Hola Familia!!
I just got an email from BYU saying I was accepted to the ComD program! So that is exciting..I actually have some classes to take when I get home. :)
Christmas has officially hit the CCM! Maybe its the constant fireworks or the fact that they keep serving ginger infused pineapple drinks....whatever it is it is here!! We are constantly leaving Santa marks everywhere and singing Christmas carols all day long! The one we have been singing today is "White Christmas". We all get really into it. Not sure how the sunny skys and chirping birds feel about our early Christmas...but its great!
Wow! It feels like I have been here forever! I honestly cannot believe that is has only been two weeks!
The CCM is so beautiful. I absolutely love it here! In the morning the sun struggles through thick fog to shine its beautiful face on us and it is so gorgeous! The mountains are beautiful! The trees are beautiful! The green singing birds are SO loud!! At night the house lights twinkle down at us from the mountains. I am convinced there is not a more peaceful or beautiful place in all the world! Endless gunshots included.
Today has been a lovely pday. I sat on my bed and wrote letters as we passed around our stash of chocolate. Then I took a beautiful nap (as naps are always beautiful). We went on a lovely walk along a stream and through these huge palm trees with really long branches and ate some creme puffs the size of our faces!
I know it sounds like I eat really unhealthy here but I actually dont! The food has not been as good this week...as in they keep serving really weird foods like animal intestines and stuff. So mostly I have been eating fruit this week...and rice. Oh! We did discover a wonderful concoction of orange mango juice and horchata! It tastes like an orange cremsicle! Lovely...
The CCM is close to heaven I think...a slightly stressful heaven where I am always utterly exhausted but heaven nonetheless!!
Last night we had a huge thunderstorm that came out of no where! We were all in the comedor eating dinner when it hit. So we had to stay there for an extra hour. We made good use of the time though eating bowls of nutella mixed with pineapple and singing christmas songs while it sounded like the thunder was bulldozing the building. It was fun.
Back to the food...one night last week we ate a stranger than normal dinner. The next day we were all sick. Like the whole CCM. We had to stay in our beds all day (which was actually really nice). They told us we all had the flu but Im pretty sure it was food poisoning. Whatever it was it only lasted a day. I have been more careful about what I eat here after that.
OH! Tuesday night is pizza night...not sure how they found it but we get COSTCO pizza!! The greatest thing on earth! I am giddy the whole day in anticipation! Except they pour this weird green salsa all over it...but its still pizza!!
Bugs have taken over our casa. More of cochroaches. They crawl around and are our bed buddies at night. Something likes to eat me every night. I wake up with bites evetywhere....people say they are spider bites but I have hope that no spiders are crawling over me in the night!! Our casa was just fumigated and we came home to find SOO many dead bugs. It was like a graveyard. I didnt know there could be that many bugs in the WORLD let alone in our room! It was crunch crunch crunch whereever we walked. ewwwwww. I just close my eyes and pretend they are not there.
My companion is great! We had some troubles at first but now we get along beautifully! She has the cutest southern accent and is a cosmetologist. She really wants to give me a pixie cut and dye my hair bleach blonde..haha we shall see. She is also 21 and has been to about every country in the world.
The CCM is not the most organized place. I cant count how many times we have shown up to class only to have our teacher missing or something. Luckily my district is so great and we have so much fun! And work...we do get some work done too. But sitting in a classroom ALL day moves some of us to delusion. We spent a little too long yesterday trying to teach me how to beat box and whistle. Why is whistling so hard? There is always laughter! So much laughing. I dont think I have laughed this much in my life. I think I have the funniest group of people here on the planet. That or we are all just so exhausted that everything is cry-laugh worthy. ps the word for "cool" in spansh is "sauve"...which is such a funny word! We try to incorporate it into all our conversations.....sauve.....(swaa-vay)
We are teaching three investigators now. We normally teach about 2 or 3 lessons a day. We are slowly inporving our teaching tecniques and our ability to communicate in spanish. Our first investigator was SO funny! His name was Jorge and his big problem was that he had a 13 year old son who was bad. He always talked about how his son is always drinking and smoking and whatever. One day we were talking about the plan of salvation or soemthing and brought up satan. He said "oh yes..satan...my son is like satan". ?? haha what? We were like...did he just call his son satan?! It is so hard to not laugh during his lessons sometimes. He really had fun with his character. Then one day his "son" came to the lesson too...who is 13..but he looked about 25. He walked in with his arms around 2 girls. It was probably the funniest moment of my life.
I really do love teaching so much! It is so great and wonderful! It is hard though too...especially since my spanish is still so limited. But during lessons I seem to be able to speak more than normal. I am always trying to incorporate music into everything...so I have started sining a hymn in each lesson. The investigaotrs love it and nothing brings the spirit faster than music! Plus they all have messages which they can understand because it is real spanish and not just me throwing out whatver words come to mind in a weird hashed up order. My companion still cant speak any spanish and doesnt really like to talk during the lessons. So its solo time for me! I just sing..its great. One day I didnt sing and at the end of the lesson our investigator said "you didnt sing! You cant leave until you sing!!" haha
One day I heard the violin playing and it made me wish I had brought mine, I miss my violin!
One thing that I do to help me with spanish is write nice notes to people in spanish and I hand them out all over (well only to sisters). Its fun!! Speaking of notes we have some elders here that are a little too friendly. One in particular will run from 100 feet away to open the door for me or shake my hand or soemthing. He also recently left a love note on my desk...and then on my porch. I am trying to figure out how to best handle this situation since obviously that is a no-no here.
The BEST part of this week was definitely general conference!°! We were all so excited for it for many reasons...one of them being they played it in english! And for 8 hours we didnt have to translate in our brains! We got to the auditorium for it an hour and a half early thinking we would get front row seats...but it was already packed! We were all so excited! When it started we all stood and clapped and cheered! On sunday the earthquake sirens kept going off and the power going out. So we had to evacuate the building multiple times and stand in the blue circles. So we missed most of the first session...I did get to hear all of Elder Scotts talk though which was my hope!!
I was thinking...exactly one year ago is when they made the age change...I remember when they announced it and the shock and change of plans that was! haha I would never has guessed that this time the very year later I would be in mexico eating cow intestines and sleeping with cochroaches. Life is funny sometimes.
I loved how confernece was all about missionary work! It just reminded me that this thing I am doing here is SO important! And being a part of it is such a privledge! I never really fully understood what it is this is----being a representative of Jesus Christ. Is there anything more amazing, wonderful, inspiring, honoring, humbling and great as that? I was a little sad last week that I couldnt be there for Jacobs homecoming or the fall trees or anything....but then I was reminded that Christ was willing to die for OUR sins..am I not willing to spend a short 18 months in the work of salvation?? THIS is realy life! As Elder Holland reminded us last night...this is as close to real life as we are ever going to get!
Okay- some great stories our branch president told us sunday.I have to share.
This is a story of how my branch president met his wife. His voice sounds just like King Julian from Madagascar which made it 100x better! He was branch president at the time and single. The stake president called him and told him he wanted him to become a bishop. He said "but I am not married...I cannot be bishop". The stake president said "I know...thats why we are giving you two months to find a wife...or we will pick someone from the stake for you to marry". So he went around his branch looking for someone to marry. A new girl moved into his ward and he decided he wanted to marry her. He intordced himself as the branch president and then told her he wanted to marry her. He proceeded to write her a 12 FOOT long letter of love. We thought he was kidding when he said foot but then he came on stage with his wife and together they unraveled the 12 foot long letter!It was pretty funny.
He told some other great stories too which I will have to tell some other time!
I want to leave you all with one of my favorite quotes "People are wonderful. Each one of them has a story, each something to give, each knows something interesting, something that can make your life richer." And each is a child of GOD and our brother or sister! So let us love them all and help everyone on their pathway home!
I know He Lives! I love being a missionary and am so grateful for this opportunity! I am convinced there is nothing better!
I love you all and hope that everyone has a wonderful week!
Con amor,
Hermana Orchard
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