Wow. welcome to white-wash trainer Becca's life. There have been lots of times in the past week where I've wanted to just go into the bathroom, lock the door, and not come out. haha. Too bad that's not EVER going to happen. But I've also started to see how I will eventually really love it here. We have the best ward you could possibly imagine (dare I say better than Pasadena?!) This is the oldest Spanish speaking ward so the members have lived here and been members for forever and they absolutely love missionaries and missionary work. They're so solid! They feed us every night and they flipped out when they realized there were hermanas coming. The women are especially excited to have us here because that means they can come on visits with us. After relief society they all came up and introduced themselves and hugged/kissed us. I almost started crying. And everyone loves me of course because they didn't have a piano player before so the quality of their sacrament meetings just went up 100% just because I know how to play the piano! haha thanks mom and bonnie.
The area is really different from pasadena. It's a lot more affluent. Still a lot of apartments, but they have locked gates with codes and things aren't as dirty. There's also not as many hispanics! We run into a lot of black people. We're right up next to Hobby Airport ...literally. So we always have planes low over our heads. It's a lot faster paced than Pasadena - there's actually a bus system and traffic! The apartment is a little bigger than my last, but has pretty much the same furniture and everything. We have a car. it's a 2010 corolla so we're stylin'! haha. And mom, I got my bike to my new area like any normal person, with a bike rack on the back of the car. haha. My new companion, Hermana Harry is really cute. She has perfect skin - I think she looks like something out of a Jane Austen book. (I would) She has lots of ideas about how to improve things: the apartment, our lessons, our meal plans, my hair, everything! hahaha. She's from Seattle, Washington and she likes yoga much better than running but she's a good sport and goes with me anyways. We usually go about a mile and then she's pretty spent so I'm working on a way to get to a park or something so that she can walk while I run. She LOVED the MTC and tells me stories all the time about "her elders." haha. And mom, you always told me that one day I'd have a child that talked as much as me. That day came last wednesday! except I think she has me beat. six or seven times. I feel like I'm trying to reign in wild horses sometimes as I watch the clock and our study time tick away. But I guess that's part of training. I miss Hermana Hansen a lot, but Im having fun with Hermana Harry.
The elders that left told us they had twelve baptisms lined up for us but if I ever get near Elder Bentley again i'm going to give him a piece of my mind because we've had nothing but rejection from his "progressing" investigators ever since we got here! No, that's not entirely true, but I'm jsut worried becuase he made it sound like we'd have a ton of baptisms this transfer and I don't want people to think we dropped the ball or something. We're doing everything we know how.
Speaking of baptisms this transfer, I got a call yesterday from Hermana Hansena and Carmen and Alberto are getting baptized this Saturday! Oh my gosh I was so excited when I heard that. Yes mom, I miss my old investigators. Like crazy. I feel like I abandoned them- I have huge guilt complexes all the time. But Carmen and Alberto asked if I could baptize them. haha. time to review Priesthood authority, but I thought it was a huge compliment.
It's been really fun for me to be with hermana Harry because it helps me see how far my spanish has come. She is pretty good for just studying it for nine weeks, and she improves every day. But as she talks about how much/little she is understanding and how hard she has to focus, I realize that I understand just about everything that is said to me, unless it is specialized vocabulary like medical terms or something. And I can say pretty much whatever I want to say back, just not always in the way that I want to say it. And I'm not nervous to talk to people in spanish anymore. I like it. I can laugh and tease the members. It's fun.
what else. . . My district leader is going to be a trial of my patience, but our district is pretty good. It' sjust us and two other elders - elder elkins (DL) and elder seeburger. Seeburger always puts his hand on my shoulder and it makes me so nervous! I swear that's breaking a rule. But he's a really good missionary and I think I would die without him here. He is very calm and makes sure I have everything I need. He does a lot to help me. He's always asking me if i'm okay and then asking if i'm sure. haha. He shouldn't ask that. It has been a crazy week.
One funny contacting story- we did a door approach to a guy that told us he already studies the bible with jws so I told him that we're actually not here to study the bible, we have a message to share about the restoration of Christ's church. Long story short, we talked for a long time on the porch and ended up setting up a return appt. He was a spanglish speaker which makes me dizzy - he switched in and out of english and spanish way fast. in the middle of sentences. but he had a really strong hispanic accent. Anways he talked a lot and started telling us how he smoked weed for ten years and still wants to smoke it but can't because for his job he has to be drug tested. in his words: "i do da drug test. you know - pee pee? (hand motions to correlate. sir. please don't do that.) I go pee pee, and dey test pee pee and den dey know if I do drugs." I was like please sir. just speak spanish so I dont' have to listen to you say "pee pee" anymore! haha we were laughing so hard afterwards. I don't know how I didn't crack up! hermana harry was like "that was the only part of the lesson that I understood, and I was just wondering WHAT is my trainer teaching this man?!" haha. Those spanglish lessons are so awkward because I never know what to speak, so I just stick to spanish. usually. awkwardness. haha.
but we've had some really amazing experiences as well. After one really intense lesson with a man who knew his bible and got pretty intense with us, I was sweating and shaking and completely wiped out because I had felt the spirit so strong. It's a really cool thing because while I'm testifying I just feel tons of energy running through me and my mind is just perfectly clear and the words just run out smoothly. As soon as we leave though, I get soooo tired! haha. but it was an amazing lesson. By the end, he had agreed to read and pray about the book of mormon. He wasn't bashing us - he was really polite. He just felt really strongly about Christ and had some false ideas that we worship joseph smith that made him really concerned. It was one of the best experiences of my mission so far.
We also have spent a lot of time driving around in circles while I get more and more desperate about the amount of time that is passing without us talking to anybody. One time, we started down a one way street that started taking us to the freeway and I flipped out because I have no idea where anything outside of our area leads and anyways it was just really frightenig for me and I said one of those mad prayers where I basically said If you're going to leave me here alone then you better get me out of this situation! And it was the weirdest thing - I just took this one little road that looked like it lead nowhere and we ended up right by the church - against all logical calculations. I know is sounds totally corny but it was a huge tender mercy for me at the moment.
anyways sorry this e-mail is way scattered. That's how the week has been. haha. Thanks for all your support and John thanks for your email! I can't wait to get your letters this week. This mission thing is crazy - I just want to be good at it. I think it's coming. 'litle bit. haha (thanks to everyone who reminded me that that is from GHOST TOWN) I can't believe I forgot that! also, i can't remember the name of the store that is across from the post office, where we always drop jessica off for work. This is totally dumb. What is it called? I can't remember and it puts me in a bad mood because I should totally know that.
okay anyways, my time is almost up.
I love you all.
love Becca
Speaking of baptisms this transfer, I got a call yesterday from Hermana Hansena and Carmen and Alberto are getting baptized this Saturday! Oh my gosh I was so excited when I heard that. Yes mom, I miss my old investigators. Like crazy. I feel like I abandoned them- I have huge guilt complexes all the time. But Carmen and Alberto asked if I could baptize them. haha. time to review Priesthood authority, but I thought it was a huge compliment.
It's been really fun for me to be with hermana Harry because it helps me see how far my spanish has come. She is pretty good for just studying it for nine weeks, and she improves every day. But as she talks about how much/little she is understanding and how hard she has to focus, I realize that I understand just about everything that is said to me, unless it is specialized vocabulary like medical terms or something. And I can say pretty much whatever I want to say back, just not always in the way that I want to say it. And I'm not nervous to talk to people in spanish anymore. I like it. I can laugh and tease the members. It's fun.
what else. . . My district leader is going to be a trial of my patience, but our district is pretty good. It' sjust us and two other elders - elder elkins (DL) and elder seeburger. Seeburger always puts his hand on my shoulder and it makes me so nervous! I swear that's breaking a rule. But he's a really good missionary and I think I would die without him here. He is very calm and makes sure I have everything I need. He does a lot to help me. He's always asking me if i'm okay and then asking if i'm sure. haha. He shouldn't ask that. It has been a crazy week.
One funny contacting story- we did a door approach to a guy that told us he already studies the bible with jws so I told him that we're actually not here to study the bible, we have a message to share about the restoration of Christ's church. Long story short, we talked for a long time on the porch and ended up setting up a return appt. He was a spanglish speaker which makes me dizzy - he switched in and out of english and spanish way fast. in the middle of sentences. but he had a really strong hispanic accent. Anways he talked a lot and started telling us how he smoked weed for ten years and still wants to smoke it but can't because for his job he has to be drug tested. in his words: "i do da drug test. you know - pee pee? (hand motions to correlate. sir. please don't do that.) I go pee pee, and dey test pee pee and den dey know if I do drugs." I was like please sir. just speak spanish so I dont' have to listen to you say "pee pee" anymore! haha we were laughing so hard afterwards. I don't know how I didn't crack up! hermana harry was like "that was the only part of the lesson that I understood, and I was just wondering WHAT is my trainer teaching this man?!" haha. Those spanglish lessons are so awkward because I never know what to speak, so I just stick to spanish. usually. awkwardness. haha.
but we've had some really amazing experiences as well. After one really intense lesson with a man who knew his bible and got pretty intense with us, I was sweating and shaking and completely wiped out because I had felt the spirit so strong. It's a really cool thing because while I'm testifying I just feel tons of energy running through me and my mind is just perfectly clear and the words just run out smoothly. As soon as we leave though, I get soooo tired! haha. but it was an amazing lesson. By the end, he had agreed to read and pray about the book of mormon. He wasn't bashing us - he was really polite. He just felt really strongly about Christ and had some false ideas that we worship joseph smith that made him really concerned. It was one of the best experiences of my mission so far.
We also have spent a lot of time driving around in circles while I get more and more desperate about the amount of time that is passing without us talking to anybody. One time, we started down a one way street that started taking us to the freeway and I flipped out because I have no idea where anything outside of our area leads and anyways it was just really frightenig for me and I said one of those mad prayers where I basically said If you're going to leave me here alone then you better get me out of this situation! And it was the weirdest thing - I just took this one little road that looked like it lead nowhere and we ended up right by the church - against all logical calculations. I know is sounds totally corny but it was a huge tender mercy for me at the moment.
anyways sorry this e-mail is way scattered. That's how the week has been. haha. Thanks for all your support and John thanks for your email! I can't wait to get your letters this week. This mission thing is crazy - I just want to be good at it. I think it's coming. 'litle bit. haha (thanks to everyone who reminded me that that is from GHOST TOWN) I can't believe I forgot that! also, i can't remember the name of the store that is across from the post office, where we always drop jessica off for work. This is totally dumb. What is it called? I can't remember and it puts me in a bad mood because I should totally know that.
okay anyways, my time is almost up.
I love you all.
love Becca
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