New

*writing in my journal by the light of my headlamp...

 THE AREA

My new area is like 15 minutes from the ocean and it is HOT and HUMID and WINDY.  Haha.  we walk around sweating buckets and then a big gust of wind picks up all the dirt/dust/garbage from the street and blows it right in our face!  We just laugh.  It really is super awesome though. 

EVERYONE (including us) has a mango tree in their yard so we get to walk around eating freshly picked mangos all the time.  We can't see the ocean from our area, but there is a lot of sandy streets so that's fun.

THE COMP

My companion is the best human being ever.  Turns out we actually kind of knew each other before! She had found my blog a while back and had started reading it and had actually written me a few e mails asking me questions and making comments about my experiences! 

Her name is Hermana Hancock and she is from northern California.  She is super darling and positive and her Spanish isn't even that bad!  It's been great to work with her this last week.  Adjusting to missionary life is always rough, but she is handeling it like a champ.

THE HOUSE

When they dropped us off at our house I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was so dusty, dirty, moldy, and full of trash it looked like no one had lived there in years.  There were cobwebs and spiders on EVERYTHING and the hermanas who lived there before us had left their dirty dished mountained up in the sink and all the dishes were growing mold.

Also, the sink was growing something too...there was mouse poop all over the tables.  A half eaten cup of noodles was left on the floor, completely molded over as well.  The bathroom.  Oh man, I can't even tell you about the bathroom.  And all the light bulbs are burned out, except the bathroom and one light bulb in the kitchen...Good thing I brought my head lamp because it's helped us out a lot this last week. 

Just imagine the dirtiest and scariest house on the planet and that's our house.  Plus there is a mango tree out back and all the mangos have fallen on the ground and are rotting so that smells pretty bad too, and it attracts a lot of bugs and other animals. 

Our neighbor warned us about tarantulas and bats that bite.  I thought she was kidding.  She wasn't. But on the bright side, we haven't seen any yet and we're working on cleaning them up little by little. 

And there was no water so we had to carry big buckets of water from a reserve tank in our yard to bucket shower.  My poor brave little companion was very strong about the whole thing.  We've been working on cleaning the house and getting rid of all the trash the other hermanas left behind for us, but we both decided that we're going to be trying to find a new place to live.  I'm not sure how...but we'll keep asking around.  It's a great contact starter actually. 

NEW AREA

We've gotten lost a lot...but the members are so very supportive and loving!  We've found some of the investigators that the other hermanas were teaching before and they are so golden.  We loved getting to know them!  We also met a kid who speaks sign language and he's been teaching us a little.  I feel so lucky and blessed to be in this area and to be with the companion that I'm with!  It is not easy but I know that God has a plan for us here!

Hurrah for Israel. Hurrah.

*selfie with my darling companion. I love her. A lot.

*us, when we got to the house. Sweaty, and freaked out.