Week 4: The Real Life Barbie February 17, 2014

HOLA!!

This week was...let's say crazy..

We had a crazy rain storm this week... I thought I knew what rain was..that is until I moved to Mexico City. We were with a family later in the night and right as we were leaving it started to rain. We weren't prepared for the rain at all and we had about a 30 minute walk back to our apartment. It was pouring! Within 30 seconds we were absolutely drenched from head to toe. They don't have a drainage system here which means that the water has no where to go but sit in the streets and build. The streets turned into rivers..all we were missing was a raft and some floaties and we would've been in for an adventure.

Well, to make a very long story short.......my companion got sent home. (Edited out by Mom here) But I got a new companion!! Her name is Hermana Zambrano and she is from Ecuador. I am already learning so much more. Not going to lie..the whole experience (with previous comp) was pretty frustrating. I left my family and home for that? Really? But I am so thankful for my new companion. She is a hard worker...and I love it! Finally I get to work hard! I've waited a whole 4 weeks to work!

Our first day as a companionship was awesome. We worked SO HARD. I came home that night with very bloody feet..not fun..but we are already seeing the results of our hard work.

I'm learning a lot here; and not just about the gospel. Living with a stranger is hard and when you add the 'stranger from another country' part, it's ten times harder. Cultures are just so different! And combining cultures is tricky sometimes. For example, my old comp. started crying one night because she was offended that I didn't want to give her a kiss goodnight every night...some things like that just crack me up sometimes.

Mexico City Southeast Missionaries

Sunday I gave my first talk! Before I got up I was praying my heart out that I would be able to say what I needed to say. When I got up, I was actually super calm! I gave my talk on the Book of Mormon and the words were flowing. I was really surprised I wasn't nervous considering we had 3 investigators there but when I finished, I looked up at the clock and realized that I had spoken for almost 15 minutes. That's hard enough in English! After sacrament meeting everyone was coming up to me telling me that my Spanish in just 4 weeks is a miracle. Hard work pays off!!

After church we were talking with some of the members when I noticed a little girl walking towards me with her head down. She looked up, saw me, and her face was priceless. She stopped in her tracks, eyes wide, jaw dropped, and stood there without moving for a while. Finally she turned and ran to her mom and started tugging at her shirt. Her mom leaned down and the little girl whispered something in her ear. The mom smiled and walked toward me. She got to me and told me that her daughter's dream had come true...she had seen the real life Barbie in person. I couldn't stop laughing.

As we were leaving the church, I went to open the gate to exit and a very dirty lady dressed in rags approached me and started to say all kinds of stuff that I couldn't understand. I closed the gate and she pressed her face against the fence, yelling at this point. I was trying to speak with her but couldn't understand a word she was saying. I turned around and looked at one of the Hermanas who, in broken English said, "Sick in head". The security guard of the church came over and told her she needed to leave but she refused. Luckily for us there was a second exit in the back that we were able to sneak out of to avoid her. The Hermanas explained to me that she was calling me some pretty bad names. No wonder I couldn't understand her! Just a tad different from the gospel words I've grown so accustomed to...haha.

Later, the 4 of us were at our apartment. At about 6:00PM we got our things together and started down the stairs to go contact and teach. We got to the door and about 15 people were crowded around it looking out the window. They told us not to go outside because there was a very crazy and very aggressive lady outside trying to get in. The windows are one way from the inside so she couldn't see us but we could see her. She kept standing up and slowly walking to the window and staring at us with really mean and scary glazed eyes. She would stand there for 5 minutes at a time and just stare without blinking or moving a muscle. Then she would slowly turn back around and sit down on the cement. A few minutes later she would stand up and do the same thing. It was pretty freaky. She did that for the next 4 hours. I was really bugged because we couldn't leave the apartment and teach. I was considering opening the door as she sat down, hurdling over her, and making a run for it but the other Hermanas definitely weren't up for that one..haha. We called our district leader and he told us not to leave until she was gone. Finally, at about 9:30 PM she slowly walked away and the other Hermanas were able to return to their apartment.

I have had so much more success this week! I love my new companion because she has the same work ethic as me...we do work! It's hard because I feel like I am having to learn everything over again..but it is such a blessing having her as my trainer. We are leading the zone in contacts and have so many new investigators. I can't wait to see where we go with this!

I love you all! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Have a great week!
¡Hasta luego! ¡Adios!