Week 70 New Companion! April 13,2015

Drum roll everyone.....Hermana Taylor is my new companion! Hermana Taylor is from a small town called McGrath in Alberta Canada. She's such a great missionary! She's exactly obedient and works SUPER hard! I also have the privilege of being her first English-speaking companion. So, she may or may not have forgotten a few English words...or a lot;) Our conversations were in advanced Spanglish to begin with...eventually we gave up and we just speak Spanish together. It's a whole lot easier that way!

Gorditas (little fatties) for lunch

As missionaries learning to speak a foreign language we all tend to struggle writing, speaking, and remembering English. Between us English-speaking missionaries we communicate using Spanglish (consisting of about half English words and half Spanish words with a few modified words that are neither English or Spanish.) For example we use the Spanish verb, add an "ed" to the end of it and use it as an English past tense verb (planchar means "to iron" or as we use it in the mission "to chew out"..."he totally got planched!") There are also a lot of words that we completely make up or that we think are words in English but aren't: desanimado (feeling down) we translate to "disanimated", capacitor (to train or teach) "We need to capacity the Elders.", preocupado (worried) "My mom is really preoccupied about me.", animado (excited) "I'm so animated for you!", prestar service (to serve) "We need to prest 3 hours of service today.", pre star (to lend) "Can you prest me your pen?", I could go on and on. The problem is that we understand each other perfectly and sometimes we're absolutely convinced that we're speaking correct English! It isn't until we're with someone who doesn't speak Spanish that we realize that our English is horrible! The confused look on their faces as we speak says it all. Sometimes we speak such bad Spanglish that someone from home would have absolutely no idea what we were talking about. Example sentence: "Did you hear?! Elder T. got bajared yesterday because he was planching his district during his capacitations. His companion got subbed and moved to a super fresa area and is really animated about it." Did you get that?? If no...ya'll better learn some Spanglish before I get home so that we can have a decent conversation!

Mexican mom aprons (the "mom jean" equivalent in Mexico)

About 3 hours into our companionship, as we were walking to buy some groceries, a man approached us from behind saying he wanted to talk to us. As he got closer we could tell that he was extremely drunk and that he was trouble. We simply said, "Buenas trades!", turned around and started walking in the other direction. Normally, they stand there for a second and continue doing whatever it was they were doing. But this guy was set on catching us. As I looked back I noticed he was following us and we began walking faster...and so did he. Taylor and I quickly made a game plan and at the next corner we turned and sprinted until we were able to find a car to duck behind. We did so and watched as he stopped at the corner wondering where we had gone. Luckily he gave up and left. I guess he wanted Taylor to have a nice warm welcome back to Polanco! (This is her old area and now she is back)

Tuesday we had interviews with the President. Taylor and I had to be there the whole day to train each district as they came in. I had my interviews and they went great! President Stutznegger is a great guy and always knows just what I need to hear. Afterwards we got a call from a member of the ward informing us that a ward member had died and that they were having the funeral right then. It was pretty sad...he was a 26 year old boy who had special needs. He was such a great example to so many people in the ward. Everyone was devastated...but thank goodness for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation!

Tuesday night we started divisions...Taylor went to barrio Heroes with Hermana Santos and Hermana Martinez (new Hermana with just 3 weeks in the mission) came here with me. Martinez definitely brought the spirit with her because she knew exactly what to share and what to say in each lesson. Once again....learning from the other sisters!!

Wednesday Edith Jr. passed her baptismal interview!! Later I talked to Sergio (her member friend who bore his testimony to her mom at work) and when I informed him that she had passed he started laughing he was so happy. I could tell he was so excited..even over the phone.

Training for the District Leaders

Friday we got to go do a small training for all the District Leaders in the mission. Taylor and I talked about the importance of having the spirit as leaders. I'd say we make quite the team! As I sat down the thought came to me how weird/amazing it is that we sit there with so many missionaries from so many countries and we all speak Spanish. That's amazing to me! We have some of the best missionaries too! These district leaders are going to make such a difference here in the mission. It's been amazing for me to see how much this mission has changed over the past 16 months. Let's just say that the Stutzneggers have worked miracles!

HAPPY 16 MONTHS! Taylor and I both hit our 16 month mark together....so to celebrate I made some peanut butter no-bake cookies. It was like a small taste of home! They were delicious!

EDITH GOT BAPTIZED! And guess who baptized her...Sergio! After the ordinance he was able to stand and bear his testimony and he practically left the whole room crying. Just think, all this because he had the guts to bear his testimony at work!

The baptismal water before and after blue dye

Later we had a ward devotional for a girl in our ward who is leaving for her mission on Tuesday. The ward mission leader, Elder Evans, Elder Choc, Herman Taylor, and I were able to sing 2 songs (I played the guitar) in the devotional. It was pretty fun. Afterwards we ate "tacos de canasta" (basket tacos)..the name says it all...they're simply tacos in a basket..I don't get the point... But what a great day!

Tacos de canasta

We are working hard! Hermana Taylor and I only have a short 8 weeks left in the mission....so we're going to leave it all out on the field! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! I may be miles away....but I can definitely feel them!

Adolfo eating who knows what. (They don't waste anything here)