Kaitlyn alongside her new companion (Kaitlyn is in the long gray dress, Hermana H is in the pink top.)
Happy Easter...late!!
Training is very different than I expected. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I want to pull my hair out. I love her. She is 4 ft 9. She makes me feel like a giant. She is from West Jordan. She says "wonderful" a lot. She's really sweet…she keeps asking permission if she may go to the bathroom when we are in our apartment. I'm like “You don't have to ask my permission.” It's cute though. She asks A LOT of questions. I think my answer to 90 percent of them is "Follow the spirit". She's afraid of OYM's or street contacting, but that will come with time. I remember it was awkward at first. She apologizes a lot. I made a rule "no apologizing" otherwise it's every other word.
Her Spanish, as mean as this sounds, has been really fun and entertaining. I have gained so much respect for my poor trainer – haha! She has really good grammar, but she sounds American and struggles with the accent. When she says "hombre" (man) she says "hambre" (which means hungry.) It’s fun to watch the investigators eyebrows as they figure it out though. I try to find a happy medium of when to correct her so she doesn't get discouraged. Every time she says "con" meaning "with" its pronounced con like icecream CONe but she says con like the name CONnie. I've tried like 50 times on this one but it's not sticking yet.. But she's gotten SOO much better and learned SOO much the last few days! The members love her. This is a great ward to be trained in they are really loving and sweet and patient. She's pretty determined to learn the language though, which I really respect. She tries to speak Spanish with me in the car and everywhere we go. She also keeps saying "chow" and I've never heard a Mexican say "chow" to say bye before but she really likes it so hey why not?
President said something about letting them "stub their toes" so they can learn. It's hard though when she is struggling and freezes and gives me this look like HELP ME! It's so hard not to just take over, especially in Spanish. When they ask her a question she always looks at me to translate. It’s so weird because I feel like I was just in her shoes, so I totally get it. Heavenly Father gave me Spanish out of nowhere. I love Spanish now! It's suddenly so much easier. He really does qualify you when you need it. She's doing really well though and I’m excited.
I sent home pictures, but I should have kept my media card for one more day. I'll have to get pictures of "A"'s baptism from the Elders. It was an awesome baptism and we had a good turn out. The best part about Hispanic baptisms is the food. At all the other baptisms I've been to, people have cookies and "refreshments" and at Hispanic baptisms we have meals. We had civiche tostadas, no idea how to spell it. It’s some funky shrimp mixture - not my favorite but it was alright - and flan. I like flan. The best part was that a non-member that has been to 2 other baptisms was the one serving the food! I forgot to tell you about that! At the last baptism he got up during the testimony meeting and no one knew who he was and he stood up and said in Spanish "I'm another religion; I don't think there is just one true church. We are all children of God and part of his church, even these gringas (pointing at Hermana B and I because we were the only white girls there) and that is all I have to say." and sat down. He's in the Elders area though so they are going to start teaching him.
Hermana J (my trainer) came back or Erin to visit. She went up and visited Show Low and came down to see President and then took my companion and I out to lunch. It was fun to talk to her, especially now that I’m training. It makes me have so much more respect for her.
It was a good week though. We have been teaching this woman "B" for a little over a month. I think I maybe mentioned her in an email before, but she is interesting. She is locked up all day long in a one bedroom trailer with her five year old. She's really depressed and has a few mental problems, but who wouldn't if you never left your trailer? So we've had some amazing lessons with her. The only problem has been her "friend" that anti's her every time we leave and tells her stuff about the church that isn't true and about "John Smith." I said John Smith was with Pocohontas, Joseph Smith was a prophet. Silly goose. Anyway this "friend" of hers wants to "meet" with us. We told her that we were going to pass because we don’t' want contention. We took "B" and her son "J" to the Easter Pageant and it was awesome. On the way home "B" was bearing her testimony how she knew the church was true and that it was God's plan for her, and how she just felt different. That was Friday night. So we call her on Sunday morning to make sure she knows where the church is. She doesn't answer. Then we get a text last night asking us not to visit anymore! She said that she has decided not to involve herself with religion. WHAT THE HECK happened between Friday night and Sunday? I'm guessing her "friend" had something to do with it - real Christ like. So that was heartbreaking because I know "B" really well. She’s told me almost every detail of her life (she talks A LOT) and we've listened to her cry for hours, and taught her everything we know, and worked so hard with her. Getting dropped SUCKS. That is the second time on my mission that we’ve been dropped - which by the way I’m almost 8 months out - weird. Anyway that was heartbreaking.
To add to it, I got bit on the ankle by a stupid Chihuahua in one of our trailer parks this week. It didn't hurt - I just reached down and smacked it with my planner.
I don't understand why we are as happy as we are as missionaries. We go through CRAP all day long. We get yelled at, talked down to, anti'd, bit by stupid dogs, we have a million and fifty rules that make no sense, and crazy schedules. On paper it should really suck. But somehow we are happy. I'm always happy. For the first time on my mission I’m catching myself saying "I don't ever want to go home." I don't ever want to not feel like this. I don't want to go back into the world and be selfish and get caught up in stupid things. It's so much better to worry about other people all day. Literally, we think about the gospel all day and are so much more aware of blessings and the Lord's hand in our lives when we aren't thinking about all the little things that don't matter.
Funny story- Hermana H asked if it was hard not to check out the hot guys on ASU campus. I paused and realized what is wrong with me! I haven't been checking them out at all! I'm officially weird! Cool. But all the guys at ASU are complete tools anyway. Hermana H knew my old "hot" MTC teacher - who by the way wrote me a few weeks ago. I can't decide if he was actually hot or if I had just been locked in the MTC too long.
Alright well that was my week!
I LOVE YOU
***Kaitlyn's Birthday is May 8th! The same day as Mother's Day. She says she doesn't want anything but I'm sure some Happy Birthday letters wouldn't hurt!***
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