Change

This last week FLEW by. This P day has been pretty wild too.  We woke up early and had a sports activity with all the Hermanas in the city, and after that ran around to a million and one different pharmacies to buy all the different medication my companion needs. Poor thing. After that we ate a delish and extremely fattening meal with our mission leader and his family and now we're here writing letters! Therefore...I haven't had one single second to think of what to say...

This last week I was reading in the Bible about the story of Moses. How God sent a bunch of nasty poisonous serpents and everyone was dying, but then God gave them a way to heal.  All they had to do was look up and see the serpent that Moses had mounted on a stick (this is more or less the story, I didn't understand it perfectly because I was reading it in Spanish). SO many of the people chose not to look. "Its too easy." they said. How many times a week do we hear "pray, read your scriptures, attend church." A MILLION. So why aren't we doing it? Because so many say, "that can't be the answer to all my problems, its too easy."

I have seen this time and time again on the mish. Its so easy. Read. Pray. Think about it. But so many don't do it. Its hard to watch sometimes but we're working hard and staying strong. This next week is the last week in this change and the mission president told me "hermana, yo pienso ustede es lista ser mayor." Translation: Sister, I think you are ready to be senior companion.

WHAT. My only concern here is that I really don't understand Spanish very well. Yes I can speak it  but understanding whats being said to me is a whole different story! Ive been praying a lot for the bravery and the strength to handle whatever is thrown at me this next week.

One thing I'm learning here on the mission is patience. Patience with my companion, patience with our investigators, patience with God, patience with myself. I'm learning to work hard. I'm learning to brush off mean words and angry stares. I'm learning to be a better me. I'm changing a lot. More than I realized. I recieved 15 letters when we had a zone conference this last week and as I read the words of my dear friend, it hit me how different I was. 

My friends were living their normal lives. Things were continuing on as normal. As always. And it was then, when I was reading about this life that I used to live, that I came to the conclusion that I've changed quite a lot. My goals are different. My perspective on life is different. Everything is different. 

But its a good kind of different. oh geez this e mail makes zero sense. I promise next week I'll get more sleep and write something more fun to read. Love you mom. I got 13 of your letters. It takes about 4 to 6 weeks for letters of any sort to get to me and takes about 2 to 3 weeks for a package. I got the package with the shirts and the package with the post-its and stuff like that. Thank you so much mama. I love you.

FUNNIES:

-picked up my pajamas to change into them and a lizard jumped out. I screamed and did a nice dance around the house.

-The elders that are serving in the mission office forgot to pay our light bill so we didn't have light for a day and a half. My head lamp came in handy!

From Ruby's mom:

I went to a Oaxacan Festival in Santa Cruz CA this week!

It was fun!  I got a teeny-tiny taste of what it's like to be the only white person, not speaking the language that everyone around you understands, and it was HOT.  I learned that in Oaxaca, it is all about love and food.  Ruby confirmed that the food pics are accurate.  That is what she eats!