I've arrived

Things They Don't Tell You You'll Sacrifice on the Mission:

-Your comfort zone. Okay. Maybe they warn you about this one a little bit, but they don't tell you that you'll have to teach a 56 year old man who has been living with his girlfriend for the past 8 years about the Law of Chastity... on an air plane... for 2 hours. By the way, that's how I started my mission in the field.

-Your tan lines. My feet are developing one of the most comical displays of bad tanning in the form of an awkward strap right across the top and my calves are beginning the awkward mid length skirt line. That'll be great.

-Your waist line. THE FOOD!! So. Good! My first meal. Empenadas. By the mountains! I can't even. Coree. Those will be at our bakery. But yeah, people just love to feed you. And they do. We also just had Dia de Espanidad. Which is basically a festival where people make the food of their home country and feed it to you. I don't know what Peru was doing, but it was a vat of purple goo and it tasted like Christmas :'} (the cinnamon part of Christmas).

- Your sense of humor. Seriously. Missionaries find the dumbest things hilarious! And you make Bible & Book of Mormon references like it's cool.

- Your cool factor. Whilst driving around, trying to find potentials and members, Hermana Hall (my new companera) compared each main battle in the Book of Mormon to the battle in Lord of the Rings.

- Your music. No Ben Howard or James Vincent McMorrow or Bon Iver. MoTab all day!! Woot woot! But I can't really say this one is a sacrifice. I truly have come to love hymns so deeply. Also! The Primary program was this Sunday and I must say, it's literally the same in every language. You have your cute kids, the ones that scream in the microphone, the ones that memorized all their lines, etc. And I still fight back tears when they sing, "I am a Child of God" or "Family Can Be Together Forever", and now, more than ever "Bring the World His Truth". SO powerful.

- Your fashion sense. I wake up in the morning and don't even think about if my shoes are going to match what I'm wearing :'{ Instead I think, "what will hide my obnoxious sweating in the freakishly hot and unexpected weather of California?"

- Your hair. I can't even remember the last time I got a good braid going -.-

- Your heart. Some days you come home and you feel one of the deepest kinds of sadness you'll ever feel in your life. You'll hear people life stories and how they don't have enough money to buy clothes or shoes, or enough food to feed their families, or even a home to go to at the end of the day. And you'll think about your bed, your clothes, your food, and how full your stomach was last night after 10 tacos and dessert... and you'll just feel horrible. And you begin to love people that you hardly know to the point that you would offer them the clothes off of your back in you could. And it gets even worse as you come to love these people and you want to help them so badly! And you KNOW the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help them more than anything, and they reject it. I couldn't have anticipated how sad this mission would make me feel until I actually got here and put my hands with my whole heart and soul into it.

 

But it's great. So much work. The people are great. My companion is great! She's from Idaho, (went to BYU-I.... Claro-.-). Also, She's Abby Erdelatz's doppelganger. Enserio. Same face. Different style of hair. But they both love dance and drama and music. It's scary. But so great :'}

 

Phrases of the Week:

Me: Getting married in the temple is like getting your bikes welded together. It's a tandem bike ride to the celestial kingdom.

 

Some Elder: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Me: It's a tie between being a mom and being happy.

Some Elder: Hmmmm.... tough choice.