Happy Birthday Everyone! Christmas wish list - a washer and dryer, fasting is real, attitude is everything, and faster eaters - no way?

It's not all sunshine.

Oh my gosh, I just don’t even know where to begin for this week, it’s been an awesome ride so far. I love every second, but I am also realizing that it is not all sunshine and butterflies all of the time, (however there are a lot of butterflies and I try to catch them every time and it’s quite delightful.)

So I am learning the importance of exact obedience. I was re-reading my index cards the other day and one from Joslyn really struck me, because it was something I struggle with a lot here. She said that obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. Boy, oh boy, do I need to learn obedience. Ok. Let me clarify. I really do keep the rules. Don’t worry I don’t sneak out at night and do crazy stuff. No. But I can’t help it when we hear the lovely music of Mexico while we are walking down the street, I can’t help but dance. Sorry, this is one rule I just refuse to keep. And I sing Jimmy Buffet and occasionally some Shakira and it simply makes me happy. But this rule I am finding is totally true and I’m going to work a little harder on it because it’s real - fasting. I really worked hard with my comp to fast for our investigators this past Saturday and Sunday. It was so stinking hard to fast. Yeah - a whole 24 hours without food! Ugh! But I kept thinking about seeing all our investigators in white and it made it all ok. My tummy just grumbled a little bit in agreement :) Haha, but we prayed and fasted and kept all the rules and guess what... WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY!!! Awww yeah, I am so stinking excited for it! We jumped up and down, and cried, and laughed, and I just am so happy. Truly happy. So that’s the absolute most exciting thing as of right now. Awww yeah, baptism, here it comes. I’ll send pics. (The pics I sent are of a different family that the other sisters worked with in our district, but the family and I are close.)

Along with my struggle with obedience, my other issue comes from wanting to know why there are these rules. I have so many questions like, why we can’t call up the president, but need to go through a district leader? Why are district leaders guys? Why can’t I baptize our own investigators? Haha, just kidding on that last one. But my comp is very good in this aspect and... follows blindly, but hey, maybe that’s to teach me a lesson. 

I love the people here. I have lots of families that I know I could go to if I needed anything and I feel super comfortable with them. They are so cute to me and I can totes be myself here because I’m a weird guera anyway, so why not be even wierder?

People call me hermanita. No, they don’t call anyone else that, just me. But hey, I love it. Also an occasional missionarita. Solely because NO ONE, including my comp, can pronounce my last name. I’m going to see if the church will change is to Maria or something cool like that. :) Haha jk, but not really.

It is a very touchy culture. My comp sits very close during lessons and I feel slightly uncomfortable with it. Also when we leave from somewhere she puts her hand on my back and it takes all I have not to swat her. Haha, but really, it’s just the culture.

Kids and dogs love me. Don’t know why, but they do. In church the kids come up and draw with me. (Pictures of mountains and backpacking and kayaking of course:)) OH MY, we went to eat dinner and there was the biggest dog I have ever seen there. Dad, you would’ve gone nuts, because I sure did. It had the biggest head. It went up to my torso and I could’ve ridden it all around to our investigator’s houses and converted the masses. Haha, but seriously. I want to say it was a rottweiler and then they also had a boxer. Five and two years old. Oh I was in heaven. Tell buddy I love him very much and push him around for me, would ya? Haha, oh I miss you all so much. 

Oh and if you think I eat fast... you have no idea. I seriously can’t even keep up. It’s impressive.

Jess will survive!

There are specific difficulties here in the mish with people being baptized. For example, there are 3 specific ones here - smoking, working on Sundays, and living together, but not being married. It’s really hard because it’s always one of these 3 issues. Bummer, but hey, after our fast we also found out that there’s potential for a couple to be married, so maybe another baptism this month! Yeah! Celestial families for the win! And speaking of smoking.. oh my gosh, we taught a lesson to my dear friend Maria De La Luz and she insisted on smoking during our lesson and we were inside and the whole house was full of smoke. She’s a super heavy smoker, and seriously, I now know what asphyxiation is like. I started sneezing uncontrollably and she asked if I had gripe (the flu). Haha, I just replied in between sneezes that it must be allergy season. Ever since then I’ve been sneezing quite a bit. I don’t think we’re going to go back there, and if we do, it will be a nice lesson outside. Yay for vitamin d.

I officially saw my first I-phone here on Thursday. It was crazy. Like… what?

Jessica's street.

My comp walks very, very slow. Along with obedience, I need to work on patience. Yeah.. not a virtue I have. I just want to walk everywhere quickly and get in more lessons and talk to more people, but she’s very content to... meander. But hey, I have time to think about what I’m going to write so that’s good. :)  Even now this keyboard is super sticky and I can’t write very fast ,so sorry that my type sucks. (I’m blaming my poor lack of spelling and grammar on that... not the fact that I can’t remember... awk.)

In the mornings, while I’m studying, I put my hair up like mom, with two pencils and it makes me smile every time. 

Oh! There is a guy in our ward that is THE EXACT VERSION (Mexican style) of the super awkward guy in “The Middle” that sells cars with the mom. Oh my gosh, it’s so funny. I laugh every time I see him. And I miss tv. 

The lingo here is super great. They use ¨que padre¨ and ¨que chido¨ whenever something is like.. "oh how great." Rather than “que bueno.” Haha, I love it. I’m officially Mexican. HEY! I got super burned on my nose and my feet are tan, so basically I’m no longer a guera. Haha, I’m working on it. 

I walk down the streets, and seriously, all I want is to smell normal food. Yes, their panaderias are magnificent, but their tortillas and shops where they chop off the heads of chickens are not exactly what I want as a perfume. But it’s ok, it’s either that, or smoke, or alcohol. Haha, I’ll bet our investigators think we’re heavy duty smokers.

I’m learning how it’s super important to just “fake it til ya make it”. Seriously. I just speak with tons of confidence and make a fool of myself, but I am getting better. Yesterday people asked me how long I have been in the mission and I said a whole 12 days and they were dumbfounded.

I sang for a baptism yesterday. Oh man. People think that because I’m white I can sing, and I am working on that, but it’s rough. Oh and I’m performing in church on Sunday on the piano. Holla for bringing church music. But yeah, singing is not my forte, nor Spanish. So pretty sure these people don’t think I can do anything well except laugh at myself constantly - which I do.

Washing clothes in a bucket.

For Christmas I want a washing machine, because we wash by hand and we flooded the apartment because everything needs to drip dry. Haha the struggle is real. And don’t worry about sending a washing machine. I’m pretty sure that would be expensive. Maybe just a dryer. :)

Two more things that I am learning here; one is the power of a book. We went to teach a girl and her family, if they so desired, and her father came out holding the Book of Mormon. Yes! Awesome. They have one and obviously know right where it is and are reading it! Well that’s what we thought, until we saw the look on his face... uh oh. He promptly told us (much nicer than I anticipated) that they did not want to read this evil, wrong book and that we could have it back. We promptly replied that out of the kindness of our hearts we would let them keep it. Haha, we’re so good, but this experience made me think about how all throughout history books have been incredibly powerful and people have always been afraid of them. The Nazis come to mind, as well as, the Afgani girl who wanted to read. It’s amazing how afraid people are to simply open a book and learn and take whatever it says with a grain of salt. But people refuse to open, not only the book, but also their minds. It makes me sad, because being one who loves to read and one who is very open to different ways of life, it’s hard when they refuse to do either of these things. What a powerful blessing we have. The Book of Mormon is real. I know it is true, because scripture study lately has been so dope. I am learning so much and seeing how the Bible and Book of Mormon go hand in hand. It’s incredible. 

Another thing I’ve learned is attitude is absolutely everything. No one wants to talk to two girls walking down the street that look angry and constipated. (Of which, we are neither... don’t worry). If we leave the house and are timid, or whatever, we will not teach lessons and have success nor have the spirit with us. But when we leave with a desire to teach and a happy disposition, and hope, we have incredible days. We have had both kinds of days and I am so grateful to normally be super duper happy and smiley. Haha, sorry to all those people at home, and here, where it’s annoying... I know that it’s rough sometimes, but it sure gets me through the day. 

The tree Jess helped paint.

Ok. I think that’s all. I hope you know I love you all more than words can describe and I look forward to hearing from you every week. Thanks for the updates, they make me super happy to get a glimpse of what home is like. 

I love you so so so so so so so so so so much. I pray for you every day and hope you are happy. Please wish people happy birthday for me too. I don’t know why I just said that, but still, I wish I could say happy birthday to so many people, but I just can’t. Wah. But know I think of you all the time and am loving my life. Thanks for being the best examples and parents ever. Mwah, mwah, mwah.

HERMANA ANSTEE!

Glorious rain, awful voices, familiar faces, awkward kissing, whistling, tostadas, bikes, curbing fiery feelings, sleeping like a rock, and only one Mexico picture

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!

Soooo I LOVE MY MISSION and I LOVE MEXICO. Oh my gosh, I am having so much fun and I have so much to say. BUT I LOVE IT HERE! Seriously, I am so happy and thrilled to be serving a mission. My comp and I laugh every day.

Yes, I got your package and it was the greatest thing ever. Seeing those hand sanitizers was like Christmas. Haha. Those things save me cause we shake hands so much and you just have no idea where they’ve been. And I have been really good about picking up after myself... at least trying to be. :) And I am taking a ton of pictures, hopefully they work and come through. 

We do have one small problem though... I love the food. Seriously, it is much better than I thought it would be. It’s different, and I’m craving some yummy normal food, but it’s all good. Haha. I love tostadas! They’re way better than the tortillas. Whoever said the tortillas here are amazing and better, are wrong. I miss home tortillas. The ones here are super dry and aren’t quite as good, but hey, it’s food. 

I absolutely adore my companion. Her name is Hermana Ortiz and she is great. She’s been out 8 months and we laugh every single day. It’s awesome. We have bikes here and she crashes constantly and it’s hilarious. We constantly make fun of each other, in the best way of course, and have a blast. She’s from Ecuador!!! How neat is that... oh and she speaks 0, yes 0 English, so I’m learning Spanish real fast... ;) yay.

So the street we live on is called a cerrada. Pretty much everyone lives on one of these. It is a street that has a locked gate on the outside and a dead end on the other. Yes dad, very safe. :) Haha, but as far as feeling safe, I have felt safe the entire time here and been totally fine. There was a dog- fight, but even then it was fine.

Oh but one thing is that the guys do honk and whistle at me. It’s a daily thing, but I don’t mind. They call me guera here instead of gringa, in which I am the only one within miles. But hey, people wanna talk to me, so it’s all good. The hardest part of it all, the mish in general is curbing my fiery feelings. When guys (of all ages) whistle at me, I wanna yell at them, “I AM NOT A DOG, DO NOT TREAT ME AS SUCH”. But then I think, Jess, I mean Hermana Anstee, you are a rep of Christ, so then I just sing Jimmy Buffet’s “Breathe in. Breathe out. Move on” and I’m ok. Do as Jesus would, and sing Jimmy, am I right? :) 

One funny thing, ALL THE HOMES ARE THE EXACT SAME. No seriously. Exact same. Ours too. You walk in and there is a open area and then there’s stairs to go upstairs and then past the stairs is the kitchen and up the stairs is your bathroom and two rooms, which, my comp and I have our clothes in different rooms, but sleep in the same one. It’s pretty nice. Every family has a TV, of course, and cell phones. And everyone has a couch. We have a table and squeaky chairs. Looove it.

But one thing that’s fun is all the homes are the same, but everyone tries to spiffy it up - either painting a tree on the inside (just got done helping with that!) or colors on the outside. It’s all an attempt to be different and I absolutely LOVE IT. Oh my, I just can’t express how happy I am.

All the women greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and a hug and sometimes a handshake before all of it. Kinda different and I’m trying to figure out when you do what. I definitely have had some awkward pauses and moments where I didn’t know what to do and also close calls of actually kissing some women... so yeah. Love Mexico. Hahahaha.

Um, we definitely don’t have warm water, so we borrowed a little metal thingy that gets super hot and you plug it into the wall and it heats up and you put it in the water and it warms it up. We get a little cup and pour it on ourselves. Have I said how much I love Mexico? Seriously it’s actually really fun.

I love teaching people and there’s no pressure because people know I don’t speak Spanish and that I am trying so hard and they just laugh at me. A lot. But I love it. I adore the people here. Everyone is willing to talk to us and no one has been super rude. The way they say no is rather than give us their real address they give us the wrong address of where they live, and we go there and it’s not them, but then we find out it’s another family and teach them, and now their son is coming to teach with us this afternoon. Funny how the spirit works that way.

It rains a ton here and I LOVE IT. I wore my rubber boots and my coat and my umbrella and was the happiest camper in the world. Seriously, I played in puddles and my companion just laughed at my childishness. Haha. It is so fun and everyone loves my boots and say they’re gonna buy some. Yeahhh trend setterrrrr.

They have the cutest babies here - just sayin.

But they don’t have the best singing voices. Awful. Seriously. So I feel right at home. :) Hahahaha.

They also have terrible teeth.

People are telling me they wanna learn English, but won’t ever get up the courage to tell me what they know, but here in a little while I might be teaching some English lessons. I am working with my comp to teach her English, because it’s a good thing and the mission president wants me to. So yay. It’s fun to hear her say words... absolutely hilarious.

I am in Tecamec, in an area named Bosques, by the way.

So we are super close with a specific family in the ward named the Corona family. They’re the ones we are painting a tree on the wall for and they’re the ones I cried with when I bore my testimony that families can be together forever. Yep, gets me every time. But anyway, they are super kind to help me with words and Spanish and stuff, but yesterday they asked me to say the prayer in English so they could hear it and I FORGOT HOW TO PRAY IN ENGLISH. It was awful. I had to really think about it and even during the prayer I said por favor instead of please. Haha, the struggle is real.

The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. We are working so hard and I love it. Every minute, every second, every hour of the day (ay ay ay ay - for jeni townsend) we are working toward our purpose. It’s the greatest thing ever and I go to bed exhausted and so happy. I sleep like a rock.

Oh, at church, not everyone wears dresses, so that’s interesting. There are guys and girls in jeans and I thought about dad and how he’d dig it here. Mom too, I guess... ;) 

The mish is SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MTC. Holy smokes. I love and miss my MTC peeps, but couldn’t wait to get out. The mish is incredible and I LOVE IT.

Ok well, I love you guys and I love hearing how everything is going. Thanks for the package. I was a cool girl in town because I already got a package. Haha. I love and miss you so muchhhhh.

Hug each other for me and know that I am incredibly happy and living it up and working so hard! The church is true and I am loving life. Thanks for being the best parents ever and know I love you more than words can describe, to the dark side of the moon and back. Mwah, mwah, mwah. Tell Buddy I love him too. I pray for you all in Spanish every night, so if blessings aren’t coming it’s my bad, because I’m probably not saying it right. :) Haha.

Love you. Really. Can’t wait to have an update next week. 

MWAH

Hermana Anstee!!!!! :D 

No time to rest. First day in Mexico.

HOLA FAMILIA! I don’t get a lot of time on the computer. We have an investigator to go teach, but I am alive and loving it! My p-day is Monday, so this is an extra email to say I’m alive... it is absolutely crazy! I love my new companion. She is from Ecuador and doesn’t speak Engilsh, but I know we are gonna get along super duper well. I am so excited to share the gospel! And my Spanish is working! I absolutely love it here - it is amazing. The houses are all different colors and it is all just so fun. I can’t wait to tell you more. I love you all and miss you, but I am having the time of my life!!!!

con mucho mucho amor,

hermana anstee!!! 

Finally some pictures

              

A nickname, crying a lot, flying to Vegas, and companions with "The Destroyer"

Ok so I have so much stuff to say and not a ton of time to say it alllll, but I mainly want to say that I love you guys so so so so much. I tried uploading pictures but the computer wouldn't recognize my flash drivy thingy and it’s such a bummer. But I promise I am taking good ones and I will work on sending those to you! :) 

So first off I miss you guys like crazy, but they keep us soooo busy. It's nuts. My zone is comprised of 10 elders and my companion and myself. I'm also the only one who isn't fluent in Spanish. It is really hard because they can joke and stuff in Spanish and sometimes I just can't follow along. But you know I'm really grateful for all of them and that I am in the accelerated program because I think I will learn Spanish so much better and fuller once I just get out into the field. The first few days have been so hard. I mean so hard. Mainly because of the whole spanish thing and my teacher doesn't allow us to speak anything but Spanish and I just don't have the confidence in saying the right thing. But they are so fun and nice that they take 30 minutes out of their companionship study to teach me Spanish. Haha. It's hilarious to watch them try to dissect a language they've always just known. Sooo funny. But, often times they will have trouble speaking English and boy do I have their back! :) Haha. I've felt like I've just always been playing catch up, you know? Like I haven't quite gotten the hang of things yet, but each day gets somewhat better. I really am loving it here. I am suuuuper close with my district. So funny story, we all made up nicknames for each other. My nickname is "Snowflake" cause I'm white. Hahahaha. And my companion's nickname is "The Destroyer" because she's kinda bossy and has anger problems. But we love her. So as far as my companion goes she's great, but has an interesting story. We get along great because I can go along with anything and she pretty much always gets her way, so it’s all good.

Ummm... I love Latinos. They are so funny and fun to talk to. It's been a blast getting to know them and it's gonna be so hard to say goodbye in 6 DAYS. Oh mannn this is going by so fast. And back to the Spanish (that's just the main part of my life right now so I have a lot to say), I SAID MY FIRST PRAYER TOTALLY IN SPANISH and right after everyone said amen, they clapped for me and were so excited. They keep telling me that I am doing so well and improving every day, but all that does is make me think how awful I must really have been to begin with. :) Haha, but really. 

Wasn't general conference AWESOME?! Oh my goodness I just absolutely loved it. It was so cool to be sitting in a room with 2000 missionaries and to feel the spirit. And yet I still managed to fall asleep during most sessions of conference. Awkward. I guess I even started snoring too. Haha, so embarrassing... But back to conference I just LOVED Elder Bednar’s talk. It was so good and I hope a lot of my future investigators got to see that! 

Oh and I've seen so many people here! Even though we're on west campus and separated (we're moving up to main on Thursday... dang) we still go up there a lot anyway and I get to see people. I saw John Nelson, Brad Hollingsworth, Ashlee Young, Alyssa Bakker, Kate Anderson, Elder Hyde, and Issac Ridge. It's crazyyy. It's so fun and SO NICE to see a familiar face. 

So as you know I flew to Vegas yesterday to the Mexican consulate to get my visa. It was just myself and 6 other elders. We partied hard. Haha, not really. It was an exhausting day but I wanted to tell you about the flight!!! So all of us were joking around about how we should start up a conversation with the people around us on the plane and basically convert them. Easy right? Haha, but as I was going, there was a really nice guy that sat by me and we ended up talking a ton! The whole 53 minute flight! He was in the navy and then was a pilot commercially and is now retired in Cottonwood Heights. We got to talking about river trips and climbing and seeing the world. I said something (can't quite remember) and he said that I sound just like JIMMY BUFFETT!!!! WHAT?! Oh my goodness, it was the greatest compliment I've ever gotten. We started talking about old Jimmy vs. new and how great he is and that Zac Brown is similar in that they tell stories and that we were both parrotheads. It. Was. Awesome. So great. 

Also my companion and I are sister training leaders, because there's sooo many options. Oh wait, it's just the two of us. Haha, but it's fun and we have a title so we are pretty cool I guess. :)

And THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LETTERS!!!! Thank you for the treats! Will you thank Renae for me? I am so so so grateful for those. Oh geez, I miss you so much. This is the greatest part of my week to hear from you guys! I love you more than words can say. I know this is the place for me, even though it is so hard. I have laughed harder than hard and also cried. A lot. But it's all part of the growing experience and I love it. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you again next week! Eat more Panda and Cafe Rio and LA PUENTE for me!!! :) Oh and the food here is ok, not gourmet, but edible. I haven't had any issues yet! :)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! You are amazing. Whenever I get sad because I can't speak Spanish, I think of you guys and I'm ok. Oh and we leave the 13th, so Monday, for a connecting flight in Texas and then to Pachuca. I'm the travel leader and I have 4 other people traveling with me. Hopefully I get another chance to email you before we fly out, but if not, know I love you and I will email you as soon as I possibly can!!! Thanks for the pictures - they're awesome. LOVE YOU!!! 

Sending all my love and hugs, 

Hermana Anstee :)