Hermana Halverson in the Field: December 17, 2013

Hola familia!!

So this past week has been pretty great! I'm starting to realize that all of my days are going to be exactly the same... haha

Even though we are constantly busy it can get kind of boring. Although we get like an hour of gym time that I’ve started to really take advantage of. I ate so much food that I gained 3 lbs in like a week and a half so I’ve been running every day during that gym time which is super hard because we are so high in elevation that i am always panting really bad by the end and it makes my throat hurt. We got our first investigator to commit to bautismo! That was really great! Also we got her to pray with us! Then we found out she was a member named Hermana Leslie and she was our teacher for a couple of days. Our district has been getting pretty jipped when it comes to our teachers. we have a morning teacher and an evening teacher and both were gone for all of last week so we had just a ton of random subs and it was really hard to keep up the same pace with each other them. Luckily both our teachers just got back yesterday.

On December 12^th was the birthday of the virgin Mary or something like that so there were over 6 million people near our little CCM. It was so loud and all week fireworks were going off 24/7. It was pretty cool to hear them celebrating though. Even when our doors and windows were closed it sounded like bombs. It made me want to go outside the grounds and check it out but white people aren't allowed to leave the CCM. haha I think they think we'd get shot or stolen or something. Also it’s really quiet here. We get our last group of missionaries in this week and then no more til after Christmas. The groups are getting smaller and all the Latinos are gone so it’s really quiet around here. We had the smallest group come the day I did but I like it because we all are really close.

My roommate Hermana Mansell broke her pinky last week playing basketball and she got a blessing from a few elders in our district. It was so cool! I love seeing those little 18 years olds giving blessings! It makes me really excited for Chase because I was like.. hmm…this is going to be him. He’s going to be asked to give people blessings on the spot like that and I think that's so great!

Also last Friday was Friday the 13th but it was the exact opposite of unlucky! We were playing volleyball with the elders in our district and my companera Hermana Day tackled an elder in our district and they both fell to the ground! It was funny because Hermana Dia is really quiet and the elder she hit is the one who’s having the hardest time being out here. He has gotten pretty choked up just about every day from being homesick ): (I have yet to do so. Not like I don't miss you guys, I just am too happy to cry... haha) Also my roommates went and got Hermana Mansell’s finger x-rayed and when we saw them at the casa they pulled a prank on us. Hermana Mansell was crying and Hermana Glenn told us that she had to go back to the states to get surgery!! It was so mean! But I’m glad she doesn't have to go! She just wears a brace now.

Okay so last Saturday night we had our regular study night planned but then Presidente Pratt told us that instead we would be watching a Christmas program.. oh. my. crap. This was so amazing. it was like an authentic Christmas play. It was navidad en Mexico and it was all just Mexicans dancing and wearing a ton of bright colors and we got to see it with all the natives that were here too and during the whole thing they were all cheering and clapping and yelling so all us white kids just followed suite. it was amazing though! it was so bright and fun and didn't even feel Christmassy. They actually had a part where after the savior was born, some kid destroyed a pinata that was full of candy and then all the dancers threw candy at us!!! hahaha it was so awesome! Also they had fireworks INSIDE the auditorium. i seriously am in love with Mexico ciudad. i know I’m pretty secluded here in the CCM but we see the city all around todos los dias. It’s lovely!

Every week our branch presidency gives each districto a topic to write a talk on and then tells us during sacrament meeting who is giving theirs. our topic last week was the restoracion de jesucristo and i wrote a really good talk mainly just focusing on priesthood so i just asked my branch presidente if i could give my talk. So i gave a talk on Sunday. it was like half English and Spanish but i think it went pretty well. my grammar is pretty terrible but im doing a lot better with vocab. the other day i was doing pretty awful. i felt like I wasn’t really progressing the way i should have, but we watched a devo by Richard G Scott on specific prayer and after that i kind of just told the Lord that I’m really relying on Him and can’t learn the language as well as i should be without Him. HELLO PROGRESS. I love getting answers to my prayers. (:

Being here has been such a wonderful experience. I mean, it’s been really difficult but my fe en el Dios has grown so much!! Also, having a companion is the greatest thing in the world. She is so amazing. I’m perfectly fine with never having alone time. Like the other day the four of us hermanas left our casa to go to our clase and my hermana had to run inside to get her name tag and so I’m standing outside with Hermanas Glenn and Mansell and had like anxiety. I had to go in the house and like follow her around. haha I’m going to be so annoying in 18 months because I’ll never want to be left alone.

I did find a stand in for Colbie while I’m here. It’s some stray cat that is always walking around the CCM so i finally got a picture of her this morning I’ll send.

We got to go to the temple again this morning!! We're only supposed to go every other p-day but the temple will be closing like next week for a year and so we wouldn't have been able to go our third or fifth weeks. BUT we did it in Spanish!! Okay, I highly recommend that dad and chase go to a Spanish session before you leave. Even though you can’t understand the actual words, you still know exactly what’s being said and still feel the exact same spirit.

All in all it’s been a great week! The food is still okay.. but funny story... they have cereal for every meal and i started eating this really good fiber cereal with like every meal. and the boxes are tiny so id sometimes eat 2... well it was a horrible idea. I don't recommend it to anyone. I’ve cut down to a box a day. also they always have nutella. Like I have never eaten so much nutella in my life and they have this really good bread that is in like individual loaves and I always get one and cut it in half and make a bread and nutella sandwich. I think that's where my extra 3 lbs came from.

Oh I went to the visitor center (don't worry I have pictures) and also the Zarahemla store by them temple and got mom whit and Ken their Christmas presents and all three were less than 5 American dollars combined. I still need to get stuff for everyone else though!! And you won’t get them until I’m in Florida! They advise us to stay away from packages here at the CCM because Mexico mail isn't very reliable.

I think that's all I really have... Oh yea. we usually get home from the clase at like 9:40 every night and have from then until 10:30 to write in our journals, have comp prayer and get ready for bed so we never have time for anything... but last night we got back at 9 and didn't know what to do with all of our extra time!!! so we just rearranged our room.. haha it sounds lame but it was really excited for us because we never get to do anything but study.

BUT I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! And i miss you! And im glad to know that everything is going well with you guys. (:

Love,

Hermana Halverson