I leave in....TWO HOURS for the airport to hop on my 16 hour plane to CHILE!
I´ll go over my emotions in a bit...
This week was soo BEAUTIFUL! It was also extremely HOT here! Which was kind of nice. We drank a lot of mango juice and studied in the sun. mmmm
The Mexicans are so funny. They are SO brutally honest. They will just insult you and laugh and think nothing of it. They are not being mean...thats just how they are. Blunt. Its kind of refreshing...sometimes. We have fun with it. They are also the SWEETEST people! and I am going to miss them SO much! Yesterday our branch president and his family surprised us with a Day of the Dead party after church. It was the best. They made us mexican hot chocolate (which tasted more like hot cinnamon), Dia de la muerte bread-basically these huge sweet rolls absolutely DRENCHED in sugar....I got the sugar ALL over me somehow. It looked like I had just taken the bread and rubbed it all over my shirt and skirt. And these jello things with skulls inside. Have I ever mentioned how obsessed they are with jello here? Lots of weird fruit jellos that taste like medicine. Anyways, they had it all set up for us and we had a little fiesta! The branch presidents wife couldnt speak any english but she kept coming up to us and kissing our cheeks and making us eat more. It was so sweet.
I accompanied some of my district on the piano for the MTC yesterday. I wasnt very excited to actually perform but I got to play the piano for the first time in 6 weeks and it was HEAVEN! Another girl also brought out her violin last week and let me play it for a little bit. That was wonderful too! Oh, the piece I played for the MTC thing was I need thee Every Hour...that arrangement by...oh I cant remember his name.
This morning I got to spend 3 hours with President Pratts wife in the salon while my companion got her hair colored. Hermana Pratt made her dye her super blonde hair brown because she would stand out too much in Chile. My companion was NOT happy about it...but it was fun talking to Hermana Pratt the whole time. She knew all about our mission and was prepping us for it. She also said that Chilean spanish is super weird and we wont be able to understand anything for a LONG time. She said ¨Get ready for the longest month of you life¨. And its starts tomorrow after a all nighter on the plane. Whoo hoo!
I am super excited to go to Chile but I am devastated to leave this precious CCM. I just got here! And its so beautiful and perfect....and the people are so wonderful and my district is so great!
Ahh....but it is time to move on.
My companion and three of the elders in my district are coming with me to Concepcion. But everyone else is going to California or Arizona. Lots of tears.
My district has been the best! They are all just my best friends now and some of the greatest people I have ever met. I´m going to miss this.
But this place has been such a blessing! The amount I have learned here....is ´probably comparable to what I have learned in all my 19 years. As my dear friend Elphaba once sang.. ¨Something has changed within me....something is not the same.¨
Hopefully I am still alive next week and you´ll get an email from me. :)
Main point of this email- send me chocolate please and come visit the CMM one day!
Cheerio ya´ll!
-Hermana Orchard
Pictures
hermanas at the temple
and an awkward picture of me in our soccer field.
Great people. The girl in the purple next to me is "hermana mamma" no joke. She is hilarious.
My casa!
Branch Presidency and Day of the Dead
My district with our teacher the day of the dead party.
