a person and know my Spanish is getting better. Sundays are just awesome at the CCM and I love it all so much!

Always Smiling and So Happy

Monday was a pretty normal day. Jose got his 4^th lesson today. We asked him to come to church and read some scriptures. It was question and answer time. Afterwards, our teacher was talking to us. He was like “Hermana Christensen, your Spanish is so good. You are really able to explain yourself so well.  And then he said “Hermana Harvey, you know the scripture front to back. Your knowledge of the Gospel is amazing.” And then he looked at me… “Hermana Durante, you are just really happy. Ha ha! You are just always smiling and so happy.” It made me feel good but I may want to work on my Spanish and Doctrinal skills.  He said our lessons are “perfecto”! I know it’s 90% my companions, but ya know, what can I do?! I love my district so much – they are all awesome!

Tuesday was super boring! We had a lot of downtime and it was just blah, mundane. We are memorizing the First Vision. We also studied about obedience and Nephi and how awesome he is. Elder Holland spoke tonight in a devotional about how important the Book of Mormon is.  His talk was awesome and it made me want to change my life!  Pray for me!

Wednesday was pretty cool. We went over the Restoration again and the Word of Wisdom with Jose. The First Vision went well, I looked him in the eyes the whole time because I have it memorized! We watched some Elders share a lesson, we felt so bad for them because they really struggled through it. We tried to talk to them and help them a little. Then we had our very first TRC!!! That was terrifying. We taught a woman named Pilar, she was so nice.  We taught her basically the gospel of Jesus Christ. My Spanish wasn’t that good but the Spirit was super strong!  Then we taught Johnathan and Hermana Gonzalez about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement.  It was kind of awkward and random but it was ok!  The boys in our district are super mean to me and yell at me all the time. But whatever! No freakin temple trip yet! We should have gone by now so it is kind of DUM but está bien! I’m not going to lie, I think I am getting dumber and dumber ever day ha-ha but it’s all good. I’m having a lot of fun!! I miss you guys a bunch!! Also, one of the Elders in my district, Elder De la Rosa drew me this giraffe because he is THE COOLEST. I STILL can’t believe I get to wake up every morning and represent Jesus Christ! It is AMAZING!!! Anyways, I love you guys so much!! 

This week has been awesome, temporally and spiritually! We had some AWESOME lessons with our investigators and I can honestly feel all of your prayers! This week was kind of mentally tiring and I feel really drained sometimes but mostly I have felt really blessed. On Sunday we are calling home for 30 minutes. The mission life is awesome! The other night we had a really spiritual discussion with our district and so me and my companions decided to move our mattresses on the floor and have a slumber party!! It was so cute (lol) but anyways everything is going good! The other day in one of our lessons we were teaching Jose about the importance of having the Holy Ghost as a constant companion and I bore my testimony and I was just saying the things in my heart and the words were just flowing out of me! It wasn’t like a huge life changing event but my faith and testimony was strengthened for sure! It also gave me a lot more confidence in myself as a missionary. But anyways, I love guys and I can’t wait to talk to you on Sunday!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

José, You Need to Pick It Up!

Hola Familia! Let me give you the low down on everything that happened this last week!  It was pretty normal. We did get to wash our clothes! It is super nice and I get super excited to wash my clothes now. It is awesome to have a way to clean these dirty things and I am already super bored of my clothes now!  But, está bien! My companion’s names are Hermana Harvey and Hermana Christensen. Hermana Harvey is serving in Houston, Texas and Hermana Christensen is serving in Cancun, Mexico. I’m hecka jealous. Harvey is from San Jose, Cali but recently moved to Utah and Hermana Christensen is from West Jordan!! I am the only person I have ever even heard of who is going to Iowa which means I am the only person COOL enough! It is so funny to see the faces of people when I tell them I am going to Iowa; the Mexicans are like, Donde?? Ha, it’s the bomb. Yes, I got the donuts that you guys had delivered and THEY WERE THE BOMB!!

Friday was a normal day: breakfast, lunch and dinner, learn some Spanish. You know, all the good stuff.  After gym every day, we take a blanket outside and lay down on the grass and stretch. I am positive that is the only thing saving my life right now! The CCM is honestly super boring ha-ha we do like the same thing every day. Spanish is coming along slowly but surely. I get super frustrated with myself and I compare myself with my freaking companions who are SO good which is MAL but está bien. I had a little break down the other day but then I remembered I don’t have feelings and snapped out of it. I have not yet even left the walls of the CCM and I think next Pday we get to go to the temple so that will be BALLIN!! So just know that I love you guys SO much and pray for you every day!! 

Saturday was sweet – we got some new investigators! One is named Jose Rodriguez and the other is named Janette Vasquez. So Jose was our first lesson this week (it is our teacher Hermano Medina) and so this is how it went down… We were talking about the restoration and the “character” that he was playing was acting super uninterested.  His eyes got glazed over and he was kind of not paying attention. We gave him this sick lesson about the restoration – all in Spanish, I read the First Vision to him, I showed him the pictures, my hermanas are fluent in Spanish and were telling him all kinds of stuff. And he was acting like he didn’t even care! And I will tell you that I was getting mad, like really ticked off!  My hermanas got done speaking and I just basically told him (and I like was nice about it), I said “ya know, we believe in this stuff! We wouldn’t be out here on our missions if we didn’t believe in this stuff, Jose! But we read the scriptures! And we pray! And we believe that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. But if you don’t have faith while you read the scriptures and while you pray, you are never going to receive the answers that you need in this life.” I was like literally “ Jose, you need to pick it up!” I said it all in Spanish and I stumbled a little or whatever- but it was intense!

And so ya know, I was just chilling and chatting with my gals afterwards and Hermano Medina came over and he said “You guys, that lesson was seriously perfect!  Perfecto! And we were like, “What?”! And I was like, “What?”! Because I felt like I was being evil because I was seriously mad, but I guess that was good! So I felt really cool and good afterwards – like I am a good missionary.

Sunday was cool. It was fast and testimony meeting.  I didn’t bear my testimony because I wasn’t feeling it.  Monday we had some random carbon monoxide alarms going off all day. It is really not very good because we could totally die, but also, it was like broken. So it was making me mad and I was just totally bugged because I was snuggled up in my bed trying to sleep, because we have to wake up at 6 in the morning!!!  We had to evacuate the building and either stand outside or go to reception to get some stuff. That happened 5 times in 2 days. My Spanish is pretty bad and it’s hard to teach lessons to our investigators.  After our lesson to Janette yesterday, I had a break down and started to cry. It’s all good now though –  I cried it all out. I guess life as a missionary is kind of like that!  The Spirit is super strong here, the Church is super true and the Book is super blue!  Love you guys! 

Let the Adventure Begin!

ESTA BIEN!!!

Tuesday- I got here around 9:30pm and I was starving!  I missed my connecting flight in Phoenix and got rerouted through Dallas and then to Mexico City. The airport was just super inconvenient but fun. I literally ran across the Phoenix airport like a mad person but “está bien”. I haven't eaten anything – I didn't get anything in the airport, so I when got here I went to the reception's office and they gave me a packet. It had my name on it, and it had my name tags in it, and like my schedule for the next six weeks, and just stuff like that. Then I had to watch a video, and that's when I emailed my family to let them know that I made it. The office worker said “OK, well now we're going to call your companions and they're going to come pick you up”.  So I was like thinking that I wasn't going to eat anything for that day and I was getting so sad because I was like “OK, I'm just going to go to bed hungry my first night in my mission”. But then as we were leaving he said “Oh – we have food for you! It’s cold but I'm sure you're hungry!” You know –  I literally started crying!!!

Then I met my hermanas – my companions! They had gotten there earlier that day but I was the last one to come to the CCM that day. They are so awesome! They are Sister Harvey and Sister Christiansen. Sister Harvey reminds me so much of Brooke Riley (my cousin). Sister Christiansen is probably the sassiest person I have ever met – ok, she doesn’t really mean to be sassy but she is so awesome. She also reminds me of Maggie Root!  They are super nice, super funny, and super awesome at Spanish. I am good at listening to them and we are going to “hablar mucho Español!” We are all super different but it works! They are both a little bit older than me so I feel like their child which is pretty normal for me! My companions came to pick me up and then when we walked out, the first person I saw was Kyle Rogers! I ran over to give him a hug but then I remembered that I can’t do that so we just hung out and talked for a few minutes.  We had to hurry and leave though because it was almost 10 pm and that is our bedtime.  They had already gotten settled in to our Casa so we just went back and went to bed… I have the top bunk by the way.  Poor Hermana Christiansen is going to have to smell my farts!

Wednesday – Today we met our district and had our first classes.  It was pretty fun to go from class to class. You just have to go with it and decide to have fun. Every class, I had stronger ambition to study, learn and serve in Spanish. Spanish is kind of hard for me and I am feeling a little overwhelmed but “está bien”. There are a lot of times that I wanted to answer a question or say something, but I didn’t know how to say it in Spanish!  I just need to train really hard because I know I was called to speak Spanish for a reason and it’s not about me, it’s about the people.  Today was pretty much just an orientation.  There are a lot of cool things here.  We saw the “tienda’ where you can buy cool things like candy, towels, and tank tops. It is awesome and it is soooo pretty here!  Also the weather is BEAUTIFUL. It’s kinda cold in the morning but I am getting muy tan ha-ha just kidding  It has been pretty cold – at least at night, but it warms up during the daytime and is super nice!

Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Today was super long.  Everyone that has been here awhile always says to just make it til Sunday. We just study all day long and I am starting to get seriously overwhelmed with Spanish.  I want to practice a lot but I don’t know where to start. Even though I am stressing myself out, I am having fun. We had to prepare our first lesson for tomorrow, it is on the Restoration. All in Spanish, so I am a little freaked out about that. It’s getting there. Today, I saw Tanner Emerson – Mom and Dad’s “trek son”. He’s here a couple more weeks and then he’s off to the real Mexico! So that’s cool.  The CCM is huge here. My comps and I haven’t even walked around the whole thing. Tonight we went to a big auditorium and had a devotional.  It was a broadcast in Provo by Neil A Anderson and I took a ton of notes – super cool!  His whole family came and spoke, his grandkids were so cute.  I also met an Elder whose dad went to Des Moines, Iowa.  He said that he loved it so much!  He admitted that when his dad saw all of his friends getting crazy cool mission calls that he was a little jealous but that he loved his mission so much. The Elder said that he had never met anyone who loved their mission as much as his dad, so that was really nice! The classes are super long but “está bien!” You just gotta do what ya gotta do!  I need to learn Spanish and long classes are the way that is going to happen! But it is all good!  Also, the food here is a little sketchy! My bowels are going a little crazy!  My pooping habits are in full swing!!  The food is all over the place, I don’t even know where to start – it’s pretty funny. I try my best to stay clear of the chicken, ha-ha, but honestly the food is not that bad it is just not as....certain? But “está bien”.

Friday – Today we taught our first investigator – Monica. I was super nervous and we didn’t really know how to prepare a lesson so we just kind of went with it. My companions did a really good job. It was really spiritual though. I bore my testimony in Spanish and we definitely had the Spirit with us. It was really, really fun. Come to find out, the investigator wasn’t even a real one –  she is a Sister who was pretending to be someone that she taught in her mission. But it really was awesome! That part of the day was great –  the first 12 hours of study was just looooong! But that is ok – “está bien”. This is what Jesus Christ wants us to do!

Saturday- We are pretty much in the swing of things now.  We did have our first Gym day! Hooray! The sister trainers invited us to play sand volleyball. We played with a bunch of Elders and it was a lot of fun even though “estoy muy rusty”. One of the trainers played in high school at Heber. The CCM is super fun and weird. One minute you are crying because you are feeling the Spirit super strong and the next minute you are crying because you are sad and overwhelmed and inadequate and then you hear a Mexican firework go off and you think, “está bien”! Elder Rogers leaves at 3 am on Monday –  I tried to take a photo with him and I tried to put my arm around him – oops. He kind of shrugged and I was like “sorry”.  So we just took a photo of us shaking hands. Apparently that was considered a “couples picture” and we got in trouble for that. We have to take pictures with multiple elders and sisters. My companions are super great. Also, I keep getting in trouble for drawing on myself.  I need to be more like a sister and less like a tattoo artist, so now I only write my ID number. I am trying to not write on myself.  We had another lesson with Monica today.  It did not go very well.  We prepared a lesson and just kind of read it for/at her. It did not go well! We all felt pretty crappy about it. But “está bien” !  We learned that you teach people not lessons – we will do better the next time we teach her!

Sunday – I made it to Sunday – which is muy bien.  Everyone says just make it to Sunday and they are right. It is so awesome.  We had sacrament meeting in a room with our branch.  Really good speakers!  The Hermana leader spoke about when she got on the bus going to the temple (we get to go the temple 3 times while we are here) and when the enclosed gate that surrounds the CCM opened, one of the elder’s yelled “freedom”.  She just kind of talked about how we as missionaries are sent around the world to set people free. We teach them about the gospel and share this awesome message of hope, set them free from grief and questions about what happens after this life… so many things that are heavy and deep – things that I have never had to worry about because I grew up in this awesome gospel and have known the truth my whole life. So I feel super blessed. My district is super fun. There are 9 Elders and 3 Hermanas. The Elders are all super funny and different. You have to like everyone because you are with them all the time. We are a big family.  Elder Hernbrough is our District leader, he is from Queen Creek, AZ. We had district meeting today and then we had Relief Society with all 7 girls in our district.  We watched a video by Elder Bednar about being “preach my gospel missionaries”.  He is super amazing!  He gave 5 characteristics/steps to being PMG missionaries:

• They understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ
• They are worthy
• They treasure up the word of God
• They understand the Holy Ghost is the Ultimate teacher
• They understand teaching is more than talking and telling

Sunday is the best at the CCM. There is no set study time and you can just relax and enjoy feeling the Spirit.  I am not going to lie, I have been pretty emotional since I have been here. My companions are helping me a lot and I am doing my best.  We teach another lesson tomorrow and I hope it is going to go well.

Monday – Up at 6:30, get ready. Breakfast. Classroom, personal and comp study, Hermano Medina (our teacher) comes – He’s super cool, pretty funny, Spanish lessons…The life of a missionary!  We learned so much our first week – how to pray, bear our testimony, etc.  It’s all kind of hard but “está bien”! Today we did this coaching thing where Elder Medina took us one by one into a room and speaks to us in Spanish – super slow so that we can understand! He asked us to write down 3 goals that we wanted on our mission. I want to bring the truth to families so that they can be together forever, to acquire habits to help me forever and I can’t remember  the third, it was really awesome!  He told me Nikenna, I know that you are struggling with the language but you just need to practice and put your faith in God. I know that you will be a great missionary (of course, I am crying through all of this). He said to just talk to your companions and everyone in Spanish.  It was very motivating.

Sunday is the best at the CCM. There is no set study time and you can just relax and enjoy feeling the Spirit.  I am not going to lie, I have been pretty emotional since I have been here. My companions are helping me a lot and I am doing my best.  We teach another lesson tomorrow and I hope it is going to go well.

District A: Me, Harvey, Christiansen, De La Rosa, Smith, Jones, Hembrough, Goody, McGary, Crider, Hunter, Lloyd, and Wilson.

Tuesday – Officially my second week in the CCM. The newbies come tonight. We went to a Health meeting today.  It was pretty much for all the people staying in Mexico. Pretty much it was “don’t eat/drink this or you will get diarrhea, don’t put this in your room or you will get cucarachas, if you have blood in your poop, go see a doctor”… So that was cool. Every Sunday we prepare a talk, so you have 6 talks prepared in case you get called up at church. Today we pretty much just studied and practiced Spanish.  We played volleyball again too. Then we had a devotional about the Book of Mormon. There were a bunch of people and their stories of how they found the BOM and the struggles they had in finding the light that we all have had forever. One of the elders in our district has been sick for a while and today he got a blessing from some of the elders in our district. All of them stood around and gave him a blessing. It was awesome! It was so cool (and a little weird) to see these “boys” that seem like our little brothers come together and use the Lord’s power to heal someone.  That priesthood power is real and we are all authorized to work under that power.

Wednesday – First Pday Tomorrow!!! In Spanish class we studied Tener and Estar. We had another lesson with Monica and committed her to baptism. So now we are done with her and we get new people to teach tomorrow – It was great. Hermana Christiansen is a convert to the church and so she bore her testimony about the support that she got when she started going to church. Cool! Spanish is Hard – Pray for me!!!!  Love you – BYE!!